"Neo" Conservative Talking Point: The Obama Administration Is ... The Matrix
By RJ Eskow Thursday Mar 12, 2009 4:00am
Here's another discredited story that won't die: the rumor that Obama created the post of "National Coordinator of Health Information Technology" in his stimulus package, presumably to steal your most personal secrets. (The position was actually created by President Bush in 2004, with broad bipartisan support.)
The latest appearance of this folktale - call it "Obama's Health Big Brother" - comes in a Bloomberg News editorial by Amity Shlaes that boldly goes where no metaphor has gone before. "Barack Obama has dropped us all into The Matrix," writes Ms. Shlaes, adding:
In the Obama Era, it seems, we all pick our way through anxious lives that have something to do with software. Like Keanu Reeves' Neo, we realize hour-to-hour that we are being manipulated by a system that has its own larger plan.
If only we keep a cool head, we tell ourselves, our powers of logic will help us escape the web. But each move we make, even the one that feels independent, takes us deeper into the Matrix ...
President Obama's $634 billion, 10-year health-care plan undoubtedly appeals to would-be Neos out there ... As in "The Matrix," freedom is a mirage ... and there's no escape.
Freedom's a "mirage"? I thought it was "just another word for nothing left to lose." But if she seems to be pushing her Matrix metaphor a little too hard in these paragraphs, wait until she compares Peter Orszag to Agent Smith. America reads this and wonders: Do I take the blue pill or the red pill?
(Think I'll take a Tylenol. It's blue and red.)
There's a pattern developing here, a new "scare 'em with spooky computers" approach that's gaining ground in the right-leaning commentariat. Why pick on the "national coordinator for health information technology"? Maybe because it brings up memories of all those computers-are-taking-over movies from the seventies. In this new conservative meme, anything with "computers" or "information" in it is sinister and dehumanizing.
I look forward to Amity Shlaes' next piece, in which she warns of the enslavement of humanity that's sure to come if people don't stop forwarding that cute video of a dog cleaning your computer screen from the inside.
Ezra Klein has more.
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PUKIES sure have their collective bussel in a bundle over Pres. Obama. Matrix - that is a stretch, tho.
They got NOTHIN'.
The older more seasoned wingnuts of the GOP have either retired, died or are living off of the lobby teat.
What remains is the most extreme of the GOP classes that gained office in the '90s.
It's poetry in motion
She turned her tender eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
Mmm - but she blinded me with science
"She blinded me with science!"
And failed me in biology
When I'm dancing close to her
"Blinding me with science - science!"
I can smell the chemicals
"Blinding me with science - science!"
"Science!"
"Science!"
Mmm - but it's poetry in motion
And when she turned her eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
Mmm - but she blinded me with science
And failed me in geometry
When she's dancing next to me
"Blinding me with science - science!"
"Science!"
I can hear machinery
"Blinding me with science - science!"
"Science!"
It's poetry in motion
And now she's making love to me
The spheres're in commotion
The elements in harmony
She blinded me with science
"She blinded me with science!"
And hit me with technology
"Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!"
I -
I don't believe it!
There she goes again!
She's tidied up, and I can't find anything!
All my tubes and wires
And careful notes
And antiquated notions
But! - it's poetry in motion
And when she turned her eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
Mmm - but she blinded me with science
"She blinded me with - with science!"
She blinded me with -
And here I thought freedom was just some people talking.
their fighters. Maybe I watch too many commercials.
Having never seen the movie, The Matrix, I guess I'm kinda at a loss here.
Oh noz! Computers are going to take over our lives? Hell, mine has already done that. I'm sitting here typing instead of doing breakfast dishes. Oh the horrors!
..see the MATRIX. Maybe bother with II & III but the first one ain't so bad. All the sentinels dress like conservatives.
Well, I hope you've already gotten your husband his breakfast and performed your wifely duties, before wasting time on that pc! LOL!
And wash those dishes, woman! LOL!
You missed nothing .... The movie was a stinker and then they repeated it.
I'm just not a big movie person. I would rather read any day than watch a movie. My husband is the movie watcher here.
Liberal and proud, Yes sir, I'll get right on those dishes. ;)
imagine that George Bush was still in office and the Palins were Democrats.
The networks would be "all Bristol all the time".
He doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get rid of it, or to trim it.
do Republican women trim it...or fully shaven?
How do you know he doesn't have someone working on that?
and it's probably a liberal staff member.
