I know this is a hard concept for the baby boom generation to grok, because we’ve all of us been told how important we are, how special, and how authentically wonderful. But when your 23-year old son joins the Marines – the Marines, for God’s sake, America’s 911 force – in order to serve his country and ends up going to the battlefield where his country’s enemies are found?
It’s not about you, anymore. It’s not about your feelings, or where you got your master’s degree. It’s about him. The young man who stood up and said, “I’ll go. Choose me.”
These are hard times. You ought to try and get over yourself, see the larger picture. Recognize who actually has skin in the game, and who is merely spectating. Pray a bit. Hope for the best. Write often. Send gedunk.
Just like all the people who didn’t get their master’s degree at Columbia.
Silly git.
Events within this tard admininstration seem to be occuring at frightening rates and terrifying velocities, threatening to spin out of control, just like you and me. I find myself strangely impelled to hug pillows, chant mantras, and probe for breeches in what has been, up to now, my impenetrable fortress, a frame of reference that the Diggers gave to me free of charge back in those rather idyllic, stupid, days of yore. Befuddled by life’s ill-timed, truant, and what I hope is malingering karma, listening to the honeyed, Old Grand Dad soaked strains of Charlie Rich tossing around the idea of who will the next GOP bobo be, as I wipe my weekend-induced, furrowed brow, contemplating yon weekend’s bitter yet persnickety insistence that I not rest easy nor enjoy chemical related abandon without proper genuflection towards god, goofy, and Saint Mick. As Dopey George further bungles what most of us could have faked in our sleep, Dank Dick delights as his lap-dog George has discovered the sensory delights of chewing on shoes, socks, and used underwear, all in the clear light and piss-yellow hue of the main stream media.
Ah Boomers…it never stops being about them does it?
Ladies and Gents,
Re: Carl, I don’t think it has anything to do with meds, I think Carl is a troll…
Jim C
My “benefactor” at the Salon Blog Report had the kindness to link this post, and once again we find ourselves in the presence of greatness. You do remember Gil of course, he of the orotund pronouncements, potty mouth and multiple exclamation points and question marks, do you not??? !!!
Troll or not, our latest look-what-the-breeze-blew-in has at least a charming – if not quite precious – dedication to pursuing his schtick, through thick and thin.
The smug air of lifted brow superiority is merely the tax that mortals must pay, I suppose. Pity.
What have you to contribute? Several varieties of pablum flavored recycled talking points from powerless turbo-digital geeks, lives so boring the resort to posting their unimportant, unoriginal filler in the name of party self-deception? So, can you offer anything even entertaining?
Please send digital transmission, I eagerly await some semblence of creative intellectual fluff, and no peeking into your Rush/Bill/Ann coloring books for “inspiration” either … fellow crypto-brainiacs and inter-dimensional entities will download and dump….”What a dump!”…hook pinkies over the Harmine hardlines…. put a crowbar in that glimmer of insanity you call a mind and pry open that rusty tuna can skull of yours….smells like tuna and smiles, I’m in lust….WTF?
Harmonic convergence? I steadfastly stand for disintegration of common psychic modes of knowledge and political stylings and for preventing the interested talking head from any forms of censorship. A powerful and timeless monument, threatening and cold like an iceberg pancake. A soundtrack for the coldness that real life can only create. Have you ever been this dark?
The Bush administration stands for distorted rhythms combined with horrific soundscapes, harshness and sheer force in repressed looney form, leading in an unforgettable experience, psychotic, cold and brutal salutations from the darkest cells of human psyche. Turn to your favorite media, turn on, and share the total noise-injection!
There is a certain class of political observer, albeit small, that have a remarkable and often bizarre preference for recreational psychic enjoyment. The “Harmine head” can often be found standing next to construction sites with their noggins cocked to the side, taking in the ambience that only heavy machinery and gross objectivism can provide while a thin stream of saliva escapes their lips. As they bob their heads to the disgusting sounds of a backhoe ripping up earth and concrete, mothers clutch their children and grown men cringe in fear and disgust.
Or perhaps it’s a kind of therapy. Who can say?
looks like the spell check module is fixed at least.
now for some tweaking on the run on sentence modulator and we’ve got a product!
Hehe…reads like someone else’s dog is pooping in your yard…please don’t blame the dog.
Carl! Here! Now!
“now for some tweaking on the run on sentence modulator and we?
“now for some tweaking on the run on sentence modulator and we’ve got a product!”
OMG! Thanks for the Laff, MajMike
And for an interesting juxtaposition, here is a different take (also from a Liberal Parent) about his College Educated son ENLISTING in the Army — headed hopefully for Special Forces! Definitely a different flair…
http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/009699.php
[...] This parent, and the one mentioned here. [...]
Fliterman raised some points, most of which I managed to ignore because they represent his feelings and as those reading the topic are aware his feelings and the notion we should care about them were the point of this exercise.
