Back in 2015 or 16 when Donnie started that Make America Great Again insanity, I thought: When do these awful people America was great. And I thought: The 1920s: The KKK in its prime, Wall Street speculators unleashed, racism and bigotry of course dominant, and so on and so forth. So, sure, that old time bigotry is a thing again. (Of course, since then, we've overshot the 1920s and are being taken back to the late 18th century, even to the Articles of Confederation days in part.)
And since first exposed to it in the 90s, I have ever been amazed how delusional right wing ignoramuses consider themselves as any sort of thinkers.
The above is no way to be taken as, like, self-congratulatory or anything. It's more just a reflection of my pathology or fucked uppedness.
"Sweet Armageddon launch pad in Israel" made me spit out my coffee.
When a guy with an AK-47 in a MAGA hat and a Q-Anon tee shirt stands over the lifeless body of AOC or Kamala Harris, Ross Douthat is going to say the shooter did it because Abbie Hoffman burned a draft card in 1968. There isn't any excess on the Right they won't claim is either happening in "self-defense" or was originally modeled/perpetrated by the Left,
No one with two brain cells to rub together will believe it, except the people who wanted the assassination to happen and are flailing around for a cover story to use as a blame-shifting justification.
The Right is definitely letting its freak flag fly. And it's far worse than you can imagine. Right now, they're almost all talk, with a few of the more deranged ones taking direct action against the objects of hate. But my guess is that, should Republicans take control of the government, that within a decade we will begin seeing state-sponsored (or at least state-ignored) violence against minorities--with Black and Jews being the first to suffer and perhaps die at the hands of the Proud Boys and their ilk.
I grew up in farm country. Picture of town with 1500 people( 14 churches, one bank, one pharmacy, two gas stations and three feed stores)( about 100 black people - most of whom belonged to four extended families living in the same four blocks at the edge of town with no sewer, street lights or sidewalks). There were no Jewish people but plenty of antisemitism. All of those farmers operated on borrowed money and none of them had anything good to say about the banks. All run by a certain kind of people if jew know what I mean. It was just a thing that came up in casual conversation now and then. I knew a guy that borrowed a copy of the Turner Diaries from his dad and brought it to my college English class..The high school band director's son- five or six years younger than me, followed his dad into music education. His career was interrupted when he was caught trying to blow up the African-American Museum ata local black University.
There was a girl in college I dated a few times- we got along great. She held her own on those endless, endlessly boring conversations about black and white foreign films with subtitles.
She casually mentioned that Vatican control of the country didn't end when JFK was assassinated.
We didn't get married and live happily ever after with tall white children and a home in the suburbs.Turned out to be just another bullet for me to dodge.
I had a relatives in Wisconsin that owned a gun shop. Somehow or another they came up with a bazooka in a case of ammunition. Every fall they would tow a car up to the Great North Woods , invite a bunch of friends up and blow the car up after much drinking. They were John Birchers and didn't try and hide it. Funnest people to go visit ever.
Yes, I'm aware that my colleague and dear friend asserted that So-and-So is an N-word loving child rapist serial killer grandma snuffer horse thief, but that is his opinion, and by God, isn't the right to one's own opinion what our Great Nation is all about?
I had never heard that Jim Baker “fuck the Jews, they don’t vote for us anyway” quote before.
Now, lessee, how many times have I heard about "Cling to their guns" and "deplorables", um... carry the two... approximately eleventy gazillion times, yes.
Another terrific piece. I'd say it was Times-worthy but then look at the company you'd be in.
To be fair, in the sea of sheer bigotry described here, at least Nast's cartoon had a point, even if his Swiftian illustration was extreme to say the least. At the same time, a similar cartoon in a modern style in the 1990's with the same subtitle, "The Priests and the Children," might have been even more justified, while still being, um, over-the-top.
I've been reading "Before the Storm" by Rick Pearlstein and there are lots of parallels between Birchers and Qanon. At that point though Goldwater and other candidates had to deny any connection and couldn't admit even association with Birch Society members. That seems to be getting less and less true in the current era. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump went full-on Q if he runs in 2024.
I guess next we'll see "Impeach John Roberts" billboards when he writes a concurring opinion in the case that strikes down affirmative action, instead of fully joining Alito's "it's not in the Constituton" majority opinion.
The question that keeps coming up in my mind is: why are these delusional dipsticks so successful? What kind of dysfunctional country lets such deranged people have any say in public affairs?
I think that "both siderism" is no longer an appropriate description of these guys. They are now (and may have always been) at the best fascist enablers. Most I suspect are simply out and out fascists. They know what these assholes are and they at best don't care, although I think they really like them and enjoy their own sadism in the way they treat anyone to the left of Louis XIV.
Sadly, the social progress after 1960 didn’t eliminate the hate, only buried it and now, like a horde of zombies rising out of the dirt, it’s back and it’s hungry, ready to feed on what’s left of American democracy.
I don’t have a FTFNYT scrip so I can’t see (luckily?) what Douchehat is saying “the left” did that compares to Jan. 6 or the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi. I’m sure Ol’ Neckbeard satisfied the totebaggers that all is normal and that it’s just the swing of the pendulum, doncha know, we should reach across the aisle and meet them halfway (never mind that they’ve drawn the halfway line at their own feet). And then he called for more God and White Jesus in public life.
A few confessions...
Back in 2015 or 16 when Donnie started that Make America Great Again insanity, I thought: When do these awful people America was great. And I thought: The 1920s: The KKK in its prime, Wall Street speculators unleashed, racism and bigotry of course dominant, and so on and so forth. So, sure, that old time bigotry is a thing again. (Of course, since then, we've overshot the 1920s and are being taken back to the late 18th century, even to the Articles of Confederation days in part.)
