* I see Egypt has blown up, after the fuse was lit in Tunisia. Everybody is wondering where the pieces will fall, except of course for those who think it’ll all settle down after a few soporific homilies from The Leader of the Multicultural World.
Some hope after the dust settles we’ll see some brand-new democracies in the Middle East. Pardon me if I don’t hold my breath.
Critics of the Iraq war used to warn about “destabilizing the Middle East.” Whatever you think of invading and/or nation building in Iraq, there is a logical flaw in this – it presupposes the Middle East is stable. It is not, it’s merely static for periods of time.
I would be very surprised if anyone who has lived and worked in any Arab country ever described the region as “stable.”
Before recent events if I’d had to name a country I thought revolution was least likely to start, I’d have said Tunisia, or Jordan.
Question: chaos in the Middle East is bad for us… how?
It could force us to override a lot of burdensome regulations and develop oil fields in the U.S. (North Dakota among others) estimated to be several times larger than Saudi Arabia’s.
Oh my, mustn’t let that happen! That would be bad for the environment. (Third world countries by definition have no environment.) Let’s start another war instead.
* Jim Goad pointed out in Taki’s Magazine that Elton John is “sick of being treated like a second-class citizen” in America. He can’t marry his gay lover here you see.
Ummm, Sir Elton you’re not an American citizen at all.
And as the estimable redneck Goad points out – all those Americans who made you richer than Croesus guessed you were gay a long time ago.
* This is leading somewhere I promise. A few months back I published an article in The Dakota Beacon addressing the question of whether the TEA Party is anti-elite education. (I’ll post it here by-and-by.)
An excerpt:
Jacob Weisberg writing in Slate, searched for what “right-wing populists” mean by “elite.” He cites an interview Brian Williams conducted with John McCain and Sarah Palin during the last election. Williams asked, “Who is a member of the elite.”
Palin responded first. “I guess just people who think that they’re better than everyone else,” she said.
“McCain then elaborated. “I know where a lot of them live—in our nation’s capital and New York City—the ones [Palin] never went to a cocktail party with in Georgetown—who think that they can dictate what they believe to America rather than let Americans decide for themselves.”
“Thus did the son and grandson of admirals, a millionaire who couldn’t remember how many houses he owned, accuse his mixed-race opponent, raised by a single-mother and only a few years past paying off his student loans, of being the real elite candidate in the campaign.”
(End excerpt.)
I pointed out a couple of things: Obama’s mother was single for much of her adult life – but more by choice than necessity. And, she had a PhD and wealthy parents who she gave the kid to to raise for much of his childhood. They in turn sent him to the toniest prep school in Hawaii.
And the Obamas may have just recently paid off their student loans, but not before they bought a million-dollar house.
Now every politician over the past two generations tries to poor mouth, if he can get away with it. American dream, log cabin, humble origins and all that.
Democrats play it up more than Republicans, like Joe Biden talking up his “working class roots.” But I do remember Everett Dirkson nominating Barry Goldwater all those years ago. Dirkson managed to get in a line about “grandson of that Jewish peddler” several times in his nomination speech.
I actually watched Obama’s speech to school children last year, and I was in a grade school class because of all the fol-de-rol about propagandizing kids, etc.
It was actually innocuous enough, with praiseworthy admonitions to the kids to work hard and study. It kind of made conservatives look a little silly for raising a fuss.
But there was something I noticed that nobody seems to have picked up on. When Obama was telling how his mother used to get up early to help him with his homework, and when he complained she said, “Hey, this is no picnic for me either.”
Then he talked about the First Lady and said, “And Michelle, well she didn’t have much either.”
(Acutally Michelle’s roots really are working class – but her father worked in Chicago public works. This is not a poverty trade and pays quite nicely thank you. He was also an influential ward heeler in the Democratic Party.)
But “didn’t have much either”? Exactly how much is “not much” Mr. President?
Back to Jacob Weisberg. His Wikipedia entry:
He is the son of Lois Weisberg, a Chicago social activist and connector celebrated in Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point. Weisberg’s father, Bernard Weisberg, was a prominent Chicago lawyer and, later, judge. His parents were introduced at a cocktail party by novelist Ralph Ellison.
(By the way, that Gladwell article on Lois Weisberg is, like everything Gladwell writes, fascinating.)
Now tying together Obama, Weisberg, and Sir Elton.
As I said, if your fan/voter base is left-liberal you probably poor mouth more than a conservative like cow-college grad Sarah Palin or John Boehner. (A genuine up-from-humble-beginnings guy, who so far hasn’t campaigned on it. Please don’t Mr. Speaker.)
It could be a cynical ploy for votes and support. But what if it isn’t?
What if Obama, Weisberg, Sir John really think poverty and oppression means… I don’t know, living in a duplex in a working-class neighborhood, not being able to marry your gay lover (whatever you think of the issue,) or whatever deprivation Obama suffered in that prep school. (Did he not get the basketball shoes the popular kids were wearing that year?)
We’re governed by people who think like this? Our arbiters of culture think like this?
THAT’S REALLY SCARY!
For ten years in Poland I washed my clothes by hand – an experience almost no American of my generation has. (You put the clothes in the bathtub with detergent and the hottest water you can stand, then you pretend like you’re stomping grapes. Rinsing is a bitch though.)
I didn’t feel poor, I felt inconvenienced when I thought about it at all.
I’ve just returned from Minsk, Belarus (see below,) a delightful city with a thriving nightlife. Except there is still a KGB who can question you, imprison you, of flat murder you any time they feel like it.
I didn’t personally feel oppressed, because I’ve got that American passport. The worst that was likely to happen to me was deportation.
Oh, and they don’t have same-sex marriage either.
UPDATE: Excuse me, forgot a point I wanted to make about Obama supporters such as Weisberg et al.
They’re racists.
But they’re SUPPORTERS of the first black (or “mixed race”) president, I hear you say.
Did you catch the hidden assumption in Weisberg’s formulation? It doesn’t matter that Obama is in fact, a preppie from a privileged background. If he’s black he’s poor and disadvantaged.
Talk about stereotyping!