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OF BUSH, NEW ZEALAND, AND FEAR
Brian Boyko emails:
Well, Tim, what you’ve got up on the blog is mostly accurate. I went to New Zealand for two reasons: One, to make that boring documentary.
Oh, I have no illusions that it will show anywhere but local theatres and will play to jam-packed audiences of twos and threes in its one-day theatrical run. The second was to see if I could make a go of a life in New Zealand.
You know this part - yes, I gave my interview to the BBC in 2004, when I was particularly angry over the 2004 elections. I think it was a dumb move too, made in the heat of passion. I was angry - not hateful, but angry.
Continued ...
UPDATE. Hail commenters!
From Brian:
My only “hope” if you will, was finding other exits - the urge to move to Berlin was considered another “escape plan,” if you will, in case New Zealand didn’t work out. This was all idle fantasy, ultimately, but it was a good way to relieve stress and pretend that I was able to do something.
When you are in fear, you cannot think straight, you cannot really understand anything except the all-overwhelming urge to get away from the object which causes you fear. If you can’t get away from what causes the fear, you start thinking of other ways to get away from what causes the fear.
That - the concept of “Danger!” was really the extent of my long-term life planning. After all, as I mentioned, what else could I really think about? When the monster comes to your neighborhood, you do not start house renovations until either the monster has left or you move to a different house.
And because I was afraid, I ceased my political activity, like scared people have done since time immemorial. That also got channeled into the only political act that I felt was still safe - the idea of leaving.
This may seem all quite overdramatic - especially to a conservative audience located in Australia - but holding out for change required hope, and planning for the future requires believing that there’s going to be one. There was no hope. The problems were too big, the checks and balances had broken down and the levers of power were either out of the hands of the people entirely, or were in the hands of the majority of Americans who think policies such as institutionalized torture, suspension of habeus corpus, pre-emptive warfare, and reality TV are good ideas.
You’ll be happy to note that I consider this to be more the fault of the Democrats than to the Republicans. Say what you will about them but in order for a two party system to remain even roughly democratic (with a small d), the party in opposition should at least oppose the party in power. This, the Democrats haven’t done. (I would hope that the Republicans do so should the Democrats ever win an election in the U.S. - it doesn’t do much to keep the bastards honest, but it does a little to keep the bastards honest.)
Brian continues:
So, hope was dead for me for a long time. I saw no way of doing my part to help fix America’s problems, and it seemed that no one really wanted the problems to be fixed. So, to me, my hope - the thing that kept me going from day to day - was the New Zealand Dream.
In September of 2007, I had finally saved up enough that I could qualify to go to New Zealand under the Working Holiday Visa Program. It was the advice of my friends and my boss who said that before I decided to spend the rest of my life in another country that I hadn’t even visited before, that I should take some time off from work and
visit there for a good long period of time.I had originally thought that I would get some telecommuting work done from New Zealand, but she and the CEO of the company nixed that idea, but then the CEO pointed out that, if I started on Thanksgiving day and arrived back after New Years, taking advantage of all the vacation days, I’d have a good six weeks of vacation with the paid leave time I saved up. But, what to do when you’re in New Zealand for six weeks?
It was almost a spur of the moment thing; but it was one which had been in the back of my head for quite a while: I would make a documentary film about the thing that attracted me to New Zealand in the first place - its electoral system.
I mean, why not? After all, I could afford the equipment, and use it in my day job. Six weeks was plenty of time to do all the filming - I could edit it later. So I started calling up New Zealand VIPs like Peter Dunne and Rodney Hide - they signed on very quickly. Then former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley signed on, and once I was legitimately able to say that we had a former prime minister on board, it was very easy to secure interviews.
This is starting to feel like Bryla’s guest blog from… whenever…
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2008 01 04 at 07:57 AM • permalink“We Americans joke about Gitmo here in our gallows humor way while admitting that there just isn’t room in Cuba for everyone who’s ever cracked a joke at Bush’s expense”
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I was of the understanding that American citizens who committed offenses on American soil couldn’t be sent to Gitmo?
Posted by spot_the_dog on 2008 01 04 at 07:58 AM • permalinkBrian continues:
Despite the admittedly boring subject, I’m optimistic about it being a success - mostly because my idea of a success is whether or not I had fun doing it. After all, I’m only spending my own money - no government grants, no checks from Mom, and because I didn’t have any kids to support, I could afford it without feeling guilty. I treat my
filmmaking as a hobby and if I can get it “in the can” I’ll have done something few people have done - make an entire feature film.I approach it like the amateur novelist - you can take pride in doing what very few others have done.
But when I was in New Zealand, two things happened. For the first time in quite a while - for the first time in my adult life really, the cloud of fear wasn’t there anymore. Tim, maybe you and your readers are right in calling me paranoid (I must admit, after all, that I lack a suitable objective reference to evaluate my own mental quirks) but the fact was that once I landed in New Zealand, I could feel a stark difference. This was a place where I wasn’t afraid. This was a place where there was no reason to be afraid.
The result was not unlike a surprise enema: Unexpectedly refreshing.
And, cleared from the fear, I could finally think, and wrap my head around bigger questions. Granted, the first question that came to my mind was “Now what?” The monster wasn’t there anymore.
It was when I was interviewing Sir Geoffrey Palmer that I began to see the other half of the equation. Though I had read about it in a number of textbooks and had indeed talked to people who participated in it, the Royal Commission Sir Geoffrey had lobbied for and eventually achieved, was such a small step. All he wanted was an independent commission that would do nothing more than establish a frame of reference by which democratic systems could be judged, and then judge electoral systems - including the current one - under those criteria.
I thought to myself that that was actually something achievable. Oh sure, I can’t go down to Washington and ask Congress if I could have a moment of their time, but America has a federal system. I even lived in my state’s capital - surely I could talk to my local state representative about the possibility of setting up a commission like
that for the state of Texas. It was a tangible, real, achievable goal which would - well, maybe not change things, but open up the possibility of changing things.(not that “cracking a joke at Bush’s [or any American President’s] expense” has ever been a crime…)
Posted by spot_the_dog on 2008 01 04 at 08:00 AM • permalinkBrian continues:
And then all of a sudden - I realized that that little spark of hope was all I really needed to keep me going in America. That I didn’t need to retreat after all - that there still was a chance.
Don’t get me wrong. I still think that things in America are very bleak, and getting bleaker. And no, I don’t see how the 2008 elections could possibly change that. But I do realize now that even the worst of governments eventually topples. It took less than a hundred years for the Soviet Union to collapse. Less than 20 for the Third Reich. This isn’t a direct comparison but a simple fact - no matter how bad things get, things’ll change in just a couple of generations.
