Sunday, June 25, 2006

Sweet zombie Jesus, almost two months without an update

I really suck at this website bullshit. I never have anything new to post. I barely have time to work on any art now anyway. Lousy summer job, sucking up all of my creativity. I also have strep throat, so that's not helping either. Argh. Last summer was way more fucking productive for me. I'll try to be productive with all the artistic crap soon, I promise.

In the meantime though, I guess I could post a mini-rant that I posted on DU yesterday in response to a poll asking "'Funny' political nicknames [note: like "Condosleaza Rice"]: yea or nay?" (I've touched on the topic of decorum in political discussion in another post, but it's an important topic.)

Nicknames like that trivialize something that is anything but trivial, and they drag the decorum of political discourse down so fucking low that it becomes a fight between kids on a playground, not a political discussion at all. And for what? So you can have that smug chuckle to yourself, "Heh, 'Condosleaza,' I'm so clever," when it'd be infinitely more effective to just lay out the facts? Nevermind the fact that since we do it here amongst "ourselves" that we think it's okay when discussing politics with someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum. Whether it's amongst ourselves or to other people, it serves no real purpose. It doesn't prove a point. It doesn't make people stop and realize "Oh shit, Condoleeza is TOTALLY FUCKING SLEAZY! HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS BEFORE?!" It doesn't make people think "wow, this guy knows what the fuck he's talking about." Most people would actually dismiss every single point you make, no matter how true, the second you drop one of those stupid little names. They're probably thinking, "hey, this guy is making some really strong po--wait, did he just say 'Condosleaza'? Yeah, he's probably full of shit." It makes you seem like you've got a personal vendetta (which yes, I know some do) but in the public's mind, personal vendettas also make a person much more likely to stretch the truth or lie, so they would be much less likely to trust anyone who uses those nicknames.

Ugh, I am way too sick to think anymore. In conclusion: Stupid fucking nicknames: bad; decorum in political discourse: good.

So yeah, that's something worth posting here, I guess. ART SOON, I SWEAR!

posted by Jonathan at 3:05 AM