Insatiable Extremism: Where Right and Left Meet
by Orson BeanBack in the fifties (the nineteen fifties, not the eighteen fifties) I did some writing for Mad Magazine, along with my friend Ernie Kovaks and a pair of comics named Bob and Ray. Bob Elliot was the father of Chris Elliot, who we didn’t know at the time would turn out to be funnier than his dad. The magazine was started by a guy named Al Feldstein. Well, actually, it was started by a guy named Harvey Kurtzman, a brilliant genius who lasted three issues and then got kicked off his own creation by the publisher, who hired Feldstein to take over. I guess Kurtzman was a little too nuts even for Mad. He was a powerhouse of a guy whose girlfriend at the time was a hot young babe named Gloria Steinem. Men are attracted to youth and beauty; women are attracted to power.
Anyway, I guess Feldstein was just crazy enough to make the magazine a huge success. Now long retired and living in Montana (which seems to be a magnet for marginally crazy people), Feldman, an old lefty, recently forwarded an e-mail to a friend of a friend of mine who forwarded it to me. A million plus people have watched this e-mail by now. It’s a slickly produced film attacking Barack Obama. Any surprise that the President’s base is now turning on him? It explains that he (Obama), is in the pocket of some amorphous, only hinted-at, world-wide society of manipulators who are behind everything bad in the world: “The Trilateral Commission, founded and conceived by David Rockefeller and his obscenely wealthy (redundancy?) Bilderberg Society cohorts… an amalgam of carefully chosen members of ‘The Elite’… the powerful rich… from the three main areas of the world: The U.S.A…. Europe… and Japan… who would slowly and carefully maneuver the free people of the Earth into a ‘One World’ system of Corporate/Fascism.” This is very old stuff. Conspiracy fodder. Been around for years in one form or another. International bankers turning Canada, the U.S. and Mexico into a single country, etc. And it’s all slickly packaged with music and graphics.
Left-wingers and right-wingers come together when they become extreme enough. The Nazi Party was called National Socialism, very similar to Stalin’s Communism, with the addition of “the Fatherland”. The crazies behind this film say they are non-partisan. They are: they’re equal-opportunity haters. They’ll never be satisfied until they are standing in the smoldering ruins of society… any society. They only feel comfortable in chaos. They whip up people’s fears and then give those fears something to latch onto.
The internet (as we are constantly reminded) is a powerful tool for good or for evil. This stuff is evil. It never goes away, and like all evil, it’s seductively attractive. No conservative can ever be conservative enough nor any liberal liberal enough to satisfy the conspiracy crowd. They are political nymphomaniacs, obsessive but incapable of satisfaction, and the stuff they disseminate is like pornography; once hooked on it you need more and more. Like the title of the late Marilyn Chambers flick, they are “Insatiable.”
In March, Andrew Breitbart was on a TV panel with a left-wing, intellectual African-American civil rights activist who, when asked if the election of Obama was at least a step forward, replied, “Just because one Black man is living in ‘public housing’ in Washington D. C., does not an end to racism make.” Nothing would satisfy him. If every white person in America were killed, he would turn on the remaining African-Americans and say they had been polluted and were Uncle Toms.
I’ve got no ending for this piece. I don’t know what to think. Everything’s a mess. The country is more divided than it has been since the war between the states. I’m not outraged by the left or the right. In my day, I’ve been both. One year I proudly sported on my refrigerator a Christmas card from the Young Republicans and Season’s Greetings from Gus Hall of the American Communist Party. The only people I intensely dislike are the ones who throw shit in the fan just to see everybody scurry out of the way.
I’m not a pessimist. I do believe that in some way we don’t understand, God has a hand in things and it will all work out for America. Our money says In God We Trust. And we are the best country, aren’t we?
Orson Bean’s latest novel, M@il For Mikey, is published by Barricade Books
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136 Comments
Care to share that Email with us, or are we supposed to guess what you're talking about?
P.S. Never play tic tac toe with an actual chicken.
Another interesting column from Orson Bean, who has journeyed from being a Communist Party member in the 1950s to being a conservative today. Mr. Bean, who is Andrew Breitbart's father-in-law, has first hand experience with both ends of the political spectrum in America, lending credibility to this column.
