32 Comments

(A day known at Runamuck Elementary as "Wednesday".)

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Somehow I hear both Shea and Ainsley sounding like Ben Shapiro.

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This is so close to what the rightwing goons would *like* to be able to do it’s scary.

I was thinking the other day about how people said in 2012 after Obama’s re-election that the fever on the Right would break. But the fever never breaks, it just morphs slightly to focus on a new, ginned-up outrage: taxes, Benghazi, immigration, cancel culture, “CRT,” trans people in bathrooms. It’s like a virus that keeps mutating.

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There's always something. That may be the true defining characteristic of the Conservative - They really just like to bitch.

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I live in the country side around these people and I assure you they're not joking when they talk about killing all the liberals to "save" America. If they could get away with it they'd do it. Or perhaps I should say - When they can get away with it they'll do it.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a36827457/oann-election-fraud-executions/

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To me the interesting thing is that these folks usedta wanna save us. Now it's "Nope, savin's too good fer 'em"...

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It's not a fever, it's fear. That fear is constantly stoked by the right-wing machine wherever Murdoch has a presence, but it's there in and of itself. It's the fear of the loss of privilege, of being the default, the focus, the normal. That's what "cancel" and "replace" means to them. That list of outrages is just whatever gets thrown against the wall by the machine that sticks in their monkey brain as a "reason" to be afraid, but it all boils down to fear of loss.

The implications of this are not good. The only way to avoid a "fight" is to calm these people down and make them feel less insecure, but any therapist will tell you that's not a simple task, and that's 1-on-1. I think the best scenario is that the third of eligible voters who think politics is a game show wake up, and a majority of them don't want to live in Bartertown.

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Cheez Whis - I'm going to respectfully disagree that fear is the driving factor. I think it's disgust and hatred that drives them.

Over the hill, about a mile as the crow flies there's folks living in a 'compound' up there and they have big 4x4s with the Trump / Blue Lives Matter flags. They're not afraid of shit. They just hate your guts. They hate - they do not fear. They've got machine guns which I regularly hear chattering away. They set off IED's that rattle the windows of houses for miles away. They drive through town looking for people who might be looking at them the wrong way and they want to kill POC, LGBTQ folks, liberals and anyway else that does not go along with their white supremacist neo-nazi views. They call people who are not with them "normies" and think of ways to kill them - openly, in bars amongst people who are sitting around hearing them talk. They are the black shirt vanguards that are multiplying all over the country. A million Kyle Rittenhouses all blooming like flowers of death and decay.

They do not fear - they hate. They're certainly not afraid of killing anyone because they're up there practicing all the time. Maybe I should report it to my local sheriff or authorities? Don't make me laugh. The sheriff is one of those "constitutional" sheriffs and is probably good buddies with the guys setting off the bombs and shooting machine guns. You see - many liberals still don't get that the cops are on *their* side, not ours.

Fear implies these people are reachable if we calm their fears or reason with them. They are not reachable.

Please my friends - be ready to defend yourself. They hate your guts and the next opportunity they get with an authoritarian in the white house they're coming for you.

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Oh, I hear you. We only disagree on the root cause of the madness. I believe the anger and embrace of violence is one of many reactions to the fear of the Other. I grew up in Michigan and I know those people, and even I in California where I am now there are lots of them up in the Sierra. It's the extreme irrationality that leads me to the fear diagnosis, otherwise I'd agree that basic hate of the Other would explain it all.

I also agree that armed confrontation is what they want and look forward to. Nowhere will be completely safe, but some places are definitely going to be hot spots when they finally decide it's time.I think there is still a chance it won't come to that, but definitely no guarantee it won't/can't. It can and it might.

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I'm not sure that digust & hatred do not arise from fear. Just like Yoda said, but really really also.

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I'm not sure of anything, not my gig - but I can tell you that disgust and hatred can arise in people who have nothing to fear.

I'm an animist and don't really believe in "good" or "evil" - just shit that is real. And I know from real *personal* experience that people don't have to fear you to be disgusted by you and hate and want to kill you. Because you're something they that is low and bad and they've been taught to hate you.

Man - being a dope growin' hippie really opened my eyes. I've lived in rural areas growing dope and never hurt anyone, left everyone alone and didn't cause anyone any problems. But people knew who I was - the pigs knew who I was. They hated me cuz I'm different - I never caught a whiff of fear off any of those fucks. I was the man in fear.

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Word.

