Bizarro World strikes Sarah Palin
Bookworm on Sep 17 2008 at 9:03 pm | Filed under: Barack Obama, Media matters
I was first introduced to the Bizarro World concept when I watched the brilliant Seinfeld episode in which Elaine stumbles across the good doppelgängers of her self-centered, fairly conscience-free group of friends (Jerry, Kramer, George and Newman). When she describes the “good” guys to her group, Jerry says that she seems to have stumbled into Bizarro World.
Bizarro World, for those who don’t follow Superman or Seinfeld, is a world like earth (indeed, it’s alternate name is Htrae, which is “earth” spelled backwards), where all that is good is bad. Here’s the Wikipedia summary:
In the Bizarro world of “Htrae” (”Earth” spelled backwards), society is ruled by the Bizarro Code which states “Us do opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!”. In one episode, for example, a salesman is doing a brisk trade selling Bizarro bonds: “Guaranteed to lose money for you”. Later, the mayor appoints Bizarro No. 1 to investigate a crime, “Because you are stupider than the entire Bizarro police force put together”. This is intended and taken as a great compliment.
This 2008 presidential campaign is increasingly making me believe that, somehow, I’ve slipped into some horrible time-space vortex and emerged into Bizarro World. The latest example of the morally inverted insanity that is our MSM comes from the media’s response to the fact that Palin’s personal emails were hacked, with a website gleefully publishing the information thus obtained. Aside from being a federal crime, this is just a terrible rape-like violation of privacy. Michelle Malkin explains just what personal information went public:
The Gawker smear machine — see here for all the background you need — has posted private family photos of Palin’s children that were apparently stolen from the e-mail account.
They have used Bristol Palin’s illegally obtained private cell phone number from her mom’s private account, recorded her voicemail message, and posted it on their website.
They have reprinted her husband Todd’s private e-mail address and son Track’s private e-mail address.
And from a Wired News report:
The cache of stolen data contains five screenshots from Palin’s account, including the text of an e-mail exchange with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell about his campaign for Congress.
Another screenshot shows Palin’s inbox and a third shows the text of an e-mail from Amy McCorkell, whom Palin appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in 2007.
The e-mail, a message of support to Palin, tells her not to let negative press get to her and asks Palin to pray for McCorkell, who writes that “I need strength to 1. keep employment, 2. not have to choose.”
To the surprise of conservative bloggers, the AP (which someone cleverly characterized on my blog as “American Pravda”) picked up on the story. “At last,” we thought. “Some sympathy for a conservative candidate.” Oh, how wrong we were.
The AP picked up on the story, not to convey to Americans the outrage of a public servant having her most private family information violated. Instead, it used the opportunity to castigate Palin for conducting government business (that would be the exchange with Lt. Gv. Parnell) on a private email (which is itself a bizarre inversion, since it’s more usual that people are in trouble for using their work email for private business). Anyway, here’s American Pravda’s take:
The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration’s use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago — prior to Palin’s selection as a vice presidential candidate — after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.
This is Bizarro World, my friends. It’s “Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness.” Or, in this case, “Us have completely abandoned moral decency and ordinary standards.”
The one good thing that might come out of all of this, notwithstanding American Pravda’s ugly spin on a horrible crime committed against Palin and her family, is the fact that, even in her private life, Palin’s conduct is without stain. The “anonymous” mischief-maker who engaged in this criminal act, was deeply disappointed not to find any dirt. As a knowledgeable person explained to Michelle Malkin, the original hacker boasted about his skills in finding the emails, and then whined about their uselessness:
Earlier it was just some prank to me, I really wanted to get something incriminating which I was sure there would be, just like all of you anon out there that you think there was some missed opportunity of glory, well there WAS NOTHING, I read everything, every little blackberry confirmation… all the pictures, and there was nothing,….
I guess the only thing that’s not bizarre about this whole sordid incident is the fact that Palin conducts an irreproachable private life.
Incidentally, although I don’t feel like blogging on it at any length, if you want further examples of the Bizarro World inversion of this political campaign, please check out these two posts (this and this), both of which delve into what may be the most dishonest political ad ever — and, worse, it’s an ad aimed at the Hispanic community which I suspect is not tightly tied into the blogosphere, so its members will never learn just how indecently they’ve been tricked.
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17 Responses to “Bizarro World strikes Sarah Palin”
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I have my fingers crossed that we will see some low-lifes taking a perp walk. I wish I could be more optimistic; but based on history I am afraid that it will be determined that the public good is best served by letting the event quietly fade from memory.
Just one observation. I haven’t seen anything from the ACLU and other champions of civil liberties.
So who is this cat who broke the law? Why is he not getting personally acquainted with his public defender? Or better, his cell mate Allyce?