Orson Bean (we were going to refer to him as 'Mr' Bean, but apologies to Rowan Atkinson) is on fire here…
Spot on about the Nazis- yes children, and Auntie- they were LEFTIES… so were Mussolini's Fascists. Many of the the old liberal movement- progressives in the truest sense of the word- are as upset with the George Soros
Open Borders Society (everywhere except his estate in New York, of course) and the shadowy hands behind this naive dilletant community organizer from Chicago.
He stands as evidence not everyone is drinking deeply from the Barry O Kool-Aid…
In 11th grade my History teacher said that the political spectrum was not a straight line with left on one end and right on the other. It was a circle. If you went far enough left or far enough to the right you ended with the same result, some foil hat wearing kook who "knows" what's really going and the government must be overthrown.
So THAT is why Stormfronters and and Weathermen sound so alike sometimes!
Especially when the two groups are discussing the Jews.
The one thing that I hope would now (after the last six months) be somewhat obvious to every American (of whatever political stripe) is that the Federal Reserve did not act in the interest of the American People, it acted in the interest of international banking concerns. Regardless of the irresponsible nature of the Fiscal policy of the Government, the Reserve's Monetary policy has shown no concern for the dollar as a store of value.
When the government's bank starts doing the bidding of international monetary interests at the expense of the real worth of the average american's savings, why would anyone be surprised at people trying to identify the people who pull the strings? I can't speak to the correctness of this particular conspriacy theory, but the obvious disregard of the American system in working for the interest of Americans is apparent.
I've heard that whole circle thing before and frankly its part of the "big lie" that is the left vs right paradigm of political thought.
The reality is that Fascism and Communism are both a hairs breadth apart on the extreme end of the spectrum (whether its left vs right or up vs down, doesn't really matter) NOT at opposite ends as we're led to believe (the whole circle thing is used on people that figure this out to help propagate the lie). This notion that they are at opposite ends of the spectrum is designed for one purpose and one purpose alone; to claim that conservatism/Republicanism is closer to Nazism (and thus evil) than is liberalism/Democratism.
To say that the entirety of political thought lies between Communism on one end and Fascism on the other would be like saying the entire spectrum of musical styles lies between West Coast Hip Hop on one end and East Coast Hip Hop on the other.
I'm sure your 11th grade history teacher was current on their teachers' union dues :p
Take heart Orson, it's a cycle not the fin d'siecle.
False prophets abound in these times. No one will get hurt until they start the health care program. No one will be prosecuted for those future crimes, but don't be old, don't be a smoker, and don't be a fatty: you'll be denied your heart bypass. Forget the liver transplants, the neurosurgery or a difficult birth.
Eric Hoffer discusses that concept in True Believer, which is one of the most insightful books ever written. A certain personality is drawn to extremism, and whether such a person is supposedly on the left or the right is really just a superficial distinction.
It's not a left/right circumstance – it's a circle and at some point in the circle the extremists meet and there's no real difference between them, they're all nuts. Sad to say, the Republican Party is ejecting the moderates, even inviting them to leave, and going further every day towards the land of fruit and nuts.
Hey, I made my statement and then saw yours – you are wise.
The e-mail might actually be a link to this film.
Yeah – the Nazis were 'lefties.' I guess the Christian Identity groups here and the neo-Nazis and the KK, they're all 'lefty,' too? But what are they in Germany? The Nazis are of the right, the Communists of the left and at some point they're the same kind of nutjob. And the Republican party is going that route, too.
We have entered a political Twilight Zone, in America. Political indifference has led us to where we are. We had better stop tilting at windmills and focus on our problems at hand, Washington. The government has been growing wildly with both political parties, and this leaves open conspiracy theories to explain things where logic fails, why wont the government close the borders? What is TARP and the stimulus really about? Why was NAFTA critical to our existence? The list is long and I’m sure everyone could add a few. Maybe you and Big Hollywood could do a kind of modern “To Tell the Truth,” show and expose fact from fiction?
I always believed that you have to have the "extremes" to have a strong reasonable middle ground. It is the "reasonable middle" where the real work and compromise (in government) comes from. The slow plodding middle. Now the middle has been squeezed flat like a tube of toothpaste pushing everything to the "extremes". And it appears that we temporarily do not have that "reasonable middle ground".
Chris Elliot is funny?
