zombienotes | 12.4.2005
On 12.3.2005 I made the front page of "Little Green Footballs", one of those generally hate-filled rightwing blogs. It's not the cover of Rolling Stone, but it's still an accomplishment...of sorts.
Now, it is true that I wrote a terse and angry comment about how the right - meaning the Political right with it's massive clout - seems to just hate our freedom, as in our ability to choose. But it really is little more than an off-the-cuff angry and frustrated (dare I say "half-assed"?) micro-rant, but it was sufficient to earn the honor of Bilious Leftist Rant of the Day. I write many other things but THIS is the moment somebody pays attention? C'est la vie.
It started with an article posted at
Smirking Chimp about
Conservative groups push[ing] a la carte cable menus.
WASHINGTON -- Conservative groups love the idea of letting television viewers pay for only the channels they want on cable and are happy it's back on the table in Washington, where lawmakers and regulators are fed up with raunchy television.
While the cable industry generally loathes the notion of an à la carte pricing system, at least one cable company and a potentially big cable competitor have embraced it.
À la carte would allow cable subscribers to pick and pay for individual channels rather than being forced to buy packages. A parent, for example, could pick Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network -- and not have to take MTV or other channels they may find objectionable as part of a bundled package.
The idea attracted attention this week on Capitol Hill when the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Kevin Martin, told industry leaders they need to give parents more tools to help navigate the hundreds of channels on cable and satellite television.
''Something needs to be done," Martin said at an all-day forum on broadcast indecency.
First I should say that I do NOT watch TV. I think TV in America is worthless or filled with "conservative" (rightwing) propaganda: specifically Republican-controlled propaganda. This is not open for debate. But I digress - on with the show.
As the original poster - whose perspective I have learned to value - observed, it would seem - at face value - to be the essence of a "good thing": pay for only the channels one wishes to have.
But, of course, this is business - and right wing business at that - so bait and switch is the order of the day. If you have not learned to suspect the worst with such things, you have not been paying attention.
The import of the article is that certain groups - and you know who I mean - are all in a tither about people being able to watch whatever they want on TV. Some parents have to monitor the electronic babysitter so as to ensure their children are not getting an eye- and earful of stuff that I AGREE they probably should not be exposed to in lieu of supervising them more carefully.
Other people, of course, just stay upset because they are offended by dissent and anybody having a good time. It is unfortunate that it is this small demographic that enjoys the ear of the GOP and the folks with the power to make things happen or not happen.
Bait and switch is the hallmark of Team Bush. They say one thing and work towards something quite different, and never anything beneficial for you or me - when they are not just lying through their teeth. The bait-and-switch will be that religious and the other conservative/right-leaning programming will be available as part of the basic "service bundle" and anything else will be an a la carte billing. It will be one more effort to limit dissent and contrary values and to impose their values on others. I'd love to be wrong. But, alas, I am probably not.
The "distinguished members" of LGF were shocked - SHOCKED! I say - that I ventilated a bit of my disdain for the constant rightwing assault on my freedoms and my future - which is also YOUR future, whether one cares to contemplate that or not.
The commentary there simply ran amok with some able to - somehow - decide that I want to take away their gun rights and that I am a child living at home and "Still waiting for you to give us that civil war you keep promising us.".
I have elected to clarify my comment since it garnered a good bit of attention. It is amusing to me that this one lone grouchy rant drew attention when everything else is just lost in the dust of the internet. It's like the one time one would get to be on TV and one has just woke up or spilled coffee all over oneself.
The comments at LGF, now exceeding 250, are what one would expect from rightwing sorts - all sorts of "indignation" about the "absence of polite discourse" and "bring it on" style sentiment, as well as the requisite demeaning commentary such as allegations that I am a child living in my parent's basement, or that - because they were able to read enough to learn that I am a psychotherapist - I must somehow be like Hannibal Lector. Quaint. I do appreciate the chuckles, though.
Clarification #1: My angry comments and wishing for the demise of those responsible for the onslaught against American's rights and freedoms is NOT about freepers and other such wingnuts. They have no power and they are not the ones pushing an avalanche of legislation designed to systematically reduce our abilities to choose what we want - in this case the abilty to choose what is on the "TV Menu". The "distinguished gentleman and ladies" at LGF seemed to take it that my comments mean them....and they don't.
I don't give a rat's ass about them or their opinions but I certainly don't wish any sort of harm to befall them. It's bad enough for them that their perception is warped, but they are not the people assaulting your and my freedoms. They are cheerleading these anti-democratic efforts for sure, but they have no more "power" than me. They can't even unwind their panties let alone take our freedoms.
Clarification #2: My wish for the demise are specifically focused on people with the power - the Dobsons, the Robertsons, the Lotts, the Hasterts, the Hannities, the Coulters, the Scalias and Thomas's, the Frists, the Cheney's, the Souders and so forth. Oh...and the Bush's.
I expressed myself in such terse terms not so much because these people piss me off - which they do - but because collectively they are ruining the America in which I have grown up and in which I must - more or less - live the rest of my life.
America was hijacked in 2001 and we have all been taken hostage, we have been robbed and plundered, threatened and intimidated and driven far away from the life we knew. We are still hostages at this very moment. The hijackers enjoy a good bit of support from the rightwing sorts described in Clarification #1. They are absolutely cheering on these bad people.
