5 thoughts on “Dubya is the new Kim Jong-Il”

  1. In North Korea, Iraq, et al, the dictators place their portraits everywhere as propaganda. In the United States, private citizens put up a couple billboards of the freely-elected leader. There is a *tremendous* difference between the two. The latter is hardly reminiscent of the former.

  3. OK, look, let me try this again — I’m flattered you read (and link to) my blog despite our serious disagreements on many political issues. I assumed I’d successfully alienated you with my last rant in your comments, after which I stopped reading your blog entirely, but I see that either that’s not the case or you like to read and comment on the blogs of people who *have* successfully alienated you (where do you find the time?).

    If you read this blog because you like something about it besides my politics, could you comment on what you *like*, whatever it is, instead of popping up with these little political snarks?

    (Which miss the point entirely btw… it’s *obvious* we’re not in the same condition as North Korea. But North Korea is slowly moving *away* from a cult of personality focused on its leader, and that billboard is a move *towards* one. “We’re not as bad as those guys” is an entirely unsatisfactory response to claims that we are moving in a direction whose logical conclusion is being “as bad as those guys.” And sometimes when we say “we’re not as bad as those guys” it’s just plain false: before the revelations about Abu Ghraib the President was talking about how *we* weren’t going to have secret torture and rape rooms…. But oopsie, it seems we did. Thanks to a few bad apples and an administration-wide policy of pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in the name of “anything goes in the war on terror.”)

    So here it is: I hate your politics. I avoid exposing myself to them needlessly. Please respect my wishes and keep them the hell away from me. I apologize that I can not take them in stride, but at least at this point in time I cannot.

  4. Okay, sir, I will grant your two requests. Before, however, I grant your first request (to get lost), I must answer the second request.

    Why do I read your site? I actually read your blog *for* your politics and for little else. I am neither a gamer nor a programmer so many of your posts are of little interest to me. (Your recent post about the Perl code you wrote a year or so ago was rather interesting, though.) So here it is:

    I read your blog because you make me think. You make me question my very deeply held political beliefs. You make me question them in part because of the passion with which you hold your own politics but also because much of what you write is so contrary to how I view the world that I *must* question what I believe politically in order to understand what it is you are stating. You have challenged me in very tangible ways (that I will not list here; they are tangential to this topic) to examine what I believe and support and for what I am actually voting when I cast my ballot. You make me want to strive for politics that better reflect my true concern for the well-being of others. I read your blog because it presents such a challenge to me that I am forced to truly examine myself. Obviously this is not happening just from your blog. It is your blog along with all the other blogs (and web sites) I read that is helping to shape and mold me.

    I will continue to read your blog. I will, as you request, “get lost.” I must say, however, “thank you” for your passion. Thank you for articulating thoughts and ideas that challenge me.

  5. Man, could you possibly be any more gracious and put me any more to shame? Well said. I’m glad I made you think. If you still voted Bush, obviously I didn’t make you think hard enough, but that’s OK, happened to a lot of people apparently.

    I’m sorry I react so badly when you pipe up in here to put down something I said. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s where I am right now, or at least where I have been lately. Some people are energized by conflict and some people are dragged down and made miserable by it. I’m generally one of the latter.

    I post some of the stuff I do here because things have gotten so bad, they’re to a point where I can’t do anything but yell about it. Some people are able to be more measured — Lawrence Lessig, for example, or John Perry Barlow. They’re the ones to turn to for reasonable debate. I’m just shouting in powerless anguish here. And given that, I tend to take the little countersnipes as kicking a guy when he’s down. Cause I gotta get really really down before I start complaining about politics.

    So, there you go. That’s why I’ve been such a jerk. Like I said, I’m not proud of it, and I sure wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who can help being like that. But there it is.

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