Now, I’m looking past Bush. Bush may be a monster, but with new perspective, I see him as this generation’s comic-book villain, a boogieman who, I now realize, is going to come onto the world stage, do his little dance, cause a lot of damage along the way, and ultimately, climb back under the child’s bed as ignominiously as he crawled out from under it. Bush isn’t Hitler. Bush is Snidely
Whiplash.Let other people deal with Bush. I’m thinking about how to fix this place once the boogieman leaves. And I’m not talking about “hippy-dippy” social welfare programs either - we need to get back to the foundational stuff, and start repairing the core of the country. To stretch the metaphor to its breaking point, we have to repair the
foundations before we start putting the wallpaper back up.Ultimately, I just want free and fair elections where everyone - everyone from the far left to far right, from the moderates to the environmentalists to the Christian groups - everyone is represented in a way that accurately reflects their numbers, no one is ignored because they’re not in a swing state, politicians, no matter what side of the aisle they’re on, get held accountable for both incompetence and malice, and no one ever stays home on election day because they feel their vote won’t do a damn bit of difference. That’s what I want to bring back from New Zealand to the United States.
With hope, I can make a go of it in America after all, in a city I love, with friends who care about me. I can understand if you or your readers call me a hypocrite for saying for three years that I’m leaving America only to find out that when I left America, I decided to come back. But any hypocrisy on my part was unintentional and I
apologize for it. A more accurate term would be “flip-flopper” - I had planned to do one thing, and then, decided to do the exact opposite. Either way, I was wrong, I’ll own up to it, and perhaps I deserve a little criticism and good-natured ribbing for it.“The result was not unlike a surprise enema: Unexpectedly refreshing.”
Oh no. Laughing too hard to continue. Need new keyboard now too.
Posted by spot_the_dog on 2008 01 04 at 08:05 AM • permalinkWhat a tedious pile of bullshit.
No offense Tim.
Posted by Quentin George on 2008 01 04 at 08:05 AM • permalinkBrian concludes:
Don’t you guys worry about me. I’m just a normal guy who shot his mouth off a little too loudly, ended up getting 15 minutes of fame (It’s now minute 3,392 by my watch - please, if you disagree with me so much, why bother to give me the publicity?) and eventually the ending to the tale was anticlimactic. For the first time I can start planning for the future beyond “Danger!” and start planning for a real
life. Maybe I’ll go back to school. Maybe I’ll do film full time. Maybe I’ll start my own business.Chances are you won’t hear about me in the news anytime soon unless by some improbable miracle anyone actually goes to see the boring documentary that I’m about to cruelly unleash on the prime straight-to-video documentary demographic, and if that happens, well, feel free to poke it, prod it, pick it apart - I’m putting up all the raw footage online so if you think an edit’s unfair, feel free to point it out.
Thanks for giving me a chance to set the record straight. I know there’s probably going to be questions from your readers - I’ll do my best to answer them.
(one more, then I’m going to go clean my keyboard)
Posted by spot_the_dog on 2008 01 04 at 08:17 AM • permalinkWell Brian, I think there is a reasonable possibility that you are paranoid, but whether or not you are, you are certainly self-indulgent and self-dramatizing. (A major problem with the contemporary left.) It’s too hot here, no, not global warming, just summer without air-conditioning, to bother going through all your points in detail but I’d like to comment on one of them:
... but even a simple “civil disobedience” arrest from the local cop who is having a bad day can cause you to lose your job, your home, and possibly your family, if you’re unlucky enough - and that’s not a rare enough occurrence to joke about.
You make this statement as if it is a commonplace that everyone knows, but it is far from obvious that it is true. From a distance there seem to be plenty of noisy dissenters (for want of a better word) who the authorities stubbornly allow to remain at liberty, so if you are going to accuse your government and elected officials of political oppression at least provide some believable documentation (and if you can’t look up “libel”). And if this is really happening don’t you have a moral obligation to help document and expose it rather than running away. (In fact, as I read that particular paragraph it occurred to me that the only person in the US that I would consider to have been jailed for purely political reasons was Scooter Libby, although I hardly expect he’s one of the ones you had in mind.)
Yo, Brian, few tips.
I’m a single mother with a four and a half month old baby who is teething and a cold that if I could, I would shoot with one of the beautiful guns in my gun cabinet. If you want me to think you’re anything less than a tosser, write up your own response on your own website where I can read it in my own damn time, when I have more damn patience. Anything other than that makes me suspect you’re just selfish and arrogant. Tim however, must have the patience of a saint to read through all that shit and post it.
Anyway, this promise to keep moving from country to country, it says a lot. I assume you didn’t like the 2004 election result. That’s fine, we don’t all like every result. That is in the very nature of democracy. But do you not owe the country in which you live, and in which you have the right and responsibility to vote, more loyalty than to throw a tantrum like a two year old and say “I’m taking my bat and ball, and going to another game, because I don’t like yours. Nyah nyah nyah.”.
I will further note, unless you are doing something illegal and/or against the country in which you live, be it Australia or the US, the Government has no right to imprison you.
This guy reminds me of when I was nice to a weird retarded girl in primary school. Shades of Lisa Simpson sending Ralph Wiggum a Valentines card because she felt sorry for him.
I made the mistake of being nice to this girl at school and she started appearing at my house at six am on a Saturday morning. My parents woke me up and asked me if I knew who the strange girl pissing in the gutter out the front of our place was.
If you’re not careful Tim, Boyko and Bryla will turn up outside your house one day, pissing in the gutter. You seem to be gathering a Fan club of Briantards.
In essence. He tried to talk up his street cred by threatening self-expulsion. Turned out that no-one gave a rat’s arse. Goes to another country to see how the plebs do it. Turns out no-one there gives a rat’s arse about him either. Writes Tim a pathetic ‘mea culpa’, attempting to rationalise his gutless meanderings.
“All I want is free and fair elections” Move to Venezuala or Cuba. Closer to home, and the weather is better than Un Zud. I’ve got no doubt that B’s seppo neighbours would be well shot of the miserable turd.
“I think it’ll probably start with gay people and Muslim Americans, those likely to be the scapegoats. Something is rotten here. I’m just smelling it earlier than some other people. Even though I voted for the other guy, I’m still going to have my nationality associated with the death and destruction the next four years will bring, and I’d rather not. So I’m looking to reject this society and find another one.”
He plans to leave the US after he completes his degree in May.
This truly is wankerism of the highest order. If only he’d moved to NZ and met Jake the Muss.
He’d fit right in here* with the likes of David Marr, Phatty, Williamson, Traceeeeee, Margo, Mazza Shepherd and all the rest of the attention-seeking paranoids who continually whine about their freedom of expression being curtailed in endless spiels in national broadsheets and broadcast media, while furtively looking over their milk-bottle shoulders for the trenchcoat-clad spooks who are about to cart them off to some hidden gulag.
