Comments on: These bastards knew from the start the evil they had in their midst https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/26/these-bastards-knew-from-the-start-the-evil-they-had-in-their-midst/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/26/these-bastards-knew-from-the-start-the-evil-they-had-in-their-midst/#comment-49493 ER Thu, 28 Apr 2022 03:58:49 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93742#comment-49493 I've been watching the Frontline tv special on how the Right and the oil industry conducted their propaganda candidate against global warming. This is not stupidity. Its deliberate, crafted, malicious evil motivated by pure greed. I think I share your despair. The world is no longer for the young, I can only derive any comfort by the realization that the worst will (hopefully) come after I am gone. Those who are masterminding this ongoing catastrophe seem to have convinced themselves that they will have stolen enough to live very comfortably until right up to the very end. I’ve been watching the Frontline tv special on how the Right and the oil industry conducted their propaganda candidate against global warming. This is not stupidity. Its deliberate, crafted, malicious evil motivated by pure greed.

I think I share your despair. The world is no longer for the young, I can only derive any comfort by the realization that the worst will (hopefully) come after I am gone. Those who are masterminding this ongoing catastrophe seem to have convinced themselves that they will have stolen enough to live very comfortably until right up to the very end.

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/26/these-bastards-knew-from-the-start-the-evil-they-had-in-their-midst/#comment-49492 RL Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:57:43 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93742#comment-49492 I really question devoting so much energy and emotion to my work, when it seems more and more certain that it will all be wasted as our civilization plummets into a cesspool of ignorance, fascism, and bloody decline. I am beginning to think the wisest move would be to go raise sheep in New Zealand... I really question devoting so much energy and emotion to my work, when it seems more and more certain that it will all be wasted as our civilization plummets into a cesspool of ignorance, fascism, and bloody decline.

I am beginning to think the wisest move would be to go raise sheep in New Zealand…

]]> By: podrock https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/26/these-bastards-knew-from-the-start-the-evil-they-had-in-their-midst/#comment-49490 podrock Wed, 27 Apr 2022 16:12:56 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93742#comment-49490 I am no longer astonished at how they manipulate their base. It is a cult. They know they are lying. They feed the rubes with meaningless controversies to distract them. The former guy taught them well. Just repeat the lies over and over and over again. Destroy trust in expertise. Go after schools, government, everything but religion. Well, the selected religion. Rile up the marginally crazy to do crazy things. Censor opponents while screaming about cancel culture. Push silly iconography. Find fear and fan it into rage. And grift all day long. Sell the rubes things they don't need. We have become an unserious culture. Perhaps we always were? I'm not sure it is true, but I saw a poll that indicated more than 50% of Americans are in favor of abolishing "Arabic" numerals. Because we are stupid, we are exploitable. I fear this pendulum is nowhere near to the end of its arc. I am no longer astonished at how they manipulate their base. It is a cult. They know they are lying. They feed the rubes with meaningless controversies to distract them. The former guy taught them well. Just repeat the lies over and over and over again. Destroy trust in expertise. Go after schools, government, everything but religion. Well, the selected religion. Rile up the marginally crazy to do crazy things. Censor opponents while screaming about cancel culture. Push silly iconography. Find fear and fan it into rage. And grift all day long. Sell the rubes things they don’t need.

We have become an unserious culture. Perhaps we always were? I’m not sure it is true, but I saw a poll that indicated more than 50% of Americans are in favor of abolishing “Arabic” numerals.

Because we are stupid, we are exploitable. I fear this pendulum is nowhere near to the end of its arc.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2022/04/26/these-bastards-knew-from-the-start-the-evil-they-had-in-their-midst/#comment-49487 ER Wed, 27 Apr 2022 02:55:01 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=93742#comment-49487 They don’t want to pay taxes, and they don’t want government regulation that protects the poor, the worker, the environment and the consumer. And now, they have the support of their own victims; the uneducated, the oppressed, and the ignorant because they’ve managed to exploit their racism, their bigotry, religious fanaticism, and their fear and anxiety. They see a world where infinite power and wealth is theirs, just out of their grasp, if they can only be bold and ruthless enough to take it for themselves. Forever. And they come from an ethos that values acquisitiveness, authority, and ruthlessness, and which sees compassion and introspection as weakness, indecision and effeminacy. No, they ain’t stupid. They’re no damn good. There is nothing new or novel or even unexpected about this. Its fascism, and its as old as Babylon and as evil as Hell. They don’t want to pay taxes, and they don’t want government regulation that protects the poor, the worker, the environment and the consumer. And now, they have the support of their own victims; the uneducated, the oppressed, and the ignorant because they’ve managed to exploit their racism, their bigotry, religious fanaticism, and their fear and anxiety. They see a world where infinite power and wealth is theirs, just out of their grasp, if they can only be bold and ruthless enough to take it for themselves. Forever.

And they come from an ethos that values acquisitiveness, authority, and ruthlessness, and which sees compassion and introspection as weakness, indecision and effeminacy. No, they ain’t stupid. They’re no damn good. There is nothing new or novel or even unexpected about this. Its fascism, and its as old as Babylon and as evil as Hell.

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