Random Politics Thread

[Lark]

He's good at preaching a resoundingly (and infuriatingly) insular narrative to his own choir though, in a way that effectively cements conviction in a remarkably short-sighted view of the world. I sometimes try to listen to him, because I'm a firm believer that curiosity is the antidote for contempt - but I've just about learned my lesson in thinking he might ever be able to provide that bridge in understanding.

And for all his talk of the need for an outlet for "traditional values", he seems to mistake "delighting in stirring outrage the left" with "traditional values" as much as any of them.

There is such a need right now for anyone who understands what baby there might be in the Republican bathwater, to effectively translate what decent individuals in Trump's base 'hear' that is appealing to them but who can also acknowledge the searing hypocrisy, banality, and depravity is grating - to be a pundit who can form some kind of bridge. Because even the currently most well-known Republican pundits who can see it hate it ("it" being all things MJT, Trumps, McConnell, Cruz...) as much as Democrats. The closest it gets is Nikki Haley, and she's still far too much of a shithead to do it effectively. Anyone who could master that would be able to capitalize on it big time. It's actually pretty strange that no one has yet.

This guy is a laughing stock in the UK you know, he went on a totally wild rant against a BBC broadcaster who is infamously conservative in his bias (as all the BBC is and has been for some time) and accused the guy of being a raging liberal with some kind of bizarre agenda.

So him and his ilk from the US are routinely wheeled out for the UK conservative political establishment to laugh at.

Its kind of a "who are these clowns, look what they have to do in order to remain relevant", mind you that the UK conservatives have things that well sown up that they dont need to continually whip up supporters says something awful too.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

This guy is a laughing stock in the UK you know, he went on a totally wild rant against a BBC broadcaster who is infamously conservative in his bias (as all the BBC is and has been for some time) and accused the guy of being a raging liberal with some kind of bizarre agenda.

So him and his ilk from the US are routinely wheeled out for the UK conservative political establishment to laugh at.

Its kind of a "who are these clowns, look what they have to do in order to remain relevant", mind you that the UK conservatives have things that well sown up that they dont need to continually whip up supporters says something awful too.

Well, it's my understanding that the Blairite elements of the Labor party ran quite a smear campaign on Jeremy Corbyn, which seems to have benefitted the Tories more than anything else. I believe they called Jeremy Corbyn antisemitic for attending a Passover Seder.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Trump Unity trailer getting towed from CPAC..

But it's part of the truth and constitution tour! Truth is good! And the constitution is freedom (well technically, that's the Bill of Rights but they're interchangeable as far as most people are concerned). Why do you hate things that are good and represent freedom?

Why does the ultra-right like to throw around references to the Constitution while appearing to be blissfully aware of what's actually in it? Actually, they apply the same approach to the Bible, don't they. I love how they have these sacred texts that the left is always trying to besmirch that they've never actually read.

I can say in the case of the First Amendment, they don't seem to care very much about what the original intent of the establishment clause actually was. They like to throw around this bogus idea that it's just about the government interfering in churches, and has nothing to do with not being able to establish a national religion. Naturally, as "true conservatives and patriots" they want to completely piss on one of the good things that actually has been part of our government for centuries. I intend to look through all the amendments and see to what extent "originalism" is a fraud, but so far I haven't finished the first.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

This guy is a laughing stock in the UK you know, he went on a totally wild rant against a BBC broadcaster who is infamously conservative in his bias (as all the BBC is and has been for some time) and accused the guy of being a raging liberal with some kind of bizarre agenda.

So him and his ilk from the US are routinely wheeled out for the UK conservative political establishment to laugh at.

.

The thing about the bolded that amazes me is that this m.o. (which I *think* began with Trump doing it left and right to any conservatives who disagreed with him) has become so rampant, and it stays effective. Someone not being loyal/disagreeing with the orange messiah? GRab yeR pItChfoRks miNIonS, thAt pERsoN isS RINO!!

I mean, what the fuck?

 

[Kephalos]

He's good at preaching a resoundingly (and infuriatingly) insular narrative to his own choir though, in a way that effectively cements conviction in a remarkably short-sighted view of the world. I sometimes try to listen to him, because I'm a firm believer that curiosity is the antidote for contempt - but I've just about learned my lesson in thinking he might ever be able to provide that bridge in understanding.

And for all his talk of the need for an outlet for "traditional values", he seems to mistake "delighting in stirring outrage the left" with "traditional values" as much as any of them.

There is such a need right now for anyone who understands what baby there might be in the Republican bathwater, to effectively translate what decent individuals in Trump's base 'hear' that is appealing to them but who can also acknowledge the searing hypocrisy, banality, and depravity is grating - to be a pundit who can form some kind of bridge. Because even the currently most well-known Republican pundits who can see it hate it ("it" being all things MJT, Trumps, McConnell, Cruz...) as much as Democrats. The closest it gets is Nikki Haley, and she's still far too much of a shithead to do it effectively. Anyone who could master that would be able to capitalize on it big time. It's actually pretty strange that no one has yet.

I hate to say it, but a lot of these conflicts that seem so acrimonious and intractable can only be solved by one side achieving a definitive victory over the other side.

