The Mad Prophet? (a mini-rant)

[Ivory_Tower]

How many times have we heard that Fearless Leader is a plain-spoken, straight-talking kind of guy? How many times has it been said that he is a man who says what he means and means what he says?

And yet we're subjected to the parsing of phrases in the State of the Union speech to determine whether he actually told a lie, or "misspoke", or technically told truth.

And now we're treated to his "slaves came to America" for "freedom" comments. I agree with those here who suspect that he was trying to talk about the slaves' struggle for freedom once in the US, but isn't it a disgrace that we're reduced to having to interpret the utterances of this man in order to determine if he really is a fool? Isn't is sad that nobody can be sure of what he really means when he speaks?

Sometimes I think that maybe he really is a mad prophet of sorts, and generations from now people will be reading through his speeches and off-the-cuff comments trying to decipher the hidden meaning behind them. Add to that Rumsfeld's existential poetry (aka "news conferences"), and we might be seeing the start of a new religion. But it sure doesn't make for a rational national policy.

When will we hear "Blessed are the Cheesemakers"?

(edit: can't type)

[msmcghee]

1. Scary

. . some day his speeches and comments can will be compiled into a "Book of Changes" using some form of chance hexagram algorithm.

He'll become a cult guru for drug addled teenagers in 2090 - if the human race lasts that long.

[msmcghee]

2. On second thought . .

too bad we can't promote him to "cult guru" for drug addled teenagers today.

[Hamlette]

3. I suspect

what people like is that his world is black and white. "We are right, they are wrong, we are good, they are evil, you are with us or you are against us..." We don't have to think. People didn't like Clinton because they saw him as equivocating when what he was really doing is recognizing there are other points of view as valid as ours. Americans HATE that.

Limited and uncritical people think this should be just like the movies. Westerns lost popularity when the producers/actors/writers recognized that the Indians had a point. Doesn't bush just remind you of John Wayne? Plays well in Peoria.

Since the ending of the cold war we desperately need an enemy. If we can't find one, it works if its us against the world. Bush plays right into that.

It's the mud sill theory. People want to feel superior. To feel superior someone has to be inferior. I suspect we'll never change that aspect of our nature but we should never play into it.

[Ivory_Tower]

4. Hadn't thought of the "us vs. the world" aspect

That sense of victimization/defensiveness (which is very popular in some conservative groups I've seen) can certainly contribute to cult-like behavior -- "they're all out to get us, so we've got to stick together and rally behind our leader, the chosen one".

The thing about his black-and-white worldview, though, is that it's the image people see, but his words get so garbled that we can make them mean almost anything. People such as Clinton, who can express complex ideas clearly, might get villified for not being simplistic enough, but we can at least understand what they're saying. People such as Bush, who can't piece together a complex thought into a coherent sentence, end up leaving us with the responsibility of interpreting what he meant.

Actually, that fits in with another religious aspect of him (and many right-wingers) that I had mentioned a long time ago -- I remember reading that a key tool to reach enlightment is to be able to hold contradicting ideas in your head at the same time. Think of the concept of "three persons, one God", or "the sound of one hand clapping". Religious mystics use these types of devices as meditative tools. (I guess "1984" described the same technique for brainwashing -- "Freedom is Slavery", etc.) Much of what Bush and his gang tell us, and much of what they are, are inherent contradictions, and you must really "free your mind" in order to accept them -- the AWOL war hero, the plain-spoken leader who can't string a sentence together, tax cuts that reduce the deficit....

So, if we can hold these contradicting concepts in our head, and interpret his utterances in multiple ways, then we could very well be on the path to total awakening. Or not. :)