Monday, May 21, 2012

Value of self

While the engraving machine was chewing up a piece of brass, I was traipsing around the blogosphere and hit this Protein Wisdom link to a bit of investigation done by Doug Ross.  Gist of the story:  Ross dug around in web archives, looking for changes in Obama's "literary bio" - the junk that goes inside or on the back of a book jacket...

Turns out those bios were edited several times, marking such things as barry's ascension through State Senator, US Senator, etc...    The "born in Kenya..." parts remained after each edit, right up until 2 weeks before barry declared his intentions to run for the presidency - at which time it just went away and became "born in Hawaii..."

Alright, I'm a Birther Agnostic.  Evidence for/against Hawaii/Kenya is unconvincing to me.  I'm pretty much past caring about it.  Just seems like that dog won't hunt, and I don't think there will ever be a satisfying explanation.  And even if there were, I doubt it could become something actionable, or something that would sway much of the electorate.  So I don't sweat it.

But the dishonesty at work here really chafes me.  I, being human, am far from perfect.  I have lied.  I remember a time in 2nd grade (about 1977) when I was misbehaving on the playground and started a bit of a ruckus.  When confronted by the teacher on duty, I blamed it all on this bully kid I didn't like.  For once in his bullying life, the bully wasn't involved.  But because of his rep, (and mine) the teacher had no problem believing me.  He got in trouble and I skated.  Guess what?  That still bugs me.  I can't claim that's the only lie of told.  If only.  But I really, really, avoid lying.

(Parenthetic:  Aaron Schrempf, if you somehow happen upon this blog post, I'm sorry for making you look like a d-bag back in 1977.)

The LAST thing I can see myself lying about is just that: my self.  There are all manner of things that each of us holds dear.  Self is important to me.  Not in the "I gotta be at the front of the line!!1!" sense, but more in a "who I am and what I'm going to someday become is important to me" sense.  I generally don't give half a bleep about people think of me.  I care what I think about me - which influences dictates my treatment of others, particularly those I love.  Hence I can't even begin to understand how a person like barry could so cavalierly misrepresent the self.  To assert a false self implies that the genuine self is lacking.  I would consider that the ultimate betrayal, made worse because it was done by me, against me.  It would be a thousand times more preferable to shape and adjust my life until I WAS what I wanted to be, than to shrug off that effort and just claim it, while knowing otherwise.

It is further boggling that such a man could end up in the nation's highest office.  It would eat at me continually if I attained so much only by BSing people about who I really am.  If barry has so little respect for something as important as the self, how can he be expected to respect anything external?  Like Rights.  Institutions.  Laws.  This flaw of his is much more important than what patch of dirt Stanley birthed him on.

19 comments:

  1. Inno, it's all smoke and mirrors with this guy.

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    Replies
    1. Smoke from his bong and mirrors that he preens in front of.

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  2. I just had a pretty scary thought. What if he really was born in America. That he's really one of ours??? AAAAAAAAAAAAaAAaaA!!!!!!!

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  3. Not actionable? Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett has officially requested information from the State of Hawaii to verify, or not, his birth as an American citizen. The purpose of Bennett's request? To either leave or remove Obama's name on November's ballot. Ref: http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/05/18/20120518arizona-secretary-of-state-obama-citizenship.html

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    Replies
    1. Unlike your fellow Arizonan The Javelina Bomb, that thought DOES brighten my day.

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  4. Ahhh!!! Fredd (true name Aaron Schrempf) knew you ratted me out, knowing that I was out bullying another loser during that incident, but now that I know you confessed, chose to get even in the fullness of time.

    Inno, you will get yours,

    Aaron.

    NOTE: Just kidding. But there's that little thing out there called 'kharma,' and it has the patience of Job. But you're off the hook with Fredd, if that is any consolation.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for scratching me off your "people to grind into a pulpy mess" list!

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  5. To me, it isn't that big a deal. A liar is a liar, an A-hole is an a-hole - it doesn't matter where he was born. Well, aside from the fact that he's not qualified to become President if he's Kenyan. But hey, he's not qualified to be President even if he was born in the White House. But I do notice a trend of resume enhancement - Barky with his Kenyan mystique, Lizzie Warren with her Cherokee "heritage"...and isn't it interesting that both just happen to be Dems.