While the basic facts you narrate are correct - and I agree with you 100% - the interesting thing I took from the comments at MMs site is that the “hacker” wasn’t exactly a hacker. Difference being: a hacker actually hacks…tries different stuff to get a password, uses programs that “break” passwords…that kind of thing. This person just used the “lost my password” function, and then plugged in answers that seemed logical, given information publically available. So think about it…what did _you_ fill out on that “lost my password” questionaire? Probably truthful answers - no lies, easy to give correct answers. I know I have. And there’s always a feeling that I have to - that not to is a bad thing - like lying. There’s a feeling I have that somebody out there is “checking” my answers to make sure they’re “right”. OK…so that ’s dumb…but I bet I’m not the only one.
Someone commenting on that suggested that the smart thing to do is have at least one question…”What’s your mother’s maiden name”… with a standard non-guessible answer…suggestion: “Iwannabanana” that you use on every one of the forms. No possible way to guess.
Seems like a reasonable gimmick to me. Although I seriously doubt that anybody else knows the name of my first dog!!!
SueK, I mean this in all good humor:
I’m not technically a “burglar” since I walked into an unlocked door after removing the hinges and then happened to walk back through with a bunch of stuff that I deemed unnecesary to the person who paid for them.
Mc…
A rose by any other name…!
I understand your point - and I don’t disagree with you - but sometimes changing the locks on your door is a good idea…_that_ was _my_ point - not the nomenclature.
Very good sue, understood. And in my world after changing the locks doesn’t work, I fall back on a Kimber Custom II .45….
The “Kimber Custom II” means nothing to me.
The .45 leads me to think I get the message!
Indeed Sue. The point is that the bad guy gets the message before he can hurt my family. Of course, a loud dog is always a more simple way to convey “security” before any guns need to come out!
Note to Suek and Book (for when she comes around)…listen well to gun guru McLaren.
Kimber makes some of the finest .45s in the market. I love my UltraCarry - small, light, flat, easy to carry, with only a 3-inch barrel and still accurate at 75-yds. It’s nice for women (my wife prefers it to her 9mm) because it is light, sits comfortably in the hand, and has relatively little kick (for a .45). For home defense, it has great stopping power.
http://gundirectory.com/more.asp?gid=20192&gun=Pistol
Ladies, it is Danny who must be read on this subject. For he knows from which he writes.
Danny, thank you, but I must defer to the man who has the UltraCarry.
This nail driver is very nice but not for carry, as you know.
To be honest I’m kicking myself a bit for letting my eyes drift from the carry case to the howitzer display. Oh well, in time I will join your ranks.
Heh. Step away from that bush, you guys! I’d bet both are suitable for the purpose.
I’ll stick with the big barking dog…or two. Don’t have one at the moment…waiting for an old mostly deaf one to pass on to the next world. We have a Dobe rescue not far away though…and when the time comes, I’ll take a drive over there.
Sorry to hear about your old soldier.
To let you know how my mind works, when you wrote “big barking dog” I thought you were refering to my pistol, because that’s what I once called it. Gun nuts, what are ya gonna do?
He’s not even mine, really. Just an old barn dog that got left behind by someone else. This old boy had a weight problem…he started out on 4 cups of food a day! Now he’s cut back to about 1 3/4 cups a day…his shoulders seem disjointed somehow, and he’s posty hocked (back legs are sort of straight up and down instead of having a bend to them), so I’m trying to keep his weight just right…so we can’t see ribs, but we can see the indent between his rib cage and his loin area. He’d lived outdoors all his life, so we didn’t know how he’d adjust to house living. Heh. When it gets cold, we open the door for him to go do his duty, and he looks at us like…You want me to go OUT??? ARE YOU NUTS?????? He seems to have adjusted.
Definitely not a watch dog, though. Looks like it, but not.
This is off-topic but has been on my mind. Sarah Palin did not abort her baby with Down’s Syndrome and acknowledges this infant quite publicly as part of her family. Compare this unequivocal acceptance with the cold conduct of Arthur Miller, the playwright and liberal icon, whose plays have defined a certain era and currents of American intellectual life, but who never acknowledged and hid away his own son, Daniel, with Down’s Syndrome. Of course Mr. Miller never ran for office, though he was active in politics, and Governor Palin doesn’t write plays. But the basic impulses evident in their respective actions toward another human being, imperfect but of their own flesh and blood, might prove illuminating. There are those who write of the human condition and the common man, of compassion and acceptance, and those who actually live it.
Check this out!
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/father-of-hacker-is-tennessee-dem-state.html
Re Arthur Miller and his Down’s Syndrome child…
It was a different time, and there were different perceptions. And less understanding of the problem. While I admire her stand and her family’s, I wouldn’t condemn Miller…
There are those who use their wealth and status to help out kids in the third world via adoption and then there are people like Soros that says all their money is needed to beat Bush, who is destroying children in the third world.
That hits the nail on the head, Y.