One telling way to evaluate a given culture’s values is to merely note with acuity and humility the list of pop culture invectives it tosses around most frequently over a given period of time.

Along the same lines as an earlier column where I asked why we as a culture seem to have no psychologically approved pejoratives for those whose alleged OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) has them engaging in all manner of repetitive evil or incompetence (versus those who are doing good, like, triple checking the front door locks, say, for the security of loved ones, for example), I now have a pressing, similar question which I’ve not heard mentioned elsewhere:  ”Control freak” sounds so negative; what exactly is the opposite of the often-alleged, and much maligned control freak?

To get us started the following example will be instructive:  Recent discussions among members of a local music act concerning its overall direction found that those who want little or no leadership (or “control”) to interfere with their individual senses of “artistry” used the term “control freaks” as an attack against those attempting to coalesce the group’s talents in a deliberate direction to escalate its overall excellence and appeal.  These same critics never saw fit to inveigh similarly against their own “controlling” efforts to influence the group’s path, albeit in divergent directions. Now, for the big DCQ (daunting cultural question), courtesy of TheBSshow.com®: How is one of these competing forces less invasive, less leading, (i.e. less “controlling”) than the other?  Answer:  Twenty-first century humans are stupid, underdeveloped, and immensely prideful. Oh, and, the two are not different — each of the competing contingencies is essentially vying to have its own way. Thus, the opposite of a control freak is a control freak.

This ubiquitous, perception-related, malady of judgment which we have foisted upon ourselves, is, at the least, logically contradictory if not downright duplicitous. It diminishes honesty and the pursuit of clarity and order. That cannot be good for fans of Goodness, can it? Or for those starving to bask in its benefits.

Where does such broad acceptance of obfuscation come from and why are we (and by “we” I mean everyone except me, and possibly Bjorn, co-hosts of The BS Show® and TheBSshow.com®) so often such suckers for it?  I’m going to pretend that I don’t want to know.

But you, dear open minded follower of The BS Show With Bjorn And Shawn® may help, though, to ameliorate this rampant sickness. Start by confronting those anarchy freaks, anything goes freaks, trippy dippy hippie freaks, and the me-myself-and-I freaks in your circles on a case by case basis and insisting they explain how (and perhaps apologize for) their habit of disparaging others with the toothless defensiveness of this infantile pejorative “control freak” helps them, their discourse, or the course of human events.  

If they call you a name instead of addressing the argument, it may be that the effects of left-leaning fanaticism are blocking their progress toward Goodness, such that, your most commensurate rejoinder may be, “I know you are but what am I?” 

Should a dirty nuke go off in Los Angeles and only one analysis about this weekend’s “thug throwing shoes at a sitting U.S. President” incident be recoverable in its aftermath, I hope for the sake of any good people who survive, that it will be this one. Consider its inescapable poignancy:

The infantile Arab extremist (and member of that exalted field of “objective” journalism) who deceitfully, and in quick succession, whipped two shoes at President Bush’s head in an otherwise civilized setting, can only be said to have logically been celebrating that very president! Here’s why: any of us able to look away from the nattering, often juvenile Circus News Network for five seconds (to engage our minds rather than surrender them) will notice that this maniacal Iraqi bully demonstrated to the utmost his newly provided privilege of being able to protest in the middle east (albeit, in that backwoods, ignoble, all-too-middle-eastern, gutter-level style) without fear of summary execution or beheading by the absolute, fascist iron hand wielded by one Saddam Hussein or the like. Amazing!!!

Not only had this misguided monkey of a shoe-throwing visigoth (and inadvertent celebrant of politcal freedom) previously avoided inclusion as politically incorrect carrion in one of Iraq’s myriad mass graves (discovered only during the “occupation”) but he was now proving his own ease of access to even the crudest form of dissent by physically attacking the very man who was key to furnishing that privilege in the first place. Wow! No wonder we at The BS Show® are not dopey enough to agree that “all cultures are equal.”

We are, however, dopey enough to ask all manner of apoplectic, lefty dunderheads — our friends included — to explain their way out of this, without hating us, without hating the conclusion of logic, and without resorting to vapid manipulations which so often leave extreme lefties (and, at times, maniacal righties) feeling good about fatuous talking points which further diminish (and endanger) humanity’s well being.

©2008 TheBSshow.com® and The BS Show®.  All rights reserved.

Should it turn out that financial guru Bernard Madoff is guilty of stealing upwards of $50,000,000,000 of his clients’ investments one can, in keeping with the en masse left-leaning, hyper-tolerant mania which is sweeping these United States these days, only hope (and keep a nice thought, too) that we’ll carefully mind ourselves as to the severity of our reaction as a nonjudgmental family of well-meaning beings.

Obviously, to many of us, education is “still the key” to, umm, blunting our wonderfully evolved race’s inclinations towards, umm, misunderstandings about one man’s mistaken misappropriations of the monetary assets of others, so it will remain especially important that our progress towards progressive values not be derailed by the inflexibility of old fashioned (think “right-wing, conservative”) moral expectations nor by the assuring but coercive rigidity of a so-called high standard of justice.

After all, hasn’t each of us woken up on the wrong side of the bed and needed a little extra tolerance for the disarming lack of balance which ensued? Isn’t it New York Times® columnist David Brooks who presumes to remind us how divisive it can be to rush, or even crawl, towards a black and white  assessment which might be perceived as not inclusive of others? 

