Saturday, August 11, 2007

Getting to know me...

Fosco's been tagged again. As far as blog memes go, "Seven Things You Don't Know About Me" isn't a bad one (although it does raise some epistemological questions that I really don't know what to do with... I mean what do "you" really "know" about me anyway? But let's bracket those issues). It's certainly a preferable meme to

But anyway...

1. I don't really like movies. The last movie I went to in the theater (excluding art installations) was in calendar year 2005 (hint: there was "no day but today"). There are indeed movies I love (and I do tend to follow which movies are in theaters), but I can always think of about 15 things I'd rather do than watch a movie (including making out with Lindsay Lohan).

2. I've met Pat Buchanan not once, but TWICE. Let me insist that I am not proud of this fact. You know how some people use college as a time to experiment with drugs and lesbianism? Well unfortunately, Fosco experimented with fascism. I have since repented and am working on my redemption--redemption is a long process. I wish I could say the same for Buchanan. And what is that stuff he's covered with? Banana cream?

3. I have been to 41 of the 50 US states. And by "been to," I mean "spent non-trivial amounts of time in." What am I missing? Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas. Luckily, at least five of those states will be worth visiting (guess which won't be).

4. My favorite flower is the grape hyacinth.

5. In one of his former academic incarnations, Fosco published a journal article and a book chapter about nonverbal behavior and deception.

6. In January, I sat next to Florence Henderson at the bar at Jean-Georges in NYC. She looked lovely. At first I thought it was a woman who looked like her, but when she spoke to the obsequious maitre d', it was clearly her.

I guess that was before she started dating that handsome-looking ear.

7. In college, I once worked for an entire summer at Au Bon Pain. Remember: it's not fast food--it's good food fast.

Here's hoping that this list doesn't become "Seven Things You Now Hate About Fosco."

Fosco tags... no one. Unless you want to do it. Then consider yourself tagged.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uh huh. Pat Buchanan is a fascist? Yeah right. I am tried of people like you throwing around these shock labels.

Pat Buchanan, a fascist? A guy that is against these wars and is against American empire? Oh, yeah. He is a fascist alright. lol

todd said...

fascism |ˈfa sh ˌizəm| (also Fascism) noun
an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
• (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.

If the SS uniform fits...

Anonymous said...

Yeah. Uh Huh. Get past your idiotic left vs. right garbage.

Since you believe Buchanan is equivalent to the fascists, we might as well also say that anti-war Dennis Kucinich is equivalent to the mass murderer Stalin. If we follow your bizarre chart, Stalin is on the "far left" with Kucinich. So we might as well equate Kucinich with Stalinism, who killed more people then the fascists.

Eh, what’s the use? Kucinich is just as authoritarian in domestic politics as Buchanan. Kucinich might be anti-war, but he sure loves to use the gun to corral people in his various government schemes, if they want to or not. Yeah, forget voluntary relationships. Let's just use the government to solve ever problem by coercion. He is as much as an authoritarian, if not more so, then Buchanan.

P.S. Fascism actually has to do with government and big business partnerships.

todd said...

First, anon, you know what might make me take you more seriously? If you bothered to attach your name to your post.

Second, you didn't really bother to rebut the popular use of fascism as defined in my first comment. Is Pat Buchanan extreme right-wing? Is he authoritarian? Is he intolerant?

No, in a variation of the "But but but Clinton" defense you went for "Kucinich is Stalin." First of all Stalin was 5'8" or about 2 and half feet taller than the Kooch. Totally different.

See, my comparison is about as valid as yorus.

Anonymous said...

"See, my comparison is about as valid as yorus." Thank you, and that is my point. Duh.

todd said...

Oh Anon, you are olympic medalist-caliber at missing the point. Do you work at that or is it a inborn skill?

Tell me, do you even realize that I'm not the one who made the original post? Do you truly think your point is made because I called you out on calling Kucinich Stalin by making a bullshit comparison? Just becaue one comparison is shit doesn't mean any other particular one was.

You really have no argument against the original idea or the examples I provided.

Sigh. I've yet again forgotten one of the most important internet truisms:

Arguing on the internet is like the Special Olympics. Even if you win you're still retarded.

FOSCO said...

Why do I suspect that Anonymous is trying to rack up points on some "Defend Pat! Scoreboard" that Bay Buchanan sends out in her monthly newsletter? Top winner each month gets to hit an illegal immigrant with a shovel.

If I lived in Phoenix like you, Anonymous, I would probably be a Buchananite as well. All those immigrants running around, speaking Mexican, putting cilantro in your food, trying to take your job at the tire store... It's enough to make you want to buy a gun and patrol the border. Or, at the very least, obsessively search Technorati for every mention of Pat Buchanan's name. Keep fighting the good fight!

Todd: It was a valiant effort, but I'm afraid it's pointless to argue with someone who does not know the difference between "then" and "than." Which raises an interesting question: if we are going to require immigrants to learn English, shouldn't we require Anonymous to do the same?

Anonymous said...

(Is it possible to make a typo or a grammatical mistake? Guess not. Last time I checked I am human, believe it or not. And nope I do not usually go around looking for comments on Buchanan. This time was only for fun to see what people were saying and took notice of this blog. Sue me.)

Anyways, I have little respect for someone trying to compare Buchanan to a uniformed SS officer. It is as dumb as trying to equate Kucinich to someone working for Stalin. The left versus right line is off the mark. And it is something that I do not fit. (Sorry, I am not a Bush fan. He is as grotesque as the warmonger Clinton. More so.)

I would really think the left would have more respect for Pat. He is as much, probably more so, anti war as most liberals. Antiwar.com has an entire section for Buchanan articles http://antiwar.com/pat/

You should read his book _A Republic, Not an Empire_ and you might see that Pat is not some fascist. (It is a radical book. Several people, like you guys, attacked him as some kind of NAZI because he was so against empire and war.) Does he want to slow down immigration? Yes. So does most of the public, agree or disagree. Does he have conservative values on social issues? Yes. But taxes or marriage are small compared to the bigger issues of war, and Pat is right on the war issue.

When I think of fascism, here is what I think of: http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/red-state-fascism.html
and this http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo85.html

It is difficult for me to see Pat fitting the bill. If you mean he is a nationalist and sees a nationalist identity as essential to a nation, he might fit. Okay. But then taking that further, as I see here, is wrong. But think what you want.

Dislike Buchanan on some issues, but be respectful and also see that he may have views where you might agree with him. We should also stop thinking one dimensionally when it comes to a left versus right debate. Just as I will not cast aside Kucinich or treat him with disrespect .... because he does have some good things to say on Iraq and the war on terror etc.

todd said...

Ahem:
http://www.realchange.org/buchanan.htm#nazis