[lit-ideas] Re: Hate Clubs
- From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 23:31:36 -0400
Eric -
You seem to have mistakenly concluded that everyone who hates Bush is as
inarticulate as your friend. They aren't. We aren't. At least I'm not.
Sometimes there are so many reasons to feel the way we do, that we get
flooded. And the flood blocks us from thinking clearly.
But there are many good reasons to hate him, not because he's a member of
the other party either. There was a time when relationships were possible
between Democrats and Republicans -- across the aisle. This administration
seems to have heightened the hostility and frozen it at an all time high.
Here are some reasons I hate Bush and this administration, in no particular
order:
* ** Everyone who disagrees with his viewpoint is called unpatriotic. He's
created a toxic climate in America because dissent is routinely squelched.
* ** His administration has intimidated reporters who question him and
sabotaged our ability to have an open marketplace of ideas. His more than
any other administration in recent memory is responsible for that. I don't
remember Nixon as so loathesomely effective at frightening the Fourth Estate
into silence.
* ** His lies. This president lies about everything under the sun -- and
reporters in print and broadcasting have let him get away with it repeatedly
because they're afraid of him. Just today in a piece on his trip to Ireland,
he said to an Irish reporter that most of Europe has supported his war in
Iraq. His lies about WMD and his deliberate effort at confusing the public
into believing that Iraq was behind 9/11. (70% of the American people still
believe that.) And that's because this president has artfully injected that
lie into everything he says. He lies about his environmental policies, his
economic policies, his tax cuts for the very rich, his education policies.
His ads are so filled with lies about his opponent that I'm ready to throw
up whenever I hear them.
*** His pre-emptive war has made America a model for every rogue state to
imitate. Pakistan and India could use America's stupid behavior regarding
Iraq as an excuse to go to war as well. Bush started a pre-emptive war
against Iraq because he told us that Iraq is imminently ready to go to war
with us. And will. We've learned how truthful that assertion was.
*** He's isolated America from the rest of the world with his rejection of
all the treaties America had agreed to prior to his arrival on the scene.
The network of treaties and policies that brought America together with the
rest of the civilized world was ripped apart by this radical extremist. Mr.
Putin seems like a more civilized leader than Bush in comparison.
*** He's sucked the Federal government dry by stealing money from the
treasury, social services and social security to hand the money over to the
richest of the rich. The poorest of the poor, the most vulnerable in
society, are paying the most for his tax cuts and his war. And because he's
given so much back to the very rich, all the rest of us have experienced tax
increases: local property taxes have gone up; local school districts have
suffered great losses; police and fire have been depleted; state governments
have suffered.
*** His Patriot Act has successfully rolled back our civil liberties and
expanded the power of government, just the opposite of the Republican focus
on limited government.
The CEO of the USA is not like other chief executives who can order
subordinates around. This CEO's purpose is to lead and to persuade. He
manages the executive branch, but he can't order the 535 members of Congress
around. He can influence them. But Bush persuades with lies. He reminds me
of what a poor salesman does in order to sell his product or service. He
misrepresents and falsifies the benefits he offers to close the sale. That's
what George W. Bush has done from Day One.
If you don't hate Bush, maybe it's because you believe him.
"Maybe hating Bush or hating Kerry is a way of
> avoiding the issues, a way of simplifying political judgments that get
more
> complex every time one examines them."
"The hatred" that you cite is unusual. It's not the result of avoiding the
issues that I can see. It has grown incrementally from the day Bush took
office. Step by step, one step at a time, he depleted any sense of good
will. Everytime he made a decision, it's always landed on the side of the
very rich -- rich people and very rich corporations. He's never
represented -- not once that I can think of -- the best interest of the
people.
I don't have the time to continue any further, but this affable Texan has
successfully moved us into a Charles Dickens like world, widening the gap
between rich and poor, making the rest of the world see us as dangerous
rather than the kind and generous giant that we are -- and with his doctrine
of pre-emptive war it's not just a mistaken perception. We've made t he
world more dangerous, not just life in America more dangerous.
Stan Spiegel
Someone who hates Bush for good reason
Portland, Maine
----- Original Message -----
From: <Scribe1865@xxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 10:23 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Hate Clubs
> I wonder if anyone has read anything recently that addresses the role of
hate
> in American politics?
> Passed a guy on the street today with a "New York hates Bush" T-shirt. So
> much of politics seems to involve the construction of hated figments--and
what
> seems more interesting--the creation of community through shared objects
of hate.
>
> It's come to pass that if we hate the same politicians, we are cool to
each
> other, and accepted into a community created by that hate. A friend tells
me he
> hates Bush. Why, I ask, and it almost causes him to splutter, as if having
to
> recite the litany of reasons to hate is beside the point. Surely you wish
to
> see him defeated, he asks. And when I ask for his reasons, I can feel the
> chill setting in, the feeling of exclusion from the hate club, can feel
that it
> might affect our friendship that I actually called him on his reasons for
> hating, instead of just touting my membership card.
>
> A few months ago, AOL had a politics quiz. State your positions on the two
> dozen issues, and the Java template would match you up with your
candidate. Mine
> came up Kerry by a wide margin. But do I trust Kerry to deliver on any of
his
> positions? Not really. Do I hate him? No. Do I hate Bush? No.
>
> But every day, I feel excluded from hate clubs, and it makes me wonder
what
> the hate clubs are all about. Maybe hating Bush or hating Kerry is a way
of
> avoiding the issues, a way of simplifying political judgments that get
more
> complex every time one examines them. Although I think maybe something
more
> sinister is at work--hate clubs working as a way of disenfranchising
people. I'm
> reminded of the enemy of the people in Orwell's _1984_, and realize that
either
> presidential candidate could be "the enemy of the people," the guy people
hate
> and create a community by hating. Meanwhile the business of government and
the
> important civil decisions are elsewhere.
>
> Eric
>
>
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