[syndicate] Re: Forgiving Arnold & Voting for the Familiar

[Michael Watson]

I am a California native. I recently drove about 2000 miles around the state. I particpated in the dot com boom and dot com bust. It was obvious to me before the election that Arnold was going to win. I think I know why but am having a hard time articulating it. The next big thing is brewing in California. Assertions about California by people who do not live here should be viewed with some skepticism.
 
Michael

Ivo Skoric <ivo at reporters.net> wrote:
Hmmm. I don't particularly see the point at which we disagree, Paul?!

Of 134 candidates there was only one that mattered. We both concluded 
that Arnold was effectively forgiven all his past transgressions and 
honored for his mega-celebrity status - something that (particularly 
South) California is all about. Media gave him a walk. But, people 
gave him a walk, too. They were willing acomplices.

Yes, I am looking at the candidates they vote in offices. As I said, 
people are overworked here. The US is a country with longest working 
hours and shortest vaccation times in Western Hemisphere. There is 
simply no time to prepare yourself to make an educated political 
choice.

Therefore, it is easiest to vote for someone you know the most about -
and who would you possibly know more about than a movie star? Now, 
the difference is that you think that just media are enthralled, and 
people are simply duped by the media, while I think that people are 
enthralled as well, and media just makes money selling what sells 
well.

There is no doubt the California will pay. It is already paying - the 
defense industry downsizing, the sillicon valley implosion, the junk 
bonds scandal, the energy crisis, the Orange county budget crisis, 
the water problem. Luckily, people are leaving the place that cannot 
sustain their lives.

Arnold won't be able to save the State either. Maybe in a year 
Democrats should set up a recall election for him? I strongly advise 
they pick-up some Democratic-leaning Hollywood star as a canditate 
opposing Arnold. How about Susan Sarandon?

ivo 

On 9 Oct 2003 at 21:36, CERJ at igc.org wrote:

A media-bestowed Cakewalk for 'Herr Beefcake'? -- John Wilmerding

On Thursday, October 9, 2003, Paul Prior 
wrote:

I haven't wasted much time rebutting all this Arnold nonsense on the
Internet, but it's really getting old, and I'm going to disagree with
most of what Ivo Skoric says below.

This country does not love Arnold. California was just bamboozled 
and
conned. There is nothing magic about the guy. Anyone who tuned in
any network news saw nothing but clips of crowds and Arnold grinning. 

And they kept recycling those videos of Arnold regardless of what 
they
were reporting in the accompanying audio, and they gave the constant,
repeated impression nobody else was even in the running, or if they
were it didn't matter.

On the other hand, TV news -- which is closely akin to movies in the
public mind (I use the term loosely) -- refused to investigate or 
even
report the early claims of sexual harassment and Nazi-type thinking
Arnold expressed years ago to journalists. They gave him a walk. 
The
media made it a triumph of show business, a popularity contest rigged
by the mass media, which is about all politics is in California. If
there's any doubt about that, just look at the characters they've
voted into office in the recent past, and the unbelievable financial
mess they've dug themselves into as a result.

But California will pay. They're about one step above junk bonds
right now, and slipping fast. The state is LOSING population, you
know, and it's accelerating.

-- paul
webmaster
http://globalcircle.net
peace and liberty, sustainability and justice
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

On 10/9/2003 at 4:49 PM CERJ at igc.org wrote:

On Thursday, October 9, 2003, CERJer Ivo Skoric ,
who divides his time these days between Long Island City, NY, and
Killington, VT, wrote:

If Arnold were to appear in full SS uniform, I think he would be
forgiven. People would take it as a joke. He looks as close to an
'uebermensch' as it goes. If he lived in the Reich, he'd be an
official mascot. With his heavy German accent and a father that was 
a
member of NSDAP, the 'Nazi' stuff will simply always be associated
with him. It is just unavoidable.

