tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post8873736610965335028..comments2023-11-30T02:30:42.825-08:00Comments on E a r t h G o a t: Orwell and Obama: Doublethink is double-plus ungoodGrendelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06664099783685963708noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-45907699483217315212009-04-06T09:36:00.000-07:002009-04-06T09:36:00.000-07:00Also- point taken. Things don't have to be awful....Also- point taken. Things don't have to be awful. The ways in which things can be better are crucial and must not be trivialized or dismissed. But as much as some things have changed, some haven't. Some, in particular, haven't changed as much as our perception of them has.<BR/><BR/>The conflation of democracy and consumption, for example. That's a perspective very particular to our lifetimes and it is so fundamental that it's hard to even articulate in a way that feels, at least to me, to do it justice. I read something lately, I think it was Jung, on the psychological effects of advertising. They run deep. I suspect it is all fundamental to how we view the past, present, and future. Individually; collectively.cfphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13229011285921460494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-78353794859942235722009-04-06T06:22:00.000-07:002009-04-06T06:22:00.000-07:00I won't pretend to understand the ins and outs of ...I won't pretend to understand the ins and outs of the national debt, but the way it has been explained to me indicates a mutual death embrace with our creditors that aligns interests to a degree that gives everyone a reason to pretend. And that could be good very likely be good enough to get us through this rough patch.<BR/><BR/>As for the politics of the deficit, I think they're mostly dishonest. All these "deficit hawks" are just advocating that we spend the money on rich people, not poor ones. Really! It sounds so awful but it's true. Take the estate tax repeal. That's $250 billion right there, tacked on to the debt for the sake of the richest of the rich. It'd cost less to train bears to do volcano monitoring.cfphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13229011285921460494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-62064919607904663472009-04-06T00:15:00.000-07:002009-04-06T00:15:00.000-07:00I don't know what "past the point of no return" me...I don't know what "past the point of no return" means, because it's poorly worded like the rest of this piece. I just don't know enough about economics to do more than go, "Eeek!" when I see graphs of the national deficit and debt. I don't see how they are ever going to be paid back. I don't see any mechanism or plan for a mechanism or willingness to find a plan or mechanism on the horizon. Maybe it's there and I just don't see it. But at some point, surely, it becomes more attractive to default or inflate it away? I mean, we are for all intents and purposes in bankruptcy right now, are we not? Again, I don't know enough to share more than uneasiness and speculation.<BR/><BR/>It's true, history has sucked for 99% of people throughout its duration. But why does it have to? Why do we settle for that? Why do we delude ourselves into justifying it?Grendelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06664099783685963708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-36743240920400853692009-04-05T20:36:00.000-07:002009-04-05T20:36:00.000-07:00What is this point of no return and when were we e...What is this point of no return and when were we ever not past it? I don't know, man. Most of history has been miserable or at least wildly unfair to most people. At least now it smells better and we (usually) have certain protections. I sort of feel the same way about democracy as I do about the president: rosiest when compared to the alternatives. Genuinely rosy in that regard, though, because even modest distinctions in these things are important.<BR/><BR/>I don't mean to do that "I'm the most cynical so I win" thing. I hate that attitude (especially in a comment thread on the internet! Bleh!) I don't consider myself to be cynical, actually. I'm just married to an historian.cfphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13229011285921460494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-14947482528392946652009-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:002009-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:00"The system is rotten to the core, and looking at ..."The system is rotten to the core, and looking at the truly obscene debt and deficits, could well be finally past the point of no return."<BR/><BR/>So true, and so terrifying. I'm so nervous about it that for once I have no stomach for composing hectoring blog entries about tax policy and the failure of oversight, etc., etc. <BR/><BR/>In fact, I'm so anxious that (I'm ashamed to say) I've begun to limit my exposure to the news.Maud Newtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15079810396982398384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-28728355305989425562009-03-31T15:38:00.000-07:002009-03-31T15:38:00.000-07:00I do recognize political and stytlistic faults wit...I do recognize political and stytlistic faults with this. I'm not he "bad man" ha ha!Grendelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06664099783685963708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-48434975494002995662009-03-30T01:07:00.000-07:002009-03-30T01:07:00.000-07:00I like Scott, but he wisely stayed away from polit...I like Scott, but he wisely stayed away from politics, except for "May Day."<BR/><BR/>The key to doublethink is accepting both ideas -- really believing both of them at the same time, even though they cancel each other out.<BR/><BR/>And you nailed it with expectations. Obama's imperfection is not a matter of him letting me down -- I let myself down by not really listening to his program. I remember writing on this very blog something like "What is Obama's plan for ____? I don't know and I don't want to know, I just want him to stay ahead in the polls."Grendelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06664099783685963708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-41374380555343169222009-03-29T23:37:00.000-07:002009-03-29T23:37:00.000-07:00I think you've put your finger on something a lot ...I think you've put your finger on something a lot of us have been feeling, Grendel. But you could also think of it in F. Scott Fitzgerald's terms:<BR/><BR/>"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise."<BR/><BR/>Of course, I can see it your way, too. :)cjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06037832907654311079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10113687.post-50476618380020127232009-03-29T07:28:00.000-07:002009-03-29T07:28:00.000-07:00Doublethink is probably so deep in how this cultur...Doublethink is probably so deep in how this culture works that I'm not sure anybody could be elected president or successfully govern without appealing to it on a fundamental, emotional level. But even if Obama's distinction are mostly symbolic, that's better than any alternative.<BR/><BR/>But there are pragmatic differences and I think you gloss over them in a way that makes me want to give poor Al Gore a hug (and Nader a punch in the face). I think it's all a matter of how you calibrate your expectations. Once you accept that this is an oligarchy and that it'd be nearly impossible to change that in the most fundamental way, you start to think that maybe some oligarchs are better than others.<BR/><BR/>I do believe, perhaps mistakenly, that Obama is more constrained by the system and it's workings than he is secretly loyal to it. Maybe that's doublethink. I do know that it's often a pointless distinction, at least in the rational sense. I guess I don't care. While I can point to the personal benefits of believing this, they have no role in making me I believe it. I just do believe it. It's not a conscious choice, and for that I'm sort of grateful. <BR/><BR/>No doubt, I am subject to masterful manipulations in this. I guess one's willingness to call such an effect propagandist really depends on how you judge its consequences. On the relative scale of our culture and its symbolic expressions (and manifold manipulations), I'd say they are better than harmless.cfphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13229011285921460494noreply@blogger.com