# What are we to do with these insects we refer to as Republicans? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076 "2019-10-01T04:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/261 "2019-10-03T00:10:10Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You’re not being blamed for the insults, you’re being mocked because you’re complaining about the insults at the same time as taking part in it. Darn iiandyiiii that’s a good point! There’s a reason why you are in my top 3 favorite members of the hive. I guess I am a bit hypocritical! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/262 "2019-10-03T00:13:28Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Darn iiandyiiii that’s a good point! There’s a reason why you are in my top 3 favorite members of the hive. I guess I am a bit hypocritical! ☹ It’s okay. Now that you know, you can strive to be a better poster. First step - stop complaining about the Pit. It’s not going away. If you don’t like it, just stay out. Or maybe you secretly like it… if so, it’s okay, you can come out of the closet. The Pit can be a fun place. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/263 "2019-10-03T00:20:46Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Or maybe you secretly like it… Of course the cunt likes it. He brags about forcing his cunty kids to read it. I don’t know why he likes to abuse his kids this way. But he gleefully brags about it. That’s how cunty of a parent he is. Hopefully he’ll at least pay so the cunts can get therapy later in life. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/264 "2019-10-03T00:27:51Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > The thing that jumps out at me here is that you had to reach back to 2017 for that. I doubt that terms for republicans have gotten _friendlier_ since then. So where’s the recent rise in liberal shootings? So you must have just skimmed over my post and not really read it. My entire second paragraph acknowledged that and conceded that it’s a huge and significant difference. This tells me you’re just not paying attention. > [@](#): > > I mean, don’t get me wrong - it’s not productive to call the humanoid shit sculptures that populate the republican electorate mean names. It’s all, like, mean and stuff. But I don’t think it makes any actual difference one way or the other. I mean, sure, the murderous among them who were going to murder anyway will lie and say that the mean old liberals made them do it. The ones who hate liberals will lie and say that that time last week when a liberal called them a hamster pushed them over the tipping point. All manner of lies will be told claiming that liberal meanness justifies conservative atrocities. (We’ve seen it in this very thread!) But that’s all just stupid bullshit lies. Haters gotta hate, and conservatives aren’t going to wait for us to be rude before they act shitty. Nobody abandons their morals over being called a bug. So you then believe that hate speech doesn’t lead to violence. Unless you mean that only happens on the right. > [@](#): > > And seriously, people being called mean names **in the fucking SDMB Pit** is not equivalent with racists claiming that a people are literally a different species, as determined by their birth and biology. That’s _actual_ dehumanization. Me calling you a slug isn’t, you idiotic slugs. You believe **all** Republicans are racists that claim another race is a different species? Because as a reminder, we’re talking about posts that in this thread that accuse anyone who supports the Republican Party a cultist, a pervert, a Nazi, and someone who will end the world. If you’re referring only to those on the extreme right please clarify, otherwise it’s difficult to follow you. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/265 "2019-10-03T00:36:35Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Of course the cunt likes it. He brags about forcing his cunty kids to read it. I don’t know why he likes to abuse his kids this way. But he gleefully brags about it. That’s how cunty of a parent he is. Hopefully he’ll at least pay so the cunts can get therapy later in life. Drunky, you are truly a national treasure! ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/266 "2019-10-03T00:36:59Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Of course the cunt likes it. He brags about forcing his cunty kids to read it. I don’t know why he likes to abuse his kids this way. But he gleefully brags about it. That’s how cunty of a parent he is. Hopefully he’ll at least pay so the cunts can get therapy later in life. Ah good ol’ drunky. I’ll be careful with you because I don’t need another pompous lecture from an overly narcissistic mod. But I must ask you this: do you have anyone in your life that cares for you? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/267 "2019-10-03T00:56:12Z")
This is getting dangerously close to trump’s own “only in the Panhandle” line. But we need to ask ourselves how we got to this point before we can figure out how to get back from it. Schools need to teach people how to think again. Not _what_ to think, mind you, but _how._ That is to say, the actual process of cognition. Restoring the “fairness doctrine” might address cesspool that is AM radio. But a full one third of the country has bought the trump line, hook and sinker. And _that_ is a bigger problem than trump himself. Oh, maybe when he goes down half of them will realize that they’ve been snookered, but the other half will dig in and be a bigger problem than ever. As for the Republicans themselves, the party itself will abandon trumpism when it hurts them electorally and not before because, as we all know, they hold no actual principles save the love of power. But we see many Republican voices critical of trump and trumpism. People need to see and hear them anti-trump message from someone who basically agrees with them on everything else so that they’ll think it’s OK to get away from it themself. Perhaps the OP was using the term “insects” as a metaphor, they certainly do demonstrate a hive mentality. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/268 "2019-10-03T01:00:23Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > So you then believe that hate speech doesn’t lead to violence. Unless you mean that only happens on the right. Hate speech causes violence, but it’s not hate speech from the opposition that does it, it’s the hate speech from the in-group. Look at the background of some of the recently radicalized right wing mass murderers—they didn’t start killing because leftists said mean things about them—no, they killed because their fellow right wingers said dehumanizing things about leftists. And leftists aren’t miraculously immune to this—if there was a 24 hour popular news channel that demonized the right wing the way Fox demonizes the left wing, we’d probably have a similar problem with radicalized left wing terrorists. But there isn’t a left-wing equivalent, so it’s the right wingers who get sucked in and increasingly radicalized. Look at that very disturbing post by **The Plutonium Kid** —that wasn’t random lunacy, it was a condensed form of the same shit Fox News shows are shoveling out. That guy’s on step 1 to radicalization, and Fox News got him there. It won’t be a leftist calling him an insect that’ll take him to step 2; it’ll be neo nazis on 8chan repeating over and over that leftists are evil NPCs who are a danger to the white race. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/269 "2019-10-03T01:19:42Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Here’s the thing - when you criticize other people for doing what you yourself are doing, the following happens: > > 1. You are revealed as a hypocrite, and hypocrites have no moral authority. > > 2. You utterly defang your criticism, because you reveal that your objections are all lies - if you REALLY objected to it, you wouldn’t do it yourself. > > 3. “They started it” makes you sound like a five year old. Adults know that other people’s behavior doesn’t justify their own. That’s pretty much his M.O. since Day One. The funniest part is when he employs #3, he’s usually the one that started it. Even funnier is when he pulls that stunt when his target did not engage in that tactic at all. This, along with his incredible dishonesty and stupidity, is what keeps him on my ignore list. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/270 "2019-10-03T01:27:23Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > That’s pretty much his M.O. since Day One. The funniest part is when he employs #3, he’s usually the one that started it. Even funnier is when he pulls that stunt when his target did not engage in that tactic at all. This, along with his incredible dishonesty and stupidity, is what keeps him on my ignore list. Simple Monty! Don’t be scared of little ol’ octopus. Senility must be taking it’s toll on you if you don’t remember your attacks on me before I made a single post in the pit. The revisionist history around here is sad. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/271 "2019-10-03T01:31:48Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Hate speech causes violence, but it’s not hate speech from the opposition that does it, it’s the hate speech from the in-group. Look at the background of some of the recently radicalized right wing mass murderers—they didn’t start killing because leftists said mean things about them—no, they killed because their fellow right wingers said dehumanizing things about leftists. > > And leftists aren’t miraculously immune to this—if there was a 24 hour popular news channel that demonized the right wing the way Fox demonizes the left wing, we’d probably have a similar problem with radicalized left wing terrorists. But there isn’t a left-wing equivalent, so it’s the right wingers who get sucked in and increasingly radicalized. Thank you, you get it. 🙂 I agree, hate speech from the left don’t inspire the right, it’s hateful rhetoric from people on the right (bloggers, politicians, television personalities). My caution was much as yours is, that the left isn’t immune. I gave an example (an admittedly rare one) where a person on the left (who supported Bernie Sanders though I don’t blame Bernie himself) who had been convinced that Republicans needed to be killed to save the country. It’s a cautionary tale about what that kind of speech could lead to and one reason why nobody should engage in it. It’s dangerous. > [@](#): > > Look at that very disturbing post by **The Plutonium Kid** —that wasn’t random lunacy, it was a condensed form of the same shit Fox News shows are shoveling out. That guy’s on step 1 to radicalization, and Fox News got him there. It won’t be a leftist calling him an insect that’ll take him to step 2; it’ll be neo nazis on 8chan repeating over and over that leftists are evil NPCs who are a danger to the white race. Agreed 100%. The right is doing this and it is leading to violence, but that doesn’t make it okay for the left the to do it too. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/272 "2019-10-03T03:15:40Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > So basically it’s someone else’s fault that you use hate speech. You got it! You win the interwebs. _“I’m a fascist racist fuckstick bastard, and it’s all YOUR fault because you refuse to kiss my sorry ass.”_ Yup yup yup. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/273 "2019-10-03T03:24:10Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Of course the cunt likes it. He brags about forcing his cunty kids to read it. I don’t know why he likes to abuse his kids this way. But he gleefully brags about it. That’s how cunty of a parent he is. Hopefully he’ll at least pay so the cunts can get therapy later in life. Calling kids cunty is despicable. Insult the poster but leave the family out of it you kiddie abusing blue racoon fucker. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/274 "2019-10-03T04:46:03Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > I don’t follow what you’re saying except that somehow it’s my fault you’re a bigot. I think it’s pretty clear when I wrote "_What all that adds up to is that IMO Evil Economist is more comfortable with me as a strawman rather than a real person."_ After which you proceeded to prove the point by calling me a bigot when what I’ve been writing in this thread has been consistently against bigotry, such as the one displayed in the OP. I’ll make it as clear as I can (without the benefit of crayons) to help in the explanation. Calling out dehumanizing language is not bigotry, I’d say it is in fact, the opposite; you choosing to replace my stance with a negative, baseless character smear proves the point I made, which I’ll repeat here in case you missed it again “Evil Economist is more comfortable with me as a strawman rather than a real person.” Real me is not a bigot, nothing I’ve written here supports that notion, I’ll help you out with the definition of bigotry: Definition of bigot : a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (such as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance That’s what you’ve shown here, you displayed a devotion to your own prejudices by calling me a bigot for speaking out against the use of dehumanizing language. You substituted my actual views with your own prejudices and define me by that. Your problem, IMO, is projection; try _reflection_ for a while and see if you can sort out why you need to behave that way. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/275 "2019-10-03T04:47:22Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > That’s some real grade-A sanctimonious bullshit. Any comment on Asahi calling me an animal? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/276 "2019-10-03T04:52:02Z")
[It takes two](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phOW-CZJWT0) ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/277 "2019-10-03T12:35:27Z")
* * * > [@Ale](#): > > Any comment on Asahi calling me an animal? Could be a compliment. Animal is by far the coolest Muppet. > **[Animal (Muppet)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_(Muppet))** > > Animal is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show, and the wild and frenzied drummer of the fictional band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. The character was performed originally by Frank Oz and currently by Eric Jacobson. His original concept sketches, which show him as a very hairy human, were drawn by Bonnie Erickson and Jim Henson. > Original performer Frank Oz has stated that Animal's character can be summed up in five words: sex, sleep, food, drums, a... Or he could be sneakily calling you Howie Mandel (they guy who voiced Animal). Maybe that not a compliment, maybe it is. Howie Mandel was good in Little Monsters. Maybe he is 4D chess calling you a Little Monster. You know, now that I think of it, I think that Lady Gaga’s fan club is called The Monsters or something like that. I think you should be enraged. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/278 "2019-10-03T12:41:50Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Any comment on Asahi calling me an animal? As opposed to calling you a vegetable or a mineral? ---
**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:** [October 3, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/279 "2019-10-03T12:59:16Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Drunky, you are truly a national treasure! Yes, but which nation? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076/280 "2019-10-03T13:07:27Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > As opposed to calling you a vegetable or a mineral? You are the very model of a modern major liberal. (Sorry I couldn’t help it!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-to-do-with-these-insects-we-refer-to-as-republicans/841076.md?page=15)