Bedlam (Scenes From The Culture Wars III.)

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. ~Nelson Mandela

I saw this yesterday.

Wendy Rogers Tweeted "More bold Christians are needed to counter the Satanic Communists in both parties/" I mean, the fuck?

First of all I'd like to state yet again for the record that Communism hasn't even been a thing since 1989.

Secondly, Communists don't even believe in Satan, basically as a rule. Extreme fear of Satan is specific to certain kinds of Christianity that, for the most part, coexist with political beliefs that are antithetical to Communism. 

And it's been my personal experience (and note I say this as a former Christian myself) that if "Bold Christian" isn't a synonym for "Obnoxious Asshole" it should be. I wrote about Wendy Rogers just a couple days ago, and I think there's something mentally wrong with this lady. As far as I'm concerned, you don't get to snuggle up to the fairly agnostic criminality of somebody like Roger Stone and then get to go out and proclaim yourself a righteous Christian afterwards. One of these things is not like the other one.

But ya know, that's not really what this post is about.

It's this.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, relatively secular Muslim dude (he also practices Transcendental meditation, to be clear, there's nothing wrong with that) Turkish Army veteran, Cardiologist, TV doctor, purveyor of various medical and new age woo. Hell, he's been on Oprah. Dude has about Marianne Williamson levels of credibility as a doctor, but capitalism doesn't care about that. I mean, all things considered a lot of the shit this guy has done...if it were me I'd want my name all over the place, questionable aspects and all because ya know, America. Recognition = Money, right?

Instead, he's crying because the newspapers are using his given name in articles about him.

I mean, dude, what the hell are they supposed to call you, late for dinner?

Dr. Oz doesn't necessarily seem like a bad guy, just clueless in that "More money than sense" sort of way.

But I think he's figuring out he's walked into the snake pit. 

The modern Republican Party is basically based on fear of everything in general, and fear of you and a bunch of the shit that you do in particular. It's based on the sort of ravening paranoia that they used to lock people up and chain them to walls for. 

Jesus, man, get ahold of yourself. Shit, maybe if you're just now figuring out that Republican voters won't like you because your name is the Turkish spelling of "Mohammed" maybe you should've picked a different party than Republicans to be a candidate for? I mean, seriously, dude's resume' suggests if anything that he should've run as a Democrat or more likely, Green or even Libertarian. He's got that Third Party sort of vibe. 

So, other Republicans are going to, right out the gate, accuse him of being a fake Republican just because he's not a white dude named Joe Smith or some shit. I mean, he can't (even though he should be able to) lean on the fact that he's a son of immigrants living the American dream. But he can't do that, not in today's political climate.

Instead he's reduced to vapid statements of the exact sort made by the kind of people who are guests on Oprah, because he's afraid of Republican voters. I mean, he could lean on his apparently formidable ability to bullshit, but that only works for Trump.

I mean, seriously, why run as a party's candidate if you know their voters won't like you because of your name?

If you're afraid of that, bro, you're in the wrong business and trying to get hired by the wrong company.

The modern Republican Party is nothing but a bedlam of paranoia and stupidity.

Speaking as a former Republican here, I absolutely hate that this is what Republicanism has become. I hate that a belief system based on reason, on revealed truth, and the wisdom of our forebears has become absolutely none of these things in not much more than a decade. In the Republican Party as I knew it when I was actively believing in this stuff, Dr. Oz would have been perfectly well welcome, if possibly thought of as kind of a crank. It would have been more "Oh, hey, I've seen you on TV, welcome to the club."

I mean, if anything, like Clint Eastwood his spiritualist beliefs might be regarded as questionable but most Republicans at that time who weren't ravening religious fanatics would have seen the (R) next to his name and not cared.

But he sure wouldn't have had to be ashamed of his goddamned name. I can remember when Republicans valued diversity too.

But if he does win, the fanatics like Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn and Marjorie Taylor Greene in the House or Rand Paul and Ted Cruz in the Senate...the rest of the mutant parade is going to constantly be looking for a bus to throw this guy under, and he's got to know that, too.

I'm going to be honest here. I know I should feel sorry for Mehmet Oz.

But I don't. 

He chose to align himself with the Party that fears and hates his name. 

Nobody else made him do that.

I have a feeling he won't even make it through the primaries and the whole thing will just damage his already useless reputation.

Oh well.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Part II