seanshannon.org

posted 2005/02/07 at 21:20

This took me freaking long enough, but as promised, my answers to the 40 Question Reality-Based Community Quiz ...

Warning: This post is incredibly long, so if you don't want to read it, please be sure to scroll down and read previous posts. This goes double if you know something about LCD monitors and/or console gaming, and redoubled if that's the case and your name is Don Becker.

1) Do you think a significant percentage of prominent Republicans would secretly like to see the US become a theocracy?
As always, I love how quizzes like these are couched in hedge terms like "significant." How many is significant? Anyway, since I've yet to hear any halfway-decent secular argument against same-sex marriage, I'll go ahead and answer this with: Yes.

2) Do you believe it was a mistake to go to war in Afghanistan?
No, but it was a mistake to run the military campaign in the way it was waged.

3) In your opinion, is it a myth that American soldiers were spit on when they returned from Vietnam?
No. It happened, and it shouldn't have.

4) Michael Moore's distribution group, Front Row Entertainment, received help marketing Fahrenheit 9/11 in Lebanon from the terrorist group Hezbollah. Do you believe that was appropriate?
This was the first I ever heard of it, and to be honest I'm not sure I believe it. Just to be on the safe side here, though, I'll answer no and have done with it.

5) Do you think you can be a patriotic American and support Iraq's anti-occupation resistance?
Yes. Contrary to what the corporate media and the radical right would have you believe, most of the "anti-occupation resistance" is non-violent. And personally, if I were an Iraqi citizen, I wouldn't want the US still in my country after all this time.

6) Do you think there is a significant chance that the capture of Saddam Hussein was timed to help George Bush politically?
No. If it had been planned out, the timing could have been much, much better.

7) In your opinion, is there a significant chance that Diebold is rigging elections in order to help the GOP?
Let's see, a machine in Ohio tries to give 4,000 extra votes to Bush at a polling place with about 750 total registered voters, voting machines in Ohio were wiped clean before a full recount could occur ... I'll say yes.

8) Is George Bush more "evil" than Saddam Hussein?
Evil is ... ah screw it, let's just say no.

9) In your opinion, is there a significant chance that Republicans rigged some of the Senate races in 2002?
If by "rigged" you mean direct tampering with votes, then I would say no. If you mean disgracefully using Paul Wellstone's funeral to try to smear the entire Democratic party, I'd say yes. But I have the feeling it's the latter that's the proper definition.

10) Was Ingrid Newkirk right when she said, "There is no rational basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. They're all mammals"?
I guess by this definition, then, that the radical right thinks that non-heterosexuals aren't even human beings. Yes.

11) Is there any nation in the world that's more of a force for good than the United States?
Yes. Iceland, for one.

12) In your opinion, is the US a "stingy" country?
Look at country's donations per capita for tsunami relief. Yes.

13) Is there a significant chance that America will become a fascist state in let's say the next 10 years?
Some would say it is already, but I'm thinking that the use of the word "fascist" here means "as bad as Nazi Germany." In that case, no.

14) Do you think there's a significant possibility that liberals will be rounded up and put into some sort of camps in let's say the next 10 years?
No. Of course, by the time the Democrats are done moving their party right of centre, who's to say what could define a "liberal" in ten years' time?

15) Is America an imperialist nation in your opinion?
Yes. I don't think I even need to dignify this with an explanation.

16) Do you think "losing" in Vietnam was good for America?
I'm not even sure what "losing" means here. Doing anything at all in Vietnam wasn't good for America by any stretch of the imagination, but given all the soldiers who were killed or injured or forced to suffer in Vietnamese POW camps, I'll just answer this with a no.

17) Are you sometimes ashamed to be an American?
Yes. For all the good this country could do, we do bad so often that I can't help it.

18) Do you think it's wrong for the President to put the welfare of Americans ahead of the welfare of people in other countries?
No, I don't. But then why are the Iraqi people about to get free health care from the government while tens of millions of Americans remain uninsured, and often forced to choose between health care and other necessities like food and shelter? By the way, although the President should care about the welfare of Americans first, everyone else in the world should come a real damn close second.

19) Do you see significant, noteworthy, parallels between America and Nazi Germany?
No. Not yet, anyway.

