Post by Galadon on Jul 8, 2004 14:36:39 GMT -5
The Onion reports
LIBERAL SUFFERING FROM OUTRAGE FATIGUE
According to a study released Monday by the Hammond Political Resarch Group, many of the nation's liberal's are suffering from a vastly diminished sense of outrage.
"With so many right-wing shams to choose from, it's simply too daunting to for the average, left-leaning citizen to maintain a sense of anger," said Rachel Neas, the study's director. "By our estimantion, roughly 70 percent of liberals are experienceing some degree of lethargy resulting from a glut of civil-libererties abuses, education funding cuts, and exorbitant military expenditures."
San Francisco's Arthur Flauman is one liberal who has chosen to take a hitatus from his seething rage over Bush Administation policies.
"Every day, my friends send me e-mails exposing Bush's corrupt environmental policies," said Flauman, a member of tboth the Green party and the Sierra Club. "I used to spend close to an hour following all the links, and I'd be shocked and outraged by the irreversible damage being done to our land. At some point, though, I got annoyed with the demaning tone of the e-mails.
The Clear Skies Initiative is bogus, but I'm not going to forward a six-page e-mail to all my friends-especially one written by a man who signs his name 'Leaf'.' Now, if a message's subject line contains the word 'Bush' it goes straight in to the trash."
Neas found that many survey participants who attended protests against the war in Iraq in 2003 could barely summon the energy to read newspaper articles about the subject in 2004.
Portland, OR resident Suzanne Marshal compared herself to an addict, needing increasingly large doses of perceived injustices ot achieve a stage of anger.
"Even though I know how seriouly messed-up the situation in in Iraq, I've became inmuned to all but the most extreme levels of wrongdoing," Marshal said. "For months, no amount of civilial bombing could get me mad, Then those amazing photos of the tortured Iraq prisoners hit the streets, and I got that old rush of over whelming disgust with my government.
Then more photos can out, and more officaials were implicated, and now--I don't know. It's like a switch in m head turned off again."
Neas said that the danger of fatigue was greater among liberals who regularly seek cause for outrage.
"For a while, I wanted more fuel for the fire, to really get my blood boiling," said Madison, WI resident Dorothy Levine, a reproductive-rights activist and former Howard Dean campaign volunteer. "I read the policy papers on the Brooking web site. I subscribed to the Progressive. I clipped cartoons by Tom Tomorrow and Ted Rall. I listened to NPR all day. But then it was like, while I was reading Milly Ivins' Bushwhacked, eight more must-read anti Bush books came out. It was overwhelmeing. By the time they released Fahrenheit 9/11, I was too exhusted to drag myself to the theater."
"It used to be that I would turn on Pacifica Radio and be
incensed at the top of every hour," Levine added. "Now I could find out the Bush plans to execute every 10th citizen and I'd barely blink an eye, much less raise a finger."
Of the liberals afflicted with fatigue, many said they are still haunted by the specters of their former outrage.
"I can't even look at the back of my Volvo anymore," said one Sysreacuse, NY liberal who wished to remain anonymous.
"My 'Lick Bush' and 'Four more Wars' bumper stickers just remind me of the angry feeling I can't sustain. I still have a MoveOn.Org sign hanging up in my cubicle at work, but if someone starts to talk about Cheney, I can't take it. I'm like, 'Yes we all hate Chaeney. He's an evil puppetmaster. Yes, Bush is dumb. This is obvivios. How may times can we say it? Now, excuse me, will you let me though so I microwave my burrito?"
LIBERAL SUFFERING FROM OUTRAGE FATIGUE
According to a study released Monday by the Hammond Political Resarch Group, many of the nation's liberal's are suffering from a vastly diminished sense of outrage.
"With so many right-wing shams to choose from, it's simply too daunting to for the average, left-leaning citizen to maintain a sense of anger," said Rachel Neas, the study's director. "By our estimantion, roughly 70 percent of liberals are experienceing some degree of lethargy resulting from a glut of civil-libererties abuses, education funding cuts, and exorbitant military expenditures."
San Francisco's Arthur Flauman is one liberal who has chosen to take a hitatus from his seething rage over Bush Administation policies.
"Every day, my friends send me e-mails exposing Bush's corrupt environmental policies," said Flauman, a member of tboth the Green party and the Sierra Club. "I used to spend close to an hour following all the links, and I'd be shocked and outraged by the irreversible damage being done to our land. At some point, though, I got annoyed with the demaning tone of the e-mails.
The Clear Skies Initiative is bogus, but I'm not going to forward a six-page e-mail to all my friends-especially one written by a man who signs his name 'Leaf'.' Now, if a message's subject line contains the word 'Bush' it goes straight in to the trash."
Neas found that many survey participants who attended protests against the war in Iraq in 2003 could barely summon the energy to read newspaper articles about the subject in 2004.
Portland, OR resident Suzanne Marshal compared herself to an addict, needing increasingly large doses of perceived injustices ot achieve a stage of anger.
"Even though I know how seriouly messed-up the situation in in Iraq, I've became inmuned to all but the most extreme levels of wrongdoing," Marshal said. "For months, no amount of civilial bombing could get me mad, Then those amazing photos of the tortured Iraq prisoners hit the streets, and I got that old rush of over whelming disgust with my government.
Then more photos can out, and more officaials were implicated, and now--I don't know. It's like a switch in m head turned off again."
Neas said that the danger of fatigue was greater among liberals who regularly seek cause for outrage.
"For a while, I wanted more fuel for the fire, to really get my blood boiling," said Madison, WI resident Dorothy Levine, a reproductive-rights activist and former Howard Dean campaign volunteer. "I read the policy papers on the Brooking web site. I subscribed to the Progressive. I clipped cartoons by Tom Tomorrow and Ted Rall. I listened to NPR all day. But then it was like, while I was reading Milly Ivins' Bushwhacked, eight more must-read anti Bush books came out. It was overwhelmeing. By the time they released Fahrenheit 9/11, I was too exhusted to drag myself to the theater."
"It used to be that I would turn on Pacifica Radio and be
incensed at the top of every hour," Levine added. "Now I could find out the Bush plans to execute every 10th citizen and I'd barely blink an eye, much less raise a finger."
Of the liberals afflicted with fatigue, many said they are still haunted by the specters of their former outrage.
"I can't even look at the back of my Volvo anymore," said one Sysreacuse, NY liberal who wished to remain anonymous.
"My 'Lick Bush' and 'Four more Wars' bumper stickers just remind me of the angry feeling I can't sustain. I still have a MoveOn.Org sign hanging up in my cubicle at work, but if someone starts to talk about Cheney, I can't take it. I'm like, 'Yes we all hate Chaeney. He's an evil puppetmaster. Yes, Bush is dumb. This is obvivios. How may times can we say it? Now, excuse me, will you let me though so I microwave my burrito?"
