Friday, January 14, 2011

What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground?



Well, now that the shooting has once again died down, and those on the sidelines have stopped comparing themselves to Jews and anyone who doesn't agree with them to Hitler (What?  You didn't know that "Mein Kampf" is a liberal manifesto?), I guess we can all finally take a sincere look at ourselves and what role our own attitudes might have played in our cocked-up national zeitgeist.

Or not.  I mean, who are we kidding here?  There will be lots of examination, or the 24-hour news channel equivalent, anyway, but no real change.  President Obama, in a speech that was apparently designed to appeal to Arizonans in that it was long on references to the Bible, heaven, heroes, and gumption, and short on self-awareness, asked us to make sure our debate is "worthy of those we have lost."

I think Jon Stewart cut more quickly to the bone when he said that it would be nice if our political speech didn't so closely resemble the ramblings of a crazy person.

But I get why our president is compelled to point out that a high road does indeed exist.  I'm just not sure why he feels the need to take it all the time.  Especially when the White House is surrounded by idiots with placards exclaiming that "high road = socilism."

Not to mention that the tea-baggers are using the events in Tucson as a fundraiser, and the very gun and clip that the shooter used are selling out in gun stores across the country.  Yeah, the right wing is definitely going to be turning up the paranoia on gun control, with one genius even suggesting that members of Congress be allowed to carry guns on the House floor, a position that I must admit seems fairly attractive to me at the moment.  In fact, I think the only place in America where Republicans don't want guns is at Republican political conventions.  That's right, you have to go through a metal detector and surrender your firearms to get up in that mug.  They must not be reading their own literature about how an armed citizenry makes you more safe.

But it seems to me that those who died in that parking lot in Tucson were unlucky enough to have been labeled guilty by association to Representative Giffords, a woman who had apparently become the obsession of a defensive white male with a fondness for guns who had the good fortune of living in a state whose motto is "home of the defensive white male with a fondness for guns." 

But the question is not whether Sarah Palin's adenoidal sniveling awakened a sleeping Manchurian Candidate - so far, the shooter seems to have been the only white male in Arizona NOT preoccupied with McCain's vice maverick - but whether our culture eased him along on his path.

I don't know the answer to that question.  But I think neither do you.  And so in the absence of any definitive blame-laying, which would be summarily ignored by the tea-baggers anyway, I think that a reasonable course of action would be for the Right to stop pretending that President Obama is the anti-Christ and Democrats are his demons sent to plague the Earth, and for the Left to, once the Right has stopped doing that, stop saying that the Right is doing that.

Because here's the thing about that whole "violent rhetoric" argument that nobody seems to be acknowledging: it matters not one whit what that asshole's political leanings are.  The point is, that when you insinuate, especially from a position of power, that your political opponents are less than human, that they deserve a "Second Amendment solution" nudge nudge wink wink, YOU LEGITIMIZE THE VIOLENT YEARNINGS OF EVERYONE, LEFT OR RIGHT, CRAZY OR SANE.  I mean, John Wilkes Booth didn't kill Lincoln with the expectation that Southerners would regard his actions with horror and shame, now did he?

And secondly, the rhetoric on the Left does not equal that on the Right.  It's a nice try, Fox News, but it just ain't so.  We don't put rifle sights on their candidates, or if we do, we stop it and apologize, we don't claim that they're fucking "surveyor's marks," or whatever dumb childish shit Palin's camp offered up, I mean surveyor's marks?  Really?  So did I miss all those tweets wherein Palin urged her mama grizzlies "Don't retreat, re-sight your coordinates for proper bearing to the azimuth!"?

And once more, for the record, not allowing gay people to serve openly in the military, and not allowing gay couples to marry is not the "other side" of the issue, it's the wrong side.  It's the side of all that is backward and mean and fucking Evil Empire about us.  And letting citizens die because they can't afford medicine is not the conservative view of the health care debate, it's the fucking immoral and wrong view, and I would like to stand up and be counted among those who wouldn't mind if our president just goddamn said so for once.

