Any Republican is dead to me unless they repudiate the fascist branch of their party. Any Christian is dead to me unless they repudiate the Christofascist branch of their religion. I'm done.
Many of my relatives are maggots. They al say they oppose democracy and voting and want to overturn our elections and would love Putin as a ruler.
The problem is, they haven't any understanding what they are saying and are just repeating the slogans. They are remote speakers for the Fox Fascist Propaganda channels.
When I ask them to explain WHY they want to end voting and personal freedom and become subjects of a king or dictator, they stutter and talk about Hillary.
If a toddler staggers up and shoots you with a shotgun, you know the kid didn't understand, but you are still dead.
These people want to destroy America, but they are so poorly educated they don't know it.
We don't want fools voting. Since that is impossible to legislate, let's legislate excellent free education and get rid of the fools.
Not so tall an order, I think, I hope. When I see the mass psychosis and willful ignorance of my maggot relatives, I remember two things.
1. Maggots have low self esteem and feel inferior to blacks, browns, gays, whatever, and are TERRIFIED that others will notice, so they hide their fear with racism.
2. Maggots are correct in one respect. These folks are low achievers who ONLY have a decent job because of white privilege. They are absolutely correct that in a free market, their boss would replace them with the 90% of blacks, browns, etc., and WHITES TOO, who are smarter than them. Without white privilege, they would have to admit that pay in the USA is 40 years behind productivity.
These maggots, at least my relatives, are "verbal racists" rather than "physical racists". They talk about the unfair advantage non-whites have, but they know it's a lie. They wouldn't lynch anyone and in fact they would stop a lynching, but they like to get together and "talk big".
They like FatHitler because he pretends to be self-made. We progressives know that he struggled along with a $2 million annual trust fund distribution, which was SERIOUS money when he was a kid in the 50s. We progressives know that he stole the family wealth. My relatives don't know ANY of that. They watch Fox Fascist Propaganda and are totally fooled.
Before you laugh at the willingly misinformed maggots, listen to any of the MANY Nazi propaganda channels for a day, if you can, maybe drink all day or do edibles. You will hear a complete fantasy world that is as comprehensive and convincing as "The Lord of the Rings", but of course you do have to suspend reality. It's very much like "The Lord of the Rings", in that none of the characters exist, nor does "Middle Earth", but it's fun to imagine that world, with walking tree gods, elves, and giant eagles - as long as you don't BELIEVE it. The Nazi maggot world is the same, carefully crafted fantasy to give underachievers a little excitement.
The only reason they think they have not accomplished much is because they don't value the close family you get when you only work 2,000 hours a year, and are home every night, vs. my career working twice the hours in remote countries.
The answer isn't to be jealous and spiteful and mean, it's to properly recognize yourself and your career as a success. If you don't hate yourself, you are far less likely to hate others for ridiculous reasons.
Your comments lets us know that you really seem to hate your relatives. It's sad that many on both sides have come to this very dark place. Condemning people as maggots is rough. There can't be anything good in justifying such hate.
Not sure these will make any difference to you but Martin Luther King's words, I believe, reminds everyone that hate will ruin us. “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."
You are commenting on people you don't know and have never met. I don't hate anyone, hate is for maggots. I understand people, and won't willingly force children to sit in a group of fantasy and a hate spewing family. My black and hispanic relatives are sitting next to the rest of us. These terrified underperforming jerks constantly discuss how all "N's" are lazy and stupid, that's just the way they are born, and "Mexicans" (their term for anyone hispanic) are all thieves and rapists, well I'm never going to sit there and tolerate that sort of speech.
The last straw was a Christmas party where they all loudly spewed hate, claiming the only reason they couldn't succeed was Biden giving their jobs to "Ns" and "Ms". Between the 12 white NaziRepublicans in the room, there are 2 high school diplomas and zero college. Meanwhile, my black grand daughter is holding down a full time job AND a 3.8 GPA while taking 18 hours at one of the toughest private universities on the planet, and only didn't attend Harvard because it was too far from home. My black grandson was also there. He's an actor now being chased to take the lead in plays in 6 states, hasn't gotten his college degree yet, but is working on it. My "Mexican" nephew was there as well, ensuring their spite. He's got a graduate degree and owns a number of small businesses.
While I don't "hate" anyone, I will not tolerate people spewing racism and hate and blaming minorities for THEIR failures, which to me, aren't failures. People who fail to achieve can be for any number of reasons, and simply preferring fishing to working, to me that isn't failing, you simply have different goals.
