tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665619563748706349.post6106838574333554997..comments2023-10-07T07:44:17.892-07:00Comments on The New Englander: Shiver Me Timbers: Pirates' Righteous IndignationThe New Englanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06201310505648616855noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665619563748706349.post-46929993362306616452009-04-16T00:11:00.000-07:002009-04-16T00:11:00.000-07:00Something that seems specific (and frightening) is...Something that seems specific (and frightening) is the Far Left's role in education policy. I was just thinking today that you hear things/read things about every Obama cabinet member except Arne Duncan. I know very little about education policy, but it's fascinating how underplayed such an important issue is. Would love to read some of your thoughts about this stuff in a future blog...Jon and Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10387906860079789219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665619563748706349.post-80446121654905934062009-04-15T15:37:00.000-07:002009-04-15T15:37:00.000-07:00Matt,
As to the blanketing argument, I admit I ha...Matt,<br /><br />As to the blanketing argument, I admit I have to enter a nolo contendre plea. I've never lived in -- and barely even been to -- LA or Hollywood, and admit I generalized based on some pop culture/commentariat influences.<br /><br />If the shoe were on the other foot, and someone started a sentence (esp. a negative one) with "The thing about the military..." or "The problem with these military types..." I would be offended if it came from someone who didn't have firsthand experience. <br /><br />Also, fair point about the "real world" thing -- as someone who's been on the wrong end of some of those "not in the real world" groupings, I've always resented it, and am yet to see any evidence that the "real world" in somewhere like LaJolla is any less real than the world in, say, El Cajon. Nor have I seen good justification for why some champion the opinions/dreams/beliefs of people born under rougher circumstances, but try to belittle those born under more favorable ones, ipso facto, as if one were somehow chosen by the person but the other not. <br /><br />Looking back at the entry, though, rather than single out Hollywood or any other one group, I should have reserved my ire for the Far Left in general (wherever they might be!) as opposed to singling out any group or industry. <br /><br />I know the Far Right is equally obnoxious, but it's on issues like this where the Far Left goads me a lot, because by absolving the people they claim to speak up for/care about of all responsibility/blame for anything they do -- in the end, of course, this has the exact reverse effect from the one they ostensibly desire.<br /><br />When an Ed School professor says that it's okay for a child of color at English High to fail or act out because he's "expressing himself" but it's unacceptable for a white kid from Newton to act that way, all they're doing, in my opinion, is perpetutating the inequalities they bemoan. <br /><br />And that's the problem I have with the Far Left when they talk foreign policy (celebrity or not). To draw moral equivalency between Saddam Hussein and George Bush, for example, or to say that it's okay for a Somali person to use violence on the high seas but NOT okay for a westerner, is ultimately a formula for increased -- not decreased -- suffering in the world. <br /><br />best,<br />gpThe New Englanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06201310505648616855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1665619563748706349.post-21564274913510645882009-04-13T22:21:00.000-07:002009-04-13T22:21:00.000-07:00I agree with you completely about the use of force...I agree with you completely about the use of force and it's amazing the job the SEALs did in saving Captain Phillips' life. Also, re: the "America is our new enemy" stuff, it seems quite apparent that America already WAS your enemy. <br /><br />I do, however, take issue with the way you conflate the beliefs of vocal anti-war celebrities like Sean Penn with an implied class derision that I'm not sure exists:<br /><br />"The family of Captain Phillips -- people who actually have to go out into the real-world and earn their living in ways the Hollywood crowd can only sneer at -- might beg to differ."<br /><br />I'm no Sean Penn completist, but I doubt he's ever mocked the way troops earn their living (in fact, when I've heard him speak he goes out of his way to praise them). And even if he did, I think to equate his beliefs with a mythical "Hollywood crowd" is facile; I live and work in Los Angeles, and people here don't live in any less a "real world" than people in Bergen County. Most are primarily concerned with the health and happiness of their families, making enough money to send their kids to college, and the continuing success of their country. And the dirty secret is that actors' aren't as rich as people think -- Bill O'Reilly earns more annually than most of the artists he derides as out-of-touch.<br /><br />I don't agree with everything Sean Penn says, but he should be held accountable for his specific beliefs instead of dismissed and villified as part of a mythically liberal and hedonistic bunch that bears very little resemblance to the reality that is life in Los Angeles.Jon and Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10387906860079789219noreply@blogger.com