The Audacity of Oversimplification

A contributor to National Review Online (NRO) has been promoting a book called Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism by James Piereson. Piereson describes the basic gist of the book thusly:

Kennedy constantly talked about the future, and [for him] the future was going to be brighter than the past. What happened [with his assassination] was that the assumption of American progress among liberals was shattered.

Obviously a full critique of this idea would entail reading the book, but there 2 problems with this idea that immediately come to mind:

First of all, the idea that liberals have not believed in American progress over the last 45 years is a ridiculous generalization. For one thing, it was the conservative Reagan revolution that was associated with the idea that government can only do harm, whereas the Clinton administration believed in governmant and ran it rather effictevly (Compare the federal response to any natural disaster under Clinton to the federal "response" to Hurricane Katrina)

Second of all, to the extent that the hope Liberals had for this country in the 60s deteriorated (which it certainly did to a degree), it wasn't just because Kennedy was assassinated. Also Martin Luther King and RFK. And Malcolm X. And Medgar Evers. And Vietnam and Watergate.

JFK's assasination of course had huge impact on the course of American politics, but a lot of other things happened in the 10 years following it.

Love and Theft

I just finished listening to Bob Dylan's 2001 album, "Love and Theft" for the first time while I stuffed envelopes at work (hope you're excited about that B.A., Vassar class of '08!). God damn, it's even better than Time out of Mind I think. How many other musicians of the album era have released fantastic albums 38 years apart? Ray Charles maybe? Miles Davis? Certainly a miniscule group.
For the last 5 years or so, when I considered my favorite bands/artists, it was The Beatles at number 1 with whoever number 2 was far behind. Now it's Beatles at 1, Dylan at 2, and then everyone else.

Bigot Day on AOL/Netscape

is every day.

Netscape.aol.com is the homepage of my computer at work, so if a news story on the page catches my eye, I generally read it rather than finding the story at a better news source. I recently started looking through the comments on the stories - they can be posted by anyone and are obviously not screened (not to say that they should be) - and quickly discovered that the AOL/Netscape home page apparently attracts every bigoted, crazy, and ignorant asshole with an internet connection. Here's a sampling of unedited comments on a story titled "Obama Tells GOP to 'Lay Off My Wife'":

-HOW CAN ANYONE DEFEND OBAMA AND HIS RACIST WIFE? IF YOU THINK MICHELLE IS PATROTIC JUST READ HER SR. YEAR THESIS. EVERYOTHER WORD WAS WHITE THIS WHITE THAT AND SHE ENDED UP CONDLUDING THAT SHE WOULD SPEND HER LIFE USING HER RESOURCES, EDUCATION, TO ENHANCE THE POOR BLACK FOLK. AND WHEN OBAMA GETS INTO OFFICE THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SHE WILL BADGER OBAMA INTO DOING. WHITEY, YOU'VE HAD IT. EVEN YOU PATHETIC DRONES WHO GO TO HIS RALLY'S AND SIT LOOKING AT THE ADORING OBAMA WHO DOESN'T GIVE A HOOT ABOUT YOU. THE BEST YOU WHITE FOLKS WILL EVER DO WITH OBAMA IS GET TO VOTE FOR HIM TO HELP HIS RACE ADVANCE. YOU GET NOTHING FOR YOUR TAX DOLLAR EXCEPT YOUR TAX RECEIPT...... SUCKERS.

-ever wonder why Mr. Obama is so thin? Have you ever met an African American who does not participate in the drug culture? Mr. Obama has admitted that he has...his thinness suggest we should ask him to take a drug test.I bet Mrs. McCain would. And by the way unless you have proof shes in to drugs you are slandering her. Mr. Obama and his wife both have admitted to prior use.

-HOW CAN THE PEOPLE OF OUR WONDERFUL COUNTRY VOTE FOR A MUSLIM. HAVE YOU ALL FORGOTTEN WHAT HAPPENED ON 9-11? HE IS A SHEEP IN WOLFS CLOTHING. WATCH OUT. WHY WON'T THE MEDIA SAY HIS REAL NAME? BARAK HUSSEIN MUHAMAD OBAMA? THEY ARE AFRAID OF OFFENDING HIM. IF HE BECOMES OUR NEXT PRESIDENT, WE WILL BE OFFENED. THIS IS VERY SCARY.

...And so on.
I'm as quick as anyone to say that there are a lot of ignorant assholes in this country, but I find the number of comments similar to the above on any given AOL/Netscape story to be staggering to the point where I've actually wondered if there's a sociological reason that AOL/Netscape attracts bigoted assholes more than more reputable news sites. Anyone have any theories?

Return

I'm starting (resuming?) a blog. I'm writing it on this space where I briefly blogged 3 years ago because:
1. It's easier than creating a new blog
2. I have a nostalgic/masochistic desire to have the tripe I wrote 3 years ago be visible along with the new stuff I write.
3. I like the name of the blog.

I expect that this blog will be different from the old one in a couple of ways:
1. It will have a bit more of a livejournal type feel to it - I plan on talking about noteworthy/interesting aspects of my daily life rather than just my opinions on things. That being said, I plan on keeping the woe-is-me type stuff to a minimum.
2. Less political essays - I will certainly write about politics as much as anything else, but I plan on writing short comments on things in the news or things I read on other blogs rather than drawn-out essays because I'm never happy with such essays when I look back on them; the time it would take me to write an essay that is up to my personal standards is far more time than I'm willing to spend writing one.
3. Less chat, more hat.