Failure doesn't make you less of a person, we all fail. Thinking you are inferior is dumb and self destructive. Blaming your self-assigned "failure" on others DOES make you less of a person. Take responsibility for your own actions.
The MLK quote reminds us that no matter how reprehensible our enemies are, denigrating them with horribly foul and dehumanizing names push us into some very dark places. His warning stands: Be really careful about judging and condemning others. These kinds of condemnations do nothing to help them, and actually have cancerous effects on us.
When at my place with DISH I do try to watch at least one of Tucker/Sean/Laura if interesting events are going on, or maybe once a week. On Sunday, I try to catch Mark Levine. I find it gets harder and harder, and I can't distinguish whether they are getting daffier or I've used up my lifetime cognitive dissonance quota. I notice that a common Fox response to serious Trump crisis is to "cover" trivia. For such pitifulness to have such power........
Ha, ha, love the comment. I try to listen to Fox Fascist Propaganda an hour a week, but usually cannot take more than 30 minutes a month before I lose interest and stare out the window. I love Science Fiction because it's based on facts, but I've never been much into Fantasy. Once they start inventing stuff, I drift off.
I went long here. Comments are supposed to be short, right? Oh well, here goes…
“They simply don’t believe in democracy or the rule of law: winning is all that matters with these folks.”
Right on, Thom. All that matters. And truth, too. They don’t seem to care a fig about facts or truth either. Thanks for putting your thoughts to follow up more on last week’s caller.
So, dealing with a person who seems to be reasonable with you. And yet holds fast to these “crazy alert” notions, and is now seemingly hard-wired NOT to hear a word you or I or any other truth bound person might say, no matter how reasonably we engage with them.
I don’t have an answer. I am glad and grateful that you, Thom will maintained your fair and mannerly posture. I might listen and hope upon hope that something that you or any of us might be able to say to avoid the anger and where that can lead. The worry of attitudes and alliances leading to actual acts of violence actually makes another strong case for engaging with as many “reasonable” persons was we can.
But energy is in finite quantities. At least it is for me. Too often I either want to just blow them off and ignore them, or change the subject and reasonably talk with them about something as trivial as the old school memory or the latest predictions for our team, etc. Chalk them up as lost souls. But damn! There is upwards to 40% of them, or more now.
Here is what is pulling my weary mind’s chain today. Who might want to engage with me or the larger community of your radio listeners on this:
By the time we get done yammering and whining about the latest “big lie” or horrific action one of these jerks like the TX and FL governors have just done, they have already accomplished their mission, to shock, to pervert truth, or more the like, to get the public’s attention, and a subsequent reaction.
For days on end these pranks, stunts and heretofore unthinkable things be they statements or activities will cause us to stammer and rant and so on. Meanwhile, they just plan on the next “big lie” and harsh chain that the think up to rattle.
Can we please ever get anybody’s ears to be rattling THEIR chains? If they will not even listen to us, then what is the solution? I’d like to see us, get to a more aggressive and assertive way instead of being so ably manipulated.
I know. Hope. Hope over despair. I worry that this society is ripe for worse outcomes. As we are now so divided, real enemies see our vulnerability. And I try not to lose sleep over this concern.
We have an election coming up. We are working here, to knock on doors. Try to engage with voting citizens. I guess that is the best antidote, and to work for a future we can all feel good about.
From the minute Trump descended the escalator, the Republicans had a choice to descend with him or lose him. There was nothing stealthy about him or the people that embraced his rude, crude style. They knew he was ruthless and that he meant to divide this country. They also knew he couldn't competently run a business. They knew he stiffed people and filed bankruptcy. They knew his foreign connections. They saw an opportunity to grow their ranks and took it. It cost them every ounce of credibility they had. And from what Thom has written of their history, they should not have had any to begin with.
When their second chance came along after January 6th, the Republican leadership again had an opportunity to pick a different direction. Did they use their moral compass? OH, HELL NO!
They are a threat to themselves, us, America, and we can extend that to the world. This isn't a "live and let live" situation with Republicans---it's a "live or let kill" one. They don't care if people get killed, democracy dies, or if life is tolerable.
The sane people of that party have spoken-up and broken their bond, the rest ARE an obvious threat.
