Tag: dumbass

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News The Fly-By

What They Said

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

About “So Who’ll Be Running for Scott McCormick’s Seat,” where Jackson Baker ponders various possible candidates for a City Council opening:

“I really wish Desi [Franklin] would reconsider. I still have her bumper sticker on my car, and I don’t want to have to go out and get another one.” — KatieDidnt

About “Letter from the Editor,” where Bruce VanWyngarden talks about the potential impact of “low-information voters” (or as he likes to call them, “dumbasses”):

“Kudos for McCain for seeking the dumbass vote! Whatever it takes to keep the Chavez clone from sniffing the White House. Unfortunately there is no IQ barrier for voting, hence Willie is our mayor.” — clyde

“Give a few extra votes to veterans, police, teachers, anyone who has ever been elected to anything, and anyone who has performed some meritorious public service. Give everyone an extra vote when they turn 65, just for hanging in there. The dumbasses have strength in numbers. This is the only way we can outvote them every time.” — autoegocrat

Comment of the Week:

About “Living Day-to-Day,” a look at Memphis’ undocumented immigrants, by Bianca Phillips:

“We have between 20 and 30 million Mexican criminals in this country. Odds are good that at least 20 percent of those can carry a gun. So let’s send them to the Middle East. If they win, the survivors get to come back to the U.S.A. with honor and a green card.” — wrjames

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Letters To The Editor Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Zoo Kudos

I want to thank the Flyer for the well-presented story you published (“Out of the Woods,” August 14th issue) about the forest in Overton Park. I appreciate the opportunity that you gave the zoo to share its position with your readers. There is a great deal of passion over this forest, and I hope that we can keep your readers informed about the intended Chickasaw Bluffs trail as the vision becomes fleshed out.

Brian Carter, Director of Marketing and Communications

Memphis Zoo

Dumbasses

I was saddened to read last week’s letter from editor Bruce VanWyngarden, a typical criticism of low-information voters (Letter from the Editor, August 14th issue).

Being a truly informed voter is a full-time job, but even then, the discerning voter who watches C-SPAN, reads newspapers, and knows the pundits and politicians doesn’t have all he needs. Instead, the rational voter uses heuristics — shortcuts that simplify the field.

Party affiliation mirrors one’s views on the issues. A candidate’s moral conviction hints as to how he will act at 3 a.m. A “dumbass” voter (as he put it) can also look to friends and religious leaders who share his values. Issue voting is not the only path to an intelligent vote.

As a self-proclaimed smartass, I see truth in slogans such as “He’ll raise your taxes,” “We can’t cut and run,” or “the audacity of hope.” McCain is right to ask if Obama is more than media hype.

Nikki Tinker’s ad was not shameful because it appealed to our demons. It was shameful because it was a lie. It sought to disparage a public servant’s distinguished record. Steve Cohen won because he stood on that record and let voters decide themselves.

The problem is that Watergate and Monica and Iraq have cost us more than our faith in politicians; they have destroyed our faith in each other. This country, like VanWyngarden’s letter, is bitter and skeptical. We should recognize the common man’s awesome capacity for good. Just because others vote differently or on different criteria does not make them dumb.

Drew Dickso

Memphis

I found tremendous irony in last week’s editor’s note. I agree with Bruce VanWyngarden in his assessment of Nikki Tinker’s outrageous ads (not to mention Walter Bailey lowering himself to the bottom of the barrel). However, to say that most Memphians are above the “dumbass” line is a blatant untruth.

Think about the other city and state officials who’ve been elected over the past 20 years. Explain to me how the pompous and mighty Willie Herenton continues to get reelected by the same “low-information voters” time and time again. And Rickey Peete? This guy gets caught accepting bribes, gets out of prison, gets reelected, and goes corrupt again. Need I mention John Ford, that great humanitarian and bribe-accepting king?

I could continue, but with all the corruption that has taken place over the past few years, this letter would take days to complete. In the meantime, my suggestion to Memphians would be to take your head out of the sand and do a real background check on candidates. That way, you may be able to climb out of the “dumbass” pool.

Jeff W. Compton

Memphis

Color blind?

In a recent “Rant” (August 7th issue), Tim Sampson said there would be voters who vote against Barack Obama because of his color, which is ugly but true. There are also people who will vote for Obama because of his color, which is just as ugly and just as true.

