Letters to the Editor
Doctor Grumpus
Published Letters: 7
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And the cycle starts again
[Read the article: How our seedy, corrupt Washington establishment operates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First, as a long time reader (and I think a first time poster here), I an thankful for Glenn Greenwald's analysis and perspective, his ability to cut through the crap and clearly and concisely analyze and present the issues.
I look at what is going on here, and I cannot help but consider Mohammed Mossadeq, the democratically-elected president of Iran who was ousted by MI6 and the CIA in 1953, and replaced by the shah. In my opinion, we are reaping the ripples from that historic act (consider if the shah had never been installed, the Iranian Revolution had never took place, etc...)
Are we making the same mistake again (he asks rhetorically...)?
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Whoa...
[Read the article: CNN's John King responds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I kept expecting King to just say "wahhhhatevaaaaah"
Let me make a somewhat useful analogy here (although admittedly is is not altogether 100% on target):
I am a university professor. I share my knowledge and insights with my students in an effort for them to learn the material I teach, but also help them apply that knowledge within the framework of their lives.
Should a student come to me with a criticism of the material I am teaching, or the method I am teaching it, I can never imagine, in a million years, that I would respond -- even remotely -- by referring to the student's criticism as "drivel," and then proceed to expound on the number of years I have been in school, that I have a Ph.D. (and they, naturally, do *not*), and they obviously do not have a clue as to what they are talking about.
Why wouldn't I? I like to think that it is grounded in some degree of intellectual honesty. That I, just like every other human being on the planet, trip up, miss things, and criticism is a most crucial tool for self-evaluation.
To to get there, I guess one has to pull that self-important stick out of their self-important ass.
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Just read Prof. Tim Smith's letter
[Read the article: CNN's John King responds]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Perhaps one should ask him how he deals with criticisms from his students.
Does he refer to any as "drivel" because the source of the criticism has no experience in journalism or in teaching?
One should evaluate the argument, not the source of the argument. Good arguments/critiques stand on their own. Faulty ones fall, regardless of one's years of experience or letters after their name.
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Inside the Beltway "thinking"
[Read the article: The fun and excitement of civilization wars (fought from afar)]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a psychologist, I find this fascinating.
Yes, maintaining a constant state of threat is exhausting.
Yes, fighting the greatest enemy on earth is exhilarating. There is nothing like a "greater purpose" to energize those psychic batteries.
However, we are also creatures of social comparison. We are hard-wired to scan our social environment to make sure our attitudes are grounded in reality. This is what makes the notion of "inside-the-beltway" so topical: attitudes not grounded in reality become psychologically tenable, since social validation in that particular social milieu abounds. For an individual in isolation, they would either get a clue or be diagnosed as delusional.
So, it follows that "inside-the-beltway" is comparable to mass delusion.
It also provides an explanation for the personal-level denigration that takes place, seemingly more often in the direction of conservatives to liberals. To ensure that one's delusional position is defensible, the source for any contrary positions must not only be denigrated, but pulverized, stomped, urinated upon, and ultimately dismissed. Else, their position may have some shred of validity, and therefore threaten the delusion.
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Re: Heinrich Mann's version expands on Adam Smith's
[Read the article: The fun and excitement of civilization wars (fought from afar)]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Der Untertan is the most famous novel by German author Heinrich Mann. It has been translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject" (translation by Helmut Peitsch). The title poses a problem for the non-German reader since there is no effective translation of the word 'Untertan' in the sense it was employed by Mann. The 'Subject' of the title conveys a sense of unthinking servility to the state.
Well, thank goodness language evolves. The next translation of the book will be titled "The Neocon."
But I jest.
Kinda.
OK...not really.
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And McCain
[Read the article: A week of petty though typical attacks on Obama produced nothing]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]is the Manchurian Candidate, no?
I just get sick of it all. And what makes me sicker is that if one candidate doesn't fight this sleaze with their own sleaze, we are such idiots on election day that they'll lose.
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What disturbs me even more
[Read the article: CNN/MSNBC reporter: Corporate executives forced pro-Bush, pro-war narrative]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...is the notion that the current manifestation of the media is not a propaganda arm of the government. If it was, one could simply write it off as consistently biased in one direction (as the citizens in the former U.S.S.R. would do).
Do you really believe that the media will remain as passive and stenographer-ish under a Democratic administration as it was under this (and previous) Republican administrations?
There is a certain comfort to consistency, even when that consistency is "consistently bad." It is by far worse to not be able to clearly and definitively point to the agenda driving the behavior.