Wednesday, January 2, 2008

What Do You Think of This?


M.O.W. has enjoyed reading many of the year-in-review articles around the interwebs largely because many of them actually pass judgment about the people and events of the year and we like to read about what other people think of things--even if we don't agree.


(As an aside we wrote our first essay when we were eight years old comparing the founding fathers to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." In case any of you were wondering how M.O.W. became obsessed with founder-stalking, this fact might provide a clue)


M.O.W. thought that one of the more interesting year-in-review lists appeared over at The BEAST and that this, in particular, was an interesting comment (on the "most loathsome of the year"):

9. You

Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism -- it's nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. You care more about zygotes than actual people. You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over. You still think Republicans favor limited government. Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears' children. You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy. You think you're going to get universal health care. You tolerate the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques." You think the government is actually trying to improve education. You think watching CNN makes you smarter. You think two parties is enough. You can't spell. You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable. You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don't want to die. You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy's doing well. You're an idiot.

Exhibit A: You couldn't get enough Anna Nicole Smith coverage.

Sentence: A gradual decline into abject poverty as you continue to vote against your own self-interest. Death by an easily treated disorder that your health insurance doesn't cover. You deserve it, chump.

Yet, at the beginning of 2007 Time declared YOU their most influential "Person of the Year." 2007 was supposed to be YOUR year, what happened? M.O.W. finds this all very confusing.


Now, many of you know of our deep seated love of the people. We are the champions of the people. We have spent a great deal of time and energy thinking about the people and their role in the government. We have devoted our career to figuring out exactly how and why the people do not have political power in a government that claims to be "democratic." We are ego-involved in loving the people, it is who we are.


Yet, we are more than a little persuaded by The BEAST here. And, as ever, we wonder what our friends think. We know that some (many) of you do not share our love for the people. We know that many of you like that democracy is not democratic for you believe that the people are a rabble and you fear the demagogues who control them. Yes, we've heard this from you before...


We fear that we might be beginning to agree with you. What if M.O.W. becomes a people-hater too? Who will be left to love the people if we give up? Maybe we are just grumpy and need a nap.


What do you think founder-stalkers: are the people the cause or the cure for what ails America today? And, why wasn't 2007 YOUR year? Or, was it?

6 comments:

GayProf said...

"The people are turbulent and changing, they seldom judge or determine right."

Unleash your inner Hamilton...

Mercy O. Warren said...

We will not, we could not, unleash our inner Hamilton, for we have none.

<3
MOW

Anonymous said...

How did the people cause any of this? They didn't elect a man who took advantage of the electoral college and the supreme court (both anti-the-people) in 2000 and squeaked by in 04 - who has filled the government with cronys, evil legal theorists and war profiteers. They elected elements of change in 06, who have been blocked by republican filibusters (very anti-democratic) and presidential signing statements (very very evil) throughout 07.

Someone wrote that as the media industry assumes an audience more liberal than the general population in the late 70s early 80s, it is almost certainly assumes an audience more conservative than the people now. The "You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy's doing well" gives it away in your quote - nobody other than Wall Street and elites thinks that.

Mercy O. Warren said...

Good point, NANL--the people did not cause many of these problems, but they haven't done as much as they could to stop them either and they willingly followed along until very recently.

I like the idea that the media is more conservative than the population, but I'm not sure if that's true. I mean, it certainly isn't true where MOW lives. FOXNEWS is more conservative than, say, California, but is just as conservative as Texass. As far as I can tell the majority of Texans still believe in all that the Bush Administration has told them and they have no problems with Republican filibusters or signing statements.

'Til Next Time said...

I do not think that becoming a "people-hater" is possible for M.O.W. But, a healthy dose of skepticism might help reconcile the frustrations w/ the people versus the potential that you see in them. Love the people, but don’t expect them to act virtuously or intelligently without being taught how. 2007 couldn’t be the year of “You” anymore than 2008 can. They need to learn to be political creatures in order to act politically, otherwise they are listless, ignorant cattle. I hope that M.O.W. never agrees with my fear of the “rabble masses,” it would make our debates less enjoyable.

Mercy O. Warren said...

Well said MM, M.O.W. can't really ever hate the people, she is just frustrated, as you say. Don't you worry, we can continue our super fun debates on this...

MOW