Conservative men need a road map.
Trim it? This administration seems to be mirroring Bushies.
So Obama is also against signing statements, except of course, when he does them.
Obama specifically stated that he would use signing statements to highlight items on which he had constitutional questions about, thus setting them aside while the courts review the issue.
Bush used his signing statements to completely ignore provisions of laws he had signed.
Obama's terrorist watch list, Obama's wars on terror, Obama's recession...eat shit troll.
The time for "I told ya so" was election night. Now let's get to work.
"Obama's Terrorist Watch List"....yeah, I'm sure Obama's had nothing to do since he was inaugurated but start a list of 'turrests'...uh huh....riiiiiiight. Fuckin doofus. Ya know, only so much of the shrub's/darth's evil can be undone in one day. Maybe give our human president a few more days?
Actually I still like the Obamainistration
Hate the Matrix
Pretentious crap.
Hey, Ysbaddaden....
Is Amity the dominatrix you envisioned jumping out of Amato's cake yesterday?
The GOP is the Jedi Order, and the liberals are the Sith! It's so obvious!
::: rolleyes :::
the GOP is the Federation...and liberals are the Klingons.
"Resistance is futile."
(And, yes, I *am* a Star Wars geek.)
then the GOP thinks it's the "Q".
http://p3.focus.de/img/gen/N/M/HBNM3Nvm_Pxgen...
Then they would have to admit there's something out there about as powerful as God.
There can only be one God for them.
As Picard said in one episode (paraphrasing): At least we were able to move past our religious superstitions.
If nothing else... Conservatives are the Romulans.
Qapla'!
If your still in here give me a heads up, ok?
I just did. Scroll up to 5:48
The Republi****s talk like Bush and Obama are part of the conspiracy and they never supported Bush. Now they want everyone to rebel against the government...even though when we all complained during bush they told us to STFU.
I'm moving to Texas to live under the Chuck Norris regime.
I just cannot be bothered to debate these clowns anymore.
Thank you C&L and thank you Grand Overlord kos for watching so I don't have to.
I think the last movie I saw was Finding Nemo, but I can't figure out how to work it into this conversation. :)
the GOP are the Pelicans...and liberals are the sea turtles!!!
Hang loose...little duuuude!! LOLOL!
Okay, I'll go with that. It just doesn't sound as sexy as the Matrix comparison.
The GOP are the seagulls -
"MINE! MINE! MINE!"
It works on so many levels
she was the stupid fish hahaha
Libtardz are so dumb! lol!
I've never been much impressed by either Star Trek or Star Wars, both were derivative as hell.
The republicans are principal Seymour Skinner
And the Democrats are Bart Simpson.
He'd handle this shit.
I thought that would be:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3YBxcynH6o
But from the little bit I heard, I'm gonna pick up some Honeymooners on DVD tomorrow.
thanks
Isn't it ironic that so many of these GOP scare tactic talking points should rightfully be about the antics of the Bush administration?
Damn near everything they come up with about the evils of the Obama administration are actually things that BushCo did, or tried to do...
When criticizing your opponents: Project, Project, Project, Project.....
When they criticize you: Deflect, Deflect, Deflect, Deflect....
What a crock. As noted , this was a neocon/Bush idea that passed in 2004, with the help of a gutless and complicit Democratic Congress. Originally part of the Total Information Awareness Big Brother program. they went ahead with it, and awarded GE the contract to develop the software for the program in late 2006. Everybody's medical and dental records are already subject to this violation of privacy, and that was long before Obama ever threw his hat in the ring.
"The Matrix," freedom is a mirage ... and there's no escape.
-No, you take the blue pill. ps.Matrix is a worthwhile series with a lot to ponder and a perfect ending (even if the flying machines are scientifically impossible)
Resistance is futile is actually most famous from the BBC series Dr. Who (in most circles of people).
Suggest to all Sci-fi nuts: Red Dwarf
It has crossed my mind that Cheney must have read Dune while of lsd back in his youth and had delusions of being Paul Atraides, except he got mixed up and became more like the Emporor with Bush as Baron Harkonnen.
Sorry for going OT- thanks for the post.
... could never have been Paul Atreides. Paul learned the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear ("Fear is the mind-killer ...") when he was young; Cheney was a fear-mongerer.
big Dr. Who fan...but like all...I have my favorite Doctor. Also, no one ever remembers or talks about the 1960's Dr Who And the Daleks and Dr. Who: Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D...with Peter Cushing as the Doctor. I loved them.
