I’m continually amazed and disheartened at how willingly—how unthinkingly—FauxNews conservatives and conservatives in general allow themselves to swallow whole the bullshit rhetoric of the Right. They can’t see that their beloved candidates aren’t serving their interests—the interests of the common man--but their own interests, which are largely determined by which group of corporate lobbyists is paying them the most money to in turn broadcast the interests of the corporation to the masses. And, of course, the politicians themselves don’t care, since they’re all disgustingly rich ivy-league blowhards. They do this little act (they all do it) where they strut around, pretending to be war heroes or common proletariats with real American values and no one bats an eye—not just the people being duped by this little charade, but people on both sides. We let them get away with it because: “that’s just politics” and part of appealing to as many voters as possible is being totally disingenuous and fake. And I’m not just upset that they’re being fake. I’m upset, too, because it’s become acceptable for politicians, on either side, to be fake. Dems are just as guilty. Look at Obama’s awkwardly calculated use of the word “folks”—a word he’s all too eager to use at any opportunity as a means of appealing to what he no doubt perceives to be common folks. Because…that’s what we call ourselves, right? Folks.
I’m just sick of this stupid game. I want to vote for real people. Not actors playing their parts poorly. Too much attention is devoted to the public face of politicians and not enough to actual politics. Politicians have become celebrities. I’m sure they always were—because they’re so visible. But they’re not being celebrated or recognized for the things they should be recognized for. Instead: we get smear campaigns and gossip.
The war between conservatives and liberals has always seemed to me equitable on a frighteningly uncanny level to the week-to-week feuds between the good guys and heels in professional wrestling. The story line rarely changes all that much and the characters are two-dimensional. There was even a wrestler however many years ago who was a villain because his character was a Muslim. And it’s funny because: THAT SAME FUCKING LOGIC works in politics. Muslims are bad. Christians are good. Etc. Etc.
I should probably qualify that last comparison between the WWE and present-day politics to say that it’s most often (and by that I mean: always) presented this way by the Right. Liberals sometimes engage in perpetuating this petty storyline, but it’s usually as a reaction to Right-wing name-calling and other trifling nonsense.
Partisan issues aside: I really think it’s time for America to re-think why we value the things we do and why we vote for candidates and what they do for us—and I mean, really do for us, because I was listening to a news story on NPR on the way home from work that said that the GOP hopefuls in this year’s election have all run on a similar platform—they all have a similar strategy which is to cut federal funding for education and welfare and keep taxes where they are (partly, I’m guessing, because of the Norquist agreement and partly, too, because if they raise taxes for us they’d have to raise taxes for themselves and God knows the Republic of the 0.01% [that’s an actual figure of what percentile GOP frontrunner and Mr. Middle American Values Mit Romeny fits into] don’t want that). They’re doing this because they claim it will balance the budget. Of course, raising taxes on the filthy rich to a level that’s fair and comparable to Middle-Class taxes would also be a solution but that’s obviously not going to happen.
The whole thing is upsetting because so many FauxNews viewers see this crap—they actively witness these super-fake politicians who obviously do not represent working-class interests spew a bunch of feel-good pro-America bullshit as a way to mask their ulterior motive, which is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and they don’t even question it. Worse, they accept it. They’re being brainwashed (can you even call it that since they choose to listen to Rush Limpdick and watch FauxNews?) into sacrificing things which benefit them (welfare, education, equal taxes for the rich) because that’s exactly what political faces (the candidates themselves) want.
I remember when I was a kid my sister and I used to argue over who got the front seat when our mom or dad picked us up from the babysitter. We both agreed that sitting up front was a good thing. But I eventually was able to convince my sister that the backseat was better. I told her all the advantages to sitting in the back. I told her it was roomier. I tried to make it seem like the cool choice to sit in the backseat. Whenever our parents picked us up, I’d say: Oh, you can have the front. I like the back, so I’m going to sit back there. So, it took some time, but I eventually succeeded in tricking her into forfeiting the front seat to me, in spite of how she really felt, in spite of her previous notion that the front seat was a desirable place to sit. The same thing I feel is happening with FauxNews. They’ve tricked their audience into believing what’s good for them is really bad and vice versa.
A guy I work with has three jobs now but swears by the capitalist system of free enterprise and personal autonomy as it relates to making money. He faults the current President for the bad economy and sees no irony in holding down three jobs—two of which he complains about constantly because they’re just part-time jobs to make ends meet—even though he professes to believe in an America where anyone can do anything they want and make buttloads of money. Well, why isn’t he doing something he’s passionate about? “Oh, man. It’s the economy. Once we get this damned moron out of office, things will start to pick back up.” And why does he believe this? Because FauxNews told him to believe it. They also convinced him that—no joke—Obamacare is bad because it’s a socialist program and socialists are EVIL (what is this? 1950?) and that Planned Parenthood uses government money for abortions. Also: that Obamacare pays for abortions. I actually traced the origins of the latter claim to former GOP contender Michelle Bachmann, who, as per usual, has absolutely no fucking idea what’s she’s talking about and is citing nothing but what she wants to believe is true.
So…what the fuck ever. I'm done ranting. For now.
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