Real Time with Cognitive Dissonance I have something to admit- I enjoy watching Real Time with Bill Maher so much that I'm DVR'ing every episode. It isn't that I agree with much of anything Bill Maher says, it's that the rhetoric and dialogue that consumes most of the show is so ludicrous that I can't take it seriously. Most of my entertainment comes from Bill's celebrity guests who apparently get all of their political knowledge from the same DNC memo read by Cindy Sheehan.
"I only get my picture taken when leaning to the left."
(Why can't google make google images work as well as the rest of their products? Is there any reason google imaging "Bradley Whitford" should return a picture of Patrick Swayze, even if he is much, much cooler?) Generally, Maher has at least one semi-competent Republican on the panel of three to provide some semblance of balance. Not tonight-
Maher: "I'd like to point out that we don't have a Bush defender here on the panel as we usually do..."
Bradley Whitford: "... or in the country"
Hmmm... not so whitty when writing his own lines- and as obviously false as that statement is, it was probably the least ridiculous thing to come out of his mouth. Not content with that, Whitford soon followed it with something dumber.
Whitford: "With the pictures we're seeing, they've revealed themselves.. as... we see that the Republican agenda leaves a lot of people behind... you mentioned that these people are a bunch of Jesus freaks- Where is the Christianity?!"
I'll tell you- setting up relief and aid stations or organizing donation drives, not setting out in a leaky boat wearing a flak jacket with a personal photographer. I have a theory that explains this- Cognitive Dissonance. In fact, the more I think about it, cognitive dissonance has to be the explanation for a vast majority of liberal policies. Let's take Mr. Whitford for example- he obviously has something against Christians, most likely because Southern Evangelicals are one of the main reasons why a certain douche didn't get elected President in 2004. As a result, the 1.4 million google hits for "Religious Relief Efforts Katrina" and close to 400 news stories are powerless to change his opinion. I would bet that he drives by at least two trailers parked by the side of the road accepting donations for Katrina every day, and that both of these are sponsored by either Churches or Faith Based Outreach Organizations. I do, and I have a nine mile drive to work through the middle of horse farms. As for the Republican agenda hell-bent on leaving blacks behind, it probably wouldn't make any difference to point out that New Orleans has had a solidly ensconced Democratic leadership for the last forty years, resulting in one of the poorest and most corrupt cities in America (Ok, I can't directly prove that, but it is an interesting coincidence) . Apparently the Federal government is both out of line in keeping judges from actively rewriting law, and also in trusting state officials to take an active role in responding to the most damaging hurricane on record. As Bill Whittle says,
Whitford: "A lot of these people can't leave because they live in poverty, they can't fill the car with gas, this may be obnoxious, but in a time of soaring budget defecits... I have gotten a quarter million dollars in tax relief, that's obscene!."
Once again, don't let reality interfere with what you heard on the red (or in this case blue) phone from DNC Headquarters before the show. It makes sense to assume that a tax cut will reduce the amount of revenue collected by the government, causing a budget crunch and eliminating the money alloted for the public dole, right? Wrong! Cutting taxes has increased federal revenues recently, in the same way it did during the height of Reaganomics. Why did Jude Wanniski (he helped introduce the Laffer Curve and supply side economics) die of a heart attack within the last few weeks? Most likely from dealing with idiots such as Bradley Whitford. If Bradley Whitford is ashamed to get that money back, why doesn't he just give it willingly to the government? Oh, that's right- because he'd rather buy a tesla coil and make a feeble attempt to cover up his enormous forehead.
(Aside- About this time in the show, African American author Mary Frances Berry tried to shift at least a little of the blame onto New Orlean's Head Incompetent Mayor Nagin and Lousiana state officials. Bill Maher countered with this impeccable logic- "But FEMA is a Federal agency, the federal emergency.." (really? thats what it means? the letters stand for words?) and then he is cut off by Michael Eric Dyson, who starts on some irrelevant FEMA tangent proving my suspicion that to the left, minority and women politicians are above reproach- even by women and minorities.)
Finally, a link to some video of New Orleans police officers working hard to control the looting at a local Wal-Mart. (What? Why doesn't blogger have a font dripping with sarcasm?) Seriously, with cops like these, why can't we rescue everyone in an area with no electricity, phones, or roads the size of Great Britain in a matter of hours?
Last night's celebrity guest was Bradley Whitford, and apparently he assumes that playing a politician on the West Wing is tantamount to the real thing.
"I only get my picture taken when leaning to the left."(Why can't google make google images work as well as the rest of their products? Is there any reason google imaging "Bradley Whitford" should return a picture of Patrick Swayze, even if he is much, much cooler?) Generally, Maher has at least one semi-competent Republican on the panel of three to provide some semblance of balance. Not tonight-
Maher: "I'd like to point out that we don't have a Bush defender here on the panel as we usually do..."
Bradley Whitford: "... or in the country"
Hmmm... not so whitty when writing his own lines- and as obviously false as that statement is, it was probably the least ridiculous thing to come out of his mouth. Not content with that, Whitford soon followed it with something dumber.
Whitford: "With the pictures we're seeing, they've revealed themselves.. as... we see that the Republican agenda leaves a lot of people behind... you mentioned that these people are a bunch of Jesus freaks- Where is the Christianity?!"
