The Dictator observations thread.

Politics and other such topical creams.
Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 116000
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Howard Beale wrote:
26 Apr 2023, 9:43pm
I've been nothing but polite and more than willing to have that debate.
A polite promoter of the fascist position is no less poisonous. You're either a useful idiot for authoritarianism or you're a conscious adherent. Either way, I won't elevate fascism by debating it.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Howard Beale
Bang Ice Geezer
Posts: 172
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:51am

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Howard Beale »

Silent Majority wrote:
27 Apr 2023, 3:18am
Howard Beale wrote:
26 Apr 2023, 9:43pm
Silent Majority wrote:
26 Apr 2023, 8:23am
Carlson's a fascist, mate, his being gone from a multi-million dollar mainstream organisation is to be celebrated. His populism and acknowledgement of the state's brutal embedding with capital is integral to his white supremacism.
You're missing my point—it's not about Carlson himself, it's about the fact that an audience of Fox News viewers were exposed to an anti-war message they wouldn't see anywhere else whenever he would have leftist voices on.
I don't think I am - which leftist voices has he had on? Jimmy Dore? Glenn Greenwald? Both are riding the money train all the way to Strasser Station.
The idea that consistently covering topics that are very likely to get one demonetized or outright banned from YouTube and other platforms is somehow the ultimate gravy train has always struck me as a rather curious argument to make, but that's a conversation for another day—Carlson has also had on people like John Kiriakou, Christian Smalls, Max Blumenthal, Anya Parampil and Aaron Maté to talk about things like the Amazon union drive in New York, Trump's attempted coup in Venezuela and the Nord Stream pipeline bombing; all topics that are totally verboten to report truthfully on in the rest of corporate media. Whether or not you like the cut of a particular guest's jib is irrelevant, what's relevant is, did they use their 3-5 minutes on air to push back against DC establishment/pro-war narratives or didn't they? The fact that many of these guests also have substantive critiques of the Democratic Party—in stark contrast to Fox News talking points about the Dems that are usually rooted in culture war bullshit and very often made up whole cloth—is also a good thing considering that Carlson's show was the most watched cable news show by liberals as well.
Silent Majority wrote:
27 Apr 2023, 3:18am
He's not anti-war. He just wants war on China instead.
You're right—Carlson has certainly beat the war drums against China. He seems to have backed off that in recent months, but the damage is already done. Maybe "anti-war" was too broad of a term—I certainly wouldn't characterize Carlson as anti-imperialist, but he is, generally, anti-interventionist. Which, in the context of corporate news, is probably the most anti-war we're ever going to get.


Dr. Medulla wrote:
27 Apr 2023, 6:49am
A polite promoter of the fascist position is no less poisonous. You're either a useful idiot for authoritarianism or you're a conscious adherent. Either way, I won't elevate fascism by debating it.
But you'll elevate it by outright supporting it? Unless I've interpreted your position wrong, you seem to be supportive of the collective West continuing to pump billions of dollars into a country with explicitly pro-fascist military units and run by an authoritarian maniac like Zelensky. And the guy who cheered on his government freezing the bank accounts of private citizens with zero due process because he disagreed politically with those being targeted is calling me pro-authoritarian? You're the one lobbing McCarthyite smears, yet I'm somehow the useful idiot serving such agendas? Rich.

You have no leg to stand on calling anyone else fascist/authoritarian—you won't debate the subject because you can't.

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22257
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Didn't know where else to put this. This article is about a friend of mine who is contemplating leaving MO to keep his trans child and their family safe. I also just heard of a family who is moving to Maryland to keep their trans child safe. This is terrifying and it's fascism.

https://www.kveller.com/this-missouri-r ... ans-child/
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 116000
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

JennyB wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 11:30am
Didn't know where else to put this. This article is about a friend of mine who is contemplating leaving MO to keep his trans child and their family safe. I also just heard of a family who is moving to Maryland to keep their trans child safe. This is terrifying and it's fascism.

https://www.kveller.com/this-missouri-r ... ans-child/
It really is hard to think it's really happening. It was always kind of a therapeutic indulgence back in the 80s to talk about fascism and the like, but it was, basically, hyperbolic and we knew it. That it's been unleashed, seemingly so easily, is alarming. Passivity isn't an option.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Sparky
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 4419
Joined: 01 Dec 2020, 5:31pm
Location: Left Of The Dial

