Changing the world

It’s talked about quite a lot. Obama ran on it, but I have yet to hear anyone ever specify; FROM WHAT, TO WHAT. To hear someone embrace “Change” without specifying “from what and to what” is more than a little disturbing. It has to mean that you believe things to be so bad right now that they can’t get any worse, and that therefore ANY change will be for the better. I’ll have to assume that you’re motivated purely by angst, and that will never turn out well.

Change means you’re moving away from some particular situation or condition, and toward some other situation or condition. If you’re going to advocate unspecified change, or talk about changing the world as though it should be taken as a given that changing the world would be a good thing, then you’re insane. Simple as that.

If you’re telling me you want to change the world, you’d best be specific as to what you believe is wrong with it right now, and be specific about your premises, ideals and goals. Then we have something to discuss. Otherwise I have no time for you.

Share

7 thoughts on “Changing the world

  1. I actually have a theory about this, and it goes back to blaming Bush. Oh yeah.

    Remember when that was the go-to phrase for everything? 9/11, blame Bush. Katrina, blame Bush. Car runs out of gas, blame Bush. I remember when I started hearing a lot of noise of “Anybody but Bush” with the implication that ANYbody could do a better job than Bush.

    So when we get around to a new president, we suddenly have a magical black man running for the position with the full backing of the media, Lincoln, and Jesus (who might actually *be* Obama, depending on who you listened to). We hadn’t had a black president ever before, and he was sold on his novelty (this is truth and you know it). But most importantly, he wasn’t Bush. And since “Anybody but Bush” could be better, surely a racial-barrier-breaking Obama must be. I mean, the mantra had been repeated so long that it must be true!

    Right?

    • Well sure, all of that, but this “change the world” stuff goes way back. It was in song lyrics in the 1960s for example;

      “I’d love to change the world
      But I don’t know what to do…”
      (which right there is a good illustration of the stupidity)

      It’s probably as old as the hills.

      Adam and Eve, if you’re into that sort of thing, were, in a certain way of looking at it, seeking to “change the world” by partaking of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

    • I just wanted it documented in terms as clear as I could make them. No doubt millions of people were thinking it back then too. We have a poster on our wall from several years ago, which we took off of a web site somewhere;

      “I’ll keep my money, my freedom and my guns. You can keep the “Change”.

      People from all walks of life continue to use the term “change the world” without explanation, as though it were something we all understood in the same way and so there should be no need for clarification.

      The Muslim Brotherhood wants to change the world.
      Hitler wanted to change the world
      Marx wanted to change the world
      Stalin wanted to change the world
      Bush 41 wanted to change the world

      Did the American founders talk in terms of changing the world? I don’t know. I don’t recall any language to that effect.

  2. Change was a dog whistle for more government money.
    Kids in college imagined they were being promised easy high-paying jobs.
    Kids living at home imagined they were being promised apartments.
    Single women imagined they were being promised surrogate husbands – car subsidy, phone subsidy, housing subsidy, freedom from needing to work.
    Old folks -> more social security, lower health care.
    Environmental whack jobs -> healing of Gaia.
    Internal enemies of the US -> weakened US.

    The Stimulus Package was a good faith effort to pay off all these promises. Obama truly thought he could increase spending and pay massive bribes with no economic consequences.

    • Economic consequences? There has not been a single person competent in economics working for the government in a very long time. Certainly not since Wilson, 100 years ago this year, decided to destroy our money and thus our economy. Not long afterwards, FDR did his part to finish the job.

  3. I have a poster up on my wall from the last election. Shows a close-up of an Osprey flying with a large fish in it’s claws. Caption is:

    “FORWARD?!?
    Just because you’re moving forward doesn’t mean that you are going to a better place…..”

    Goes along with the whole “Change” meme.

Comments are closed.