posted
i love political dysfunction dispatches from across the world because selfishly they make me feel way better about our own garbagefest.
like sure we have the NC law thing going on but meanwhile the philippine presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to pardon himself for murder, that's way cooler
also the for real probably going to happen Dilma Rousseff impeachment, wow
tony abbott made me feel better about george w bush because while bush was tragically empowered to do killing-millions-of-people shit on a worldwide scale, he was no tony abbott, who would have found a way to use chunks of the great barrier reef and ground up boats of refugees as bombs in Iraq
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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zlogdanbr
unregistered
posted
Right now, all the belligerent pack of militants are loudly trying to fight the impeachment process. Some of them gather in front public places and literally defecate on pictures of right wing politicians.
Another bunch of crazy and delluded warriors of the left, puts fire in the main highways here in São Paulo, because they don't want the impeachment. It is all worth if it is in their interest. Do hope that such a thing does not ever happen in USA.
Next chapter will focus on Jose Dirceu, the real leader of the pack, trained in Cuba to be the greatest revolutionary since che guevara ( I apologize for mentioning such awful and loathsome name )
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quote:Originally posted by oscfan17: And perhaps this is why many "southern" whites are more eager to vote for secession to vent their economic anxieties. There was a huge opportunity cost to spending so much political capital on pushing abolition that could have been spent on easing economic inequality, ending the tariff war, fighting the Indians, etc, instead of alienating so much of the country for the benefit of 11% of the population who wanted their skin colour validated by the state as normal. This is why the Radical Republican Elite are in part to blame for the rise of the South and the divisiveness of our culture.
posted
I have just had "wonderful" news from the front: the impeachment process against our beloved president Dilma was cancelled. The left here is in awe as it could be expected.
The ( now former ) president of the Brazilian parliament was last week legally removed from his duties as a congressman due to ( try a wild guess ) corruption - already proved - accusations. It happens that his substitute favors president Dilma so it was not a surprise at all.
The supreme court Judge, designated by Dilma not coincidentally some years ago, has accepted the accusation against the now former parliament chairman and the new guy took his place with a grin.
Not surprisingly the new guy is also accused of corruption, but right now he can stay as the chairman and do whatever he thinks better for the party, ops, for the people of Brazil.
To the local left, everything is acceptable if it is made in the name of the revolution, ops, in the name of people.
What could we expect from a president that usually brags to have been a terrorist fighting for the revolution?
A whole country utterly sunk on a deep ocean of mud.
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posted
So apparently April was a great month for membership growth here. I think the population just doubled.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Oh good good. I've been looking to buy some counterfeit currency and whatever it is our spammers are selling these days.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
I saw this thread some time ago, not long after I had read the article in questions, and thought it thought provoking, and insightful. Being a smug liberal myself, I thought it was a good opportunity for self evaluation.
I had also found myself in an argument with a friend of mine from work. An really nice guy, who wants to vote for Trump. He mentioned this to me, saw the expression of dismissal on my face, and went over the edge, venting about how everyone thinks he's stupid, and he just sits there and takes it, but he's sick of it and... on and on... it had hit a nerve, and he just had to vent. And I realized there was nothing I could say, but that I just needed to listen, for as long as he needed to vent. It took a while.
As he was venting, I was thinking of the article, and thinking that I should mention it to him, because it was so relevant. But I also realized it was just one more example of my being "superior" or "smug" that my knowledge of what he needed was better than his. So I didn't mention the article. I just shut up and listened. The only thing I DID say was "I'm listening to you." I think that helped.
posted
I think liberals are smug. So are conservatives. So is everybody who is convinced of their inherent correctness. It's why charges of hypocrisy stick so easily to partisans on both sides in the US.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz: I think liberals are smug. So are conservatives. So is everybody who is convinced of their inherent correctness. It's why charges of hypocrisy stick so easily to partisans on both sides in the US.
I would agree with this.
There's a certain righteousness that goes along with being an ideologue that makes smugness sort of an inherent quality.
But I also feel like smugness has a second component to it, which involves assuming your opposition is sort of stupid. I mean, I can think I'm right and not be a dick about it. But when I never leave myself open to listening to the other side and assume they must be stupid if they can't acknowledge how right I am, that's where you get into smug.
And most of that happens internally without much conscious thought.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: But I also feel like smugness has a second component to it, which involves assuming your opposition is sort of stupid. I mean, I can think I'm right and not be a dick about it. But when I never leave myself open to listening to the other side and assume they must be stupid if they can't acknowledge how right I am, that's where you get into smug.
That perfectly sums up why I don't enjoy watching election duels (and why they are called "duel" instead of "debate").
Posts: 366 | Registered: May 2016
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He believes in perfect equality--everyone is food regardless of race, creed, color, or lineage. Dwarf, elf, Beornling, goblin, they all taste good fried.
He believes in high tax rates--100% plus the horse (or Elk) you road in on.
He is anti-gun, well, anti-bow and arrow especially black arrows.
While he is tough on crime, he doesn't believe in long prison sentences. He would rather eat you now.
He is against the Military/Industrial Complex and believes that a small army is better than a large army, unless you are really hungry.
He legalized smoking pipe-weed, and smoking anything else he breathes on.
He believes that lethal injection is a cruel and unusual punishment, not to mention a tainting of tasty man-flesh.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
So I finally read the article. I have a lot of complicated reactions.
I agree that it is overly long, and offers little in the way of practical solutions, aside from listening more and being cognizant of when you are crossing a line (the Donald Trump statues discussed in the other thread come to mind).
But it does do a good job of conveying a certain mindset.
Some of it feels like the ramblings of twenty-two year old who is frustrated that mom and dad aren't treating them like an adult, so they act out, and behave like a child, whine and make things worse (see a previous post in this thread by someone who is most likely Clive). The kid gets treated like a child because they acted like one.
I have a deep dislike of the concept of "Good Facts", especially as a scientist. It implies that the facts themselves are a trifle, like what you need to do to fit into snob society. They are facts. And like the laws of physics they do not care a whit what people think of them. The world is round, it's definitely getting warmer, and getting your shots is essential to public health. Even though all ideas seem to have equal merit in philosophical discussions, especially because most people take them on faith. Still, some ideas are better than others. And yet this article inoculated itself against any dissenting opinion by predicting people would complain about its dismissal of facts, and dismissing them out of hand. Trump is doing the same thing with his dismissal of "expert" opinion.
There's a very wise thing that was said to me in the context of sexism and dating, which is that men fear being laughed at by a woman and women fear being murdered by a man. A lot of liberal ideas are like that. Behind the fight for gay rights and marriage is a very very real fear of rejection, persecution and murder (I have a story about this, but it's too much of a non-sequitur). The opposite is the fear of a destruction of an ideal of society that doesn't exist.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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