The Republican Convention Has Reminded Me Why I Hate Them
By Daniel Miessler on September 7th, 2008: Tagged as Election 2008
First off, I thought McCain’s speech was excellent. It was a bit rough in places but no matter; it had the kind of logical, small government, personal responsibility feel that I like. But then there were the “I’m morally superior to you” and the “fuck you, world” sides.
Unfortunately, those are the sides that face others. This is the view of the party for the democrats, the independents, and the rest of the world. And I don’t think what he represented would be what we’d see from him anyway; it was an authentic lie. So how do we arrive at this?
Sarah Palin and Ruddy Gulianni. They are the true representations of the party. I thought Palin’s speech was great in many respects. She was 1) attractive (this is huge for Republicans), and 2) charismatic, and most importantly she was intelligent. Plus she was feisty. That’s attractive as a public servant.
But she also showed a bit of what she really is, and it’s not pleasant. Making fun of Obama’s community service was fucking deplorable. News flash—the REPUBLICAN ideal is to do things from within the community rather than through the government.
Her ridicule of community service was based on authoritarianism. It was based on the fact that Republicans (and the religious in general) like/trust/adore/give their freedoms to — people in authority. And they assume that if you are not in some sort of position of authority then the thing you are offering could not possibly be that valuable.
I see in the Republicans a set of characteristics that I find reprehensible. Here they are as I think of them, in no particular order:
- The feeling that dissent is anti-American, regardless of who it comes from. The irony being that it’s the OPPOSITE.
- The rejection of science when it contradicts their particular brand of superstition
- An overall moral superiority complex, i.e. looking down on others who are not religious as being inferior
- The mischaracterization of the U.S. as a purely Christian nation, as per the founding fathers. They constantly take quotes out of context and have very little knowledge of how secular the country was until the 1950′s.
- A general hypocrisy due to their religious convictions, which can be seen in things like Palin cutting funds for teenage mothers while having one in her family
- Reluctance to embrace a non-simple view of the world. They want it to fit into a small little package, e.g. “Anyone who speaks poorly of America hates America and helps the terrorists.”
- They want to force their superstitions onto others (see creationism in schools). Palin supports this.
- They are anti-freedom (really). Palin apparently has a list of books that she wanted to ban. Banning books is authoritarian and contrary to a free society. It’s also anti-personal-responsibility, which they claim to be for.
All these things add up to what I see everyday around me. I see smug, religious, non-thinkers who cling to a simple view of the world because adding complexity to it intellectually would make things uncomfortable.
That’s what Fox News does; it removes complexity from the world. It turns nuance into simplicity by sanding off the edges of reality. And their viewers love it. They cherish the simplified version of the world that Fox News shows them. And when these people are exposed to complexity and nuance they become nauseous—as if their inner ear has been damaged. They can’t wait to escape the world of gray.
The world is not simple, and people that try to make it so, and fit it into their own little manufactured reality, are dangerous. Especially when they’re the ones “that should be trusted” with our foreign policy and national security.
Neocons are crap. If you want to talk to me about being a Republican, fine. But make sure it’s a Ron Paul Republican and not some batshit crazy lunatic like Palin or Gulianni. They make me sad.:
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