*A tight fit indeed in an unmarked divvy van or black helicopter, up to and including a Chinook.
It used to be that such delusion, attention-seeking and self-indulgence was treated with well deserved contempt- no it usually results in a fillum grant and/or paid gibbering gig with Fairfax. We’re on the wrong side- there’s no dough in facing reality, the big ackers are in being a big blubberpuss who’s scared of the
bushieboogieman. None of these dribbling retards even feature on the radar of government, let alone are targets for retribution or dissapearance- shit, we even let real enemies of the state such as Mahommad Omran scuttle around in their bathrobe, encouraging emptyheaded goat pilots to jihad without putting the bag on him- why would anyone bother with these twerps, upstarts and bedwetters?Well matey, you’ve certainly scored your Warholian quota of attention- pity it was as a complete compulsive onanist.
If that seems paranoid to you and your readers, I can see where you’re coming from, but it’s becoming more and more of a popular view here.
It doesn’t seem paranoid, it is paranoid. Also, childish. And it is becoming a popular view where? In NZ? Because it is neither the popular nor a factually based view in the US.
Given that we know of all these people who have been sent to Gitmo for annoying a cop, what are their names?
Posted by Harry Buttle on 2008 01 04 at 09:14 AM • permalinkBut anyway, this very palpable fear - it really does affect your life in little ways and big ones. You choose carefully who you keep in confidence, you try not to do anything perceived as “out of the ordinary” - you keep your head down and do little to object but mutter under your breath as you read the news ... but for me, that just reinforced my urge to “escape.”
OK, fellow Americans—has anyone else felt like this? I certainly haven’t. And I don’t think I’ve managed to avoid doing things perceived as “out of the ordinary”. I *have* managed to avoid breaking the law.
I just don’t get this police-state mentality from the left. Is it just their innate sense of drama? Is it a pathetic attempt to inflate their sense of worth?
Or is this the echo chamber effect? All they hear from—at least, the only people they pay attention to—are other lefties, and even the smallest slight gets amplified into a jackboot stomping on the face of the dissenters(tm). They either don’t seek out the complete context of the tales they hear, or a single case gets turned into a million.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2008 01 04 at 09:19 AM • permalinkBrian Boyko; Hero of the Resistance. Sheeyit.
Posted by dean martin on 2008 01 04 at 09:23 AM • permalinkBB’s psychedelic musings add up to a long-winded travelogue of gay* disco-drug tourism. The “grass” is always so intense on other side of the ocean, man… like crystal meth in New Zealand and the Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate liquid ecstasy in Berlin.
*Trudging through Brian’s condom-wringing prose, what I’m reading here is an open invitation to, um, get inside the man… Boyko = Boy Co.
And to think, a Kiwi ex-Prime Minister signed on!
#18
Dear Ash:
My apologies to your daughter who is wise beyond her months.
She does have two significant advantages over Bri Bri, who is apparently from the shallow end of the gene pool.
First, she showed great wisdom in her choice of mothers. Second, she’s a she, not a he, which confers innate advantages too numerous to mention.
I shall now retreat behind the cat.
#31 Rob: I work within a block and a half of the Eye of Sauron, and can honestly say that I have never felt like that. This is the equivalent of a child seeing monsters under his bed - or, perhaps more appropriately, the equivalent of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. The need to feel that one is struggling against the forces of darkness - in the absence of genuine darkness, or when (in the case of global islamicism) the darkness is inconveniently far away, or mischaracterized by its fellow travelers as actually being a form of light - is strong among parlor romanticists. How much easier it is to pull one’s hat brim low, and wear dark glasses, and indulge oneself in the delights of a melodramatic reticence in order to avoid pursuit by an imaginary Gestapo, than to take a stand against a tangible evil that measures its success in the rivers of blood that it sheds.
Actually it’s obvious all the American posters here are heavily censored in their comments here isn’t it? Definitely just existing in that totalitarian regime over there is very hard!
Also I have some dear friends in the US - the poor darlings haven’t said anything to me about all that oppression - no doubt they’re all petrified about being sent to prison
Thanks Brian - I’m getting together some parcels of food and medical aid for them right now
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2008 01 04 at 09:47 AM • permalinkThis will really freak Brian out. I think U.S. States should pass legislation, (some will not, for instance “blue States”) that prevents psychotics from going about their business and incarcerate them, when it is clear, THEY are psychotic.
Case in point his name escapes me, but that Korean-American bastard that killed 32 people (33 including himself, but screw him, he doesn’t count).
Privacy laws should be reexamined to make sure that those such affected can’t hide behind them. This was the case of the ass hat at Virginia Tech.
Brian needs help desperately and that help, should be forced upon him, before he does harm against innocent others. As it damn sure sounds like he is ready to go popping off and soon.
OH, Brian a joke which seems to fit you to a T. ‘Just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t mean that people are NOT really after you’. In my humble opinion, in your case, ‘they’ should be.
Over the past three years there have been more and more crackdowns on civil rights, more arbitrary arrests and detentions in the United States.
what the fuck is he talking about? i mean really? how insane is he?
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2008 01 04 at 09:55 AM • permalinkQuoth Mr. Boyko:
``Let other people deal with Bush. I’m thinking about how to fix this place once the boogieman leaves.’’
I notice he’s taking it for granted that once 1/20/09 rolls around, President Bush will leave office. He won’t cancel the election, he won’t declare himself President for Life, he won’t decide to run for a third term himself; he’ll just…go home to Texas.
The people whose mindset is so vividly described by Paco at #38 don’t even think about that, and how rare and recent it is in history. Still, not even they are expecting that EEEEEvil Bush will do anything else.
Life must be pretty bleak when you’ve got nothing better to do than play Heroic Resister against an imaginary oppressor.
Posted by Sonetka's Mom on 2008 01 04 at 10:10 AM • permalinkJust another example of the fantasy that so many people have built into their lives, in the absence of so much else that once gave it meaning. Having grown up in the shadow of a truly cataclysmic event, WW2, where the moral stakes were truly clear (though not to everyone, we forget now), so many people - like Bryan here - need to imagine that they’re members of the brave resistance, speaking out before the men with guns and trucks turn up in the middle of the night, banging on doors and dragging people away.
That reality bears little resemblance to this fantasy is immaterial - we’ve “evolved” into the sort of society where no one has the heart to call them on their fabulisms, and they can count on finding plenty of like-minded souls who’ll happily provide confirmation for their fevered imaginings. The really disturbing part is that these are exactly the sort of people who support the sort of legislation that actually punishes and even imprisons people for free speech - i.e. contrary to their sympathies - and would make it more widespread if they had the power. This is where the whole “projection” thing comes in…
Posted by rick mcginnis on 2008 01 04 at 10:13 AM • permalinkOh for crying out loud. As I explained to Richard McEnroe, all I did was visit Brian’s house. I rang the door bell and spoke to him through the screen door. I said he was being watched. And the “powers that be” were not pleased by his protestations. MarkL and Pogria stood beside me in MIB wardrobe, standing straight and stoic.
