Sunday, October 19, 2008
Obama/McCain...
I just don't care. I find it utterly impossible to muster a lick of concern over who gets to be King of Nightsoil Mountain. Whichever of the deeply mediocre candidates claims victory, will inherit a toxic waste dump for their prize. Senile, flag waving geriatric and delusional church lady versus smiling sloganeer empty suit and smiling sloganeer empty suit. A battle for the ages! With victory comes inevitable disappointment. I'm with Stageleft on this one. With Canada determined to screw itself into the political mud, why the fuck are we directing our energy and attention to the politic stupidity of a foreign country run by crazy people and killers?
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I haven't cared since the Reagan era. I tune in to remain minimally informed (who are the primary candidates, who ends up winning the primaries, who are the running mates, who wins the election and what's the Composition of congress) and that's about it.
The only thing Canadians should pay attention to is trade with the US, formal, informal and secret networks (who is really funding Charles McVety?) and American foreign policy.
i'm pretty much with you there ti-guy. and in terms of trade, we should be looking at some heavy diversification sooner than later. put nafta back on the table and quash it if the yanks can't see fit to obey the fookin' treaty they signed. no to homeland security branch office north. no to water flowing south. no to missile defense and nukular missiles on our soil, in our water or aloft in our airspace. no to boondoggle missile defense crap. no to common currency, no,no,no,no! if our leaders had cojones or ethics they'd be threatening to break off diplomatic relations until our citizens were returned and the war criminals were in the dock facing life or worse for their crimes.
Well, I won't apologize for being interested. It’s a pretty cool drama, in and of itself, regardless of the outcome. And that outcome of the election will have about as much impact on me as the Canadian election did. Why not watch as Rome burns?
Why not watch as Rome burns?
It's not that exciting...yet, in any case.
I just find I get dumber when I pay attention to it (I find following our own right wing politics does the same thing). Trying to understand irrationality causes brain injury, I'm pretty sure.
Besides, I have no sense of humour left.
"I just find I get dumber when I pay attention to it."
You clearly have a greater distance to fall than I do.
i used to have a fascination with american politics because it reall is that much more dramatic. but i find the huge investment canadians are making emotionally in the outcome troubling. it has become reality tv. reality tv sucks.
Then why don't we have it?
Unless... would Coach's Corner be reality tv?
I don't want to get to meta here, but you're complaining that reality is too closely mimicking a medium set up to mimic reality. That's interesting in itself, but at the end of the day, some guy with the power to have an huge impact on big chunks of the world is going to get elected. There's a certain irreducible interest there, no?
but i find the huge investment canadians are making emotionally in the outcome troubling.
What I find is that people are getting confused as to what country they're living in and that some of the issues that are tangential or comp;letely irrelevant to our politics are being dragged into them. Just look at the language we're using to talk about our politics. The whole populism vs. elitism issue, the discussion of party strengths focused on finances (Obama's campaign has already cost more than two or three Canadian elections, I'm sure) the importance of religion in public life and worst of all, the racism.
American politics bring up novel issues that American thinkers can have interesting discussions about (which I generally follow with Bill Moyers Journal and podcasts like KCRW's Left, Right and Centre, or read books about) but that's different from what we, as regular shlubs voting in our own elections, should be pre-occupied with.
You clearly have a greater distance to fall than I do.
I envy your ability to get at the root of it that kind of thinking and wring wit and insight out of it. I'm completely incapable of doing that kind of thing.
I know a lot of people like Blogging Tory types. The only thing I'm ever able to do for them is loan them money, or help them move or paint a room or cook them dinner but I just don't have anything to say about them or to them.
...but at the end of the day, some guy with the power to have an huge impact on big chunks of the world is going to get elected. There's a certain irreducible interest there, no?