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    Replies
    1. It gets discouraging for me sometimes, being the ONLY ONE who isn't part Cherokee. Maybe I should just say I am so I could get invited to a luncheon or something. :/

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  6. I'm with you on the birth certificate thing, I trust that those in the media would have checked up on these things, but this latest is a bit much. Either this fellow was born in kenya and is hence ineligible OR he lied about where he was born to gain favor for being some sort of arfican or something.

    Either way it's not a good look, at best the president is a lying, conniving weasel.

    "...how can he be expected to respect anything external? Like Rights. Institutions. Laws."

    I think we all know by now that he as zero respect for any of those, including the wishes of the American people, he has nothing but contempt for you. You'd have to be a really sycophantic liberal to think otherwise. That or you're on some really good quality pot. :)

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  7. I think St. Barry played up the "born in Kenya" meme to get black votes in Chicago. Hey, he's born in Kenya. He's one of us!

    But when he decided to run for President this, ahem, constitutional scholar realized willy nilly that being born in another country could be a bit of a problem so he changed it to Hawaii.

    Too late to care. The damage has already been done.

    Oh, and King Shamus told me that you are STILL a bully.

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  8. Welcome to the liberal mind ... victory at any cost.

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  9. He's a narcissistic sociopath.

    Like his predecessor, Slick Willy, he actually believes the crap that the marketeers come up with. Bill Clinton, the "Man From Hope," spent just a few years there, actually growing up in Hot Springs in a pretty well-to-do household. Lord only knows where the fabricating truly begins in the Obama saga. We know there's no end to it. And, therein lies the key to his character -- a mere fabrication.

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  10. Well said, Inno. I've little to add to what the others already mentioned. I WILL add that I have zero respect for Obama. The office he holds? Yes. The man himself? Absolutely none.

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  11. While my theory is this: His mother was an American, so wherever he was born, unless she renounced her citizenship, he is an American.

    ...but I agree with you, most of the voters don't seem to care about any of his lies - about his family, about his church, about his grades, about what he taught, about who taught him, about who he hung out with... To a large percentage of the population, it is more important that Bush lied when he said, well, its not important what the actual words were, BUSH LIED!

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  12. Inno, this is a REALLY good post. I mean it.

    I read it in my GoobleReader right after you posted it, and have been trying to come up with some fabulous comment.

    Sigh...

    I've lied, too. And, I truly hate myself for it. Some of my lies have cost others much. I like to think that they deserved it, because they did...they were even bigger liars than me.

    Still...when I look back on the lies I told that harmed others (and benefited me), I truly am ashamed. I wish I could take them back. But, you can not un-ring a bell.

    I have lied to people that I love, and have given most all of my life-long efforts for. In each instance, I justified it by telling myself that "they don't need to worry about this...they have too much else on their plate to have to deal with THIS, etc., yada yada yada..." I'm not proud of it one bit. Eventually, the truth came out.

    Did I mention that I'm not one bit proud of it?

    I think the last round of lies taught me a couple of lessons.

    1) People that love you would rather know the truth, and would have done anything to help. So...trust them! They are MUCH MORE HARMED by the lie, than they would be by having something else laid on their plate. (Inno...it's a loooooooooong story that I wish I'd have known #1 about before I let it get to where it did. Truth is..."Pride" is an evil master. If I had not been so driven by him, I'd have trusted the people that REALLY love me. Like I said...long story).

    2) Time always tells. And, it always tells the truth.

    Maybe I should have swapped the order of those two, but I'm too lazy to CTRL-X - CTRL-V.

    Good post, Inno. I mean...really good.

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  13. Inno, I'm very late to this comment thread, but as the commenters above say, this is an excellent post. I agree with you about the birth stuff but you're also on the mark that O's resume changes reveal an almost sociopathic willingness to manipulate the facts.

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  14. I am glad you wrote about this, and I have linked you here: http://bobagard.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-important-is-integrity.html

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Family-friendly phrasing heartily encouraged.

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