2010-03-03

Any More and I'll Have To Make Ann Althouse Tag

There's some pretty funny stuff going on about Ann Althouse and her brilliant medical diagnosis of Obama's drinking habits.  Teh Funneh is pretty strong so if you haven't had a chance to explore - please do, and click the heck outta both the Althouse and TBogg links.  A richer vein of comedy hasnt' been opened up since Jonah Goldberg's last post.

Anyways with that type of snark going on elsewhere, it is pointless to try and compete here.  So why am I bothering to mention it?  As a jumping off point for a contrarian take on it all.  Althouse's last word on it is pretty typical - a revisionist recap that completely misses every the point of every criticism levelled at her.  That's not the interesting part.  The interesting part is this:
Ah, but look at the prudes — the killjoys — who freak out about drinking, who think that lifting one glass depicts degeneracy.

With S,N! to represent the prudes and TBogg for the killjoys.  You know, the usual group of Talibangelical Teetotalers.  It is to larf.

But perusing through the comment thread following that piercing jab of Althouse reveals that this actually what some people believe.  That teh Left is made up of a bunch of teetotaling prudes who shun alcohol and want to be the no-fun police.  Yup, there's even one guy citing some book to make the clear historical connection between the Puritans and the contemporary "progressive" movement.  Because, you see the Puritans settled in the North-East.  Also, the Puritans are all about elitism, which is a priori Leftsist.  (Also manages in the same comment to call progressives sexually promiscious - which is part of having a dire, joyless worldview.  PROTIP for Vitor Erimita - U R DOIN IT RONG)

This is their world.  Lefties are all about boinking like crazy but nobody is allowed to drink.  Except of course that Lefties like Obama are clearly at risk of being boozing party animals.  That religious-osity which is the fundamental driving force for Puritanism is a non-issue.  That contemporary folks who abstain from alcohol generally do so for religious reasons.  That Mormons are the group with the highest rate of self-identification as conservatives.

It's the black-and-white duality that is so ingrained into the conservative mndset.  That everything that is right and proper and good is conservative and since liberalism is the opposite, it contains everything that is wrong and evil.  Jonah's Magnum Opus is predicated on this conceit and its popularity amongst conservatives along with their complete inability to address any of the shockingly dishonest and ridiculously pathetic arguments made within its pages is an interesting demonstration of the concept.

So, booze is good - therefore liberals hate it.  Excessive alcohol comsumption is bad, therefore liberals partake in it.  Having fun is good, therefore conservatives are all for that.  Hedonism is bad, therefore conservatives are right to oppose it.  This is how Teh Left has become low-information-ebonics-spewing-ivory-tower-intellectual-elites and Islamo-Atheists and violent-pacifist-thugs.  This is how Wall Street is no longer a figure of the Market worshipping right but an integral part of the ACORN-run leftsist movement.

But you know what?  Biden doesn't drink, therefore Lie-berals are Puritans!!!one1

Apparently there's a vaccine for cognitive dissonance, it's conservatism.

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