Geico Lizards

A week or so ago, Matt Taibbi wrote an article entitled 'Farewell to Volodymyr Zelensky, the GEICO Lizard of the New World Order'. It's a good article, but I got distracted by something else. The GEICO Lizard. And I started to see that cute little lizard in other oligarch/politician faces. Like Elon Musk.

The Geico Lizard: from this biography of the lizard! and here's another article about the lizard's origin and subsequent 'life'.

It's not fair to the lizard to say that Musk looks like it, because I do think the lizard's cute in way. Of course, I have never paid attention to any of the Geico commercials; I only ever see one when I'm playing a game on my cell phone (yea, I'm that kinda person ), and I've never listened to the commercials at all. And it's probably not fair of me to equate the lizard's looks with Musk, because Musk is gross and the lizard is cute. But I can't stop thinking of Musk and Zelensky as ugly versions of the lizard. That makes me feel kinda sorry for the lizard.

So, back to the article. Taibbi says, in part:

Zelensky’s transformation from affable populist to Anne Applebaum’s idea of a sex symbol was off-putting even before he started appearing before swooning legislators around the world wearing his trademark wan face and “I Saved The World From Putin and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” costume. We just spent three years turning a fixable local issue into a test case for a new ethos of imperial intransigence, one that apparently requires constant weeding of unbelievers and full control of media to preserve “democracy.” Zelensky may not have started as a hawk for this global Misinformation is Murder movement, but once he realized selling the idea was a requirement for NATO’s billions, he threw himself into the role with gusto. Now, he’s refusing to give up the part.

Many readers were offended last week by my irreligious attitude toward Ukraine’s president. Those of us who won’t salute this NATO-crafted character actor are apparently “careening into full-on MAGA paranoia,” no better than “comrades” and “fellow travelers” in Vladimir Putin’s figurative if not literal employ. The former comedian is now reprising Ben Kingsley’s Marvel role as the Mandarin, playing tough-guy mascot for transnational bureaucrats whose idea of a good joke is getting Americans to pay to correct their own wrong opinions. Maybe he’s doing what he has to do for his country, but seriously, fuck him. And fuck Starmer, for that matter.

I can't agree more. Taibbi goes on to talk about the Ukraine war, Zelensky, and the way oligarchic powers (most of them 'American' in some way or another) have started and then used 'information warfare' and all it's relatives (like disinformation) to further whatever goals they have in the Ukraine (I think the goal is to keep the war going as long as possible, and Russia, Russia, Russia!). Give the article a read if you haven't already, it's pretty good.

Here's the open thread - remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!