Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Three from Macomber
I would have put these up earlier in the day, one after the other, but I really wanted to leave the post about Ryan Frazier above the fold for a bit. Now you get a triple shot of my favorite straight-edge writer*.
So, About Randi Rhodes
I read commentary at Kos, at Sadly, No, and at a few other smaller sites yesterday and the rush to blame conservatives for the Rhodes’ incident was almost giddy. The self-righteous preening about conservatives’ calling them on their bigotry after the real story--real non-story--came out was even funnier. I tried to have a polite conversation on one site--and ended it--when I was accused of arguing in bad faith because I hadn’t come with the proper apologetic attitude for my beliefs. Literally.
Truth is that there are times that I am wrong and I will accept that. I will admit to it, and I am willing to learn. What I won’t do is come to every conversation with the self-appointed enlightened few, hat in hand, apologizing for every difference of opinion.
Er, sorry. Back to the Rhodes show from yesterday, Shawn captures the mood nicely.
Despite the contentions of Rhodes’ own lawyer and Air America Radio—not likely members in good standing of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy—Rhodes’ fans refused to let the hate crime narrative give up the ghost. “We are likely to be more accurate on this board than the entire domestic news industry,” one aficionado declared at Rhodes’ official site. Another seconded that dismissal: “Unfortunately the AAR statement was so vague it only worsened the situation.”
Vague? The reports of a presumed hate crime are unfounded seems to be the sentence-length antonym of vague. And even leaving aside whether a person whose profile lists his location as “The 13th Floor of the Tower of Terror” and auto-signs every post with the refrain, “Republicans will never be happy until they have completely destroyed the earth and ended all life as we know it” is going to be more accurate than the entire domestic news industry, is he going to be more accurate than Rhodes’ lawyer and uber-liberal employer?
Yeah, there was a lot of that posturing yesterday. I haven’t ventured that far to the left today, so I don’t know if it has died down or not.
Quiet Revolutions
Shawn went on a trip to see fringe left and right wing secession groups meet to carve out their bits of the United States in sort of a looney mimicry of the Yalta Conference. But while those folks were busily planning for something that will never happen--in fact, their suggestions, hopes, and plans will likely be ignored to death--Shawn met a man who cheerfully found a way to rebel against stupid government rules and intervention.
I used to drive a regular cab and wanted to keep doing it, but the hoops they make you jump through to get certified are crazy and way out of my budget,” he said. The more he tried to play by the rules, though, he said, the more the city regulators seemed to enjoy shutting him out. The board that grants licenses in Chattanooga is partially run by local cab company owners—would-be competitors, in other words. It’s a process that, if not actually corrupt, at least gives the impression corruption is a distinct possibility, as even local press and politicians have begun to note.
It’s a light story, but a very good one--a little inspiration for anyone who believes that part of the job of the citizen is to keep government’s power in check.
Update: And note how following my links can bring you to happy new information.
Well, Yeah...
Lastly, I thought everyone knew that The Bends was the artistic peak for professional mopesters, Radiohead.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Shawn deserves to be on your blogroll or in your RSS reader. If you want to comment on any of his stories, visit his site.
• For the record, Shawn may or may not be straight-edge. I’ve never quite been able to figure it out.
Comments & Trackbacks
I couldn’t finish Shawn’s article. No offense to you, Shawn (you’re alright in my book) but it just annoyed the crap out of me. I am a left-wing, crazy liberal. I mean, I moved to CANADA. But seriously. that Rhodes twerks me. If it was an assault, which it wasn’t, but I bet it would have come from one of us lefties who had it to HERE with her giving us a bad name. Have you ever listened to her? She’s absolute crap.
Well, that’s not a response I expected. I mean, I know that I can’t stand her, but that’s because I’m a right-wing looney.
Anyway, I don’t think you’re a crazy liberal. You listen too well--you never would have expected me to start apologizing before we’d even started a conversation just to prove my good will. You aren’t crazy. Just mildly unhinged.
How are things going in the Land of Eh?
