"A citizenry that believes whatever's comfortable"

Snorting back a few Nips at the local bar, Fluffy gets his licks. We adore this late-birthday card that just arrived for Tuck from our heartthrob, heartland niece Mabs, who writes "I read Sissy's blog routinely (hence the reason I'm so well informed) and love her new recipes and ongoing myth-busting forays into the world of lard. Who knew?"

We fell into spirited conversation with a fellow in front of us in line at the Registry of Motor Vehicles this morning. A gregarious black man missing four front teeth, he had been sweet talking a baby girl in her mother's arms nearby and was wondering aloud how much it cost to renew. The baby's mother said she thought it was $90. He looked to us for confirmation, and scanning the application form, we were able to report it was "only" $40. "You just saved $50," we quipped, and he was off on how Bush was spending all our money on "his" war. We tried to explain that the President couldn't spend any of our money without Congress's approval, but he wasn't buying. We threw in something about how tax cuts can increase revenues by stimulating economic growth, but he wasn't buying that either. Then he was on to the hopeless failure of Operation Iraqi Freedom. When we suggested there were strong signs the surge was working, he laughed in our face and played his trump card: He was a Vietnam Veteran. We guess that made us a chickenhawk in his eyes. It was our pleasure to thank him for his service to our country. Fortunately, our number was called just then, and we were able to move on without incident.

Babe gets HIS licks on a favorite chair down Goomp's last weekend.

"Of course things look much different to many of us over here than they do to [Iraqi bloggers] over there," writes blog buddy Tom of Libertarian Leanings, adding wryly "Over there, the smoke of the battle is clearing, but over here it's not." Iraqpundit explains:

Visitors to the Iraq story often make me laugh. Journalists bring their own interpretations to the story before they observe anything. When Iraqis tell them something, they ignore us. The outsiders then zero in on something and proudly call it a unique observation.

A full "Turkey Leg" -- AKA "The Cello." Caption update: Goomp: I thought Baby was posing with a viola rather than a cello. Anyway he plays beautifully. We: Yes. A furtuoso!

People who "bring their own interpretations to the story before they observe anything"? 'Reminds us of the "thinking" behind the latest crop of didactic, dead-on-arrival, anti-American Hollywood "movies that no one wants to see," as explicated by Pajamas Media's own screenwriter-in-residence, Roger L. Simon. A few excerpts:

In fact, the box office debacle should be no surprise to anyone who had been paying the slightest attention, so the question is: Why was and is Hollywood so clueless? . . .

The truth is Hollywood people are massively uninformed. They live in a bubble and, outside what they read in the New York Times and hear on NPR, they know almost nothing about what is really going on in the Middle East . . .

But there is a deeper reason for this than mere convenience and received conventional wisdom. These are not curious people because they are highly self-protective . . .

And there is another benefit. (Here is where I am really going to make enemies.) Making movies like [Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs"] or making extreme liberal public pronouncements make you seem like a good guy to yourself, when in your private life you are a miserable, self-serving bastard.

They're only human, after all. Yet another example of the ur theme of this blog, The importance of being noticed. As we wrote in Roger's comments:

I'm wondering, too, whether part of the mix -- another facet of feelings of inadequacy -- would be an attempt to gain intellectual heft by associating themselves with ideas fashionable in academia and the press?

As Shopenhauer wrote, "There are very few who can think, but every man wants to have an opinion." Too bad they don't try associating themselves with a few ideas of substance. They could start with Ralph Peters's must-read "12 Myths of 21st Century War" [thanks for the link, Goomp]:

We’re in trouble. We’re in danger of losing more wars. Our troops haven’t forgotten how to fight. We’ve never had better men and women in uniform. But our leaders and many of our fellow Americans no longer grasp what war means or what it takes to win.

Thanks to those who have served in uniform, we’ve lived in such safety and comfort for so long that for many Americans sacrifice means little more than skipping a second trip to the buffet table.

Yet our leading universities still produce a disproportionate number of U.S. political leaders. The men and women destined to lead us in wartime dismiss military service as a waste of their time and talents. Delighted to pose for campaign photos with our troops, elected officials in private disdain the military.

Forget about a national obesity epidemic. Fat and lazy habits of thought are the greater threat. Peters continues:

This combination of national leadership with no military expertise and a population that hasn’t been taught the cost of freedom leaves us with a government that does whatever seems expedient and a citizenry that believes whatever’s comfortable. Thus, myths about war thrive.

Thank God for the David "Hard is not hopeless" Petraeuses of this world.

Comments

[goomp]

You call to attention to the great danger that faces Western civilization as a result of life's having been so easy in the West for the past sixty years that people have been able to forget both the history and the nature of mankind. To stop killers, one must kill the killers.

[pam]

Once again you cover a subject so well I can only partake and have nothing to offer. ;)

I'd rather dip my foot into a puddle of Sissy posts than a sea of my own. Thanks for being there!

[Teresa]

The problem with actors is that their entire world is all about "feeling" - rational thought might just cut into their ability to make a few million more dollars... so they don't worry about little things like facts. Only feelings are important. They've decided what makes them feel good - and the rest of us have to listen to them emoting it all over the place. Of course rational people would rather be waterboarded than listen to this garbage.

Surprisingly, I think the tide is turning. I wouldn't say this except for the link I saw at this post from Blackfive today!