How long till they come and take your favorite blogger away?
Published by punkass marc September 27th, 2006 in TortureMuch as I like to celebrate the wingnut administration calling itself a moron, Echidne points out the troublesome inclusion of the term “leftist terrorist” in the NIE report. They’ve advanced the theory that the left could start going all right-wing and bombing shit like, say, a federal building in Oklahoma or something.
ANYWAY, leftist terrorism is now considered a legitimate threat by the omnipotent Bush administration. Once the torture/detainee legislation passes, they can label anyone they believe has a “terrorist agenda” an enemy combatant and lock them away for torture. Remember, they don’t need cause or charges to take your rights away anymore (see Photographer, Pulitzer Prize winning). They’ll probably be able to rape you for shits and giggles, too, if they feel like it.
I’m going to put on my crazy hat for a moment. It’s the one that won’t look so crazy in another few years, once the police state comes back into full fashion again.
As Lindsay notes, decorated photographer Bilal Hussein had been a target of right wing blogs for some time. They considered his work too close to the action, too full of anti-US visuals, to be anything other than insurgent propaganda. Apparently, their cries were heard, and now he’s a torture toy.
The wingnut blogs also complain about the crazy, frothing “leftist” blogosphere. Lots of us say all kinds of mean things about the Bush administration, which, as we all know, is a gateway drug for terrorist agendas*. Before you laugh, remember that talking negatively about our efforts in Iraq has already been equated with helping the terrorists. Isn’t that the same as having a terrorist agenda?
Or suppose there actually is some random cell of people intent on doing violence, and the federal government breaks it up. What if their browser histories are littered with visits to Amanda’s site? Or Glenn Greenwald’s? The wingnut blogs have been gunning for those two for years because they’re particularly good at blowing holes in Bushchev logic. If Amanda or Glenn or anyone else is ever seen as fueling the cause of anyone who’s even written an email mentioning explosives, I see no reason they won’t be next on the hit list.
People know John Stewart, and Keith Olbermann. You couldn’t lock them up without drawing national outrage. But like Bilal Hussein, other people pave the way for Olbermann and Stewart, stirring the pot or raising issues that eventually receive their attention. Bloggers are a big part of that group, and their work is at least as dangerous as unforgiving photos — which is to say not at all, unless you mean dangerous to the cause of perpetual war.
I am no one. Punkassblog is still pretty small. But people close to me are deeply hated and feared for their uncompromising work and popularity. Every day, I get a little more worried they’ll be taken away. If you are one of the outspoken pillars of the radical left — not people like Kos who stick to the political rules, but someone really agitating for deep change** — I think you should be worried, too.
*Note: this is not true. Please do not kidnap me or frame me or torture me. Thank you.
**Non-violent change! Honest!
29 Responses to “How long till they come and take your favorite blogger away?”
- 1 Pingback on Sep 28th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
- 2 Pingback on Sep 30th, 2006 at 11:51 am
- 3 Pingback on Oct 1st, 2006 at 10:38 pm
First they came for the bloggers, but I was not a bl–
Uh-oh.
I fear for Amanda, Punkass Marc, Pam, and any of use who read and post on these sites.
But I’m not going to live in a state of fear. Fuck all the people who are trying to make hell of Earth…
(Brave words, until they haul me away to join the rest of you subversives in some prison somewhere…)
That was “us”, not “use”. My ass is in the same sling as everyone else…
Well, at least I won’t have to deal with this quantum eigenspace anymore.
I dispise almost everything that involves the word “eigen.” You have to go over that shit so often before it makes any sense at all.
[crazyhat]It’ll be a while till they make it to the small-timers like us.[/crazyhat]
They’ll start with the “small-timers” because they’ll be less noticed…
[crazyhat]Well, they’ll start with bloggers like Amanda, who your average American doesn’t notice but has real impact on the people who are noticed. Remember, they went after a pulitzer prize winning photog, not some low level camera hack…[/crazyhat]
Marc, you’re right about that.
