Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

Trump is hugely entertaining and, in some ways, fantastic.

[entropy]

Hannibal.. I'm still waiting on a legit 3rd party.. that allows BO's dems to stay far left, Huckabee's Pubs to stay far right and give me someone new in the middle.

[hack]

Trump would not be a good president, but I do find him entertaining. If nothing else, he has saved us from months of people talking without saying anything.

I love how anyone who criticizes him just somehow happens to be someone he claims to like and have beaten at golf last week. He's so damn good at this. But what's good for Trump isn't good for the country. We have to have people up there who aren't gleefully racist, or at least acting that way.

[Hannibal]

Hannibal.. I'm still waiting on a legit 3rd party.. that allows BO's dems to stay far left, Huckabee's Pubs to stay far right and give me someone new in the middle.

Why? If that's the case, then you've got plenty of "moderates" to choose from.

[Hannibal]

People continue to misjudge Trump's success as being entirely a product of showmanship.

[entropy]

hanny.. they're not making it out of the primaries. Even Bill Clinton had to appear left and then moved to the center after he won the nomination. The extremes have too much say in who is getting nominated. jmo

[iam416]

People continue to misjudge Trump's success as being entirely a product of showmanship.

This is an important point. It doesn't take much for Trumpers to get the message when Trump is chastized for painting muslims with a broad brush while his supporters, often blue collar to downright poor, are told to acknowledge their "white privilege." The hypocrisy can't be missed and it isn't. And that's just part of the reason folks are supoorting him.

[hack]

I do agree that for plenty of people it doesn't feel like a life of priviledge right now, and they're not likely to say ``well a lot of people are far worse off than me and that's in some cases because of the additional challenge of being in a minority''. They are more likely to buy into precisely the sort of foreign-boogeyman bullshit fear Trump is feasting on. But, if I understand your point, I don't see how it's hypocritical to point out that the statement may often be true.

[iam416]

The hypocrisy, in this case of the left, is the outrage at painting with a broad brush and, well, painting with a broad brush.

I don't agree with Trump on his immigration nonsense, but at the same time it's clear to me that there is a very real global issue with Islam--political Islam. I don't agree with race-baiters castigating a lot of the folks I see in my travels around Ohio for their "white privilege," however I'm fine with self-hating elite folks castigating themselves for shit they didn't do.

But, hey, what do I care. It's clear the Ds don't care a lick about working class white folks, so they'll continue to get their ass handed to them in most non-coastal states, have enough in the electoral college to typically retain the Presidency and more often than not they won't hold Congress.

The Rs hope is that the Ds black-centric minority policy will drive other minority groups away.

[Hannibal]

This is an important point. It doesn't take much for Trumpers to get the message when Trump is chastized for painting muslims with a broad brush while his supporters, often blue collar to downright poor, are told to acknowledge their "white privilege." The hypocrisy can't be missed and it isn't. And that's just part of the reason folks are supoorting him.

I don't think that most Trump supporters get deep enough into academia to hear "check your priviledge", but I will say that they are probably pretty damn tired of being called "racists" for backing such outlandish ideas as "enforce the immigration laws that you have already written" and "craft an immigration policy that serves the best interests of the country".

[iam416]

Yeah, Hanni, that's the larger point I was getting at. There's a strong perception amongst the "silenced" that they can't have an honest discussion about immigration, affirmative action, police shootings, letting men use women's restrooms, the "war" on women, the alleged benefits of diversity and a plethora of other issues. If they do, they're shouted down as bigots, racists, sexists, etc.

That's a very real concern. I'm sure the R media plays a real role in generating it, but it doesn't make it any less real nor does it mean it's not based, in part, on what is actually happening in the US.

[Wild Hoss]

Actually there is nobody running I am really excited about. I just wish we would get the hell out of the ME.

Same here. I like what I hear from Sanders in the anti-trust/rollback corporate influence sphere, but much of the rest of it is just too far afield for me. Some is primary fodder of course.

As for the ME...we are way, WAY overdue for a paradigm review in how we view "Defense", but it starts with ME policy IMO. We've been making lanes changes there for 40 years when we need to take an entirely different road.

[Hannibal]

Yeah, Hanni, that's the larger point I was getting at. There's a strong perception amongst the "silenced" that they can't have an honest discussion about immigration, affirmative action, police shootings, letting men use women's restrooms, the "war" on women, the alleged benefits of diversity and a plethora of other issues. If they do, they're shouted down as bigots, racists, sexists, etc..

It's deeper than that. There is all kinds of stuff that is self-evident that you aren't allowed to say because it is taboo. This is the type of insanity that George Orwell wrote about.

[iam416]

I thought I covered that with "plethora of other issues", but yes, you're correct. It's Orwellian.

Incidentally, re your point about "White Privilege" not seeping into, say, Appalachia. You and I both know that these buzzwords start in academia then filter into society. "White Privilege" is on its way. It's a rather clever way to recast affirmative action. AA was a solution. You help people out for awhile, give them the benefit of the doubt, and then you stop. The genius of "White Privilege" is that it describes a state of things - and in this case, a perpetual state of things. It is derived from America's past, will always exist because, well, the past can't be changed. And so while institutional and governmental racism have all but been eradicated, "White Privilege" gets after the seemingly innocuous shit that isn't racial on its face. Brilliant really. What I find hilarious, though, is that it's pretty much only "White Privilege" viz a viz black folks. It's not WP viz a viz Asian folks. Asians do more than just fine in our country. So, I'm waiting for Asian Privilege to come along to explain why that group of folks is considerably more successful, as a group, than just about any other group.

[Wild Hoss]

It's deeper than that. There is all kinds of stuff that is self-evident that you aren't allowed to say because it is taboo. This is the type of insanity that George Orwell wrote about.

PC reaction gets pushed too far- both Left and Right- sometimes, but to claim we're in Orwellian territory is just silly. People have more freedom and ability to express their views today than at any time in human history.

The avalanche of stupidity one sees on FB and Twitter is unassailable proof.