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Sparky »

JennyB wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 11:30am
Didn't know where else to put this. This article is about a friend of mine who is contemplating leaving MO to keep his trans child and their family safe. I also just heard of a family who is moving to Maryland to keep their trans child safe. This is terrifying and it's fascism.

https://www.kveller.com/this-missouri-r ... ans-child/
it's really sad that more people aren't appalled and speaking out against the hatred from the far right. I'm not sports fan but I've kind of been following along on a similar story involving pro basketball player Dwayne Wade who moved his family out of Florida to protect this trans child. I love that fact that the story has gotten a fair amount of air time, nice slap in the face for Gov. Ron and company.
God, what a mess, on the ladder of success
Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22257
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Sparky wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 2:10pm
JennyB wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 11:30am
Didn't know where else to put this. This article is about a friend of mine who is contemplating leaving MO to keep his trans child and their family safe. I also just heard of a family who is moving to Maryland to keep their trans child safe. This is terrifying and it's fascism.

https://www.kveller.com/this-missouri-r ... ans-child/
it's really sad that more people aren't appalled and speaking out against the hatred from the far right. I'm not sports fan but I've kind of been following along on a similar story involving pro basketball player Dwayne Wade who moved his family out of Florida to protect this trans child. I love that fact that the story has gotten a fair amount of air time, nice slap in the face for Gov. Ron and company.
It's been really inspiring to see how outspoken he and his wife are in support of their trans daughter. To use your platform like that is so important. They are likely saving lives.
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22257
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 1:45pm
JennyB wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 11:30am
Didn't know where else to put this. This article is about a friend of mine who is contemplating leaving MO to keep his trans child and their family safe. I also just heard of a family who is moving to Maryland to keep their trans child safe. This is terrifying and it's fascism.

https://www.kveller.com/this-missouri-r ... ans-child/
It really is hard to think it's really happening. It was always kind of a therapeutic indulgence back in the 80s to talk about fascism and the like, but it was, basically, hyperbolic and we knew it. That it's been unleashed, seemingly so easily, is alarming. Passivity isn't an option.
Right - I used to throw that words around about a high school teacher I didn't like. Now it's real.
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Flex
User avatar
Mechano-Man of the Future
Posts: 35805
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:50pm
Location: The Information Superhighway!

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Flex »

JennyB wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 11:30am
Didn't know where else to put this. This article is about a friend of mine who is contemplating leaving MO to keep his trans child and their family safe. I also just heard of a family who is moving to Maryland to keep their trans child safe. This is terrifying and it's fascism.

https://www.kveller.com/this-missouri-r ... ans-child/
Incredibly brave of your friend (and their child) to stand up in the face of this. I worry that it will all be for naught (at least in some parts of the country), but if people don't try to oppose this kind of stuff then the conclusion is foregone.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

JennyB
User avatar
Mossad Van Driver
Posts: 22257
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 1:13pm
Location: Moranjortsville

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Flex wrote:
30 Apr 2023, 12:00pm
JennyB wrote:
29 Apr 2023, 11:30am
Didn't know where else to put this. This article is about a friend of mine who is contemplating leaving MO to keep his trans child and their family safe. I also just heard of a family who is moving to Maryland to keep their trans child safe. This is terrifying and it's fascism.

https://www.kveller.com/this-missouri-r ... ans-child/
Incredibly brave of your friend (and their child) to stand up in the face of this. I worry that it will all be for naught (at least in some parts of the country), but if people don't try to oppose this kind of stuff then the conclusion is foregone.
It's just all so awful. I also think it's a calculated effort to make democratic voters move out of blue states.
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 116000
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

https://popehat.substack.com/p/deserves ... do-with-it

This could go into any number of threads—police violence, morality, etc—but I'll plop it in the general Dictator one. The piece deals with the problem of looking at violence (chiefly committed by cops) and assessing whether the victim "deserved" it.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
User avatar
Mechano-Man of the Future
Posts: 35805
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:50pm
Location: The Information Superhighway!

