Compelling Testimony...

This is what it looks like when my America is being destroyed:

Bubbles...

This morning I read a post on marco.org (a blog by Marco Arment, the founder of Instapaper) about a Microsoft store on the day of the Surface launch (yesterday).  The post was mildly interesting for its depiction of the difference between adjacent Microsoft and Apple stores in a mall.  But one passage really jumped out at me, for reasons that had nothing to do with the ostensible subject of the post (emphasis mine):

I broke character slightly. “I don’t know, I saw the Retina iPad upstairs and I can’t see the pixels at all on it. On here, I can see the pixels clearly.”

“No you can’t. Where can you see the individual pixels?”

“Right there. See, the left stroke on that capital ‘D’ has one solid pixel on the left and a half-shaded pixel on the right.”

He scaled the icon up to “zoom in”, which, of course, changes what the physical pixels display. “I can’t see any pixels!”

I gave up. It was like arguing with a Tea Partier. But I figured, now that I had broken character a little, I’d risk a bit more. “Did you apply to work at the Apple Store upstairs first, or did you always want to work here?”

Like arguing with a Tea Partier?

Think about that.  Arment describes his little debate with the Microsoft Store employee, who displayed his technical ignorance and his profound bias toward Microsoft.  Arguing with someone like that is clearly futile; the only way to win would be to re-educate the lad.  Then Arment says that's like arguing with someone in the Tea Party – clearly implying that such people were ignorant and biased.  Further, he makes that statement in a way that assumes his readers will understand that Tea Partiers are ignorant and biased.

This is precisely the kind of thing I hear repeatedly on NPR and read on progressive political blogs (I torture myself so you don't have to!).  It's a fascinating glimpse of the walls of the “bubble” these folks live in.  Arment, and millions more like him, have completely dismissed the Tea Party as a collection of ignorant and biased fools.  They don't even hear the issues the Tea Party raises; they aren't worthy of their attention.

I find this very sad, personally.  I can't see a way for a democracy to stay healthy when most of its (voting) citizens are willfully ignorant.  I say “willfully” because people who live in a political bubble (whether conservative, progressive, or libertarian) are choosing not to engage with the ideas and issues raised by those outside their bubble.  Instead, they live the righteous life of a bubble-denizen, with all of their friends heartily approving of their bubble-ness.  It's so much easier that way – one doesn't have to actually think, as the bubble already knows the answer.

What's the cure?  I'm not sure there is one...

Tea Party Anthem?

The music isn't quite to my taste, but the lyrics are:

Tea Party Thoughts...

Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe have an interesting piece in today's WSJ.  This caught my eye:

While the tea party is not a formal political party, local networks across the nation have moved beyond protests and turned to more practical matters of political accountability. Already, particularly in Republican primaries, fed-up Americans are turning out at the polls to vote out the big spenders. They are supporting candidates who have signed the Contract From America, a statement of policy principles generated online by hundreds of thousands of grass-roots activists.

Published in April, the Contract amounts to a tea party "seal of approval." It demands fiscal policies that limit government, restrain spending, promote market reforms in health care—and oppose ObamaCare, tax hikes and cap-and-trade restrictions that will kill job creation and stunt economic growth. Candidates who have signed the Contract—including Marco Rubio in Florida, Mike Lee in Utah and Tim Scott in South Carolina—have defeated Republican big spenders in primary elections all across the nation.

I'm not the first to observe this: the Tea Party, taken as a whole, seems to be animated by a mixture of libertarian and conservative philosophy, perhaps leaning toward the latter.  Some things about it remind me strongly of Heinlein's libertarian manifesto The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  It's going to be quite interesting to see how much the Tea Party does (or doesn't) influence November's results...

Reporter Takes On Black Tea Party Members...

The backdrop is the accusation by Congressman John Lewis, earlier this year, that the “N word” had been hurled at him by angry Tea Party members.  This quickly became a Progressive meme, echoed by the lapdog lamestream media.  In this video, a reporter all caught up in that meme confronts what must be a very disconcerting reality: a room full of undeniably black members of the allegedly racist Tea Party. 

What ensues is instructive on several levels. Watch...