Ship of Fools: Setting Sail With ‘The National Review’

[Briar]

It isn't just Ann Coulter - a spine-chilling and simultaneously farcical read...



Ship of Fools: Setting Sail With ‘The National Review’


by Johann Hari


The Iraq war has been an amazing success, global warming is just a myth - and as for Guantanamo Bay, it’s practically a holiday camp… The annual cruise organized by the ‘National Review’, mouthpiece of right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by straight-talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans.

I am standing waist-deep in the Pacific Ocean, both chilling and burning, indulging in the polite chit-chat beloved by vacationing Americans. A sweet elderly lady from Los Angeles is sitting on the rocks nearby, telling me dreamily about her son. “Is he your only child?” I ask. “Yes,” she says. “Do you have a child back in England?” she asks. No, I say. Her face darkens. “You’d better start,” she says. “The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they’ll have the whole of Europe.”

I am getting used to these moments - when gentle holiday geniality bleeds into… what? I lie on the beach with Hillary-Ann, a chatty, scatty 35-year-old Californian designer. As she explains the perils of Republican dating, my mind drifts, watching the gentle tide. When I hear her say, ” Of course, we need to execute some of these people,” I wake up. Who do we need to execute? She runs her fingers through the sand lazily. “A few of these prominent liberals who are trying to demoralize the country,” she says. “Just take a couple of these anti-war people off to the gas chamber for treason to show, if you try to bring down America at a time of war, that’s what you’ll get.” She squints at the sun and smiles. ” Then things’ll change.”

I am traveling on a bright white cruise ship with two restaurants, five bars, a casino - and 500 readers of the National Review. Here, the Iraq war has been “an amazing success”. Global warming is not happening. The solitary black person claims, “If the Ku Klux Klan supports equal rights, then God bless them.” And I have nowhere to run...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/13/2499/

[Rick Myers]

1. Jeezus, they people are mentally ill...

Just read the entire article. The author was being kind to them... A must read! K and R

:kick:

[roguevalley]

7. this truly is mental illness.

[glitch]

2. Crikey! K & R I hope the level of illness is the same as always, just the vocalization is growing.nt

[Demeter]

3. The Illness is Epidemic, and Spreading

The innoculations of education, ethics, and humbleness which kept America strong and healthy are eschewed by those born after 1959 or so. And this is the result--a demented, daffy, reality-deficient state of denial.

[nealmhughes]

4. Too much Ayn Rand as undergraduates. Purely and simply.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

5. Where are the U boats when you need them?

[Jade Fox]

6. On this topic--and very funny--another cruise coming up!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/ship-floats_b_55183.html

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. I'd rather sail on the "Flying Dutchman"

:scared:

The line from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade comes to mind. "We are pilgrims in an un-holy land"