More Hooey

It's been a hell of a lot of fun watching the culture war reignite since Sarah Palin was nominated. And boy is it getting bitter! I think it's pretty obvious that -- on a visceral level at least -- I generally fit on the side of the rednecks. But I'm detached enough from the whole thing to find both sides pretty hilarious. The lefties have definitely lost a screw or few over the Lady Governor, but some of the reaction on the right is revealingly silly as well. Here's a good example from one of the right-wing blogosphere's graduates into the commentariat, Bill Whittle. In furthering my attempts to make enemies and annoy people, allow me to pick a little on a guy I generally agree with.

Let's break this article down into it's basic points:
The writer is a fantasy D+D geek
Education is run by Grima Wormtongue
[A gross misinterpretation of Toynbee]
The cultural elites are all useless Grimas leading the rot in our society
The good common folk of the country are being betrayed by those traitors above
[Another gross misinterpretation of Toynbee]
John McCain and Sarah Palin are standing up for all that's right and good

Does this not seem a little overly black and white? Sure, there were lots of insights into the human experience in Tolkein's works as Bill says. The analogies were illustrated in an extreme context in order to highlight the writer's points clearly. But it seems that Bill has done a reverse-double-backflip and started viewing reality in light of the analogies! Just because the analogy sort of fits does not mean that the fictional account is more real than reality. Bill, please -- get outside, Ipecac up the Koolaid, and stay away from the SCA meetings.