Fucking Goofy
[2007-07-21 00:15]
In his play The Housemaster, Ian Hay coins the distinction between "funny peculiar" and "funny ha-ha." I think there's a third kind of funny which I'll call "funny desperately absurd".
When I hear something funny ha-ha, I'll often laugh and think "that was funny." When I hear something funny peculiar, I'll often laugh and think "that was strange." When I hear something funny desperately absurd I'll often laugh and think "OMG, we, as a species, are so fucked."
The "jokes" that Senator John McCain tells are good examples of the desperately absurd kind of funny.
Over the years, John McCain has made jokes about rape, war, genocide, and Chelsea Clinton. [Uh, see the footnote]
The fact that John McCain thinks his jokes are "funny ha-ha" is a perfect indication that we are fucked, and that we will be that much more fucked if McCain becomes president.
One might argue that this is an over-reaction. One might argue that the joke about cigarettes killing Iranians, for example, isn't a joke about genocide. I'd argue that it is, and that's what makes it so vile. So let's look at it.
McCain's response to the report that Iran imports a lot of cigarettes from the US was "Maybe that's a way of killing them." In this context them means ALL OF THEM (or, at least, ANY of them), and that's the definition of genocide. So, it doesn't matter how ethical or moral a person you are. If you're Iranian, John McCain wants you dead. It doesn't matter if you've spent your entire life fighting for peace and democracy. If you're Iranian, John McCain want's you dead. It doesn't matter if you are an infant who was just born a minute ago. If you're Iranian, John McCain wants you dead.
Obviously, the immorality of the statement was lost on McCain (who, funny peculiar, claims to be pro-life), so let's look at this from a purely pragmatic standpoint: McCain's "joke" greatly impairs our ability to negotiate with Iran through diplomacy. Imagine if the tables were turned and Iran's president Ahmadinejad had said "Maybe that's a way of killing them" about us. However angry and upset we Americans would be is likely how angry and upset the Iranians are now. More proof that McCain doesn't talk so good and shouldn't be allowed to be in a position where his talking matters.
George W. Bush, as I recall, has argued that there's nothing one can say to make Ahmadinejad change his views. This is his argument for cutting and running on diplomacy. But this argument simply proves that George W. Bush doesn't understand diplomacy at all. Apparently, McCain doesn't either.
It might be true that Ahmadinejad and/or the current Iranian leaders won't be swayed. But one purpose of talking with them is to indirectly appeal to the Iranian people, to sow the seeds of whatever ideology we think best in the minds of the next generation of Iranian leaders. If we can do that, then they will help change Iran from within, and that is ultimately what we want.
But that next generation isn't stupid. They read, watch television, and surf teh interwebs. So when that generation reads/hears McCain's statement about killing them, all that does is give them incentive to NOT listen to us.
If this is the kind of "diplomacy" we've been using to negotiate with Iran all these years (and, given Dubya's track record, it probably is), then it's no wonder that Iran has ignored our demands regarding their nuclear program.
The more we threaten them, the more they will want to arm themselves in response. And that is not sustainable. One of these days, someone will decide that it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees and the Mutually Assured Destruction option will be invoked. That may not happen this year or the next, or even this century. Maybe not even this millenium. But as long as there are world leaders who believe that the best way to exist is to disrespect and threaten the populations of other countries, military escalation will continue and we will inch closer and closer to annihilation.
Footnote: listing Chelsea Clinton like this isn't fair and is an example of my own, flawed, sense of humor. To me, listing the joke about Chelsea this way is funny ha-ha from a grammatical structure standpoint, and that's all. In reality, I have no opinion, good or bad, about Chelsea Clinton.