Idiocracy

[Bender]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/politics/qanon-congressional-candidates/index.html

This is no longer just some extremist fringe. The mainstream of the American conservative movement, as in people who will be sitting in Congress, is now white supremacists and people who believe in satanic conspiracy theorists.

Came across this Twitter thread yesterday, and thought it was interesting (and frightening) - especially in light of the FBI tweeting out a link to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion yesterday:

https://twitter.com/JYSexton/status/1280139838839193605

I can't wait til were all some sort of beige colour. I'm tired of this bullshit.

 

[Bender]

This also just happened:
https://twitter.com/SDNYnews/status/1296438759198687232

I saw this coming from miles away. This isn't a shock. The right is so good at continuously pulling the wool over propels eyes while they scare people about government while simultaneously reaching into their pockets. And people fall for it over and over and over. We really are a dumb species.

 

[Hobbes]

...so good at continuously pulling the wool over propels eyes while they scare people about government while simultaneously reaching into their pockets. And people fall for it over and over and over. We really are a dumb species.

As if we needed further proof after witnessing decades of people filling Maple Leafs Gardens and the ACC thinking that this would finally be the year the Leafs won the cup again.... 

 

[Highlander]

...so good at continuously pulling the wool over propels eyes while they scare people about government while simultaneously reaching into their pockets. And people fall for it over and over and over. We really are a dumb species.

As if we needed further proof after witnessing decades of people filling Maple Leafs Gardens and the ACC thinking that this would finally be the year the Leafs won the cup again.... 

Here, here!!!

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Trump rage-tweeting in all caps last night during the DNC event instead of, you know, even pretending to lead the nation during a crisis, pretty much sums up where this is headed.

 

[Hobbes]

Considering the technical challenges nobody had ever had to contend with before, the DNC was pretty remarkable and made for some very interesting watching. Much better than the typical canned speeches where it's 80% short-on-content one-liners intended to invoke rousing applause rather than lay out policy or actually deliver an intelligent message. It will be interesting to compare and contrast with the coming week's RNC.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/crimethinc/status/1298787401792446466
Just in case you're confused about where populist nationalistic demagoguery eventually leads

 

[Bates]

https://twitter.com/crimethinc/status/1298787401792446466
Just in case you're confused about where populist nationalistic demagoguery eventually leads

I'm not on the Right or Republucan side but thinking its as simple as this is where X leads might have someone suggest Socialist policy leads to Venezuela.  Its best to just consider that because someone does not share your thoughts or political beliefs it does not make them them the devil.

 

[Kin]

I'm not on the Right or Republucan side but thinking its as simple as this is where X leads might have someone suggest Socialist policy leads to Venezuela. 

That analogy doesn't work because there are dozens and dozens of examples of states adopting socialist policies without becoming Venezuela whereas there aren't large scale examples of countries adopting violent nationalist dogma and it not leading to violence and hatred. You actually have to establish a causality before saying one thing leads to another and I think that's been done with nationalism/populism and fascism.

Again, this isn't a left/right thing. This isn't a dispute about marginal tax rate. I'm not so sure why you seem intent on tying Conservatism to this sort of violent rhetoric when a bunch of left-wing people are saying that Conservatism hasn't always and doesn't have to be that.

 

[Bates]

I'm not on the Right or Republucan side but thinking its as simple as this is where X leads might have someone suggest Socialist policy leads to Venezuela. 

That analogy doesn't work because there are dozens and dozens of examples of states adopting socialist policies without becoming Venezuela whereas there aren't large scale examples of countries adopting violent nationalist dogma and it not leading to violence and hatred. You actually have to establish a causality before saying one thing leads to another and I think that's been done with nationalism/populism and fascism.

Again, this isn't a left/right thing. This isn't a dispute about marginal tax rate. I'm not so sure why you seem intent on tying Conservatism to this sort of violent rhetoric when a bunch of left-wing people are saying that Conservatism hasn't always and doesn't have to be that.

I don't recall reading "violent nationalist dogma" in the post I replied to? The vast majority of people on the Right in the US do not believe in those things.

 

[Kin]

I don't recall reading "violent nationalist dogma" in the post I replied to?

It was literally chock full of pictures of people holding assault weapons, some of which were used against their fellow citizens in a double murder and how those people are being celebrated by the mainstream of the Republican party.

 

[Bates]

I don't recall reading "violent nationalist dogma" in the post I replied to?

It was literally chock full of pictures of people holding assault weapons, some of which were used against their fellow citizens in a double murder and how those people are being celebrated by the mainstream of the Republican party.

I wrote in response to Herman's words questioning them alone.

 

[Kin]

I wrote in response to Herman's words questioning them alone.

And Herman's words were in the context of what he was quoting.

 

[Bates]

I wrote in response to Herman's words questioning them alone.

And Herman's words were in the context of what he was quoting.

And making a huge generalization that just isn't true whole helping nothing.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1298983731512799235

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1298757876362743809

 

[Kin]

And making a huge generalization that just isn't true whole helping nothing.

It wasn't a generalization. It was a specific statement about things that are actually happening right now as evidenced by what he quoted.

 

[herman]

Nik's got the long and short of it. I'm not sure what you're arguing for Bates. That it's false there's correlation and/or causation tying nationalistic populism and demagoguery with a lot of not good stuff?

 

[Bender]

Nik's got the long and short of it. I'm not sure what you're arguing for Bates. That it's false there's correlation and/or causation tying nationalistic populism and demagoguery with a lot of not good stuff?

I mean honestly, how hard is it think: maybe true conservatism is not the same as populist, nationalist and racial violence? The Germans thought they were conservative in 1933 until little incremental notches moved things up. There are so many platitudes I could go with here, but are we really as dumb as frogs who don't know to jump out of the water once it starts getting too hot? On second thought, considering the realities of climate change, maybe we are.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2020/08/28/jim-gaffigan-twitter-rant-slams-trump-supporters-fox-news/5655678002/

https://www.facebook.com/5642244660/posts/10158761187769661/?extid=9bEt9w2vkjXK7FJl&d=n

It's hard not to like Jim Gaffigan. In all seriousness, he's taking a bit of a risk in speaking out, both personally and professionally, but it's good to see.