I'll tell you- setting up relief and aid stations or organizing donation drives, not setting out in a leaky boat wearing a flak jacket with a personal photographer. I have a theory that explains this- Cognitive Dissonance. In fact, the more I think about it, cognitive dissonance has to be the explanation for a vast majority of liberal policies. Let's take Mr. Whitford for example- he obviously has something against Christians, most likely because Southern Evangelicals are one of the main reasons why a certain douche didn't get elected President in 2004. As a result, the 1.4 million google hits for "Religious Relief Efforts Katrina" and close to 400 news stories are powerless to change his opinion. I would bet that he drives by at least two trailers parked by the side of the road accepting donations for Katrina every day, and that both of these are sponsored by either Churches or Faith Based Outreach Organizations. I do, and I have a nine mile drive to work through the middle of horse farms. As for the Republican agenda hell-bent on leaving blacks behind, it probably wouldn't make any difference to point out that New Orleans has had a solidly ensconced Democratic leadership for the last forty years, resulting in one of the poorest and most corrupt cities in America (Ok, I can't directly prove that, but it is an interesting coincidence) . Apparently the Federal government is both out of line in keeping judges from actively rewriting law, and also in trusting state officials to take an active role in responding to the most damaging hurricane on record. As Bill Whittle says,
"A person of some modest education might have remembered that the worship and adulation fostered after 9/11 was for the NYPD and the FDNY. No one was buying FEMA hats after 9/11, because FEMA is essentially a mop-up agency. It's the first responders, the local governments, that will determine if a city will live or die. The State -- that means, the "governor"-- has the sole authority to mobilize the National Guard, and the governor of the state of Louisana was not only slow to do that, she turned down NG assistance from several OTHER states as well. The President does not have the authority to drop precious egg salad sandwiches from Michael Moore's missing helicopters. We do this ON PURPOSE. We limit the power of the federal government, as those of us fortunate enough to have spent time in Civics, rather than Self Esteem classes, are aware. This is so that we do not develop a central power so strong that eventually we end up with idiot inbred royals, or Presidentes for life, on the face of OUR money."Apparently Mr. Whitford is not blessed with "some modest education." What's that you're saying? You need more examples proving cognitive dissonance? We need only wait for Whitford to open his mouth.
Whitford: "A lot of these people can't leave because they live in poverty, they can't fill the car with gas, this may be obnoxious, but in a time of soaring budget defecits... I have gotten a quarter million dollars in tax relief, that's obscene!."
Once again, don't let reality interfere with what you heard on the red (or in this case blue) phone from DNC Headquarters before the show. It makes sense to assume that a tax cut will reduce the amount of revenue collected by the government, causing a budget crunch and eliminating the money alloted for the public dole, right? Wrong! Cutting taxes has increased federal revenues recently, in the same way it did during the height of Reaganomics. Why did Jude Wanniski (he helped introduce the Laffer Curve and supply side economics) die of a heart attack within the last few weeks? Most likely from dealing with idiots such as Bradley Whitford. If Bradley Whitford is ashamed to get that money back, why doesn't he just give it willingly to the government? Oh, that's right- because he'd rather buy a tesla coil and make a feeble attempt to cover up his enormous forehead.
(Aside- About this time in the show, African American author Mary Frances Berry tried to shift at least a little of the blame onto New Orlean's Head Incompetent Mayor Nagin and Lousiana state officials. Bill Maher countered with this impeccable logic- "But FEMA is a Federal agency, the federal emergency.." (really? thats what it means? the letters stand for words?) and then he is cut off by Michael Eric Dyson, who starts on some irrelevant FEMA tangent proving my suspicion that to the left, minority and women politicians are above reproach- even by women and minorities.)
Finally, a link to some video of New Orleans police officers working hard to control the looting at a local Wal-Mart. (What? Why doesn't blogger have a font dripping with sarcasm?) Seriously, with cops like these, why can't we rescue everyone in an area with no electricity, phones, or roads the size of Great Britain in a matter of hours?
posted by Justin at 11:46 PM 
2 Comments:
Good post. I'd just like to point out that as a conservative, the self-assuredness of liberals makes you want to die, while for us liberals the reverse is true. The trick, mr. colon, is not to ruin an otherwise good torpedoeing of liberal bullshit (which I happily admit that was) with a gross overstatement like this one:
"Cognitive dissonance has to be the explanation for a vast majority of liberal policies."
Your arguments would be much more cogent without statements like that one, which are basically the same thing as what you're attacking.
I'm happy to point out that the liberal elite's response to the government's response to Katrina has been alternately silly, chaotic, and untrue. The New York Times op-ed page has gone officially content-free in the past week, with even their conservative commentators (like David Brooks) writing useless, cutesy columns about the hurricane and what it reveals about the US. Maureen Dowd has been particularly impossible to take.
The larger context for this would be this country's REAL left wing. Check out The Nation, TNR, Commondreams.org and other progressive websites for scathing critiques of everybody, including the NYT's irrelevant, pathetic op-ed page. Just as Bush has not called for any sacrifice by the average American during the war on terror, so the liberal elites in this country have given up on giving young progressives any practical advice on what to do about the problems we face.
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