DADvocate

Traveling thru blogland today, I came across two posts that piqued my interest. The first being found at Knoxviews.
Draw Your Own Damn Conclusions contains a comparison of two maps, one of pre-Civil War free and slave states and the other of 2004 Presidential Election Results.




The blogger found the maps here at old post at Sensoryoverload. A commenter at Sensoryoverload claimed to be the originator of this map matching exercise. He states, "I was the person who created that map comparison and presented it on Nov. 6, 2004, at the Radical Philosophy Association Annual Conference in a talk entitled “American Fascism in the Equation of American Empire”"

Apparently radical philosophy includes abandoning logic. To claim that voting for Bush in 2004 is some how related to being pro-slavery during the Civil War goes beyond absurdity. Not only is no one living from that period of history, but populations have migrated in every direction, etc., etc.

If you look at this map from Outside the Beltway that a commenter at Sensoryoverload pointed out, you easily see that the division seems to be more along the lines of rural areas and smaller cities supporting Bush vs. larger metropolitan areas.



A commenter at Knoxviews states "Anyhow, the map is meant to infuriate not to be accurate." Some how he knows the motives of the poster. But, then again, I've come across several liberal bloggers who apparently have excellent mind reading skills. However, a different commenter came closer to the truth: "This is probably the dumbest thing I've ever seen posted here."

During my daily visit to GM's Corner, I found a post on Two Realities. The post urged everyone to go to read this heartfelt and terrific posting at Dr. Sanity. Being the obliging sort, I immediately clicked the link and began to read.

Dr. Sanity's post involves discussions with a friend who frequently bashes Bush and sees the world and its problems from a much different perspective than herself.

"You know, Pat, you've really changed in a profound way," he said sadly. "Ever since 9/11 there has been no reasoning with you. I just can't talk to you anymore."

For about the millionth time since that day in 2001, it struck me forcibly that one of the more subtle consequences of that terrible event was the creation of two separate realities in which people could live. On The Sanity Squad's most recent podcast, Gagdad Bob mentioned something profound about 9/11 when he suggested that the events of that day didn't just change the course of the future, they changed the perception of the past.

[---]

Fukayama argued that history is directional and has an evolutionary endpoint; and that endpoint, and the culmination of those forces driving history, inevitably lead to a capitalist, liberal democracy. But Fukayama made one simple mistake.

He did not forsee that the enemies of freedom; the enemies of individualism and capitalism--as a last-ditch, desperate measure to prevent the "endpoint" from establishing any equilibrium in the world--would resort to the complete abandonment of reason and reality altogether. And, in retrospect, it appears that from a rational and realistic perspective, there was no other course open to them if they wanted to avoid complete historical capitulation and abandon their useless and destructive ideology. In order to stay alive, the enemies of human freedom--in all their various incarnations--had to abandon reason, truth, and reality, because they understood clearly that they simply could not make their case with those particular human tools

Two realities. That is what I saw today. One in which a person reaches back 150 years to discredit the group of people voting for Bush or just to infuriate. Acting simply to infuriate is juvenile. If that was the purpose, it's only a slightly more sophisticated version of drawing ugly pictures of someone in grade school.

Two realities, one that wants to demonize Bush and blame him for every problem The other looks at the world in a more realistic way.