Extremism is an interesting topic today. Mark Steyn was guest-hosting for Rush (I only listen now when Steyn guest-hosts, Rush hit his stride during the campaign and first 50 days but has been very mopey and boring since). He got a call from some jackass in Illinois claiming that Conservatives are extremist, the country moved far-right in the past 8 years, and liberals are moderate so they SEEM extreme to us. Which is hilarious – I defy anyone to show me how the country moved 'far-right' in the past 8 years (increased domestic social agenda spending, deficit spending, increased expulsion of religion from the public sphere, and so on roundly reject this theory).
But it is funny that extremists never see themselves as extreme. It's the same as the old saw about being crazy: if you think you're crazy, you're probably not. Because true crazy never doubts itself.
The 'end of the piece' is collapse. It's sad, but it's how things work. Unless we find ourselves in a situation where we have to band together for a long time (something akin to WWII, not something soft and squishy like letting our reduced Army go and fight our wars for us while we sip lattes and complain about how they're doing it), we're going to collapse. People have gotten too lofty and self-involved to survive.
It may or not be original ( not much is) but years ago in a debate with a hard core lefty I took a paper plate and drew a line from the center to the bottom of the plate. On the right I wrote Nazi and just over the line to the left I wrote Stalinism/ Communism. Near the top of said plate I wrote in USA and to the left I put neo-socialist Canada and Sweden and the like, and to the right the rightist dictatorships that run modern day Burma / Mynamar and juntas of that ilk. It's graphically that simple and Mr. Bean verbally explains it very well. I believe if left to his own devices and with his Superdome filling ego, Obama would become a mildly violent Chavez level tyrant if could just "get away with it". I believe he'll commit a Nixon like "mistake" and try to hide it and our so-called investigative press, the proper "blood hounds" for this type of malfeasance will instead be complicite and do nothing.
So he tells us.
We look at the world and we see that there are things wrong with it. Injustice, innocent suffering, senseless violence, etc. We ourselves don't get the love, respect and rewards we feel we deserve.
We ask ourselves, "Who is to blame for this state of affairs?"
Heaven forbid it should be our fault (even in part). No, we're OK. Somebody is obviously plotting against us, to keep us down. There's no evidence for this in most cases, so it has to be a conspiracy.
I don't think so…many right wingers like me understand that relying on wavering moderates isn't winning elections either. Why should Jack and Jill Sixpack vote for "Dem-light" when they can get a true blue leftist like Obama. Obama will eventually prove to be a gift to the middle right and right wings. His insanity and ego will alienate the disconnected "indie" voter and the luke warm middle of the roaders. The GOP MUST begin to challenge and dismantle ACORN and other voter fraud operations NOW, before the midterms. The key to more Obama power grabs will be retention of the House. I feel many, many moderate Democrats will be soft and vunerable when hogtied to this raving leftist POS of a POTUS.
O.K. since you seem to agree with me I'm not sure what you find wrong. Fascism and Communism are both examples why I think the circle theory is more accurate. When a government goes far enough to the extreme you get the same thing a totalitarian state. The left likes to compare conservatism to Nazism because it mixed in nationalism but that didn't make it any different then what Stalin was doing just different symbols it seems your problem is more of the left refusing to admit that Stalin was just as bad as Hilter (as a friend of mine once observed..did Hilter and Stalin realize they were fighting themselves?).
I'm pretty sure that my teacher was liberal but that was the 80's before liberals became completely useless
Actually, the Founders wanted us on a spectrum from 100% Government at one to 100% Anarchy at the other. We were originally set too close to Anarchy with the Articles of Confederation, so they wrote the COTUS and nudged as a bit further along the spectrum towardsa government. The problem is that successive generations of government have pushed us closer and closer to 100% Government. If you envision the government/anarchy axis as horizontal, the current left/right spectrum funtions more as a vertical line through the horizontal which is why the last few elections have started to feel increasingly like the best of two bad choices. You instinctively know neither one is going to make you freer of government control; they'll just use different terms as they ensnare you more and more.
Have you ever listened to Coast to Coast AM? Sometimes it's funny, other times it's just a little scary on what some people will believe
A scapegoat is always needed as the focus of anything bad. Those jooos don't fight back usually and they claim to be chosen, so the convenience is overwhelming. Stoking hatred of them jooos is like turning on a light switch.
Thanks. I'm not sure if that's it, but it certainly looks interesting. Ma says I gotta finish my chores before watching it though (1:53:40), so I'm off to finish my chores now.
