A twofer. (That will not endear me to the left).
Matthew Yglesias defends the absolute necessity of having the full might and power of the Federal government tell people to wash their hands. No, really, he does.
Second, the way you stop a flu virus from spreading widely is that you’ve got to raise the level of public concern. There are several billion people living on the planet earth. If each of them becomes a bit more vigilant about washing their hands, a bit more vigilant about staying home from school or work from feeling ill, a bit more hesitant to travel to infection hotspots, a bit more careful about where they sneeze, etc., that all can ad up to a big reduction in the transmission rate.
My mother taught me to wash my hands, I don’t really need the President or the WHO to substitute for her.
But Yglesias is more interested in the defense of fear-mongering, panic-inducing hysterical pronouncements by elected – and appointed – officials as an apparent “greater good”.
Meanwhile, those government officials are rapidly trying to back off from their hysterical pronouncements.
But then, I rather doubt Matt’s “thoughts” on the matter are actually his own, anyway. rather than a regurgitation of something delivered to a baby bird.
On to the next one: An Obama fan is suddenly noticing that the Obama baby birds prefer to shut down discussion rather than actually have to think for themselves and engage.
No more. At least not in my circles. If you want to stop a conversation in its tracks, just question something President Barack Obama has said or done. It’s not open to debate — and I don’t think that’s healthy, for the country or the president.
It’s especially unsettling for a free speech girl like me. The First Amendment is important — but lately, it feels like my right of self-expression is being squashed.
One example: Obama’s comment to Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show,” comparing his bowling abilities to someone in the Special Olympics.
Can you imagine the uproar had Bush said that? He’d be banished from bowling alleys for eternity. His bowling average and IQ would have immediately been compared in Twitter messages demanding his resignation.
But instead, media and water cooler conversations the next day were about bowling scores and how tough the game can be. Anyone bringing up the insensitivity of the president’s remark heard, “Come on, give the guy a chance. So he said one thing wrong. Anyone could have said something like that.” End of discussion.
Anyone remember poor Dan Quayle, the vice president who misspelled “potato” at a school spelling bee in 1992? No second chance for a Republican. Five months after the resulting media field day, Quayle and the first President Bush were voted out of office.
Yes, it is unsettling. Any debate is being shut down by a programmed, highly coordinated, White House-driven series of mandatory talking points.
Like the greater goodness of fear-mongering, panic-inducing hysterical pronouncements.
But there is some hope. Folks like Laura Varon Brown are beginning to notice the the baby birds, the automatons.
Or is that Otomatons?
Welcome to our world, Laura Varon Brown.
I am even afraid to comment here.
In fairness to Dan Quayle, he DID NOT misspell potato. If you look it up you will find that BOTH potato & potatoe are accepted spellings of the word and always have been. That the Democrats turned it into a joke about his intelligence simply shows that THEY apparently aren’t intelligent enough to know that there are two acceptable spellings!