It was all a joke. A lark. Innocent fun. Can we please move on?
Posted by wronwright on 2008 01 04 at 10:15 AM • permalinkHe’s an idiot.
However…
...I do have some major reservations about the US circumventing extradition by kidnapping people from outside their jurisdiction for crimes not relating to war.
The recent example of the attempted kidnaps of people wanted for white-collar crimes committed in jurisdictions where the offence is not even a crime is not only scary but an utter abomination in a liberal democracy.
That said, I have the utmost faith in the US legal system (over every other system in the world) to correct this.
Brian’s spillage is richly detailed about his internal state but vague about all those Americans shipped off to Gitmo or imprisoned for civil disobedience. Names and dates would help. Even one name, one date.
Don’t people like Brian ever proofread their own hysterics and think, ‘I need to present an actual, verifiable fact, right about now’?
People like Brian - and he’s right, there are lots like him - are absolutely convinced of an imminent jackbooted takeover or global catastrophe. But their Armageddon isn’t based on reality; it’s a demented outgrowth of a feverish emotional state.
People like Brian - and he’s right, there are lots like him - are absolutely convinced of an imminent jackbooted takeover or global catastrophe.
And yet they still vote Democrat.
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2008 01 04 at 10:30 AM • permalinkLet’s go ahead and publish the Unabomber’s Manifesto while we’re at it.
Posted by Rittenhouse on 2008 01 04 at 10:36 AM • permalink#43 Nicholas. The VRWC started with gays decades ago. Just look to San Francisco for an example of an oppressed minority strategically herded to the very brink of the nearest tectonic plate.
But Muslim Americans are perfectly safe. After all, who else can we depend upon to help with all those pesky Presbyterians and the growing problem around the world of their unemployed, disaffected yoof?
People like Brian are more or less functional in the real world, despite their delusions. I wonder whether the problem lies in their education.
My teachers were generally liberal, with a soft spot for Marxist rhetoric. I understand that the softness has grown every year in the generation since. Kids are now indoctrinated with concepts of government, human nature, power, and geopolitics that don’t correlate to reality.
If the world that is modelled inside your head doesn’t match the outside world, you can either dismantle the model or embellish it in an escalating emotional frenzy.
It may be neurologically impossible for some people to ‘unlearn’ false concepts, and the result is - well, people like Brian.
Mr. Bingley asked this already, but I just can’t help myself…..
Over the past three years there have been more and more crackdowns on civil rights, more arbitrary arrests and detentions in the United States.
What the hell?!?!?? Seriously, dude, what are you babbling on about? There is some serious opposition to Bush across America, people in places of power (hint: check out the US Congress), NOT ONE OF WHOM HAS EVER BEEN ARRESTED, DETAINED, OR OTHERWISE INCONVENIENCED BY THE US GOVERNMENT.
And then when we have the self-aggrandizing moonbats pulling stupid publicity stunts, such as Saint Cindy tagging along the end of the Rose Bowl Parade, or the loons in Code Pink disrupting Congressional proceedings. How many of them were hauled off to one of the North Dakota Gulags? Or even locked up in the local hoosegow for more than 72 hours?
Given that the ACLU is all over DoD for feeding Gitmo detainees stale Ritz crackers like flies on shit, I find it very very very VERY unlikely that average US
moonbatcitizens dissenting against the Evil Bush Empire™ are being secretly arrested and detained on a daily basis.No, I think that you and your fellow “dissenters” have one thing in common: Each and every one of you who be fearful of arrest by Emperor Bush’s secret police are mentally ill. The exact diagnosis is immaterial, although I suspect paranoid schizophrenia, given the weaving of elaborate fantasies which absolve you and your ilk of any responsibility.
Nope, you are mentally ill, and you need help. And don’t say “I’m not sick! I don’t do weird things!” because you are doing weird things. Read that letter you sent Tim; it is beyond weird, it’s bizarre. I’ve read “manifestos” written by nut cases, and yours is right up there with the Unabomber. I doubt that you are building bombs, but there was a time when Theodore Kaczynski didn’t build bombs either.
Get help, dude. Seriously. And now.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 01 04 at 10:41 AM • permalinkLyle, I suppose it’s possible that Boyko is a product of his environment, or he has some sort of neurological disfunction, but I suspect that there had to be some sort of pre-existing mental problem for this grow upon. Either way, the guy needs help.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 01 04 at 10:44 AM • permalink54 : Yeah, I lived there for a couple of years. It was OK but I moved back to Sydney. SanFran is too… frou frou for me.
I like the bit in the Simpsons…
Castro: Oh, the Americans aren’t so bad. They even named a street after me in San Francisco.
(aide whispers in his ear)
Castro: It’s full of WHAT?!?!?!“Over the past three years there have been more and more crackdowns on civil rights”
Not one.
“more arbitrary arrests and detentions”
Not one.
“Fear of being arrested for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time”
Really? Moonbats constantly appear on TV, saying they’re being “silenced” and that they could be thrown in jail, yet they’re on TV saying it, and nobody has ever been thrown in jail.
Moonbats out of touch with reality, and living in their own little fantasy world. I suspect it’s partly projection—after all, they want to institute the kind of repression we see on university campuses nationwide.
Posted by rightwingprof on 2008 01 04 at 10:54 AM • permalinkA spectre is haunting the United States…the spectre of moonbattery.
Posted by Mr. Bingley on 2008 01 04 at 10:55 AM • permalinkWhen you are in fear, you cannot think straight, you cannot really understand anything except the all-overwhelming urge to get away from the object which causes you fear.
Well, that would explain the irrational behaviour and ridiculous verbiage, although I suspect that his own stupidity has a lot to do with it also.
Fear of being arrested for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time.
That I can understand. Brain-dead liberal drones of Brian’s cut have done everything they can to make it an arrestable offence to say anything mean at all, here in Canada anyway.
Posted by Mambo Bananapatch on 2008 01 04 at 11:00 AM • permalinkOne of my brothers-in-law is convinced that Bush is worse than Hitler, that secret concentration camps have set up all around the country to hold the coming round-up of “opponents of the Bush regime,” muslims and “minorities.” He has been going on about this for several years. He (of course) is unable to provide any proof of this (because there isn’t any). But he expects this door to be kicked in by the Bush gestapo every day. The guy is highly-educated and otherwise intelligent, but his has this gaping supernova-sized blind spot about Bush that nothing can change. Pitiful.