Red Dwarf...GREAT!!
Ok...here's one you can't find anymore...The Tripods.
Gawwd how I loved the BBC.
I watch Hitchikers Guide with the kid...the modern movie..it blew chunks. Then we rented the BBC series...crappy effects...but a great interpretation of the books.
.
about Dr. Demento, Dr. Pepper, Dr. Phil and Dr. Feelgood?
Positive, neutral, negative, neutral.
Peter Cushing essentially played the William Hartnell character, but was unusually bland unlike Hartnell and his own Van Helsing.
I've laughed more during multiple episodes of that series than the crap they've got to pass as comedy on TV nowadays.
The bit with Kryten and his pet penis Archie is pure comedic gold.
http://aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf
I think we should all email Ms. Shlaes with a note pointing out that a simple google search finds this url, http://www.hhs.gov/healthit/onc/background/
And, yes, it contradicts the fact on which she constructs the forced metaphor.
Yeah, so she basically sucks at the internets.
amityshlaes@hotmail.com
I'd say that if that 'health' isn't a conservative 'scary word', its at the very least something they fear in the form of 'socialized medicine'.
Whoever started/pushed this rumor probably understands computers enough to know that the first step towards universal healthcare is a record keeping system that only a computer could manage. Throwing a wrench into that process would delay or completely disable any attempt to have true universal healthcare.
Or am I just overthinking this again...
The GOP has no problems breaking laws and ignoring the Constitution to collect information and spy on people to prevent terrorism, but talk about data management to provide universal healthcare, and it's the work of Satan.
Only Blimpaugh, the GOP spokesman and leader, has morons listening to this bullshit seriously anyway. Americans with a brain can see through Reslugs lies, especially after the last eight years.
...gathering personal information or monitoring our lives?? Now?
The same folks who applauded the previous admin listening in to every single conversation Americans had over their phones? Who stood mutely while that a-hole suspended posse comitatus? And habeas corpus?
The masks have really come off haven't they?
I am stunned by the sheer audactiy of their two-facedness. Really stunned.
after they ran up the largest public spending spree in the history of mankind.
Being a god damned hypocrite of the maximum caliber seems to be a requirement to join the GOP elites.
How else can you explain that an whoremonger adulterer with a deviant diaper fetish like Vitter, can with a straight face feign moral outrage at the "indecency" of homosexuals trying to get married.
pickup the box set of the Honeymooners, you get all the original shows for a very good price.
pre-approved stuff from people I like to share with my family
thanks
LOL okay hand me the remote, oops where's my twitter, oh wait need email, ooh look at this new web site, cell phone . . . . . gotta have it.
MsNbCeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
How nice ... why does no one point out that she was SEC Commissioner during the days of look-the-other-way regulators, runaway derivates and ponzi schemes???? She has ZERO credibility.
No. Shlaes does indeed have zero credibilty but she was never an SEC commissioner. However, she is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Amity Shlaes Wiki entry here.
-AF
HAL: I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid.
hee hee....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukeHdiszZmE
I am afraid I can not do that....
She looks less Matrix than Natrix
As in Domina...
Medical Advisors To Recommend Innovations to the eXecutive
I could swear the Republicans loved them computers when we had to give away all our privacy so that they could track our every move.
But as soon as technology is used to help people.... Aaaah, then the technology is eviiiiiiiil.
Do we any more proof before we label Republicans for what they are: the party of your average sociopath?
Newsflash for you stupid neocons. Obama doesn't need to pass any freakish laws to collect whatever information on you he wants. Those laws were already provided by his predecessor.
So shut your flapping, lying mouths.
has been Bizarro World, but not because of Obama.
"A neocon is someone who watches The Matrix...and believes it's real." - Lewis Black
Amity Shlaes has drunk the gop koolaid
and mixed it with her recycled douche water.
-AF
Is the fact that this is really Bush's Health Information Czar supposed to make us feel better about all our health info going into one big database for easy pwning? If so it's not working for me.
the Republican Senat and House during the Bushie years. EVERYTHING was controlled and dictated from the office of Dead-Eye-Dick... his assassins ERASED anyone who actied against the prevailing political structure of his ROVIAN WEB. Justice was in on it... the State department was IN... everybody marched in line with the White House.
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