50 Shades of Red, White, and Blue?

RexTalionis: Triumph: [www.cristyli.com image 400x283]
If you'd learn your place we wouldn't have to do this.

You know, the last time I went through TSA and was wanded/patted (as opposed to the millimeter-ray scans), it was a busty brunette chick who looked like she was just out of college.

I got Paul Blart.

So that chart looks like it aligns perfectly with the creation of the DEA.

The authoritarians aren't even bothering to hide it now, are they?

Make me feel like you're deserving of my submission, then we'll talk.

My sister, who is very much about "the rules" gets all in a twist when she hears me tell my kids "Wisdom is knowing which rules to break."

It makes me laugh.

freewill: Calmamity: I got busted for having my middle fingers raised going through the nudie scanner.

Busted? What are they going to do? Hold you in Contempt of Dropout Rent-A-Cops?

I know right? The TSA is not a law enforcement agency despite the fact they think so. And the cops hate them just as much as we do because it's a waste of time and they know it.

Generation_D: So that chart looks like it aligns perfectly with the creation of the DEA.

When you randomly make a bunch of common habits illegal that weren't illegal before, you tend to end up with a bunch of people in prison that weren't before, yes.

Entertainingly, it's also coincided with a fairly dramatic drop in violent crime, which makes it either funnier or even more horrible depending, I guess, on whether you do a lot of drugs or not.

dookdookdook: Anyone post this yet? No?

Everyone should read this: The Authoritarians

Yes! That's immediately what I thought of when I read the headline. Though TFA and that book disagree a little on what constitutes authoritarianism. TFA seems to think that the Tea Party is anti-authoritarian, when they're really just anti-Democratic Party authority and would probably be more than happy with right-wing authoritarianism (in both the political and in the sense used in the book).

I'm also currently reading The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo, who has a lot to say about undue submission to authority being a key component in allowing otherwise good people to do evil things.

My HS biology teacher had a very interesting (and somewhat subversive) quote at the front of the classroom: "Always question authority, but respect it."

Just because a leader tells me something does not mean that I should follow it without question. We've had some very horrific things happen within our lifetimes because of people's reluctance to question their leaders.

FTA: "We have to relearn the art of following,"

I know the meaning that the original author of that statement meant, but it can also be turned upside down. We do need to relearn how to follow. We need to learn how to stand behind the right sort of leader. Many of the leaders in our corporate world are narcissists or sociopaths. Our representatives in government often aren't much better. Those sorts of people shouldn't be followed. So we as a people need to reform the way these people become leaders, as well as changing the culture and image of what it means to be a leader.

The author of this is all over the farking place. He's formulating opinions based on assumed opinions by asking himself questions.

Sir, you are not a philosopher or great diviner of truth. Drink 4 shots of bourbon and four beers. Wait 30 minutes. Write this article over from scratch. I'll bet it's more like what you really meant to say.

It depends on what constitutes authority. Being anti-government doesn't make you anti-authoritarian, as many libertarians and Republicans have shown. It just means you serve a different authority. One that may tend to be a little more selfish. I don't consider that part of the All-American Individualistic Streak. It's just being an asshole.

I'm strongly anti-authoritarian, but I also believe government has a time and a place. It is a matter of balance. I choose to live and work within a society, and there is more than just my own interests at stake. I have zero issue with taxes going to help the society as a whole. According to the guys at Reason, that makes me a commie or something. So be it. In their system, you'd still have masters, but no accountability (though we're bad at using that as it is).

Mostly, I just enjoyed seeing Brooks and Reason have a slap-fight.

Wow. And here I was thinking we are entirely too submissive, bending over to take whatever the rich dish out while loudly proclaiming our independence.

Or maybe I've been watching too many Tea Party rallies.

Rent Party: My sister, who is very much about "the rules" gets all in a twist when she hears me tell my kids "Wisdom is knowing which rules to break."

It makes me laugh.

Hah. I can think of several family members like this, and it never fails to please me when I step all over their "rules" mentality.

/except for the lack of subject-verb agreement, this headline is making me hot

Brooks is right. I blame the 1960s.

And there is nothing wrong with the grammar in the headline. It's S&M humor.

Click DOS on FARK redirect servers at 9pm EST, pass it down.

trivial use of my dark powers: Wow. And here I was thinking we are entirely too submissive, bending over to take whatever the rich dish out while loudly proclaiming our independence.

Or maybe I've been watching too many Tea Party rallies.

Wow. And here I was thinking we are entirely too submissive, bending over to take whatever the government dishes out while loudly, and violently, proclaiming our independence.

Or maybe I've been watching too many OWS rallies.

randomjsa: trivial use of my dark powers: Wow. And here I was thinking we are entirely too submissive, bending over to take whatever the rich dish out while loudly proclaiming our independence.

Or maybe I've been watching too many Tea Party rallies.

Wow. And here I was thinking we are entirely too submissive, bending over to take whatever the government dishes out while loudly, and violently, proclaiming our independence.

Or maybe I've been watching too many OWS rallies.

Brought to you by your friends at Starbucks™ and iSheeple™

With this headline I wonder if we will get Need Help Soonish and Grable's Daughter in the politics tab? Or Uncle Ghastly for that matter.

Yeah, we should have known our place, and just gone along with that whole, "taxation without representation," thing.

To be honest, I'm too much of a square to be a part of the whole Dominatrix thing.

/wait what were we talking about again?

Is that why the local police departments are stocking up on all the military hardware?

My brother works for federal law enforcement and I slap him in the face all the time just because it's technically a felony.

/Also, I'm the little brother but significantly larger than him now.

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier: I'm chained to my mistresses' dungeon wall, and getting kicked out of these responses.

Did she give you permission to get a kick out of these replies or are you gonna need moar spankings for getting a kick without permission?

meat0918: The authoritarians aren't even bothering to hide it now, are they?

They haven't for a little while now. But they are getting louder and more insistent.

A Dark Evil Omen: Please, Americans are terminally authoritarian. Many are just social dominance oriented: They object to authority that isn't them/ideologically acceptable to them.

Wow, what a terminally trite statement.

In anticipation of America getting poorer, the wealthy are buying the government so that society is reorganized to ensure that loss of wealth only affects those who cannot afford to buy government.

As this proceeds, it becomes inconvenient for the masses to feel entitled to freedom and self-determination, or to expect government to be responsive to their rights and needs. We need to be conditioned to accept powerlessness.

The people at the top see life as a game in its final season and they're ready to move on to the playoffs. That means it's time to eliminate everyone else from the game.

The Tea Party and libertarians are totally anti-authority.

That's why they want corporations the freedom to rule over you.

Came to say this country was founded on not being submissive to authority.