March 26, 2008
Barack Obama makes no sense (first in what I'm sure will be a regular series)
I'm looking up some information about Barack Obama and came across this quote:
We live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained.BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jul. 12, 2006
Obama frequently throws out this type of non-sequiter which goes unquestioned. What does empathy, and our culture's supposed discouragment of it, have to do with those principal goals? I would like to be rich, thin, young, safe and entertained (I have no use for fame). In what way does that preclude me from being empathetic?
Much of what Obama says is like this. His really are just meaningless words. My new "Barack Obama makes no sense" feature is going to chronicle this constant verbal game of his.
Technorati Tags: Barack+Obama
Doesn't safety require some level of empathy?
Even on a national level, you have to wonder what drives some FBI agents, for example, to keep doing their job day in and day out.
Posted by: Shawn at March 26, 2008 07:27 PMObama is too wrapped up in his cocoon of hate to see the empathy around him.
For example, America gives more to charities than all other countries combined. It is always the first country to react to natural disasters.
Posted by: Jake at March 26, 2008 07:32 PMUnfounded assumption: our culture is monolithic and homogeneous.
our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained.
<snark>Today's vocabulary word is 'projection'.</snark>
Posted by: Nobody knows I'm a sock puppet at March 27, 2008 12:09 AMI call it "Dr Phil politics". The sentences contain all the right kinds of words, but they're meaningless. It's like a kind of hypnosis.
Posted by: Eric at March 27, 2008 12:24 AM"We live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained."
"Rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained." Sounds like someone I've heard a lot about, but I just can't place the name.
Posted by: Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg at March 27, 2008 07:55 AMAmericans aren't empathetic huh? Tell that to the charities around the world that readily accept donations that come in. Tell that to the volunteers in your community. Then tell it to Obama.
Posted by: StB at March 27, 2008 11:36 AMThose are my principle goals.
Posted by: Not Dawn Summers at March 27, 2008 01:06 PMObama is the king of non-sequitirs...he thinks raising taxes will boost the economy, he thinks he's being a unifier who transcends race by attending that divisive church, he thinks refusing to say the pledge of allegiance is an act of patriotism.
Obama could win a general election---but only in "1984."
Posted by: BadBoyInASuit at March 27, 2008 05:40 PMMakes no sense? Compared to W?
Posted by: bryan at March 29, 2008 07:07 AMbryan +1
Anyhow, why does one have to follow from the other?
Perhaps he's just listing things about our culture that are worth improving.
Totally removed from the context of the speech, you don't know.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg at March 31, 2008 09:46 AM
