Cool Stuff From Ye Olde Mail Bag

Dave writes:

I have an enormous respect for people like you who can dissect the lunacy of the right wing argument in a systematic way, and it escapes me that I used to have the focus and engagement to do that, and I can’t anymore. I now study agriculture and all I can do whenever I try to engage in this political stuff is get really angry, pissed off, depressed, paranoid, and so frustrated that I can’t even get my current work done. I don’t know how this happened or why, but I’m wondering if I’ve just gone insane at this point (my conservative southern family thinks so) or if there is something you do (whether it be the people you surround yourself with, having a hobby, etc) that allows you to continue to focus your energies constructively and not just blow up, then go get drunk.

Hell, dude, it was even difficult for me to get through your most recent piece without getting wound up. At the same time I’m an addict, just ‘staying away’ from it doesn’t work either.

If you consider those around you who do what you do, and yourself, what traits or characteristics separate those who succeed in tackling the beast again and again, and those who get burnt out and can no longer remain productive?

A saner man would just throw his hands up in the air and walk away. I’ve always been a stubborn S.O.B. and I’ve never backed away from a righteous fight. It makes for interesting times but if I ever hit the big-time financially there’s a Caribbean beach house with my name on it.

Joy wrote:

Hi Ted, I read your article ” Republicans shut up etc. I like your style, and although I am a Republican, I try to keep up with both sides. The complaint I have about your article is you went from Regan to Bush – I think you forgot someone in between, who I feel had a great deal to do with our present situation in the world. I’m tired of everyone making Republicans sound like we love the war – we hate the war, but support the war and our brave young men and women, in their courage to keep our homeland safe.

And K Morgan wrote:

Was the country “doing things the Republicans’ way” when Bill Clinton was in the White House and the Democrats controlled both houses of congress? what a moronic simpleton you are.

I don’t think I forgot Clinton in this week’s column. Au contraire, I mentioned him by name. One of the most galling aspects of the Clinton presidency was that it was a study in squandered opportunity. Everything he accomplished—NAFTA, welfare reform, GATT/WTO, even balancing the budget—was a Republican idea. Clinton was not a liberal, not by a long stretch. And what was the point of balancing the budget? Look at where we are now. Clinton should have busted the bank on healthcare and left the Republicans with no money to spend.

Oh, and Clinton didn’t have a Democratic Congress after 1994.

Steve writes:

Okay as a Republican who thinks we should keep fighting in Iraq I will shut up. I only ask one thing on you. Since we can’t win and we have no worries if we lose in Iraq I await the next cartoon from you depicting Mohammed. You have nothing to worry about right, its not important that we win. I can’t wait to see what witty cartoon you do. Why not have him talking to Pat Tillman. You seemed to weather that fiasco okay. So Ted put your pen where your mouth is and draw that cartoon publish it and then if you survive tell me why this war is not important.

If I had a reason to mock Mohammed, believe me, I wouldn’t hesitate. As for the war against Islamofascism or whatever they’re calling it this week, allow me to paraphrase Osama bin Laden: If they hate decadent Western societies so much, why haven’t they attacked Holland? Radical Islam is not in the least interested in changing our way of life, only that of those in the Muslim world.

There’s a case for fighting them, but claiming we’re in danger of Sharia law being imposed on Americans is simply a lie.

Mike writes:

I read “Shut Up” and can’t agree more. I believe I could write an argument stating why we should try to “win” in Iraq and make it come off convincingly. I don’t really believe it but I could do it, mainly because we were so wrong in going to war in the first place we are obligated to make it right (if we can make it right is another question). There are probably lots of reasons why we should stay but I haven’t heard one proposed by a conservative that didn’t subscribe to the same circular logic the White House has been spewing for years. They just can’t seem to think outside of the bubble GW is living in, let alone outside “the box”.

I have seem glimmers of hope in some congressional Republicans but they are not neo-cons. Neo-cons remind me more and more of Nazis who even after 50 years of evidence still deny there was a holocaust. (see, I can say that because I’m not a national columnist).

Actually, I’m thinking of writing a devil’s advocate column next week making a real case for remaining in Iraq.

Andy writes:

I read your 1997 article on Gen-Xers after you
mentioned it on your blog and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I just wanted to make one observation:

“Xers have proven a far more difficult nut to crack;
the latest wave of commercialism is hilariously
desperate. Car companies run generic grunge music as
background music to try to convince 28-year-olds that
sports utility vehicles aren’t really just the latest
version of the stationwagon. Nike sells its
slave-labor-made sneakers with the DIY slogan “Just Do
It,” while Xers roll their collective eyes. “No icon
and certainly no commercial is safe from their irony,
their sarcasm or their remote control. These are the
tools with which Generation X keeps the world in
perspective,” Marketing to Generation X author Karen
Ritchie tells Time. It’s almost enough to make you
feel sorry for the Fortune 500.”

I’m 27, and find it extremely fucked up that
consumerism has come full cirlce with my generation.
It seems that popular culture now is all about having
the most shit (“bling,” latest technology) and who
gives a fuck how you get it? It seems that all of my
friends are on a constant spending spree in terms of
houses, cars, flat-screen TVs. They don’t save a
dime, many of them are in debt, but they all feel
that it’s their birthright to have more, more, MORE!
Iraq war? Not really familiar with it. Voting?
Don’t know who the candidates are. XBOX 360? Oh
hell, you’d better believe I was first in line to grab
that swag.

I guess this is a long way of saying that it would be
interesting to see how the Fortune 500 did an end
around on Generation X, and completely duped my
generation.

In all fairness, Gen Y consumerism is largely influenced by parents—who were Baby Boomers. So it’s not their fault. (And it’s not like us Xers are particularly zen…check out my CD collection sometime!)

Connie writes:

I just wanted to say I really appreciate your articles (and cartoons)! Thanks, it is a relief to read something that makes sense.

Thanks!

And finally…

I can just see it now. On the back cover of D’Souza’s next book will be this quote:

“Stanford University’s D’Souza is one of America’s most–arguably the most–respected conservative thinkers. … one of the brightest minds of our current political establishment, representative of thinking at the highest levels of government…” — Ted Rall

You said it, not me.

It would be the best quote since genius illustrator/incompetent cartoonist Chris Ware used my negative review of his book on the paperback version, evidently because wallowing in negativity fits with his packaged image as a Sad Sack.