Can I just pop in here and thank you all for making me laugh hysterically?
I have never once considered applying Sun Tzu’s advice to my TV viewing habits. Of course, that’s probably because I’m not so utterly insane that I consider talk show hosts to be my enemies, but leave that go. This opens up whole new worlds for me.
I’m gonna start watching TV preachers to keep myself appraised of their wily schemes. I’m gonna watch aggressive infomercials for crappy products I don’t need, so as to be fully ware of their deceptive schemes. And I will watch MTV, so I can know all the latest hiphop bands and why I do not like them. Sure it’s a lot of time and effort, but it will endow my drab, meaningless life with the fantasy that I am an important part of a great manichean struggle …
Of course, if you actually thought about it, you might realize that people have often generalized war principles to use as competitive strategies in other situations, such as business, or poker, or golf. But they could just all be insane I guess. However, if you really mean that you don’t see the political arena as competitive, well then I’m afraid I haven’t got what it takes to respond intelligently to that.
Unless you intend to compete against them for something (or just enjoy viewing it), I would recommend against it.
I was sort of joking around earlier , based on the back and forth between you and Cisco, when I posted “The only think we have to fear is fear itself.”
I was also making the roundabout point that unless we seek out knowledge about those who disagree with us and why, all we’ll be doing is railing against them from a position of ignorance and fear, instead of debating from a knowledgeable standpoint, thereby being better able to counterbalance and stand against them.
I listen to the radio to hear what’s out there. I’ve been happily surprised quite a bit.
I’m simply not a person who only likes one thing or who will only listen to people who agree with me. I’m not set in stone. I want to hear lots of views and weed the nutty from the sane myself rather than depending on someone else to do it.
It’s good to see that MSNBC cracked down hard on Scarborough for his obscenity. He has been subjected to the harsh discipline of a seven second delay. I don’t know how he’ll be able to go on.
Nobody here sees anything wrong with what he said. Nobody has said that he’s going to hell for saying fuck. Maybe the fourth (or fifth, or whatever) time will be the charm in getting across this very simple point: it is Joe’s CONSTITUENCY that won’t like what he said.
The OP is AMUSED that Joe Scarborough’s constituency is upset. He thinks Joe Scarborough DESERVES to have his constituency upset because Joe Scarborough COURTS this type of outrage when it’s someone else.
I can understand why it looks like schadenfreude, but it isn’t. I’m not glad Joe got hurt. (Admittedly, I’m not devastated either.) What I’m glad about is that there is one more small tool with which to fight the notion that the extreme right has a moral highground over everyone else.