Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Hump Day Quiz
_______________
Greetings! While Eric is off being a temporary 'day trader' in the Fastest Growing City in America, TTN and I are here for the week, slaving over glowing text editors, keeping the blood flowing through TIA's extremities....
Who doesn't like a lighthearted quiz now and then (especially after the bathos of the latest Constitutional Crisis)? This one's not really very hard, and there's no overarching political comment implied within, except, I suppose, that we live in 'interesting times'. I've tried to take care to use statements which stand on their own as much as possible so as not to be contextually unfair; obviously, any statement has a context, but these quotes do at least mean what they seem to mean and are contiguous - there's no Brit Hume funny business goin' on.
Since Eric didn't leave us the key to the 'goodie closet', there'll be no prize for correct answers other than gloating self-satisfaction. I'll reveal the answers and supply sources later in the day.
[UPDATE: Well, that was a rip-snorter. The answers: 1E; 2D; 3C; 4E; 5A; 6B; 7G. I realize this has been an unusually busy news day - lots of drama on the Senate floor, and more promised for tomorrow; not to mention the usual, everyday, official terror elsewhere in the world.
Just a quick note about Bolton: If you've been around long enough and/or have had enough bosses over the years, chances are you've come into contact with someone like John Bolton (I have). There is a difference between a 'screamer' who more or less consciously uses anger and toughness to get the desired results, and someone who actually gets off on bullying for its own sake, even notwithstanding terrible results. Bolton is definitely the latter. Once you've known someone like that, the type is much more comprehensible. If you have a spare minute, look up Antisocial and Paranoid Personality Disorders in your DSM (you have one, don't you?), or do a google.
Perhaps one of the unintended legacies of the Bush Administration as a whole (not just vis a vis Bolton) will be some sort of national reckoning with our long-neglected national mental health problems. I know Laura has a different (and worthy) pet project, but mental health will surely figure in some of History's ledes about this administration. TTN tomorrow. (FWIW, sources have been added below the quotes.]
1.)
- White Future
2.)
- Janice Rogers Brown (pdf)
3.)
- Nazi.org
4.)
- Mao Tse-tung
5.)
- F. T. Marinetti, from the 'Futurist Manifesto'.
6.)
- Robert Bork, from 'Slouching Toward Gomorrah', p. 246
7.)
- Zager and Evans, from the '60s pop song: In the Year 2525
A.) F.T. Marinetti
B.) Robert Bork
C.) Nazi.org
D.) Janice Rogers Brown
E.) White Future.org
F.) Mao Tse-tung
G.) Zager and Evans
Greetings! While Eric is off being a temporary 'day trader' in the Fastest Growing City in America, TTN and I are here for the week, slaving over glowing text editors, keeping the blood flowing through TIA's extremities....
Who doesn't like a lighthearted quiz now and then (especially after the bathos of the latest Constitutional Crisis)? This one's not really very hard, and there's no overarching political comment implied within, except, I suppose, that we live in 'interesting times'. I've tried to take care to use statements which stand on their own as much as possible so as not to be contextually unfair; obviously, any statement has a context, but these quotes do at least mean what they seem to mean and are contiguous - there's no Brit Hume funny business goin' on.
Since Eric didn't leave us the key to the 'goodie closet', there'll be no prize for correct answers other than gloating self-satisfaction. I'll reveal the answers and supply sources later in the day.
[UPDATE: Well, that was a rip-snorter. The answers: 1E; 2D; 3C; 4E; 5A; 6B; 7G. I realize this has been an unusually busy news day - lots of drama on the Senate floor, and more promised for tomorrow; not to mention the usual, everyday, official terror elsewhere in the world.
Just a quick note about Bolton: If you've been around long enough and/or have had enough bosses over the years, chances are you've come into contact with someone like John Bolton (I have). There is a difference between a 'screamer' who more or less consciously uses anger and toughness to get the desired results, and someone who actually gets off on bullying for its own sake, even notwithstanding terrible results. Bolton is definitely the latter. Once you've known someone like that, the type is much more comprehensible. If you have a spare minute, look up Antisocial and Paranoid Personality Disorders in your DSM (you have one, don't you?), or do a google.
Perhaps one of the unintended legacies of the Bush Administration as a whole (not just vis a vis Bolton) will be some sort of national reckoning with our long-neglected national mental health problems. I know Laura has a different (and worthy) pet project, but mental health will surely figure in some of History's ledes about this administration. TTN tomorrow. (FWIW, sources have been added below the quotes.]
1.)
"Both Whites and Blacks were more civilized in the 1950s and I think that was a good thing. And while the 1950s people were living in a society with high standards and strict rules, they were mostly self-disciplined!"
- White Future
2.)
"I know the idea that there is an extra constitutional dimension to constitutional law is heresy. And given our recent history, it is a very scary thought. But I am slowly coming to [think] it is hubris, carelessness, and lack of candor of judges that should concern us - not the label 'active' or 'passive'. If judges tell us honestly what they are doing, we do know something about the world view that animated the American Revolution and formed the basis of our constitutional documents. The Founders were committed to individual liberty. Liberty, not license. And not openness."
- Janice Rogers Brown (pdf)
3.)
"We live in a time when most people exist in a schizophrenic state, caught between a public reality created by social attitudes and the news-entertainment media, and a more realistic assessment of what is real based on our experiences in the physical, practical world. We're accustomed to going to war in the name of "democracy," yet realizing that, when all is said and done and the money is in the bank, the war is being fought to preserve our oil supply so we can remain a first-world superpower. This schizophrenia makes it difficult to recognize any truth other than the obvious."
- Nazi.org
4.)
"When politics develops to a certain stage beyond which it cannot proceed by the usual means, war breaks out to sweep the obstacles from the way.... When the obstacle is removed and our political aim attained the war will stop. But if the obstacle is not completely swept away, the war will have to continue till the aim is fully accomplished.... It can therefore be said that politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."
- Mao Tse-tung
5.)
"We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman."
- F. T. Marinetti, from the 'Futurist Manifesto'.
6.)
"We have become a submissive people, which is particularly true of whites where race is an issue."
- Robert Bork, from 'Slouching Toward Gomorrah', p. 246
7.)
"In the year 3535/Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies./Everything you think, do and say, is in the pill you took today....Woah-oh"
- Zager and Evans, from the '60s pop song: In the Year 2525
A.) F.T. Marinetti
B.) Robert Bork
C.) Nazi.org
D.) Janice Rogers Brown
E.) White Future.org
F.) Mao Tse-tung
G.) Zager and Evans
