I wanted to share a few of the more powerful words and images created in the light of Al Gore’s incredible achievement, and humbly add a thought or two of my own.
First, Josh Marshall:
There are several layers of irony and poetic justice wrapped into this honor. The first is that the greatest step for world peace would simply have been for Gore not to have had the presidency stolen from him in November 2000. By every just measure, Gore won the presidency in 2000 only to have George W. Bush steal it from him with the critical assistance of the US Supreme Court. It’s worth taking a few moments today to consider where the country and world would be without that original sin of this corrupt presidency.
And yet this is a fitting bookend, with Gore receiving this accolade while the sitting president grows daily an object of greater disapproval, disapprobation and collective shame. And let’s not discount another benefit: watching the rump of the American right detail the liberal bias of the Nobel Committee and at this point I guess the entire world. Fox News vs. the world.
And not to forget what this award is about even more than Gore. If half of what we think we know about global warming is true, people will look back fifty years from now on the claims that “War on Terror” was the defining challenge of this century and see it as a very sick, sad joke — which rather sums up the Bush presidency.
In spite of what the Republican right wants us to believe, this herculean effort was never about personal glory for Al Gore. It is a selfless act, born of a deep commitment to the truth, and a dedication to the health and well-being of all on Earth. But since they cannot fight the facts, which as Stephen Colbert once said “have a well-known liberal bias,” they must counter with outright slander and the most personal of smears…
Speaking of which, along with the great Media Bloodhound, I too was appalled to see the New York Times give prominent placement to such worthless garbage. Contrast that with the simple and understated treatment on the Apple website:
Al has put his heart and soul, and much of life during the past several years, into alerting and educating us all on the climate crisis. We are bursting with pride for Al and this historic recognition of his global contributions.
Yes, Gore is a member of the Apple Board of Directors (he’s on Google’s Board as well), but he’s also an American icon now recognized for his efforts by the global community, and that feat alone is worthy of acknowledgment. But we can’t give him too much glory, or else some people (even make-believe ones like Fake Steve Jobs) will look to Al for even more…
Now it is time. You must run. Not because you want to run, but precisely because you don’t want to run. That, Al, is your strongest point. You don’t want it. You don’t need it. You dare now to be yourself. No artificiality, no stiffness, no falseness. You are who you are. And we need you. We, your fellow Americans. We need you. Now more than ever. Our nation’s soul, hurt by this foolish war, cries out to you. We’ve been wounded by an administration so obsessed with so-called “terrorists” that they don’t notice the earth’s temperature rising at an alarming rate — nearly a tenth of a degree in just the last ten years. So blinded by fear of Iran that they don’t see the snowcap receding on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and icebergs melting and breaking apart in Antarctica. For nearly eight years we have suffered under this madness. This must end.
I don’t often admit it, but I voted for Bush in 2000. I was warned repeatedly by a close friend, but the overwhelming media bias against Gore (especially at the local level in Ohio — the Columbus Dispatch was ruthlessly brutal) had me so thoroughly snowed that I pulled the lever for Bush instead. I still recall a distinct sorrow and shame for my decision at that very moment, knowing in my heart that I was making a grave mistake (obviously that regret remains with me to this day, and even voting against him in 2004 brought little relief). Luckily, there is a silver lining, as Andrew Sloat so eloquently reminds us of the beauty in the 22nd Amendment…
Clearly, these two men and their causes will forever be linked, and their fortunes intertwined. We know now the many differences and the immense gulf between them. Look no further than these two images for confirmation…
Here is Al Gore. He is consumed with his life’s work, immersed in his passion, actively at play in his mind, and truly unencumbered by his modest office:
On the other hand, here is George W. Bush. He is an empty suit in an empty office, seen here casually bullshitting with Nouri al-Maliki on the phone, obviously fidgeting as his imagined power to wish away an inconvenient truth proves ineffective yet again. It always seems that he is consciously trying to look the part of President, all the while mistaking ceremony for reality:
Clearly one man is a leader, the other is a farce. History will not be kind to Bush, nor should it be, but that is the least of our worries now. And no, this is not about the election in 2000, it is about the future of America and the fate of the world. We must find a way to move forward, together, and only one person can do it.
So please, Al, run. Run for President of the United States in 2008. And don’t take any shit from anyone when you do. Stand tall. Stand proud. You were right then and you are right now.
