Tonight ladies and gentlemen-- We're proud to bring to you America's new manly & totally not-at-all effete elitist Average Joe voice of moral clarity. The Hill is happy to present our latest commentatorer -- so here he is... (checks notes) ... Selwyn... Duke... ?
It makes sense that reactionaries would see their hero in a thuggish secret policeman like Putin. His insecurity and compulsion to engage in prominent displays of exaggerated macho behavior (riding horseback shirtless, etc.) mirrors their own inadequacies. I'd like to see them try to survive just one winter in Moscow, coping with a language that's almost impossible for a foreigner to learn.
JFC, it was perplexing me why Putin was pulling this shit now and now, reading the sub-head, it struck me: he's jealous of all the love Orban's getting so he has to show that for those people, he's the man.
BTW, on a certain level, isn't this some sort of game of which fascist one prefers, Ukrainian Nazis or Russian Christo-fascists?
(Caveat, if I may be serious: All kvetching about the shit Putin's pulling must acknowledge Victoria Nuland's initiative in 2014.)
Some full disclosures:
I'm well on record of buying the Greene/Tooze theory that the real problem is economic hegemony combined, I suppose, with Ukraine's historically fucked up economy. (Cites available on request because I've already provided them.)
Too, without Ukraine's pogroms in 1905, I wouldn't be here. And a tease: Without same, remote possibility the Beatles wouldn't have happened as we know them (allegedly, too lazy to confirm).
Dreher has been banging the “gays and CRT are weakening our military” drum for a while now. A few months ago he blogged about discouraging his 17 year old son from joining the army when he graduates, not because the kid might get blown to bits but because he might have to serve alongside a guy who has a boyfriend.
Of course, trans people, gay people, and accurately acknowledging and teaching this country’s racial history (Evil “CRT” to conservatives) have been perennial bete noires for Dreher, so it follows he would believe they are destroying our military from within. He has only one hammer so he sees nothing but nails.
What the Right always forgets is that after "cleaning up" leftists dictators always, always "clean up" rightists--also a threat to a dictatorship--immediately afterwards. So where would *they* flee to if this came here?
Feb 22, 2022·edited Feb 22, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
I remember during the Cuban Missile Crisis my parents packed our 9 passenger station wagon full of food drinking water and camping gear. They filled the tank and parked it in the driveway for what seemed like a week as we watched the crisis unfold on TV. I remember we had to change the ice in the coolers. My mom or dad came up with the idea freezing water in saucepans and coffee cans to make giant ice cubes. I remember thinking that was so smart. I was four and a half years old. For the next 30 years or so, certainly during my formative years I was absolutely convinced I was going to die as a result of a Russian nuclear attack. I remember being in the fourth grade and watching Dr. Strangelove on ABC Sunday night at the Movies. I hid behind my Dad's chair. Peeking out from behind it to watch. I was terrified for weeks. Years. "On the Beach' had the same effect. That empty city with the pop bottle sending out a message of hope that was really just a sad joke. Once I hit 11 or 12 and started seriously reading I read it all- Alas Babylon, Fail Safe.Canticle for Leibowitz. Remember that Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meridith wear he breaks his glasses? Planet of the Apes. That shitty
Sequel, Beneath the Planet etc sucked hard but the ending where they once more blew the shit out of everything gave me nightmares.
Anyway, point being, fuck Russians. Their corrupt warmongering leaders anyway. Putin's a criminal thug who seems well on his way to single handedly fucking up the whole world.
"Well boys, I reckon this is it: nuclear combat toe-to-toe with the Ruskies."
Let us never forget American and British right wingers’ love affair with Hitler. Nothing new under the sun, except polar ice melting, raging wildfires, shoreline flooding…
This piece reminds me that a long-ago friend who went hard right after 9/11 once told me that in any dispute, if one side is 60% right and the other side is 40% right, then the side that’s 60% right is actually 100% right. It’s a very alien way of looking at the world to me, but I think it may explain a lot of conservative thought. They have committed to hating Biden, therefore they must commit to loving Putin.
If you're a White supremacist with a hard-on for dictators, you've got a limited menu to choose from. Sure, the world's full of dictators, but most of 'em are the wrong color, dammit! Russia sits right at the center of a Venn diagram labeled "Majority White Nations" and "Ruled by Dictator".
