# Stringbean is an odious, racist, sexist, intellectually dishonest crank **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775 "2015-04-15T20:30:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/1 "2015-04-15T20:30:48Z")
[Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy for POTUS, using a video showing Americans of all races and sexes living their lives.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N708P-A45D0) Including gay and lesbian couples. Rather boringly innocuous, yes? She’s just pitching her messages as widely as possible, trying to say, “I want to president of and for all of you.” But in [this elections thread,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=754390) **Stringbean** calls it “demographic warfare.” > [@Hillary went straight demographic warfare](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-went-straight-demographic-warfare/717600/1): > > [Populist demographics](https://youtu.be/0uY7gLZDmn4) is Hillary’s tactic to win the White House. > > It’s blatant that she will ignore the white male vote and seek to collect everyone else. This will be an ugly, divisive election season. > > I think it will win. Provided people actually find something compelling in Hillary Clinton. She’s a boring, wealthy white woman who stood by a lying philanderer to further her political career. It’s gonna take a lot of gay couples holding hands and crying Latina mothers to overcome that reality. (There are white males in the clip, BTW.) No, **Stringbean.** Racist dog-whistle messages like the Willie Horton ads are ugly and divisive; this is beautiful and inclusive. Why can’t or won’t you see that? Because – see thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/2 "2015-04-15T20:38:47Z")
Agreed. And I expect that most Republicans are going to be far too savvy to use the word “demographic” in this new racist way. But when they do, let’s hold their fuckin feet to the fire over it. It really is a white supremacist argument he’s making, and that’s loathsome. Edit: I say this as someone who’s thoroughly unimpressed with the ad–not because it has people of many different races, but because it’s pure pabulum. I have little love for Clinton, either. But this is a dumbass, racist way to criticize her. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/3 "2015-04-15T20:43:29Z")
A hell of a lot of white males support Hillary Clinton, progressive causes, the Democratic Party’s platform, and social diversity. The assumption that “the white male vote” would always be against Hillary is, itself, racist, sexist, culturally bigoted, and really fucking stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/4 "2015-04-15T20:49:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Stringbean \*\*is an odious, racist, sexist, intellectually dishonest crank I think that’s a little unfair. He could just be stupid. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/5 "2015-04-15T20:50:38Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Edit: I say this as someone who’s thoroughly unimpressed with the ad–not because it has people of many different races, but because it’s pure pabulum. Of course it is, but judged by the standards of electoral campaign advertising – far better bland pabulum than racist dog-whistling, xenophobic scare tactics, and things of that ilk. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/6 "2015-04-15T20:52:45Z")
I’m reminded of the furor aroused by HRC saying “It takes a village to raise a child.” I.e., children need to be educated and socialized by more than just their own families. Which is a statement not only undeniably true, but dull, conventional, Rotarian, a truism hardly worth mentioning, pabulum again. Yet the reaction in some quarters was if she had called for the arrest of all parents who homeschool. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/7 "2015-04-15T21:01:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Hillary Clinton announces her candidacy for POTUS, using a video showing Americans of all races and sexes living their lives.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N708P-A45D0) Including gay and lesbian couples. Rather boringly innocuous, yes? She’s just pitching her messages as widely as possible, trying to say, “I want to president of and for all of you.” > > But in [this elections thread,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=754390) **Stringbean** calls it “demographic warfare.” > > (There are white males in the clip, BTW.) > > No, **Stringbean.** Racist dog-whistle messages like the Willie Horton ads are ugly and divisive; this is beautiful and inclusive. Why can’t or won’t you see that? Because – see thread title. You’re such an assbutt that it spites me when you are right, as you are here. Fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/8 "2015-04-15T21:08:19Z")
Folks, that “dog whistle” meme went out with disco balls. Now it just looks like a kid repeating a bad word he heard in the playground to see if some reactions might come from it. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/9 "2015-04-15T21:16:10Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Folks, that “dog whistle” meme went out with disco balls. Now it just looks like a kid repeating a bad word he heard in the playground to see if some reactions might come from it. That’s not what a meme is. Meme doesn’t mean a word you don’t like. And the use of “dogwhistle” to refer to this sort of thing is [probably dated to 1988](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics#History_and_usage), well after disco balls, and is still in wide usage. You’re wrong as hell. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/10 "2015-04-15T21:18:43Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Folks, that “dog whistle” meme went out with disco balls. Now it just looks like a kid repeating a bad word he heard in the playground to see if some reactions might come from it. In this case it looks like **Stringbean** is **coining** a bad phrase – “demographic warfare” – and framing a narrative around it, hoping it will get traction and enter this cycle’s lexicon of discourse, the way “class warfare” as a label for discussion of raising taxes on the rich did several years ago. See [Frank Luntz](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz). ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/11 "2015-04-15T21:20:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That’s not what a meme is. Meme doesn’t mean a word you don’t like. And the use of “dogwhistle” to refer to this sort of thing is [probably dated to 1988](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics#History_and_usage), well after disco balls, and is still in wide usage. You’re wrong as hell. Pink Floyd still used disco balls in 1998, so you’re wrong about that. And the meme implies a subhuman recipient, one that can hear things humans are too evolved to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/12 "2015-04-15T21:21:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > In this case it looks like **Stringbean** is **coining** a bad phrase – “demographic warfare” – and framing a narrative around it, hoping it will get traction and enter this cycle’s lexicon of discourse, the way “class warfare” as a label for discussion of raising taxes on the rich did several years ago. > > See [Frank Luntz](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz). I can certainly see your point. All Hillary is doing is covering the field with smiles and welcoming gestures. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/13 "2015-04-15T21:24:48Z")
You forgot this misogynistic (sorry, redundant) gem from the same thread (bolding mine): > [@Hillary went straight demographic warfare](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hillary-went-straight-demographic-warfare/717600/51): > > As such, I see her as a calculated phony who stands for nothing and **will paint any makeup on her ugly face** to win. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/14 "2015-04-15T21:32:52Z")
[Quote=BrainGlutton] Stringbean is an odious, racist, sexist, intellectually dishonest crank [/Quote] You say that like it’s a bad thing. Seriously, though: is **Stringbean** the most angry and bitter personality to have been on this board since, I don’t know, **Aldebaran** maybe? I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to go on a road trip with this guy, except that I’d probably be attempting suicide before we reached the next town. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/15 "2015-04-15T21:34:19Z")
Looking at **Stringbean** ’s further responses to that thread, I think it’s probably worth pointing out that it’s entirely reasonable to both consider Hilary to be a cold-hearted career politician out to say and do what is best for her chances in the election and not out of some inherent honesty or straightforwardness… and also think that going straight to “demographic warfare” and “ignore the white male vote” is ridiculous. If anything the combination of the two is weird to me. If I was an American politician running for the White House and I had even zero scruples about what I would say to who, if I am a consummate politician and barely human, why on earth would I be ignoring one of the two biggest demographics of the voting public? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/16 "2015-04-15T21:47:21Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > If I was an American politician running for the White House and I had even zero scruples about what I would say to who, if I am a consummate politician and barely human, why on earth would I be ignoring one of the two biggest demographics of the voting public? The only reason you would is if you think that you can’t appeal to both white males and anyone else. Which Stringbean seems to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/17 "2015-04-15T21:47:48Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > And the meme implies a subhuman recipient, one that can hear things humans are too evolved to hear. That’s still not what “meme” means. Also, evolution doesn’t work that way. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/18 "2015-04-15T22:02:55Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > A hell of a lot of white males support Hillary Clinton, progressive causes, the Democratic Party’s platform, and social diversity. > > The assumption that “the white male vote” would always be against Hillary is, itself, racist, sexist, culturally bigoted, and really fucking stupid. “The white male vote” is against the Democratic nominee for president, consistently. If a Democratic nominee breaks 40% they are doing amazing. HRC will likely perform like Obama is 2012 - poorly but winning by not doing as poorly with white women and kicking ass with every other demographic. Maybe a bit better than Obama. Especially in states that are have a lot of white males in unions. Point being the idea that she is plying demographics is defensible; the calling that “warfare” and “ruthless” is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/19 "2015-04-15T22:42:01Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I think that’s a little unfair. > > He could just be stupid. He is a 911 Truther… > [@My September 11 Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-september-11-thoughts/689989/13): > > I thought one of the laws of physics is that an object falls through the path of least resistance. I was unaware that the basement and 120 floors of each tower represented less total resistance than the empty air on all sides. Isn’t it odd both towers fell through the path of greatest resistance, at near the speed of gravity? The idea that an object falls through the path of greatest resistance, at nearly the same speed it would otherwise fall if there were no resistance, is a head-scratcher. Where did that resistance go, and how did it manage to dissipate in a uniform manner, allowing the towers to fall straight down rather than off to one side? > > Of course, the long, convoluted explanations given by NIST may well be accurate, but less logical a premise than the simplest answer: resistance being blown out uniformly in a highly-controlled demolition. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775/20 "2015-04-15T22:43:22Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > He is a 911 Truther… Well, that’s special. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stringbean-is-an-odious-racist-sexist-intellectually-dishonest-crank/717775.md?page=2)