I'm curious: does anybody on this list actually *know* anyone who's involved in this fad?
....
I wrote about my Tea Party/Birther friend here:
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/pipermail/lbo-talk/Week-of-Mon-20100208/001907.html>
Since posting that message, my tea partier's partying has gotten even heartier. I routinely receive exclamation point heavy emails about Mrs Obama's outrageous shopping habits (designer shoes! While Rome burns!) and the President's links to everything from the Saudi ruling class to the Knights Templar.
After many debates with my bud and several TP sympathizers at work -- including a passionate Palin booster who impatiently tells anyone who'll listen that the imprecisely ambitious former Gov absolutely DID NOT claim she could see Russia from her house (the nerve of some people, that was Tina Fey) -- I'm convinced that for many, TP beliefs are a low stakes virtual reality game played with high stakes dedication.
"Low stakes" because, contrary to the claims of the more excitable TP'ers no jack booted thugs await orders to stamp out "freedom", confiscate guns or even say rude things in public about our placard loving pals.
But! It's exciting to think we're on the verge of all this and so much more. Each day brings a fresh revelation of impending disaster and big government outrage. It's like being a leftist but with reversed -- or mangled -- signs.
Note to Giorgo Agamben: we need a new book on states of exception. But this time, the "exception" isn't declared by The State as a means to a laundry list of authoritarian ends, but serves as memetic comfort food for a nervous sub-culture.
.d.