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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Cynicism Check

Cynicism Check

by $8 blue check mistermix|  October 20, 201411:07 am| 61 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Am I the only one who looks at this bumper sticker and thinks Jimi left out “so that will never happen”? Open thread.

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Previous Post: « Not gonna do it and you can’t make me
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61Comments

  1. 1.

    Karen in GA

    October 20, 2014 at 11:12 am

    He’s Iggy, and he approves this message. Because of course he does.

  2. 2.

    Amir Khalid

    October 20, 2014 at 11:13 am

    When the Power of Love
    Overcomes the Love of Power
    the World Will Know Peace
    So That Will Never Happen

    Just try reading that aloud. It doesn’t scan and it doesn’t rhyme. There’s no way a musician like Jimi would have written such a verse.

  3. 3.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2014 at 11:13 am

    CMM
    No.
    SATSQ

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    October 20, 2014 at 11:16 am

    @Karen in GA:
    Typo alert: It’s “imbecile”, not “imbicile”.

  5. 5.

    Mandalay

    October 20, 2014 at 11:19 am

    @Ruckus: You beat me to it.

    WTF has happened to BJ?

  6. 6.

    Karen in GA

    October 20, 2014 at 11:23 am

    @Amir Khalid: GAAAAHHHH!! You’re right! In my defense, I wrote it at three in the morning. But wow.

    Maybe I should leave it alone, though, since it’s a goof on right-wing scaremongering — the misspelling kind of belongs there.

    No, I don’t have it in me. Off to edit. Thanks.

  7. 7.

    KG

    October 20, 2014 at 11:24 am

    @Amir Khalid: who says it has to be a verse? Could’ve just been a statement.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    October 20, 2014 at 11:25 am

    @Karen in GA: I voted and I appreciate the reminder.

  9. 9.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 20, 2014 at 11:28 am

    At least it’s not “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News.

  10. 10.

    gelfling545

    October 20, 2014 at 11:30 am

    @Amir Khalid: Schnauzers are notoriously poor spellers.

  11. 11.

    chopper

    October 20, 2014 at 11:32 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    and it’s best pronounced ala bugs bunny, im-BESS-el.

  12. 12.

    JPL

    October 20, 2014 at 11:34 am

    Power trumps love.

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    October 20, 2014 at 11:34 am

    @KG:
    It has potential, though. Some songwriter should work on that and put it in a song.

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 20, 2014 at 11:34 am

    @chopper: What a gulliBULL

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 20, 2014 at 11:35 am

    @JPL: Ask Ivana. She knows that.

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    October 20, 2014 at 11:38 am

    Seen on Slate: John Williams’ Imperial March played on eight floppy drives. They do sound menacing.

  17. 17.

    Just One More Canuck

    October 20, 2014 at 11:40 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: What a nin-Cow-poop

  18. 18.

    chopper

    October 20, 2014 at 11:45 am

    @Just One More Canuck:

    what an ultramaroon.

  19. 19.

    Karen in GA

    October 20, 2014 at 11:45 am

    @JPL: Thank you!

    But yeah, that was a pretty embarrassing misspelling. What a maroon.

  20. 20.

    chopper

    October 20, 2014 at 11:47 am

    in moderation for the term ‘ultra maroon’?

    seriously, WTF, wordpress?

  21. 21.

    WereBear

    October 20, 2014 at 11:49 am

    I remain hopeful, not cynical.

    Amir is right: Jimi knew it wouldn’t scan.

    And Jimi knew hope is what keeps us going.

    Look at the man: in only 27 years, he overcame an oppressed, poverty stricken, neglectful early life to realize some pretty big artistic dreams, and remains influential to this day. If he’d been cynical… he couldn’t have done that.

    I know cynical is a “realistic” outlook, and that’s a totally fine way to go through life. It eliminates the pitfalls of toxic religion, lowers the likelihood of being conned or used, and helps move people towards a good adjustment, in order to compensate for the avalanche of bad information most of us grow up with. But there’s a point where cynicism is a brake: on our dreams and ambitions.

    A person’s reach should exceed their grasp.

  22. 22.

    Spinoza Is My Co-pilot

    October 20, 2014 at 11:52 am

    @WereBear:

    Or what’s a heaven for?

  23. 23.

    JPL

    October 20, 2014 at 11:52 am

    @chopper: The funniest wordplay mess up was when a front pager, had a post about the Senator from N. J. Cory…. There were many commenters in moderation that day.

  24. 24.

    Bobby B.

    October 20, 2014 at 11:54 am

    I’m pretty sure Janie Hendrix scoops a bit of royalties from the sticker. I’d rather have one with an Edwin Starr quote.

  25. 25.

    Redshift

    October 20, 2014 at 11:54 am

    Apparently it’s actually a quote from William Gladstone, nineteenth-century British prime minister.

    I am actually on the less cynical side. We’re living in the most peaceful time ever. The world has plenty of wars, but they’re smaller, and large parts of the world that used to have frequent wars don’t have them any more. Heck, it was less than two hundred years ago that England and France maintained fleets in the Channel to protect their borders from each other.

