Third awakening
No sleep till Brooklyn
September 14, 2006 10 comments
George W. Bush senses there has been a “third awakening” in America. Three naps a day is pretty good for a President: even two naps is not bad, if you count getting up in the morning as the first awakening. Oh, sorry, by “third awakening” he actually meant a resurgence of “faith” in America. What kind of “faith”? Well, the First and Second Great Awakenings were both outbreaks of evangelical Christianity, but let’s not be so specific this time. Relating the “third awakening” to what Bush called, in the same press conference, our present “confrontation between good and evil” does sound specifically Apocalyptic, though, doesn’t it? It is the Rapture, the End of Days, one bugle-blast from Judgment. Perhaps it is because I am sleepy, but in my mind, “third awakening” conjures the slow opening of a Third Eye, right in the middle of Bush’s forehead.
If it is a confrontation between good and evil (‘we’ are good and ‘they’ are evil) then of course we must totally stamp out and destroy evil and whatever else we do can’t be all that bad if it is necessary to destroy evil. So what could be wrong with torturing evil? Can it really be so bad to carpet bomb evil?
That kind of talk scares the hell out of me.
What could be wrong with torturing evil?
That’s an excellent way to put the point. After all, the evil in Hell, as I understand it, are tortured for all eternity, besides which anything we can do on Earth arguably pales.
Still, if Yoda were around he might have something to say about it.
Since Bush often doesnt seem to know what he’s talking about, the “Third Awakening” could mean almost anything. It does sound rather cultish or apocalyptic, and that would fit with his professed religiousness and Karl Rove’s political strategy.
But it might have a more personal meaning: his first awakening was when he was converted and became “clean”; his second would be when he discovered the war on terror and made himself “war president”; and the third would be when he realized what he was war president for –the grand crusade to end evil on earth.
This is called the three stages of awakening to megalomania, in medical science.
From the WaPo link:
Culture of the ’50s? I thought that was supposed to be the golden era or something.
And what was this “– boom –” thing – did someone’s head explode?
abb1 – yes, funnily enough, someone’s head did explode. Zapruder even caught it on film.
This new era in American politics also started with a boom. But I wouldn’t call it an awakening.
Oh, I see. Sorry, I misunderstood: I thought he was contrasting the culture of 50s and 60s with the current awakening, but in fact it’s the idyllic 50s vs. the evil 60s and now back to the good days. Got it.
“…It’s someone saying ‘Guess what’ and then the kinetic action begins,” he said, meaning an informer disclosing bin Laden’s location…”
…and then the kinectic action begins…
He just can’t help it – the poor guy – almost every word out his mouth is unspeak… :-D
Yes, “kinetic” as code for “fast-moving chunks of metal” is an old favourite. All this talk of awakenings to megalomania and exploding heads has me rather worried.
Well, how do you explain the “– boom –” recorded by the WaPo reporter?
Oh, I think DF’s theory is unassailable. It just has me worried about the state of the world.