The hijackers are ensconced in the highest positions of power in these United States and there is little of nothing that I can do to stop the systematic damages they have set in motion - from undoing environmental laws to destroying the social safety net for people, to supporting torture and illegal occupations of other countries. I am just one guy and you can spare me your "one person can make a difference" pep talk. I know 1 person can - such as with Rosa Parks or Cindy Sheehan - but there have to be a variety of other factors in place for those individuals to do what it is they do.
So I merely ventilated my angry desire that something more expedient take place to stop some of these people. Their death by natural and routine causes would be sufficient.. Reading my rant closely should reveal that I was just "wishing", to begin with. I did not make any sort of incitement to riot or harm anybody, nor to mention anything illegal or that would otherwise constitute "terroristic threatening". Pat Robertson openly calls for God to strike down members of the SCOTUS and for the assassination of Hugo Chavez and nobody gets particularly upset, but I ventilate a wish for the Robertsons and Frists to die of natural causes and I end up on the front page of some wingnut site.
I certainly did not say such things as I think we should nuke them until their sand turns into glass. I didn't say "we should nuke them till they glow and then shoot them in the dark" or anything else hateful that one routinely finds at such sites. Their false indignation is pathetic, but, alas, par for the course..
Clarification # 3: I specifically mentioned in the comment that it has been the right - the GOP, the Republican Party - that has worked to obliterate rational and polite public discourse. This has specifically been done to destroy the ability of people to mount an effective opposition to the hijacking. Anybody who gets a coherent message through the noise and bullshit spewed constantly by their lapdog media is denigrated and smeared in one way or another. Joseph Wilson, Cindy Sheehan, Daniel Ellsberg, just to name a quick few.
We all see the intensity of this in the Plame Outing with Team Bush attempting to ruin Wilson's wife as payback for being able to communicate a rational and coherent message through the Category 5 Bullshit that is the Team Bush "rationale" for invading and occupying Iraq (and killing thousands and thousands of people).
One of my central efforts is cannabis reform and relegalization. It is from those efforts I have learned a good bit about the functions of propaganda and media control. Long ago I learned that the propaganda surrounding cannabis is very powerful and deeply ingrained in many people. They simply believe what they have been told - for 3 generations - and no amount of rational discourse can penetrate it. 80 years of lying is a lot to undo. But since at least Nixon's day, reefer madness has been assimilated into the GOP/rightwing "platform" or value system. Cannabis is one of the major dividing lines in what we call the Culture War.
Hence my humble little blog zombienotes: Second opinions on Cannabis and the Culture War. A quick scanning of the blog should reveal that while cannabis reform is the central topic, other culture war issues are addressed, such as support for Cindy Sheehan and bringing our troops home from a war started on lies. My goal is to simply catapult the message of reform.
A review of the "commentary" on LGF reveals the usual sorts of comments one is trained to expect when the topic of cannabis comes up: that I am somehow a drooling psychotic pothead who cares about nothing but my next toke. There was even a comment about crack which only further evidences what I say about the pervasive impact of reefer madness. This only shows what these people know and what they don't. And it demonstrates one more time that "polite and civil discourse" is at least severely damaged at this time. I can engage in such quite well, but it is not really effective in dealing with the issues I find of most pressing importance.
While we are trying to be polite and rationally discuss the mountain of lies and deceit perpetrated by Team Bush and the Right, we are powerless to impede their systematic assault on the Constitution (I always like how they accuse people like me of trying to "take their guns". Some sort of sublimated penis fear, that is...) and our freedoms to choose and make choices for our lives and families.
Clarification #4: I almost NEVER use the word "hate" in reference to people. I hate okra, I hate disco, I hate country music, I hate speedbumps in parking lots. That's when I use that word. In this particular post I did use the word because I feel that "they" - the ones working so hard to limit and remove our freedoms to choose - actually do hate those of us who would seek to stop their plan to eliminate our Constitution and end our Democracy - or what is left of it. I don't actually "hate" people. In the end - if we are to have a polite discourse - I don't' actually "hate" George Bush or DICK Cheney or Rummy et al. I view them as very dangerous people who belong in jail for the death and destruction they have instigated.
Regarding some nutty posts at LGF musing as to why "some lefty nut hasn't assassinate Bush": Killing Bush, aside from being a ridiculous statement, doesn't solve 1 problem at all. Neither will impeachment. There are too many of "them" to remove to slow the devastation they have set in motion.
Furthermore, I don't hurt anybody. I help people. I have made a career of helping people with mental illness, family problems of all sorts and now I assist people with severe disabilities.
The most we can hope for is that somehow, someway the Law will actually get applied to these guys and they will be indicted and sent to trial. That will take a long time and in the interim the devastation goes forward unimpeded. This is what I mean when I lament having to be subject to the law while they aren't. The GOP has virtually free reign to accomplish as much of their plans as possible before they are stopped. This why I said the ugly things I did: because I get tired of waiting for following the rules to save us from these criminals while they are allowed to freely destroy my country and my future.
I suppose that's enough for now. It's now run on to too many words.
I do wish to thank the fine men and women at Little Green Footballs for drawing attention to me and my little blog and for awarding me with "Bilious Leftist Rant of the Day". I am the envy of my leftist friends.
Cheers!
Doc | xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com