Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Meltdown
From the depths of NY summer heat, it is depressing to watch this town hall footage. One starts to wonder if these events are not occasions for the discussion of nationalized health care but if the whole health care initiative was in fact an excuse for the perpetual staging of "town halls," perverse summer spectacles in which rage over the recession is collectively exerted. The "normal" attendees get to watch their repressed fury exerted by the "fringe" or "unreasonable" disrupters, who in turn receive the thrill of obliterating decorum, like a child knocking down another child's sand castle.
Thus, as violent as they seem, we might be watching the greatest moment of harmony between Democrats and Republicans, blue and red states, since before Bush. Each gets to fully exist as its fantasy self: Democrats can pat themselves on the back for being caring and dedicated to a common welfare, even though the plan as it is emerging falls disastrously short, and Republicans can finally bare their fangs and openly indulge the murderous desires that previously had to be cloaked behind moralism and superiority.
posted by James Hussein Dixon : 8/11/2009 12:08:00 PM
Thus, as violent as they seem, we might be watching the greatest moment of harmony between Democrats and Republicans, blue and red states, since before Bush. Each gets to fully exist as its fantasy self: Democrats can pat themselves on the back for being caring and dedicated to a common welfare, even though the plan as it is emerging falls disastrously short, and Republicans can finally bare their fangs and openly indulge the murderous desires that previously had to be cloaked behind moralism and superiority.
posted by James Hussein Dixon : 8/11/2009 12:08:00 PM
