Into the Sewer: the American right wing, 2011

which, maybe wag the dog aside, are all bona fide dude films. sort of assumed that if someone was v serious about making quality spy flicks (or novels or w/e, a la clancy), that meant that they were de facto libertarians if not outright conservatives. this is stuff made for if not exclusively consumed by middle-aged men who enjoy intelligence with their violence.

John Le Carre/The Constant Gardener and the Bourne films are pretty much the only parts of this genre I can think of that don't seem this way, maybe outliers like Enemy of the State/The Conversation?

the guy whose dialogue is the perfect distillation of intellectual machismo

but we took it for satire, no?

i certainly did circa GGR

but we took it for satire, no?

speak for yourself!

i took classes at the atlantic theatre co. for awhile. i really enjoyed them. in a weird way mamet's theories about acting could be seen as classically neoliberal: each actor busily goes about "rationally" attempting to achieve goals that have been determined through script analysis. for mamet, actors are discrete entities that never share information onstage unless it's in order to further their own ends. like game theory or something. maximizing advantage. one of our tutors (who had studied with mamet) commented one day, "it's depressing to realize how little of what we do in real life is actually helping us accomplish our goals", implying that the stage was different. and yes, it is different. so much of the other non-advantage-maximizing business is just streamlined away, both at the writing stage and in the performances. which is important for telling a story, i guess. i dunno. the thing is, for many actors this REALLY WORKS as a technique.

like, mamet really believes that drama is where HEROES strive HEROICALLY. they do things we can't. they have the time and space and vision to apply all their energies toward overcoming their obstacles whereas us real-life schlubs are always getting confused by life, and lazy in our ways. and that's why we like drama, as a model of the good or even the perfect. not the perfect politics, mind you, but the perfect individual striving toward a goal.

"it's depressing to realize how little of what we do in real life is actually helping us accomplish our goals"

this seems pretty stupid to me considering every actor has the next 90 minutes of action mapped out for him when the curtain goes up. what "goals"?

well i assume you have goals in your real life

If those are Mamet's theories, how does Sweet Neo Con explain Reagan's success?

lol i meant that to stand in for the whole deal up there

xp

"1. post more to ILX"

goole i could go on at length about this but script analysis usually results in "actions" ("get someone to spill the beans", "get someone to make an exception", "get a bully to back down") - things you can imagine doing, things you can have fun doing - that accomplish what it seems your character is trying to accomplish in the script; in real life we seldom are so willful as to consciously come up with actions and then do them

well right, that makes sense

a dude with a really aggressive show-pony attitude toward actors maybe has a bit too high opinion of his ideas then? oh no, they will fuck it all up in translation, all this pesky stage-time with other people involved when i could be writing op-eds instead, just SAY THE LINES GODDAMIT...

and say them loudly, and stand on your mark. without twitching around too much.

it's true that if you're writing a script, having "victim" and "oppressor" roles already sketched out immediately crushes all the nuance and surprise that might make your script good. but it is like, REALLY WEIRD to draw a direct line from this condition of artistic creation to, say, judgements about society and who benefits and who suffers.

thugs, lawyers, layabouts, and guilt-ridden dupes

http://www3.images.coolspotters.com/photos/107199/charles-montgomery-monty-burns-profile.jpg
author photo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lUMc7we5ks&feature=player_embedded

lolzzzzz

"thanks for sharing"

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/sovereign_citizen_resists_traffic_stop_arrest_as_a_free_citizen_on_a_free_highway.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/assets_c/2011/05/Michael-Creath-Jones-cropped-proto-custom_2.jpg

A sovereign citizen in Virginia was arrested and charged with five misdemeanors after a bizarre encounter with a state police officer where he called himself a "free citizen on a free highway" and gave multiple fake names.

Michael Creath Jones, 31, was pulled over last week by State Trooper T.M. Simmons because he had a fake painted license plate with the words "Virginia" and "private use" handwritten on it.