Your questions are the same ones I've been asking.
It fuels the Alex Jones' of the world when we can't get a straight answer
Someone said that talk to a conspiracy kook long enough and the word Jew will come up at some point
If anything the Democrats have already done that. They pretty much gave into their far left wing.
Rationing of all medical services will be the legacy of a federal government treading where it doesn't belong. The "market system" is already a complete stranger to the health care industry. I was given some paper work for a complete blood work up, cholesterol lipids, the works. I don't have insurance so I started shopping around prices on the blood work. Going rate $550 to $600! Luckily I'm a full time student and the U. of Texas health clinic is doing it for $188, so it's still subsidised. But still that seems like a fair price. That's what you get when you have insurance, they get gouged by the service provider and they in turn gouge us. Couple that with out of control law suits brought on all medical professionals and we have chaos. Obama thrives on exploixting situations like health care, he will get involved and people will die needlessly, mark my words.
Bev, I think I have to disagree.
To me, the problem isn't the outer edges. Indeed, many of the issues on the outer edges (like slavery, civil rights, monotheism) eventually become the center. To me, the problem is the "extremist mentality" — the idea that "I and only I know what is right and the rest of you are somehow subhuman for not listening to me."
That mentality most often finds its home at the edges, but it can also be found in the middle. In other words, it has no particular ideology so much as it is a form of thinking.
Absolutely, the average taxpayer will not see one dime or one iota of benefit from the artificial solvency of all these Wall Street and Conneticut based banks, the individuals in the "loop" will. I'm not anti-bank or Wall Street but geez, BILLIONS of $$$ what's in it for me? Nothing I can discern yet. Ya, now they can LOAN me some of MY tax money at nice premium rates? Wow, cool….I'm not seeing how proping up those banks benefit anybody that wasn't an employee or shareholder and or Obama campaign donor. The blame goes back to G.W. Bush, he should have paused, taken a look and passed the whole problem off to Obama. Now Obama has political cover to nationalize another industry and make another mess for future generations to fix and pay for. I hope he's socking away the money, he won't be able to retire in the U.S.
I don't know your wise history teacher but I've be using that model for years. It make common sense. Opression under a jackboot with a Swastika or a Hammer and Sickle on it is just as oppressive.
Go figure. Who knew?
We all have our batty relatives. It's up to those of us who are not on medication (or not needing medication) to expose the nutcases in our midst. I hope the liberals will continue to attack their lunatic fringe, as I hope we will continue to do with ours. Although my journey didn't begin quite as far to the left as Orson Bean's did, I've come close enough to have seen the dangers lurking at both ends of the spectrum. The conspiracy theories are generally built on some small grain of truth or fact, which is then magnified into some grand delusion. The theories are as crazy as the people espousing them.
I guess my point is that Fascism and Communism are two flavors of the same thing not opposite ends of the spectrum with everything else falling between them.
I contend that the reason for this scale that splits them is so they can demonize "the right" as being "more Fascist (or Nazi) like".
You know, I keep hearing that the Republicans moved to the extreme Right under George W. Bush.
But I never get any evidence.
Not I, that's for sure.
I thought "Get a Life" was hysterical. You may disagree, but ask yourself:
Was Letterman's show funnier when Chris Elliot was a regular, or now?
While I agree with you, the problem we face is that the left likes to label it's extremists either as (1) "activists" or "freedom fighters", i.e. good guys who are justified in their extremism, or (2) they call them "right wingers" (like the do with the Nazis) and thus accuse us of extremism.
Ignorance, thy name is BillAdkins.
And it's a shame. His father and his father's partner were hilarious together. They did a regular routine where they were newscasters. They read ridiculous headlines and news stories, while making the electronic sounds of being interrupted or talked-over by each other, all without using actual electronics. Chris Eliot is merely creepy and disgusting.
I'm with you. Loved him in Get a Life, Groundhog Day, and There's Something About Mary.
Bob and Ray and Ernie Kovacs! You lucky, lucky man Mr. Bean.
