big game hunting

Okay, have you been wondering how you could help change the course of America? Do you not have the time to attend rallies or demonstrations? Do you believe (rightly) that any letter you may send to your Congresspersons will be utterly and completely ignored if it doesnt contain a fat check? Well, try this solution, proposed by the author David Brin: Adopt an Ostrich! Brin's idea is that each person picks a Conservative who still doesnt get that the Bush Administration has totally betrayed America, conservatism, and simple human decency, and then work on them, steadily, patiently, until, faced with overwhelming information given on a personal level, they're forced to capitulate (or at least lie low).

Do it. Pick an ostrich and grab his or her lapel. Do not let go. Make lists and keep citing one travesty after another, while asking: “What would you have said if Bill Clinton did this?”

And “would you have LET Clinton send our entire army, marines and reserves to be ground down in a hostile foreign land, on the excuse of pure lies, in a grunt land war of attrition without any goal, run by meddling politicians who never saw a day of combat, all in a futile attempt at so-called nation-building?”

They will sputter and fume. They will try to claim that “Whitewater” -- involving $80,000 -- represented corruption equal to Halliburton stealing tens of billions from our boys and girls in Iraq. They will claim that Clinton’s fib about Monica was worse than outright lies about WMDs or terrorism or promises to “listen to our generals.” Or that an administration dedicated to decreasing secrecy can even be compared to one that has multiplied darkness and unaccountability one hundredfold. Or that political activity by today’s eviscerated labor unions can be compared to outright control of our government by a new feudal, kleptocratic caste.

They will writhe and squirm and try all of this -- and dozens of other contrived excuses and polemical tricks. Denial is powerful and you must gird yourself to be utterly relentless. Even if you live in a “blue” state, you will still be a soldier for civilization if you do this.

It may not be easy. Your ostrich might be your own flesh and blood, and they will not take it well (no one does when their own self-delusions are pointed out to them). But it is important, and unless you want (an underground*) history to recall the United States of America as a noble, but failed, experiment, you need to do it. While the nation dispises Lord Bush and his Cabal more than ever, he still has a rabid core of supporters, and while you may not be able to get to his "base" (really, really rich white dudes), you can get to that guy at the office who bitches about "liberals" and how they are Helping The Terrorists Win. If you can stop his support, you will have done this nation a great service. It may not be easy, but it will be patriotic.

*As opposed to the Official History as Approved by His Majesty's Ministry of Education (the only acceptable history, all others will be unlearned under pain of "alternative methods" of education)