Just to continue our discussion of the adopted bible of the neocons and their deluded neocon disciples.
Atlas Shrugged is a long book. 1,100 pages. It has been chosen by the neocon elite for precisely that reason. You see my friends, just like the Christian Bible, there is so much in it that it can be interpreted any way the reader, or in the case of the neocon snake oil salesmen, wants.
It strikes me as humorous now, that powerful wealthy people would go on strike because they believe they're responsible for all that is good. But just as they don't want regular working folks in their neighborhoods, they want the right to strike reserved for the bourgeois.
Let's look at some that are fabulously wealthy. A few sheiks are worth 50 to 100 billion dollars. I guess it was through hard work and vision they were the sperm that fertilized the hard working egg. It ain't easy inheriting rich oil fields.
Warren Buffet is worth 50 billion. He surely must be a neocon. Except he votes for Democrats. Bill Gates has a claim to being one of the heroes Ayn Rand made up a story about. He has got to be a neocon. Don't remember him going door to door for President Bush either though. Hmmm.
Every movement needs it's prophets. Then they need some good mythology. The neocons have Ayn Rand. She was even kind enough to serve up a good fictional story they could build an ideology around. And her name and William F. Buckley's give a ready, albeit confusing, answer to every question posed to them.
Any event that happens need not be analyzed rationally by a neocon. They can just sit back, put a few fingers on their chin and say "Atlas Shrugged." And all the other neocons and neocon disciples will nod in agreement. Even though only the true neocons that are in on the secret really know WTF is happening.
If after reading this you still want to be a neocon in spite of being duped, here's some advice to help you be a good one. The trick is not hard work and scholarship. The trick is to just act bored. William F. Buckley was the master of acting bored. In reality he was a sexual deviant and Nihilist. My kind of guy. Just take a sip of whatever it is you're drinking. Give a medium sigh. Then say "Ennui." You'll be the life of the neocon party.
27 comments:
WOW! You are up to 8 followers! It also appears that you have upgraded the folks that you hang around with!
Keep up the good work....
Elvis and Micheal are now in heaven looking down on you with pride
I'm trying to find a comfortable level. I hate to give up the smart ass stuff. But I don't want to get too serious either. Somewhere just short of being invited to join the Swash Zone is what I'm aiming at TAO. But still remain with American Nihilist.
I may be totally naive but the hell is neocon? The definition said a liberal that turned right? Is that accurate?
I've given up on labels, I truly have because I fit absolutely nowhere, which just might not be a bad thing. Since I never read the book and have no idea what to add to the conversation....so don't stay on this too long!!
I won't. I read the book in 1978 because my teacher made me. What neoconism comes down to is this. It is a term that has been invented to give a name to a small group of creeps that turned our government and political system into a Don Rickles act. Why presnt facts and logical thought when you can call your opponent a socialist? This has permeated the body politic as a whole. While Cheney and his buddies consolidated their power, their powerful friends grew richer and more powerful. Taxpayers are still paying Halliburton. Cheney is still on his soapbox defending torture. They talk tough, but the ones that needed to be dealt with were ignored. Kim Jung Il has his missles. The Saudis still abuse women. The Ayatollah still rules Iran. Bib laden is in a warm cave feasting on goathead stew. Mullah Omar is reclining in a Laz E Boy in Pakistan.
But the guy that was no threat since the Operation Desert Storm was dealt with. In the meantime, the country he once ruled is under the influence of creeps like the little fat bastard Sadr. Who is currently living it up in Iran till he can return in triumph just like Khomeini did in Iran almost 30 years ago.
Look at all the good neocon torture and preemptive strike did.
I've never read Atlas Shrugged (or a word of Ayn Rand for that matter), but I might be able to elaborate on neoconservatism. What it boils down to most is American militarism and support for Israel. Because of the Israeli aspect, anyone criticial of neoconservatism is easily and summarily shouted down as an anti-Semite.
Traditionally, it is said that a neocon is just a liberal who turned right. More than that, the original neocons were card-carrying communists and Democrats until 1980 and Reagan's election. They were frustrated with McGovern and split with Carter because they thought both were appeasing weaklings. It always came down to supporting the party that was more likely to engage in wars.
Since neocons are, by and large, ex-liberals, they are unconcerned about rolling back big government, which is why you often hear Republicans today say they want to reduce government (to appease their base) while never actually doing anything about it.
There's still some more to neoconservatism, but those are pretty much the basics.
Just a side note: I never really thought of Atlas Shrugged as a piece of neocon literature just because so many of my libertarian friends admire Rand to some degree or another. Oh well.
There are a bunch of folks who squirm around the internet regularly who have to be defined, and yet they cannot be defined.
They hate Obama, democrats, and liberals. They hate McCain and most Republicans, they hate taxes, hate all government spending except that which goes to Homeland Security and the military, which they believe is the only thing we should spend money on. They also believe on attacking anything that moves.
They also communicate mostly in one line soundbites of support to their little group of true believers and then they can fire off paragraphs of hate to anyone they are offended by.
Most of them are ex-military and should actually be called Fascists but we call them neocons becacuse they really do not care about anything other than the military.
Atlas Shrugged was more libertarian but I am finding a lot of these neocons/fascists bringing up the book even though they have not read it....
Nice post, T101. I want to be the liberal William F. Buckley but I'm not bored enough. I think I've got the drinking down though...
Jennifer, having trouble with 'neocon' well, try this one out:
"Fiscally Conservative, Socially Tolerant, and Strong on Defense. From Barry Goldwater to PJ O'Rourke to Ted Nugent, Glenn Beck, Neal Boortz, Andrew Breitbart & Dennis Miller. As Larry Elder says, "We're the Republitarians." Libertarians who believe in protecting liberty from attackers both at home and abroad. Eric Dondero - Publisher/Editor"
Sounds like FASCISM to me...
