It would be an even better thing if the occasional awkward or inartfully worded thing, like everyone says from time to time, wasn’t lumped in with the things that are genuinely stupid and hateful and can’t be dismissed. But those get presented to the audience that wants to believe in the subject’s stupidity and hate just the same. That … is not a good thing. Once, reporters would ignore them or clean them up if they had to be reported.
Yes, there used to be a system for these things, a machine composed of Mass Media (the newspaper/radio/television industry, largely the same players behind the scenes after a certain point, but all working with more-or-less the same rules regardless) and PR flacks/publicity agents who collaborated on what’s now disdainfully referred to as a “narrative” but was then just called “The Story” or similar. It protected people, it ruined people, and it locked some people out entirely.
It kept the “inappropriate” out of the news better than the system we have now, that’s for sure: A leading man has a drug problem? Inappropriate. Maybe Kenneth Anger writes about it, but nobody believes him anyway. A producer sexually abuses young starlets? Wildly inappropriate. Not fit for publication. Kill immediately.
These days, the PR flack, reporter, and celebrity have been collapsed into the same person, the famous person live-tweeting their mental inadequacies at 2 AM. Everyone’s a gonzo journalist, sending raw notes to the ever-operating printing press that is Twitter or Facebook, no edits, no raddled geek at Scanlan’s trying to make a narrative out of it. Run it. Just run it.
The Temple of the Screaming Electron had a motto: Raw data for raw nerves. It’s McLuhan-esque, seeing computers as extensions of the nervous system, Brian O’Blivion without the flesh. Well, apparently some people just can’t stop muttering, even if they know they’re speaking directly into the biggest goddamned microphone in the world.
To be fair, “trans porn” has absolutely no connection whatsoever to actual transsexuality or transgenderism.
Senator James Inhofe says the controversy over the lowering and raising of the flag at the White House is partially McCain’s fault for disagreeing with Trump.
So, just going full-sycophant, then.
Oklahomans, this is your guy. Like the look of your senator’s lips affixed to the Imperial butt? That’s yours; own it.
The Republicans are the party of Trump. Do not expect decency. And do not expect them to stand up for the Constitution or for anyone other than the oligarchs who write their campaign finance checks. I suspect there is some serious dark money going into their campaigns. We’re perhaps just an election away, a key firing or forced resignation or two away, from becoming the Turkey of the West.
Maybe by Thanksgiving?
Okay, I just read the headline and the first paragraph, not the whole article (in The Atlantic online), but can anyone guess why the first thing I thought of was today’s Republican party?
Mind control via wallowing in and swallowing bullshit?
I did read the article and it’s actually fascinating. What bizarre little creatures. So thanks for that!
There is a sort of ecology to this, though. Consider the “Truthers" and the “Birthers” and “QANON” and the apparently growing body of FECTs. These and other CTers gather in the dark, poorly dried folds of the internet like some kind of TCP fungus that can only thrive in the interstitial spaces between network data packets.
Thus, the internet harbors and sustains these types of growth in its unique way, but it also allows gaps to be torn into their dark surfaces so that the ugliness within gets exposed.
The internet giveth and it taketh away – sadly, the flux appears to have a net positive balance, meaning the taking away part is not keeping up: the infestation of ignorance/idiocy is increasing.
Sycophant Alan Dershowitz argues against investigating Trumpian misdeeds lest businessmen be deterred from seeking public office for fear of undergoing a “legal colonoscopy”.
Apparently Dershowitz is some sort of leftist commie pinko socialist who thinks that all businessmen are such dirty assholes that not one of them could bear such scrutiny… :dubious:
Or, from a “glass half full” perspective, maybe it would discourage those with political aspirations from becoming corrupt businessmen to begin with.
Andrew Grant, the Republican candidate for Congress in the district I live in, has attended the Folsom Sikh community’s annual picnic, the Sacramento Jewish Food Faire, the Indus Valley American Chamber Event and events for the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce.
But he had the gall, the absolute temerity, to pose with two Muslims. And the right wingers are not having it. “You ain’t getting my vote,” one commenter wrote minutes after Grant’s Facebook post published. “(A)nyone who befriends muslims will never get my vote.” “I want someone to represent me,” another commented. “The white, heterosexual, conservative man seems to be forgotten. Politians (sic) seem to search out victims.”
Aww, it’s so cute when Republicans accuse each other of not being fearful and hateful enough.
Those damned politians. What has the polis ever done for ME?
Get a brain, morans.
Rand Paul endorses Libertarian Gary Johnson over Republican candidate Mick Rich in the New Mexico Senate race. Conservatives are trying to convince the Republican, Rich, to drop out, not the Libertarian Johnson.
Randy is making his move, getting out in front of the inevitable political hegemony for the Libertarian Party.
It’s stoopid all the way down:
So this is becoming the new Republican courtroom strategy now: anytime the Department of Justice prosecutes a Republican for anything, they’re going to claim that federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents are Democrats and that their criminal investigations are politically motivated. So says Duncan Hunter (who apparently shows up to House meetings and other gatherings drunk but that’s another story)
I would laugh if I knew that 30-40% of the population wouldn’t buy into this shit - but the reality is that 30-40% of the population just might buy it. That’s what seems to be happening now. We have 30-40% of people in this country who don’t need much persuasion to buy into conspiracy theories.
Does anyone not see how fucking dangerous this is?