"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Outlandish Josh

Published on Fri, 2004-09-24 17:10

For Political Reasons

One of the big reasons Iraq is al-FUBAR is that so many choices were made with political considerations outweighting operational imperatives. Kevin Drumm is no Flaming Leftie:

[The upcoming] election, and the political considerations that go along with it, have been driving our military strategy for the past two years. Before the war, we passed up a chance to take out terrorist mastermind Abu Musab Zarqawi -- for political reasons. We invaded with too few troops -- for political reasons. We lowballed the cost of the war -- for political reasons. We ignored the UN and then turned around and pleaded for their help -- for political reasons. Then we installed Iyad Allawi as president behind the UN's back -- for political reasons.

He's got links for all those things too. The most devistating part is the closer though:

Thursday's press conference was just scary. It's no longer clear if George Bush is merely a cynical, calculating politician — which would be bad enough — or if he actually believes all the happy talk about Iraq that his speechwriters produce for him. Increasingly, though, it seems like the latter: he genuinely doesn't have a clue about what's going on. What's more, his staff is keeping him in a sort of Nixonian bubble, afraid to tell him the truth and afraid to take any positive action for fear that it might affect the election.

As I said before (and I'll say again, it's my new "message"), working to unseat this administration is possibly the most noble effort anyone of you can undertake in the next five weeks. There are lots of ways to participate. Find one that lets you be who you are and use your skills and do it.

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politics
Published on Fri, 2004-09-24 16:28

The Shift Is On

Ok party people, it's time to get down and finish this sick old dog that is the Bush Administration off:

Their Tower of Babel is Collapsing.

The Tower of Babel is a great metaphor here. It's biblical, a lot of people will get it, and it's dead-on accurate. Dig it:

The strength of Team Bush is based on their message-discipline, the fact that they present a monolithic and seamless front to the world. They all express the same opinions, even using the same language. It's the apex of the "talking points" methodology, and for the past three and half years it's worked.

But now, like all propaganda efforts, it's coming into conflict with reality. It's starting to break down. The massive hubristic tower Bush built by having his workers speak one language -- this tower of Babel (or babble, if you prefer) -- is beginning to crumble as the rest of the world starts to realize the language they speak has at best a tangential relationship with reality. They're being forced to improvise, forced in some cases to own up to the truth, and the effects are going to be devistating.

Kerry/Edwards has found their groove and the Bush Gang is skipping around like a CD you fished out from under your car seat. The momentum is ours if we take it.

Now is the time to bear down and push hard. Maybe write a letter to the editor (get a list from downhillbattle); maybe send a mass-email to your friends (this ad is good); maybe sign up to do some volunteering in the next week, maybe even with traditional orgs.

And for those of you who can't tell. I think I've found my groove too. I truly believe that unseating this administration -- a presidency so corrupt it makes Nixon look like a postmaster general stealing a few stamps from time to time -- is probably the most noble work that any American can do over the next five weeks. With a little luck and elbow grease, it will be grand fun as well. Democracy in action is a beautiful thing.

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politics
Published on Fri, 2004-09-24 11:13

Musings on Modern Sex-Roles

In spite of what you might think from teen-empowerment rhetoric for young women to resist the pressure to have sex when their skeeevy-ass boyfriends ask them to "proove their love" (does this even happen anymore? feels to 1950s...) it's a lot less socially acceptible for men to decline the opportunity than it is for women.

The stereotypical sexual dynamic we grow up with is that men are the always ready and eager to get down, and women decide rather like old hellenic godesses when to drop manna (nanna) from heaven upon us. Thus it's expected that women decline, while men are assumed to be ever-hungry. Perhaps this is another sign of my outlandish nature, but I generally don't think my experience matches this template.

Within my social world (which is admittedly liberal, not to mention artsy-fartsy), there's little traditional male sexual aggression. By aggression I mean really initative-taking, and one might use the term "romantic advances," but I think aggression is a better word because it's dirtier, more direct, and cuts closer to the power-dynamics that actually come into play.

Something else I find interesting -- and feel is somehow related -- is the surging presence of perfume and beauty products for men. People are often quick to lump this in with the "Metrosexual" trend, but if you actually look at what's being pitched and how, it's Maxim-style (or literally Maxim-branded) products. The demographic is clearly young men, but the manner of the pitch plays directly into the docile male role.

