Dingling dang dong.
Don't those right wingers know a thing about history?
The Boston Tea Party was about people upset with the national authority (England) usurping local powers.
The modern Tea Party Movement is about people upset with the national authority (Washington) usurping local powers.
Any Chomsky-loving professor in an ivory tower knows that these are two completely different things.
4 comments:
OMG, what's WRONG with you man!
You're posting this foolishness on a blog, so I KNOW you have the internet!
Google before typing for the love of...
To quote (and you can -- AGAIN! -- find this ANYWHERE on the INTERNET... of like in a book if you choose! http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm):
The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea - a demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies. In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before. However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea.
The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution.
Oh yes, I can see the complete similarity between this history, and the modern Tea Part Patriots... what with their paying for overpriced tea, and being taxed without representation... Oh wait... NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS ARE HAPPENING. Sorry to shout, but are you being intentionally obtuse?
I'm embarrassed for both us of (me for bothering to comment, you for... apparently not haven taken notes in HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY!
(bangs head on desk) I have to go wash my brain now, just for taking the time to correct such a moronic post.
Charles,
My post says that both tea parties were about local v. national control.
The snippet you gave says "The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy." and emphasized the Boston Tea Party was not about the price of a cup of tea.
The snippet confirms my point. The Boston Tea Party and modern Tea Party Movement were not about the ploy. They were about a broader issue of national v. local control.
Immediately after a snippet that says the ploy wasn't the issue, you boldly claim that since the ploy that ignited the Boston Tea Party is different from the ploy that started the current movement, then the two things are entirely unrelated, and that I must be an idiot to think otherwise.
Destroying people with snippets is fun. But it is best to avoid using snippets that support the argument you wish to destroy.
The snippet says it's not about the ploy and I say it's not about the ploy.
BTW: The bit about high school is strange. Public high school teachers get their money from taxes, so they have a natural bias to defend taxation. Yes, it is true that when I was in high school, my history teacher held the belief that the revolution was simply about taxation without representation. Once you have any sort of "representative" in place, you can tax the people til the cows come home.
So, yes, public school teachers have a bias toward those things from which they benefit. Citing that a group that has an obvious bias against my point of view has a different point of view doesn't really accomplish anything.
OMG Man, you are letting your Chomsky-hate blind your cognitive processes. The modern Tea Bagging Movement is about people upset with the fact we have a Black Democrat President trying to Save Capitalism from itself. Look at the bright side. These efforts will fail, and you will eventually get to see if "Local Powers" do any better.
Anonymous,
Oh, I get it. I see what set Charles off. I used Chomsky's name in vain.
The snipe was actually aimed at elitist professors trying to influence policy by mincing words. "Chomsky-lovin'" was an adjective I used to describe the professors.
I do have disdain for people engaged in underhanded manipulation of discourse. Such manipulation preceeds Chomsky.
I find your taking the phrase as "Chomsky-hate" quite interesting.
I admit, a reason I fell into the habit of poking fun at Chomsky is that there is a class of elite intellectual who simply can't take what they routinely dish out.
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