Hate Bush?
Hmmmm. . . hate is a pretty strong emotion that takes a lot of energy, and I've never considered any politician worth going through all that trouble over. . .
Do I dislike and at times loathe the man? Most definitely. . .
Now, although I don't think "dislike and loathe" are exactly the same as "hate," all three terms represent various levels of strong negative emotions about someone or something. .
So although it might not be scientifically unassailable, in the name of casual political research I think it might be possible to test Dr. Hanson's psychological model. . especially since Dr. Hanson's doctorate is in Greek and Latin Lit and not Political Science or Psychology .
Heck, in the sense of fairness ad continuity; for this exercise I'll even use the word "hate" to describe my perhaps irrational emotions. .
Okay, Dr. Hanson was kind enough to concede on behalf of all haters like me an
"admission that much of the invective is irrational, fueled by emotion rather than reason. . ." and that my hatred is "pathological" (altered or caused by disease) and
. . "not explicable in terms of rational disagreement. "
Now in order to test the good Doctor's thesis we need to make sure we know what it means. . . now "invective" means "insulting or abusive language". . . "irrational" is "something not based on reason" . . . "pathological" means "altered or caused by disease". . and "not explicable in terms of rational disagreement" means "not capable of being explained by reason. . "
So it seems to me basically Hanson's working thesis is this:
"Although I didn't ask them; I know this Bush Hater here(meaning me) agrees that much of the abusive and insulting language he uses to describe Bush is not based on reason, but rather it is a manifestation of hatred impossible to explain by reason because it can only be the result of mental illness. . "
Well now. . . if that hadn't come from a non-Bush hater I'd almost call that theory irrational invective. . . but that's probably just my mental illness talking. . LOL!!
All righty.. in order to see if Hanson's model works, we need a few stated reasons as to why someone like me would hate Bush so much, and then we just need to look and see if there is no other way to explain it but in the terms he claims. . .
Okay, here we go. . .
I "hate" Bush because:
He ordered the military to drop thousands of cluster bombs and napalm on Iraq knowing neither was needed as a tactical weapon, and knowing even the highest estimates of bombing accuracy by the military is 90%; meaning 10% would go places we didn't mean them too and would end up killing hundreds of innocent Iraqi's and that the cluster bombs would continue to kill children for years. . .
I also "hate" Duh-bya (hey look, an ivective! ;0
) because he claimed the Iraqi situation was a "liberation" and strongly chastised anyone who dared call it an "occupation". . until about six months later when he decided to admit it was an occupation after-all although he refused to admit he ever claimed it wasn't one. . and he also claimed they had fully weaponized weapons of mass destruction before the war but now claims he said "weapon programs" not actual weapons. .
I
don't hate Bush because he went along with that whole "Top-Gun" photo-op of landing on the aircraft carrier in the jumpsuit and said "major combat was over" in front of the "mission accomplished" banner although he well knew it was a political decision and not a military conclusion. . and he let his people tell the American people that it wasn't a photo-op and that the only reason he flew in like he did was because it was the only way for him to get there without slowing down the troops trip home because the ship was so far out to sea . .
Then when the always sharp press pointed out that they had come out to the same ship on boats and that it was floating only a few miles off shore and had been floating there for a couple hours and had turned it so the site of the shore and the relatives waiting on the soldiers on the dock wouldn't be seen on TV. ; Bush sent his people out to say that they thought the ship would be too far out and by the time they realized it was getting there faster then they expected it was to late to change their plans. Then when that lie fell apart, Bush sent them out to say he did it because he wanted to relive his glory days as a fighter pilot. . .
No, the "hate" I feel for him concerning that incident is after constantly using the military as a backdrop and claiming such respect and honor for those who serve in it. . a few months later when our soldiers kept dying in Iraq and the "Mission Accomplished" banner was becoming an embarrassment to him, Bush himself came out and blamed whole thing on the men and women on that ship. . he said it was their idea, not his and not his people's.
And then when that didn't go over too well, he sent his people out the next day to say they had made the banner and the sailors had hung it. .
I "hate" him because he swaggered up and challenged all present and future terrorists to "bring it on!" if they wanted a piece of him in Iraq. . . his tough-guy act was pretty impressive until you remembered he was thousands of miles away from the actual fighting and men and women who were just there doing their duty are still paying a price because at least some terrorists took him up on his rhetoric. . .
Okay, there's a few examples of my "hate" for Bush and why I feel that way. . .
Obviously I think I'm being rational; but then if Dr. Hanson is right that would be because of a mental illness and I wouldn't know any better . .
So I guess it up to whoever wants to read my examples and then compare them with Hanson's thesis to decide if you think he has a valid point or not and if there's any important lessons to be learned with it.. .
I'm heading for the track; will read any thoughts you all might have on this. .
