I’d just like to take a moment to thank our good friend Bill S. for another terrific contribution. Not only did he delight and entertain with his vivisection of Ben Shapiro’s views on cinema, but he also reminded me that Ben Shapiro exists. Frankly, I thought he’d gone the way of most child stars and retired to a public-spirited obscurity to wait out his awkward years. But no, a glance at his original playpen, Townhall, shows that despite Ben’s recent discovery of an entirely new field in which to fail, he hasn’t entirely forsaken politics for poetics.
President Obama’s State of the Union address was the greatest American rhetorical embrace of fascist trope since the days of Woodrow Wilson.
Benjy prefers fascist tripe (or Fascist Flaczki as we used to call it in the Old Country), but he’s got a good point. As we know from the HUAC hearings, the only thing worse than being a fascist was being a premature anti-fascist, and since Wilson died eight months before Mussolini founded the Partito Nazionale Fascista, he was obviously too early to be a fascist, and way too early to be an anti-Fascist, even of the premature kind, so with his options increasingly limited, he had no choice but to become, simply, a “Premature Fascist,” which makes him a collector’s item, like those Cabbage Patch Preemie dolls.
I am not suggesting Obama is a Nazi; he isn’t. I am not suggesting that he is a jackbooted thug; he isn’t…President Obama is, however, a man who embodies all the personal characteristics of a fascist leader, right down to the arrogant chin-up head tilt he utilizes when waiting for applause.
Of course, that would also describe most of the performing pinnipeds at Sea World, but given the way the word “fascist” is thrown around these days, it’s good to have a clear definition.
He sees democracy as a filthy process that can be cured only by the centralized power of bureaucrats.
Whereas I see Ben as a painful, itchy inflammation of the nether regions that can only be cured by the starchy power of Gold Bond Medicated Powder.
He sees his presidency as a Hegelian synthesis marking the end of political conflict.
Which is why he seems so eager to compromise with Republicans. What’s the point of fighting when political conflict has ended? Thanks, Hegel!
He sees himself as embodiment of the collective will. No president should speak in these terms — not in a representative republic. Obama does it habitually.
Again, taken at face value, this seems to contradict observable reality, until you remember that by “Obama,” Ben means “the sweat sock with the Magic Marker face that I use to put on puppet shows in my room.” Context is important, people.
It would be pointless to discuss at length the dictatorial, demagogic nature of much of Obama’s address –
But that’s never stopped you before.
the attacks on the banking system;
Ironically, his full-throated denunciations of the Federal Reserve made Ron Paul sound like Woodrow Wilson.
the unprecedented personal assault on the Supreme Court justices;
When Obama started ranting about those “nine old men,” I thought he was going to take off one of his leg braces and beat Sam Alito to death
the dictatorial demands (“I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay”);
Ben’s Wikipedia entry notes that while at UCLA he “clashed with professors,” presumably when they told him they wanted his paper on their desk by Friday, and he replied, “enough with your dictatorial demands!” Speaking of Ben’s rather wee wiki, it sums up his professional career thusly: He formerly practiced law at the Los Angeles office of Goodwin Procter LLP. He now does independent legal consulting for major media clients, including the Washington Times and BiggUns.
I tried Googling “Bigguns” and this was the first thing that popped up (so to speak):
‘Nuff said.
He is also a film critic who is writing a biography on his favorite director, Michael Bay.
Which is sort of like saying “he is also a maître fromager who is writing the definitive reference work on his favorite cheeses — Kraft American Singles, those deep-fried curds they sell at the Minnesota State Fair, and Velveeta, the most intriguing of all the cheeses, because its orange hue, owing nothing to nature, is a happy collision of corporate synergy, a shotgun marriage between spoiled milk, the bucolic produce of middle America, and the techniques of heavy industry ordinarily used to manufacture dioxin, Play-Doh and hexachlorophene, which in agriculture is used as a fungicide, and in vagiculture is used as a douche.”
Which certainly sounds like the constituent makings of a Michael Bay film, until you note that Velveeta is a wholly owned subsidiary of BiggUns, so the reader may be excused for wondering how Shapiro’s many other corporate entanglements will impact his ability to impartially critique cheese.
the scornful looks and high-handed put-downs directed at his political opponents. It would be even more pointless to discuss the incomprehensible stupidity of Obama’s policy proposals.
As noted policy wonk Barbie once observed, “Math is hard!”
It is worth examining, however, the deeper philosophy evident from Obama’s address. From the outset, his speech was an ode to himself. He opened, bizarrely, by comparing this moment in history to past American crises: “when the Union was turned back at Bull Run …” He suggested that “America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, as one people.” This, of course, is unmitigated, self-serving rubbish — 620,000 Americans died in the Civil War because we didn’t move forward as one nation. But that is irrelevant to Obama — in his mind, today’s crisis is just like the Civil War. He is a modern-day Lincoln, and those who oppose him are benighted rebels. What’s more, only his powerful leadership can lead us through.
Let’s go to the video tape: “For 220 years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. They’ve done so during periods of prosperity and tranquility, and they’ve done so in the midst of war and depression, at moments of great strife and great struggle.
It’s tempting to look back on these moments and assume that our progress was inevitable, that America was always destined to succeed.
But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain.
These were the times that tested the courage of our convictions and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements, our hesitations and our fears, America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, as one people.”
That’s the great thing about being a “critic” instead of, say, a lawyer — you don’t have to really even pay attention at work and you still get paid.
Then it was on to his critique of American politics. It should be noted at the outset that American politics is designed to produce gridlock. The governmental structure was carefully calibrated to thwart grand, ambitious programs like Obama’s socialist remolding of America; the founders deliberately shackled government by pitting interest against interest. Obama does not accept that, and so he despises the American system of republicanism.
Exactly. Let us not forget, when James Madison put himself through college working as a pimp, his street name was “Super-Majority.”
(Ron O’Neal played him in the HBO John Adams biopic.)
He acknowledged that political debate is deeply entrenched: “These disagreements, about the role of government in our lives, about our national priorities and our national security, they’ve been taking place for over 200 years. They’re the very essence of democracy.” Then he dismissed the very essence of democracy in a single stroke: “But we still need to govern.”
If “democracy” was about “governing,” they would have called it governocracy. And I believe the think tank scholars at BiggUns would back me up on this.