I just hope that Obama realizes that compromise is not some kind of honorable end in itself, it is a path to what we want - no, make that what we need.  It's a path to what everyone in this country needs, whether they're able or willing to admit it or not - let's not forget that.  So yeah, Mr. President, take that high road, and speechify about how we all need to respect one another, and then please go back to Washington and drag those motherfucking scared shitless morons with you into the 21st century.

22 comments:

Life As I Know It Now said...

Thank you for putting everything I am thinking into words.

ShanaM said...

Great post!!!!!

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

Well said sister.

SkylersDad said...

"And letting citizens die because they can't afford medicine is not the conservative view of the health care debate, it's the fucking immoral and wrong view, and I would like to stand up and be counted among those who wouldn't mind if our president just goddamn said so for once."

Can I stand up beside you on this please? Well done Vikki.

Darrin Stafford said...

Awesome...

vikkitikkitavi said...

Anonymous: And so typical of anonymous fucking commenters for you to have missed the point entirely.

GETkristiLOVE said...

Anonymous missed the boat all right.

Why do so many people have to equate everything in life to a battle of left vs. right, even this post, when that's not even your point? Everything is a war to those idiots and the war is only won with the biggest gun.

Do you think Obama is compromising in order to win a second term, wherein he can really get some things accomplished? I think four years isn't long enough to really turn things around.

Mnmom said...

Standing on my chair applauding.

"a defensive white male with a fondness for guns who had the good fortune of living in a state whose motto is "home of the defensive white male with a fondness for guns." " = best quote of the month!

Dems have become like Dobby The House Elf

Dad E said...

Once again I am inspired to see your clarity.

Bill said...

There is a reason why Obama and the Left got their ass kicked in November. It's because you and your kind are actually the lunatic fringe in this country. Saying that the Constitution does not authorize a socialized, mandated public health care system is not the same thing as "letting citizens die." Saying we want to protect marriage, while allowing gay couples to create civil unions is not backward, mean or "fucking Evil Empire." And chastizing Conservatives for "legitimzing violent yearnings" with their rhetoric, while you use the same rhetoric yourself, is just plain nutty.

"...the rhetoric on the Left does not equal that on the Right?" Bullshit. How about Obama's bring a gun to a knife fight? How about the left making a movie about assasinating Bush? How about Barney Frank joking that the bomb that targeted Cheney was "wasted" because it missed. Give me a break. Both sides use violent rhetoric, so get down off your high horse.

The only area I think we can agree on is I don't want compromise either. Fuck that. All spending originates in the House. Defund all of Barry's crap. Good luck providing socialized health care with no money. Barry doesn't like it? Too fucking bad. He can sign on or we'll just shut down the whole government. I for one won't miss it at all, and I'm tired of paying the bill so you on the Left can feel good about yourselves.

In 2010 you lost the House and the majority of state legislatures and govenorships. Welcome to reapportionment and gerrymandering time! In 2012 we are going to throw Barry's ass out of office and you will lose the Senate too, because the country is tired of your bullshit. When that happens, I hope all you leftist idiots choke on it.

Jenny Jenny Flannery said...

Thank you for this, Vikki

ZKWC said...

@"Bill"
"Saying that the Constitution does not authorize a socialized, mandated public health care system is not the same thing as "letting citizens die." "

Allowing insurance companies to dictate who lives and who dies is a violation of the BILL OF RIGHTS! Right to LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When insurance companies refuse to pay claims that a customer has already paid for purely to keep their bottom line in the black IS ON THE WRONG SIDE. That in itself is a violation of the constitution and an Evil Empire against the people of this country.

Fuck off proper now.... off you go...

Bill said...

@ZKWC, Buy better insurance from reputable companies. Or self-fund. Or sue your insurance company for breech of contract. Or take advantage of the numerous charities that offer care. There are lots of remedies that don't involve unconstitutional big government solutions.

