Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution)
Are critics of the "war on terror" Principal Skinner?
The children of Springfield have taken over Springfield Elementary and are rampaging through the facility like they are in a Bakhtinian carnival. At one point they find out how much Principal Skinner gets paid a year and they decide that, including money he makes from painting in the summer, he must be a billionaire. Skinner denies this and says that if he were a billionaire he wouldn't live with his mother. In response, the children laugh. Skinner mutters something about how they are not responding to logic.
What interests me is how much people like me who criticize the "war on terror" come across as "Principal Skinner" compared to the children who just want to cheer for America, flags and feeling good about feeling good. (That doesn't include everyone who supports Team Bush and/or the "war on terror," of course.) I would go as far as to say that we most certainly do. They want to believe what they want to believe and "logic" won't get away. They are the group of children laughing because it is far easier to laugh at the individual than being the individual or even risk looking like you might be "the individual." posted by micah holmquist at 1/16/2004 09:20:00 AM
