Comments on: * Just passin’ through* before I go get groceries. A thought occurred to me

By: bowser

bowser — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:04:38 +0000

I think you are absolutely correct in your analysis of racism in political campaigns and a general form of social manipulation.

And, she said “racism” and “polarized”. I have to admit that I don’t read anything into that which narrows it to political purposes.

I think we are both correct in our analysis, regardless of her intent.

By: ER

ER — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 21:57:19 +0000

Yeah, tell me about it.

By: TB

TB — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 19:15:48 +0000

It’s good to have “all the answers” isn’t it?

By: ER

ER — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 18:02:06 +0000

The goal of counter-propaganda is not to persuade the target, but to make the target question and distrust his own sources of information.

Hell, that’s what I always assumed you were doing.

By: ER

ER — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 17:53:49 +0000

When you get Rev. Al talking about it maybe I’ll pay attention.

That kind of stuff isn’t written to persuade opponents, its meant to reassure believers. You, of all people, should know that.

By: TB

TB — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:18:24 +0000

You didn’t read it, did you?

By: TB

TB — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:14:16 +0000

“A bit of hyperbole.”

Followed by those paragraphs.

Sometimes I think you’re just messing with me.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 16:07:59 +0000

bowser, I think you’ve misunderstand Jody’s premise. Or at least, what you describe isn’t the premise I thought I was replying to. I interpreted Jody’s post to be about the deliberate use of racism in politics, and as a general form of social manipulation. You’re right about society’s overall attitude toward racism today; I’d describe racism as about as welcome these days as syphilis. But right up to the current time, we see the powerful and the political deliberately injecting race into the public discourse as a tried-and-true method of divide-and-conquer. We see eruptions of raw racial hatred right here in Kumbayaa City, and behind every one is the hand of a cynical manipulator.

By: ER

ER — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 15:17:18 +0000

“Republicans are not all racists, but all racists are Republicans.” I’m sure you are enough of a mathematican to understand the distinction between necessary and sufficient conditions.

Perhaps “all” was a bit of hyperbole. Substitute “most[ly]” for “all” if you like, I know how much you rely on minutia, hair-splitting, and other lawyer tricks to QED your outrages.

Don’t presume to cross-examine me, TB. You know I have always seen right through your sanctimonious charade. You may not be a racist yourself, probably because you have always lived with people who look and act just like you do, regardless of their skin color. You were raised in the Midwest, live in Silicon Valley, and interface with the rest of the world through software and the internet. Wasn’t there a 60s SF tale based on that conceit?

But your political philosophy does everything it can to pander to racists (and religious fanatics, bigots, ignoramuses and thugs of every stripe) because you need their votes. And every year you need them more and there are less and less of them. Republicans used to be the nice folk that lived on the Right side of the tracks, but lately, they’ve had to go for the meth-heads and trailer trash to pad their numbers. And boy, are you giving them the red meat they’re drooling for. You do know that one day that short-sighted tactical move is going to inflict on you profound strategic consequences?

That’s why you loathe Obama. He’s walking, talking proof there isn’t enough hate in the country any more to guarantee your people can get elected and your agenda institutionalized. And he reminds you that every day your demographic position deteriorates even more. Welcome to diversity, comrade, its the price you eventually had to pay for cheap foreign labor. Its not just a slogan any more, its physical, mathematical, logical reality. You’d better get with the program.

By: Jody

Jody — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 14:55:53 +0000

Hot and bothered.:)