Peeve Farm

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Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

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Thursday, September 12, 2002
10:10 - Rhetorical Paralysis http://www.tonypierce.com/blog/2002_09_08_blogarc.htm#85438971	(top)
InstaPundit yesterday linked to this piece by Tony Pierce-- a speech "by" Bush in which he calls Osama out, WWE-style, High Noon style, American style. Unfortunately, it has this bit: im going to grab you with my own hands and prove to you, and to the world, that even though we are both sons of millionaire oil men, there's a difference between you and i. you are a slimy, lying, gutless, cheap-shot artist who hides behind religion and ignorance in your sick quest to have others murder innocent people under your twisted leadership. The trouble is that even though the author clearly tried really hard to write it so this wouldn't be possible, it's still way too easy for a reader to snort, smirk, and say, So who's saying this, anyway-- Dubya or Osama? 'Cause, like, you can apply the same statement to Bush, man. See, it's all the same. That's the problem with finding moral clarity here. It should be so easy, considering what happened to us. If we didn't have to be so intellectual about it, if we could just react from our moral centers as dictated by our gut feelings and our hearts, we'd be able to get somewhere. And believe it or not, in this case we'd be right to do it, no matter what your ethical system. I'm not a big fan of thinking with one's guts in a general context, But for God's sake, Islamists hijacked commercial fucking jets and destroyed the two largest and most recognizable and symbolic office buildings in the world and all the people in them. I don't care what someone's personal definitions of "good" and "evil" are. It shouldn't even be necessary to decide whether 9/11 was "evil" or just "another in a long series of the same or worse perpetrated by lots of people, including the US, throughout history". None of that crap is relevant. Didn't anybody's mother tell them how "it doesn't matter who started it, what you did is wrong"? But looking at passages like the one above, it's just too compelling to educated people-- or just those who think they're too clever for their shirt-- to twist the words around and apply them in new and deliciously ironic ways. Look, if you apply this filter to the statement, suddenly it becomes a clear condemnation of all US policy in the world at large since the War of 1812! That kind of thing is what college English and Literature classes are about. It's all about finding new angles on the same old crap, about interpreting things in new and exciting ways, and about writing papers about these observations that shakes up the academic community and makes a name for oneself. It's just so tempting to look at 9/11 and see it as an awesome opportunity to show how un-sheep-like one is. "I don't subscribe to your traditionalist views of 'good' and 'evil'. I see this whole event in a way that you visceral, reptilian demagogues stuck in the 1940s just can't grasp." As a recent college grad myself, and as someone who tries to write his thoughts down on a fairly regular basis and make them be at least a little bit unique, believe me-- I know that feeling. The following is going to be my personal justification and mandate for the War on Terror, and I suspect it's one of the shortest such around: You want to talk about "root causes"? The biggest root cause of 9/11 is that the terrorists thought they could get away with it. They thought they had a real chance at realizing their sick fantasy of a goal. The only way to address this root cause is to show them that they cannot get away with it. A spanking. The rest will follow. Our mission is clearer now than it's been since WWII-- possibly ever in history. This is a bigger war, conceptually, than fighting fascism ever was. This is war against theocracy. One of the oldest concepts on the planet. We need to can the bullshit, pull on our wading boots, and start getting our hands dirty. Raising martinis on the lanai wearing dinner jackets and fezzes doesn't help one bit. The war is real. Get used to it.