The News Virginian reports that according to the search warrant affidavit:

Jones locked his doors and barely cracked open his window and refused to identify himself. He told Simmons he was a "free citizen on a free highway" and provided different names. The trooper asked for identification at least 10 times.

Jones also said he did not have to provide a driver's license, and only got out of the car when Simmons threatened to arrest him and break the car window. Jones struggled when Simmons tried to handcuff him. He was later charged with "resisting arrest, obstruction of justice with force, driving without a license, having an expired inspection sticker and defective equipment," Staunton's News-Leader reports.

Simmons said he found documents relating to the sovereign citizens movement and their activities in the trunk of the car, as well as a Geiger counter, according to the News-Leader.

Sovereign citizens are a loosely organized anti-government group who believe all forms of government and laws are illegitimate. Some sovereign citizens, when confronted with law enforcement have become violent, while others have sought revenge through "paper terrorism," like several in New York who were recently convicted of mail fraud.

so, why did he pull over?

The people who market to these guys are geniuses, imo

I just put this on order--anyone read it?

http://www.frogenyozurt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Mad-As-Hell.jpg

There may be some overlap with the Rick Perlstein books, although it mostly covers years he hasn't gotten to yet.

A lot of Panama Canal stuff I'm sure

hidden messages in the birth certificate?

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=301329?bestoneyet

actual i'm not shitting you first sentence:

Recalling Dan Brown's bestselling novel "The Da Vinci Code," computer experts have discovered strange anomalies in the Obama birth record released by the White House.

doctor's signature profile sketch = pure comedy gold

lmao @ this

http://www.wnd.com/images/110520colorfilter3.JPG

Why would the Hawaii DOH allow the document issued to the president to contain an obvious smiling face hiding within the first letter of the state registrar's signature?

Or, could it be the work of a forger leaving his mark, laughing at those who take the document seriously?

I started reading Mad as Hell but had to return it to the library before I had time to finish. Not as much overlap with Nixonland as you might think, and actually managed to make the Ford presidency interesting. I recommend checking it out; I plan on going back and finishing it soon.

i should read nixonland shouldnt i

Cherry Hill student's challenge to Tea Party champion Michele Bachmann prompts 'threats'

A Cherry Hill High School East sophomore who challenged Tea Party champion Michele Bachmann to a constitutional debate says she is concerned for her personal safety.

"A lot of them are calling me a whore," 16-year-old Amy Myers said, referring to anonymous comments reacting to online news reports about her challenge to the 55-year-old Minnesota congresswoman.

In a letter addressed to Bachmann and dated April 29, Myers leveled pointed criticisms at the Tea Party Caucus founder.

"I have found quite a few of your statements regarding the Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted," Myers wrote.

"As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere."

Myers and her father, Wayne, posted her letter to Bachmann on CNN's iReport website on May 6. News outlets including Yahoo and The Atlantic picked up the story over the weekend.

Amy and Wayne Myers said the comments on conservative websites alarmed them most. Several commenters threatened to publish the Myers' home address.

Others threatened violence, including rape, they said.

"They're targeting me just because I'm challenging Bachmann," Amy said.

Amy's challenge is arguably unrealistic: Few if any sitting members of Congress would actually agree to debate a teenager.

does roger ailes count for this thread? i am having trouble distinguishing between "mainstream republicanism" and "right wing sewer"

heres a good article about ailes

http://nymag.com/news/media/roger-ailes-fox-news-2011-5/

there was a great nyer article about him and the tiny local newspaper he bought (and turned into a right-wing hit machine) in his hometown a couple months ago that gawker followed up with

http://gawker.com/rogerailes

The Ford presidency is interesting to me just by virtue of the mid-'70s being so interesting--Patty Hearst, Watergate fallout, Saigon, a bunch of great American films, etc. I was too young to remember many specifics beyond the pardon, though, so I'm looking forward to the book.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/05/25/congressman_on_recent_flight_tsa_patted_down_child_little_old_lady_ignored_man_in_arab_garb.html

paul broun vs. louie gohmert vs. michelle bachmann

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CMeK2KXizrHY4QEQ2AUYWjII0kooOyjjrw0

I wonder if they mention Native American genocide in that.