Stop expecting me to pay for your every desire, man up, and take some responsibility for yourself. health care is not a "right," it is a service: http://www.edgeblog.net/2009/5-myths-of-modern-liberals/

And fuck you very much too.

RandyLuvsPaiste said...

"President Obama, in a speech that was apparently designed to appeal to Arizonans in that it was long on references to the Bible, heaven, heroes, and gumption..."

I guess non-believers of the Bible and heaven are lazy cowards who can be marginalized without any political downside.

Anonymous said...

"It's a path to what everyone in this country needs, whether they're able or willing to admit it or not..."

Your post hits the bullseye, or should I say lines up with magnetic north : ) In fact, your last few posts bring to mind a close family member who subscribed to the Teabaggers' philosophy before there were Teabaggers, at least those of the capital "T" variety. He spends his day rolling Rush Limbaugh's dick around in his mouth a little before he heads out to rail against the Obama and the "professional left." Whether he wants to admit it or not, the money he earns now is directly tied to Federal stimulus dollars promoting green technology and energy conservation. Whether he wants to admit it or not, he's spent a lifetime supporting a party that has fought tooth and nail against giving citizens the same socialized health care they themselves enjoy. Whether he wants to admit it or not, this same party is the reason his mom's insurance company can cancel her policy now that she really needs it. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

jadedj said...

Beautiful! The post, and your response to anonymous, et al.

dguzman said...

Amen, Vik. It's terrifying to hear the vituperative rants and death threats from the Glenn Beck fans and teabaggers. I keep hoping they'll all just revolt and form their own little country of gun-toting looniness. They can have, oh I don't know, maybe North Dakota or Alaska or someplace, just so long as they stay within their borders of insanity and take their Faux Nooz with them.

Oh wait, I want to see Alaska. Okay, they need to take North Dakota. No offense to North Dakotans but it's effing freezing up there.

vikkitikkitavi said...

At the risk of sounding like a character from The Lord of the Rings, the time of old white dudes in this country is coming to an end. They've had a good run, but we're becoming more diverse every minute. And so they can either stop dedicating their lives to their fear of that and their blind endorsement of every policy that's a reaction to that fear, or not. Their choice.

If I were them, I would think long and hard about how well the party of Wall Street has treated them before I would spend another minute of my precious, short life on this mortal coil defending a philosophy that does not give a shit about me.

But there I go again, sounding all superior. Like I think my side is the correct one to be on. Shame on me. I really should learn to pretend that the other side has a rational, non-fear-based point of view. Then maybe I could write for Slate!

Marshall Park Slope said...

Bravo my friend! You say so perfectly how si many if us feel. I'm buying you a drink or 10 this weekend!

Mauigirl said...

Vikki, excellent post. And you're right, there is a right and wrong to these viewpoints. It's not just a difference in philosophy.

Stevie said...

So Bill, tell me oh man of wisdom, how’d you like the unqualified successes of the Bush Jr administration you insufferable prick? The thing I despise about modern right-wing hacks such as you is that they lack anything that resembles original political thought. Forget the savage hypocrisy and lack of self reflection, that’s clearly a given. No, it’s the same pathetic rhetoric chewed and regurgitated ad infinitum. Goddamn, can’t you folks come up with anything more inventive?

Wait, what’s that? A howl about us “librul” socialists wanting “socialized, mandated public health care system”? Did you even read the health care bill, Bill? Never mind, of course you didn’t. Guess what professor, today we all pay for folks that don’t have healthcare, you got that chief? Here’s a link to what the bill does and doesn’t do. Give it a read if you can get your sniffer out of Glen Becks poopshoot.

I’d like to join the chorus of those who invited you to fuck off.

Idiot…

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/twenty-six-lies-about-hr-3200/

kittens not kids said...

Can I join you and SkylersDad in standing up on the health care thing?