Open Thread: Neighborhood Expression of Care

Funny. Fred Rogers seems totally unaware of the effect (4.00 / 2)

of what people hear, rather than what they see.  It's the voice that raised goosebumps in Pastore; not Fred's "looks."

Anyway, while the "neighborhood expression of care" is a good and valid principle, I'm inclined to argue it doesn't go far enough.  It seems ironic, but the emphasis on the individual and every person's specialness, has served to distract from social or societal obligation.  Individual rights, for example, are worthless absent the recognition of a social obligation to respect and promote and support them.

And that's true whether the rights at issue are civil or human.  What good is the right to life when individuals are deprived of the necessities of life?  What good is the right to remain silent when a person's ability to earn his daily bread is dependent on denying his sexual preference?  What good is a right to privacy when earning one's daily bread depends on giving a sample of one's urine?  What good are private property rights when all the resources needed to sustain life have been claimed by someone else?

Yes, calling for social obligations to be met sounds strange because the phrase has been degraded into a ritualized behavior with less practical use than grooming among the chimpanzees.  Conservatives have actually gone a step further in promoting the anti-social stance as a desideratum, effectively turning private property rights into a sop to disguise their rejection of social obligations.  I can almost hear Barbara Bush say "take your rights and get out of my sight" -- i.e. "I wash my hands of your plight."

The thing about rights is that they don't put food on our families.  Satisfied social obligations do that.

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by: hannah @ Wed Jun 16, 2010 at 06:44:46 AM CDT

Another strange thing here (4.00 / 3)

is that the senator is actually receptive to Mr. Roger's remarks.  His questions are not posed to provide soundbites but to offer an exchange, to draw on the expertise of the witness.  And upon hearing that expertise, his opinion is shaped and transformed.  We really don't see this anymore; we have ritual instead of government, acting instead of action.

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by: FrankLloydMike @ Wed Jun 16, 2010 at 08:17:55 AM CDT

Ambassador Duke calls it again. (0.00 / 0)

The Doonesbury character, now a hired-gun political image consultant, has been for the past few days telling BP's executive team to lose the British accent.

Yesterday Obama demanded that the Chairman, not the CEO, meet with him.

And the Swedish-accented Mr. Svanberg spoke for the company today.

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by: elwood @ Wed Jun 16, 2010 at 20:46:36 PM CDT

And he did so well (4.00 / 1)

Ambinder:

Dickensian Moment of the Day

BP's Chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, explaining to the press why President Obama is frustrated with his company:

"He is frustrated because he cares about the small people, and we care about the small people...we care about the small people."

Unless the discussion veered off into a direction that was unanticipated -- i.e., a mutual cognizance of the struggles that dwarfs and little people face in society -- I cannot imagine someone saying something more brilliantly clueless and Dickensian on a day like today. Also, it doesn't help that the guy has a Swedish name that could easily be mistaken for a German one. So it's Dickensian AND sinister.

"Politics ain't beanbag" - Finley Peter Dunne

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by: William Tucker @ Wed Jun 16, 2010 at 20:59:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's the PICTURES that got small! (4.00 / 1)

not my oil company...

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by: elwood @ Wed Jun 16, 2010 at 21:04:29 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I've strolled by that snot-green sea in the morning (4.00 / 2)

Saw a bicycle there, but the tower was locked and not yet open for tourist season.

The tower where Stately, plump Buck Mulligan launched the book that Bloomsday and Dean's tweet remind me of.

(PS: KMRIA.)

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by: elwood @ Wed Jun 16, 2010 at 21:16:55 PM CDT

Somehow I started off this Bloomsday (4.00 / 1)

journey identifying with Dedalus and ended up with Poldy.

What's next for me, the one-eyed bully Cyclops?

People come and go, but the epic (ancient and modern version) remain.


birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Thu Jun 17, 2010 at 05:37:21 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Incredible (4.00 / 1)

You should read the wikipedia article on it too -- it was not typical of Pastore:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...

Thanks for the link to this.

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by: Mike Caulfield @ Thu Jun 17, 2010 at 06:24:41 AM CDT