Feb 22, 2022·edited Feb 22, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
The question that always flummoxes me in these situations: How much of any right-wing behavior is attributable to anything you might generously call "ideas", and how much is simple Cleek's Law? Joe Biden is - no matter how much they hate to admit it - the President of the United States, and if he says it's wrong for Russia to annex Ukraine, what choice do they have but to disagree? Wouldn't be good for Tucker's career to be seen agreeing with Joe Biden on ANYTHING, right?
And to what extent is the right's years-long Putinophilia due to a simple accident of history, the fact that a Democrat - and a BLACK Democrat at that - was President when Vlad grabbed Crimea? This Democrat (and I did I mention BLACK?) had the nerve to speak out on the matter, and that really painted them into a corner, didn't it?
i don't mean to discount the toxic stew of authoritarianism and homophobia that makes up the "mind" of Rod Dreher, but if you had to guess at a percentage split, what percentage would you give to "Sleepy Joe's agin' it, I gotta be fer it!"
"Finally, religious people may say, somebody stands up without apology to these people who are trying to crush us…"
Can't we all try harder? To crush religious people? Yes, Brother Rod is onto us, so it'll be a little more difficult than we might like. But he's constantly whining about being crushed, being persecuted, being oppressed... He *wants* that, don't you see? So can't we give him what he wants?
There’s a difference between what the military calls a “kinetic” war (actual bang-bang) and economic and cyber war. We are already at war with Russia (by “we” I mean NATO) under the latter frame. Under the circumstances we face now: basically a Texas sized economy with a lot of nuclear weapons and led by a clearly unstable, paranoid leader, a direct military confrontation is, at best, very premature and a smartly waged economic war probably more effective even if it will cause the world economy a lot of pain. (Xi might be having new buddy’s remorse in that respect.)
As for the bottom-feeding, authoritarian lovers, that is regrettably a quite venerable tradition on the anti-democratic, isolationist right as we know. Resist, resist, resist.
Damn Roy: make this one shareable...
Tonight ladies and gentlemen-- We're proud to bring to you America's new manly & totally not-at-all effete elitist Average Joe voice of moral clarity. The Hill is happy to present our latest commentatorer -- so here he is... (checks notes) ... Selwyn... Duke... ?
It makes sense that reactionaries would see their hero in a thuggish secret policeman like Putin. His insecurity and compulsion to engage in prominent displays of exaggerated macho behavior (riding horseback shirtless, etc.) mirrors their own inadequacies. I'd like to see them try to survive just one winter in Moscow, coping with a language that's almost impossible for a foreigner to learn.
JFC, it was perplexing me why Putin was pulling this shit now and now, reading the sub-head, it struck me: he's jealous of all the love Orban's getting so he has to show that for those people, he's the man.
BTW, on a certain level, isn't this some sort of game of which fascist one prefers, Ukrainian Nazis or Russian Christo-fascists?
(Caveat, if I may be serious: All kvetching about the shit Putin's pulling must acknowledge Victoria Nuland's initiative in 2014.)
Some full disclosures:
I'm well on record of buying the Greene/Tooze theory that the real problem is economic hegemony combined, I suppose, with Ukraine's historically fucked up economy. (Cites available on request because I've already provided them.)
Too, without Ukraine's pogroms in 1905, I wouldn't be here. And a tease: Without same, remote possibility the Beatles wouldn't have happened as we know them (allegedly, too lazy to confirm).
Dreher has been banging the “gays and CRT are weakening our military” drum for a while now. A few months ago he blogged about discouraging his 17 year old son from joining the army when he graduates, not because the kid might get blown to bits but because he might have to serve alongside a guy who has a boyfriend.
Of course, trans people, gay people, and accurately acknowledging and teaching this country’s racial history (Evil “CRT” to conservatives) have been perennial bete noires for Dreher, so it follows he would believe they are destroying our military from within. He has only one hammer so he sees nothing but nails.
What the Right always forgets is that after "cleaning up" leftists dictators always, always "clean up" rightists--also a threat to a dictatorship--immediately afterwards. So where would *they* flee to if this came here?