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
08 May 2023, 7:32am
https://popehat.substack.com/p/deserves ... do-with-it

This could go into any number of threads—police violence, morality, etc—but I'll plop it in the general Dictator one. The piece deals with the problem of looking at violence (chiefly committed by cops) and assessing whether the victim "deserved" it.
I think there's something here rooted in America's puritan origins. Our instinct is to cast all punishment through the lens of the punishments we deserve. Besides being quite ready to condemn certain people, I think there's a basic assumption that we, by virtue of being born into sin, deserve our punishments.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 116000
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Flex wrote:
08 May 2023, 10:01pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
08 May 2023, 7:32am
https://popehat.substack.com/p/deserves ... do-with-it

This could go into any number of threads—police violence, morality, etc—but I'll plop it in the general Dictator one. The piece deals with the problem of looking at violence (chiefly committed by cops) and assessing whether the victim "deserved" it.
I think there's something here rooted in America's puritan origins. Our instinct is to cast all punishment through the lens of the punishments we deserve. Besides being quite ready to condemn certain people, I think there's a basic assumption that we, by virtue of being born into sin, deserve our punishments.
Or/and perhaps it's more Enlightenment oriented, with the idea of people as autonomous beings who, Newtonian like, engage in cause-and-effect behaviours. Life isn't random, we make choices and earn the result.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

revbob
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 25333
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 12:31pm
Location: The Frozen Tundra

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 May 2023, 6:26am
Flex wrote:
08 May 2023, 10:01pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
08 May 2023, 7:32am
https://popehat.substack.com/p/deserves ... do-with-it

This could go into any number of threads—police violence, morality, etc—but I'll plop it in the general Dictator one. The piece deals with the problem of looking at violence (chiefly committed by cops) and assessing whether the victim "deserved" it.
I think there's something here rooted in America's puritan origins. Our instinct is to cast all punishment through the lens of the punishments we deserve. Besides being quite ready to condemn certain people, I think there's a basic assumption that we, by virtue of being born into sin, deserve our punishments.
Or/and perhaps it's more Enlightenment oriented, with the idea of people as autonomous beings who, Newtonian like, engage in cause-and-effect behaviours. Life isn't random, we make choices and earn the result.
And people who are rich are being rewarded and deserve that wealth.

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 116000
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

revbob wrote:
09 May 2023, 6:46am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 May 2023, 6:26am
Flex wrote:
08 May 2023, 10:01pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
08 May 2023, 7:32am
https://popehat.substack.com/p/deserves ... do-with-it

This could go into any number of threads—police violence, morality, etc—but I'll plop it in the general Dictator one. The piece deals with the problem of looking at violence (chiefly committed by cops) and assessing whether the victim "deserved" it.
I think there's something here rooted in America's puritan origins. Our instinct is to cast all punishment through the lens of the punishments we deserve. Besides being quite ready to condemn certain people, I think there's a basic assumption that we, by virtue of being born into sin, deserve our punishments.
Or/and perhaps it's more Enlightenment oriented, with the idea of people as autonomous beings who, Newtonian like, engage in cause-and-effect behaviours. Life isn't random, we make choices and earn the result.
And people who are rich are being rewarded and deserve that wealth.
They have a lot of gumption and stick-to-it-iveness and are willing to put in the long hours!
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

revbob
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 25333
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 12:31pm
Location: The Frozen Tundra

Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 May 2023, 6:48am
revbob wrote:
09 May 2023, 6:46am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
09 May 2023, 6:26am
Flex wrote:
08 May 2023, 10:01pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
08 May 2023, 7:32am
https://popehat.substack.com/p/deserves ... do-with-it

This could go into any number of threads—police violence, morality, etc—but I'll plop it in the general Dictator one. The piece deals with the problem of looking at violence (chiefly committed by cops) and assessing whether the victim "deserved" it.
I think there's something here rooted in America's puritan origins. Our instinct is to cast all punishment through the lens of the punishments we deserve. Besides being quite ready to condemn certain people, I think there's a basic assumption that we, by virtue of being born into sin, deserve our punishments.
Or/and perhaps it's more Enlightenment oriented, with the idea of people as autonomous beings who, Newtonian like, engage in cause-and-effect behaviours. Life isn't random, we make choices and earn the result.
And people who are rich are being rewarded and deserve that wealth.
They have a lot of gumption and stick-to-it-iveness and are willing to put in the long hours!
And probably pulled themselves up by their own boot straps being the self made people that they are.

Post Reply