![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Tired
Let's say your side's got the executive branch, the House, the Senate, a plurality of the Supreme Court justices, a couple of cable channels, The Wall Street Journal, the bulk of AM gasbags, every major corporation and is even now engaged in, er, "hands on" promulgation of its beliefs in two separate desert kingdoms. How would you feel?
If you're the American right, the answer, of course, is marginalized.
(from the Pitch)
Well, went and saw Fahrenheit 9/11 with the parents. Probably the same story as everyone else who sees it - packed house, people outside handing out fliers, etc. I liked the girl selling T-shirts saying, "The only Bush I trust is my own."
Now, I can't say I was originally a huge fan of Michael Moore. He seemed too much of a rabble-rouser with Bowling for Columbine, Stupid White Men, etc. I agreed with his views, but not with his practices.
Not anymore.
I thought overall it was a WONDERFUL movie. It didn't tell me anything I hadn't already read, but seeing it all in one place like that was incredibly damning. Was it propaganda? Possibly - it certainly does have a specific viewpoint - but it's no more biased than similar conservative books/news channels. (The big difference is, it doesn't try to claim it's "fair and unbiased".) It has something it wants to say, and says it - and works on exposing lies rather than telling them.
Was it emotionally manipulative? Certainly the soundtrack was at times - the syrupy strings at times were a bit much - but I don't really feel the movie itself was. The sequence with the mother who'd lost her son in the war in Iraq, reading his final letter, was heartbreaking - I found myself tearing up - but it's not like this woman DIDN'T lose her son, and the movie was attempting to show an example of one of the families who has lost a member to this war. So, in conclusion, go see it!
This, also, has got me thinking. The fact that this immediately followed it disturbs me even more. So the Vice President can verbally abuse a senator on the Senate floor - for saying hello - and feel proud about it? That makes me cringe. But I think it's merely emblematic of a larger contempt conservatives hold liberals - and even moderates - in. We Democrats have tried to be cordial, silencing ourselves, making sure we don't make waves, throughout the past several decades (and ESPECIALLY during this last administration, where anyone who disagrees with those in power is labeled "unpatriotic").
But what has cordiality and silence gotten us? Jack shit. What I think we need to do is to adopt Republican tactics. After all, the Republicans have been screaming about their marginalization since Gingrich started the swing to the right in the '70s (still have, as seen above), and what has it gotten them? The aforementioned presidency, both houses of Congress, etc. I think we liberals need to band together and make a big, unrelenting stink about our marginalization. We need to bring the center back to the center - or even to the left - from its current position in the not-so-moderate right. We need to challenge the lies like the "liberal media" - hell, with Fahrenheit 9/11, we're finally seeing the germs of an actual liberal media. They keep talking about a liberal media, let's give them one!
(Sorry for the incoherency of my rant, but I've been working on this entry over several hours, so it's unfortunately a bit fragmented.)
Finally, register to vote! If I find that anyone on my friendslist who's eligible to vote hasn't come November, I will personally come to your house and force you to listen to John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar" until you see the error of your ways. Vote for whatever party your conscience makes you vote for, but vote!
...In lighter news, puppy prevents killing spree.
Edit: From![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shisochou:
If you're the American right, the answer, of course, is marginalized.
(from the Pitch)
Well, went and saw Fahrenheit 9/11 with the parents. Probably the same story as everyone else who sees it - packed house, people outside handing out fliers, etc. I liked the girl selling T-shirts saying, "The only Bush I trust is my own."
Now, I can't say I was originally a huge fan of Michael Moore. He seemed too much of a rabble-rouser with Bowling for Columbine, Stupid White Men, etc. I agreed with his views, but not with his practices.
Not anymore.
I thought overall it was a WONDERFUL movie. It didn't tell me anything I hadn't already read, but seeing it all in one place like that was incredibly damning. Was it propaganda? Possibly - it certainly does have a specific viewpoint - but it's no more biased than similar conservative books/news channels. (The big difference is, it doesn't try to claim it's "fair and unbiased".) It has something it wants to say, and says it - and works on exposing lies rather than telling them.
Was it emotionally manipulative? Certainly the soundtrack was at times - the syrupy strings at times were a bit much - but I don't really feel the movie itself was. The sequence with the mother who'd lost her son in the war in Iraq, reading his final letter, was heartbreaking - I found myself tearing up - but it's not like this woman DIDN'T lose her son, and the movie was attempting to show an example of one of the families who has lost a member to this war. So, in conclusion, go see it!
This, also, has got me thinking. The fact that this immediately followed it disturbs me even more. So the Vice President can verbally abuse a senator on the Senate floor - for saying hello - and feel proud about it? That makes me cringe. But I think it's merely emblematic of a larger contempt conservatives hold liberals - and even moderates - in. We Democrats have tried to be cordial, silencing ourselves, making sure we don't make waves, throughout the past several decades (and ESPECIALLY during this last administration, where anyone who disagrees with those in power is labeled "unpatriotic").
But what has cordiality and silence gotten us? Jack shit. What I think we need to do is to adopt Republican tactics. After all, the Republicans have been screaming about their marginalization since Gingrich started the swing to the right in the '70s (still have, as seen above), and what has it gotten them? The aforementioned presidency, both houses of Congress, etc. I think we liberals need to band together and make a big, unrelenting stink about our marginalization. We need to bring the center back to the center - or even to the left - from its current position in the not-so-moderate right. We need to challenge the lies like the "liberal media" - hell, with Fahrenheit 9/11, we're finally seeing the germs of an actual liberal media. They keep talking about a liberal media, let's give them one!
(Sorry for the incoherency of my rant, but I've been working on this entry over several hours, so it's unfortunately a bit fragmented.)
Finally, register to vote! If I find that anyone on my friendslist who's eligible to vote hasn't come November, I will personally come to your house and force you to listen to John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar" until you see the error of your ways. Vote for whatever party your conscience makes you vote for, but vote!
...In lighter news, puppy prevents killing spree.
Edit: From
shisochou:
no subject