Semi-Thoughts on Liberal Intolerance, Quebec as Tin-Pot and American Hegemony

-I read somewhere about Sean Penn's attack on 'Team America-World Police' and it prompted the following thoughts.

Team America is a funny movie. Witty in its logic, writing and parody of Bruckheimer films and modern celebrity. I have very little tolerance for people who speak of freedom (in all its forms) but seek to suppress it when it does not fit their own private poorly constructed ethos. Liberals (insert your own definition) fear the oppressive nature of modern American politics.

Robert Crumb escaped the theocracy for freer spaces in France. One man's tea is another man's coffee or espresso - whatever. At least he made good on his word - not like those cowards who threatened to leave but stuck around.

The problem is not the armada of various branches found in conservatism but of the ironic fact that liberals are acting like traditional conservatives of yesteryear in holding on to their world view. While progressive conservatives, again ironically, seek to preserve all the ideals and inroads brought and fought by the American liberal tradition.

Follow? Me either.

Liberals cling to outmoded and irrelevant philosophies that are hopelessly out of touch with most Americans and they refuse to acknowledge this. Worse, they seem prepared to cram it down people's throats.

Which brings me back to Penn. His self-serving moronic escapades in Iraq and at the UN has not contributed anything insightful to international relations but it has revealed the limitations to celebrity influence. They go from beloved movie stars to irrelevant buffoons in a hurry. As I pointed out in past blogs, there has been a blurring of job lines where everyone feels compelled to over step their boundaries - it's a culture of ultracrepidarians.

Penn is an artist and has decided to publicly attack another artists work. No one seemed to attack Michael Moore's utterly repugnant films in Hollywood. Sure they didn't - it fit their world view. Tyranny, alas, comes in many forms.

-Speaking of intellectual tyranny, on a more local level, right here in Montreal, the Montreal Gazette employs a pseudo-sports writer who condescendingly feels the need to lecture his readers on history and politics through a narrow prism of nonsensical babble speak that would make the Jabberwocky proud.

They say you are only as strong as your weakest link and the sports pages of that paper are poorer for keeping his self-serving and oft hypocritical column in print. He is incredibly personal and intolerant in his reporting. It's all so, well, boring and tiresome. Bring us someone who can offer real deep thought provoking insights free of the stench we find in a dirty University water-hole where narcissistic neo-hippie boomers wallow. The only real zero in Montreal is Jack Todd.

-For you Americans reading this blog if you ever happen to read any stories about Quebec separatism where its political class and masters claim to be democratic do not believe it. This province is a sunken treasure of golden jewelery for anyone interested in studying the contradictions found in a democratic society. With recent confirmed reports about the treasonous and scandalous behaviour of the Parti-Quebecois (a political party on par with 19th century socialist romantic doctrines) and its treatment of voting irregularities in many English speaking polls across the province is something you hear in tin-pot banana republics. Mind you, Quebec is not too far off this reality at times.

Revolutionary protectors of the French culture have taken this paranoid stance a little too far. It has built and designed itself an intellectual framework to justify their exclusionary ideology. Worse, it plays with its citizens future by using manipulative and creative junk rhetoric that exploits people on an emotional level to push their heroin induced madness. They have no plan to secede. They plan to wing-it so to speak. This speaks volumes to the actual maturity level of the independent movement in this sometimes backward political swamp land where free-thinking is dead. And oh yes, unemployment is as high as 20% in some regions. If they secede, the economic engine of Montreal should pack its bags quickly to not be a part of this pathetic exercise.

Here's a small insight into how this second-rate political expression behaves. They have elected officials in Ottawa who have a mandate to break up the country - they earn a Federal pension paid by all Canadians. They talk of killing Canada but want their money - merci. Of course, they argue they are entitled to it. Much like a teenager who wants to rent a loft downtown to express their independence only they expect their parents to pay for it. It is also home to a language watch-dog outfit known as the language police which amounts to public harassment. They literally fine hard-working, law abiding citizens who pay taxes for not observing the provinces repressive language laws. They roam the streets of Montreal with rulers measuring the size of English letters on store windows. I kid not. Such a sophisticated society. The gimme, gimme society where the unions rule all. If its own economic base is not free-standing how could its intellectual classes who are slaves to their inept theories.

-Here are a couple of eye-opening stats about the ubiquitous American hegemony that seeks to dominate us all. While spending on the military is staggering in the U.S. (though it is tiny on a percentage level given the sheer enormity of its economy), U.S. bases (which are being trimmed for strategic purposes) across the globe is smaller than what it was during the height of the Roman Empire. So much for that. America is a disinterested empire that has not yet come to the full realization that it is one. Only when they do will they be able to narrow down the bad public relations image largely built on perceived contradictions. London used locals to build and expand societies liberal traditions. While America's attempt to export this tradition is not as bad as people think, though it has some notable failures, it suffers from a lack of adjustment it needs to make in order to effectively get the job done in place like Afghanistan and Iraq.

One area American hegemony creates much anger is culture - namely through pop culture. True, American pop culture is massively popular and powerful in its breathtaking scope. However, what little is known is how much America imports and borrows ideas. Just look at how many internationals work for and with NASA - including many Canadians. Many famous American shows have been off-shoots and derivatives of programming from places like Canada, Britain and Australia. Its films often borrowed from ideas Germany, Italy and France and more recently Japan (including comics and animation). That is the beauty of America. Its ability to absorb so many ideas and talent from abroad and make it uniquely American. So much for the narrow-minded and self-absorbed American. It seems to me that a society can't be both successful internationally and be self-absorbed internally entirely.

According to 'Screen Digest' a recent study published in the recent 'Foreign Policy' issue Britain leads all nations in total of hours of film exported in 2004. They were followed by The Netherlands, U.S., Australia and Sweden. Notice where America is - in 3rd - though not too far off. Nonetheless, it makes an important statement. India itself produces twice as many movies as the U.S. France, one of the more vocal anti-American culture freaks, imports the most hours. No one is twisting their arm.

On a side note, much is said about anti-Americanism (where it is not uncommon to hear intellectually depraved comments like 'rogue nation' lives) these days as institute like the Pew reveal but I suspect pro-Americanism is much more powerful in the world. The 'we love Americans but not their President' stance is hogwash to me. You judge a country by how many people want to get in it.

There is a direct comparison to be made to Renaissance Italy and its wealthy and remarkable republican city-states. Italy was the gateway to everything coming from Byzantium, the Middle-East and Asia. Italian merchants and artists were constantly exposed to what was happening in what was at the time more advanced societies. The genius of Italy was how it mastered the commercial aspect (thus inventing, enhancing and perfecting accounting and banking practices for example) of trade and more importantly how it learned and added a uniquely Italian twist to all things. Soon enough, Italy became a financial and cultural center that influenced Western culture. Its achievements remain with us until this day. The flowering and expansion of Occidental culture found a rebirth in Italy for the second time (the first being in Rome) only it was now Milan, Florence and Venice who were the purveyors of humanism that led to all remarkable discoveries. It literally woke up Europe. Italy's well-deserved reputation as a brilliant industrial and manufacturing society as well as masters in the art of good taste has its roots in the Renaissance.

America is very much the Italy of modern times. While it is true there is a 'flight of creativity' as Richard Florida put it - youthful talents are opting for places like Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney these days- America remains the center of civilization akin to Renaissance Italy where people from everywhere came to be with the best. Enjoy the experience or you'll miss it.