I wasn’t going to vent again but this article describes the basic sick, depraved, dark and sinister ideology of the right wing nutters. They are psychotic and willing to burn our hard fought democracy down in order to keep power by minority rule. The tRump nutters’ vision is cruel, anti democratic BS based on demonizing “others “ and outright lying to their base to keep voters agitated and angry at everyone else. My parents served in the armed forces during WWII ( my mom was an Army nurse in the Philippines and my dad served in the Army in Europe) and would be horrified at the emergence of the fascist right wingers in office and spewing propaganda on the networks. My mom lived long enough to witness tRump become President and called him “that pig “. They were the original Antifa ( as so many who fought in the world wars were also). I am also Antifa- ANTI fascist. We as Americans need to hold those who are agitating for the destruction of our constitution and the rule of law accountable by voting the fascist authoritarian crazies out and prosecute the criminality that is rampant in the tRump cabal.
Be thankful about the healthy sentiments of your parents. I went through hell beginning with the invasion of Iraq and ending with the election of Obama, because I was bound to my parents by caregiving and just shutting up isn't even enough with these fanatics. If you aren't joining in enough, they know you're against them. And I could shut up, but the joining in, no. My sanity was saved because after my dad died I had a separate tv set in his "den," and could watch Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.
Today is a national day of action to ensure everyone has their voice heard. Join Meetup in stepping up for our democracy by registering to vote! Register to vote 👉 here.
Even if the Democrats get stronger control of both houses of Congress in November, with the number of people who adamantly deny the validity of our elections, a strong contingent of Americans will consider the government illegitimate, and count any action taken against it, including violent ones, to be "patriotic." Will we then be compelled to defend democracy and the vision of a just nation for all under the rule of law with more than just rhetoric? To me, this is a very serious question.
If we have a Commander-in-Chief who intends to defend the Union, then we can hope on the military. Interestingly, the June/July edition of Hillsdale College's "Imprimis" propaganda rag features an essay titled: "The Rise of Wokeness in the Military." Heritage Foundation denizen Thomas Spoehr is outraged that: "Our fighting men and women are required to sit through indoctrination programs, often with roots in the Marxist tenets of critical race theory, either by Pentagon diktat or through carelessness by senior leaders who delegate their command responsibilities to private Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion instructors." And so on in that vein, basically putting out news of a lot of GOOD things going on there! (I have a couple of family remnant "subscriptions." Rummage around the kitchen table of any remnant Republicans in your family.) ps Ret. Lt. Gen. Spoehr blames the poor recruitment currently on rural kids who don't want to get their racism messed with. Dude, almost anybody who can fog a mirror can get a civilian job, now! The military is not currently the employer of last resort!
Let us hope the President will be willing to take such action against insurrection, and that the military will stand behind him. There has been reluctance to use the military against American citizens, however egregious their behavior. But it was done in the South back in the 60s, so there is precedent
And where is the plan to stop them? Is voting alone enough? How do we get our elected and unelected cowards to act lawfully to throw those guilty of breaking the law, and especially sedition and treason, in prison? Wishful thinking never works.
I understand your frustration Mmerose. Too many family members and friends are hooked on Fox and Fox-lite sources and can’t see that they are lied to on a daily basis. And it took me awhile to find other news outlets besides Fox and CNN because they were the main news sources on cable packages back 20+ years ago. I too finally found MSNBC ,PBS, NPR and Free Speech TV( where I first became aware of Thom Hartmann and other progressive voices).But it takes effort and determination to research other sources of news and opinions that many people don’t want to bother or are unaware. Thankfully my dad was a definite progressive after serving in the war and talked to my brother and sister and me to understand the importance of union bargaining, better healthcare for all, and policies that benefit all Americans. He subscribed to other newspapers from Europe and “underground “ papers that reported news during the Vietnam war which gave a different perspective than the local newspapers and Tv at the time. He praised FDR’s contribution to help Americans with basic foundations of better living conditions and called out the harmful policies of Republicans as far back as I can remember so I definitely had a different upraising then many Americans. Are all Republicans “bad”? No of course not but too many buy into the myths that conservatism is the only patriotic ideology based on Christianity so therefore should be the only governing party.
Thom, I must take you to task about how and when Reagan set up the weapons deal with Iran. That came later in his “regime.” He undid what Jimmy Carter had arranged to have the hostages released. THEN he swooped in to appear the great “savior of the day” to have the hostages released. The WEAPONS came later with the Iran-Contra deal and moving weapons through Israel to fund a war in Central America. I like facts - ands so do you.
As for the rest of it - big YES! The GOO has to go.
