Entertainment – Washington Liberals

Sports as an opiate for the masses

Sports are like religion: an opiate for the masses. They distract people from political engagement.

I don’t understand why people “root” for a team. Why should Seattle’s team be better than any other city’s team? And why should residents here take pride in victories? Sports must exploit some deep-seated need of humans to belong and to have an “us versus them” mentality.

Also, sports reinforce the glorification of war, competition and capitalism, instead of cooperation.

Maybe political parties exploit that mentality too, as do religions.

Luke Held responded:

Clearly you don’t like sports. Many people do. You seem to see only the negative aspects of sports. 600,000 people were on the streets to welcome the Seahawks super bowl home. You can see that negatively, or positively, it’s up to you. Sports bring people of many cultures and classes together in support of something. I don’t really hate people from San Francisco, but it’s fun to pretend and give them crap about their team. I can also talk to nearly anyone, anywhere about sports, across generation, race, whatever. Good luck going up to anyone and talking about health care reform without a fight. You might as well take away music too. It’s obviously only distraction, right? Movies? Art? Take it all away because its only distraction?

There is a limit though. ESPN is the most lucrative businesses in the media realm. It exploits people’s love of sports. It also provides crappy non-substantive coverage of sports, but people are desperate for distraction in these times of insecurity and stress. Sports provides a much needed outlet, but the line between over saturation is far too distorted towards the distraction side. Sports in general though are critical to a culture. Balance is key.

David Markham said “Competitive sports are ideal for controlled and healthy aggression – which isn’t going away anytime soon.”

I wonder if there is a correlation between sports fandom and religiosity or conservatism.

Indeed, this Forbes article from 2010 is relevant: Study: Sports Fans Skew Republican.

April Fool’s Report – State of The Nation

Originally Published @ Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/01/1198356/-April-Fool-s-Report-State-of-The-Nation?detail=hide

Now that Republicans have gained complete control of both houses of the US Congress and the White House, our esteemed leader and former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney can finally get down to the work of rigging the elections and turning the treasury over to big business interests – the dream of all greedy corporatists. The confident, smiling face of FDR has finally been erased from the public’s memory after almost a century of passionate campaigns launched by conservatives to to discredit The Great Socialist and tarnish his gilded image.

After fighting for so many years against any free hand outs for the poor and middle class, the great news is that we have finally achieved success!

With new conservative GOP appointees, the Supreme Court is now firmly in our corner and Secretary of Defense Newt Gingrinch can finish the job of turning America’s global empire into a feeding ground for the wealthy elite banking class. Hallelujah!

With new foreign wars to prop up the Halliburton class, our military industrial complex has at last reached it’s goal of total economic and political power in the USA. Now that the last vestiges of those inconvenient and outdated constitutional laws and democratic principles have been eliminated, the multinationals and Wall Street bankers are having an absolute field day! Profits are soaring and new expensive defense contracts are being granted every day…

We have no more worries about marriage equality (thank you Surgeon General Dr. Ben Carson), or legalization of pot, universal healthcare or even gun control now that right-wing religious leaders and NRA officials are writing the national legislative program with the help of Monsanto, Exxon/Mobile and the Lehman and Koch Brothers.

Soon all of the public schools will be gone and education will become religious based and/or corporate owned. Our beautiful precious little children will be able to grow up without the distraction of liberal, deconstructionist or unpatriotic propaganda designed to fool them into thinking that Michael Moore, Oliver Stone and Jon Stewart actually represent sanity.

With President Romney at the helm, the ship of state is headed for a new American Century full of promise and opportunity (for the upper class, of course). That’s why Congress has been so generous in allocating funds for a another multi-billion dollar national memorial to Ronald Reagan and the re-sculpting of Mount Rushmore to include his glorious image. I know that Tom, Teddy, George and Abe would be very proud to find their icons next to one of the greatest actors and political leaders of our time.