Charles Ballew

Marion, Arkansas

Georgia vs. Katrina

Recently, I watched a video of Americans off-loading relief supplies to Georgia. I found myself offended by this act of charity.

Why? Because the Bush administration sent these supplies before the smoke could clear over the rooftops, while our own citizens, trapped in floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina, couldn’t get the government to drop off a case of bottled water.

We all watched the suffering of our fellow Americans on TV. These were desperate people begging the government to help for a week. Yet, let the poor Georgians suffer 10 minutes of stress, and Bush sends every unit available to help.

That ain’t right, folks. It is truly offensive, even if there are good intentions behind it.

Joe M. Spitzer

Memphis

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: Fans and Dumbasses

Last week I wrote that another name for “low-information” voters was “dumbasses.” I added that I wrote those lines without fear of retribution because “dumbasses don’t read this column.”

Never let it be said that I don’t admit it when I’m wrong.

Not only do dumbasses read this column, so do a lot of very funny smartasses. The responses on memphisflyer.com are much more interesting than my original column.

My favorite: the woman who wrote, “That’s CRAP, buddy. I’m a dumbass and I read your column.” Beautiful.

Our commenters offer ideas, insults, praise, criticism, inanity, and wisdom. Sometimes all in the same post. Regular commenters, we are advised by the Internet gurus, are a vital part of a healthy website. They are, for want of a better phrase, a self-selected “community.”

Our community consists of cranks, intellectuals, crackpots, liberals, conservatives, blacks, whites, Democrats, and Republicans posting opinions about Flyer articles and columns. It’s instant feedback, and we love it. We could watch “Rantboy,” “Katiedidn’t” and “38103” go at it all day …

A fellow named Kevin Kelly recently wrote an essay called “1,000 True Fans.” His thesis is that in this Internet age, all an artist has to do in order to survive is find 1,000 “true fans” — those who are willing to purchase $100 worth of music, concert tickets, or merchandise a year. (A four-piece band would theoretically need 4,000 true fans.)

The old business model for musicians was to try to sell millions of records. The big money was collected by music corporations, and a small cut was given to the artist. Kelly posits that musicians must now cut out the middle man and build their own “true fan” communities through MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, and other social networks.

It’s a lot like what’s happening in journalism, as the major corporate media companies try to figure how to cut their expenses — and manpower — in the face of declining profits for their newspaper products.

Here at the Flyer, we’re lean and mean enough to weather good times and bad. All we need is a nice community of true fans to be happy. So thanks very much to all of you who support us. Some of our best friends are dumbasses.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: Say No to “the Surge”

Remember the “Coalition of the Willing”? It was all the rage back in 2003. President Bush managed — by coercion, sweet-talk, bullshit, or a combination thereof — to convince 25 countries that sending troops to invade Iraq alongside American forces was a good idea.

The coalition’s forces once totaled 50,000 soldiers. Almost four years later, that number is down to around 15,000 — and falling fast. Italy pulled out its remaining 3,000 troops last month. South Korea is down to 2,300 troops and is considering withdrawing all of its forces by the end of the year. Even Great Britain, our staunchest ally with 7,000 troops, is planning to cut its forces in half in the next few months. The bottom line is clear: The Coalition is no longer Willing.

And neither is the American public. In November, they voted the Republicans in Congress who enabled this fiasco out of power. Every recent opinion poll indicates that almost 70 percent of Americans think putting more troops in Iraq is a bad idea. And this is after Bush’s dead-eyed speech to “rally” the country last week.

At least nine Republican senators have said the surge is a bad idea. Many conservatives, including George Will, Joe Scarborough, and Bush syncophant Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal have come out against it. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group is against it. The former generals on the ground are against it. The Iraqi government is against it.

They all understand that sending 20,000 more Americans into a four-sided (and counting) civil war where every enemy fighter looks the same makes no sense. It’s too little, too late. That’s why other countries are pulling troops out. That’s why the American public is deadset against the surge.

But the Decider hears no one. He listens only to his “heart.” He says he won’t change his mind, even if the only people who support him are “Laura and Mrs. Beasley [his dog].”

Now is the time, friends, to write letters to your congressman, to be loud and vociferous, to make sure we stop this fool before he kills again. Those are our precious troops, not his playthings. This is our country, not his.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com