"It is thus necessary that the individual should finally come to realize that his own ego is of no importance in comparison with the existence of the nation, that the position of the individual is conditioned solely by the interests of the nation as a whole." – Adolf Hitler
"We must stop thinking of the individual and start thinking about what is best for society." – Hillary Clinton
"In March, Andrew Breitbart was on a TV panel with a left-wing, intellectual African-American civil rights activist who, when asked if the election of Obama was at least a step forward, replied, 'Just because one Black man is living in ‘public housing’ in Washington D. C., does not an end to racism make.' " Methinks Mr. Bean is being far too genorous towards this gentleman when describing him as a "left-wing intellectual" unless it's done with irony.
This is where conspiracy theories bloom, why didn’t “W” hand the problem to Barry? If we see it why couldn’t they?
And they went and nominated the ultra-right wing John McCain just to throw everyone off? No, no, no. The conservatives are the moderates in this picture. They want to keep some of our individual freedom and our property rights. The Democrats and their allies, the "moderates," aka known as the "Duh…I dunno" gang, are marching in lockstep toward the socialist Promised Land.
I don't like the circle analogy because it does not address the distinction between the authoritarian and anti-authoritarian fringes.
The authoritarian "left" (Stalinism/Maoism/Khmer Rouge) and the authoritarian "right" (Nazism, Italian Fascism) shared collectivism, group identity politics, and an abhorrence of indivdualism. The enemy for Stalin was the "ruling class", kulaks, and in late in his life "Metropolitan" elements, i.e. Jews. Hitler hated not only Jews, Gypsies, and Slavs, but also the old aristocracy and new industrial elites, whom he broke and bent to his collectivist will.
The main distinction between Communism and Fascism is their choice of group identity; Hitler rejected individual rights in favor of an ethnic group identity, while Lenin et. al. built their equally dubious group identity around class. Both movements hated the notion of individual rights and identity with equal passion.
The distinction between the anti-authoritarian "left" (Chomsky, Bookchin, the Spanish Anarchists who at times fought their Communist "allies" during the Spanish Civil War) and the anti-authoritarian "right" (Timothy McVeigh, Christian Identity) is at times equally fuzzy.
"Cabin Boy" was genius!
Wow, Orson. Didn't know you worked for EC Comics. Or the other guys you mentioned who I am very familar with. Awesome.
Glad to know you're a fellow comics writer.
< And the Republican party is going that route, too.
How can they? Right now they have NO power except that which the media has given them.
Chris Elliott is hysterical. "Chris Elliott: Television Miracle" is the funniest comedy video ever made. The father was very funny too. As far as the Republicans pushing out moderates…it's not true, there are no moderates or liberals, there are only a few principles. If you're pro-choice you can stay but if you go on record saying the party needs to do this or that to bend in a certain direction that doesn't fit the principles then you incur wrath. You can be pro-gay marriage or the global warming fraud if you are clear in defending the party's core principles.
Ya, I'm just troubled by the whole damn thing. I see fat cats of all political stripes getting richer at the expence of the tax payer. I say, maybe wrongly, that W. should have handed it off, not because he wasn't doing the right thing, and I'm not convinced he was, but because he was a lame duck with very little time left in office. Momenteous decisions made without consequence bother me.I'm naturally much more trusting of a "bailout" shepherded by a Republican Admin than the current crop of keynesian devotee's run amok. Frankly I'm still digesting the whole TARP/bailout mania and I don't feel too confident about it. I read an article about the "Pendergast political machine" of Kansas City, they put Harry Truman in office and the amount of graft and wasted tax $$$ they skimmed off of the "New Deal" was legendary. Truman refused to get his hands dirty and that saved him later on in his career, he was able break free of Pendergast. The Chicago Machine is going to get almost as rich as the Al Gore "Global Warming" cabal.
Hey, Andrew: I can't find your response here, even though I can find it on ID. So I'll just say here: You're right, the left does have a habit of shunting its extremists off to the side without actually disavowing them. Calypso Louie "Farrakhan does not represent us, but we do acknowledge his great contributions to civil rights." As opposed to David Duke, where every Republican of any stature whatsoever disavowed him and everything he stands for in no uncertain public terms. No waffling about how he doesn't represent us, but we understand how sincere he is about helping poor white people in the rural South. I think that may be why a former high-ranking member of the Ku Klux Klan and current relic has frequently been called "the conscience of the Senate," while David Duke is a mere footnote to history.
And like magic, the prior post will now appear. . .
Lawhawk, I didn't realize my post had vanished — just made it reappear.
