Comments on: The Ideological Struggle Comes For You http://larison.org/2006/08/31/the-ideological-struggle-comes-for-you/ n. the principle of good order "Observe the strange inversion of all order and sense! Dignity debased; how vilely is the function of a consul prostituted!" ~The Craftsman Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:08:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: jlbarnard http://larison.org/2006/08/31/the-ideological-struggle-comes-for-you/#comment-4499 Fri, 01 Sep 2006 03:31:41 +0000 http://larison.org/2006/08/31/the-ideological-struggle-comes-for-you/#comment-4499 Thanks for your earlier reply. As I said of the previous post, I find little to disagree with here; but I might point out an additional irony (beyond the fascist futurism you were so dignified to omit -- incidentally, this futurism always reminds me of Dr. Strangelove's statement, that those confined to the mineshafts would not fall into despair, but would rather be possessed with "a spirit of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead!"). This additional irony is that for all their bold and optimistic rhetoric about the future, they seem oddly unconcerned with issues that will actually affect it, and in a much shorter term than they choose to believe -- namely the environment and the inevitable drying up of the oil fields. They pay no attention to such things. Who knows how end-timesy the President actually is, but I'd say the administration's dedication to, as you say, "setting the world on fire," is more apocalyptic than anything else. The President surely never misses an opportunity to announce whose orders HE believes he is following. At any rate, if they succeed with expanding their little project, the results will surely be more cataclysmic than paradisiacal. To invert a saying of Bush's father: if we leave it up to these foreign policy extremists we'll be up to our ears in terrorists and out of oil with which to bomb them. And, probably, completely out of owls. I'm intrigued by your writing on pessimism as well. I look forward to reading more. Thanks for your earlier reply. As I said of the previous post, I find little to disagree with here; but I might point out an additional irony (beyond the fascist futurism you were so dignified to omit — incidentally, this futurism always reminds me of Dr. Strangelove’s statement, that those confined to the mineshafts would not fall into despair, but would rather be possessed with “a spirit of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead!”). This additional irony is that for all their bold and optimistic rhetoric about the future, they seem oddly unconcerned with issues that will actually affect it, and in a much shorter term than they choose to believe — namely the environment and the inevitable drying up of the oil fields. They pay no attention to such things. Who knows how end-timesy the President actually is, but I’d say the administration’s dedication to, as you say, “setting the world on fire,” is more apocalyptic than anything else. The President surely never misses an opportunity to announce whose orders HE believes he is following. At any rate, if they succeed with expanding their little project, the results will surely be more cataclysmic than paradisiacal. To invert a saying of Bush’s father: if we leave it up to these foreign policy extremists we’ll be up to our ears in terrorists and out of oil with which to bomb them. And, probably, completely out of owls.

I’m intrigued by your writing on pessimism as well. I look forward to reading more.

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