The Stout Republican

GoingThere said something in the comment section that got me thinking.

“Personally dishonest no. Intellectually dishonest yes.”

How it is that such a thing can exist, I don’t know. That a person can believe something so fervently, based on an abstracted ideal. 9-11 truthers. National isolationists. Conspiracy junkies. They all believe what they believe in the face of common sense, and intellectual reality. Allah addresses the idea…not to whit, Michael Moore

…The full Truther bear hug asserts that 9/11 was an inside job; Moore’s practicing the “mainstream” version, which confines itself to “just asking questions.” It’s the spirit of free inquiry, man. Asking questions — who could be against that?

He’s been looking for an alternate explanation since, literally, the day after. It reminds me of a piece published last year in the Times explaning how Iran has made anti-Americanism a de facto tenet of Islamic doctrine. Same with the far left: the idea of the United States being victimized, particularly by third-worlders and in so horrendous a fashion, contradicts the dogma too starkly. Even the usual compensation, that we “deserved” it, doesn’t quite account for office workers having to nosedive onto asphalt from 100 stories up. So they make the only cognitive move they can. (Chomsky, notably, is an apostate on this subject.)

As Allah stated, you can circumvent the personal responsibility of throwing yourself behind an idea by “just asking questions”…then you don’t have to stand strong when the “reality” you’ve constructed is contradicted by the “reality” of those pesky things…facts.

The idea that Iraq is not central to the war on terror is an example of this intellectual dishonesty. Yes, disagree with why we got there, how we got there, and extrapolate your “facts” about someone else’s deep seeded dishonest reasons, whether that is revenge or maybe they’re working for the Israeli lobby (cue scary music). The truth is, we are there, and it is now central to the war on terror. But, politicians being what they are, and people with baggage in the form of emotional hatred now feel that the mistakes of the past can be remedied with a future mistake. Time did not stop in 2001. I can grant you that al Qaeda did not have contact with Iraq, though it is an arguable point, but they have a presence now.

I suppose an analogous situation would be if I was to go to a doctor, and he told me I had cancer. The doctor does several scans, throws me through the MRI machine a few times, and even cuts my open to check my gal bladder. My body’s not in great shape he determines, but I don’t have cancer. I go home, and over the next two years eat, drink, and make merry, and start to develop lung cancer. I return to the doctor who laughs and says, “Well son, I thought we worked this out, you don’t have cancer.” One of my friends tells me that if I’d never gone to the doctor in the first place, I never would have developed cancer, another states that if I change the “eat, drink, and make merry” part…the cancer will magically evaporate (he was also very upset that I aggravated the cancer by hanging out with Jewish people)…even, and still another, let’s call him John Edwards, doesn’t believe in cancer at all, and thinks I’m being sold on a future bumper sticker slogan. I would probably find more comfort in the friend that said, “Look, you may not have had cancer then, but you have it now…something needs to be done, let me introduce you to Dr. Petraeus.” My other friends, who didn’t attend medical school, tell me how crazy I am for considering this option, that they have a better treatment for my cancer, and this Doctor hack, with his years of education, doesn’t know jack about cancer, not like what they learned at their Law School.

My point is that the pundits always seem to know more than the professionals. They have access to special information, secret alliances, under the table deals, and shadow conversations.

Our President talks to the Saudis. No shocker there. They’re leaders of a nation, he’s a leader of a nation, and they interact. I’m sorry if I’m not shocked that they have a dialogue.

Fire melts steel. Call me crazy, but that’s how I believe they made the first swords…and they didn’t even have jet fuel.

Politicians raise money. Sometimes people donate money to them who are bad. Does that make the politicians bad? Not necessarily. Does that make them complicit in fraud? Not necessarily. I’ll wait for evidence that’s admissible in court.

If a company can’t make money, it should not exist. Companies are not here to serve the people. Companies are here to make money and sell a product to a consumer. If they can’t turn a profit because people won’t buy their goods, or they inefficient, then they don’t deserve to exist. This means you farmers. This means you GM. The government shouldn’t subsidize you. If I wanted your product, I would buy it…so don’t take my money in the form of taxes to give to them anyways if I decide not to buy it. That violates the free market in my mind.

I think intellectual honesty is lacking in today’s discourse. As conversation digress to tangents, and tangents to still more digressions, people loose sight of the forest. The details cloud the vision, and what starts as a conversation about subject A, turns into an editorial about subject Z.

To address the venerable Miss Platt specifically. While I appreciate you and others visiting my site, if I see one more non-related 5 page essay complete with attachment that you sent to your local Congressman and newspaper editorial, I am going to pull my hair out.

No matter how hard we try to veer you back towards the subject at hand, you seem to disregard the general posts and instead use the comments section as your very own springboard into Bush historical melodrama. Yes we get it…there’s a huge political shadow society that has everyone fooled but you. The very same information that we all have access to has a secret code between the lines that only you can read, and if anyone else can’t see that, then they must be watching Hannity exclusively, shutting off their brain and sticking the shit nozzle of Republican propaganda in their ear before giggling and turning on the pump. Yes we get it…you’re the only one who is in the know, and you have the monologues to prove it. Relax a bit, and while I’ve been alluding to it, I’ll be direct. Every time you throw your car into reserve and press the gas on the one way road of conversation, people just want to veer out of the way, and then comment to their cell phone buddy on the other end how their own intellectual journey was nearly cut short because some crazy lady decided to not heed the road signs.

Now that I have berated you, let me make you an offer. I have a seldom used section on the left side of the menu called “Liberal Slant“, where my pal Practical Radical used to post before life gobbled him up and shat him on the doormat of responsibility. If you truly want a platform, I will provide you with one, and let you create your own recurring column…maybe it’s the “keep your (political) enemies closer” but more than likely it’s the “stuff more content into my site so I don’t have to work as hard” and probably more so “I have the icon and they all flow together and I don’t want to have them graphically redone just so I can delete a sidebar button” What say you?

Conspiracy, Moonbats, Rant