Well I did know that part - but NOT the part about weapons being part of the deal. Either way, a rotten president who we are now barely recovering from.
I have quite a few relatives who are NaziRepublican Party worshippers. They don't understand that their religion is a death cult that wants to accelerate the "end of times". Well, I guess they do understand that, what they don't understand is the mythology they believe in is - mythology. When they destroy the planet, humans will cease to exist, not be rewarded with some horrible world where nobody has sex, plays the Dead or Stones, or drinks or smokes pot, as if anyone would enjoy such a place.
I consider NaziRepublican Party worshippers as tumors. Some are benign, others are malignant, but all will kill you if you don't do something to remove them from society.
Thom. I joined this site to learn more about how the far left crafts its rhetorical formulations. Needless to say it’s been an invaluable education. You provide perfect examples for readers to see how ideological biases work to persuade or how opinions, if cast correctly, can appear as certain truth. As well, we can learn how writers vastly generalize narratives as ways to push dogmatic political agendas. These rhetorical efforts are similar to what we find on the right, but yours come without any subtly. In fact your rhetoric asks readers simply to acknowledge that what your writing is absolute or objective truth. Not sure if the irony is lost on you or your writers, but your style is almost a mirror image of how right wing Christians communicate. They too allow for absolutely no complexity, no subtlety and also demand that all people see it their way. And of course, they too always come off as moralizing know-it-alls.
Taking this a little further. You write as if each of the “threats” to America are self-evident. However, the vast generalizations you use to support your arguments, clearly undermine your logic. Certainly the far left would disagree, but maybe one example might succinctly make my point. You accuse Republicans of using “gay, lesbian, and trans people as political pawns to generate hate and fear.” This is absolutely untrue. Republicans do not call teachers and politicians “groomers” and they do not argue that queer people represent an existential threat. A small group of hysterical propogandists do so, but you simply imply every Republican believes this formulation. There are legitimate concerns about how to introduce sexuality into the schools but the vast amount of people on the right do not believe what you accuse them of. You’ve simply condemned tens of millions of people, and one must ask why? I can only guess that your motive is to use them as “political pawns to generate fear and hate.”
In fact, each of your threats can be understood as an accelerant to generate hate and fear. I simply cannot imagine anyone reading any of your opinions and seeing them as ways to reconcile any of our civil issues. Your approach can only perpetuate more fear of fellow Americans. Your approach actually empowers the left to justify their abject hatred of all Republicans. I really do not know how you justify this kind of rhetorical approach. It's baffling.
I’ve previously shared this Jacques Ellul quote, but in light of your opinion piece, it seems more relevant than ever. “Those who read the press of their group and listen to the radio of their group are constantly reinforced in their allegiance. They learn more and more that their group is right, that its actions are justified; thus their beliefs are strengthened. At the same time, such propaganda contains elements of criticism and refutation of other groups, which will never be read or heard by a member of another group...Thus we see before our eyes how a world of closed minds establishes itself, a world in which everybody talks to himself, everybody constantly views his own certainty about himself and the wrongs done him by the Others - a world in which nobody listens to anybody else.” (Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes)
Check out the adjunct Thom Harmann Program I get it automatically with my subscription here in a separate, later email. Scroll down there is "The Daily Stack." This is essentially a mass of footnotes that would impress even old Prof. Strauss. We get it that you have read a book or two, but dare I say: "Get real?"
Thanks for your suggestion. But the history of academics remind us that footnotes really don't prove much except that there are a lot of people that agree with one another. Your final sentence is very strange. The reminds us of the good and the bad of living in freedom. We get to say whatever we want and we get to demean others and assume some weird superiority about what's real and what's not.
Yes, I try to read as much as I can from all the ideological sides and try to engage in the conversations. Some of the conversations are constructive and some are far less so. As for your slight about reading books? When one choses not to read outside his or her ideological beliefs they become incredibly demanding and often times, a lot worse. Or as Ellul implies: People like this feel their group is right, and that their actions are justified. They can simplify the issues, make vast generalizations, and never see how closed minded they've become. They then readily default to a sophomoric conclusions that they are right (good) and the other side is wrong (evil). And in the end, one sides feels they know what's real and lets the other side know they are our of touch with reality.
But like I said, this is what's great about living in America. We can say almost anything we want. We can judge other people's motives. And because we feel we have the "truth" on our side, we can shut down the conversation and tell people they are out of touch with reality because they don't agree with my feelings. Sadly, both sides do this and that is the reason we face such an uncivil place in our country.
