Saturday, November 30, 2013

We Used To Help Whole Countries Get Back On Their Feet


Now the same Conservatives who whinge on endlessly (and very selectively) about the virtues of those good old days would rather burn their own country to the ground and dance in its ashes than lift a finger to help rebuild it.

Because Freedom!



15 comments:

mary said...

This image of the U.S. as the benevolent 'big brother' is familiar from my childhood in the 1950's. I know it seems paternalistic, but when you're having a rough time, having a 'big brother' helps. I know that this image was P.R. but it was much more palatable than the U.S. as empire. I don't ever remember hearing this country referred to as an empire until the Iraq war (or just before). I thought being an empire was a bad thing, a blood-soaked thing. But maybe that's just the Irish in me. I wish we were still proud of being a democracy and a republic. I'm afraid we have started down the path of our own destruction.

Cirze said...

"They" actually have rebuilt their own communities.

With public funds.

Love you!

C

Anonymous said...

Good morning, Mr. Glass.

"I'm not going to kill you. But I don't have to save you."

---GOP motto...or "Batman Begins". Don't remember who said it first.

Enjoy your day.

---Kevin Holsinger

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Kevin, if it was the Republicans, they wouldn't have been able to say the first part.

What with the enthusiasm for guns, tasers, and assault vehicles for police departments, they seem quite willing to kill us.

Anonymous said...

ZRM,

Only if "us" excludes the white conservative, patriarchal, protestant part of their base.

God wants white people behind the phalanx of police in riot gear, not in front of them.

(Except hippies.)

Mike.K.

Mr. Bob said...

Mike.K.

Fuck your racist ass.

Cinesias said...

Mr. Bob

You seem to be new around here.

You might want to lurk more.

Anonymous said...

To those who think we used to "Rebuild" whole other countries, they need to google "Morgenthau plan" and see the reality rather than the propaganda.

Anonymous said...

Look at that proud Murkan fighting man, being forced by librul Political Correctness to give a handout to that 47% moocher, instead of inflicting violence and punishment on furriners as Jeebus intended.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Only if "us" excludes the white conservative, patriarchal, protestant part of their base.

Well, that goes without saying.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Mr. Bob, um, so...

First, thank you for getting my handle right. I always use the second period.

Second, I have a partner, but thank you.

And so... I thought the sarcasm would be obvious. Racism is quite a heavy factor in the whole "gun rights", police state mentality. The way it is *always* explained away is that "if you're not a bad person, you have nothing to worry about!". By believing that, it then becomes justified that people affected (by centuries of institutionalized socio-economic pressure) by an excess of police activity must therefore be morally deficient (and the racism has nothing to do with it).

The belief by such people is that they will never be as poor enough to become as morally inferior as "those people", by virtue of their whiteness and superstitious idolatry of a particular book. They always presume that the power they give to those with more money and avarice will never be turned against them, by virtue of mutual skin pigmentation or idolatry. (And I do not say that against religion in general, but against their blind, superstitious idolatry for supernatural authority.)

If you look at movement conservatism, it's conception of the State has historically *always* been a tool to oppress "those people". In this country (the US), that means keeping the blacks in their place, keeping the Irish and Scots in their place, keeping women in their place, punishing gays, and keeping those with more collectivist political views quiet. And, of course, this is always defended from the pulpit, so any fight against it becomes "religious oppression".

And for what I said to ZRM, the "malefactors of great wealth", or whoever you presume pulls the levers of power, still needs the low education, low information, aggrieved white vote in this country to legitimately maintain power. So, yes, "us" must by necessity be perceived to "exclude[] the white conservative, patriarchal, protestant part of their base".

And the easiest way to do this: "God wants white people behind the phalanx of police in riot gear, not in front of them."

I'm sorry if the snark wasn't clear. I hope it's not inappropriate to appeal to Driftglass, but I've been commenting here for years, and had brief correspondence with both DG and his wife (whom I would follow on Ravelry). If he thought I was racist-trolling, I'm sure DG would have blocked my (don't forget: anonymously posted) post.

I hope that's cleared up?

Mike.K.

DeistPaladin said...

As you've so commonly pointed out DG, the America conservatives pine for never actually existed (paging my Senator Rand Paul, this is how footnoting is done in conversation). If they were honest with themselves, they would realize that the only real American history they identify with is the Confederacy and they would wear gray uniforms instead of tricorner hats.

Monster from the Id said...

Mike, you shoulda used snark tags. ;)

[snark][/snark]

Also: Holy Haruhi, could the verification procedure be any fuzzier? I had to do it 3 times to get one I could read. :P

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

Protip, Iddy:

the portion of the numbers in the verf usually doesn't matter, maybe it checks if you get the number of digits right.

Monster from the Id said...

Thanx, ZRM. BTW, you remain remarkably coherent for a zombie. :D