On the entrenched power of telecom companies and their blatant attempts to obstruct any innovation that they cannot exploit financially, Fake Steve Jobs saidbest:
Honestly, this is why Google wants the FCC to free up the wireless spectrum and let customers put any phone on any network. Well, okay, that’s not really why Google wants that. But anyway. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Cell phone carriers suck. They’re orifices. They’re yet another example of an industry that thrives only by exploiting customers and treating them like shit. Lock-in, two-year contracts, screwing you on every little feature. Damn. Someday, I hope not too long from now, we are going to look back on this era of wireless telecom in horror, not believing we ever had to put up with such bullshit.
In a similar vein, but with respect to the music industry instead, Bob Lefsetz saidbest:
It’s like we’re living in a third world country, ruled by iron-fisted fascists, whose way of dealing with public unrest is through force and violence. Yup, a college student getting sued for file-trading faces violent upheaval in his life. But the copyright bullies don’t care. But those copyright bullies won’t continue to rule. How do I know? Because they’ve been cutting off their nose to spite their face.
I realized some number of years ago that our entire economic and political structure is predicated on protecting the status quo. Sure, the rich and powerful (republicans) talk a good game, droning on and on about the free market, competition, etc., but look beneath the surface: their power derives from an entrenched and incredibly powerful ‘big business’ constituency and their policies do everything possible to keep both of them in power. We need to realize that our continued silence makes us complicit in this charade.
With that in mind, I thought of a simple but potentially game-changing idea, something that cannot be reconciled with the policies republicans continue to advocate. It’s fundamental, foundational, memorable, and uniquely all our own: Profit from progress, not the past.
Progress by its very definition means“to move, go, or proceed forward; to advance; to improve; to become better or more complete.” That is what it means to be a progressive. Conserve by its very definition means to “save for later use; to protect an environment.” Let’s be clear here, the only thing conservatives wish to protect is their own power: just take a look at what they do and who they help with their power.
Republicans have masterfully manipulated America into permitting, but not supporting, their platform. America is begging for a change, but we must do more than just say “we’re not republicans.” We must articulate a much more promising future, a way out of the darkness of the past seven years of fear and outright failure.
A focus on progress suggests a true marketplace of ideas, where each and everyone of us has an equal opportunity to create and participate. We must continue to actively advocate for this world, it is perfect counterpoint to the George W. Bush era, and a much needed breath of fresh air in our national discourse.
On the fact that Apple, with its iPod and iTunes Music Store, has so thoroughly pwned the music industry, Fake Steve Jobs saidbest:
Ironically the mistake the major labels made was the same one that IBM made when it gave the DOS franchise to Microsoft nearly 30 years ago. They were faced with a new market that they didn’t understand. They had a piece of work that they couldn’t do on their own or didn’t want to do on their own and they didn’t view it as critical or important, so they outsourced it to a partner. The partner turned that seemingly unimportant work into a way to accrue power and create a monopoly and control the industry. Today in the music business we’re about where IBM and Microsoft were in 1989, when IBM finally got hit with the clue stick and realized what Microsoft was doing.
Is it me or is this the very same blueprint Apple is following with the iPhone and AT&T?
On the subject of the throngs of people (of which I was one) waiting for the Apple iPhone to be released this evening, Fake Steve Jobs saidbest:
This is a genuine outpouring of love and enthusiasm and excitement from people whose souls have been stirred by the wonder of technology and the ability to communicate with other human beings in ways that have never before been possible. That’s what this is about. It’s about communicating. It’s about connecting. It’s about bringing the world together in common cause.
He continues:
It’s about saying, Look, I realize there’s something bad happening in Darfur, and there’s some kind of AIDS epidemic in Africa, and there’s some crazies who want to blow us all up, and there’s a war in Iraq where thousands of people are dying for no reason — and yes, those things are important, and someday we may take to the streets to say something about them, if we can think of anything to say about them, but for now we Americans take to the streets for this cause.
So unbelievably true. And incredibly sad.
On the subject of global warming and the strategies employed by those who wish to deny its existence, Fake Steve Jobs saidbest:
You can quibble all you want over tiny mistakes. You can keep calling for more studies, and you can sit around with your thumbs up your butts while the planet keeps getting hotter. Or you can put aside the details and keep your eyes on the big picture. Don’t you see what the skeptics are doing? The tiny details are what the oil companies and Republicans want people to focus on. They’ll just keep throwing these nitpicky things at us, trying to wear us out. Like Al told everyone this weekend at Barbara’s house, these guys are just going to keep looking for tiny mistakes and then trying to extrapolate from those tiny mistakes that the whole theory is wrong. But it’s not wrong. It’s right. Everyone with half a brain knows that it’s right.
Spot on.
