Okay, Then
During the last few weeks, I've been struggling back after suffering several serious setbacks: some new, awful physical problems (I keep thinking the physical aspect of all this can't get any worse, and then it does), and some deeply upsetting practical problems (one of which might become very serious indeed; perhaps more about that in future if necessary, which I hope it won't be).
I just happened to see this post concerning an especially mindless, repellently ignorant comment about Obama's widely praised speech on race during the last presidential campaign. (Whenever I use that phrase -- "the last campaign" -- I usually find myself wistfully thinking: if only it had been...) Unlike Lambert, I am not at a loss for words. But I've offered those words before, so I refer you to "Obama's Whitewash."
I will immodestly state that that particular essay is an excellent and very comprehensive one. In stark and unforgiving contrast to the "fan boi" who rendered Lambert temporarily speechless, consider part of my concluding section:
That is not hyperbole, not if you understood all of that: it told you everything. (And don't think that the vacuous effusions from the "fan boi" are at all unusual: see the comments I collected at the beginning of "Obama's Whitewash.") And what has already occurred during the Obama presidency is very far from all or the worst of the destruction that can reasonably be expected to transpire over the coming years. I also note the following: from my email and from following various writers and commenters around the web, I know that a number of people read that particular earlier essay of mine, as well as at least two others about Obama and the particular role he would serve in our politics: "Killing Truth and Hope -- The Fatal Illusion of Opposition," and "A Choice of War Criminals." (See also a more recent followup to that last article: "A Postscript: Choices Have Consequences.")
As I say, a fair number of people read those above-linked essays that predated the 2008 election (as well as many others of mine concerning Obama, only some of which are linked at the beginning of this essay from August 2008: "Silenced: Barack Obama and the End of Struggle Toward Truth and Freedom"), many of those people indicated in various ways that they agreed with my major arguments -- and they still voted for Obama. That would be disturbing enough -- and I found it extraordinarily disturbing when it occurred, as I still do (everyone should find it deeply troubling that a person would vote for a war criminal while claiming to understand that he is a war criminal -- but of course, one could only vote for a war criminal if that designation is not fully understood in a meaningful manner)-- but there is something as bad, and perhaps still worse. From most of what I've read by people who I know read those articles of mine and still voted for Obama, they have yet to understand certain of the most crucial lessons that could be gleaned from this period in our history. I know this, because I see that many of the same or related analytic errors (often coupled with a distressing ignorance about certain critical facts of American history) continue unabated. These people may think they've finally seen the truth about Obama, and to some limited extent that might even be true. But as long as the deeper analytic problems continue, most people remain vulnerable to the lies in another variation. In other words: they'll fall for the con all over again, if it presents itself in a form they're not expecting.
As you may gather from the above, I have a great deal on my mind. Even if I manage to get some writing done on a fairly regular basis for a while (here's hoping), it will take me some time to get through even a significant part of it. Some of the essays I hope to publish in the next few months will be among the most difficult I've ever written. Well, I've never been one to choose the easier path. I don't say that boastfully, merely descriptively, based on the record if you will. It's not a course I would recommend to others. And I actually don't experience it as a choice at all. I have to write what I do, for I think it's true. In certain moods, I consider that remarkably foolish of me. I read what many others write, and I often feel impelled to think: "But he must know that's not true. How could he possibly not know that?" I have to remind myself that, although I think people do know the truth in certain cases (usually because of other statements they've made and/or because of counterarguments they resolutely refuse to address or even acknowledge), the human capacity for deception, including most notably self-deception, is limitless.
But why is that so? I've addressed that question in earlier essays, but I now must return to it in more detail, with a special concern for some of the ultimate causes. And that is only one of certain crucial questions that I've concluded must be discussed further.
I've occasionally indicated particular subjects I want to write about. Except for those limited comments directly above, I'll do no more of that. I haven't yet decided where to start exactly. There are many different subjects and issues I hope to cover, and most of them are interconnected in often dauntingly complex ways. So I need to take a few more days to look over my many notes, rethink certain points, and then plunge in ... somewhere.
Back soon now. And, oh, yes: I plan to have some fun! Now, you weren't expecting that, were you? But yes, very emphatically: fun! And I hope to convey some of my sense of the joy of life (if not of my life in most of its particulars, especially now, certainly life itself, a much deeper sense of joy that becomes more meaningful to me with each day that passes), and offer an article (or several) about what love tells me ... perhaps I'll start there.
We'll see.
I just happened to see this post concerning an especially mindless, repellently ignorant comment about Obama's widely praised speech on race during the last presidential campaign. (Whenever I use that phrase -- "the last campaign" -- I usually find myself wistfully thinking: if only it had been...) Unlike Lambert, I am not at a loss for words. But I've offered those words before, so I refer you to "Obama's Whitewash."
