tomsdisch ([info]tomsdisch) wrote,
@ 2007-04-20 09:58:00
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The Ethics of Subservience
Alberto Gonzales's performance at yesterday's Senate hearing is a high-water mark for total subservience by any of Bush's henchman. He had to hold his hand to his heart so many times while he declared that he didn't remember whom he'd killed, it was a wonder to behold--even as he had to wipe their blood off his trousercuffs. And the moment the curtain went down Bush declared how well he'd done. The DVD of his performance should be played again each year as the first lesson in high school civics classes.

In the same day's Drudge Report a rapper with the alias of Cam-ron explained that he and all the other stand-up guys in his hood would never testify against another bro, or even report a serial killer to the police, who are the enemy. Statistics bear him out, and in placing loyalty above the truth he is only following the example of Bush and Gonzales themselves. Gangland ethics have now officially replaced morality as we once knew it. Honesty is not the best policy; it's not even a needful imposture. Deceit is now just an abbreviation for The Seat of Power. Does this seem anti-Hispanic or perhaps anti-Catholic? Not for those who aspire to power, wealth, and social recognition. What we all can learn from Alberto Gonzales is how to lick a boot squeaky-clean.

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puns
[info]anselmo_b
2007-04-20 03:59 pm UTC (link)
Deceit is good. Before you corrected it I was wondering whether "Gandland" was just a typo. And no, as a Hispanic and Catholic, I do not feel antagonized at all. But then I am not a resident nor a citizen of the US.
Some of the attitudes you decry (i.e. not squealing on your mates whatever they do) are considered virtues in many Latin countries, because they make it possible to survive under cleptocracies. This is not the place to discuss the validity of such a justification for unethical behavior, but the fact that these attitudes seem to lead ever more often to success in the US, is a strong indication that the political conditions there are becoming rather similar to those of a corrupt banana-republic.
I think your analysis and concern are quite to the point.
Zapata, who is considered by many the only true hero of the Mexican Revolution, never sat on "De ceit". There is a famous picture of when he and Villa took the capital; Villa sits on the presidential chair and Zapata on some other, both surrounded by their troops. This has become a symbol of his honesty but you certainly have seen the movie and know he was deceited and shot in the back.

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[info]sclerotic_rings
2007-04-20 06:43 pm UTC (link)
Boot, nuthin'. I remember Gonzalez from when he was an aide to Governor Bush in the mid-Nineties, and even the Tio Tacos who campaigned for Shrub in 2000 commented on his absolute submissiveness to his boss. Alberto Gonzalez has his tongue so far up Bush's ass that Shrub has problems with the calluses on his eyeballs.

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[info]apostle_of_eris
2007-04-23 01:19 am UTC (link)
Usually, I feel that I'm less black-spirited than you, but here, I'm surprised. I thought everyone knew that the first duty of a cop, above all others, is to swear that every other cop was telling the truth, even if a cop shoots someone through the head, on camera.

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Oof
[info]tomsdisch
2007-04-23 12:43 pm UTC (link)
The link to Chicago Reader makes Cam-rom sound like Swee' Reason in hindsight. (I saw him last night on 60 MInutes, which also showed how all the doctors are fleeing Iraq. Looks like anyone fleeing to Chicago will have to flee all over again.)

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