GET $50 IN FREE GITS!

illinois representative joe walsh, everyone:

"Look," he says, "I don't think this is complicated. He doesn't really have a history. I say all of this respectfully—he is the least well-known guy we have ever put in the presidency, and there's no one even close. He's probably got easily the lightest résumé of anybody we've elected."

Walsh leans forward and taps me on the knee with a bumper sticker.

"Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there's nothing racist about this. It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn't have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different. That, combined with the fact that your profession"—another friendly tap of the bumper sticker—"not you, but your profession, was just absolutely compliant. They made up their minds early that they were in love with him. They were in love with him because they thought he was a good liberal guy and they were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that."

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/05/27/rep-joe-walsh-r-cable-news.aspx

the "obama would never have gotten elected if he werent black" is one of the top right wing memes of the obama presidency

another friendly tap of the bumper sticker

LOL @ 'it's because he's black'. Yall sure it had absolutely nothing to do with George W Bush?

more joe walsh:

"President Obama has effectively abandoned the 50-year-old U.S. alliance with Israel. So, where is the outrage from the American Jewish community? Don’t they understand that the president is not pro-Israel? Aren’t they troubled by his history of pro-Palestinian writings, speeches, and actions? The short answer is that most American Jews are liberal, and most American liberals side with the Palestinians and vague notions of “peace” instead of with Israel’s wellbeing and security"

this guy is a treat

"And there's nothing racist about [...] a black man who was articulate"

x-post Pretty much what Geraldine Ferraro said too.

Even if Walsh is right, who cares? Ok, after 8 years of the most craven, feckless presidency we've seen in ages, we decided to show what America is capable of transformatively. What does that say about the current adminstration? It's like saying the only reason we elected Washington was because he was a good general; that's not much of a critique of that administration, it's just typical of the current right-wing's tedious, whiney puerility and irrelevance. At least when he went on to criticize Obama's stand on Israel, he's actually talking about policy (however stupidly) instead of wasting my time with his speculative nonsense. Republicans latched their horse to the cart of fear of social change and have thus become the party of bitterness and inevitable failure; the country will get browner and more diverse, our refusal to address our dependence on largely foreign reserves of hydrocarbons will lead to disaster, even economically, it will be worse than all the 'tree hugging', 'job-killing' regulation they prate on about, favoring private and un-accountable concerns over government will lead to similar tyranny (just from a different source, though I think we basically have both right now) etc... And all because a bunch of self-entitled, lazy bastards in one of the most spoiled places in the world and in its history don't have to be accountable for anything and never have to engage in any kind of auto-critique or change. Lovely.

He doesn't really have a history. I say all of this respectfully—he is the least well-known guy we have ever put in the presidency, and there's no one even close.

Uh except for a 300-page autobiography he wrote more than a decade before he even ran

LOL

Yeah, and I'm sure they put it in the NONFICTION section, but you know what I mean?

He's probably got easily the lightest résumé of anybody we've elected.

I don't know what you measure this by. If it's years of elected office prior to assuming the presidency, Obama has several former presidents beat, including his immediate predecessor.

i dont think joe walsh reads ilx jaymc

Ha. I meant "you" in like a general sense.

x-post We usually go by US House/Senate seats or Governorships, not State Senate or City Council seats, so GWB's 6 years as TX gov beat Obama's 4 years as IL Senator.

Obama's rise probably seemed way-fast to political non-junkies. I remember in Nov. 2004 being on a chat with friends where some of us were tracking Obama's crushing win over my namesake and several people were like "Who is Obama?"