Obama and Warren, the fabulists - rottenness at the heart of academia, the media and govt

The American Thinker ^ | May 20, 2012 | Rosslyn Smith

[Cincinatus' Wife]

......I've often thought that God has a particularly acerbic wit. After all, FriedrichNietzsche, who famously proclaimed God is Dead, badly wanted to be known as a famous writer. He was granted his wish -after he became too insane to enjoy his fame. Obama seems to have wanted to become an uber-celebritycumpolitician in the worst possible way. How fitting it would be if presides over the bankruptcy of both systems.

..fabulists rising to some of the most esteemed positions in our society have potential impact far beyond what people suspect. They lay bare a rottenness at the heart of academia, the media and government. That may be why a distinguished publisher like ThomasLipscomb was shouting in all caps on his Facebookpage. His profession has trashed its credibility for at least a generation in its ongoing refusal to hold Obama accountable for his lies.

This lack of accountability by those in control of the institutions that bestow the credentials of leadership has huge implications. Young people have to have sensed the education system that landed them in enormous debt is fatallycorrupt..

Olderpeople have come to learn they no longer can trust the media to report facts instead of attitude and propaganda. These institutions as well as our government have lessesteem than ever because of the failure of the credential elite to engage in little beyond selfcongratulation for their enlightened attitudes. We tend to attribute the results of recent European elections with the voters' failure to understand the need for austerity. Is that really the case? Or could it be that they don't trust that the sacrifices being proposed will be shared by those who presume to rule over them. The attitude I see from many people is an unhealthy nihilism, an unwilling to sacrifice at all until the whole rotten system crashes...

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The "fabulists" strutting down the red carpet have no clothes; they have undermined American Exceptionalism and they won't be done until they have brought everything down around them.

The column above (read the rest of this short, to the heart of the matter column) says it clearly.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/why_i_dont_give_to_beggars.html

.....”In the days of the Obama Economy, the beggars are everywhere. There are hordes of them following me with their hands out across the concrete steppes of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Maybe I am being selfish by not giving to the grand and omnipresent poor. So I am selfish. Maybe my function in life is not to salve my conscience by donating money to the wind, but it is to write a good book or be there to have a good chat with my friends or family.

I was told to give. The people who are taking are the least likely to give back. The dictates of society are often useful, but not necessarily necessary. I will live my life as I choose, not as I am told.”

[Cincinatus' Wife]

.............Philosophical Pragmatism is ideology not mere practicality or trial and error; Social Darwinism has no connection to conservatism and never did; Social Justice has come to mean the opposite of what it was intended to convey and is now an ideological trojan horse used to indoctrinate students; the Catholic Church in fact has a long history of fighting for the dignity of human beings and the defense of civilization not the destruction of science and freedom; on and on it goes.

Conservatives must know this history and be able to communicate it to the public so as to change their perceptions. We must be able to tell stories that emotionally connect so as to tear down the default liberal assumptions of so much of popular culture and political debate. You can’t assume that your ideas and the actual history of issues are known and understood. We must not just attack the left but build on own story and tell our own history.

And a related point, and a cautionary one, is that self-deception is dangerous and damaging. Seems like common sense but it is important. Jonah [Goldberg] argues that the underlying root of the tyranny of cliches is that these are the lies the left tells itself. This has not led to an intellectually robust and dynamic movement but instead to a flabby, and in many aways viciously reactionary and often vulgar, movement that seeks a soft despotism of state involvement in every aspect of people’s lives all in the name of “solving problems” and “helping people” (hello Liberal Fascism).

What the right must do is reach the public with the message that things are not so simple and pretending they are leads to bad policy and bad outcomes. A massive welfare state leads to dependence and dysfunctional families not a utopian community; sometime violence is needed and avoiding it quite often leads to even more violent and widespread suffering; an ideological and rigid belief in diversity as a good in and of itself leads to discrimination, closed minds and mediocrity not social uplift; there is such a thing as too much democracy and unity at the expense of freedom and individuality is dangerous a common tool of tyranny.

The simple message underneath is lazy thought leads to bad things. This is a deeply conservative viewpoint – life isn’t as simple as you think it is and can’t be controlled and planned through willpower and good intentions. In a humorous and engaging way, TOC [The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas ] forces you to unpack and re-think some of the fundamental cliches of our time. And to see the base stealing the left is engaged in every day. Conservatives must challenge and seek to overthrow this default position. But they must also guard against engaging in equally damaging simplification and self-deception........

http://www.redstate.com/kevin_holtsberry/2012/05/17/jonah-goldbergs-attack-on-the-tyranny-of-cliches/

[sueQ]

Really good article, “Why I Don’t Give to Beggars”. It gave me pause. Thanks.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

And speaking of "giving" and "fabulists".....

Sean Penn and model Petra Nemcova at a press conference in Cannes, France, on Friday before a gala fund-raiser for three charities doing relief work in Haiti. (Stephanie Reix / EPA / May 18, 20

In Cannes, Sean Penn accuses entire world of failing Haiti Dear Everybody-in-the-World: Sean Penn is very, very disappointed. You never call, you never write – heck, when it comes to rebuilding Haiti, you probably never even cared in the first place.

Penn spoke plainly Friday at the Cannes Film Festival just hours before a gala fund-raiser to benefit three charities working in the earthquake-ravaged country.

“It’s not only celebrities who went for a day,” he told a roomful of journalists at a news conference, choosing language that prevents us from conveying the full texture of his opinion.

“It’s the whole … world. It’s all of you.”

Even you, President Obama -- though POTUS was at least labeled “formidable and elegant” as the actor declared it time that he “stand side-by-side” with just-inaugurated Haitian President Michel Martelly.".....

[kalee]

Bttt

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Warren and Obama are pikers in the historical assault on Facts. People have been mourning the death of Facts since the first Chaldean poked a wedge shaped stick in a lump of clay. But every time they hold a wake, she sits up and demands to be noticed.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"Sean Penn was Hugo Chavez’s guest of honor (again) last week, serving as keynote speaker at graduation ceremonies for Venezuela’s Salvador Allende Medical School. “Allow me to impart a little anecdote,” beamed the two-time Oscar winner to the enchanted crowd. “I had the privilege to introduce my children to comandante Fidel Castro and as he posed for a photo between them I told him: ‘President, I’ll now be denounced in the U.S. for educating my children as socialist revolutionaries.’”

So Castro responded: “That’s among the best things that could happen to them.”..... Source Feb 2012

[susannah59]

The first commenter on that article has a very interesting story to tell, himself. It’s well worth reading.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thank you.