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Hilarious political satire on YouTube
09 November 2010
Found two brilliant, political satire videos on YouTube today. And if you follow US politics, you really have to watch these two. You will be amused. First is a take-off on Gilbert and Sullivan's "Model of a Major General" for a defence of Obama's presidency that hits home quite well:
Commentary on that video is on the Huffington Post site.
Then there's this very funny, but very scary singing comment on the Tea Party movement:
What's scary is the use of actual photos of Tea Party rallies. just read their signs... and again the Huffington Post has a commentary on it.
For many Canadians watching US politics, the Obama years have been quite confusing. Here's a guy who wants to extend basic health care to all American and get people free from the crushing costs of private, corporate-managed for-profit health care - and many of the very people who need that the most seem to be calling him a socialist. Or worse: a Nazi.
According to this page on Suite101.com:
Seems like an act both logical and compassionate to me.
And that's another thing: what Americans call left, Canadians (and most Europeans) call right. Maybe centrist, if we want to be liberal about it. But certainly the US "left" is light years right of anything we would consider left-wing. Socialist? That word is used to describe the Obama administration by people who obviously don't understand what it really means. They should read this Wikipedia entry before they use it again. health care reform isn't a socialist idea. Apparently real US socialists oppose the bill itself. Marxist? Communist? More hyperbole.
Nazi? This coming from the Tea Party advocates who threaten armed violence if they don't get their way is mere disinformation, much like a brutal, military dictatorship calling itself, "The Democratic People's Republic of North Korea". Nazis were a totalitarian police state. Obama's only advocating a plan to help the 47 million Americans - almost one in six - who don't have health care coverage. That seems more like FDR than Adolf Hitler or Karl Marx to me.
The accusation of being socialist, communist, fascist and destroying the American way of life always arise when US political leaders advocate ground-breaking legislation or significant government initiatives (usually when it threatens the benefits of the privileged). Obama himself commented on it when he was on Letterman in 2009:
But the US right wing doesn't really care what the words actually mean, just that they spark an emotional response. Even on this side of the border, rabid right-wingers have weighed in and commented with the same inflammatory rhetoric. This piece from the alleged "canadafreepress.com" site seems like it comes from a Tea party editorial (unlikely, since most of its followers are not all that literate):
The writer of this screed also calls Obama and his supporters "Marxists":
The epithet 'Marxist' is such a stretch it makes me snort with laughter. I'm surprised he doesn't call them "tennis shoes" or "sweet potatoes" because either would be equally fatuous as calling American politicians of any stripe "Marxists."
I think the frothing right is going to be in trouble finding appropriate sobriquets for their opponents in the near future, because while some of its older members may remember what Marxism and communism actually meant in realpolitik, the new generation growing up post-Gorbachev and post-Berlin Wall won't have the slightest idea what their parents are warning them against. They might as well be warning their children that the Democrats are "Free-Soil" or "Greenback" partyists for all the relevance terms like Marxist will have for them.
A second American Revolution, one fuelled by right-wing, gun-toting, racist, illiterate fundamentalists led by uber-twit Sarah Palin and her cohorts is a pretty scary thought.
But why they call themselves the "Tea Party" bemuses me. After all, the 1773 Boston Tea Party was an act of defiance against a matter of process: who had the right to apply a tax. It wasn't a revolution against government or taxation, but rather was a protest over which government had authority to levy those taxes (not, as I recall, saying the taxes should not be levied). And the actual phrase "Boston Tea Party" was not used until 1834, six decades later. The modern Tea Party has much more in common with the Taliban than its alleged historical ancestors.
Commentary on that video is on the Huffington Post site.
Then there's this very funny, but very scary singing comment on the Tea Party movement:
What's scary is the use of actual photos of Tea Party rallies. just read their signs... and again the Huffington Post has a commentary on it.
For many Canadians watching US politics, the Obama years have been quite confusing. Here's a guy who wants to extend basic health care to all American and get people free from the crushing costs of private, corporate-managed for-profit health care - and many of the very people who need that the most seem to be calling him a socialist. Or worse: a Nazi.
According to this page on Suite101.com:
Quote
Currently in the United States, the average cost of health care for a family is $12,000 per year. Approximately 47 million Americans are without any health coverage ("Barack Obama's Health Care Reform: Questions and Answers." The Times, August 13, 2009). According to his administration, Obama's goal is to build a government funded health care plan that would compete with private insurance companies. That way, Americans without jobs would still have an opportunity for coverage, plus families might be able to get coverage for less money.