It’s only a matter of time before cabinet members Grover Norquist, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove order the construction of publicly funded monuments to themselves, and then we will surely see the blossoming of a new golden age…

While the police are battling protesters in the streets of Washington DC, we can rest assured that the spirit of Richard Nixon and Herbert Hoover are both with us to guide our hand as we make these necessary yet sometimes difficult changes to society.

The watchful eye of Senator Joseph McCarthy is upon us and the stinging voice of
Father Coughlin rings in our ears…

Now that there is no more immigration and the borders are sealed up tight, we can be comforted by the knowledge that all is well with the country and our nation is in good hands. We have Glenn Back and Rush Limbaugh to thank for the new spirit that now pervades the country – they are truly great Americans!

Once the riots and protest marches are over I’m sure that the poor and middle class will eventually see that minimum wage jobs without benefits or pensions is actually good for America.

Let us all stand strong and say with one unified voice that the GOP is in truth
“God’s Own Party” and that the time has finally come for a religious and corporate controlled government. God Bless America!

Poll

Do you think George W. Bush’s image should be added to Mount Rushmore?

Yes, absolutely!
No, that’s crazy!
Only if they also add Lady Gaga.
For Heaven’s Sakes Stop Asking me Stupid Questions!
Huh? Were you talking to me?
Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention…
Is the author of this article really a Republican?
Why don’t you ask someone who cares?
Why is that relevant to anything important?
Hello? Did I miss something?
No – April Fool’s Day Is Not A Joke!
I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll answer later.
Who is George W. Bush?
No – I liked his daddy better…
Not sure – where is Mount Rushmore?

Our Precious Freedoms

Three quotes for the day, courtesy Liberty Quotes.

“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.”
— Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910)

“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.”
— Noam Chomsky (1928- ) American linguist and political writer, Source: Guardian, 23 November 1992

“I believe in my right to be wrong, and still more in my right to be right.”
— Owen Lattimore

Get out there, get it right. If change is coming, you are bringing it.

We are bringing Dr. Parenti to Olympia in October

I am pretty excited about having Michael Parenti do the keynote speaking event for the Fourth People’s Movement Assembly. Will post more about that soon, but for now, just want to share this Parenti video for folks who are not familiar with Dr. Parenti’s work.

Enjoy!

Olympia, Safe and Beautiful, Step 2

So, there is lots of discussion about how scary it is downtown. It’s not just dirty, with houseless people urinating on the sidewalks, it’s just downright scary!!

It has been pretty clear for generations (and especially in the past decade) that the First Amendment right to assemble and petition for redress of grievance and to exercise free speech is just too inconvenient to remain on the books. Just look at the pedestrian interference ordinance. If the right to assemble for any reason interferes with the ability of a suburban shopper to come downtown and empty their wallet at a place like the Alpine Experience (just an example) instead of enjoying the homogenous shopping experience at Cabela’s or Walmart, then the first amendment is dispensable.

The first amendment is archaic. The updated, if unofficial primary civil right appears to be the absolute right to shop in a safe and sterile environment. So, Amendment One – get out of the way.

So, aside from the fear that accrues from running into a strange looking person downtown, why don’t we make the downtown really safe by scuttling Amendment Two as well?

Wouldn’t we all feel safer if we knew when we head out to go shopping downtown that we are not going to be sharing the sidewalk with folks packing heat? Why is the Olympia City Council so timid. Dump the second amendment and let’s get the fourth out of the way as well.

Come on, let’s make the downtown really safe. Let’s outlaw any firearms in the downtown core and give the police blanket authority to conduct patdowns for weapons.

I want pants on dogs that are over twenty pounds as well. Some of these animals are just indecent. What’s up with that?

wiki commons - courtesy beat 768

These guys also should not be allowed downtown unless they promise to turn the volume down and act in a civilized manner.

reProduction: a Burlesque Benefit for NARAL pro-choice Washington (8/19)

August 19, 8PM at Theatre off Jackson (409 7th Ave S, International District, Seattle)