Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope y'all had a great time and made it home safe and sound despite!

I wanted to start off the New Year by sharing a snippet of a conversation from lat night. DW and I don't talk politics with my parents (who we're visiting) and this will show you why, but I think it also shows a difference between how Conservatives and Liberals THINK. (Again - not WHAT they think, but HOW.) This from is my [staunchly conservative] Dad.

We were watching Pixar's UP with the kids (great movie, BTW) and he admits he like it, but the says, "But I just don't like Ed Asner AT ALL." (OK - big surprise, and I'm sure we all know why, right?)

He goes onto to say, "These actors think that because of their celebrity, they can pontificate on things. Most of these guys have no more than a high school diploma! These actors are so much better when they keep quiet!"

Now... as I said: We don't talk politics with my parents. No good can come of it. They are a conservative's conservative; especially my Dad. And... I think this demonstrates that.

But it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. Pontificating with no more that a High School Diploma? Maybe, like... oh... I don't know... GLENN BECK, SEAN HANNITY and RUSH LIM BAUGH?! I mean... these guys are PAID to "pontificate!" Ed Asner was just exercising his free speech! If that ain't the worst example of IOKYAR I've ever heard, I'm not sure what is! Think about that: A CONSERVATIVE saying someone with only a HS diploma ought to STFU. I'm not saying that I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment, but only because it would shut up most of the Right's most effective liars! LOL I mean... it that hypocrisy or just stupidity? I'm not really sure.

Now... I think I also wrote something up recently myself about how celebrities ought to stay out of partisan issues and electoral politics. So... Am I being hypocritical here myself? Not really. Because I was criticising people who I AGREED with. Who's political viewpoints I largely shared, but who I felt were doing more harm than good.

I then thought... OK... Are there any conservative actors, entertainers, etc... Who's work I can't stand because of their politics? The most obvious example are Limbaugh and Beck. But there "work" IS their political viewpoint. Neither has played an apolitical character in a movie that itself was only mildly political at best. So they don't count. I though about Mel Gibson. He's a deeply religious guy. I don't know where he stands on electoral politics, but he's a deeply religious member of an extremely conservative Catholic denomination... So - probably not someone who I'd share a lot of political viewpoints with. And I can honestly say that off the top of my head, I don't think I've ever seen one of his movies that I haven't liked. I thought Tom Cruise was a douchebag BEFORE he broke Oprah's couch, and I can say they same thing: I've never seen one of his movies and thought it was bad. (I never saw 'Eyes Wide Shut', BTW.) Even Charlton Heston... I haven't seen as much of his work as Cruise or Gibson, but I can still say that I've really enjoyed everything that I have seen, and can acknowledge the guy was a talented actor despite being someone who I wouldn't see eye to eye with on too many things, politically speaking.

I tried to come up with a few more, but the Kirk Cameron's of the world tend to either drop out of Hollywood all together or go on to make lousy, low-budget movies that could at best be described as what snopes.com might call "Glurge." And usually with a Christian subtext that's about as subtle as a sledgehammer. I don't hate those movies because of their conservative Christian message: I hate them because they SUCK!

And even the actors THEMSELVES... I don't dislike any of them strictly for their political positions. (Again - Beck and Limbaugh are not actors. Politics is what they do.) Even someone like Carrie Prejean - who I was BRUTAL to - it was so much more about her stupidity than her political opinions! And I don't mean "stupid" the way a conservative thinks ALL liberals are "stupid" just because we disagree, I mean truly, mindbogglingly, head-up-your-ass, STOO-PID. Here's her big controversial statement from last year:

"Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And, you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman."

Now... I have no problem with the "I believe that it should be between a man and a woman" part. I disagree with her. But that's fine. That's all she had to say. They asked what she thought, and this would have been a sufficient answer. The part that permanently etches this in the annals of leather-headedness is, "I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other." This is stupid for two reason:

1) It completely contradicts, politically, what she says next. It's like saying, "I think it's great that women have the right to choose, but I'm dedicating my career to banning abortion!" You'd have to be brain damaged to be able to wrap your head around a statement like that!

2) IIRC, at the time, only California and Massachusetts performed and recognized same sex marriage. So a more accurate way to say it might have been, "I think it's great that Californians are able to choose one way or the other... for now."

And THAT'S why I felt she was deserved so much abuse. I can tolerate those that disagree with me (I've been doing it 24/7 for a week now!) But I have far less patience for stupidity. And saying, "I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other" when... um... THEY CAN'T is stupid. There's just no other way to describe it.

So, in any case, I don't think I've violated my first principle here in criticising my Dad, for having a hard time liking Ed Anser in movies because he once criticised our beloved president. (Hey - it must be tough that even some schmuck with no more than a HS diploma knows the guy you voted for was an idiot, huh? Nothing stings like the truth I guess! LOL)

Now... as I'm writing this I'm reminded of another conversation we had back in early November, 2008. He asked me (rhetorically - he wasn't really interested in my opinion) if it was was wrong of him to stop sending money/gifts to his Godson because he supported Obama. Now... YEAH, I think it's despicable! And if, say, my hippy Aunt & Uncle had done the same to one of their hypothetical Godchildren (though to be fair, I don't know even they have any) for supporting Bush, I'd feel exactly the same way. I also think it's absurd that he won't buy "Ben and Jerrie's" Ice Cream because, "they're communists." (Communist entrepreneurs, huh? Gotta love it!)

But I think that with all this, it's finally dawned on me why Liberals and Conservatives can never see the other as "principled." They can't see us as principled, because they labor under the delusion of their own inherent goodness. And we can't see them as principled, because of this. The thing is: conservatives mistake CONVICTION for PRINCIPLES. And that's not a problem so much of WHAT they think, but it goes back to my problem of HOW they think. And... they DON'T. They accept an ideology and let that do the thinking for them. And because they've accepted they inherent goodness and rightness of it, it is completely lost on them that anyone who ACTUALLY THINKS might reach a different conclusion.

Anyway... I hope all are enjoying your holidays. I'm enjoying mine, despite this bitch-fest. LOL. Here's hoping 2010 is even better than 2009! (After all... 2009 was better than 2008, which was worse that 2007, which was worse that 2006. Maybe Obama IS doing some good after all! LOL)

Happy New Year!