Nope; it just seemed like a weak jab at someone for having taken too long to think of a response. What is the reference?
He dared to use ISAAC ASIMOV to bolster his opinions? Clothahump must never have a word of his in his life!
It’s Star-Bellied Sneetches. Not Lorax. I did have to look it up btw. The exact name. I know the reference and metaphor, but didn’t know the exact name.
Since Dr. Suess is your muse, you should say it like:
“But now," says the Once-ler, "now that you’re here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
:dubious: Are you seriously claiming that Republicans these days have a better track record than Democrats of “respecting” the fact that “different people have different perspectives on different matters and come to different conclusions”?
A few counterexamples from this thread alone:
For the past eight years, we have seen in Republican behavior a level of vitriolic antagonism unequalled since at least the 1960s. Not just the endless xenophobic and racist libels on Obama himself, but the shameless lying about Democratic policies, the mindless stubborn opposition to anything proposed by a Democrat, the frenzied denunciations of “libtards” and “shitlibs” and any other derogatory epithet they could come up with for liberals, etc. etc.
And now that the Republicans have managed to install a borderline unhinged Chief Exec and swamp-crony Administration that are a serious embarrassment not just to their party but to the nation as a whole, they’re complaining that the Democrats aren’t showing proper decorum?!
As a previous poster put it:
If you want to “rise the level” of political discourse in this country, maybe start by trying to encourage a little more dignity and courtesy in the behavior of the POTUS that the Republicans elected. The Party of Trump doesn’t really have a lot of room to complain that other people aren’t being polite enough.
Hey…
There is nothing WRONG about 2 hours after the fact thinking I should have said “and XYZ”…gawd knows my life is full of that shit…
The “deal” is people thinking they thought that right then rather than the fact it WAS 2 hours later (after some internet research non the less) and then going “gotcha” or “I knew that shit”…
Well, if it took you a few hours to think about it…or some internet searching…or both…
Well…fuck you up the ass with a dry catus with no lube…you did NOT know that shit…
Who is getting beaten up for speaking? I don’t think you’ll find any “libtards” defending beating people up for speaking.
Hate to bust your bubble, but I’m not throwing a whiny tantrum like the rest of you snowflakes. I’m simply pointing out that it’s time for you all to suck it up like you told conservatives to do when you elected that incompetent jackass Obama twice.
A point in every direction is the same as no point at all. So I heard in the Pointless Forest.
Yep, I got your reference, Dale. I also got the Star-Bellied Sneetch reference at the time I read it. Not sure why anybody thinks it would be difficult.
Really?
Gonna have to go with “drooling stupidity” for you, if you think THAT isn’t patently, inarguably opposite to reality.
Huh? Your OP itself is a whiny tantrum.
If you don’t like people criticizing and complaining about Trump, well, that’s too bad for you, but we’re not going to stop just because you pout and stamp and demand that we “suck it up”.
I got it immediately, when I read it hours later.
This has no bearing on how stupid you are if you’re using speed of response to your post to measure anything in this format.
Just ran across a post in my Facebook feed that seems relevant to this thread, especially in light of those who are calling for civil discourse. The whole thing is here, if the link still works, but I excerpt below:
[QUOTE=John V. Hedtke]
People have been saying that, when dealing with Trump (and the GOP), we have to maintain our civility, our dignity, our sense of discourse. And it occurs to me that there’s something they don’t know about the situation that’s key.
Trump is a narcissist.
…
Narcissists don’t see anyone else as real. We’re not important. What’s important to them is winning.
…
Keep this in mind: There isn’t anything you can do to deal with a narcissist.
…
Even worse, narcissists count on you being civil, being nice, not being ready for them. They’re lying in wait for you and they will immediately start the games as soon as you show up.
So, what does work when dealing with narcissists?
Ignoring them when possible. (We can’t in this case, alas.)
Scorn.
Mockery.
Public humiliation on as big a scale as can be managed.
You cannot “reach” a narcissist–they are completely unfixable–and anything based on the idea of “Oh, but they’re human, there’s some good in them, we should be nice because WE are people and should be nicer than them” is going to get you fucked over.
…
And the sooner you all get to this level of understanding and stop being “nice” and start mocking and scorning the orange shitgibbon at every possible turn, the better off you’ll be, too.
You may say “But we’ll be no better than he is, then!” Actually, yes, you will, always. You’re automatically better because you care about other people.
[/QUOTE]
Oh he will. Rest assured. He probably can’t wait to blame him for the Great Depression, both world wars, Iraq, and Vietnam too. What a fucking idiot.
Looks like a goddamn tantrum to me.
This seems like a good time to suggest you re-read your favorite pithy Asimov quote.
Hedtke’s analysis is flawed because it leaps - without facts or rationale - from the probably justified contention that mockery will upseta narcissist to a conclusion that mockery will defeat a narcissist. I don’t see that as true by any means.
Mockery isn’t going to be enough to cause Trump to leave office, or to do any particular thing - not when his office (and his actions) also gives him adulation and attention from his supporters. General mockery is pointless.
Indeed given that narcissists will do almost anything to counterattack when mocked, mockery will drive Trump towards ever more vicious attempts to control criticism. And anyway he will create a bubble around himself such that he doesn’t hear much of the mockery.
The argument is ridiculous, the people calling to elevate the public discourse are not saying just talk nice to Trump.
That and doing what that man suggest helps not one bit to convince anyone that your side is any better than the other.
It’s bizarre, this self defeating beheaviour. Why people insist that the best way to deal with the situation is to wrestle with a pig in the mud rather than taking the high road? Can’t they see they just end up as full of shit as the pig they want to defeat?
But that’s the thing that will make most non-narcissists continually more disgusted with him. If he’s such a big baby he can’t even handle being mocked on SNL or condemned at an awards ceremony without launching a petulant gripefest on Twitter, more and more people are going to end up despising him.
Mockery of Trump is not about teaching Trump himself any kind of lesson: he doesn’t have the maturity and dignity that would enable him to learn anything from it. It’s about giving everybody else the chance to see how Trump’s lack of maturity and dignity constantly leads him to make a horse’s ass of himself.
You have more faith in humanity than I have. Similarly narcissistic leaders to Trump have usually kept their supporters, who don’t like Their Guy being criticised. There’s that old saying “you only truly believe in Free Speech when you stand up for someone’s right to speak even though you disagree with them”. Few people truly believe in Free Speech IME.
Sure, but remember that Trump doesn’t actually have all that many genuine supporters, as in people who seriously trust and respect him. Trump’s howler-monkey tantrums may not repulse his cadre of committed supporters, but they’re turning off everybody else.