Posts Tagged ‘debate’
Lighting a candle versus cursing the darkness
A friend I respect asked me today why I write here about some of the subjects (and people) I do. What do I hope to achieve? Coincidentally, I saw this (below) in the latest Parachute music festival magazine just this morning: That’s a different spin on Edmund Burke’s much-quoted saying: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph […]
A small update: now I am ‘a sanctimonious twat’, too, apparently.
Earlier this year, in discussion with Cathy Odgers (Cactus Kate) about certain RWNJ’s affecting to foam with outrage (see Wailing about death threats, forgetting what they’ve written themselves) I noted National Party hate blogger Cameron Slater’s marked tendency to spit insults at those who disagree with him rather than make the effort to mount an […]
The non-sense of political labels and cutting friends because of their conclusions
From a wonderful article on recent US politics (Really. Please read it.) Revenge of the Reality-Based Community: My life on the Republican right—and how I saw it all go wrong by Bruce Bartlett. The final line for me to cross in complete alienation from the right was my recognition that Obama is not a leftist. […]
The ancient (and dangerous) model of leadership
Sudden death or death by a thousand cuts? I learned pretty much all I needed to know about political manoeuvring, frustrated ambition and Olympic-level backstabbing when I covered local body politics — the ‘civics’ round — in Wellington for NewstalkZB, before going on to the Parliamentary press gallery. In my experience at that time, the […]
‘As playful as he is psychotic’
I read this wonderful line in Michele Manelis’ preview of Skyfall, the latest Bond movie: Javier Barden stars as Raoul Silva, and brings the sinister-yet-comedic element to the story. This over-the-top baddie is as playful as he is psychotic, but of course, underneath it all, he feels that he’s simply “misunderstood”. Which reminded me of […]
Amazing pic of Biden & Ryan
Photographer Jon Passantino got a shot.
Conservatives vs Liberals: a Fox News fan’s view
This is a case of the Reticular Activating System in action. As regular readers will know, here at ThePaepae.com we’re in the middle of a long-running (or on-going?) discussion about political labels, self-identification, partisanship, and fear & loathing of ‘The Other Side’ … In the middle of a (I would have thought unrelated) comment stream […]
Conservatism with an open mind
Here’s a link to an excellent Andrew Sullivan article Conservatism And Extreme Inequality which discuss the challenge conservatism faces when responding to changed economic times. Part of it made sense. (Not just the part about ‘The good thing about having a blog is that I can go back and read my first impression …’) I […]
Gee, this is a bit harsh (Rick Santorum)
Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum attacked the media and “smart people” for not being on the side of conservatives in a speech to the Values Voter Summit on Saturday. “We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country,” Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, told the audience at the Omni Shoreham hotel. […]
Bill Clinton’s still got the shine. Unlike some.
I’m too young to have observed at first hand the way the US media was [supposedly] swept up in a love affair with John F Kennedy. Sure, I’ve read contemporary accounts like LIFE magazine fawning over the Kennedys etc, and looked at the phenomenon historically, but that ain’t the same. As an observer I was […]
The D-word. Name-calling in place of intellectual debate
A nice line from Stanley Fish’s New York Times review of right wing polemicist Dinesh D’Souza’s ninety minute anti-Obama campaign ad masquerading as a feature film … … While a viewer could certainly disagree with D’Souza’s analysis of the genesis and emergence of Obama’s views, it is nevertheless an analysis to which one could respond […]
My Side versus The Other Side. (Just beautiful)
Unspeakably good satire (or something) about two party politics and human nature from A. Barton Hinkle at Reason.com: The Wrong Side Absolutely Must Not Win … it’s clear that the people on the Other Side are driven by mindless anger – unlike My Side, which is filled with passionate idealism and righteous indignation. That indignation, […]
Please read this post
This one: ‘Everything we know about you guys is wrong‘ Sometimes I feel I can’t improve on a thought, or how I expressed it first. – P
