or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 15, 2005
The Time Is Not Yet Right To Hate Islam Karimov
I tried not to laugh at Bush supporters who seemed genuinely outraged about the hideous crimes of Saddam Hussein. But it was hard, because such Bush supporters were very, very funny.
A while ago Matt Taibbi picked up on this:
In Soviet times, a man who was afraid to speak frankly on any topic in front of his own children and whose neighbor had disappeared two days before was capable of shedding real tears over the plight of the American Negro, a popular Soviet cause for decades. You see the same thing here in the States: no job, no health insurance, fucked for life by the credit bureaus, but swelling with pride over the sight of an Iraqi child with a candy bar.
Likewise, fervent Baathists would weep copiously over the plight of the Palestinians, as Saddam merrily waded through rivers of Kurdish blood. Today the Saudi royal family watches heartwrenching videos about Palestinians, the stirring soundtracks of which partly drown out the screams of the people being tortured in their palace basement. Etc.
So, whenever the US government decides Uzbekistan is an Official Enemy that should be invaded, America's right wing will suddenly become VERY, VERY ANGRY about the hundreds of people our good friend Mr. Karimov is killing this week:
Residents who fled Andijan 40 kilometers (25 miles) south to the Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu estimated the number killed on Friday and Saturday at 450, but journalists were barred from the area and could not independently confirm the death toll.
It might be nice if they could get mad now, when it could actually make a difference. But it would also be nice to live a big candy kingdom where all our work was done by singing elves. Man, be realistic.
(Stuff via this useful Billmon post.)
Posted at May 15, 2005 07:10 AM | TrackBack
Can't you see the headlines already?
Mass Grave near Andijan Testifies to Tyrant's Brutality
etc.
Posted by: tex at May 15, 2005 08:59 AMOrwellian Moral Relativism
By C. Hitchens
Where were the people now opposing this humantiarian intervention when Karimov was boiling his prisoners? Where were they when he buried them in mass graves? A large tranche of the once progressive left has aligned itself with libertarian extremists to oppose saving the Uzbeki people. Can they defend this decision? I think not, but let us take a fair look at their degenerate, despicable arguments anyway and see if they can be persuaded to drop their visceral hatred for the people who are being tortured to death even as I write.Posted by: Harry at May 15, 2005 09:30 AM
I'm desperately looking forward to Monday, to see what they could possibly say to justify keeping Karimov as an ally. But somehow I doubt that Uzbekistan is going to be some sort of tipping point, that people will suddenly say, "My god - it doesn't make sense that we invaded Iraq to depose one tyrannical, torturing, killer-of-his-own-people bastard, while we're supporting another one of those even now in Uzbekistan. We're a bunch of hypocritical shits! The hypocrisy must stop now!" No. They probably won't say that, going on past experience, and they probably won't even say something approximating that (e.g. "hypocritical turds"). I don't understand why. This couldn't be more obvious.
Posted by: saurabh at May 15, 2005 12:53 PMFace it, if the USA really made enemies of every single "tyranny" on Earth at one go...I can only wonder how big a wasp's nest it would stick itself in...it is already in a fairly small one...
Posted by: En Ming Hee at May 15, 2005 02:06 PMBeautiful. But wait... is there any oil there? Natural gas? Osama?
Posted by: SJS at May 15, 2005 04:28 PMWhat about the tears of the heartland for a bunch of New Yorkers many of them hate? A big chunk of the dead were members of the "coastal elites" demonised by the R.P.; perhaps like Coulter, they're mourning losing the opportunity to kill some NyooYawkers theyselves.
Man is the rationalising animal, especially if it gives him an opportunity to feel good about blowing things up.
Posted by: John Guilt at May 16, 2005 01:10 PMWhile I agree with the sentiment in the cartoon, there is a rational explanation for the fact that we're currently allied with Uzbekistan: it makes the job of keeping the peace in Afghanistan *much* easier if we have access to the land on the Uzbek side of the border.
It isn't necessary to go looking for theories regarding oil and gas; our friendship with Karimov is an alliance of convenience in support of our war in Afghanistan.
Posted by: aphrael at May 17, 2005 02:35 PM"Beautiful. But wait... is there any oil there? Natural gas? Osama?"
Posted by: SJS at May 15, 2005 04:28 PM
Ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh....
Do not talk about He Who Is Not To Be Named.
Posted by: Barry at May 19, 2005 09:56 AMwell here we see the total waste of the hippie ideal. saddam was approached like a friend. it is clear in his body language. rummy approaches as a friend and saddam stands there like a strait backed master. Saddam should have been taught from the beginning that he is a vassal of the empire. He should have been taught who his master is (u.s.a.) and acted accordingly. The hippie socialist ideal is the root of the iraq war. If we would have come across strong to that villain he would have never engaged in the barbarism of his regime. The curse of the age of aquarius still lingers.
Posted by: paul tenington at June 3, 2005 11:17 PMKarimov will die, Bush will die, my neighboor Samanta will die, I'll die, you'll die, your dog will die, Michael Jackson will die, Sadam Husain will live, then he'll die, Osama is already half-dead, that homeless in fromt of my car will rule the world, my son which is cousin of my wife to whom i'm nephye will kill his grendmother 50 years ago, Britney Spears will fall in love with Donald trump, Shakira will become fat, Marina Dudososova will be born soon...
Posted by: Foma Kenyayev at August 23, 2005 04:49 AM
