Sunday, February 06, 2011

You Might Be A Gasbag If . . .

Last week, two Senate committees publicly addressed how to continue the Iraq War, the Senate openly discussed extending the Patriot Act (various scenarios -- the most extreme proposal, Charles Grassley's, was to make the Patriot Act permanent), young veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars became not only one of the key groups to suffer home foreclosures, they also became one of the groups with the highest unemployment rates (15.2%). In the Iraq War, which the US government started and continues, Nouri al-Maliki's power grab got push back and the long suffering Iraqi people of the still US occupied land began demonstrating and protesting.

You may be exclaiming, "What!!!!" If so, that's because the left outlets (Democracy Now!, The Progressive, The Nation, Pacifica Radio, US Socialist Worker, et al) and left blogs ignored the United States to obsess over All My Egypt, the apparently great American soap opera starring Hosni Mubarak.

ericaegypt


As one news story after another was ignored and drowned out by the circus, we realized just how little life there as in the 'left' voicesphere. Unable to lead, they merely follow. Unable to think, they merely gasbag.

You might be a gasbag if . . .

1) Any of your pieces have opened with "[News outlet] rulez!"

2) Less than 7 days ago, you lectured readers on the importance of paying attention to the US economy and the FDIC and yet all you've offered since then is your half-assed commentary on Egypt.

3) You write/speak as if you are actually over in Egypt when, in fact, you are not. (See The Daily Show for more on this topic.)

4) In your insta-expert coverage, key phrases pop up -- such as "Why am I not surprised?"

5) In fact, your writing exists not to inform but to celebrate how great you are.

6) You have taken a very real protest by living, human beings and attempted to turn it into a spectator sport.

7) When your 'side' is losing, you begin offering that maybe US forces could or should go into Egypt.

8) A complex, decades festering issue is boiled down by you into a paragraph as you explain who is right, who is wrong and, most of all, what needs to happen next.

9) Despite your non-stop coverage, honestly, you still couldn't find Egypt on a map.

10) When the media packs up and leaves, like a dog chasing an ambulance down the street, you will drop your coverage as well and be offended when people note that you only write about what everyone else is writing about.