Conflicts around artificially created identities like gender or race or whatever that determine what kinds of benefits in society people that belong to these groups can realistically obtain ARE zero-sum. Fights about relative status are zero-sum by definition. I don't know if you've ever heard this expression: To the privileged, equality can feel like a loss. I would change it to say that it is a loss, a loss that is ethically justified, a loss that doesn't deserve to be compensasted, but a loss nontheless.

 

[ceecee]

I hate to say it, but a lot of these conflicts that seem so acrimonious and intractable can only be solved by one side achieving a definitive victory over the other side.

Conflicts around artificially created identities like gender or race or whatever that determine what kinds of benefits in society people that belong to these groups can realistically obtain ARE zero-sum. Fights about relative status are zero-sum by definition. I don't know if you've ever heard this expression: To the privileged, equality can feel like a loss. I would change it to say that it is a loss, a loss that is ethically justified, a loss that doesn't deserve to be compensasted, but a loss nontheless.

Absolutely. They will never, NEVER understand that one group getting the same thing that they have doesn't mean they have less of that thing all of a sudden. It's not fucking pie.

 

[Jaguar]

Who is the mythical they?

 

[Jaguar]

.

 

[Lark]

The thing about the bolded that amazes me is that this m.o. (which I *think* began with Trump doing it left and right to any conservatives who disagreed with him) has become so rampant, and it stays effective. Someone not being loyal/disagreeing with the orange messiah? GRab yeR pItChfoRks miNIonS, thAt pERsoN isS RINO!!

I mean, what the fuck?

I dont really want to be sectarian but I think a lot of this is a legacy of evangelical subcultures and the sorts of social control that they exercise.

 

[ceecee]

Everyone ready for March 4? Just in case there are people still not paying attention to anything...

QAnon believers think Trump will be inaugurated again on March 4 - Vox

Correction: Met Ken, who informed us that Trump is still in command of the military, and Trump will be inaugurated again on March 20. (Biden is acting as president as a ruse while the Pope and others are rounded up.)

This is one of the new Q dates. These people don't know this is QAnon, by the way, they're just getting it on other social channels, through emails, or IRL.


Debranded Q has consumed a large portion of far-right media and word-of-mouth communities.

 

[Lark]

Correction: Met Ken, who informed us that Trump is still in command of the military, and Trump will be inaugurated again on March 20. (Biden is acting as president as a ruse while the Pope and others are rounded up.)

This is one of the new Q dates. These people don't know this is QAnon, by the way, they're just getting it on other social channels, through emails, or IRL.


Debranded Q has consumed a large portion of far-right media and word-of-mouth communities.

Wait, who is being rounded up now? Pope Francis?

WTF

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Wait, who is being rounded up now? Pope Francis?

WTF

Evangelicals often perceive the Catholic Church as being in league with or associated with the Antichrist. I believe they like to interpret it as the beast from the Book of Revelations, but I may not be entirely correct on that detail.

IIRC didn't the Pope speak out about putting kids in cages at the border? That didn't help either I'm sure.

 

[Lark]

Evangelicals often perceive the Catholic Church as being in league with or associated with the Antichrist. I believe they like to interpret it as the beast from the Book of Revelations, but I may not be entirely correct on that detail.

IIRC didn't the Pope speak out about putting kids in cages at the border? That didn't help either I'm sure.

I always knew there was a protestant conspiracy, the world started to go to shit with their schism and its gone from bad to worse. Sooner they are all eclipsed by atheism the better.

 

[Red Memories]

Evangelicals often perceive the Catholic Church as being in league with or associated with the Antichrist. I believe they like to interpret it as the beast from the Book of Revelations, but I may not be entirely correct on that detail.

IIRC didn't the Pope speak out about putting kids in cages at the border? That didn't help either I'm sure.

Evangelicals think we're pagans

*cough*

 

[Totenkindly]

Evangelicals often perceive the Catholic Church as being in league with or associated with the Antichrist. I believe they like to interpret it as the beast from the Book of Revelations, but I may not be entirely correct on that detail.

Well, one view ties it to the Romans (with Nero being the sixth head of the seven-headed monster).

But yeah, Seventh Day Adventists and some other protestants (even a few centuries back) have tied it to the papacy.

Start getting into all the prophesying sects and you'll see some pretty crazy stuff. I remember also reading all those Hal Lindsey comics as a kid (rofl) and seeing all of the projections about what was what in the Book of the Revelation of John. These were being sold in the Christian bookstores in my area.

 

[Coriolis]

Evangelicals think we're pagans

*cough*

Some of us are.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Some of us are.

I think she meant Catholics.

 

[Coriolis]

I think she meant Catholics.

I used to be one of those, too.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Curious: is it true that in US Catholics are visibly more likely to vote for the Democrats ?

 

[Red Herring]

Start getting into all the prophesying sects and you'll see some pretty crazy stuff. I remember also reading all those Hal Lindsey comics as a kid (rofl) and seeing all of the projections about what was what in the Book of the Revelation of John. These were being sold in the Christian bookstores in my area.

I googled those and they look awesome!

LOL, apparently he includes an erlenmeyer flask (usually a symbol for the natural sciences) among the "dark occult practices"?