george w. bush vs. the 'reality-based community' (aka omgwtf)

It's hair-raising.

The room went silent, until someone changed the subject.

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.' ...

I sorta assume that the aide in question in the second excerpt is Wolfowitz, that sounds like something he would have said pre-Iraq invasion.

that is more than a little creepy.

And for those who don't get it? That was explained to me in late 2002 by Mark McKinnon, a longtime senior media adviser to Bush, who now runs his own consulting firm and helps the president. He started by challenging me. ''You think he's an idiot, don't you?'' I said, no, I didn't. ''No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!'' In this instance, the final ''you,'' of course, meant the entire reality-based community.

''I'm going to come out strong after my swearing in,'' Bush said, ''with fundamental tax reform, tort reform, privatizing of Social Security.'' The victories he expects in November, he said, will give us ''two years, at least, until the next midterm. We have to move quickly, because after that I'll be quacking like a duck.''

Aw, bless.

What the hell does that mean???

election 2004: are there more of THEM (as described above) than there are of US (those who are not like what i described above, or are actively seeking to change that situation if we are)? again, STATING THE OBVIOUS.

http://www.poundart.com/art/comics/hduck4.jpg

Bush called over his speechwriter, Michael Gerson, and said, ''I want you to hear this.'' A month later, an almost identical line -- ''many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do'' -- ended up in the inaugural address.

Wolfowitz works in the Pentagon, not the White House. It was prolly either Rove, Card or McKinnon. But most likely Rove.

Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!'' In this instance, the final ''you,'' of course, meant the entire reality-based community.

Oh, thank you, NY Times! We are the reality based community. We are wonderful. We must overcome!

Not to nitpick, but Suskind isn't exactly The New York Times. He was a Wall Street Journal reporter for years and now he's a freelance writer. This article is in the magazine, which is a separate enterprise from the daily paper, which makes Suskind no more a representative of "The New York Times" than, say, Andrew Sullivan (who's been in the magazine several times). But anyway, I don't get your complaint -- neither the Times nor Suskind are the ones who introduced the phrase "reality-based community" here. That is (apparently) one way people in the White House classify their critics.

then there's the whole 'you'll be left to just study what we do' line ...

dred scott (ie ppl = property) now = abortion!
stewards of the land (ie genesis say adam owns the earth beneath his feet) now = dismantle the epa, jesus loves the coal industry
reality = "the world" = the opposite of faith.

but really it's "when we act, we create our own reality" that's so amazing. cod-poststructuralism from the same ppl hurling their feces at derrida's grave...

george w. bush: the new age president?

I might add that I went to reasonably progressive church.

Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Come a time
Some day, some day, some day, dominion
Some say prayers
Some say prayers
I say mine

Well the Bible says that the world is wicked, that it is a battleground between good (God) and evil (Satan), so believing in that, even in a metaphorical level, is hardly evidence of right-wing nuttery. If you are a Christian, you believe that on some sort of level. So yes, preserving the environment, etc always takes a backseat to preserving souls and saving the nonbelievers, but only in the real fire and brimstoners does that manifest itself as a total disregard for the world around us.

I can tell you that "reality" is not a codeword for anything. "Reality" is pretty well defined within Suskind's piece as being fact. And faith vs. fact is a pretty clear opposition, and those with strong religious beliefs will have more, uh, faith in the faith-driven policymaking of the Bush administration.

But yeah, in Christian theology the word steward is a strong reference to mankinds place over, and caring for, the earth. (the Earth doesn't belong to man though - God remains the Lord and we take care of it).
...and let me tell you...when the landlord sees what we have done with the Amazon rain forest...we ain't gettin' our security deposit back.

Shit. Who needs Satan to make the world evil and corrupt. We do just fine on our own.

"I'd write a biography. It would cover the story of Judas Iscariot and his co-radicals working for peace and fighting poverty. The pivot would be the point at which comrade Jesus flips out, has Messianic delusions and starts to peddle the lie that Heaven is not on Earth. The rest is history."

i have seen arguments that weren't necessarily against environmentalism, but saying that the saved didn't really need to worry about it because they won't be on this earth for very much longer anyway...

X-post Maybe the fundamentalists should take their imminent salvation more seriously and do what the early Christians did and not have any kids.

I think Tim Rice beat him to it.

Sega? Steve Jobs? Wha?

It's in the first creation story, the one that has the seven days of creation (which is separate from the second creation story, the one with Adam, Eve and the Fall Of Man)

Genesis I 26-30:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Yes, I meant it's earlier in the Bible than the Fall, but I also think it's accurate in the chronological sense. Obviously the creation of man is recounted in each version, and in the second Eve eats the fruit in Eden. Man was created with dominion, so this had to happen before the Fall. It's also difficult to say that the creation stories are seperate in the way you imply, as this isn't how most Christians (on the fundamentalist wing) and most Jews view it - both are written by Moses, and both are accurate.