Didn’t click on the first link, but the second gave me a post.
As for the “Land of Eh?” comment, I find it interesting that “Eh?” corresponds with “ka” in Japanese, which is a spoken question mark. For example, “Kore wa hon desu” means “This is a book,” and “Kore wa hon desu ka” means “Is this a book?”
Fits right in with “This is a book” and “This is a book, eh?”
“Republicans will never be happy until they have completely destroyed the earth and ended all life as we know it”
Not true; I’m a happy guy right now and outside my window it’s all earthy and lifey and stuff. Destroying the earth and ending all life as we know it would be just a bonus. A nice bonus, mind, but just a bonus nonetheless.
Wheels, I did not realize that. It really is pretty much the same thing.
Which is almost as good as destroying the earth and ending all life as we know it.
Wheels, you have been linked.
I agree with Shannon. I’m a liberal, but I can’t abide the noise. Left or right, it’s all noise, and its generally not news. Talk radio will destroy the earth and end life as we know it, in my opinion.
Or not.
BTW, I’m sad I missed the bash. Like, for reals.
Talk radio definitely raises the noise level. Blogs do too, quite often. Sorting the good bits from the bad can be quite a chore.
Anyway, we missed you, too. Damn you. And stuff.
I have always held that the eh? is the equivalent of the American huh?. But Wheels, you nailed it.
And David, I totally take that as a compliment.
Related to my comment, and your reply, but not so much the topic of your post, I have a little something for you over at my blog, if you haven’t already seen it… : )
Is it the Rockies post or the Onion post? Because, you know, both of them made me smile…
Jeepers Criminy you flatter me. I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy! Even if there wasn’t this sort of kindness, though, I’d be here all the time, anyway. This really is one of the maybe three or four blogs I actually visit regularly.
But I am straight-edge. Yeah, sure, I could dodge and say, “I’m an adult and the label isn’t really for adults, I’m just livin’, man.” Since the label DOES fit, though, I might as well cop to it. I even gots a tattoo of the Shelter logo from QUEST FOR CERTAINTY. That passed for XXX street cred in 1994, in case anyone asks.
Oh, and you’re okay by me, too, Mr. Lady.
In other news, David J., I finally saw Jesu a couple nights back and, as Larry David might say, it was preeetty good. Preeetty, preeetty good. I haven’t be in a room with that many Godflesh fans since...well, since Godflesh broke up.
Shawn, I was going to answer this last night, but then my server exploded. It was still dead when I finally got around to sleeping.
Anyway, it isn’t kindness, it’s more that I think that writing is a tough business and I want to make sure that people notice the writers that I like. And you’d like Mr. Lady quite a bit: she’s a good sort.
I thought you were straight edge--by some of the bands that you like and some of your lifestyle choices, it just sort of fit. I know that once you get past a certain age, the label stops mattering and it really is just a matter of how you live your life. It’s decent shorthand for a certain set of ideals, I think.
That said, I wouldn’t have pegged you as a big fan of Shelter, though. I can’t remember where I saw them described as “Krishnacore,” but it’s not a bad way to describe them. Not that the music doesn’t kick ass--I still listen to “The News"--just that I wouldn’t have thought you would have appreciated the overt spiritual aspect.
Whatever, Minor Threat’s “Straight Edge” is still one of the best minute’s worth of hardcore ever.
Was it weird being at a Jesu concert? The older I get the more out of place I feel when I go see some of my old favorites--like a Social Distortion concert that I went to last year. There were a lot of old bastards like me, but I wasn’t doing any of the things that I used to do: I was drinking lightly, wasn’t bulling my way up toward the front, that kind of thing. I still get into the music, but I don’ t know that I get into the scene.
That sounds stupid, doesn’t it?
Lastly, the weird thing about Jesu is that I can hear the Godflesh in there, but the music is just so different. I’m pretty sure it’s the world’s first ambient band with hardcore tendencies. In honor of this comment, I’m playing “Silver” right now. My office mates do not approve.