No truer words were ever spoken, although these words as spoken sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to English teachers. Regardless, the late Dizzy Gillespie, great musician that he was, is dead spot on when he uttered this sentiment. (and no, Louis Jordan did not pen these words, he's the one who did that catchy little ditty back in 1944 'Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby'). And I wonder I just wonder what Diz would say about our president?
.
Is he who he is, or ain't he who he ain't? Barack Obama ran his presidential campaign as a vessel of 'hope and change.' We have all seen the changes that have come out of his 'new and improved' vision for the future of the United States. Is this the kind of change everyone who voted for Obama wanted? If the Zeitgeist were to answer this one right now, the answer would be a resounding, deafening, bold and capitalized "NO!" Note the author has also added an exclamation point, in addition to jacking up the font a smidge. I'm sure the Zeitgeist won't mind.
.
For those Obama voters who may be reading this by mistake, if they can read at all, the term "Zeitgeist" is simply the German word for 'spirit of the times.' More literally, it translates to "Time Ghost", but I'm sure you Obama voters have already lost interest in this and have moved on at this point.
.
I'm not inclined to go into the meat of what all Obama has done to our country so far, we all know and feel it, and most of us don't like it. I would rather point out the poignancy of Dizzy's words uttered so long ago, and yet ring so true today.
.
We all would love to believe that we can do anything we set our minds to. Our parents, teachers and mentors have always said so. Or at least recently it seems to be the mantra of the day. If one listened to all of this and took it to heart, then the following thumb nails would certainly provide an interesting take on that view of the future.
.
Yoshi (his friends call him 'Tiny') has dreamed of riding like the wind, his long hair trailing back as he streaks to the finish line aboard a thoroughbred such as Smarty Jones in the Kentucky Derby. He has set his mind to achieve this dream, and all he has to do is just do it, right? After all, everyone has told him that's all there is to it. First, of course, he has to tell his trainer that he no longer wishes to compete in the upcoming Sumo wrestling tournament, and would rather pursue his dream of being a competitive jockey. His trainer moans, wails and gnashes his teeth at this news, asking Yoshi, 'where am I going to find another 490 pound Sumo wrestler to replace you on the spur of the moment?' Yoshi tells the trainer that this is no longer his problem, and lumbers (or more accurately, waddles) off into the sunset, destined to achieve his dreams...
.
Or perhaps we should examine Ernie's aspirations and desires (Ernie's friends call him 'pencil neck'). Ernie has a burning desire to start at center for the New York Knicks. He can just see himself blocking Shaq's slam dunk, and feel the crowd roaring its approval. Yes, he can picture it all now, the cachophonous chant from the adoring crowd at the arena: 'Ernie! Ernie! Ernie!....' Well, Ernie has always been told that he can do anything, once he sets his mind to it. So Ernie rises out of his chair, stretching to his full height of 5 feet 6 and one half inches, heads towards the boss's office to give his notice and reach for that brass NBA ring.....
.
Not so fast, Yoshi and Ernie. Just remember: 'you is who you is, and you ain't who you ain't.' Or as Clint Eastwood said in the film "The Unforgiven,": 'a man's gotta know his limitations.' Before anyone ups and quits their day job, a firm reality check must be done. Life is, as most conservatives but few if any liberals are aware of, most definitely and assuredly not fair.
.
Is it fair that homely, big-boned gals with complexion issues never seem to win the Miss America crown? Is it fair that old, bald, fat guys never seem to anchor the network news? Does it seem fair to you that all of this is the harsh reality of the world, despite some of these homely gals and a few of these old, bald fat guys still dream of achieving a beauty pageant crown and anchorman chair, respectively?
.
Listen to Diz, and trust that his words are golden: "you is who you is, and you ain't who you ain't." Take these words to heart, and you will live a much happier life.
%20PiAware%20SkyAware.png)
11 comments:
Ok, you right wing nutjob. We're going to make it fair.
We're going to force it to be fair.
Then we'll rename you Harrison Begerron.
Kid:
As you know, this is how Obama thinks; equality of outcome is only fair, regardless of the effort put forth by a single individual in obtaining any desired outcome.