I will immodestly state that that particular essay is an excellent and very comprehensive one. In stark and unforgiving contrast to the "fan boi" who rendered Lambert temporarily speechless, consider part of my concluding section:
Almost every politician lies, and most politicians lie repeatedly. Yet in one sense, Obama's speech is exceptional, rare and unique -- but not for any of the reasons offered by Obama's uncritical, mindless adulators. It is exceptional for this reason: it is rare that a candidate will announce in such stark, comprehensive terms that he will lie about every fact of moment, about every aspect of our history that affects the crises of today and that has led to them, about everything that might challenge the mythological view of America. But that is what Obama achieved with this speech. It may be a remarkable achievement -- a remarkable and detestable one, and one that promises endless destruction in the future, both here and abroad.If one truly and comprehensively understood Obama's speech on race -- the unending, deadly lies on which it was based, and the terrible consequences to which those lies have led and the devastation they will continue to cause -- that speech told you everything you needed to know about Obama.
Is that what many Americans want? Tragically, the answer appears to be yes. Truth must be destroyed, no matter how many lives and how much suffering are required. Americans will accept anything else -- war, genocide, economic collapse, further terrorist attacks in the U.S. -- but the truth must be denied.
That is not hyperbole, not if you understood all of that: it told you everything. (And don't think that the vacuous effusions from the "fan boi" are at all unusual: see the comments I collected at the beginning of "Obama's Whitewash.") And what has already occurred during the Obama presidency is very far from all or the worst of the destruction that can reasonably be expected to transpire over the coming years. I also note the following: from my email and from following various writers and commenters around the web, I know that a number of people read that particular earlier essay of mine, as well as at least two others about Obama and the particular role he would serve in our politics: "Killing Truth and Hope -- The Fatal Illusion of Opposition," and "A Choice of War Criminals." (See also a more recent followup to that last article: "A Postscript: Choices Have Consequences.")
As I say, a fair number of people read those above-linked essays that predated the 2008 election (as well as many others of mine concerning Obama, only some of which are linked at the beginning of this essay from August 2008: "Silenced: Barack Obama and the End of Struggle Toward Truth and Freedom"), many of those people indicated in various ways that they agreed with my major arguments -- and they still voted for Obama. That would be disturbing enough -- and I found it extraordinarily disturbing when it occurred, as I still do (everyone should find it deeply troubling that a person would vote for a war criminal while claiming to understand that he is a war criminal -- but of course, one could only vote for a war criminal if that designation is not fully understood in a meaningful manner)-- but there is something as bad, and perhaps still worse. From most of what I've read by people who I know read those articles of mine and still voted for Obama, they have yet to understand certain of the most crucial lessons that could be gleaned from this period in our history. I know this, because I see that many of the same or related analytic errors (often coupled with a distressing ignorance about certain critical facts of American history) continue unabated. These people may think they've finally seen the truth about Obama, and to some limited extent that might even be true. But as long as the deeper analytic problems continue, most people remain vulnerable to the lies in another variation. In other words: they'll fall for the con all over again, if it presents itself in a form they're not expecting.
As you may gather from the above, I have a great deal on my mind. Even if I manage to get some writing done on a fairly regular basis for a while (here's hoping), it will take me some time to get through even a significant part of it. Some of the essays I hope to publish in the next few months will be among the most difficult I've ever written. Well, I've never been one to choose the easier path. I don't say that boastfully, merely descriptively, based on the record if you will. It's not a course I would recommend to others. And I actually don't experience it as a choice at all. I have to write what I do, for I think it's true. In certain moods, I consider that remarkably foolish of me. I read what many others write, and I often feel impelled to think: "But he must know that's not true. How could he possibly not know that?" I have to remind myself that, although I think people do know the truth in certain cases (usually because of other statements they've made and/or because of counterarguments they resolutely refuse to address or even acknowledge), the human capacity for deception, including most notably self-deception, is limitless.
But why is that so? I've addressed that question in earlier essays, but I now must return to it in more detail, with a special concern for some of the ultimate causes. And that is only one of certain crucial questions that I've concluded must be discussed further.
I've occasionally indicated particular subjects I want to write about. Except for those limited comments directly above, I'll do no more of that. I haven't yet decided where to start exactly. There are many different subjects and issues I hope to cover, and most of them are interconnected in often dauntingly complex ways. So I need to take a few more days to look over my many notes, rethink certain points, and then plunge in ... somewhere.
Back soon now. And, oh, yes: I plan to have some fun! Now, you weren't expecting that, were you? But yes, very emphatically: fun! And I hope to convey some of my sense of the joy of life (if not of my life in most of its particulars, especially now, certainly life itself, a much deeper sense of joy that becomes more meaningful to me with each day that passes), and offer an article (or several) about what love tells me ... perhaps I'll start there.
We'll see.
posted by Arthur Silber at 5:42 PM
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