Walden Ponderer

The pushback began before the election. The problem is, the pushback is not strong enough. I posted a Foreign Policy mag article a while back that cited roughly 30% of the population globally as being preconditioned to accept authoritarianism. The GQP is going to be whittled down to only include people in that subset. Since not the entire 30% will be politically active, that means the GQP purity tests are going to leave them at somewhere between 20-25% of folk who vote. The real test of our democracy will be whether or not they are able to manipulate elections, and maintain power with that small a cabal. But make no mistake -- conservatives who push back will be pushed out.

Hands up everyone who did not see this coming. If you raised your hand, please refrain from operating heavy machinery, or taking on any responsibility more complicated than taking out the trash.

The craziest part, to me at least, of all this white supremacist nonsense (both the overt kind, and the GQP variety that at least pretends to be about political structure, even if it's really just paranoid ranting) is that if you were to take their fears at face value, and just assume that whites are being replaced, and WASP culture is in imminent danger... So? Putting WASPs in charge of trying to resuscitate WASP culture isn't gonna work anyway. Maybe prolong the death throes for a few more years, but face it, man, the WASP economy can't support the WASP welfare that the GQP is hoping for. Assimilate with brown folk, or die. Those are the choices. And if you choose "die" then you're just as stupid as you are evil. Now if you'll excuse me, my Los Lobos CD is skipping a groove because it's got a scratch on it from the clutching fingers of a right winger trying to get me to turn off that brown noise...

This thread is like holding up a mirror to the darkest parts of my soul, and then taking a shit on it.

All I'm getting from this post is that you have failed to avoid the clap.

The geographical similarities between Guernica and Cirith Ungol are pretty telling.

Arrazoi duzu, kabroi mozkor hori.

I've read this through three times, and I can't for the life of me see that you're making any kind of point. Racists getting huffy about being called racists should be given a pass because they say so? Sorry, no. Say something racist, expect to be called a racist. Snowflake feelings don't change facts.

Actually, that plays pretty well into my previous point -- the language used is nowhere near as important as the intent, and the actual conveyed meaning. You can use all the "correct pronouns" you want, and still be an offensive son of a bitch, or you can use clearly non-PC slang, but not convey malice. Circumstances and context mean everything, and who you voted for doesn't change the substantive content of what you say, regardless of how you say it.

This is true. Typically, they will insinuate that calling someone a racist is a worse offense than actually being a racist. I have encountered that phenomenon to some degree everywhere I've ever been, but it is especially pronounced in College Station, Texas, for some reason.

I'd assign a little more subtlety to my blunt assessment: I don't care if someone wants to use different pronouns, or drop the gendered modifiers on romance language words; they just need to not insist others do the same. Language has meaning precisely and only because we agree on the meaning of a given utterance; it is perfectly possible to be offensive or the converse using any combination of words, depending on a) the meaning you are intending to purvey, and b) one's preknowledge of the likelihood of being understood. Speaking to a gender studies major about a term paper? "Latinx" makes perfect sense. Speaking to a shop clerk at your local convenience store? It just sounds dumb. The same is true for the words being replaced, too. Say them in one context, and anyone who accuses you of insensitivity is just being a prick. Say them in another context, then they have a point. We all are capable of context like that -- if someone wants to be a racist asshole who hides behind "polite" language, the tools have always been there. Changing the vocabulary won't change that.

The fundamental problem here is nobody is satisfied with just understanding what the fuck someone means when they say something. You've got to load history, politics, and personal psychology into just saying a fucking sentence.

You're assuming they would give the first scintilla of a shit about actual policy. They don't; they care about the spectacle. The show is the reason.

The only thing that would make this a legitimate news story would have been if the cookies were black-and-whites.

I remember sitting in a history class once upon a time wondering how anybody could have supported a batshit crazy nut for President who had given a "Cross of Gold" speech. Man, was I ever naive. Good times, good times.

I remember a time when I checked this thread regularly, because I wanted to know what idiocy my neighbors would be up to next. Back then, everyone I knew who had a PhD to their name was embarrassed because they couldn't get a job at a real university. Now? I live in the three county area that has the largest proportion of PhD's per capita in the country. It is SO. FUCKING. RELAXING. The dipshittery level has dropped from Olympic to non-existent. You want to know what I miss about College Station? They have a pretty good Taco Cabana. That's it. That's the entirety of what I miss about College Station. Not one single other fucking thing.

I live in a rural area that is not Trumpy. It is literally next door, though, to the Trumpiest rural areas you could ever hope to see. Hillsborough, NC is what Austin would be if it were a village. Graham, NC is 10 miles down the road, and is where the yards all have Trump signs still proudly declaring their allegiance, and the basements all have varying degrees of crimes in progress that you really don't want to ask questions about.

My boss lives in an Eastern Oregon county that votes on a regular basis to petition the state to let them join Idaho. She is quite happy that they are regularly rebuffed, because, and I quote, "Idaho is batshit crazy."

The problem is what "it" you are referring to. The kind of language that is used in political advertisements is one thing -- it certainly shouldn't be shrill, and it obviously ought to be tailored to the audience of either undecided voters who might be swayed, or else decided voters who need to be enthused to turn out. But the kind of language used in the daily conversations of those who seek to better understand trends, phenomenon, and the impactful issues of the day can be as full of jargon as they need to be -- those are questions it is right and proper for the ivory tower to be pondering, and when they ponder, they do so in academic terms that the vast majority of people don't use.

By completely missing his point, you a) proved his point, and b) provided pretty much the only data point in Carville's favor in this argument. The reason you're not in the club, though, is not that anyone was trying to exclude you, only that you posted outlandishly false premises, which anyone who has studied American history objectively knows to be incorrect, to arrive at a fantastically wrong conclusion.

If I wanted to take advice from dumbshit cracker hypocrites, I wouldn't have moved away from College Station.

I understand how Rudy G. could be this stupid (he's never done anything to give the impression he was smarter than a glue-sniffing turtle), but surely someone he knows is smart enough to say "Don't fucking talk to anybody with a mic or a camera". The last thing on Earth he needs to be doing is trying to win sympathy in the media. For one, it won't work, and for another, oh yeah, more opportunities for prosecutors to catch him slipping up.

I used to do this "This day in history" thing on Facebook that had about 4,500 followers. I stopped doing it precisely because it got to the point where people were asking me for political advice. People can't think for themselves, and there are not enough of us who are as frightened as we ought to be when realizing that people will follow us blindly. I was worried for my karma over a measly 4,500 -- Q is malevolent and has millions. TL:DR people are fucked up, and it's probably genetic.