So, what to make of this guy. The first thing to note may be what my wife immediately pointed out "what does he think this list is if not whining?" Now I've run into at least a dozen of these jerks, not intentionally you
understand, let's just say this is a big reason I don't like to go to bars. But no, to them it isn't whining, it's more like a badge of toughness that they will butt into any conversation or casual remark. So it is a matter of perspective, by definition the tough guy cannot whine but woe be it to anyone within earshot who dares say "oh, it's been kind of a rough week, I'm a little tired." Hence all of the "No Whining" bumper stickers, they are for you, not me. Making a big deal out of your alleged suffering is our middle-class link back to a warrior society.
I actually don't know where this picture came from originally and I don't care enough to look, the look on his face is enough to tell me I don't want to know. But this sanctimonous look he's giving the camera says a lot. First, that well, he's probably lying about his alleged suffering quite a bit. How old does he look? But say he is a former marine, active duty enlistments are 5 years minimum now as I understand it. Plus 8 years of college and who knows how many after, pretty nonspecific, he would have to be at least 31 right? Not likely. Marines are a different breed, but they aren't exactly known to be smart. Army guys are different, complaining isn't something shameful, it is an art. Anyway, if this is how he identifies himself I doubt he'd be pleasant to be around.
How about working all those hours during college? Most people work during school, that many hours even if going part-time to classes doesn't leave nearly enough time to study. So this guy is either saying, "I'm a lousy student" or rarely sleeps. Either way, no wonder he's so bitter and attacking people not like him as "whiners." I came across this class act through an open letter on Daily Kos posted by some of my friends, thanks guys.
Getting right down to it, the Kos article repeatedly praises this guy for his "pride" and "work ethic." Not to put too fine a point on it, but pride is a deadly sin for a reason. In Niebuhrian theology, it is pride that serves as a catalyst for transmuting the will-to-survive present in all higher lifeforms into will-to-power. The will-to-power is not ordinate, it can only be limited through countervailing force and presses in short order to domination. To further illustrate this point, Arthur Schlesinger identified a personality type he called "totalitarian man," an individual that is filled with anxiety and longs for discipline that goes with surrendering freedom for order.
The Kos article does lay down why he is wrong in this attack on others' exercise of freedom and desire for justice. But then goes on to say that he wishes the 53% guy would be his ally. This will never happen. Like the trapped souls in the Matrix, this guy is fully dependent on the system and will in all likelihood die to protect it. Therefore, attempts to reason with him are doomed to failure. Pearls before swine, trying to reason with totalitarian man are likely to result in him turning to rend you. No, this guy is dead wrong but pride will never allow him to question his assumptions or break through the "othering" of liberals. He will never see protest against the system of greed and domination as legitimate or anything other than an attack on the privilege he desperately wants to be part of. And he is willing to sacrifice all dissenters for even the faintest chance at "getting ahead" and joining the privileged class.
Finally, this desperate identification with his exploiters and masters led to my gut reaction to reading his scrawled manifesto. SUCKER!
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