But he is also a public figure, a celebrity, and his opinions and
character are widely known to great masses of people around the 
world.
More people know more about him than about any bleak figure from
American political life. And the general judgement is that he is not
a Nazi. After all, like many young men from Europe at that time, he
came to the US precisely because he was enthusiastic about the
freedoms and opportunities it offered.

As Anneliese Rohrer from Die Presse wrote for New York Times, 
"Austria
is basking in Mr. Schwarzenegger's California triumph. We are
enjoying the moment. But although we admire Mr. Schwarzenegger for
what we are not, unlike Americans, we'd never elect him." True -- in
an orderly Western-European country, this would surely not be
possible.

Recall elections, musclemen/actors who brag about smoking dope and
groping women becoming political leaders -- one would expect to see
that in some 'emerging democracy' like Serbia, not in an orderly 
state
where professionals are supposed to run the business. Well, for
better or worse, California still retains some of this 'early
democracy' gold-rush enthusiasm.

Arnold won in all areas except San Francisco -- it seems that people
elected him based on curiosity, like, 'let's see what would happen if
we elect someone as unusual as him'. With all the lines from his
movies that everybody knows by heart, there is an endless supply of
jokes for any writer who would comment on his governorship.

And there is something about the hard work and dedication that he 
most
obviously invested in his life -- first building the ultimate
physique, then becoming one of the biggest male stars in Hollywood
(despite the accent), becoming a rich real-estate developer, marrying
a Kennedy, and, finally becoming a governor -- that people respect 
and
like about him.

He has what he wants in life, because others believe that it suits
him. He can grope women, and they talk about it only twenty years
after and because they were prodded by journalists to do so during 
his
political campaign. I've heard malicious tongues saying that those
who spoke are those who were angry that Mr. Universe only groped 
them.

And the story about the gang-bang, where he said that not all the
body-builders participated, because some men cannot get a hard-on in 
a
group situation, due to their inner insecurities about the size of
their penis ... implying that, obviously, he does not have that
insecurity.

When he said that, he was a young athlete aspiring to become an 
actor.
Flaunting his machismo suited him well. He probably did not think
then that one day he would run for a governor, and that this would
sound disgusting in his new role. The voters just sucked it up.

And nobody else running for an office in the US would be given a pass
with the Hitler statements in his past. Although, what he said --
that he admires Hitler for his efficiency in acquiring power -- does
not necessarily makes him think that Hitler was a good guy. And
Hitler indeed was very skilled in acquiring power. But just having
your name associated with his in the same sentence would kill 
anyone's
else political career. On the other hand, who else with an
unpronounceable last name like Arnold's would stand any chance in
American politics?

Let's face it. He is special. Arnold is simply loved by the people. 

His transgressions are taken as a joke. And he is just viewed as a
perfect father, great actor, and a work-out freak. This 'flies' well
in the US -- muscles sell well: Jesse Ventura, another governor, was 
a
pro-wrestler. But the most important part is being known -- we all
feel we know practically everything about Schwarzenegger. And we are
too curious to see how would he perform as governor not to let it
happen.

The results tell more about voters than about Arnold. In the end,
maybe other actors will run for governors as well. Let's see how
Arnold would do against Tom Hanks, or Sly Stallone.

Of course, he may be a quite different Republican than Bush. The
latter didn't have to do a day of hard work in his life. Let's see
whether Arnold will manage to twist Bush's arm into giving some
Federal money to California (it would be really amusing to see Arnold
getting his paws on Bush and holding him by his ankles over a 
canyon).

Ivo

==================================
CERJ at igc.org wilmerding at earthlink.net
-------------------------------------------
John Wilmerding, Convener and List Manager
Coalition for Equity-Restorative Justice (CERJ)
217 High Street, Brattleboro, VT, USA
ZIP: 05301-6073 Phone: 1-802-254-2826
CERJ was founded in New York in May, 1997.
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"Work together to reinvent justice using methods
that are fair; that conserve, restore, and even
create harmony, equity and good will in society."
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