That is a very good example, the comparison between David Duke and Robert Byrd. The hypocricy is amazing that the left's extremists are somehow forgiven or described as just "radicals" (think: Bill Ayers), but people they attribute to us (no matter how many Republicans reject them) are always "terrorists."
And it's the same thing in world politics too. Who is treated as the bigger menace — Pinochet or Stalin? Stalin killed 60 million people in cold blood and enslaved whole countries more, whereas Pinochet only killed a few thousand in the middle of a civil war, but the left will scream about Pinochet and wax nostalgic about Stalin.
My mom used to tell me that there was an old Armenian saying: Let your kids treat your disrespectfully and they'll sit on your head. Those smart Armenians. Since democrats (as put so illustratively by Orson) have yet (with the exception of Pat Caddell, maybe Ed Rendell.. ) to treat conservatives with the respect they are owed as Americans, we keep allowing the barbs to go undisputed, and then they sit on our heads. Jeez. Thank God for Andrew, and all of those willing to stand up to these geniuses.
And while we're at it, how about non-lethal clerics? Jeremiah Wright versus Jerry Falwell? Father Michael Pfleger versus Pat Robertson? Ayatollah Khoemeini versus any Pope since the middle ages?
Republicans have always been a step behind in defining acceptable words. To win a debate all a Democrat has to do is lob the usual racist, sexist, homophobe etc. and watch the opposition self destruct in an attempt to defend themselves (and also name all their friends and relative that fall into whichever group they supposedly hate). Instead we should just firmly deny and then use just as inflammatory language to describe our opposition. Its hard to win debate while on defense.
And relying on hard core conservatives is winning elections? As far as a POS of a POTUS, the Idiocracy President left town on 1/20/2009. The failed Bush Administration – there isn't a big enough can of Turd Polish for it.
Very well put. I agree 100%. Never let your opponent define the term of the debate.
Moreover, if you are unwilling to throw the other guy's tactics back at him, there is no reason for him to stop using them.
The Pope thing is ridiculous. Is the Pope sponsoring a terrorist group that is working to wipe a people/religion off the map? No. But somehow, we're told the Pope is the evil man of the religious world, whereas the Iranians are just misunderstood.
I am old enough to remember fondly both Mad Magazine and Bob & Ray
I've been anxiously waiting for the stories out of South America about Pope Benedict's secret death squads killing off liberation theology priests in the jungles. After all, he chewed them out once as a Cardinal, so he must be out to get them with all that power he now wields in Vatican City. I suspect the CIA has been preventing the information from getting out, but it's just a matter of time.
Maybe they're blackmailing him by threatening to release proof that Jesus was really a CIA operative.
===I believe he'll commit a Nixon like "mistake" and try to hide it and our so-called investigative press, the proper "blood hounds" for this type of malfeasance will instead be complicite and do nothing.===
Hussein’s actions thus far make Nixon’s look like amateur hour. The corruption in this congress and this admin can only be compared to organized crime syndicates. Hussein’s abuse of power by intimidating Chrysler bond holders is something done in banana republic’s and totalitarian cesspits. I would argue it’s an impeachable offense, as was threatening AIG bonus recipients with unconstitutional punitive taxes. This admin is out of control with fascistic impulses. Today a story is breaking that Pelosi was briefed in 2002 on waterboarding, which shatters her lie that she knew nothing about it. And this San Francisco degenerate said this will be the most ethical congress ever.
cont……..
If Americans can’t see they’re being ruled by malevolent socialist clowns, thieves and liars then they deserve to lose their freedoms and sovereignty; the problem is we lose as well. Every donk must be thrown out as soon as they’re up for reelection; replace them with a Conservative or right leaning Libertarian. Otherwise Revolution will be the only recourse, which I welcome.
Worse. They've given the information to Tom Hanks and Opie. One false move, and there will be a third revelation movie.
Thank you for another good analysis of the country today. I, too, am trying to keep the faith that it will all work out with our country strong against it's enemies and growing again.
I agree with TGS that Obama looks like an amateur compared to Nixon. But your point about the MSM is what's really scary. They will absolutely cover up anything and everything they can where it concerns The One.
