I'm not trying to draw a witty parallel between the two; if one
should serendipitously present itself, well, shucks, we'll run
with it. Board with it. Whatever.
Chapter 1: Arendt
I would like to send a big thank you out to the Detroit Pistons
and the New Jersey Nets for providing sucha satisfying media
alternative to the State of the Union last night.. and for my
favored Nets showing some life and toughness and handing the Stones
big L #6. Not that I would have watched the SOTU anyhow. I
find W to be completely unbearable to watch/listen to. Beyond the
3rd grade level vocabulary conveying a far right agenda, if I
thought one scintilla of what he was saying was original thought
I might feel differently... knowing that he takes his cues and
direction from a small circle of insiders whom former White House
associates have aptly labeled a "cabal" I'm just as happy to
read about the thing in the news. I am aware of the many fun
drinking games one can play during these things, but I had an early
hour conference call this morning, so that was not an option.
Anyway, getting to Arendt. Last night's speech was interesting
insofar as the buzz about what the man would say suggested that
an honest description of the above mentioned far right agenda
(i.e., 2005: the state should dismantle its most successful
social program at alleviating poverty, see, SOCIAL SECURITY, while
cutting taxes for the uber-rich and exploding the deficit such that
paying for such entitlement programs down the road will be a big
hassle) would be replaced in favor of an Orwellian program of
double-speak. Not to be confused with the deception-speak of
2003, which relied heavily upon the ol' boldface lie (WMDs in
Iraq, Uranium in Africa, etc.,).. but rather the embrace of
principles and maxims that are, in fact, antithetical to the
current actions of the state. The crux of the sermon seemed to
rest heavily upon two premises or ideas:
1) The US is overly dependent on foreign oil, and
2) The US should be weary of pursuing policies of isolationism
Hrm.....
Call me crazy, but this strikes me as akin to Jessica Simpson
talking up not-being-image-conscious to a classroom of middle
school females, or Jerome Bettis addressing a Jenny Craig class
on the finer points of staying fit and trim, or a certain unnamed
20th Century European leader... say, around the year 1939...
telling a country, maybe Poland, to pick one out of thin air,
that non-aggression is the way to go.
Lets see here.. US overly dependent on foreign oil.. US should
be weary of isolationism.. the correct course is that the US
should be a world leader.. embrace principles of multilateralism
and cooperation.. not drag itself into a bloody prolonged conflict
based on false premises with no exit strategy in an oil-rich
country while in the process burning numerous diplomatic bridges
and earning the US worldwide enmity.
WHOA. Whoa buddy. I was loosing the script there for a second.
I don't think that was the value lesson W was trying to impart
last night. Maybe I should have actually watched the thing instead
of watching basketball. My bad people. My bad.
Anyway.. I am, frankly, fairly glad that W chose.. err.. was directed..
to go the way of HYPOCRISY last night, because it allows me to evoke
one of my favorite quotes that I will now attribute directly to the
Bush Administration. Its by Arendt, and it goes, ahem, a little
something like this:
The hypocrite's crime is that he bears false witness against himself.
What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of
vices is that integrity can indeed exist under the cover of all other
vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true,
confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite
is really rotten to the core. ~Hannah Arendt, On Revolution, 1963
Deep breath
OK.. moving on..
No, wait!.. jus one.. err.. two more comments here on the political
scene. (1) I watched enough of the SOTU last night to catch some
good shots of Roberts and Alito and, I must say, going on the facial
expressions alone, I'm 'flip-flopping' and beginning to worry alot
more about Roberts. Alito looked like a guy who couldn't believe
he was actually in the room wearing the robe, etc., thinking to
himself, "holy crap, I'm the son of an Italian immigrant, I'm on the
Supreme Court!" Roberts, on the other hand, had this Norman
Rockwell look painted on his face, conveying a crusading spirit that
will not rest until the indignities and injustice born of liberal
precedent are laid to rest. I'm not going to use the "A" word here,
but you can use your imagination. (2) Democrats. Man. The Loyal
Opposition. Making a statement by having the guy who lost the
Presidential Election by 3 million votes dialing up from Davos to
orchestrate a feeble filibuster attempt. I'm feeling confident
about the November elections. Yes, that's the word, confident.
Right. Now we're done. Really.
Chapter 2: Snowboarding
The monkey is off the back. I finally did it. Hopped in the
car, drove up to the lovely Catskill Park in Upstate New York,
snapped? into the snowboard, and snowboarded. Yee-haw...
...and that's about as much of a positive spin I can put on the
occasion. Ben Folds has that, "Rocking the Suburbs" tune. My
theme song for the day was, "Rocking the Bunnyhill. Well, sort
of rocking the bunny hill. Mainly lucking out with the bunny
hill from time to time, mainly just falling on my ass."
Don't think I have the jist of it quite yet. But that's OK.
It ain't easy. There's a saying with these activites, "you
aren't having fun until the third day." So be it. I want to
go back, but the second day will have to wait until all the
swelling goes down somewhat, but there will be a second day.
And a third. And then we'll be thick in the fun.
I have to say.. some folks told me that the basics of
snowboarding are easier to learn than skiing. I think that
is, more or less, completely inaccurate. There were two year
old kids effortlessly skiing the single diamond slopes at Hunter
Mountain.. I think there's something to be said for being
able to move both legs separately and stopping fairly
easily. But I haven't skiied yet, so what do I know.
What I do know if that I can tell the world that I have rocked
the board. Good stuff. Below is proof of fact.
10 4. The test is over.
2 comments:
Dave,
I really like the emotion behind the Arendt quote but what about the notion that we're all hypocrites? And foolish consistencies being the hobgoblins of small minds? Thoreau containing multitudes, etc.
Are those that are weak of character, those that stray from the commonground between thought and deed, rotten to the core too?
If Arendt were a man, and I could convince him to come down off his high horse, I would punch him. I'd punch him right in the mouth.
ben
Would you punch Jack Hannah, animal lover?
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