tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6846632.post4715102647520465481..comments2023-11-02T07:34:19.338-05:00Comments on Open Texture: Obama, the Weathermen, and the American LeftMikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06378889161319818297noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6846632.post-36437197088769336592008-11-02T19:55:00.000-05:002008-11-02T19:55:00.000-05:00Great blog. Wandered into this post via Blood Mer...Great blog. Wandered into this post via Blood Meridian. I mean holy heck, someone with the audacity to drag philosophy into the blogosphere--good luck buddy!<BR/><BR/>I kept hearing this new catch phrase in the news cycle today, that Obama's advertising had "sucked all the oxygen out of McCain's ability to communicate his message." I think your post perfectly reflects this "sucking the oxygen" out of our historical past with regard to the sixties, not to mention the "sucking the oxygen" out of the discourse as a whole when politics lose any philosophical grounding and simply become the sport of overstretched, domineering, numbingly-normalizing, medium-is-the-message hegemonies. The discourse has been co-opted to the extent that a tax-and-spend contractarian is the virtual equivalent of Vladimir Lenin. It's just ridiculous. Comrade.<BR/><BR/>I see two-things happening as the sixties becomes mythologized in pomo-Americana culture. Basically it equates to a colonial transaction of taking all the individuality/"lib" stuff while implicitly denying the broader cultural and political impact that accompanied things which we now predicate as mere personal commodities. And there is an obvious dynamic of social regress at work, because suddenly anyone with a view that is slightly left of center (well, make that left of right) has to defend their views with appeals to a new version of conservative U.S. history that frankly never existed. A good example is the recent leak of a 2001 Obama radio interview in which he simply equated the advancement of individual rights with economic opportunity, saying that he was saddened that this logical progression toward economic rights has taken so long to occur when it is a consequence of any attempt to make a more equal society. The tape came out and it was just sad because even in this "change" election they could not defend his statements by defending the fundamental thesis they presented, that civil rights are inextricably linked to economic rights. That would have been a hail mary, at best. I don't quite recall what happened, but I believe the story got flushed simply because the statements were taken slightly out of context, or something else that was external to the view itself. I mean talk about sucking the oxygen out of real discourse. If I'd known that we were plunging back into the post-War fifties, I would have requested a nice big Cadillac to accommodate the volume of my personal ignorance. Neato!<BR/><BR/>But how would you characterize the current dynamic? And are there any tried-and-true minds out there whom you would consult in doing so?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6846632.post-71100483503324094662008-10-16T20:16:00.000-05:002008-10-16T20:16:00.000-05:00Yeah, that too. McCain has all sorts of nasty skel...Yeah, that too. McCain has all sorts of nasty skeletons.Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06378889161319818297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6846632.post-18394281327938215632008-10-16T13:26:00.000-05:002008-10-16T13:26:00.000-05:00I also find the connection between Obama and terro...I also find the connection between Obama and terrorism to be interesting... although for different reasons. Namely, I find it interesting because McCain was flying a bomber during Vietnam and so his connection with acts of terror is far more intimate. McCain <I>was</I> a terrorist, whereas Obama only served on a board with a fellow who was a terrorist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com