Somehow this seemed fitting

[kellinator]

When Blast From the Past came out, my college buddies and I -- especially my then-boyfriend's older brother Chris, a sort of arch-conservative conspiracy theorist with megalomaniacal tendencies -- got a huge kick out of this song. But now it seems kinda prescient.



"Political Science"
Randy Newman

No one likes us-I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us-so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin', too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono, baby
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

****

I have a feeling if Dubya hears this one, he won't say "what a funny satire!" like we did. He'll say "what a great idea!!"

Comments

[polychromatic22.livejournal.com]

yes. yes that is exactly what he would do. he would think it's a beautiful idea to blow up the world and colonize it for america. yep. that's what he wants. he sits in his big powerful high backed leather chair stroking a cat that sits on his lap while maniacally laughing.

yep.

because everybody who is "the other party" has big greedy plans to screw up/blow up/own the world. everybody in "our party" is driven by compassion and care for the people of the world, their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the earth.

yep.

Re:

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Not all Republicans are bad guys, and not all Democrats are good guys. I think I've said it before.

But everything this man has done indicates to me a selfish, shortsighted individual that I wouldn't let babysit my kids. So no, I'm not taking it back.

[polychromatic22.livejournal.com]

Nearly all great atocities in this world have been preceeded by the inability to empathise with either a particular person or a particular group of people.

I'm not asking you to take it back. Just yano, maybe realise that every single human being is an *actual* human being, just like you. Maybe try to understand where they are coming from, why they do the things they do.

NOBODY paints themself the villian. They are always the hero of their own story. Nearly always do we rationalise or give reasons for our actions or feelings. Everyone. Even sociopaths reason that they themselves are the only things that matter and therefore their happiness is the only thing that matters. Sociopathy is an aberation though. It is severely rare. All others spend a certain amount of their own emotional energy gauging the consequences of their actions. Not everyone is good at this. Some people are naive. Some people are lied to. Some people are simply stupid. Nevertheless nearly all people do have some amount of understanding of their impact on the world and a feeling of responsibility towards it.
We've all know jerks who it seemed didn't do this, but mostly these people simply had very little understanding in how their actions could create consequences.
Going further, understand that a natural human impulse is "projection." We have the ability to project our own feelings and sense of self into what we perceive as another person and try to understand why we might do the things they are doing if we were them.

Anyway, this is a long way to go to simply say that I think it's outlandish and dangerous to call someone evil. To disagree with their actions is one thing, but to assume a nefarious and outlandish plot is more a reflection of those who comment then it is of those who are on the receiving end of such comments.

Just remember that nearly every single person alive in this world is a person. Just like you. They worry and hope and dream and just live through each day. The unfortunate few sociopaths and so forth are more to be pitied than anything (though defitely removed from society if dangerous as they cannot be "reformed") because they are a glaring example of what is one of most important human traits; the ability to sympathise and empathise.