Very true. And yet, they call you the cult members. I think one of the most offensive sig lines I ever saw on this site was one which said, "We are the ones we've been waiting for ... Hale-Bopp take them awaaayyyyy." I think that offensive idiot finally got a well-deserved banning.
That's depressing to hear.
Yes, it is. But it's also somewhat encouraging to know that Jerome had the good sense to ban her.
was particularly hollow and narcissistic pander. I may not agree with writing a diary like the one you mention but I do have something less than respect for someone who would be carried away by such a line.
It is basically capturing the same theme as 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.'
And you know what, it works because it taps into that frustrated undercurrent of people who feel like the government has stopped representing them, people who want to do something about it. It is a message to motivate people to actually get involved in the political process, and from the size and effectiveness of Obama's volunteer base, it was obviously effective.
Citizens, Democrats, are being inspired to actually get involved in the democratic process... and this is somehow a bad thing? Obama or his supporters should be ridiculed for being enthusiastic? When was that enthusiasm ever a bad thing when trying to win a campaign.
Face it, this whole 'cult' meme is just a convenient way of trivializing Obama supporters to discouraging others from examining the substantive reasons why we might support our candidate.
Actually the vibe I get off 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' is one of self sacrifice for the greater good.
While the vibe I get from 'We are the ones we've been waiting for' is more 'YES we're solve everything without problems because we're so fircking awesome!!'
To me it just feels off. it always reminds me of the last two paragraphs of HST wave speech.
And that, I think, was the handle--that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting--on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . .
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark--that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.
The unfocussedness of his movement makes that sort of ending a risk.
For the rest I like him just fine, his standpoints are marginally better then those of clinton, so I'm perfectly happy to support him now he has the nomination locked up.
I think you're misreading it (well, I know from my perspective you are).
I don't think Obama's saying it'll be easy or that we're all so great and wonderful, or anything of the sort. He in fact often talks about this being a difficult struggle that will take a lot of hard work.
The point of the line is this: that we need to stop waiting for someone else to bail us out, that we are, or can be, the force to change the system. As long as we wait for someone to sweep in and save us, we're going to be waiting a long, long time.
Honestly, most Obama supporters are as far from cultists as I can imagine. We know he's not "the savior" or the magic force that will right all wrongs. He's a rallying point, a focus for energy, but it's the 1.5 million and growing active participants in the campaign that are the energy. That means we all need to be active participants, get off our butts and work to be the change we want. He's not going to do it for us; no politician is. Obama's just the best focus for our collective energy that we have available, because his campaign and strategy is built around channeling a large grassroots organization into an effective political tool.
from Alice Walker, feminist icon?
Fact is that this line has a long history in womanist and feminist circles. Sad to see it attacked by people who see themselves as feminists.