Seems like an act both logical and compassionate to me.
And that's another thing: what Americans call left, Canadians (and most Europeans) call right. Maybe centrist, if we want to be liberal about it. But certainly the US "left" is light years right of anything we would consider left-wing. Socialist? That word is used to describe the Obama administration by people who obviously don't understand what it really means. They should read this Wikipedia entry before they use it again. health care reform isn't a socialist idea. Apparently real US socialists oppose the bill itself. Marxist? Communist? More hyperbole.
Nazi? This coming from the Tea Party advocates who threaten armed violence if they don't get their way is mere disinformation, much like a brutal, military dictatorship calling itself, "The Democratic People's Republic of North Korea". Nazis were a totalitarian police state. Obama's only advocating a plan to help the 47 million Americans - almost one in six - who don't have health care coverage. That seems more like FDR than Adolf Hitler or Karl Marx to me.
The accusation of being socialist, communist, fascist and destroying the American way of life always arise when US political leaders advocate ground-breaking legislation or significant government initiatives (usually when it threatens the benefits of the privileged). Obama himself commented on it when he was on Letterman in 2009:
Quote
"What's happened is that whenever a president tries to bring about significant changes, particularly during times of economic unease, then there is a certain segment of the population that gets very riled up," Obama said. "FDR was called a socialist and a communist."
But the US right wing doesn't really care what the words actually mean, just that they spark an emotional response. Even on this side of the border, rabid right-wingers have weighed in and commented with the same inflammatory rhetoric. This piece from the alleged "canadafreepress.com" site seems like it comes from a Tea party editorial (unlikely, since most of its followers are not all that literate):
Quote
What passes for “reform” in DC today, is blatant insanity. But since it is the work product of the Democratic Socialists of America, via their congressional committees, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus, and the political brainchild of Nancy “crazy as an out-house rat” Pelosi, I can’t say I’m shocked.
Seriously though, are we really going to limit our choices to “socialist reform” or “no reform” only? Secular socialist confiscation of 1/7th of our economy and the destruction of the best health care on earth – or – nothing at all?
Seriously though, are we really going to limit our choices to “socialist reform” or “no reform” only? Secular socialist confiscation of 1/7th of our economy and the destruction of the best health care on earth – or – nothing at all?
The writer of this screed also calls Obama and his supporters "Marxists":
Quote
Fact is – Democratic Socialists in congress and the White House have done this nation a great service over the last six months.
Their tyrannical leap into unrestrained Marxism has shocked a sleeping giant into action and the leftist rush to grab private industry after private industry put DC elitists on a collision course with average Americans who had been lethargically sliding down the slippery slope into totalitarianism for sixty years now.
Thanks to DC Marxists, the people are awake and engaged now! The people are standing up and speaking out! The Second American Revolution has begun!
Their tyrannical leap into unrestrained Marxism has shocked a sleeping giant into action and the leftist rush to grab private industry after private industry put DC elitists on a collision course with average Americans who had been lethargically sliding down the slippery slope into totalitarianism for sixty years now.
Thanks to DC Marxists, the people are awake and engaged now! The people are standing up and speaking out! The Second American Revolution has begun!
I think the frothing right is going to be in trouble finding appropriate sobriquets for their opponents in the near future, because while some of its older members may remember what Marxism and communism actually meant in realpolitik, the new generation growing up post-Gorbachev and post-Berlin Wall won't have the slightest idea what their parents are warning them against. They might as well be warning their children that the Democrats are "Free-Soil" or "Greenback" partyists for all the relevance terms like Marxist will have for them.
A second American Revolution, one fuelled by right-wing, gun-toting, racist, illiterate fundamentalists led by uber-twit Sarah Palin and her cohorts is a pretty scary thought.
But why they call themselves the "Tea Party" bemuses me. After all, the 1773 Boston Tea Party was an act of defiance against a matter of process: who had the right to apply a tax. It wasn't a revolution against government or taxation, but rather was a protest over which government had authority to levy those taxes (not, as I recall, saying the taxes should not be levied). And the actual phrase "Boston Tea Party" was not used until 1834, six decades later. The modern Tea Party has much more in common with the Taliban than its alleged historical ancestors.
It's not a parody, but it's as funny as if Rick Mercer could have written it...