And witnessed by all of us when he told Joe the Plumber, 'spreading the wealth around is good for everybody.'
Yeah, good for everyone except those from whom he confiscated their wealth to pass around to his buddies...
Sure, call me Harrison Bergeron.
Kurt Vonnegut, although a little on the nutty side (politically), hit the nail more or less on the head when he came up with the concept of the United States Handicapper General. Unfortunately, this position's incumbent is also the current president.
I've never met anyone who is not who he is, or who is who he is not. It would therefore be unjust of me to single out President Obama. However, the problem - insofar as anyone is complaining that the Obama they're getting is not the one they thought they were getting when they hooked onto the bandwagon in 2008 - is that so many people can so easily be convinced of something that is obviously false. And in politics, we see it again and again.
It may require an unhealthy dose of pessimism about human nature to see things accurately; I'm not sure about that. But anyone who coldly evaluated Barack Obama in 2008 would have been able to predict that what America is getting now from its president is exactly what could have been predicted back then. None of what Obama has done has been a surprise. Not the massive government spending, not the unprecedented incursions into the private market, not the attempt to nationalize the health care sector, not the imposition of red tape and the threat of new taxes on the energy sector, and, above all, not the resulting sluggishness in the economy resulting from free enterprise's fear of what may be looming next.
Barack was, I'm sorry to say, bloody transparent about the whole business when he was an Illinois State Senator, and just so when he was a United States Senator, and in his private life and personal associations, AND during the blasted campaign in 2008. Such a shame that millions of voters failed to notice.
Humbug. Thanks for letting me vent, Freddo.
Fredd,
I like your examples. It is possible to be what you want to be albeit limited to ones own intellect and physical stature.
That said there is one exception to that basic premise (sadly) and that being the position of POTHUS.
RE: The Kid,
Don't ya love the "Force to be fair"?
Force is unfair in of itself.
El:
You point out that 'the problem...is that so many people can so easily be convinced of something that is obviously false.'
That is the singular problem we face now. We are all in this boat together, and we deserve who we elect as a population. You and me, El, we are the smart ones. But there's a whole lotta really dumb Americans out there who refused to see what an Elmer Gantry-type character this guy was from the git go. It was obvious to anyone with even half a brain, and only a 1/4 of one eye open.
Yet we elected him. We Americans elected this liar. This fake. This threat to the way of life we used to know.
I don't have an answer as to how its possible that we as a voting public have gotten so dumb, so naive and trusting of obvious lying sacks of sh*t like Obama. We did it once, we can blow it again, but perhaps we have learned our lesson the hard way?
Let's hope that is so.
Christopher:
My favorite JFK quote: 'Loif. Loif's nawt FAY'-yuh.'
(the New Englandese-to-American translation is 'Life. Life's not fair.')
Boy, have the modern day Democrats fallen far, far away from THAT tree. I would bet JFK could run and win a senate seat today as a REPUBLICAN.
"Life is...most definitely and assuredly not fair."
True. True.
Simple & brilliant.
"Barack was...bloody transparent...when he was an Illinois State Senator, and just so when he was a United States Senator, and in his private life and personal associations, AND during the blasted campaign in 2008. Such a shame that millions of voters failed to notice."
Speaking of nail on the head...This is a concept that continues to astound me.
Susannah:
And this concept evades 53% of the voting public.
Such a sad statistic.
Life sucks. You roll with the punches or you lose your mind.
Thanks to people who wear Liberal colored glasses, we are becoming a nation of whiny little sissies.
We can't be something we aint, but we can be all we can be, but that takes a lot of work and determination, something that more and more people don't want to undertake.
Don't want to work hard to reach your goals?
Fine, but don't whine about not reaching them.
"I yam what I yam, and that's all that I yam." ~ Popeye
Vonnegut's ideal about handicapping to make all people and things equal is exactly the philosophy of the American Liberal. Instead of building the have-nots up to the level of the haves, they try to bring the haves down to the level of the have-nots.
All part of the misguided attempt to level the playing field.
Mark:
Doh! I should have used that Popeye line in this piece.
Post a Comment