Ninth Blogiversary
Arteejee was
started nine years ago today. In that
time, and in entries yet to happen, I hope and am hoping that I’ve contributed
and continue to contribute something to the great public debate on the World
Wide Web. Even if my contributions are
satirical in nature, I never mean to hurt or injure. After all, I am a Libra, super sensitive and
all that.
Unfortunately,
this was not the best week for satire. The 114th Congress started and so far there has not been that
much satire ready material to be had from them. To wit…
Congress has
been back to work for nearly a week now and I’m already disappointed. On Monday they…oh, wait, Congress was not in
session on Monday. On Tuesday, they…oh
wait, they didn’t report to work until noon on Tuesday. Okay so they’ve worked nearly four days and…YOU
PEOPLE CALL THIS A WORK WEEK?
In any case,
the new conservative majorities have vowed to show the country that they can
govern. And they’ve done that by
re-electing the leadership (John Boehner) who has proven incapable of keeping
his side in one piece, let alone reach out to the other side of the aisle.
Ready to
govern? Yeah, good luck with that.
The new Congress has vowed to repeal the
Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). So
it’s Friday, and after one week Obamacare lives!
They vowed
to vote for the Keystone XL pipeline. Well, the vote happened, so where’s the pipeline? These guys can’t do anything right!
Then, in
France, several radical Islamists assassinated 12 cartoonists, editors and
journalists at the French satire publication Charlie Lebdo earlier this
week. As I write this, the police
believe they have surrounded the killers in a small French town. I have the feeling that this already bad
situation will get worse before it’s over. (UPDATE: it did).
The Charlie
Lebdo killings have galvanized champions of free speech here and abroad to
decry these violent acts. Once again, the
entire Muslim world is overshadowed by suspicions of intolerance. Fortunately, the attacks have been condemned
by Muslim leaders throughout the world. They know that incidents like these killings are bad for business. Indeed, three French mosques were attacked
within a day of the murders.
From an
early age, Americans are instilled with the concept that the pen is mightier
than the sword. The religious
extremists - and I will include our domestic Christian terrorists who were
bombing women’s clinics about a decade ago - seem to believe that the sword can
be a handy tool to make their point. So
now, society at large is charged with the task to prove these extremist
bastards wrong.
Oh, sorry if
my use of the word bastards is offensive to you extremists. After all I don’t mean to hurt or injure, but
I do mean to help SQUASH INTOLERANCE.
The
extremists will be proven wrong, even if we have a feckless Congress, which
can’t seem to legislate anything to save their own lives.
(Thank you
for reading, Je suis Charlie!)
posted by todd gunther | 6:02 PM
4 Comments:
This particular Libran's blogs has been going for only 2/3 as long as yours. If I can be around for another three years at least I'll feel something's been accomplished. (There are absolutely NO plans to bow out!)
Events in France over the last 3 or 4 days have felt traumatic to a lot of us. Politicians here have been so pathetic. On the one hand, thumping the desk and declaring that the "Terrorists will NEVER win!" yet simultaneously condemning, directly or by implication, those who publish 'provocative' material - meaning that, in effect, the terrorists are not only winning but they've already won. If you're not an isolated voice and have an unquantifiable number behind you, just make a plausible threat to kill someone if they don't do what you want, and those you threaten will cave in. But if you're alone in being 'offended' at what someone says, too bad - you've got to live with it. Such a spineless reaction - always making the calculation of whether what they say is likely to win or lose net votes.
Could go on but I won't - for now.
Congrats on the blogiversary.
Congress? I can't with them.
Happy blogday! May there be nine more and then some!
Thanks for the comments, Ravbeard. We have the same issues with politicians over here, Frankly I'm offended by many things that the hate groups (i.e. Ku Klux Klan or the neo-Nazis) but i have to shrug off my personal feelings and fight them the best I can by supporting the Southern Poverty Law Center, or through snarky blog commentaries.
Thank you Bob and Spo for your well wishes!
Post a Comment
<< Home