So true. It's weird how many of the TEA party groups on facebook I was invited to had either full-blown anti-Semitic statements or veiled anti-Semitic statements i.e. "You are in the group because you believe any or all of the following: 1) The Jews control the national treasury and therefore blackmail the US into supporting Israel over all other Middle Eastern countries and against all common sense….." It was scary. That was probably 40% of the reason I didn't go to my local TEA party. That, and like a good Republican, I have a real job.
Exactly. Conspiracy nuts are all about denying responsibility. I didn't really run a red light, that intersection camera framed me!
For what it's worth, Kurtzman lasted 27 issues on Mad (23 comics, 4 magazines) until Feldstein took over as editor. Feldstein had previously edited the other EC humor comic, Panic. Kurtzman went on to do Help!, Humbug, and with Hef, Trump and Little Annie Fanny (drawn by another EC alum, Will Elder.
You're a lost member of the lunatic fringe. Elections are cyclical, this is temporary aboration. The backlash will be long, deep and sustained, something your Democrat boyfriend can relate with. Keep dreaming Dem-boy, the National Nightmare named Barry Hussein Obama will be over soon. Try to get your free money from us producers while you can. Marry Anti-Fascist, you two will make a beautiful couple in Cal., Vermont and other freakvilles.
No, in reality there is no such thing as a political spectrum. It's an artificial construct that has become ubiquitous due to long-standing use over the last century. You will search the works of political science prior to the 20th century in vain for any mention whatsoever of a left and right, hot and cold, positive and negative, or any other set of contraries in politics. It's an idea, so far as I can tell, introduced by European Marxists in order to distinguish and distance Communism from what is in fact Communism's sister doctrine, Fascism.
I've liked Orsen Bean since as a little kid hearing him speak for Frodo and Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit and Return of the King cartoons (which my bother and cousins and I watch over and over again. Then with Dr. Quinn, But I never knew him to be such a great writer with the ability to explain things so easily. I really did like this article.
He was good in "There's Something About Mary" an absolute masterpiece of a film, in my humble, easily amused opinion.
That's a very astute Nietzchian like analysis. Life swimming in the giant gravy boat called the U.S.A. has jaded people to what a real disasterous situation really is. I'm not belittling families that have lost children or parents in the Middle East or on 9/11, or even people whose homes have burned down or lost jobs. BUT, bumps in the road are being turned into a total retooling a 230 year successful experiment called the USA. Obama is transforming our economy and spending money like a crazy man, all to "SAVE US FROM DISASTER!" This clown must be stopped a.s.a.p.
He was pretty funny as the brother of Ray Romano's brother's fiance (can't remember the name of that big, tall one!). Although creepy and disgusting fits there too.
Spewey!!
I only liked Orson Bean on To Tell the Truth with Bill Cullen, Kitty Carlisle, and Peggy Cass.
I love him now.
Except the anti-authoritarian right wants to be LEFT ALONE. Whereas the left of that ilk wants to control everybody else, amass power and collect money. They spread their evil far and wide.
Special Person Entering the World….
Egg Yolks?
Pour me a cup of your thoughts!
Orson,
Great visit down the memory lane of Mad Magazine and Bob & Ray.
Spot on about don't-confuse-me-with-the facts conspiracy theorists. The hard truth is that reality bites, and human nature predisposes crap to flow downhill.
But be of good cheer. Lincoln was right:
Some of the people can be fooled all of the time; all of the people can be fooled some of the time. But sooner or later, the majority will catch on. It's up to us to pray and act so that it's sooner, before the Obamessiah really puts us in the soup!
I don't think the labels "left" and "right" are particularly useful in accurately describing the spectrum of political theory.
Nazism, fascism, and communism are more alike than they are different, but that doesn't make the Nazis "leftists." On one end of the scale, you've got your reds, brownshirts, and blackshirts characterized by extreme statism and absolute authoritarianism (and all sorts of other related nastiness); on the other side, "classical liberals" (i.e. modern conservatives) favoring minimal government and individual liberty.
Oh, and the reason that extremists on both the "left" and the "right" often share the same nutty ideas? It's got nothing to do with a "circular" diagram of political beliefs. They sometimes believe the same nutty things becasue they're NUTS.
It was Thomas that was the CIA operative and Time Traveling Templar, most of the rest of them worked for Mossad with a sideline in vampire hunting. I either saw that on the History Channel, or in an outline for the next Dan Brown book. Same difference really.
