And boy, are the panties atwist. Perry must be interpreted literally, they insist. Not figuratively, That's not allowed.
Look, Perry is not circumspect. He's not an "iron fist in velvet glove" guy. He's just an iron fist guy. He doesn't pause and carefully chose words in order to find clever ways to say nasty things that don't sound nasty at first. Many are sure this is a bug. But how many regular folks will find it to be a refreshing feature?
Ordinarily, I don't go down the road of criticizing elitism. I usually find it to be a dumb anti-intellectual meme favored by know-nothings.
But when it comes to political speech and analyzing it, that's overwhelmingly the province of the elite. Well educated folks who are all wonky about politics, Like me, and like the posters I talk with at Donklephant and Rise of The Center.:
- People who have big vocabularies.
- People who enjoy reading lots of stuff, sometimes high-brow and with sophisticated analysis.
- People who then enjoy writing their opinions carefully and at length, using just the right words.
Such folks have a built-in bias for taking care with how one expresses one's views. So they generally fall right into line with interpreting quickly expressed ideas literally when they should quite obviously be interpreted figuratively.
Time after time after time, I have seen that the regular non-wonk world has little patience with such nonsense. And I agree with them. How is it that so many well-educated hard-thinking Americans has developed this blind spot for the difference between literal and figurative expression? Maybe the only way to rid them of this blind spot is to just kick their asses really really until it goes away. Figuratively of course, not literally, for the dense among you.
Oh, and just let me add, to fend off ill-targeted drive-by comments: I voted for Obama in 2008 and plan to vote for him again in 2012. I don't like or support Rick Perry.
The true offense in Perry's comment is not the "colorful" way he suggested that Bernanke would be "treated" by Texans, but the excruciating stupidity of what he's saying.
ReplyDeleteHe's offensively stupid and you should be pointing this out.
Ben Bernanke -- "this guy" -- does not "print money" in the manner that Perry suggests, nor does he enact monetary policy for electoral aims, as Perry also suggests.
Moreover, were Perry to be elected, Bernanke would still be Chairman of the Federal Reserve for the remainder of his 14 year term. Regardless of one's fiscal ideology, how do you think any Fed Chair could do his job, having been called a traitor by the President ?
It's sickeningly stupid.
While I understand your point, your focus on the umbrage that liberals and independents (even some conservatives) take at his implied threat is misdirected.
Rather than assail them for their literal interpretation of Perry's "colorful" insinuation of mob violence directed toward a government official, you should perhaps be discussing how troubling it is that a major contender to be POTUS is saying things that make George W. Bush seem well-reasoned, thoughtful, and restrained by comparison.
I realize you don't support Perry, so understand that this is not a drive-by comment to dig at you.
You're smart and well-balanced enough to not take Perry's words at face value, but a disturbing amount of people in this country aren't.
The conspiratorial paranoid impulse of the anti-Federal Reserve crowd cannot be overstated. "Sovereign citizens" have been targeting and killing people including government officials based on the exact kind of rhetoric that Rick Perry is using.
Let me repeat that: Rick Perry is validating and amplifying the paranoid beliefs of political extremists who are increasingly violent.
Does this make him 'responsible' for any act that such a person might commit in service to those beliefs?
Certainly not, but it is high time we stop tolerating this "colorful," draw-your-own-conclusion suggestively violent bullshit being repeated by people who know nothing yet hold authoritative stature. It's cancerous to our democracy.
There is no hidden meaning of "almost treasonous".
How do you think Ben Bernanke and his family took it?
Test.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, I get to choose what aspects of an issue interest me, not you. What interests me in this case is silly, deliberate, careless misinterpretation of a particular way of speaking. That matters to me. You've dismissed it simply because you declare that the top priority for all should be to discredit Rick Perry. No thanks. You wanna do that, knock yourself out.
ReplyDeleteMy criticism here isn't misdirected, as you foolishly claim. It's directed at the target THAT I HAVE CHOSEN. It's my blog. I don't believe there's some universal set of priorities that I am supposed to be following.
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ReplyDeleteBen Bernanke -- "this guy" -- does not "print money" in the manner that Perry suggests, nor does he enact monetary policy for electoral aims, as Perry also suggests.
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"Printing money" is outdated shorthand for the many different ways that the government continually increases the supply of dollars. It's not technically accurate, but its the way most folks still refer to increasing the supply of dollars. So that criticism is a gratuitous and pointless quibble. Increasing the supply of dollars is almost invariably done in ways that escape the notice of most citizens. Every bond sold increases the supply. It's just that there's no paper or ink, only pixel debits at the Treasury.
Since you seem to so sure that there's no reason to be concerned about the ever-growing number of dollars, please explain to me why you believe this.
The conspiratorial paranoid impulse of the anti-Federal Reserve crowd cannot be overstated. "Sovereign citizens" have been targeting and killing people including government officials based on the exact kind of rhetoric that Rick Perry is using.
ReplyDelete_____
Umm, yeah, it can be overstated. You just did. Because the "anti-federal-reserve crowd" as you call it is almost by definition composed of Americans. And I've missed this recent wave of politically motivated plots and murders that you've alleged. Point blank: WTF are you talking about?
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Let me repeat that: Rick Perry is validating and amplifying the paranoid beliefs of political extremists who are increasingly violent. Does this make him 'responsible' for any act that such a person might commit in service to those beliefs?
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What particular belief has Rick Perry amplified and validated that you think is in fact without merit? Please identify this belief, and explain why you think it's wholly without merit.
it is high time we stop tolerating this "colorful," draw-your-own-conclusion suggestively violent bullshit being repeated by people who know nothing yet hold authoritative stature. It's cancerous to our democracy.
ReplyDelete_____
Oh, get off your pussy high horse. Seriously. It's high time we stop tolerating exactly the sort of nonsense I've complained about here and that you are simply re-iterating and propagating. Taking offense at figurative language increases and amplifies public anger, but you think you're being righteous.
Increasing the public supply of dollars much more quickly than our economy is growing is a dangerous thing to do. And that's true whether it's claimed by Einstein, by Feinstein, or by Micky the dunce. Denying that there's any reason to be troubled by it is something that is much more cancerous to our nation than figurative language.
I really REALLY hope you don't reply by blustering your way through some half-baked nonsense about why there is no reason for any of us to be worried about increasing the supply of dollars far more quickly than GDP growth would warrant. "Nothing to see here" is a big part of the reason why we're in out current fix.
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There is no hidden meaning of "almost treasonous".
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Wait, what? You are the one claiming there's a hidden meaning, just as Justin did when he took care to point out that those convicted of treason can be executed. Let me just point out to you, since you're being intentionally opaque, that there's no hidden meaning to "almost."
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How do you think Ben Bernanke and his family took it?
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OK, you're asking me to speculate, OK. You asked. Hopefully with the sort of sangfroid that's required of all high profile public figures. Bernanke is a smart and well-educated guy. Further, this is not his first rodeo. Probably, he has a very good understanding of the difference between figurative and literal speech, and is quite used to politicians using hyperbole for effect. If that were not so, I suspect he'd be holed up in an ivory tower somewhere.