tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post8699852788424647475..comments2023-11-02T02:14:31.901-06:00Comments on ReadMoreWriteMoreThinkMoreBeMore: When It's Not Funny AnymoreDoctor Jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13189506916480012553noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-13846065817952581202008-12-17T11:55:00.000-06:002008-12-17T11:55:00.000-06:00cbr - well said!cbr - <BR/><BR/>well said!The Detectivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13549329661157387943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-79688001920579370182008-12-16T23:28:00.000-06:002008-12-16T23:28:00.000-06:00You're all out to lunch. That shit was hilarious.You're all out to lunch. That shit was hilarious.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-76361066092718083332008-12-16T11:35:00.000-06:002008-12-16T11:35:00.000-06:00ditto. not really funny. i was surprised when, l...ditto. not really funny. i was surprised when, listening to a summary of bush's trip on NPR, they left it out. <BR/><BR/>but i wonder if that decorum can really simply be restored. makes me think of that great line of richard harris' in "The Unforgiven" where he compares the respect for the Queen and the inestimable dignity attaching to her person and the small stature of a wholly human "president" there against. <BR/><BR/>of course, we might say that decorum is a marker of the respect we have for the official, but in thos regards, I cannot see how McCain, given the wrong turns of his campaign, could possible earn my respect.Not Chethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10273786971120329655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-84527165762033696222008-12-15T21:37:00.000-06:002008-12-15T21:37:00.000-06:00Well, I'm starting to think that the shoe throwing...Well, I'm starting to think that the shoe throwing response was at least symbolically more apt after learning that showing someone the soles of your shoes is apparently the biggest insult in Arabic society...Ammon Allredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16390979234756277892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-49754969867381774322008-12-15T19:57:00.000-06:002008-12-15T19:57:00.000-06:00A lot of people will say that, while they do not r...A lot of people will say that, while they do not respect the current resident of the Oval Office, they respect the position, the office itself. As Ideas Man, PH.D. points out, the aura of that office usually prevents us from appreciating precisely how execrable Bush has been as a president: how clearly incompetent and checked-out he's been. <BR/><BR/>I didn't think the video was funny, ever. However, there was something very satisfying about it. Bush has done unaccountable damage to Iraqis, but he still went for a victory lap, and someone responded with visceral disgust. Zaidi reacted to the man instead of the office; the decisions rather than The Decider. I only wish he didn't have to spend the next seven years in jail for his failure to uphold the charade.<BR/><BR/>That said, I wouldn't want people to throw shoes at Obama, so there's some inconsistency in my reaction that I have yet to work through....anotherpanaceahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08170804573665745672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-23680701301388466372008-12-15T19:42:00.000-06:002008-12-15T19:42:00.000-06:00home boy throwing his show was the most democratic...home boy throwing his show was the most democratic act we've seen against this president in a long time. decorum? dignity of the office? bush squandered all of that ages ago. when you're one of the most heinous criminals on the planet, don't you pretty much give up the pretense of dignity and civility? that moment was only uncomfortable to me in the sense that it stripped away the pretense and illusion. <BR/><BR/>Fuck. George. Bush. That shit was wildly democratic - and fucking FUNNYThe Detectivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13549329661157387943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-34870737017131610892008-12-15T16:54:00.000-06:002008-12-15T16:54:00.000-06:00I find myself agreeing with you- the fact that his...I find myself agreeing with you- the fact that his leadership was caused this response in this man- and you can't really argue with his comment about the widows and orphans- isn't funny- he's our leader. <BR/><BR/>Yet I laughed. Because it was so appropriate. Because it was ingenious, what object can you carry into those press conferences? Also, it's almost over, right? But I suppose that's not true for the dead.Josh Trotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04061817040951342154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-33197489974665887592008-12-15T10:54:00.000-06:002008-12-15T10:54:00.000-06:00This is perhaps the only "that's not funny!" post ...This is perhaps the only "that's not funny!" post on the internet I can get behind. I thought it was very funny, but perhaps I was laughing only to distract myself from the objective horror of the overall situation.<BR/><BR/>Ideas Man, you nailed it.autoegocrathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03726708889208600414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33488833.post-77216555624533408782008-12-15T10:35:00.000-06:002008-12-15T10:35:00.000-06:00Amen. Oddly enough, the kind of thing that lets t...Amen. Oddly enough, the kind of thing that lets this appear "funny" (instead of woefully understated) is that we still tend to adhere to a rule of decorum but only in the wrong ways --- we pretend that the leader of the free world isn't a monster, that his advisers are engaged in rational, even if incorrect, decisions, instead of criminal and shockingly stupid acts, we pretend that the debate b/w Democrats and Republicans is a balanced and principled debate instead of a conversation between an anemic center and a grotesque extreme, etc.<BR/><BR/>For me, Stephen Colbert's speech at the Correspondents Dinner was the one of the greatest moment in democracy during the Bush years (except the final rejection of Bushism this year ---) precisely because Colbert managed to lampoon exactly this tradition of pretended stateliness (masquerading the muck we all know the state has mired us in) in front of the two most guilty parties --- the complacent Washington establishment and the press. Which is why the press hated it and why it was so great.Ammon Allredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16390979234756277892noreply@blogger.com