Free Will vs. Determinism as the Core of Political Disagreement 1

So I saw Obama’s SOTU speech last night. I have been avoiding political news
for the most part lately, so it was interesting to see what he had to say. I
liked it, basically, but that’s not what got my attention.

What forced me to write this was the Republican response.

The guy who gave it is evidently the up and comer in the party. He is, by
any metric I can leverage, a complete piece of garbage.

Watching his remarks took me from a disinterested “I wonder what the
Republican’s will say…” to “I cannot fucking believe this is actually
happening.”

It’s a day later and I’m still stunned by how blatantly stupid he assumed
his listeners to be. He essentially put on a clinic on how to patronize and
condescend to a mass of frightened and uneducated people.

Here are a few things that assaulted me from the television while watching
him. Keep in mind that I missed a few segments while trying to gain control
over my vomiting.

His tone was that of a pastor. He was speaking as if he possessed wisdom
that his viewers did not have, and that he was warning them of a
dangerous truth that they must learn about. Kind of like Jesus’s word,
i.e. listen or die for eternity. Well, it’s the same with Obama’s
policies.
The interesting thing about this approach is that he’s young, decent
looking, and high ranking in the Republican party. He’s also a good
Christian, I’m sure–evidenced by him quoting Psalms at the beginning of
his talk. This power gives him the authority to condescend to idiots.
Worse, though, is the fact that idiots love it. I was imaging many
people I’ve known nodding their heads in approval as he talked down to
them, warning them of the dangers of Obama/Satan.
His tone was sickening. Not as in “annoying”, but as in “purge your
dinner”. It was completely unbelievable that he could talk down to
people so blatantly and not immediately be fired. If any politician in a
modern, educated society spoke to its constituents like that he’d be
sacked before making it back to the hotel. I say educated–that’s not
correct. Lots of Republicans who consume this tripe are educated; a
better word is non-brain-damaged. Unsupervised Learning — Security,
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One moment that clearly spoke to me was when he said, in the most
belittling tone imaginable, “Let me level with you…as one citizen to
another.” Holy fuck. You’re going to talk down to me for 30
minutes–telling me how afraid I should be–and then bust in with “we’re
equals”. No, you’re not. What he really said was, “I’m pretending I’m an
equal for the duration of this sentence.” But in reality he’s better
looking than the average Republican. He has a prettier wife. He’s higher
rank in the Church, he has more money, he’s better educated, he has a
nicer house, a nicer watch, etc. Down the line. You know…all the things
Jesus cares about. And that’s the hook.

Most Republicans nodding their heads at this fuckstain had already accepted
their inferiority to him when he started talking. They were happy to be his
sheep, nodding at the right moments as they were being educated from the
pulpit. So when he busted out with “citizen to citizen” it felt like he was
Jesus giving a scrap of bread off the table after unleashing a backhand
across the face. “Yes, I deserve to be punished because you’re superior.
Thank you for the bread.”

I lived in a world like this for a while recently. I observed hundreds of
Christians being mistreated on a regular basis by people of higher rank.
They build the ranking structure as various levels of permission to mistreat
those below them. The higher up you are the more superior you are, and
therefore the more you can treat others like shit. And relatedly, the more
happy the mistreated feel if the masters refer to the lowlings as equals.
Can you guess what the response is when they do so? “He’s so humble.” It’s
not humble to level with someone when you are both human beings…it’s
normal–because you are level.

The speech from this fool last night was the same exact dynamic. It was
palpable to the point of leaving behind an odor. I can honestly say that I
cannot respect the intellect of any human who could listen to the garbage
spewed by that man and come away with any other conclusion than that he is a
shrewd politician selling fear to frightened fools.

I would fear greatly for the chances of any country who could have such an
obviously evil man as a spokesperson for a major political party. I fear
greatly for our chances. We are doomed.

Quick thought: how many people do you think, who liked his remarks, believe
in evolution? I’m guessing less than 25%. ::