And since first exposed to it in the 90s, I have ever been amazed how delusional right wing ignoramuses consider themselves as any sort of thinkers.
The above is no way to be taken as, like, self-congratulatory or anything. It's more just a reflection of my pathology or fucked uppedness.
So today's post, sure, of course.
"Sweet Armageddon launch pad in Israel" made me spit out my coffee.
When a guy with an AK-47 in a MAGA hat and a Q-Anon tee shirt stands over the lifeless body of AOC or Kamala Harris, Ross Douthat is going to say the shooter did it because Abbie Hoffman burned a draft card in 1968. There isn't any excess on the Right they won't claim is either happening in "self-defense" or was originally modeled/perpetrated by the Left,
No one with two brain cells to rub together will believe it, except the people who wanted the assassination to happen and are flailing around for a cover story to use as a blame-shifting justification.
The Right is definitely letting its freak flag fly. And it's far worse than you can imagine. Right now, they're almost all talk, with a few of the more deranged ones taking direct action against the objects of hate. But my guess is that, should Republicans take control of the government, that within a decade we will begin seeing state-sponsored (or at least state-ignored) violence against minorities--with Black and Jews being the first to suffer and perhaps die at the hands of the Proud Boys and their ilk.
I grew up in farm country. Picture of town with 1500 people( 14 churches, one bank, one pharmacy, two gas stations and three feed stores)( about 100 black people - most of whom belonged to four extended families living in the same four blocks at the edge of town with no sewer, street lights or sidewalks). There were no Jewish people but plenty of antisemitism. All of those farmers operated on borrowed money and none of them had anything good to say about the banks. All run by a certain kind of people if jew know what I mean. It was just a thing that came up in casual conversation now and then. I knew a guy that borrowed a copy of the Turner Diaries from his dad and brought it to my college English class..The high school band director's son- five or six years younger than me, followed his dad into music education. His career was interrupted when he was caught trying to blow up the African-American Museum ata local black University.
There was a girl in college I dated a few times- we got along great. She held her own on those endless, endlessly boring conversations about black and white foreign films with subtitles.
She casually mentioned that Vatican control of the country didn't end when JFK was assassinated.
We didn't get married and live happily ever after with tall white children and a home in the suburbs.Turned out to be just another bullet for me to dodge.
I had a relatives in Wisconsin that owned a gun shop. Somehow or another they came up with a bazooka in a case of ammunition. Every fall they would tow a car up to the Great North Woods , invite a bunch of friends up and blow the car up after much drinking. They were John Birchers and didn't try and hide it. Funnest people to go visit ever.
"Them Reds did it-
Them Hardcore ones."
https://youtu.be/tCcnJ5kbFMg
Now all this shit is on Facebook with the vacation pics, school lunch menus. and Clone of a Cinnabon recipes.
Great column. I know when I see General Jack at the top of the page I'm in for a treat.
Yes, I'm aware that my colleague and dear friend asserted that So-and-So is an N-word loving child rapist serial killer grandma snuffer horse thief, but that is his opinion, and by God, isn't the right to one's own opinion what our Great Nation is all about?
I refuse to read the Douthat column, but it sounds like he is trafficking (once again) in "Why did you make me hit you?"
I had never heard that Jim Baker “fuck the Jews, they don’t vote for us anyway” quote before.
Now, lessee, how many times have I heard about "Cling to their guns" and "deplorables", um... carry the two... approximately eleventy gazillion times, yes.
Another terrific piece. I'd say it was Times-worthy but then look at the company you'd be in.
To be fair, in the sea of sheer bigotry described here, at least Nast's cartoon had a point, even if his Swiftian illustration was extreme to say the least. At the same time, a similar cartoon in a modern style in the 1990's with the same subtitle, "The Priests and the Children," might have been even more justified, while still being, um, over-the-top.
I've been reading "Before the Storm" by Rick Pearlstein and there are lots of parallels between Birchers and Qanon. At that point though Goldwater and other candidates had to deny any connection and couldn't admit even association with Birch Society members. That seems to be getting less and less true in the current era. I wouldn't be surprised if Trump went full-on Q if he runs in 2024.
I guess next we'll see "Impeach John Roberts" billboards when he writes a concurring opinion in the case that strikes down affirmative action, instead of fully joining Alito's "it's not in the Constituton" majority opinion.
And a tip o' the hat to ol' Robert Anton Wilson. Wonder what he'd have to say about QAnon.
The question that keeps coming up in my mind is: why are these delusional dipsticks so successful? What kind of dysfunctional country lets such deranged people have any say in public affairs?
I think that "both siderism" is no longer an appropriate description of these guys. They are now (and may have always been) at the best fascist enablers. Most I suspect are simply out and out fascists. They know what these assholes are and they at best don't care, although I think they really like them and enjoy their own sadism in the way they treat anyone to the left of Louis XIV.
Sadly, the social progress after 1960 didn’t eliminate the hate, only buried it and now, like a horde of zombies rising out of the dirt, it’s back and it’s hungry, ready to feed on what’s left of American democracy.
I don’t have a FTFNYT scrip so I can’t see (luckily?) what Douchehat is saying “the left” did that compares to Jan. 6 or the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi. I’m sure Ol’ Neckbeard satisfied the totebaggers that all is normal and that it’s just the swing of the pendulum, doncha know, we should reach across the aisle and meet them halfway (never mind that they’ve drawn the halfway line at their own feet). And then he called for more God and White Jesus in public life.
"given the times we live in, piquant"
Y'all spelt pecan wrong...even Cousin Cephal knows 'at.
2 marks anyway.