Posted by Mystery Meat on 2008 01 04 at 11:28 AM • permalinkI just read the BBC article. I can only chuckle when I think of what the author, Melissa Jackson, would say if she were asked how she felt about having used a street corner lunatic as her source.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 01 04 at 11:29 AM • permalinkMy only “hope” if you will, was finding other exits - the urge to move to Berlin was considered another “escape plan,” if you will, in case New Zealand didn’t work out. This was all idle fantasy, ultimately, but it was a good way to relieve stress and pretend that I was able to do something.
Indeed.
You’ll be happy to note that I consider this to be more the fault of the Democrats than to the Republicans. Say what you will about them but in order for a two party system to remain even roughly democratic (with a small d), the party in opposition should at least oppose the party in power. This, the Democrats haven’t done.
I’d like Brian to invite me to this magical land where the Democrats are going along with everything the Republicans are doing.
Posted by joeythelemur on 2008 01 04 at 11:45 AM • permalinkFrnakJ explains all.
People like this are living a Live Action Role Playing Game, except they’re not combating vampires or screaming “lightning bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt”, they’re doing something much funnier: Soiling their pants over non-existent “crackdowns”.
Take the Dixie Chicks, they were “disappeared” after talking bad about Bush. Now? Well they avoided Gitmo but you can only hear/see them on many non-country/western radio stations, the cover of Time, Entertainment Weekly, the documentary “Shut Up and Sing” (which they refuse to do), they’ve been shut out of awards, except for the Grammys, MTV, People’s Choice awards and, of course, they managed to sneak an appearance on Democracy Now! before BusHitler’s storm troopers (now with more Cheney!) managed to shut down the station.On the other hand, people like this are freaking hysterical (In more than one sense of the word).
Well, Brian seems to have mistaken me for someone who gives a fuck.
His bad.
Posted by TheRealBigAl on 2008 01 04 at 12:03 PM • permalinkTake the Dixie Chicks, they were “disappeared” after talking bad about Bush.
Their clothes sure did.
Naked chicks“I think it’ll probably start with gay people and Muslim Americans, those likely to be the scapegoats.”
OH, PULEEESE. We are supersaturated with the wonders of Gayness at every turn in the US. Gayness is the epitome of all that is good and right and lovely according to the media and the left wingers. They are even forcing the glory that is Gayness down the throats of grade school kids too young to understand any of the concepts.
As for the Muslims, I am amazed at the nearly universal restraint against violence toward them. There is no more violence directed toward Muslims than there is against any other identifiable group. Less violence is done to Muslims in the US than they direct against their own daughters.
But, alas, we all know how violent conservatives are, don’t we? At any minute there will be a Kirstolnacht in which half the beauty parlors will be burned down and half the taxis will be have their windows smashed, right?
Brian it’s time you started taking your anti-psychotic medication RIGHT now.
Back away from the cutlery drawer nice and slow.
We wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself would we?
How about you give that psychiatrist a call and keep that appointment you’ve made?
There’s a good boy.
You might want to take up his recommendation of a NICE rest in a place that has those sweet little white jackets where you an hug yourself ALL day long.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2008 01 04 at 12:33 PM • permalink#74: Great link. I loved this part: “Let’s take it as a fact that they honestly believe in their hearts that they’re the only ones who see the end of America coming and know they must take action, then what exactly do these hysterical ninnies think they can do to stop a dictatorship? Are they going to attack it with the combined might of their impotence? Overpower it with their rank odor? Whine and shriek until it surrenders?”
Don’t you guys worry about me.
No prob, Boyo.
I’m just a normal guy who shot his mouth off a little too loudly, ended up getting 15 minutes of fame
Which was, of course, the point.
(It’s now minute 3,392 by my watch - please, if you disagree with me so much, why bother to
give me the publicitycontinue embarrassing me?)There, that’s fixed. And we do it because we can, Boyo, and because you need a kick in the pants to examine yourself and maybe get yourself to a doctor for some anti-depressants.
Don’t worry, though. Now that you’ve graduated from the university and have to make your way in the real world, reality and maturity will eventually start to set in. Hopefully.
But anyway, this very palpable fear - it really does affect your life in little ways and big ones. You choose carefully who you keep in confidence, you try not to do anything perceived as “out of the ordinary” - you keep your head down and do little to object but mutter under your breath as you read the news ...
Or you give interviews to the BBC and blog under your real name.
This guy isn’t real, is he? This has to be a parody.
#10 “The result was not unlike a surprise enema: Unexpectedly refreshing.”
Yeah, that one struck me as way too much information, too.
Give Boyco his due, though. He provided a serious, if inadvertantly hilarious, response to Tim. He may be a bit nutty, but he isn’t a phoney like Mike Hudson.
Posted by Bruce Rheinstein on 2008 01 04 at 12:59 PM • permalinkHmmmmm.
We Americans joke about Gitmo here in our gallows humor way while admitting that there just isn’t room in Cuba for everyone who’s ever cracked a joke at Bush’s expense, but even a simple “civil disobedience” arrest from the local cop who is having a bad day can cause you to lose your job, your home, and possibly your family, if you’re unlucky enough - and that’s not a rare enough occurrence to joke about.
What complete rubbish.
You can’t go 5 frickin minutes without someone protesting this or that. A month ago in Seattle protesters shut down a US military resupply mission that’s critical for the US operations in Iraq. Nobody got arrested.
What a twerp.
Posted by memomachine on 2008 01 04 at 01:14 PM • permalinkDons white lab coat and professorial-looking pince-nez; picks up skull and contemplates same; teeth of skull accidentally clamp down on thumb; jerks arm and sends skull crashing into wall. “Damn!”
Oh, er, good evening.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about Bush Derangement Syndrome, or BDS. BDS is a malady that now afflicts nearly 100% of the leftist population, and no cure has been discovered – until now.
Loud banging and cries for help come from behind heavy, padlocked door, stage right.
Working around the clock to identify the cause of BDS, I have succeeded in isolating the elements that give rise to this disease, and have developed a revolutionary new treatment.
(Voice from closet: “Let me out of here!” BAM! BAM! BAM!)
BDS is not, as previously supposed, a mere phobia concerning which George Bush is the primary object; no, nothing so simple as that. It is, in fact, the outward manifestation of a collection of phobias, centered in authority-related fears and complexes.
(Voice from closet: “Spiders! There are black widow spiders in here! H-e-l-p!!)
For example, take patient #134587, who, for reasons of confidentiality, we shall refer to as “Bron Girlyco”. An in-depth psychological evaluation of the subject reveals that he suffers from poinophobia, or the fear of punishment; policophobia, or the fear of the police; and politicophobia, or the fear of politicians; and, finally, allodoxaphobia, or the fear of other people’s opinions. He also suffers from phalacrophobia and Armenophobia – respectively, the fear of going bald and the fear of Armenians – but those are side issues which have no direct relevance to the affliction we are discussing, today.
