Neocon Bingo
Somehow all of us at ginandtacos.com have become addicted to listening, reading and watching right-wing neo-conservative media over the past four years. No matter how much we disagree, we can't stop it when it comes to things like the O'Reilly Factor (Ed), Sean Hannity (Erik), or the National Review (Mike). And like a strong oxycotin addiction, it makes us angry, depressed, worried, anxious, and prone to start arguing with people at the drop of a hat.
But lately, something has changed. It all seems muted. At first I thought that we were actually just like real addicts, and had started growing a tolerance for the neocons. But then the real answer came to me - we were hearing the same thing repeated ad nauseam on all the major channels year after year. Defending Israel, liberal elites, the U.S. as the worlds only superpower.
After each country we invade we expect the talking points to change, to get stronger - but no. The National Review was my gateway drug and they couldn't give me a new or stronger hit. Shaking in alleyways covered in sweat, and my dealer only had the same old thing. No Gay Marriages, With us/against us. Stay the course. And so on.
Like a relationship that's gone on too long, reading these things became a chore for all of us. But then a friend pointed me to a review of "An End to Evil" in The Nation by Michael Lind, who talked about the fact that he has also heard all this before. His solution in the 80s was to develop a game called "Neocon bingo." As you read your latest editoral or neocon book, put a mark on each of the main tenets of the neocon movement.
Though Michael Lind never made then game, we (with our superhuman free-time) have, and put it online. Click on the link below to have a card generated for you. Each one is randomly generated to make the game more fun. Hit the f5 key in the window to get yourself a brand new card if you'd like. There are more images than bingo card slots, so each card may bring new images you haven't seen yet.
In case you want some source material to read while you play the game, here are some links. Print out your card and start marking away as each space is brought up in whatever essay you choose.
The National Review
Get Hannitized - Sean Hannity
Andrew Sullivan
The Free Republic
Special thanks to Cat Bird Seat, who came up with Hipster Bingo, a fun and sadly appropriate game to play, and to Tom Gillis, whose made the javascript for random hipster bingo which was preemptively taken from his webpage for this bingo game.
If you'd leave to leave rants or raves about this page, click here for the neocon bingo comments page.