I remember during the Cuban Missile Crisis my parents packed our 9 passenger station wagon full of food drinking water and camping gear. They filled the tank and parked it in the driveway for what seemed like a week as we watched the crisis unfold on TV. I remember we had to change the ice in the coolers. My mom or dad came up with the idea freezing water in saucepans and coffee cans to make giant ice cubes. I remember thinking that was so smart. I was four and a half years old. For the next 30 years or so, certainly during my formative years I was absolutely convinced I was going to die as a result of a Russian nuclear attack. I remember being in the fourth grade and watching Dr. Strangelove on ABC Sunday night at the Movies. I hid behind my Dad's chair. Peeking out from behind it to watch. I was terrified for weeks. Years. "On the Beach' had the same effect. That empty city with the pop bottle sending out a message of hope that was really just a sad joke. Once I hit 11 or 12 and started seriously reading I read it all- Alas Babylon, Fail Safe.Canticle for Leibowitz. Remember that Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meridith wear he breaks his glasses? Planet of the Apes. That shitty
Sequel, Beneath the Planet etc sucked hard but the ending where they once more blew the shit out of everything gave me nightmares.
Anyway, point being, fuck Russians. Their corrupt warmongering leaders anyway. Putin's a criminal thug who seems well on his way to single handedly fucking up the whole world.
"Well boys, I reckon this is it: nuclear combat toe-to-toe with the Ruskies."
It's okay - we'll meet again...
Let us never forget American and British right wingers’ love affair with Hitler. Nothing new under the sun, except polar ice melting, raging wildfires, shoreline flooding…
Sometimes I click on one of the links to see what Dreher is up to. And I'm baffled anyone can write this tripe with a straight face:
“What do you call it in English when people refuse to see any evidence that doesn’t confirm their beliefs?”
“Epistemic closure?” I said.
“Yes, epistemic closure.” The Hungarian shook her head in disbelief.
This piece reminds me that a long-ago friend who went hard right after 9/11 once told me that in any dispute, if one side is 60% right and the other side is 40% right, then the side that’s 60% right is actually 100% right. It’s a very alien way of looking at the world to me, but I think it may explain a lot of conservative thought. They have committed to hating Biden, therefore they must commit to loving Putin.
If you're a White supremacist with a hard-on for dictators, you've got a limited menu to choose from. Sure, the world's full of dictators, but most of 'em are the wrong color, dammit! Russia sits right at the center of a Venn diagram labeled "Majority White Nations" and "Ruled by Dictator".
The question that always flummoxes me in these situations: How much of any right-wing behavior is attributable to anything you might generously call "ideas", and how much is simple Cleek's Law? Joe Biden is - no matter how much they hate to admit it - the President of the United States, and if he says it's wrong for Russia to annex Ukraine, what choice do they have but to disagree? Wouldn't be good for Tucker's career to be seen agreeing with Joe Biden on ANYTHING, right?
And to what extent is the right's years-long Putinophilia due to a simple accident of history, the fact that a Democrat - and a BLACK Democrat at that - was President when Vlad grabbed Crimea? This Democrat (and I did I mention BLACK?) had the nerve to speak out on the matter, and that really painted them into a corner, didn't it?
i don't mean to discount the toxic stew of authoritarianism and homophobia that makes up the "mind" of Rod Dreher, but if you had to guess at a percentage split, what percentage would you give to "Sleepy Joe's agin' it, I gotta be fer it!"
Putin as a defender of Western values? Do they know who he is? Or do they care?
"Finally, religious people may say, somebody stands up without apology to these people who are trying to crush us…"
Can't we all try harder? To crush religious people? Yes, Brother Rod is onto us, so it'll be a little more difficult than we might like. But he's constantly whining about being crushed, being persecuted, being oppressed... He *wants* that, don't you see? So can't we give him what he wants?
It was nice to see J.D. Vance acquire yet another outlet in his nether bifurcation over his own "Who care's about Ukraine?" comments.
(Warning: Mediaite link.)
https://www.mediaite.com/news/jd-vance-gets-completely-dunked-on-by-retired-four-star-general-in-brutal-twitter-spat/#disqus_thread
There’s a difference between what the military calls a “kinetic” war (actual bang-bang) and economic and cyber war. We are already at war with Russia (by “we” I mean NATO) under the latter frame. Under the circumstances we face now: basically a Texas sized economy with a lot of nuclear weapons and led by a clearly unstable, paranoid leader, a direct military confrontation is, at best, very premature and a smartly waged economic war probably more effective even if it will cause the world economy a lot of pain. (Xi might be having new buddy’s remorse in that respect.)
As for the bottom-feeding, authoritarian lovers, that is regrettably a quite venerable tradition on the anti-democratic, isolationist right as we know. Resist, resist, resist.