What's our government doing right now? Nobody cares.

September 15, 2002 11:15 PM

What's our government doing right now? Nobody cares. (via David Cogswell) "There is this gap, you see, this enormous, gaping separation between what the honest and ardent and yet often shockingly misinformed populace believes drives the heart of this great nation, and what actually drives it." Slap a new adhesive flag over the one bleached by the summer sun and let's get to it. This really has to stop.
posted by crasspastor (22 comments total)

From the article: "We know not, for example [long list elided].

There is this gap, you see, this enormous, gaping separation between what the honest and ardent and yet often shockingly misinformed populace believes drives the heart of this great nation, and what actually drives it. "

OK, so, the author says we (and I gather that includes him) do not know certain things, yet the author makes a statement that would require him knowing these things.

Oh, but wait, Morford does have insider information, or how else could he write this:

And Cheney was once again squirreled away to an "undisclosed location" where he spent the afternoon moving little plastic tanks around a giant map spread out on a big table and humming "The Ride of the Valkyries," off-key, thus guaranteeing that this country would be in shaky, warmongering, pale, absolutely soulless hands should Shrub faint dead away from the sound of a firecracker near his armored car window.

I'm confused, too, by his
posted by Ayn Marx at 11:53 PM on September 15, 2002

Hey! My brillinat post was truncated!

Here's the rest:

I'm confused, too, by his insistance that the general public, and so the entire world, should be aware of troop movements. Seems like a silly way to run a war, bad or good.

Bascially, Morford's point is that the pubic is apathetic and the government gets to run around doing devious deeds.

This is news?
posted by Ayn Marx at 11:54 PM on September 15, 2002

What I want to know is... where are all the goddamned guilty civilians? Why aren't we bombing more of them?
posted by techgnollogic at 11:55 PM on September 15, 2002

I took it as, Ayn, that it's not the precise knowledge of where troops are currently in action and their secret strategies, but rather that we know, or that access to the information is there, that the US government is guilty of countless special-op atrocities. The common American perception that all is perennially good in this land and its beneficent leadership is actually a fallacy. The more we find out, Morford I think does a good job of pointing out, the less we wish to know. Why?

The news is, is the question of why it isn't news.
posted by crasspastor at 12:22 AM on September 16, 2002

should read:

That all that is perennially good in this land and its beneficent leadership is actually a fallacy.
posted by crasspastor at 12:25 AM on September 16, 2002

What a whiney, vapid, idiotarian fluff piece... Plenty of Vast Conspiracy broken-record Green Party bitchfest cliches, but without any of those annoying, uh, facts. Why bother with researching a scorching expose of the Great Satan's "numrous special-op atrocities" when you can get trashed at Burning Man and bitch about oil and money.

Shut the fuck up, Mark Morford. Quit your incessant moaning and praise your lucky stars that there are enough braindead suckers in Hippieville to keep your boring ass employed.
posted by techgnollogic at 1:15 AM on September 16, 2002

"That all that is perennially good in this land and its beneficent leadership is actually a fallacy."

I don't know anyone who believes that the US is perennially good or that our leadership is 100% beneficent. In fact, Americans are perhaps the least likely people to think of their politicians kindly.

Of course, heaven forbid any of us actually think that life, our country or our people are basically, perennially good, because there's sure to be some editorialist from what has become the nihilistic, bitter, jaded left to rain consternation on our naive reveries. Didn't liberals used to be optimists and utopians? Feh... (that's just for you, crass)

This really has to stop.

You mean the posting of these repetitive, boring opinion pieces accompanied by unnecessary editorial statements like "Slap a new adhesive flag over the one bleached by the summer sun and let's get to it..."? I agree. It has to stop.
posted by evanizer at 1:22 AM on September 16, 2002

I love your two posts guys (techgnollogic and evanizer). Why haven't you bothered to post your partisan glee over at the Buchanan thread? Opinion's opinion right? So, Buchanan issues a statement that lefties and righties against the insane imperialistic power grab can get behind and the poster automatically renders his duty to clarify that a nut can make sense sometimes. Conversely, an author, in this case Morford, quite obviously on the left, can also write a piece, a piece written also to sway, and is henceforth "skewered" by diminuitive nocturnal rightwing bombasts. Feh ack bleh.

What a load of shit evan. If Morford isn't given clearance to stereotype America, then how do you get the same to write:

In fact, Americans are perhaps the least likely people to think of their politicians kindly.?

"Approval ratings" (that still implicate Bush as Emperor) aside. Who are you other than one with his own opinion? Unless you're able to fashion your own little fascist empire quick, the dynamics of opinion, democracy and uncertainty will steamroll on. Mark Morford and his minions of hippies will continue to fuck with your heads until you just have to lock us up and let us rot. I'm not going away and from the sounds of it, neither is Mark Morford. Feh.
posted by crasspastor at 1:53 AM on September 16, 2002

nihilistic, bitter, jaded

Excuse me, Pot, there's a Mr. "evanizer" on line one...
posted by hincandenza at 1:53 AM on September 16, 2002

Er... I tend to agree with the article. I don't think being well informed makes me bitter, nihilistic and jaded. But turning a blind eye to a government that makes decisions based on the almighty dollar rather than the will of the people doesn't make me patriotic either.

