Friday Land of Linkin’! Simulacrum and simulation edition

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized 3 Comments
Hint: It's a secret to everybody.

Hint: It's a secret to everybody.

It’s the first Friday in September, and around here (zip code 20037) things are starting to look a lot like fall. The breeze is cooler, the last single cicadas are desperately chanting the bug version of “funny, loves wine, travel,” and all around us, nature prepares for the inevitable slide into death. Seasons change and leaves may wither, but the educated person comforts himself with the knowledge that truth is eternal. At least it was, until the invention of postmodernism, the internet, chain emails, multinational corporate ownership of all media, and Glenn Beck. Now the truth is as flexible as a mail-order bride, and just as likely to disappear with your checkbook. So pour a cup of strong coffee, settle into a comfy chair, and get ready to meet Oxana’s suspiciously handsome cousin, who lives in your house now, too. It’s the Combat! blog Friday link extravaganza, and it’s all* about grotesque parodies of the truth.

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Don’t worry—we still have the Millennials

By Dan Brooks in consumerism, health care, health insurance reform, help me kill zombies, hipsters, Millennials, town hall meetings 4 Comments
This is going to be so funny when I AAAAIIIIGHOHGOD! SWEET JESUS, I CAN'T...I MEAN I CAN'T (Silence. Cell phone ring.)

This is going to be so funny when I AAAAIIIIGHOHGOD! SWEET JESUS, I CAN'T...I MEAN I CAN'T (Silence. Cell phone ring.)

Yesterday at Combat! blog we got a little freaked out about how it’s entirely possible that everyone will get too stupid to operate America. Those of you horror movie fans who still crave tales of terrifying democracy will enjoy this article in the New York Times about Arlen Specter’s town hall meeting. It tells the story of Berks County Tea Party chairman Jon Stahl, a 65 year-old laid off from his job 18 months ago, who has since organized protests against taxes, the stimulus plan and health care reform. Presumably he is able to work full-time to stop government welfare because he gets social security benefits. The Times article points out that anti-reform protesters arrived several hours early to the meeting, creating enormous lines. I quote:

Proponents of the overhaul voiced the opposite fear, also citing larger issues at stake. “This isn’t just about health care,” said Carolyn Doric of Harrisburg, “it’s about political power and a means to regain political power.” Ms. Doric did not get into the meeting.

Normally, reading something like that would cause me to buy a high-powered rifle. But then I remembered the Millennials—that idealistic new generation that swept Barack Obama into power in the first place, and constitutes a new creative class of educated, informed, young professionals immune to conservative populism. Previous generations may have devolved into single-issue tax phobics, but the Millennials won’t be consumed by their need for disposable income. Right?

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