However, he seemed to indicate that he knew why an analogy he attributed to Dave Grossman was elitist, junk anthropology. I don’t know Dave Grossman, perhaps I may have read one of his works somewhere while surfing, but I’m curious if it’s the fact that Dave makes money on this analogy that has Fliterman’s BVD’s all in a bunch or if perhaps Fliterman doesn’t yet comprehend that an analogy is a simplification, an inexact comparison, intended only to draw parallels rather than concrete differences.
The analogy is accurate, just not as Fliterman thinks (if I may use that term for lack of more accurate description). The Sheepdog in the analogy isn’t the gung-ho Captain Combat in the military, it’s any person doing the grunt work that enables society to continue.
Sheepdogs are working dogs, unlike your typical poodle. They have a job to do. Sheep are herd animals, trusting in numbers to not be the one the predator catches. Those are the characters.
History has shown that as societies become richer, more centralized, and as a merchant class grows which lives on not production but facilitating trade, those societies decay from within. The further protected a people are, the further removed they become from the brutality required to support a society.
How many here have ever killed and butchered a chicken? A cow? A pig? How many have ever planted a seed and faced starvation if that crop wasn’t reaped? How many have ever lived where a call to the police might be ignored? Anybody ever lived where there was no police protection, no fire department, or where the only emergency services was a neighbor if you were injured? That’s what most people in recorded history live. In order to trade, you need either rule of law or enough firepower and friends on your side you are confident you can enforce the terms of the contract. Government provides that force to us through the rule of law.
Somebody has to enforce those rules, and as society depends upon those rules being enforced they take the enforcement of them for granted, and deem those jobs unworthy of their sprog. Nobody aspires to be a farmer, a coal miner, a policeman or a firefighter, yet those are the folks a merchant class is dependent upon for their security and their continued prosperity.
Eventually, with no memory of hardship and deprivation to draw upon, the work that forms the foundation of society becomes second-class. Joining those ranks is discouraged. In the case of Rome land was offered to former enemies to join the legions, and Rome fell shortly thereafter as the middle class depended upon slaves and mercenaries to defend them.
Yes, Fliterman, I think the analogy is correct. In the article I saw mainly a mother concerned for the health of her son. I also saw a mother not only condemning that decision but casting into doubt the intelligence and motivation of not only her son but all those who serve with him. All those who have served, anybody who made a choice and signed and did their job.
In short, she and you are the perfect example of why Rome fell, why Greece is a nation of fishermen and not Hoplites, why the sedate job of pushing papers in a government office is more appealing to most than starting a business or taking a risk. We have forgotten hardship, and we assume safety is a birthright.
I am glad I will die before I see this complacency spread through our nation.
– Max
P-3W, just for thread veer: I wish! I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since those food-nazis in the FDA took tryptophan off the market back in 1989, I think it was!
There was just the one bad batch!
Amino acids compete for transport across the blood-brain barrier, so if one loads up his tummy with lots of tryptophan and not much else, he’ll make more serotonin and go sleepy-bye much more easily..
Oh, to get back on topic: I don’t care much for all of this talk comparing humans to sheep (why I quit going to church) or dogs, or wolves.
Humans are humans, which means that we are just a rather smart, mean, dangerous kind of monkey (with a soul, if one professes Christianity).
M’self, if I had to compare me with any other critter, I’d have to say that my sentiments are more cat-like than monkey-like, but then I’m among the 1% to whom The Hobbit attends.
Oh, and I do believe that cats have souls. As do dogs, of course, and cows, and even fishes and lizards.
This is why we say grace before meals. Not being vegetables which can live on minerals and sunlight, we heterotrophic animals must kill in order to live.
That is why we should ask forgiveness and give thanks for the death of our food.
Dinner is serious business!
#58 – “In short, she and you are the perfect example of why Rome fell,?
#58 – “In short, she and you are the perfect example of why Rome fell,…”
Max – your playing loose with your analogies only gives support to my position – that those who buy into the elitist Sheepdog theory feel personally superior, in that they think they are the only ones who can preserve civilization – and that all others are merely weak, or worse, and will lead to our decline.
The reasons for the fall of Rome are legion (no pun intended). Its decline and fall was spread over a few centuries and many generations. Its many complex causes are still aggressively debated today. But I can assure you that the fall of Rome was not due to people like the woman, me, or any of our alleged ilk. (At least you didn’t try to blame Rome’s fall on the lead in their water.)
The validity of the Sheepdog analogy lies much more to vocational aptitude and personal proclivities, rather than any superior talent or inherent endowment of an individual. But its proponents seem to fell it’s the latter. Yes, to survive, a civilization or society certainly needs security and the necessary personnel to perform that function, just as it needs many others performing other functions. But too often the proponents of the analogy revel in the thought of their being in a special class of Homo Sapiens, and that others are weak and would not survive without them. Baloney!
The majority of those in Valley Forge, in Pickett’s Charge, in European trenches or Iwo Jima sands were not “sheepdogs.” They were farmers, bakers, and construction workers. And mostly they were kids. The number of previous ‘momma’s boys’ in those battles far overwhelmed those you would term as Sheepdogs. But they did rise to the occasion, performed “above and beyond,” and then went back to being what you would term sheep.