Thanks Orson for a marvelous column. It is too bad our nation is so addicted to watching radicals and extremists from all persuasions act out their nonsense. It is a shame that the idea of "it if bleeds, it leads", has become so entrenched in the media's psyche. Baseball & football telecasts discovered that if they didn't show the idiotic fans who run out on to the playing field, or the "streakers", or the Kissing bandit, these morons would stop their behavior. Why can't news organizations stop giving voice to these lunatics? What Jack Kemp said about taxes applies equally well to these political poseurs, "if you encourage something, you get more of it, if you tax something you get less of it".
http://shermansmarch.blogspot.com
Okay, I watched it. A film by Alex Jones. Why didn't you just say that? Even if 99% of what he says is right — I saw nothing that was new to me or anybody who's ever done a little digging, though it did help organize the timeline of some things — I personally am sickened by his 9-11 conspiracy crap. And some of the slimeballs congealing around him, like pus on a festering wound, are real deal-breakers: Saucer People, Tin-foil Hat People, people who weren't hugged enough as a child, people who were hugged too much as a child (from the wrong side), 'psychic' people, psychotic people, people who spend waaaay too much time having things extracted from them at the county emergency room…
So sorry, Mr. Bean. I'm a fan of yours but I'm not sure I like who you're cozying up with.
*Update*
I just re-read the article and should apologize. I also realize why you didn't directly link to the film in question. "Cozying up with" is completely my mis-read. I thought you had gone over to the 'dark side'. My bad.
I'm still betting on the chicken, though.
"Pour me a cup of your thoughts!"
(Just to be clear: that was a quote, not a come-on. I'm not that smooth.)
It's okay, they're all under the control of the Illuminati.
My college professor said something similar a couple of years ago. One of the few useful ideas I've found at our institutions of "higher learning."
To understand the Fed I suggest reading "The Creature from Jekyl Island", and then decide if there is something going on.
"Left-wing intellectual"–is that what you call an oxymoron?
And apparently we've left the realm of intelligent commentary and gone on into Bush-hating, as though that has anything to do with the current conversation or contributes any ideas. And you wonder why you get laughed at on sites like these.
The original use of left/right comes from the French Legislative Assembly of 1791. The monarchy was still legitimate, but a popular government would rule. Those who were in favor of the monarchy and more traditional forms of government were seated on the right. Those who ranged from belief in strong limitations on the monarchy to complete abolition sat on the left. The proto-socialists sat on the left, but since capitalism left monarchical control of the economy out of the equation, the proto-capitalists were also seated on the left. Edmund Burke, today considered a conservative, sided with the French left on economics and monetary policy, so in his time he was called a liberal. Clearly, the distinction between left and right was already blurred, even then.
As you say, the left/right dichotomy is just a construct, and considering the development of politics and social policy over the years, it doesn't adequately describe the extremes. For that reason only, I tend to lean toward the circular construct, since it places fascism and communism next to each other rather than at opposite ends of a spectrum. Like most constructs, it gives the student some guidance, but great care must be taken about believing that it adequately describes politics and social relationships.
Great article, Mr. B! MAD could sure use you now.
But for the record, Harvey Kurtzman wasn't kicked out of MAD; he quit and went to work for Hefner after a business disagreement with MAD's publisher. And Gloria Steinem didn't meet Kurtzman until she went to work for him as his assistant in the early 60's at a low-budget humor magazine from Warren Publishing called HELP!.
I don't believe Steinem and Kurtzman were ever an "item", but she was responsible for getting people like Dick Van Dyke, Woody Allen, and John Cleese, among many others, to appear gratis in HELP's "fumettis" (apparently, according to Kurtzman, Steinem had a very convincing way about her!). But Feldstein does indeed send out kooky e-mails. I'm surprised he's attacking Obama, since he was on a "anyone but Bush" tear for eight years. I had to ask a friend to stop forwarding Feldstein's rants to me. As they used to say in Feldstein's MAD: BLEECH!
New healthcare from GE, healthmagination. The word I keep reading is sustainable health. Emanuel's brother, Ezekiel, wrote an article on sustainable health for the HuffPo. He has also written some healthcare reform articles for http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/author/eze... I guess you would for you new job as senior counselor at the White House Office of Management and Budget on health policy. And a big plus, another brother Ari is a talent agent in Hollywood. This is way to close. And you think there isn't something going on. OK.
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