    Fascinating thing — while googling for the Steven Pinker work about how we’re living in the most peaceful time ever and the world is getting more peaceful, half the results on the first page are from conservative sites mocking Obama for having mentioned it (or something similar.) It can’t be true, or else you wouldn’t have to be afraid of all of these Hitlers running around and terrists who are going to invade Topeka and kill us all!

    It’s reasonable to be cynical about the prospects for action to improve things (at least here), but don’t buy into the utopians’ and fear-mongers’ (curiously shared) worldview that there will never be peace without impossible changes in human nature. There may never be perfect peace everywhere, but the prospect of “good enough” in most times and places is real.

  26. 26.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    October 20, 2014 at 11:55 am

    What if you have short arms.

  27. 27.

    kindness

    October 20, 2014 at 11:57 am

    @Bobby B.: I doubt it. Most those stickers were made back when there weren’t royalty lawyers running amuck. I used to see those stickers all the time in the 70’s & 80’s. Only rarely now.

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    October 20, 2014 at 12:04 pm

    @jake the antisoshul soshulist: It’s a mental construct anyway. So you only have symbolic short arms.

    You can change them.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    October 20, 2014 at 12:05 pm

    @gelfling545:
    At least the whole thing isn’t written in lolspeak.

  30. 30.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    October 20, 2014 at 12:11 pm

    The power of love make one man weak, make another man insane.

  31. 31.

    scav

    October 20, 2014 at 12:15 pm

    I think repeated, calculated small arms with a vision of the larger arm can work. Think long-arm, grasp short arm and keep going.

    ETA: Prepare to tack against headwinds or take switchbacks when faced with a solid slope.

  32. 32.

    Citizen Alan

    October 20, 2014 at 12:22 pm

    I am reminded of this discussion of the Republican’s Favorite Bible Verse — “The poor are always with us” — which they interpret to mean that nothing should be done about poverty. In context, however, it refers back to the passages from Deuteronomy pertaining to Jubilee which state that if the Israelites follow God’s commandments about forgiving debts, then poverty would be eliminated, so if there is poverty, it is because the people disobey god.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    October 20, 2014 at 12:22 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Deep..

  34. 34.

    Redshift

    October 20, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    @Citizen Alan: Nice.

  35. 35.

    SatanicPanic

    October 20, 2014 at 12:31 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Why haven’t hipsters rediscovered Huey Lewis? Seems like he’s due

  36. 36.

    Seanly

    October 20, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    I agree that the statement is a little short.

    I have to stop listening to NPR in the morning. All they do is fluff for Republicans & now Apple products. They had a 5 minute piece on Apple Wallet then followed by a 5 minute piece about Brown vs Shaheen without ever mentioning the actual poll numbers.

    While I’m sure Apple Wallet is a great thing, that entire discussion neglected to mention that Europe has been using touchpads for credit cards for years & the USA financial & retail industries have been dragging their asses on adopting that.

  37. 37.

    askew

    October 20, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    Shakira used that quote in her 2003 tour right before performing Octavo Dia under a screen depicting Bush and Sadam as puppets controlled by the grim reaper. Pretty baldy antiwar statement at a time when being against Iraq War was destroying careers.

    Good news polls in NC by PPP Hagan is up by 4% and in KS where the Independent is tied. Bad polling news in KY where Grimes is down by 8%.

    On an unrelated note, has talking points memo just given up? There live wire section is full of inane stories. They seem to have given up covering any actual political news. Makes huffington post look serious.

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 20, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    @Citizen Alan: No, they’re obeying the god they actually worship, Mammon.

    Mammon is their god. Jehova, not so much.

  39. 39.

    raven

    October 20, 2014 at 12:35 pm

    @SatanicPanic: Always like Walking on a Thin Line.

    Labeled as freaks loose on the streets of the city. . .

  40. 40.

    raven

    October 20, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    @SatanicPanic: Walking on a Thin Line

  41. 41.

    raven

    October 20, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    Walking on a Thin Line

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m94U1LSGAsI

  42. 42.

    raven

    October 20, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    Walking on a Thin Line

  43. 43.

    raven

    October 20, 2014 at 12:38 pm

    @askew: Right when the 1st Gulf War started El Vez played Athens and started with “Prezident Booch, Soddom Hutzien,. Chu Ain’t Nuttin but Chiuauas. . . .

  44. 44.

    Violet

    October 20, 2014 at 12:38 pm

    @Karen in GA: I just voted on my phone. I was number 484. That’s way up from yesterday. Can vote again on my computer I think. Different devices and different internet access.

  45. 45.

    WereBear

    October 20, 2014 at 12:40 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: And that was on purpose.

    In 1964 the leaders of the Republican Party (including George Will) met with the heads of prominent Protestant seminaries to remold the Bible into conservative, fearful, Prosperity Gospel principles. It was the only way to keep the Republicans in power and fighting godless Communism.

