All You Zombies...
Nov. 23rd, 2009 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsMaureen Dowd this weekend:
Sarah Palin is in no way "alive" inside. She's 100% surface, an inveterate, reflexive bullshitter. One of Sully's commenters this weekend reminded me of the brilliant book, On Bullshit, in which philosopher Henry Frankfurt distinguishes between lying and bullshitting. The liar has a passing relationship with the truth, and knows what it is; the bullshitter, on the other hand, says what "feels right" at the moment, and doesn't care about what the truth may be. The bullshitter is a greater threat to civil society than the liar, because she has no limits, no constraints, and no fear of the truth. It simply doesn't matter.
There's an exercise in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in which you're asked to list out the values that make you effective; if you put that in front of Sarah Palin, she'd complain that it was too wordy. This woman has never played a game of Five Whys in her life, and wouldn't understand the point. She is as close as politics gets to a true zombie, but unlike William James' classic zombie, "performing all feminine offices as tactfully and sweetly as if a soul were in her," she's a rough-and-tumble pitbull "Sarahcuda," persona: opportunistic, spiteful, petty.
At first I wanted to write "She's adopted a rough-and-tumble persona," but that's not true. The persona is all that she is. Nobody can point to a single instance in her book, in her speeches, in interviews, or in anything she's ever said or done off the cuff, indicative of an inner life, indicative of a moments' pause and reflection: where am I taking my country? To what am I subjecting my family? What are my responsibilities? What are my principles, and do I live up to them?
When asked that question, her response is a collection of talking points triggered by familiar phrases, without any reasoning behind them at all. Without any thought at all. Her notions of foreign governments is fully informed from Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals (as long as they're not produced too gay).
Razib Khan wrote this weekend about the similarities between Orthodox Christians and Muslims, and between Conservative Christians and Muslims, and the vast gulf between those two distinct traditions. (It is, unfortunately, an uwieldy and ivory tower distinction.) In Khan's formulation, Palin and her followers aren't conservative but orthodox: they defend their institutions and practices not because those institutions have led to the flowering of civilization but because they are the only ones metaphysically acceptable. Anything other is anathema, and no amount of reason or rationale would dissuade them. He reminds the conservatives, "At some point human flourishing is contingent upon admitting that life depends on implicit instincts for proper functioning, and that reflection is an exceptional avocation, islands in a sea of reflex."
Sarah is very much at home in that sea. She can't breathe the air; she fears the dry land. "Sarahcuda," indeed.
The scariest thing about the quote Dowd brought us is the idea that somehow, Sarah Palin's supports find her to be "alive" inside. She's as alive as a tick-tock watch. One wag once said, "Sincerity is the key to politics. Once you can fake sincerity, you've got it made." Sarah Palin is the living, breathing embodient of that sentiment.
The zombies, they can recognize each other.
Democrats would be foolish to write off Sarah Palin's visceral power.Huh?
As Judith Doctor, a 69-year-old spiritual therapist, told The Washington Post's Jason Horowitz at Palin's book signing in Grand Rapids, Mich., "She's alive inside, and that radiates energy, and people who are not psychologically alive inside are fascinated by that."
Sarah Palin is in no way "alive" inside. She's 100% surface, an inveterate, reflexive bullshitter. One of Sully's commenters this weekend reminded me of the brilliant book, On Bullshit, in which philosopher Henry Frankfurt distinguishes between lying and bullshitting. The liar has a passing relationship with the truth, and knows what it is; the bullshitter, on the other hand, says what "feels right" at the moment, and doesn't care about what the truth may be. The bullshitter is a greater threat to civil society than the liar, because she has no limits, no constraints, and no fear of the truth. It simply doesn't matter.
There's an exercise in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People in which you're asked to list out the values that make you effective; if you put that in front of Sarah Palin, she'd complain that it was too wordy. This woman has never played a game of Five Whys in her life, and wouldn't understand the point. She is as close as politics gets to a true zombie, but unlike William James' classic zombie, "performing all feminine offices as tactfully and sweetly as if a soul were in her," she's a rough-and-tumble pitbull "Sarahcuda," persona: opportunistic, spiteful, petty.
At first I wanted to write "She's adopted a rough-and-tumble persona," but that's not true. The persona is all that she is. Nobody can point to a single instance in her book, in her speeches, in interviews, or in anything she's ever said or done off the cuff, indicative of an inner life, indicative of a moments' pause and reflection: where am I taking my country? To what am I subjecting my family? What are my responsibilities? What are my principles, and do I live up to them?
When asked that question, her response is a collection of talking points triggered by familiar phrases, without any reasoning behind them at all. Without any thought at all. Her notions of foreign governments is fully informed from Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals (as long as they're not produced too gay).
Razib Khan wrote this weekend about the similarities between Orthodox Christians and Muslims, and between Conservative Christians and Muslims, and the vast gulf between those two distinct traditions. (It is, unfortunately, an uwieldy and ivory tower distinction.) In Khan's formulation, Palin and her followers aren't conservative but orthodox: they defend their institutions and practices not because those institutions have led to the flowering of civilization but because they are the only ones metaphysically acceptable. Anything other is anathema, and no amount of reason or rationale would dissuade them. He reminds the conservatives, "At some point human flourishing is contingent upon admitting that life depends on implicit instincts for proper functioning, and that reflection is an exceptional avocation, islands in a sea of reflex."
Sarah is very much at home in that sea. She can't breathe the air; she fears the dry land. "Sarahcuda," indeed.
The scariest thing about the quote Dowd brought us is the idea that somehow, Sarah Palin's supports find her to be "alive" inside. She's as alive as a tick-tock watch. One wag once said, "Sincerity is the key to politics. Once you can fake sincerity, you've got it made." Sarah Palin is the living, breathing embodient of that sentiment.
The zombies, they can recognize each other.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 06:45 pm (UTC)I don't think it gets even as far as that; if we actually get to ask her such questions, I'd want to start with "Do you know what a principle *is*?" before proceeding on to "Do you have any?"
I'm going to be in Seattle over the Turkey Day weekend, are you in the area and if so would you be interested in meeting for a meal or a drink?
best,
Joel
no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 08:27 pm (UTC)See also: http://examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/2003/11/dead_right.html
no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 01:14 am (UTC)* Much the same was said of Reagan - "just another dumb actor." Being consistently underrated worked pretty well for his career.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-27 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-27 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 03:44 am (UTC)And succeeding.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 12:43 am (UTC)