All of these separate, authority-related fears have become jumbled up in the subject’s cerebral blender, and have amalgamated themselves into an outbreak of BDS. In my opinion, the key to fighting this overarching phobia, and the underlying phobias that go into its making, – in short, the way to help the subject overcome his baseless fears - is to confront him with situations that are ripe with genuine danger, and the threat of actual harm, so that he may learn to distinguish between things that one may, and should, legitimately be wary of, and those imaginary hobgoblins that support an irrational paranoia.
(Voice from closet: “Snakes! AAARRRGGHH! The floor is covered with snakes!!! LET. ME. OUTTA H-E-R-E . . .!!).
As you can see, the subject’s irrational fears of George Bush have been banished from his mind, and replaced with the very real fear of physical harm. He is near the point of having learned to tell reality from fantasy.
(Voice from closet: “Wha . . .what’s that noise?!? Ululating!! HELP!! There’s a terrorist in here! M-O-M-M-Y!!).
Ah! I believe he’s done.
Unlocks and opens closet door; “Girlyco” stumbles into the room, and falls to the floor like an upturned bowl of jello; mutters: “You . . . tool . . . of Cheney . . .”
Mm. Looks like you may just need another session, Bron . . .
#91. I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words about Bush Derangement Syndrome, or BDS. BDS is a malady that now afflicts nearly 100% of the leftist population, and no cure has been discovered – until now.
Actually, Paco, there’s always been a simple remedy for BDS, or any derangement for that matter - quit smoking that hydro/skunk shit, guaranteed to send one batty.
I recently hired a young man who turned out to suffer from OCPD. The OC part was pretty self-evident but the P, as in paranoia, started to show in eerie, “what the crap ways” that confuse, scare and sadden me all at the same time. This is exactly how I felt reading Brian’s words. Mr. Boyko could use a hug.
PARANOID LEFT-WING IMBECILE: This country is a fascist dictatorship. I’m moving to New Zealand. Or Canada. Or France.
ME: Then fucking go already. And take some of your paranoid left-wing imbecile buddies with you.
PARANOID LEFT-WING IMBECILE: Fascist! You’d like to deport me, wouldn’t you? Well, this is my country, too!
ME: But you just said you were leaving because it’s a fascist dictatorship…
PARANOID LEFT-WING IMBECILE: Totally. I am sooo outta here. Right after our demonstration next week. We’re going to burn an American flag and a Dubya effigy to protest what a dissent-crushing fascist dictatorship this is. I’ll probably go to Gitmo.
ME: You didn’t after your last protest. Or after you gave that CBC interview wearing a Bush mask and dressed like a stormtrooper. Or after your documentary George Bush is a Baby-Killing Nazi...
PARANOID LEFT-WING IMBECILE: And then I’m moving to France…
ME: It’s illegal to burn a French flag in France…
PARANOID LEFT-WING IMBECILE: Faux News!!! Halliburton!!! Neo-Cons!!!
ME: Huh? Wha-
PARANOID LEFT-WING IMBECILE: You got any weed?
wow. I mean…just WOW.
That was the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen.
Posted by WonderWoman on 2008 01 04 at 03:35 PM • permalinkHmmmm.
Let’s face it. The reason why this is popular on the Left is that it gives them the fantasy of being a Hemmingway. A highly talented writer braving a terrible new world.
Whether Beauchamp or Bozo, the attitude is the same. The reality is however that they are untalented hacks that nobody could care less about.
Posted by memomachine on 2008 01 04 at 03:35 PM • permalinkYou know, thinking back, it’s probably not hard to understand how the left lost their marbles with regards to George Bush. I mean to say, Chimpy ran a campaign based on the motto “compassionate conservatism”. The left was shouting “There’s no such thing! He’s lying!” Yet the American populace didn’t seem to be listening.
He ran against VP Gore who would seem to be much more qualified to rule as President. He had a file cabinet memory of information and an insiders’ knowledge of how things work in both domestic and international affairs. Add to that the fact that he was an ardant environmentalist and, therefore, one of them, Gore seemed the perfect candidate. No Republican should have been able to defeat him, especially one with a chimpanzee size brain case.
Gore sure seemed to use all his intelligence in debating The Chimpler. In each debate, Gore would explain, in mind numbling detail, how each issue works and how his plan had the best chance to succeed. When it came time for The Shrub’s rebuttal, he would just jump around chimping and dancing. It was so absurb. Gore was clearly the better candidate. And yet, Gore seemed to have lost each debate to the zany antics of Curious George.
When the 2000 election finally came about, CBS, NBC, ABC, and virtually every other MSM organ ruled that Gore had won. Of course, they did that before the ballot booths were actually opened. When it appeared that maybe they jumped the gun on Florida, they had to pull back the trophy already awarded to Gore.
That was followed up by the hanging chads, the Florida Supreme Court farce, the US Supreme Court overrule, and the eventual crowning of George as President. My that must have been frustrating. And yet, that was just the work up to the first act.
Then what happened? Well, as I recall, Bush signed Presidential proclamations reinstituting requirements involving labor unions having to disclose how much of union membership dues go to political activities. And other juicy things. He did that on inauguration day.
Then came scuttling the US-Russia arms treaty, wiping his butt on the Kyoto Treaty, and on and on.
Add to that the appointment of two conservatives to the US Supreme Court, the left had every reason to be upset.
And then came 9/11 and the declaration of War Against Terrorism. The creation of Homeland Security. The invasion of Afghanistan. The presentation of evidence to the UN with regards to Iraq’s clandestine WMD activities and France’s attempt to block any vote of support. And the subsequent middle finger to Europe and the invasion of Iraq.
That’s when the left lost its collective hold on reality. All in all, not bad George, not bad at all.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 01 04 at 03:38 PM • permalinkMy God, there are so many self-absorbed immature little weenie cretins like him here in Austin. So so many.
Posted by shockcorridor on 2008 01 04 at 04:06 PM • permalinkI see it as a symptom that life is too easy and people are too bored.
There is a feeling that we are at war and we *ought* to be surrounded by “loose lips sink ships” posters and neightborhood watch organizations to ferret out the spies among us. There *ought* to be a thrill of danger that a protest will result in the police beating up college students.
“Over the past three years there have been more and more crackdowns on civil rights, more arbitrary arrests and detentions in the United States.”
And so skillfully done that we’ve no clue it ever happened.
“And, although I didn’t realize it at the time, over the past three years, while my desire to leave the U.S. had started in anger, it had slowly changed into fear. Fear of being arrested for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time.”