    The fundamentalists and John Birchers didn’t just drift together from common goals. They were pressed together like a panini.

  46. 46.

    askew

    October 20, 2014 at 12:44 pm

    @raven: damn. the 1st gulf war was even more popular. Impressive stand.

  47. 47.

    Ferdzy

    October 20, 2014 at 12:51 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    I always got the vibe, reading that verse, that Jesus was thinking of the guy pestering him when he said “the poor”. As in, the poor in understanding and charity. Yeah, I think of Jesus as being just as sarcastic as a Balloonjuicer. Why not?

  48. 48.

    Denali

    October 20, 2014 at 12:51 pm

    @Violet,

    Vote early, vote often.

  49. 49.

    drkrick

    October 20, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    @Bobby B.: What’s wrong with Janie getting a few cents? Jimi and his family certainly had enough money stolen from them over the decades. (Leaving aside the fact that it isn’t really Jimi’s quote)

  50. 50.

    Redshift

    October 20, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    @WereBear: And they didn’t become Republican activists because of abortion (though they love to repeat that myth), they became anti-abortion because it was useful for motivating parishioners to become Republican activists.

  51. 51.

    Karen in GA

    October 20, 2014 at 1:23 pm

    @Violet: Thanks! Not only do different devices count as different people, but so do different browsers on the same devices. I wish I’d known that sooner — I saw a puppy last night with over 1,000 votes. Oh, well. Iggy’s a winner in my book, even if he doesn’t land me free food and household items.

  52. 52.

    Cervantes

    October 20, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    @Redshift:

    Apparently it’s actually a quote from William Gladstone, nineteenth-century British prime minister.

    Several people have been “quoted” voicing the sentiment — including Chinmoy Ghose, from whom Hendrix likely borrowed it — but only one of these sources, namely, Gladstone, also told the House of Commons in April of 1866 that time is on our side (yes, it is, the assembled parliamentarians did not, I’m sorry to say, interject).

  53. 53.

    Roger Moore

    October 20, 2014 at 1:59 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    In context, however, it refers back to the passages from Deuteronomy pertaining to Jubilee which state that if the Israelites follow God’s commandments about forgiving debts, then poverty would be eliminated, so if there is poverty, it is because the people disobey god.

    I don’t think that’s the correct context. The incident happened between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, i.e. when Jesus knew he had only a few days left to live. He goes on to say that she was anointing him for the grave. So it wasn’t a general comment that it was OK to blow off the poor because they would always be there, but a warning to take advantage of the little time the disciples had left to be with him. It’s a specific command for specific circumstances.

  54. 54.

    Tim in SF

    October 20, 2014 at 2:14 pm

    JC, how did your Yosemite issue work out? I have a 2011 MacBook Pro and I’m reticent to upgrade.

  55. 55.

    Another Holocene Human

    October 20, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    @Mustang Bobby: What about by Dee-Lite?

  56. 56.

    catclub

    October 20, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    @Roger Moore: I agree with you. Reference to Jubilee seems pretty strained.

  57. 57.

    Another Holocene Human

    October 20, 2014 at 2:29 pm

    @Citizen Alan: What the Republicans are lacking is the context of Jewish religious law, which this Jesus character claimed to follow, which requires Jews to engage in charitable giving to the less fortunate in the community. While I don’t necessarily agree with the NT passage here, I’ve always interpreted it to mean that it’s a mitzvah, so you did it last week and you’ll be doing it next week.

    As for the sabbatical, whether it’s a loan or a field, there’s a workaround. ;)

  58. 58.

    Roger Moore

    October 20, 2014 at 2:41 pm

    @catclub:
    And my impression is that the whole concept of Jubilee was always more aspirational than real. I suspect, though I don’t know for sure, that the law about keeping a Hebrew slave for more than 7 years was actually followed, but we do know that other aspects of the Sabbatical Year were not kept, or there wouldn’t be so many passages threatening disaster for failing to follow it.

  59. 59.

    John M. Burt

    October 20, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    I suppose I ought to think, “And therefore it will never happen” but . . . I don’t.
    Which I guess means the slogan is serving its purpose.

    This also reminds me of the world’s shortest alternate-history story:

    Hitler set down his beer, turned to me and said, “I must have seen one part or another of Wagner’s Ring cycle a hundred times, when one day during a performance of Ring des Nibelungen a thought struck me: it was about a man who sacrifices his ability to love for the sake of power, and lives to regret it. So why was I doing the same thing?”

  60. 60.

    mike in dc

    October 21, 2014 at 1:19 pm

    DO NOT go see the new “biopic” about Jimi. Slanderous and disappointing does not begin to cover it. So bad that the estate withheld the rights to use Jimi’s music, and his friends(including his former girlfriend) condemned and disavowed much of the content.

  61. 61.

    Jazzman

    October 21, 2014 at 1:22 pm

    Let Jimi speak for himself: “With the power / Of soul / Anything is possible.” From Power To Love on Band of Gypsys, which features a couple of the most blistering guitar solos Hendrix ever commited to vinyl.

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