For instance, the new Right Guard Extreme ends with a dazed skydiver being led off by a couple of cheerleaders, with obvious innuendo. The Axe Effect is even more direct, suggesting its users will be the subject of uncontrolable female lust in the elevator at work, a modern role-reversal of ancent "she wants it" quasi-rape fantasies.

Which is not to say that these fantasies are not attractive, because they are. For young men who grew up in places and times where women's rights and respect for women are a foregone conclusion, the scenario in which she takes you seems the least complecated way to get laid. You could chalk this appeal up to sheer laziness, but I think there's something much more complex at work.

Outside the world of mainstream hip-hop, which still celebrates male sexual power (sometimes to the point of misogyny), you don't see many cultural representations presenting the virtue of taking the initiative. There's no model for how this is supposed to go, and in a liberal world where power is a dirty word, inaction and hesitency are the rule.

I don't know whether this is bad or good (it's probably not as simple as that), but I do think that it's something which deserves further inquiry.

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General
Published on Wed, 2004-09-22 20:03

I Can't Wait For November 3rd

Confession: I wish the election were yesterday rather than six weeks ahead. While I'm looking forward to the bit of political theater we call "The Debates," this campaign has become (to quote our Secretary of Defense) a long hard slog. There's very little excitement or surprise, and no fun whatsoever these days. Barring major unforseen developments, there's nothing likely to change the dynamic in the next six weeks. Fuck it; why not pull the trigger now?

There are logistical and of cource legal reasons, but I don't find them all that personally compelling. You might call it an attitude problem on my part -- problem because it's a mindset that can prevent me from making major breakthroughs in my work -- but I'm not going to pretend it doesn't exist. For all intents and purposes my life is on hold, has been on hold for some time, for this event, and I want it over with. The feeling I have now is honestly one of watching the clock in grade school, and in the mean time there are things I'm lacking.

New clothes? Wait until after the election. Romance (or even unhurried coitus)? Wait until after the election. Quality time with friends and family? Wait until after the election. Rekindling the creative process? Decorating my room? Yoga clases? Vacation? Fun? Wait until after the election.

No one's imposing this on me but myself, of course, and no one can fix it for me, but that doesn't make the situation any less intolerable.

It struck me out of the blue this afternoon: I'm bored! I haven't felt bored for the better part of a year. Lonely, yes. Depressed, yes. Exhausted beyond imagination, many times; but not in recent memory have I felt the listless and unfocused malaise that is my childhood nemesis.

You see, before the engine of adolesence gave me angst and pathos to tussle with -- and even after -- I was bored out of my mind a lot of the time. Thinking back, I believe the crushing weight of boredom did not begin to receed until my latter teen years, when I discovered good friends, advanced placement classes, acting, the school newspaper, drugs/alcohol/partying and then moved to New York City (where the only way to be bored is to be braindead or broke) in relatively short order.

I was thinking earlier today how stressed out I am, and how the only thing I can compare it to in terms of magnitude of effort is at the end of my college career when I wrote, directed and produced a full-length play while simultaniously finishing my academic requirements and working two jobs. I was thinking of this not because that was four years ago, during the heat of the 2000 campaign which I ignored, but because I'm having a hard time focusing lately, and in that last week of production my friend Frank dropped me a little care package which included whiskey, powerbars and some of his adderall.

I was wishing again for that pharmaceutical whetstone to sharpen my edge, but I don't know if it would help or not. The situations are somewhat non-analagous. There's much less structure to what I do now, no classes, no real boss, no set understanding of the products which are expected (essays, plays? no no, son, build me a social movement, mkay?). I have no advisors watching over me and offering sage advice. The work is in someways creative, but it isn't stratching that part of me that itches lately. It's a pickle, and I'm not above attempting to use chemestry as part of a solution to the problems I face.

But confessing all this makes it somehow easier; more engaging; less boring. The system works! There are other more hairy truths to disclose in this investigation of "why I'm not a really happy camper" lately, the hariest of all -- as always -- having to do with other people. I'll get there. The process is sound.

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confessions

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