Which actually puts him one up on all the Truther freaks who insist that our own government blew up the world trade center but somehow aren’t the least bit afraid of saying so.
Gosh, Paco, you’re funny. The rest of you: As Blair says, “Best commenters ever.”
Mr. Boyko,
I haven’t seen your documentary (nor implying I will), but I assume it’ll be a comparison of New Zealand’s electoral system with that of the USA’s representative republic for the legislative branch and Electoral College for the executive. You’re free to do so in these two countries. Will you follow up with a comparison of either with, say, China, Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, etc?
Your fantasies of fear here in our country are just that: fantasies. And the Electoral College is designed to give some protection for my little New Mexico against tyranny from large states like Texas, California and New York.
Based on what I’ve read, though, I do think New Zealander Rick Giles of Silentrunning.tv was mistreated trying to leave Michigan for Ontario. But AFIK, it was instigated by an expired visa, not something he said or “muttered.” Nevertheless, mistreated, especially in light of all the illegal aliens trapsing about.
quickrob wrote:
No one gets thrown in jail for talking crap about Bush. This complainer just needs to get his prescription re-filled.
If he does come up with an arrest or two, I’m sure it’ll omit key details of exactly what the person arrested was doing. You know, getting arrested for throwing rocks, firebombs, etc., all while shouting “Buck Fush!” will be declared as being arrested for talking crap about George W Bush.
But then, this bunch tends to depend on altering the narrative and hoping no one looks up the raw details.
Posted by Patrick Chester on 2008 01 04 at 06:11 PM • permalinkI would have slept in for another hour if I had known that tome of a post was the first thing I’d wade through on a Saturday morning.
His level of paranoia second to none.Wronwright and Iowahawk, once you guys are done with the lake mission haul ass down to NZ and provide some “transportation” for Mr Boyko back to the Z76 location on map 43. Paco said it’s fine to park the black helicopters on roof of the officers club and bring the prisoner straight in.
Posted by Hank Reardon on 2008 01 04 at 06:28 PM • permalinkBonko reads like an anti-Paco - long, yes, but dull monotony, tedium and self-absorption. It seems like he’s trying to justify his Life-After-Bush; how will he cope?
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 01 04 at 06:49 PM • permalinkI think everyone involved in Project Boyko deserves a big Bravo Zulu.
Even now, the elegant simplicity of turning that whole absence of proof isn’t proof of absence meme into an endless feedback loop of leftist paranoia by not living up to their expectations, leaves me in awe.
Best of all it costs nothing to run.48. wronwright
/shuffles old paerwork
The signature looks a little funny on this request for a twice a day overflight by a squad of black hellicopters over a residence of a chap by the name of (squints) Bryan Brylcream?
And I thought wed stopped the shining of 50,000 candlepower spotlights into bedrooms ever since that “black ops” team accidentaly spotlighted Cindy Sheenhan and Rosie O’Donnell making the beast with 2 backs (they will NEVER recover).
78. Quasimodo“..They are even forcing the glory that is Gayness down the throats of grade school kids too young to understand any of the concepts…”
Reminds me of Revrend fred Nile here in Oz. Caused a lot of laughs on TV when he exclaimed something allong the lines of “your not forcing your homosexuality down my throat” in a debate.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 01 04 at 07:03 PM • permalinkyes, I gave my interview to the BBC in 2004, when I was particularly angry over the 2004 elections. I think it was a dumb move too, made in the heat of passion. I was angry - not hateful, but angry
I read that and I thought : it takes a good man to admit you said stupid things in anger. Then that moment of respect slips away as he goes on and on and on and on and on saying extraordinarily stupid things.
I predict that if he does move to NZ he will either eventually become shrill against NZ or he’ll focus on increasingly irrelevant rants about the US.
Posted by Col. Milquetoast on 2008 01 04 at 07:08 PM • permalinkBOYKO: well thanks, Mr Wronwright, for showing me all the helpful responses to my condition.
WRONWRIGHT: so you see, dear Brian, that there really is nothing to worry about, and you do in fact live in a free society.
BOYKO: yes! It’s clear to me know. Can I go home?
WRONWRIGHT: absolutely, Brian. Just step through this silver door and you’ll be back in no time.
[LATER]: Boyko is at a protest rally, walking in circles with a large misspelt placard…
BOYKO (to self): it’s true; they were right. I really am free.
[SFX]: smash! tinkle, tinkle… (spotlight drops from sky at BOYKO’s feet)
BOYKO: picks up remnants of spotlight, looks at sky, notes flat, dead bluish colour#100 Synova: “a symptom that life is too easy and people are too bored.”
President Joe once had a dream
The world held his hand, gave their pledge
So he told them his scheme for a Saviour MachineThey called it the Prayer, its answer was law
Its logic stopped war, gave them food
How they adored till it cried in its boredom‘Please don’t believe in me, please disagree with me
Life is too easy, a plague seems quite feasible now
or maybe a war, or I may kill you all’(David Bowie)
—Nick
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2008 01 04 at 08:57 PM • permalinkMy comment is neither witty nor amusing.
When I read one of #23’s links, the basis for Boyko’s proclivity to generalise or project his fears and anxieties onto the external world— particularly in the form of organised behaviour focused on him—became clear.
He’s a Network Engineer.
Posted by MentalFloss on 2008 01 04 at 10:23 PM • permalinkThe result was not unlike a surprise enema: Unexpectedly refreshing.
And, cleared from the fear, I could finally think, and wrap my head around bigger questions.
Hmm, might there be a connection between the surprise (wink, wink) enema and the head cleared of fear? Methinks your brains, sir, are somewhere anatomically unusual, shall we say.
For your convenience, I have compiled a partial list of some who suffered under George W Bush:
http://miriamsideas.blogspot.com/2008/01/couragous-protestors-disappearated.html
Posted by miriams ideas on 2008 01 04 at 11:18 PM • permalinkBrian,
We don’t eliminate or lock up useful idiots. Please continue.
Regards
The VRWCPosted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 01 04 at 11:23 PM • permalinkSpeaking of fear try this comment from the Australian comments section.
“..Svejk
Adelaide
Sat 05 Jan 08 (01:54pm) If I were Obama, from here on in I’d be wearing a kevlar vest and a bullet-proof glass dome over my head, 24/7. I hope nothing happens, but I have a hunch something will. It’s been 44 years since an American president was assassinated. Not only does he have to be protected now from the likes of Al-Quaida, lone nuts and headline seekers, but also the good ol’ boy, lynchmob.
Boy, is he going to need protecting…”I doubt my reply will get through moderation as I quoted the end of his statement and swapped a couple of words to this
..“lone nuts and headline seekers, but also the watermellon eating, gangbangers…”
Then asked just because his targets are white doesnt make him any less of a bigot.(or words to that effect)Link to the articlehere. A bit of a man crush piece on Obama.
Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 01 05 at 01:49 AM • permalinkbut also the good ol’ boy, lynchmob.
Anybody seen a lynchmob in, oh, the past 40 years or so? Sure, there’s the occasional headline-grabbing murder, but even non-deadly racial incidents are usually hoaxes. Just another boogeyman from a past that the leftists really, deep down, wish was still alive to give their lives meaning.
BTW, I think Obama’s a nice fellow, but he’s a black Jimmy Carter. By picking him and (especially) Huckabee, the ethanol welfare queen Iowans have proved to be addlepated hicks who must be disenfranchised immediately.
(Just when I hopped on the Thompson bandwagon, the evangelicals shot the horses. Damn them to their Hell…)
#133, re. “lynch mobs”, there’ve been a couple of cases recently where in one case a noose, in another a swastika, were found via security camera footage to have been put there by lefties wanting attention. (I’ve got the articles somewhere, I think one was at Columbia…) It’s like some folks are so disappointed that there just aren’t enough lynch mobs anymore that they have to make them up so that they can complain about them. Sad.
Posted by spot_the_dog on 2008 01 05 at 02:23 AM • permalink#31 , it’s called catastrophising. Well-known psychological phenomenon.
Posted by carpefraise on 2008 01 05 at 03:18 AM • permalink#66 why not send him on a refreshing little trip to Islamberg
Here is their website.
Posted by carpefraise on 2008 01 05 at 03:41 AM • permalink#112, and yet, in order that Paco could serve up his pince-nezed piece of brilliance, Boyko was necessarily the ante-Paco.
Posted by carpefraise on 2008 01 05 at 03:55 AM • permalink#110 Hank Reardon -
Wronwright and Iowahawk, once you guys are done with the lake mission haul ass down to NZ and provide some “transportation” for Mr Boyko back to the Z76 location on map 43. Paco said it’s fine to park the black helicopters on roof of the officers club and bring the prisoner straight in.
Readon—First of all, the lake mission was performed three years ago. McEnroe gave me one large sponge to move that rather large Russian lake. Fortunately, I found the body of water minimizer ray gun in the VRWC lab. Since it wasn’t invented by one of paco’s companies, it worked. So that mission was added to my long list of successfully completed missions.
Second. Iowahawk (wronwright curls his fingers) doesn’t go on missions. Apparently, he isn’t required to. It would seem that his flair for humor and satire exempts him from dangerous top secret missions. Not that I would want him along. I don’t trust him!
Third. I realize that your current job of pushing pins into maps for Karl would seem to have inflated your perception of your relative position in the VRWC. Yes, I’ve heard your boasting to the ladies in the pub. But I need this mission typed out on Form NC100-TS. And signed by Karl. Protocol, Readon, we must follow protocol.
Posted by wronwright on 2008 01 05 at 09:40 AM • permalinkOne other thing. Please don’t listen to rumours about how that Russian lake was transported back to 5500 BC Mesopotamia and left there, to, um, provide water to those poor desert dwellers who were in dire need for a vast quantity of water provided to them in 10 seconds. That’s um, crazy talk.
(wronwright flashes back)
Utnapishtim, herding sheep and unicorns: Hello stranger
ww: Um, hello. Hey buddy, kind of dry around here, isn’t it?
Utnapishtim: Oh yes. It’s been like that for several years now. Makes us wonder whether our cook fires are somehow changing the climate.
WW: Really? Huh. That’s too bad. Um, would you be in need of some water?
Utnapishtim: Water? Well yeah, sure. We could use some rain right now. And oh, a lovely pond of oasis water would be so pleasing to ...
WW: Well, looks like I came to the right place. Step back a bit. This might require some room.
Utnapishtim: What? What are you doing? Oh no. No. NOOOOOOO!
Posted by wronwright on 2008 01 05 at 10:11 AM • permalink“If that seems paranoid to you and your readers, I can see where you’re coming from, but it’s becoming more and more of a popular view here.”
Well, maybe a few NZers should come here to see for themselves.
“This was a place where I wasn’t afraid. This was a place where there was no reason to be afraid.”
I have no doubt that, in time, you’d find a lot of excuses (NOT reasons) to be afraid. Just like you’ve already done.
God, what a supremely hypersensitive whiner. Liberals sneer at conservatives, saying they wet themselves over the thought of terrorism. But this guy leaves the USA?
“But any hypocrisy on my part was unintentional and I apologize for it.”
No, Brian. It was NOT unintentional. Take your apology and fuck yourself with it.
“Either way, I was wrong, I’ll own up to it,”
Bra-fucking-vo. Give yourself a fucking medal.
“and perhaps I deserve a little criticism and good-natured ribbing for it.”
You’re a coward. You ran. Fuck you.
Do us all a favor, Brian. Stay the fuck away from the US. Become a NZ citizen, if they’ll have an utterly despicable, self-serving coward like you who runs from imaginary oppression. And if you really are reading, contemplate the Wolfe quote below.
“One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool.”—George Orwell
“He sounded like Jean-François Revel, a French socialist writer who talks about one of the great unexplained phenomena of modern astronomy: namely, that the dark night of fascism is always descending in the United States and yet lands only in Europe.”—Tom Wolfe, “The Intelligent Coed’s Guide to America”
#12
I know there’s probably going to be questions from your readers - I’ll do my best to answer them.
—Brian BoykoStill working on those answers, Bri-Bri?
Posted by spot_the_dog on 2008 01 06 at 05:03 AM • permalink
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From Brian Boyko:
Over the past three years there have been more and more crackdowns on civil rights, more arbitrary arrests and detentions in the United States. And, although I didn’t realize it at the time, over the past three years, while my desire to leave the U.S. had started in anger, it had slowly changed into fear. Fear of being arrested for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time. We Americans joke about Gitmo here in our gallows humor way while admitting that there just isn’t room in Cuba for everyone who’s ever cracked a joke at Bush’s expense, but even a simple “civil disobedience” arrest from the local cop who is having a bad day can cause you to lose your job, your home, and possibly your family, if you’re unlucky enough - and that’s not a rare enough occurrence to joke about.
If that seems paranoid to you and your readers, I can see where you’re coming from, but it’s becoming more and more of a popular view here.
Even life-long Republicans are starting to say that things are getting out of control. There’s an excellent article in the pro-Right/Libertarian “Reason” magazine, which may help explain to an Australian audience why people here are scared.
But anyway, this very palpable fear - it really does affect your life in little ways and big ones. You choose carefully who you keep in confidence, you try not to do anything perceived as “out of the ordinary” - you keep your head down and do little to object but mutter under your breath as you read the news ... but for me, that just reinforced my urge to “escape.”