Before any of us offends another’s inclusive sensibilities by acting bigoted (or acting at all close minded) towards a Bernard Madoff let us resolve to not become so partisan that Mr. Madoff is suddenly made to “feel like the other.” (Remember one present day “expert’s” lesson drawn from Kristallnacht?) Do we, as a beautiful gathering of tolerance-loving beings want to risk having those as erudite as David Brooks’ passel of colleagues at The New York Times® react by showing us that we are, in Brooks’ pejorative, “reactionary?” Chance forbid.

So this week when water cooler chit chat surrounding Bernie Madoff’s alleged faux pas takes a turn towards outdated, judgmental standards, and the quest for alleged moral clarity, which, taken together, might tempt you to abandon the enlightened warmth of everything “progressive” merely to join those hateful, ethics-touting control freaks who smugly offend others as if they have a duty to judge well, well, you and we at TheBSshow.com® can band together in protest. We can say, “Hey guys, isn’t this critique sort of inappropriate? Might not others feel offended by your bigotry towards Bernie at this sensitive time? Can’t you see how such hatefulness can be perceived as divisive. Can’t we all just come together?”

Yes! Yes, we can. Together, we can all work — oh, wait, now many of us will absolutely have to work because our $50 billion has been pilfered, but, leaving that aside, what was I saying? — oh, together we can progressively progress towards, umm, more togetherness, and finally learn that when we positively come together (or in this case work together) it’s not only easier to continue avoiding harsh judgments, it’s also easier to reach into others’ pockets, er, I mean, easier to share that enlightened open mindedness of the message of acceptance which feels stronger than fifty billion fallacious platitudes which, though vacuous at best, nevertheless help us to forget how ridiculously dangerous, wrong, and infantile our constant sidestepping of moral issues is. 

What’s the old bumper sticker slogan?  ”If you think morals education is expensive, try Bernie Madoff’s.”

©2008 TheBSshow.com and The BS Show With Bjorn And Shawn®. All rights reserved.

The BS Show is not responsible for any physical or ideological regurgitation on the reader’s part, temporary or otherwise, caused by the ruthless lucidity of holistically reasonable analysis put forth herein. The reader is advised that any acquisition of genuine wisdom will lead to a proportionately sharper mind, softer heart, and richer life, not to mention irreversible erosion of those myriad beliefs often founded on fundamentalist secular extremism (FSE) and the like, whether or not the reader’s indoctrination was administered by those in authority at universities or otherwise. In that regard the reader assumes all responsibility for the immeasurable risk(s) associated with finding the courage to question the presuppositions of those FSE teachings at the suggestion of The BS Show®.  :-)

I just have to opine one more time in 2008:  While just now packing for vacation (a word which, itself, can be code for holiday; which, of course, means Holy day; which, in proximity to Christmas, might imply a specific Christian holy day. In fact, Christmas really means Christ Mass, which itself means Messiah Celebration, so, no wonder the anti-Christian bigots at large love to hate any mention of a Merry Christmas in the public square with that most mollifying contempt which can only be the work of good old evolved “humanity”) I over heard a few minutes of a Michael Medved interview (author of the new book The 10 Big Lies About America: Combating Destructive Distortions About Our Nation) poignantly summarizing several of those alleged lies. Wow!

I’m going to suggest that Medved’s book be required reading not only for the polymathic co-hosts of The BS Show® but for each and every caller and emailer contacting the world’s number one porchcast, The BS Show®. Incredible. 

I’ve gotta get back to packing but all manner of registered voters — especially those who boast of their open mindedness — are hereby implored to make The 10 Big Lies About America one of 12 books you’ll buy and read in 2009. If it turns out that those aforementioned open minds are imbued with a bit of humility and thirst for wisdom, to boot, Medved’s work just might serve to lighten the burden of some of your own baggage. Merry Christmas!!!

There are going to be consequences from ideas, even when those ideas derive from an Adolph Hitler, a John Dewey, Cicero, Margaret Sanger, Winston Churchill, or Mother Teresa. The ideas taught in U.S. public schools yesterday have, not so amazingly, manifested in the public squares of today, as today’s will tomorrow. Good or bad or in between, like it or not, Mayor Newsom.

Whether we are talking about the twisted “tolerance” stampede and its bullying campaign of vengeful, theist-hating, maniacally militant, pro-gay extremism, or that harsh, outspoken Christophobe, Bill Maher, or the stealth, misleading, secular fundamentalism infesting seemingly every precinct of the U.S. public school curricula, or even the shun-and-crush-Christmas movement, what better ground in which to plow the seeds of a given ideology one hopes to proliferate than that fertile, unguarded openness of a child’s mind.

As Christmas approaches once again, co-hosts of the world’s number one porchcast, Bjorn and Shawn, discuss the motives, realities, and inescapable repercussions of the social engineering being feverishly administered by the vast majority of U.S. public schools. Prepare to lament, and to prepare yourself as you take in another impertinent installment (posted in reverse order this week) of a little number we call The BS Show.®

Segment 7 of 7 (The BS Show® Dec 17 Porchcast. ©2008 )

To VIEW any subsequent segments of this week’s porchcast of The BS Show With Bjorn and Shawn, click on “See the rest of this entry.”

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