The Rhetoric and Symbolism of the Barbed Wire Fence

A few days ago I encountered a quotation in some research that I am currently doing, and it has stuck with me to the extent that I feel compelled to share it with the vaunted Rhetoricians on this blog. Quoth Sara L. Spurgeon:

The barbed wire fence is a potent and deeply paradoxical symbol in the American West. On one hand, it is the triumphant emblem of Anglo-America's conquest of the land once referred to as the Great American Desert, of the sheer force of human will necessary to empty it of those animals like the buffalo that do not serve Anglo America's needs and to fill it instead with cattle--nature tamed and controlled by the sharp-edged product of Eastern facroties. It is also, for many Westerners, the sign of some final closure, usually expressed nostalgically as the loss of the wandering horseman's right to travel freely and without restriction across the landscape. That wandering horseman, the lone cowboy with his bedroll and his rifle, is the most commonly recognized modern American expression of the sacred hunter, the lone male in the wilderness, here digging the postholes that mark his own demise and performing the final fencing-in of th natural world.

Heh. Fascinating. I wonder if John McCain was struggling to make sense of this kind of mythopoesis, when he exorted the federal government to Build the Dang Fence.

"Rapture Schadenfreude Turning Sinister"? Socially Healthy Joviality? Both?

Oxy's billboard image made me think about this recent post by conservative blogger Ed Morrisey of "Hot Air."

Morrisey follows a report by Tiffany Stanley, a reporter for The New Republic, which charged her with following the reactions of the Camping crowd after the Rapture deadline had come and gone.

Snippet from Stanley:

Yes, there was a certain humor to this. But the more I looked into the story, the more it began to turn my stomach to think of spending my Saturday evening in someone’s living room, waiting for that gotcha moment when they realized it was all a lie—leaving me to file a story the next day, poking fun at their gullibility. I decided I couldn’t do it.

Yet the media coverage has continued, and now to me, the schadenfreude has turned sinister. Based on the high traffic the articles are garnering, it would seem as if many of us are intrigued voyeurs, gleeful in knowing the exact day when these people will experience their life’s greatest disappointment. We feel superior, knowing that even though they told us we were heading for death and destruction, now, they get theirs.

Snippet from Morrisey's response:

Well, that’s not totally unjustified. Camping first predicted that Christ would return in 1994 — in fact, he published a book predicting it, although the title 1994? included a very convenient question mark. People who follow doomsday demagogues even after a spectacular failure put themselves in position for some ridicule, not to mention the false prophet himself.

Still, these are real people, and their individual stories are troubling. One mother with three children stopped working and saving for their college tuition, and her apathy about their future has become all too apparent to her kids. Another young couple with one baby and another on the way have spent all of their money in anticipation that they won’t take it with them. For most married couples, pregnancy is a time of hope and optimism, but not for this couple. And there are hundreds or thousands of people just like them who will face very difficult times indeed for having believed in a charlatan.

Both Stanley's and Morrisey's prose are worth reading in full, though I flatter myself that these snippets are well-chosen. Readers might also get a kick out of the comments section.

Hmmmmm. Is it true? Does the post-Rapture rhetoric, such as that in the billboard Oxymoron has shown us, reflect something mean-spirited our mendacious about the secular crowd? Or are there other things at work here?

Scott Walker and Women

Here's an interesting writeup on Scott Walker's "crusade" against women's rights.

Before linking to Mother Jones, Charles Johnson pithily notes:

Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker is not only trying to destroy public employees’ unions. For years, he’s also been working hard to force women back into the Dark Ages

Heh.

Some Funny Political Cyber-Rhetoric

Harrogate has seen the following as a forwarded email and on two political blogs. Original Source unknown, but apparently it is getting around quickly.

Dear World:

We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding,

Sincerely,

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Ahhhh Metaphors. Where would we be without them.

Gov. Palin Bids us a Fond Farewell, Reaches Out to President-Elect Obama

"If I cost John McCain one vote, I'm sorry," she said.

For the Quasi-Malicious Delight of All: Celebrating the Phone Call in which Governor Palin got 'Pranked'

Here is the phone call in which a comic radio duo from Canada recently, and quite famously, "pranked" Sarah Palin. Directly, very publicly, inescapably, sublimely: Governor Palin has been humiliated on a baseline level only days before the election.

It's funny. But as one pundit asked on Friday night, is it "Funny-ha-ha"?, or is it 'frighteningly funny'"? Harrogate reports. You decide.



ha ha

I Heart Ben Affleck (and Keith Olberman)

"As you know, throughout this campaign, I have repeatedly called for Senator McCain's arrest." Awesome.

Now, as you pump your fist, I reminisce

Harrogate's right: let's celebrate this weekend before the tension slams back down next week.

Although I am going to avoid aiming at early-70s Adult Contemporary of Chicago V (and they have entire albums that sounded like that, man!).

Ouch!

From The Rolling Stone:

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the
current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker
Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born
into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both
developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a
minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At
each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward.
And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to
build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to
Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.
In one vital respect, however,
the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a
much better pilot.

Another one for the "Heh" Category

With the UN Gathering Fast Approaching, McCain Seizes the Opportunity to Roll Out Palin as At Least Mildly Credible on Foreign Affairs.

Heh, indeed. But ye know what bothers Harrogate even more than the bizarro notion of Sarah Palin meeting with Heads of State and negotiating on our behalf? What bothers Harrogate more is that, consistently in the Polls, McCain is cleaning Obama's clock on the question Who Is Best Suited to Be Commander-In-Chief.

The whole, "National Security is McCain's Strong Suit" meme. How stupid are Americans anyway. After eight years of NeoCon Adventurism wreaking havoc with our security at home and soling our reputation abroad. While also creating corpses by the tonnage. Is the truth of the matter really that difficult to see?

In the event of a McCain victory. Those who vote GOP this time around will have no right to complain or cry if they lose loved ones in the guaranteed next round of ill-begotten wars. They will have brought it on themselves and may even be said to deserve what they get. The truth is a cold dish and there it is.

Those who saw what was coming and got shouted down at the polls, however. And then lost loved ones. Will have but to look around, everywhere they go. To see where the death warrants came from.