| This Must Be Just Like Living In Bizarro-World
by Allen Snyder
June 21, 2003
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So this is Bizarro-world..
Up is down, wrong is right, stupid is smart, ignorance is knowledge,
evil is good and every restaurant serves only Bottomless War on Terrorism
with a side of Civil Rights Destruction, Massive Tax Cuts a la Riche, and
Shredded Constitution Salad with Ashcroft-Piss Vinaigrette.
Yum!
The worst part though? Lies are the truth.
Since the Supreme Embarrassment illegally anointed BushCo, lies have
been flowing thick and black as Texas crude. Their shamelessness reached
Everest-like altitudes before 911, stratospherically spiked immediately
afterwards and has been expanding exponentially since the Iraq war drums
began beating a year-and-a-half ago.
As a child of the 70's, I’ve always believed the Feds are lying till
proven truthful. It’s not a very trusting attitude, I admit, but like
our beloved Emperor Gee Dubya Caesar says, "Fool me once with a
biting bird in my hand, twice shame on me or two in a shy bush".
Thank Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson’s Vietnam, Nixon’s
Watergate, Ford’s bumbling, Carter’s ineffectiveness, Reagan’s
amnesia, George I’s lips, and Clinton’s oral - ahem - indiscretions
for nurturing my particularly cynical outlook on American politics (well,
maybe not that last one).
And that I get lied to plenty already. Teaching college underclassmen
makes me wonder whether, at only four, I’ve had fewer grandparents than
they have. Between flat tires, broken alarms, and bumper-to-bumper
traffic, I’ve given up believing them. No need for them to feel guilty
about skipping class or for me to guess who’s being honest.
So when BushCo started shoveling from the same maggot-filled
manure-pile used at the Iraqi Information Ministry, I recognized the
smell.
In Normal-world, BushCo’s lying was more subdued, less obvious. Now
it’s megalomaniacal, pathological, and laughably transparent (although
you wouldn’t know it by the media’s deafening silence). No doubt in
their arrogance BushCo figures they can get away with practically
anything.
In Normal-world, governments tell lies and big governments tell big
lies; that’s a fairly boring given. But BushCo’s ubiquitous lying is a
rare occurrence. Few Administrations lie continuously. The betrayal,
frustration, and humiliation imbued by their constant deceit makes me feel
like Ned Beatty’s character in ‘Deliverance’.
In Normal-world, responsible citizens are wary of their government and
its officials, pronouncements, and motives. Politicians are generally a
self-serving lot who care more about re-elections and corporate
sponsorship than serving ‘we the people’, but can usually be counted
on to do their duty when the chips are down.
Not so in Bizarro-world. Congress blithely acquiesces to practically
every BushCo demand (why are moderate Republicans buying this crap?) and
remains silent in the face of it all, determined to be ‘loyal’ and ‘patriotic’.
In Normal-world, built-in checks and balances help keep the Feds
honest. We count on the annoying parade of media yap-dogs, a lack of
partisan bias in the judiciary, and a divided Congress to keep things
relatively stable.
Not so in Bizarro-world. Extremist wingnut Republican majorities have
neutered the media, poisoned the Courts, and silenced all congressional
opposition save Sen. Robert Byrd and Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
My cynicism tells me there are only three sure bets in Bizarro-world.
#1: BushCo lies constantly; therefore, the truth is the exact
opposite of what they say.
That the Iraq War was about WMD™, that tax cuts help the economy and
the working class, and that Herr Ashcroft’s acts constitutionally
(despite the recent biased ruling to the contrary) are all BushCo claims
that quickly morphed into enormous lies.
#2: The truth of an accusation and BushCo’s complicity in it are
directly proportional to the self-righteousness, sanctimony, denial,
and hatred with which right wingnuts react and condemn the behavior in
others.
This one’s inspired by Bill Bennett.
Simply put, the louder they scream and the more they deny, the truer it
is. If you want to get the right frothing at the mouth and spewing
invective by the lung load, just confront them with the truth. Watch their
lackeys swarm the Sunday talk shows or listen to Fox News rant crazily
after a lefty wings one of ‘em with an accurate report. BushCo has
nothing if not a very low truth threshold.
#3: Wingnut accusations of leftist wrongdoing are a function of
psychological projection.
In other words, if BushCo cries ‘foul’, it’s for one reason only
- they’re doing it themselves.
It’s projection, for example, when the producers of such great
fictions like, ‘The Rescue of Private Lynch’, ‘The Toppling of
Saddam’s Statue’, ‘The Great Carrier Landing’, and the forthcoming
nonsense from Showtime portraying Dubya as a decisive 911 hero, accuse
Oscar winner Michael Moore of manufacturing bits of his anti-gun,
anti-violence documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’ in efforts to smear
him and obfuscate the truth.
Trust me, remembering these rules takes some of the sting out of the
Bizarro-world experience.
Just watch what you eat.
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Allen Snyder is an
instructor of Philosophy and Ethics. He can be reached at asnyder111@hotmail.com
This
article is copyright by Allen Snyder and originally
published by opednews.com but
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long as this credit is attached. |
