Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
George Will is Wrong
On today's edition of This Week with George Stephanopoulos the topic of McCain's misleading ad about Barack Obama's support of age-appropriate sex ed came up. Age-appropriate sex education for kindergarten is understood to be teaching the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching to help children protect themselves against predators. All of the panelists agreed the McCain ad was dishonest, except George Will, who challenged anyone to explain why it was dishonest. Once someone did, Will shifted his argument to the erstwhile Culture War and pompously opined that "It is very common across the centuries that parents, not schools, parents tell their children to beware of strangers. What's new here, and reflects a conservative/liberal difference, is the idea that a)it has to be tarted up as sex education, beware of strangers, and b)parents can't do it, schools must - in kindergarten! Now that's a cultural divide and let's vote."
As usual, Will's assertion was punctuated with contempt for anyone who is so stupid as to disagree with him. But he doesn't understand the issue at all.
This is from the US Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorders:
"Most often, sexual abusers know the child they abuse but are not relatives. In fact, about 60% of perpetrators are nonrelative acquaintances, such as a friend of the family, babysitter, or neighbor.
About 30% of those who sexually abuse children are relatives of the child, such as fathers, uncles, or cousins.
Strangers are perpetrators in about 10% of child sexual abuse cases."
Accordingly, to adopt Mr. Will's admonition to beware of strangers would protect children from only 10% of predators. Why does George Will want children to be exposed to 90% of abusers?
What does a child do when a parent or the close friend of a parent abuses her? And if a child has grown up in an abusive environment, how does he know that it is not appropriate. Children have a way of believing adults and blaming themselves.
George Will is a pompous idiot, who like most people who have too high an esteem of their own intelligence no longer think it is necessary to acquire actual facts or engage in actual analysis. No wonder children are at risk.
Culture war, my ass! This is about smart vs. stupid.
As usual, Will's assertion was punctuated with contempt for anyone who is so stupid as to disagree with him. But he doesn't understand the issue at all.
This is from the US Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorders:
"Most often, sexual abusers know the child they abuse but are not relatives. In fact, about 60% of perpetrators are nonrelative acquaintances, such as a friend of the family, babysitter, or neighbor.
About 30% of those who sexually abuse children are relatives of the child, such as fathers, uncles, or cousins.
Strangers are perpetrators in about 10% of child sexual abuse cases."
Accordingly, to adopt Mr. Will's admonition to beware of strangers would protect children from only 10% of predators. Why does George Will want children to be exposed to 90% of abusers?
What does a child do when a parent or the close friend of a parent abuses her? And if a child has grown up in an abusive environment, how does he know that it is not appropriate. Children have a way of believing adults and blaming themselves.
George Will is a pompous idiot, who like most people who have too high an esteem of their own intelligence no longer think it is necessary to acquire actual facts or engage in actual analysis. No wonder children are at risk.
Culture war, my ass! This is about smart vs. stupid.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Trolling His Way to the Presidency
Wikipedia defines an internet troll as "someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion".
The McCain campaign is doing exactly that with its latest ads about lipstick on a pig and Obama's support for sex education for kindergarten kids. Both ads are outright lies and they know it. The media also knows it, but instead of pointing out the obvious lies and setting the record straight, this morning on Morning Joe (MSNBC) the talking heads took the bait and were commending McCain fpr the political cleverness of it all.
Trolling is something usually done by immature disaffected guys whose only lifeline from a sea of despair is snark and destructiveness. It offers them a moment of respite from shooting people and watching them explode in a gory bloodbath in a video game. They become dissociated from healthy emotions like compassion or any sense of social responsibility. The only thing that matters is win vs fail (or phail).
What lofty aspirations for John McCain! Now that his character has been totally subsumed by a Rovian ethos, he apparently has decided that his only hope for winning is to bait and troll and destroy. Last week the Republicans spent so much energy building him up as a hero, which he once was. He apparently has decided to chuck his honor into the garbage bin and troll his way to the oval office. The very sad truth is that it may work.
The McCain campaign is doing exactly that with its latest ads about lipstick on a pig and Obama's support for sex education for kindergarten kids. Both ads are outright lies and they know it. The media also knows it, but instead of pointing out the obvious lies and setting the record straight, this morning on Morning Joe (MSNBC) the talking heads took the bait and were commending McCain fpr the political cleverness of it all.
Trolling is something usually done by immature disaffected guys whose only lifeline from a sea of despair is snark and destructiveness. It offers them a moment of respite from shooting people and watching them explode in a gory bloodbath in a video game. They become dissociated from healthy emotions like compassion or any sense of social responsibility. The only thing that matters is win vs fail (or phail).
What lofty aspirations for John McCain! Now that his character has been totally subsumed by a Rovian ethos, he apparently has decided that his only hope for winning is to bait and troll and destroy. Last week the Republicans spent so much energy building him up as a hero, which he once was. He apparently has decided to chuck his honor into the garbage bin and troll his way to the oval office. The very sad truth is that it may work.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
The Palin Frenzy
As the rumors about Sarah Palin spread maybe it's time to chill a bit while the wheat gets separated from the chaff. Whether the state jet was sold on eBay or not is not important to me (neither is whether or not Obama knows the correct name of college football teams). Taking care of her children while running for office is her problem, not mine or yours. It is important whether or not she abused the power of her office, and if she hasn't thought much about national issues, that is everybody's problem. The first casualty of the Sarah Palin pick was the truth. From bloggers with limited facts spreading unsubstantiated rumors to the glassy-eyed worship of "The Other One" from Republican delegates, most of what has passed for information thus far is pretty foggy. Let us hope that the public vetting of Palin over the next few weeks will be carried out with more professionalism and objectivity than has been displayed so far by either side. Perhaps Palin herself will not hide from the press during this period. Well, I can hope, can't I.
In the meantime one blogger has attempted to debunk some of the rumors. While the facts get settled, it doesn't hurt to laugh.
In the meantime one blogger has attempted to debunk some of the rumors. While the facts get settled, it doesn't hurt to laugh.
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