Friday, May 06, 2005

One Last Thing for the Afternoon

Found this at Steve Gilliard's...

In my fantasies, I am more like this guy. He's basically got it right. If all I cared about was politics and I didn't have this deep need to be liked by people, I would be just like this. The fact that I'm not like this is basically the result of cowardice. My favorite quote from the piece:


Did I give a shit? No. If I had a message, it's that the whole thing was a joke--hell, our whole political scene today is a fucking joke. Everyone's out to either pat themselves on the back for being right or whine about how they're being wronged without ever lifting a finger to fight for it.


You may be headed for the comments now. "I'm glad you're not like that." But think about it for a second. That's the point.

Anyway, have a good weekend. DU article Wednesday or I'm a monkey's uncle.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This comment from the post is telling:

"The others in line for Q&A, mostly liberals, looked at me like I'd set their cause back forty years."

So, the guy had some fun, got to enjoy a real "Stick It To The Man" moment, got to feel good about himself. Was this really a step forward? It's understandable that he's frustrated at people who do nothing but talk, and don't actually *do* anything. It's a sentiment that everyone can identify with. But doing *something* (anything) isn't a substitute for doing nothing. That something has to be meaningful. It was a great personal protest. Did it have meaning outside of that?

Unknown said...

What specifically about his protest do you feel was counterproductive? That he said "fuck?"

Anonymous said...

He wasn't counterproductive - that was his quote about the other liberals rather than mine. I just felt he was unproductive. I'd gladly withdraw this comment if someone could point to a single individual in the audience who reconsidered any aspect of their position on Ann Coulter or her opinions as a result of his protest.

It was unproductive because it didn't get people to confront the issue, it got people to write him off as a jackass (which he enjoys admitting) In fact, when you confront the issue with masturbatory hand guestures, it has a way of detracting from open and honest debate.

In short, his emotional reaction to Ann Coulter was what was on display, not a political point. That's why it's not productive as a political protest - because it would have to be perceived to be about politics in order for it to be an effective political protest. From his description, that's not how his audience really saw it.