Mamet’s religious practice, along with his sensitivity to Israel, has deepened since he moved to Southern California and joined Ohr HaTorah. In 2006, he published a scorching book of essays, The Wicked Son, rebuking secular Jews for their (alleged) self-loathing and reluctance to defend Israel.Get older
I find myself getting more liberal and fearing death less as I get older, even as I understand them darn kids less and less. I also find myself a bit more forgiving of stupidity on the part of the young and less forgiving of stupidity on the part of older folks.The interesting thing about the internet is that it allows everyone to have a voice, not just rich people. If you look at the "MSM", their current panic over the debt and mania for austerity (and an 'adult conversation' where the rich as parents lecture the poor in the foll of children on the virtues of sacrifice while taking away medicare to pay for their tax cuts) it's obviously that there is a great disconnect between them and the average person.
Maybe it's because I'm not rich but not poor, and don't really see a bogeyman trying to keep me down or take me down.
… when he says "As a child of the '60s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, that business is exploitative, and that people are generally good at heart" I see someone who is studiously self-unaware. Mamet thinks people are generally good at heart? David fucking Mamet? His body of work displays such a plain contempt for human nature that I can only conclude his own life had been completely unexamined. Until he decided he's a conservative.posted by adamrice at 6:45 AM on May 18, 2011 [2 favorites]
And now that he's a conservative, he thinks that government is basically corrupt, and that people can be trusted to do what's right. What intellectual journey has just taken place? None. He's just changed jerseys.
Dave thought What’s the Matter with Kansas? had the answer for why people could even think to vote for a Republican—it’s because they’re duped by capitalist fat cats. I tried to tell him that people really weren’t that stupid. They just have other interests, other values. They’re values voters.If someone buys into a conservative idea, he is either evil or stupid. QED.
- Margaret Thatcher was right that Labour needed a few good drubbings to get some sense knocked into it.Plenty in there for high drama, I should think.
- The theory of evolution is scientifically ludicrous and politically poisonous.
- Materialism is a problem for which the only solution is reinvigorated spirituality.
- Degraded attitudes toward sex are responsible for the greater part of our social problems.
While it just so happens that "liberals" have basically absorbed all of America's empiricistsIt means that in America, if you believe in studying various courses of action and their consequences (political, economic, scientific) and making decisions based on the best available data, then you pretty much fall on the liberal side of the political divide. This has occurred do to various circumstances, but it doesn't mean that empiricism itself means that you can't be conservative; it just worked out that way in the USA at the present moment. It's not fair to argue with grumblebee's complaints that he wishes there were more right-wing conservatives promoting false talking points. I got the impression that he's simply bored with dealing with the same people from the same backgrounds who have the same experiences and same mindsets... which happens to be a certain subset of liberalism-of-the-sort-you-find-among-people-who-moved-to-Manhattan-to-get-involved-in-theatre. (grumblebee can jump in to correct me if my take on his comment is wrong, here)
What does this even mean?
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posted by Shit Parade at 11:12 PM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite]