City of Outrage

The flow of political activity in New York right now is reaching a crescendo. It was striking to see the depths of people's frustration on Sunday and the elation of how many shared that frustration. I was a little surprised to see that there was very little tension and/or violence, but it seems like this is increasing as smaller groups engage in direct confrontation. About these situations I feel a little like I did about the Tompkins Square Riot of the late '80s. Radical political actors are inevitable and in some cases necessary but do not necessarily translate into tangible political capital. Or maybe it's just: I'd rather not be arrested and I'm glad there are some who are.




Of course, outrage will be stoked by last night's speech by Herr Giuliani, our former fuhrer. The first 20 minutes or so were stiflingly boring, but he hit his stride when invoking sports metaphors to rouse the crowd. His pounding of the idea that Amerikkka needs a strong offense rather than defense may be a reference to the Yankees' poor pitching staff this year. He did get nerdy-jumpy as this part of the speech took off, responding to testosterone cheers by saying they reminded him of a Yankee game, which is an insult to Yankee fans. Other preludes to the 2008 campaign were his invocation of Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan as heroes, as well as the "European strategy of appeasement" stuff. This will of course taint everyone from pro-Palestinian rights activitsts (he did bring up Arafat) to anyone who believes in the U.N. (another institution hated by Rudy) as terrorist-lovers.

The Michael Moore bashing was also a striking Roman-coliseum style gambit pulled off by Rove-victim John McCain. It's almost masochistic the way he's playing this role. I'm reminded of Star Trek, particularly the episode when they visit the planet Ekos and discover it's been taken over by Nazis, who were unwittingly created by a misguided Federation governor who gave them a copy of Mein Kampf or something. McCain reminds me of that governor, who is seen in the episode drugged-up and put in a chair, making slurred speeches in support of Melakon, the earnest deputy fuhrer.



So here's the thing: Rudolph-rhymes-with-Adolph kept harping on this strong leader thing, something he rode to the New York City mayoralty when he rallied a mob of police outside City Hall while Dinkins was in office, and further rode a policy of police repression on the backs of blacks and Latinos for eight years. The Village Voice: CityState: A Bit Of Justice by Ed Morales

This is what Rudy says about leadership:

These are times when leadership is the most important. In choosing a president, we really don’t choose just a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or a liberal. We choose a leader. And in times of war and danger, as we’re now in, Americans should put leadership at the core of their decision. There are many qualities that make a great leader but having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader.

Okay, now go to this page: Dictionary.com/Translator, set the translator to from English to German, and type in the word "leader" for translation. So what word do you see on the German side?




Kirk: The problem with the Nazis wasn't simply that their leaders were evil, psychotic men. They were, but the main problem, I think, was the Leader Principle.
McCoy: What he's saying is that a man holds that much power, even with the best intentions, Just can't resist the urge to play God.
Spock: Thank you, Doctor. I was able to gather the meaning.