To be quite honest, it was EXACTLY this sort of partisanism and corporatism that drove me to vote Green last election (Nader, more than the party).

Its also interesting that the above opinions play quite well into the hands of the very system Mark Morford describes. Keep it up lads! I am sure we will become as popular and sucessful as ancient Rome...

It APPEARS that a lot of you feel criticism against the system is a personal attack on our way of life. Now, of course if you support the machine that is "Capital" Hill, power to you, but frankly I have just about had it with the ever growing division in our upper and lower classes.
posted by FilmMaker at 2:36 AM on September 16, 2002

I'd be much more impressed by that article if the author actually supported any of the statements he casually flung around.

It is really easy to sit down in front of a computer and spew invective. But proving points with hard facts?

Save the rants for the blogs, boys.
posted by konolia at 3:34 AM on September 16, 2002

I'd be much more impressed by the government if it actually supported any of the statements it casually flings around.
posted by quonsar at 4:31 AM on September 16, 2002

Ayn Marx: I don't really have anything to say to you personally, I just really enjoy your username.

Anyhow, I have to admit that this Moford fellow is a bit annoying. While I generally agree with where he's coming from, his ranting sans facts is a bit tired. Not at all unlike a certain A.C. whom we all delight in complaining about.
posted by aladfar at 8:37 AM on September 16, 2002

...he spent the afternoon moving little plastic tanks around a giant map spread out on a big table and humming "The Ride of the Valkyries,"...

I love the smell of ideologues ranting in the morning. Smells like...desperation!
posted by MrBaliHai at 8:46 AM on September 16, 2002

Pat Buchanan?!
posted by techgnollogic at 9:27 AM on September 16, 2002

Where was this bombast in 1998 when Clinton was literally bombing the crap out of Baghdad? Oh yeah, a few other countries supported us at the time and that makes it automatically morally acceptable to attempt the same thing. Where is my bullshit filter...

crasspastor - As to why few if any of the conservative faction commented on the Pat Robertson thread. Most of us didn't care what he had to say two years ago during the elections, we didn't care what he had to say last week and we still don't care what he has to say today. He may feel he is a spokesman for the right, I think he's an self-serving, closed-minded butt-head. I started to work up a post for that and then realized that really didn't care what he had to say and that my biggest surprise on the subject was that anyone else did. I guess if the left is so impressed with his stance, THEY can have him as a presidential candidate next go round 'cause we don't need him.
posted by RevGreg at 9:41 AM on September 16, 2002

So what happens when President Bush declares "Emergency Powers" and suspends elections until the "present crisis, our War against Terrorism, is over."

Not that I really think this will happen, but what would we, as a populace, do? Would the public-at-large even notice? Would outrage be limited to a small, easily rounded up portion of the citizenry?

Oh well, at least my oil stocks are gonna spike.
posted by moonbiter at 9:42 AM on September 16, 2002

OT: You know, my sensible, rational side says that evanizer and quansar's approach is how I should model my behavior when confronted with nonsense like this post. But, golly, I did love techgnollogic's second response. Yes!
posted by mojohand at 10:22 AM on September 16, 2002

Morford's a satirist, ok, he's a lefty Dave Barry, so anyone who's looking for hardcore news here is out of luck to begin with. Where does Mark get his insider information, Ayn? Hint: he makes it up, dear. Maybe someone will point out to me, too, where the bitter nihilism in this column is, because sentiments like the intense love most of us feel for the enormous and bizarre and beautifully scorched melting pot that is the American social experiment and we are indeed a deeply flawed and imperfect but also fiercely caring and unified nation [etc] don't sound especially nihilistic to me and Mark's politically benign celebration of good booze, better music, and Hitachi magic wands don't sound especially bitter, either.

But beneath all the silliness, Morford's addressing an administration that asks for our unequivocal trust while refusing to trust us at all. An administration more reticent and institutionally expansionist (can't be: Republicans are opposed to Big Government) than all but a few in the last century wants us all to sit down and shut the fuck up while they lead us in to war. And plenty of Americans are apparently willing to be good little children and do so without asking any questions.

Techgnollogic--Idiotarian? Care to tell me why warblogger cliches are any more profound than hippie cliches? Call someone an idiot if you want, but spare us "idiotarian." People will think you use "impact" as a verb, too.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:09 PM on September 16, 2002

the pubic is apathetic

This is either the germ of a great band name (Apathetic Pubic) or a candidate for a new MetaFilter tagline.
posted by kindall at 12:45 PM on September 16, 2002

Oops, I forgot that all resistance to the constant drone of deadly serious and decidedly unimaginative opinion pieces is futile.
posted by sheauga at 2:58 PM on September 16, 2002

In the interest of loosening up: A humorous rant that takes apart Colin Powell, who I actually happen to like. Perhaps, someday, when enough of us realize that life is too short to read bad prose, we'll finally discover that the piquant salsa of literary style is easy to serve with cut-and-paste.
posted by sheauga at 5:06 PM on September 16, 2002