Depends on the type of person you are, I guess. I'm goal oriented, so I'm more interested in the events, than in the process. When the process is mystifying, irritating, depressing or thoroughly non-pedagogical, I don't tend to bother with it for very long. It just doesn't tell me anything new or anything that helps me.
i just can't help thinking that if canadians invested as much interest and energy in the campaign just completed, we'd have had a larger turn out at the polls. as far as the impact that will be had, well america impacts us either way. at the moment it looks more like an anchor than an engine and it really won't matter too damn much who the captain of the sinking ship is going to be once it begins listing.
Ooh. I dunno. I think we want a sane captain on their ship. Or at least one that won't start a war just before the ship goes down.
A sane one who doesn't start wars might have some very clever ideas about how the rest of the World is going to bail out a country swimming in debt.
Might as well just go the border now and hand over our wallets.
Nobody would have watched "Survivor" if the prize was a year's supply of macaroni. It's the prize that makes everyone watch.
Similarly, winning the keys to a house at 24 Sussex is not as compelling as winning the keys to a briefcase with launch codes for 10,000 nukular missiles.
That "football" is the elephant in the room. I was reading Eric Margolis today musing somewhat facetiously if the US will sell off assets since creditors are unlikely to want paper anymore. Russia would buy back Alaska, which they had to sell when they were broke in the 19th century.
But of course in those days economic ruin meant you couldn't afford a military either. Those missiles, for which the US of all nations knows there is no defense, are the wild card.
Some of us have to watch, because they're likely to live there in the next 5 to 10 years.
I *swear* I didn't mean to fall in love with an American and marry him, but since I did it's no mistake that we're living here for the foreseeable future.
I have a stake in this election, whether or not I personally get a vote. I watch it, because I need to know what I am getting into, and to gauge the likelihood of being shot or lynched as a heretic/communist.
It's important for some of the estimated 500,000 American citizens living in Canada and the people who love them.
Damn. If Harper hadn't blown the surplus, WE could've bought Alaska. Then we could have sent the Palins on "The Aristocrats" joke tour. Made millions more $$$s.
Uh.. but then they'd need passports, sooey. Sometimes you *really* don't think these things through, do you.
Damn. If Harper hadn't blown the surplus, WE could've bought Alaska.
We might be able to afford the Panhandle. It's never been very good for the the feng shui of the West Coast. Reminds me of a skin tumour creeping down the side of a face.
Trudeau should could have bought the Turk/Caicos isalands back in the early '70s for $9 million.If he had, there would be 29 million Canadians living down there and the rest of us would have this glorious ad mare usque ad mare to play in.
Ti-guy: the Panhandle is in Florida
Alaska Panhandle.
The Floridian one, well..as Margolis suggests, we should buy the entire state outright.
I'd nix that though. I can't stand Florida.
I can't stand Florida.
Too many snowbirds.
I have to disagree, really heartily.
"No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast [Haaar.], if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."
Complaining about the interests of your peers just makes you sound defensive in your ignorance.
the mouse sleeping next to the elephant is well advised to know what elephant is up to.
well it isn't as though we get the chance to not know what the pachyderm is up to. we get their tv and their radio and their media and their internets. awareness of america isn;t really a problem now is it? lol
the mouse sleeping next to the elephant is well advised to know what elephant is up to.
Following this retarded circus doesn't tell you what the elephant is up to, or will be up to. That's why I'd rather focus on the substantive issues: trade, foreign policy, etc...
i just can't help thinking that if canadians invested as much interest and energy in the campaign just completed, we'd have had a larger turn out at the polls
And yet, their turnout is guaranteed to be worse than ours.
Agreed, PSA, dear gawd, agreed.
A friend of mine teaching a first year philosophy course told me that a Canadian student in his class complained that other students in a discussion group were not suitably respectful "to our president". Horrifically this was followed up by a debate on how much respect our president is due before someone pointed out the obvious.
I bag on a lot about the SPP but the Canadian obsession with the soap opera to the south to the exclusion of paying attention to what goes on up here is much the greater danger.
"smiling sloganeer empty suit and smiling sloganeer empty suit."
going to enjoy watching you eat them words one day, bub.
KEvron
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