Is the fireman a better man than the businessman? Is the police officer a better man than the inventor? Is the border agent a better man than the musician? What I hear from sheepdog proponents is that they are better men… never mind the Declaration of 1776 that says otherwise. Yes, certain jobs are necessary for a society to function and thrive, but the men who fill those positions are no better or worse than their fellow man. Unfortunately, your comparison of a sheepdog to a poodle implies otherwise.
And FYI Max, I have killed and butchered chickens, pigs and cows. I have put much food from both domesticated and game animals on many tables. I have lived far from fire and police, and have had crops fail and livestock die. I have been nearly self-sufficient. But I am no Sheepdog. I also have killed while protecting others. Indeed, I found I was quite good at it; and to my surprise and later introspective concern, I found I actually enjoyed many aspects of that effort. (And under the same circumstances today, I would act no differently.) But although I may have some talent, experience, and affinity for that type of work in the defense of others, I would never begin to believe that I am any better than anyone else – many of whom would also do what I did if ever needed and when pressed.
Finally, it would seem that you almost would want a national decline just to prove your belief of national complacency. And perhaps there is complacency, just as there certainly was before Pearl Harbor and 9-11 – but it was then immediately erased. I have great faith in the people of this nation, the sons and daughters of rebels, pioneers, and patriots. The greater threat to our nation is not their temporary, perceived complacency, but ill-advised and poorly prosecuted wars, regrettable foreign policy, enormous debt and fiscal capriciousness, a loss of the middle class, corruption, etc., and the dangerous and insidious thought that one class of people are somehow superior to others.
The perfect stew of society requires many disparate ingredients, of which all must – and in a perfect world – do contribute. It is the perfect stew that is important, not its individual ingredients; no matter how ‘perfect’ or ‘sheepdog-special’ they may think they may be.
Fliterperson-
The “Declaration of 1776″ didn’t say all men are equal. It said all men are created equal. What you make of yourself determines your position in life.
I’m proud of you for killing to protect others but you didn’t mention whether your killing involved putting yourself in danger or not. I’m going to guess no.
Personally, I’ll take a fireman or a policeman over a businessman any day.
But that’s just me.
Nose
Nose -
1. Your guess about my personal risks couldn’t be more wrong.
2. The job does not make the man.
3. Personally, I’ll take the businessman who supports his community, his church, raises a decent family, contributes to charity, coaches Little League, sings in the choir, helps others, employs people and treats his people well, etc. over a policeman who does none of those things. (And conversely, I would take the Policeman who displays the greater character over a businessman.)
4. I believe what a man “is” is greater than the “job he does.”
5. I agree, “what you make of yourself, determines your position in life.” The problem is, by what metric, and by whom is that determination made?
But all that is just me.
fliterman, you read far more into my missive than was intended.
Civilizations wax and wane throughout history – that is the order of things. No big deal, just interesting to observe.
The rest of what you wrote was nice. Enjoyed it a bit, even. Keep up the good work. But you’ll understand if I found it irrelevant to the topic at hand and have other pressing concerns that need attention.
Now if you’ll pardon me, I’m off to iron my toaster cozy…
– Max
MaxD – You are hereby “pardoned” . . . not that it is necessary (and whatever a “toaster cozy” is?).
Your thoughts were interesting and provoking. And irrelevancy and thread drift did in fact enter in, through mostly my fault than yours. But thank you. The opposing concepts we discussed are still both vitally important.
Indeed we seem to have some very shared interests, albeit from perhaps diametrically opposed positions and philosophies. Nevertheless, thanks for the thought stimulation, and the historical Roman references. Fertile ground there for us all.
Best regards ?
MaxD – You are hereby “pardoned” . . . not that it is necessary (and whatever a “toaster cozy” is?).
Your thoughts were interesting and provoking. And irrelevancy and thread drift did in fact enter in, through mostly my fault than yours. But thank you. The opposing concepts we discussed are still both vitally important.
Indeed we seem to have some very shared interests, albeit from perhaps diametrically opposed positions and philosophies. Nevertheless, thanks for the thought stimulation, and the historical Roman references. Fertile ground there for us all.
Best regards – except and until we lock horns again . . .:-)
It’s interesting that you still don’t “get it” about the neccessity of those who protect our country Fliterman.
I also found the gratutious slap at the President and his administration pretty damned revolting. It amazes me that after four years and an amazing amount of evidence that there are still some people out there that don’t see Iraq as a front in the war on terror. It’s even more revolting that this apparent blindness is more due to blind partisanship than a lack of understanding the facts.
Jim C
Thread drift? Whatchew talking about? *I* am the thread drift person!
Drift, hell! I am the rudder of the thread jammed hard-over person! You guys will have to steer with the screws if I get close to the helm.
[...] hat tip to Lex for finding this [...]