Orifice Politics or I Want to Hear Some Buts

It's difficult to watch the "back and forth" scenes in Me and You and Everyone We Know without wanting to talk about them the next day, even if the only people to talk to are my office mates and my aunt. I stopped myself from describing MaYaEWK to my aunt last night, but this afternoon my desire to share overcame my sense of appropriate workplace talk. Granted, my sense of the appropriate can be very liberal, but it's not as liberal as The Corporation.(I'm practicing transitions here, so bear with me.)

I finally saw that non-fiction movie last week and I was dying to discuss it with someone kind of conservative but not stupid. The only person who came to mind was this young Wall Street Journal fan(can you imagine?) who works in my office, so I asked him to watch The Corp. and blab with me about it later. (Unfortunately, the kid I really wanted to talk to--an adorable American International Relations/Business student with family ties to the Middle East who got misty talking about risk management-- had graduated in the spring). The WJS kid agreed until he saw that Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky were in the film. That rumpled lefty combination was a deal breaker.

Disappointed by the movie snub, I couldn't resist asking the WJS kid what he thought of Chomsky. I had to get something out of him. It was inappropriate, I know, but what's the fun of being surrounded by students if you can't get one of those infuriating exciting college political discussions out of them--the kind I can't have as an adult because I don't hold my tongue or make small talk, and so have no conservative friends? Since I abandonned open-mindedness, even hanging out with libertarians is a challenge. (Those of you who witnessed my interaction with "The Freeman" in Papertrix's parlor know what I'm talking about. Sorry, Trix.)

I gave up being "open-minded" during a sophomore year dorm debate when this boy suggested that the lower social status of my people (that includes you,ladies) might be "natural," then countered my dismay at his arguments with a you-liberals-are-supposed-to-be-open-minded whine.

That doesn't mean that I want to swallow all of The Corporation's ideas without getting an intelligent response from other informed points of view. My head feels troubled when my guts say "yessiree" to an overtly political film. I want to hear some buts from people who aren't. The review in the Economist seemed promising until the author pulled out the old "Oh yeah, well, what do you want--North Korea?" thing.

I may be a communist by "Freeman" standards (I do play ultimate), but I would like to hear a credible defense for the Industrial Free World that goes beyond our mind-blowing array of mouth freshening products and personal wipes.

Speaking of politics, I wonder if I need to write a letter or sign any petitions regarding this guy. Is he a lesser evil or just a weevil? I don't like that glint in his eyes, but that's so closed-minded of me.