This is from wikipedia's neoconservatism entry, and its in the section about today's neoconservatism:
In January 2009, at the close of President George W. Bush's second term in office, Jonathan Clarke, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, proposed the following as the "main characteristics of neoconservatism":
"a tendency to see the world in binary good/evil terms
low tolerance for diplomacy
readiness to use military force
emphasis on US unilateral action
disdain for multilateral organizations
focus on the Middle East".
James,
That basically translates into fat white guys with bad haircuts who were picked on and bullied in high school...
Whereas conservatism is:
US President Abraham Lincoln wrote, that conservatism is "the adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried."
Or as Reagan put it:
"...the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism"
Yes, but the main difference is that they have no room for gray, and are the ones pushing for military answers for EVERYTHING, while supplanting traditional conservative (or paleoconservatism) idealogy for supply-side BS.
I consider myself a fiscally [paleo]conservative, meaning no supply side crap, just plain 'ole responsibility in budgeting, and progressive socially.
I've started just calling myself a Progressive Republican, or a "red dog" republican (counterpart to the Blue Dog Dems).
I actually enjoyed the story . I don't think of myself as a neocon . I also study the "Rules for Radicals" by Poppa Saul , does that make me a tree hugging liberal ?
For the record , I don't watch much Glen beck . I still like to read my news , and not watch a grown man cry on FOX .
p.s. : I love the Onion's new name
Thanks for all the definitions guys!! :-)
I read what the encyclopedia said, but it was hard to get a good accounting.
A good neocon adjusts his beliefs each day. Just as they thought up a new reason for invading Iraq each day. In a twisted way, I admire their imaginations. But in it's own twisted way, that's like admiring Mussolini for getting the trains to run on time.
I knew you'd appreciate the new name Tookie.
I laughed my @ss off when I saw that .
Go figure!
See, I told you Truth didn't know what a neocom was. He just makes up whatever he wants it to be. You can call a school bus a cow all you want, but it's a damn school bus. He didn't read the book either.
Sign in next time you post T3:34. You've had three different names since Sunday.
And you're an idiot.
3:34 wasn't me
But I agree , I don't think you read the book . Now I know you could read the book, but you just won't read the book out of some dumbocrat fear .
I will say the first 600 pages are like melba toast , dry and semi stale .
Fine. You're both idiots.
And when is Mecantile going to go up? And Gardner Denver?
I see GD as a bit stagnate for a while , the "GREEN" movement isn't great for oil production .
Banks esp Local Banks will pick up in the coming year.
Right now we are seeing CRAP and Trade and the fear of it as a negative effect on the market .
We just became far too progressive as a DC front for the shaky ground our economy is standing on. They really blew the stimulus , should have hit both payroll tax and unemployment Straight on.
That would have been the correct pump prime and safety net we needed at the time. Then Congress could have worked and actually read the "public works" needed injection.
We really did a ready FIRE Aim .
Jennifer whats to know the meaning of a "neo-con...It seems that it is almost imposable to define Neo-Cons because everyone has there own opinion on exactly what it means... so yopu are not alone on it. I once read that "Neo-Cons" are very fond of Bush W. and they think of him as "THE" Neo-Con prez.
In other words, the term "neo-con" is thrown around as an insult, like "moron," at anyone who does not agree with the person using the term.. This is a specially common in libertarian circles.
While surfing this blog, I've heard a lot of self described conservatives blast people for being called "neocons".
Neocons act conservative socially but get caught soliciting sex in a men's bathroom (ahem Senator Craig?), spend recklessly to bankrupt the economy, and make wild rulings/laws/amendments/bills that can greatly shift the way our government functions. Basically, neocons are an extreme version of a hypocritical conservatives.
Bush is a neo con & so is McCain.
They just give all the breaks & perks to other rich people & corporations instead of welfare & wasteful social projects.NeoCons feel they have to spread their brand of Conservatism with bombs and guns around the world
Personally I think they both suck.
I would consider Reagan and Bush Sr. be considered neocons? Reagan wanted a strong defense, but he really more libertarian-ish too. And what about the talk radio crowd. I would consider Rush and Sean Hannity "traditional conservatives" or neocons?
Neocon = Fascist - Both believe in the cooperation of selected business operating under the protection and subsidy of a tyrannical government for the private profit of the connected individuals. Both the neocons and the fascists believed in colonization or occupation of foreign countries and the acquisition of natural resources and industrial production when available.
I don't know what Hannity was like before 9/11, but he's the biggest neocon cheerleader out there today, with maybe only Ann Coulter giving him a run for his money. Rush just supports whatever the Republican Party supports, which is kind of sad.
So the popular neocon mantra is 'Do as I say. Not as I don. And pay no attention that cranky old senator from Idaho waving his tallywacker in the restroom stall!"
Thanks for the input Napqueen.
Napqueen: Hannity is not a neocon cheerleader. He is a cheerleader for regular ol "conservatives". Not the few and rare neocons.
Bush and McCain and Cheney were not neocons.
Neocons are generally those who were liberal and then turned into "new conservatives". Charles Krauthammer is a perfect example of one. So is Billy Kristol.
"Both the neocons and the fascists believed in colonization or occupation of foreign countries and the acquisition of natural resources and industrial production when available."
I've read some of the main "neocon" tracts, and even they oppose colonialism.
And Bush does not meet the definition of "neocon" given, in just about every count.
Here is one:
"emphasis on US unilateral action"
Referring to the controversial retaliation against Saddam's regime in Iraq, this was a multi-lateral operation with the support and participation of a large number of nations.
Post a Comment