tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post3077825506630345517..comments2023-12-23T05:14:34.273-05:00Comments on Wit's End: BageantGail Zawackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-59370008321002124342011-03-29T13:28:21.757-04:002011-03-29T13:28:21.757-04:00That was wonderfully put, Anonymous. It's a co...That was wonderfully put, Anonymous. It's a complex issue that doesn't lend itself well to easy definition when you start drilling into it. Joe did a great job of trying to tackle it, and he made it pleasantly entertaining.Morocco Bamanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-23564782011529010182011-03-29T12:09:06.950-04:002011-03-29T12:09:06.950-04:00I loved Joe--he was able to say for this working c...I loved Joe--he was able to say for this working class grandma exactly what I couldn't put words to about being white and poor. Most people in my position don't want to be rich, just to be able to have decent shelter, food and a future for their kids--and we're not getting it. What we're given are distractions.<br /><br />I was in the women's movement and against the Vietnam war and worked for civil rights, and I generally did not run up against class snobbery; maybe it was because I hung around w/a lot of "reds" who respected my desire to learn and grow and above all, <i>listened</i> to me. OTOH, today's "progressive" movement calls me names, even though I've actually lived a life much like Joe's--a disdain for material gain along with a great concern for seeing the lower 50% of the population lose more and more, year after year.<br /><br />People like me don't necessarily want the cheap housing, the gas guzzling cars or the crap from China, but unless you know how you're being hit on from the corporations and financiers, you're just left without a job and a sense of unease you can't figure out. The rightwing has been glad to pick up on and direct these folks to their reactionary, racist ideology.<br /><br />The "leftwing" these days has done a pretty shitty job of dumping on the poor working class (even Pres Obama never talks about the "poor"--only the misnamed "middle class") and some on the "left" have viciously attacked us, and abandoned us, both white and minorities, to our own devices. Is it any wonder that so many working class whites swallowed the entire teabagger package whole?<br /><br />Class, and castes within classes, is a huge issue in this country; has been for years, and will continue to be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-77077930036394560332011-03-29T10:37:17.136-04:002011-03-29T10:37:17.136-04:00catman, exactly. In fact, that is part of what I s...catman, exactly. In fact, that is part of what I said in my final comment at Real Climate, and I put an ozone plug in there for Gail, but they censored my post.....go figure.Morocco Bamanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-56433606948367278202011-03-29T08:27:46.749-04:002011-03-29T08:27:46.749-04:00Here's an intriguing, and disturbing video. It...Here's an intriguing, and disturbing video. It could be a paranoid, over-the-top rant/reaction, or a hoax, but it will be our response in the years to come, regardless of its authenticity.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Weao6HS9SI&feature=player_embedded#at=358Morocco Bamanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-44102465888331902902011-03-29T08:13:00.463-04:002011-03-29T08:13:00.463-04:00I think we're all going to be like the musicia...I think we're all going to be like the musicians on the Titanic who continued to play music 'til the end because that was what they knew and that was what they did. We'll all keep doing what we do because that's all we know. Education and a truly committed-to-the-truth media would have been the simple answer 30 years ago. Instead we got what we have.<br /><br />There really aren't any lifeboats for what's coming when this Titanic goes down. <br /><br />But you'll get to see it on the TV News in serial form:<br />"Coming Soon, A Disaster Near You!"catman306https://www.blogger.com/profile/04670081770711560337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5549306427964459740.post-8464393127995384012011-03-29T07:18:49.343-04:002011-03-29T07:18:49.343-04:00I enjoyed reading Bageant. He validated so much of...I enjoyed reading Bageant. He validated so much of my thinking. Can you imagine exposing the ivory tower folks over at Real Climate to Bageant? I see what you mean with those folks. Of course, I saw what you meant when you first posted about them, but I gave it a try, and look at the responses I got from them. Rancourt was a Physics professor of many years before being booted for challenging the institutionalized system. He was, and is a scientist just like them and he uses science as part of his rebuttal. I need the other scientists at Real Climate to answer his questions non-dismissively and scientifically, but instead they behave like school-yard bullies and say they have more important things to do, and that his challenges have all been answered and point me to some nonsensical link that doesn't answer any of the questions, scientifically, at least.<br /><br />It's very disheartening. Their behavior only serves to further prove Rancourt's thesis......that institutions are corruptly blinded beyond repair. They become, if they were not already, the spitting image, in both appearance and now substance, the aspersion cast their way.<br /><br />I don't need science to prove to me that our way of life is not tenable or sustainable....that humankind is destroying the habitat that it depends on, and all life depends on. CO2 is not the basis of of this problem....it's the symptom. Our way of life is the problem. Unlimited material growth through centralized systems of resource extraction, transformation and distribution is the problem. Civilization is the problem. That's the elephant in the room the High Priests won't address.Morocco Bamanoreply@blogger.com