I've written, over and over again, about the rage of the self righteous. But I haven't written about Bush because so many others have already done so, and brilliantly. Bush - America's stupidest president ever, according to one study and according to more than one report.

But how can I not write about him when I am writing about the rage of the self-styled righteous? (Here's my first exploration, of Muslim rage at a Danish cartoon)

He is perhaps the world's winner among hundreds of candidates nominated for the title of Number One Self-Proclaimed Self-Righteousness Bigot. He is, in his own view, forever righteous - and those who don't agree are branded as evil. His whole misguided, dangerous, death-making war in Iraq is couched in terms of his righteousness and American righteousness - never in terms of his own self-serving desire for power, his self-serving desire to defeat others at all costs, his self-serving lack of care for the people whom he wrongs, for people who die because of his errors and policies. Sounds a good deal like a terrorist, doesn't he?

Of course he isn't a suicide bomber - he doesn't have to be. He can get soldiers out into the field with no risk to his own skin.

He paints the world as good and evil - with himself as good of course. He overlooks that he lost an election and certainly hurt the Democrats in doing everything in his considerable power, with his huge family pull, to make sure there would not be any fair process after there was every evidence everything had been done to minimize the number of Democrat votes in at least Florida.

Good and evil. Good and evil. Democracy and tyranny. Freedom and tyranny.

He simplifies. He lies.

How can he hurt the United States? It's hard to count up the ways. Like others of the self-righteousness elite, he plays on the weaknesses, fears, rage of those he pulls into his mindset.

Hear him - and hear those Muslims he is against. They say: America the Evil. He says: The Axis of Evil.

They speak the same language.

****

The words most linked to Bush are stupid and funny, as in stupid George Bush, funny George Bush, George Bush funny. Is George Bush funny and stupid? He doesn't come across as bright.

But my sense is that the words come from frustration. As in, "Look here. Isn't George Bush funny?"

Is George Bush funny? I wouldn't say so, unless you find self righteousness and war amusing.

****

I don't have a lot of energy to speak against Bush. I don't think it's needed. When I hear him speak, I have a tendency to roll my eyes and gasp in horror that someone so inane, so simple-minded, so lying and deceitful is the elected leader of one of the world's major powers – because the second time around he may have actually gotten elected. (This is debatable - many people are certain there was election rigging in two key states.)

But - whether or not Bush got elected - I know the limitations of people. Hitler got over thirty percent of the popular vote, if I'm not mistaken. In Palestine, Hamas has elected representatives. So even if he garnered enough votes to get to be president the second time around, Bush's is no surprise.

People have done a lot better. People have also done worse.

So, in case anyone should think I have not written about Bush because I am unaware that he is a great example of someone using the rage of the self-proclaimed righteous as one of his major weapons, I have written this.

My only question: does he have any self-awareness? Is he aware that he is using the strategy of grandstanding his - and America's - supposed righteousness? Or does he actually believe what he says?

I am afraid that he might actually be a believer.

I saw a film on Hitler's last days not long ago. Downfall. He was a true believer in his doctrines.

Being a believer only means that one is caught in one's own spell, isn't using arguments just to manipulate others.

Probably this makes the shell even harder to break.

The hope – that at least others will see what is there, and not what Bush wants people to see. What he wants: the vision of himself as the savior of the Western world, the enlightened warrior spreading the good news. It sounds like, the New and Improved Jesus.

What I see:

someone who has grabbed a presidency when he did not win the election,

someone who is part of an administration that ignored warnings of danger and therefore enabled terrorists to pull off a massive blow to the American ego (without denting Bush's own ego, unfortunately),

someone who has gotten his country into a war through lies and deceit and playing on people's fears,

someone who has taken Iraq from the frying pan of life under Hussein into the fire of what is close to civil war, and is at the very least barely controlled Muslim-Muslim terrorism.

I am sure there is more but I keep seeing, in my mind's eye, Bush's smug closed face. He will not listen. He intones about the war between good and evil. Other Americans have access to loads of info. I hope they take at least some of it into account.

Bush – no savior. A denier of his own responsibility. A betrayer of caring, of truth, of justice over and over again.

And then I come to but. The but has nothing to do with Bush. I am writing in Canada. I value the values he claims to value. Democracy. Freedom of speech. Freedom of discussion. Freedom of thought. Freedom of the press. Freedom of assembly. Freedom to be safe when one speaks.

Part of Bush's power is that he plays on people's fears. So easy – just see how easy it is to frighten people with horror movies. Night of the Living Dead – a remake starring Bush.

There is another part of Bush's power, however. He invokes - probably most for people actually afraid of or at least uncomfortable with these freedoms - the very freedoms and democracy he betrays.

****

There is only one thing I can say in Bush's favor - and it has nothing to do with Bush, but with the Canadian and American tradition of considerable freedom of speech. I have, as far as I know, no reason to fear for speaking against Bush. There is a lot he has been able to do - and I am sure he would love to silence his opponents. But he cannot. Millions speak out. What is missing is his willingness, his ability, to hear.

I remember the evil queen in Snow White, "Mirror mirror on the wall,..."

Bush could take a look himself, "Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the unfairest ..."

signed,

Elsa
September 16 , 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006, 2009 - all rights reserved

 

For the start of George Bush funny?
and his award for his award
VDD - Very Dangerous Driver
and VIP - Very Incompetent President, click here.

To go from George Bush funny?
to Governor Sarah Palin, equally funny,
click here.

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The Idea Emporium - on
is George Bush funny?
is the man known as stupid George Bush
really stupid George Bush?
and what about stupid George Bush quotes?

Maybe some of the time, people are trying to reach Bush or at least hurt his feelings.
My sense is that, more often, they're trying to make those who are pro-Bush see him more clearly.
Most, I think people are talking to people who agree with them, astounded that
so many don't agree with comments like stupid George Bush.

I think it all has to do with the frustration of many people with the man they call stupid George Bush,
dumb George Bush. Is George Bush funny? That's not what people care about.
If he were in a position of no influence, people wouldn't care.
If no one voted for him, no one would care.

Part of the impulse also comes, I am sure, from the people calling him
stupid George Bush and funny George Bush trying to get others to wake up
to what they see in George Bush.

Very frustrating, to be like Cassandra warning people about the Trojan horse:
Don't let that thing in here! It's dangerous.
Cassandra had to watch as the Trojan horse was wheeled into town.
So what that she was right?
What mattered was that Troy was destroyed.

George Bush funny? It's a hollow laugh, at best.

Elsa
October 16, 2008

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2007
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2008, 2011

Is George Bush Funny? If You Find the Stock Market Crash Funny, Then Yes.
Otherwise, it's Stupid George Bush, Self Righteous George Bush.
Stupid George Bush Quotes: WPD In Iraq! Bush, a WMD.

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THE IDEA EMPORIUM on IS STUPID GEORGE BUSH FUNNY?