20) In your opinion, was Iraq primarily a "war for oil"?
Yes. Well, that and Halliburton.

21) What about Afghanistan? Was that primarily a "war for oil" as well?
I don't think it started as one but it certainly became one, so yes.

22) Do you think it's likely a draft will be declared by the end of George Bush's term?
I'll say no to this, but let's face it: if Iran launches a nuke into Israel, or North Korea lobs one into South Korea, Dubya will be forced between pulling troops out of Iraq to fight a real war, or reinstating the draft, and I'd put money on him picking option number two.

23) Do you think Iraq was preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place?
Yes. You mean you haven't read the memos yet?

24) In your opinion, is sleep deprivation a form of torture?
Yes. What the hell?

25) Would you prefer that we lose in Iraq?
No, I just want to get all of the troops out of there yesterday. That's not "losing."

26) Do you believe anyone who goes to Afghanistan or Iraq as a soldier is fighting for an evil cause under an evil commander in chief?
No, but it's certainly a wrong cause.

27) Was Michael Moore correct when he said, "There is no terrorist threat in this country. This is a lie?"
No, and given how close Moore's hometown of Flint is to the headquarters of the Michigan Militia, he should know better. I think Moore was engaging in a bit of hyperbole here to undercut how Dubya and his cronies overplay the terror threat, but he should have chosen his words a lot better.

28) Is there in your opinion a significant chance that the Bush administration either was behind 9/11 or knew it was coming and allowed it to happened?
Well, Condi Rice's testimony certainly showed that someone knew it was coming. Is "ignored" the same as "allowed it to happen," though? I'll be generous and answer no here, but I reserve the right to change my answer later.

29) Do you think there is a significant possibility that the Bush administration had a hand in Paul Wellstone's death?
No.

30) Do you believe that somebody rigged the vote in Ohio during the 2004 Presidential election?
Yes, yes, and shit yes.

31) In your opinion, do you think there is a significant chance that the Bush administration was behind the anthrax letters that were mailed out to some members of the media and US Senate?
No. (What is it with the conspiracy questions?)

32) Had George Bush lost the election, do you believe there was a significant chance Republicans would have thrown a coup?
No. Kerry wasn't too ideologically different from Dubya (hence my steadfastness in voting for David Cobb), and I'm sure the right-wing politicians and businesspeople would have found a way to make sure they kept rolling in moolah under Kerry.

33) Do you believe there's a significant chance that Karl Rove or someone else in the Bush administration had something to do with the last minute appearance of the Bin Laden tape right before the Nov. 2nd election?
No, that was probably bin Laden's doing. He needs Dubya just like Dubya needs him, and the timing of the video served bin Laden quite well.

34) Do you believe comparisons of George Bush to Hitler are appropriate?
No, at least not yet.

35) Do you think Communism could work if the right people were running it?
"Communism" as defined by what happened in the former Soviet Union, which was basically as much a bastardization of Marx's theories and teachings as Britney Spears' cover of "Satisfaction?" Hell no. Do I think socialism could work if the right people ran it? Then yes, but not in my lifetime.

36) Do you believe that black Americans who support and vote Republican are betraying their race?
No, that's just stupid.

37) Do you think people who say Al-Qaeda doesn't exist are right?
No, that's even dumber.

38) Are the insurgents in Iraq roughly comparable to Americans who fought against the British in your opinion?
"Roughly comparable?" What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'll say yes, but all these hedge terms are starting to piss me off.

39) Do you believe Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur was correct when she said, "One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown"?
Yes. (Then again, Marcy's my Congresswoman. I've even voted for her and everything, although given that she's pro-life I don't see myself ever campaigning for her.)

40) Do you believe there's a significant chance that the US Government knows where Bin Laden is and is deliberately allowing him to remain free?
No, because that would actually be the smart thing to do. Kill bin Laden, and you'll have tens more like him pop up in his place. (Then again, this is a man who goes hopping from cave to cave, requires dialysis three times a week, and the US still can't catch him? Meh.

Total yes answers: 16, which according to the results key doesn't make me a member of the "loony left" just yet. Hopefully I'll get there soon, though.