The latest in my "Tenuously Related to the Blog's Theme" series
My grandfather brought us to the internet when I was just a little
boy. Tired of the banality of vanilla media and Must See TV, he packed
up his family and moved us to the newest land of opportunity in the
hopes that my generation wouldn't be bored to death by Krauthammerian
rantings and non-Hasselhof Knight Riders.
Each year, he would sit the children down and tell us a story by the dying light of a 14.4 baud modem. It was about a block of text not so different from every other line of code hurtling across the interminable distance between host and client.
A man describes early life as one of fleeing from oppression. He relates the story of a young leader who paves the way to hell with claims of good intentions and buzzwords meant to incite the proletariat to act toward what they think will be a better tomorrow.
The narrator uses his tale to tie a universally reviled leader of a foreign country whose ideals run counter to ours to a prominent national figure with whose ideas he disagrees. The moral of the story is your basic "Greeks bearing gifts" scenario updated for modern times, and the delivery is generally tenuous and borderline tinfoil hat-ish.
The details of the story have seen revisions as political figures come and go; the most-recent version bouncing around the internet takes the form of various Obama vs. Castro comparisons penned by anonymous Cubans (and, I would wager, opportunistic Cuban imitators).
It's political old hat, really, and certainly well-known enough as bad form as to be used as a legitimate tactic. Right?
Not so, says Raul Lopez, Chairman of the TN Republican National Hispanic Assembly, in the TNGOP's weekly report. As is tradition, here's a call-and-response:
Pretty mix-and-match, isn't it? Lopez did take the liberty of updating some of the talking points to match the current national situation, but trying to somehow connect the dots between Castro's armed insurrection and Obama's use of his political party's Executive and Legislative majorities to continue recovery efforts enacted by the last guy's administration? And doing so by cribbing material that can be found in a place whose purpose is to debunk such things? On the internet, which never forgets? Seriously?
Each year, he would sit the children down and tell us a story by the dying light of a 14.4 baud modem. It was about a block of text not so different from every other line of code hurtling across the interminable distance between host and client.
A man describes early life as one of fleeing from oppression. He relates the story of a young leader who paves the way to hell with claims of good intentions and buzzwords meant to incite the proletariat to act toward what they think will be a better tomorrow.
The narrator uses his tale to tie a universally reviled leader of a foreign country whose ideals run counter to ours to a prominent national figure with whose ideas he disagrees. The moral of the story is your basic "Greeks bearing gifts" scenario updated for modern times, and the delivery is generally tenuous and borderline tinfoil hat-ish.
The details of the story have seen revisions as political figures come and go; the most-recent version bouncing around the internet takes the form of various Obama vs. Castro comparisons penned by anonymous Cubans (and, I would wager, opportunistic Cuban imitators).
It's political old hat, really, and certainly well-known enough as bad form as to be used as a legitimate tactic. Right?
Not so, says Raul Lopez, Chairman of the TN Republican National Hispanic Assembly, in the TNGOP's weekly report. As is tradition, here's a call-and-response:
"It was about a young, charismatic, articulate speaker who took the country by storm. He would go from town to town preaching his "gospel of change". His "change" promised redistribution of wealth, where everyone would prosper and flourish. Every time he made a speech his support grew larger and larger. In fact his support grew so large that the crowds finally put him in power." -Raul Lopez
"When the young leader spoke eloquently and passionately and denounced the old system, the press fell in love with him. They never questioned who his friends were or what he really believed in. When he said he would help the farmers and the poor and bring free medical care and education to all, everyone followed. When he said he would bring justice and equality to all, everyone said "Praise the Lord." And when the young leader said, "I will be for change and I'll bring you change," everyone yelled, "Viva Fidel!"" -"Manuel Alvarez Jr", via Snopes
"He took the people's guns thus eliminating any chance of revolt to his ever increasing power over the land." -RL
"But nobody asked about the change, so by the time executioner's guns went silent the people's guns had been taken away." -"MA, Jr."
"He took control of the schools to start indoctrinating the children with his leftwing agenda." -RL
"By the time everyone was equal, they were equally poor, hungry, and oppressed. By the time everyone received their free education it was worth nothing." -"MA, Jr."
Pretty mix-and-match, isn't it? Lopez did take the liberty of updating some of the talking points to match the current national situation, but trying to somehow connect the dots between Castro's armed insurrection and Obama's use of his political party's Executive and Legislative majorities to continue recovery efforts enacted by the last guy's administration? And doing so by cribbing material that can be found in a place whose purpose is to debunk such things? On the internet, which never forgets? Seriously?
Leave a comment