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Well it’s certainly undeniable that we hate anything we fear and both emotions are playing a role. To sidestep getting into a chicken or egg discussion I lump it all under the term fever because it’s irrationally delirious and impervious to logic, reason, or facts. And so far, anyway, unsolvable.

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A couple of thoughts. First, Australia has mandatory voting and their government is nearly as bad as ours. So I suspect your third that doesn't vote would break down about like those who do vote if they voted.

Second, who cares what the cause is? The only way to win is to beat them so hard they are really and truly afraid and to make them so weak that they can't do anything. And you know what? That ain't gonna happen. Too many Joe Bidens out there.

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I feel your pain, as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, but he also said it's important to know your enemy. As Greg says above, some of these well-armed yahoos are spoiling for a fight, and when you stand up to a bully, they usually punch you in the face. I don't know what you think "beating them so hard" looks like, but I hope we don't find out, because frightened, angry, delusional, and armed people don't tend to be rational actors. The best possible outcome is beating them so hard with votes, but Republicans are teeing up to deal with that.

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Ten years ago I'd have thought this funny parody. Today, it is far too close to reality. White people are completely freaked the fuck out by the notion that they have to treat minorities in general--and Black people in particular--as fellow humans and full-fledged citizens. Ainsley and Shea leap off the screen as real people . . . because they are.

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"beard...costs $100 a week to oil "

I remember watching The Insurection on TV (the revolution actually was televised !) And seeing the rough rowdy badass freedom fighters with their tactical sunglasses and camo couture - I could see these guys carpooling in to the Uprising from Knoxville in their Ram trucks, discussing ammunition,

survival rations, combat boots and the best beard oil for smooth skin and which electric trimmer is best for Manscaping.

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Cosplay Reaches For Power

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" shoed super-well"

The Doc Martin wingtips...

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I am constantly amazed at how often these predatory assholes want to stick their noses in kids' lives.

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They're afraid that the future, including their own children, will leave them behind. They'll do anything to keep their white privilege, and if anyone's gonna indoctrinate their kids, then by God it's gonna be them!

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And yet they’re leaving their kids historically shitty lives. Of course, empowering the engineers of one’s problems is no solution yet is their chosen one.

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Alternate ending for Florida and Texas:

[Two SECURITY GUARDS jog in.]

SHEA: LOOK! IT'S A BLACK CINDERELLA! A WHITE PRINCE! IT'S AGAINST OUR VALUES! CRITICAL RACE! CRITICAL RACE! CRITICAL RACE!

AINSLEY: IT"S AGAINST THE LAW! SHE'S BREAKIN' THE LAW!

[The SECURITY GUARDS look at each other and the TEACHER. More SECURITY GUARDS and TEACHERS enter and silently watch as the SECURITY GUARDS drag the TEACHER out of the auditorium.]

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I'll bet they're a riot at a Black production of Othello. Or a Thanksgiving pageant.

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I initially assumed that by some unknown means Edroso got his hands on a transcription of an actual event. Still kinda doubtful it’s a parody. Whatever it is, I’m certain it’s not a satire.

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Hoo boy... fucking nut jobs.

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"What is the narrative? What are you trying to say? Let me see the script."

It's the 2021 version of "Kenneth, what is the frequency?"

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It's the "Hi" at the END, *after* "Are you the prince, little boy?," that makes it dramatic art. Just perfect.

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slow clap...

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Fascism thrives because capitalism sells us the illusion of easy solutions, quick fixes, "doctors hate this simple trick," and the cult of charisma. Socialism takes work & patience & organization. So that already is a turn-off for most USians.

The charismatic crowd-talker comes in & promises the alienation of capitalistic life will be fixed once "they" are removed. "They" are then removed. Problems still exist. We find another "they" to oppress.

We've buying new ways to end the heartbreak of psoriasis for decades. Yet, the heartbreak still exists.

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When Shea starts singing I can not help but recall Shelley Winters in "Wild in the Streets" after she has been Returned for Regrooving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzBRLD_9YOs&t=31s

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Is it just greater age and cynicism and weariness, or has the latest round of Levulosexual Panic from the Right been distinguished by an even _more_ obvious lack of actually giving a shit over its nominal object or even really believing that it exists?

I mean, even liberals knew that there actually were some Communists and fellow-travellers in the State Department, so when the McCarthyites could never decide on exactly how many were on their sheets of paper their accusations at least slightly genuflected in the direction of the Koïnos Kosmos….

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