They’d love to nail Kos and Atrios, but their profile is too high. The problem with nailing Padagon is Kos and Atrios would notice. Something will be done to ensure those big mouthpieces are shut down, or intimidated into keeping quiet…
(I hate to say it, but if we woke up one day and there was one less “PunkAss”, only a few of us would probably notice and say something. We would just be written off as the subversive loons they already think we are…)
Marc, can I borrow your crazy hat? I think the government is laying the groundwork to smack down future opposition. Let’s say they decide to invade Iran. People are not going to stand for that. Remember the millions of people who took to the streets to protest the Iraq war? It will only be worse next time. Imagine if all those outraged citizens organized a general strike or started withholding their taxes. What if soldiers stopped reporting for duty and joined the protesters? I’m sure Rummy’s CIFA is wargaming these scenarios as we speak. I’m sure they’re identifying and tracking potential “troublemakers” already.
MikeEss,
Nah, they like Kos and Atrios because they only talk their talk the safe way, inside the system. They aren’t powerful feminist voices who aggressively attack institutions like religion and the patriarchy in deeply threatening ways.
If Amanda was taken away, people would yell and scream inside the blogosphere, and so what? That photographer isn’t getting any help, and the freaking AP wrote up his situation.
If you’re on TV, you’re good. If you’re just below that level of fame and full of dangerous ideas, I think you’re the juiciest target.
Lindsay, sorry I forgot to mention you. You’re on the list too. Sorry!
Maybe you and Amanda can share a cell with Pam and you guys can keep each other from going crazy…
If I start a blog, like I’ve been thinking about for the last couple months, I’ll be in trouble also…
On the upside: NAKED PYRAMIDS!!!
Lindsay,
Thanks for making me feel less crazyhatted.
You’re welcome. The crazy hat is the hot new accessory for fall.
The Crazy Hat.
Hah! That sure beats this guy’s.
I keep picturing something made from aluminum foil. Too old-school?…
MikeEss, have you forgotten that aluminium foil hats were designed by the government to control the masses?
I thought that’s what the chip in my neck is for…?
You mean they hacked the neural port? The bastards!
My main back-channel with the CIA is a mercury amalgam filling.
Excellent piece, and not so tinfoil-esque as one would believe. Carting away “leftist terrorist sympathizers” isn’t exactly a new thing, marc. In the past, the constitution’s protections prevented it (if barely), but nowadays…
They’d love to nail Kos and Atrios
Actually, unlike wingnuts (who I’ve never actually seen attack kos - though that may be because kos has never said anything interesting when he’s not defending con artists and teling women to shut their holes lest they scare away conservative misogynists) I want to nail kos to any available sruface - this is because he is to progressive politics what a lit cigarette is to feeding a baby: evil and cancerous.
If you take Kos at face value with his more recent bullshit about being “progressive”, you’re an idiot and a pigeon, if you take him at his post-04-election word (that he’s not a liberal, he’s a democrat) you can begin to realise what exactly Kos is.
A liberal has principles, a progressive has more.
A partisan democrat has nothing more than a fondness for donkey, and that’s not a political position, it’s just a perversion.
And Kos has made quite clear, again and again and again, that he comes down squarely on the “fellater of donkeys” side of left blogistan’s political spectrum.
Marc, can I borrow your crazy hat? I think the government is laying the groundwork to smack down future opposition.
Duh! They took even the sham that was the american electoral process away from us in 2000, they admitted to torture and think it’s okay, they hate everyone who is not them, and anything that might stop them from gaining more power is brushed aside including morality, laws and sanity.
You thought they were going to stop when they were stuffed? That they had some moral limits? They’re stalinists who don’t even both to dress up their crap in working social programs that might do some small amount of good, which is then hugely overshadowed by the evils committed by their state - it’s all purges and stasi and siberian work camps, no redeeming features, no silver linings, just badness from coast to coast.
Pass the crazy hat, and I’ll see y’all in the paddywagon.
Hmmm. I wonder if my honey’s stubborn refusal to leap from his republican ship will be the saving grace that allows me to keep talking leftist agenda? I’ve always been pissed that his vote cancels mine out before, but HEY, maybe that can be USEFUL now….
They took me but I’m back. It only involved a few electrodes on my testes.
Thank you all. I was beginning to feel awfully alone in my crazy hat.