Oh dear. I did have second thoughts that you wouldn't "get" the old tongue-in-cheek understatement compliment. To have "read a book or two" signifies respect for how obvious it is that the subject has read extensively. Euphemism can be tricky, but "read a book or two" is nothing I invented. Probably read it in a book! Intended to convey that your well-readness is recognized, and you are in good company here.
Any Republican is dead to me unless they repudiate the fascist branch of their party. Any Christian is dead to me unless they repudiate the Christofascist branch of their religion. I'm done.
Many of my relatives are maggots. They al say they oppose democracy and voting and want to overturn our elections and would love Putin as a ruler.
The problem is, they haven't any understanding what they are saying and are just repeating the slogans. They are remote speakers for the Fox Fascist Propaganda channels.
When I ask them to explain WHY they want to end voting and personal freedom and become subjects of a king or dictator, they stutter and talk about Hillary.
If a toddler staggers up and shoots you with a shotgun, you know the kid didn't understand, but you are still dead.
These people want to destroy America, but they are so poorly educated they don't know it.
We don't want fools voting. Since that is impossible to legislate, let's legislate excellent free education and get rid of the fools.
Tall order: they're onto your plan: schools and public libraries are being terrorized.
Not so tall an order, I think, I hope. When I see the mass psychosis and willful ignorance of my maggot relatives, I remember two things.
1. Maggots have low self esteem and feel inferior to blacks, browns, gays, whatever, and are TERRIFIED that others will notice, so they hide their fear with racism.
2. Maggots are correct in one respect. These folks are low achievers who ONLY have a decent job because of white privilege. They are absolutely correct that in a free market, their boss would replace them with the 90% of blacks, browns, etc., and WHITES TOO, who are smarter than them. Without white privilege, they would have to admit that pay in the USA is 40 years behind productivity.
These maggots, at least my relatives, are "verbal racists" rather than "physical racists". They talk about the unfair advantage non-whites have, but they know it's a lie. They wouldn't lynch anyone and in fact they would stop a lynching, but they like to get together and "talk big".
They like FatHitler because he pretends to be self-made. We progressives know that he struggled along with a $2 million annual trust fund distribution, which was SERIOUS money when he was a kid in the 50s. We progressives know that he stole the family wealth. My relatives don't know ANY of that. They watch Fox Fascist Propaganda and are totally fooled.
Before you laugh at the willingly misinformed maggots, listen to any of the MANY Nazi propaganda channels for a day, if you can, maybe drink all day or do edibles. You will hear a complete fantasy world that is as comprehensive and convincing as "The Lord of the Rings", but of course you do have to suspend reality. It's very much like "The Lord of the Rings", in that none of the characters exist, nor does "Middle Earth", but it's fun to imagine that world, with walking tree gods, elves, and giant eagles - as long as you don't BELIEVE it. The Nazi maggot world is the same, carefully crafted fantasy to give underachievers a little excitement.
The only reason they think they have not accomplished much is because they don't value the close family you get when you only work 2,000 hours a year, and are home every night, vs. my career working twice the hours in remote countries.
The answer isn't to be jealous and spiteful and mean, it's to properly recognize yourself and your career as a success. If you don't hate yourself, you are far less likely to hate others for ridiculous reasons.
I quit visiting most of my family over this.
Your comments lets us know that you really seem to hate your relatives. It's sad that many on both sides have come to this very dark place. Condemning people as maggots is rough. There can't be anything good in justifying such hate.
Not sure these will make any difference to you but Martin Luther King's words, I believe, reminds everyone that hate will ruin us. “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."
You are commenting on people you don't know and have never met. I don't hate anyone, hate is for maggots. I understand people, and won't willingly force children to sit in a group of fantasy and a hate spewing family. My black and hispanic relatives are sitting next to the rest of us. These terrified underperforming jerks constantly discuss how all "N's" are lazy and stupid, that's just the way they are born, and "Mexicans" (their term for anyone hispanic) are all thieves and rapists, well I'm never going to sit there and tolerate that sort of speech.
The last straw was a Christmas party where they all loudly spewed hate, claiming the only reason they couldn't succeed was Biden giving their jobs to "Ns" and "Ms". Between the 12 white NaziRepublicans in the room, there are 2 high school diplomas and zero college. Meanwhile, my black grand daughter is holding down a full time job AND a 3.8 GPA while taking 18 hours at one of the toughest private universities on the planet, and only didn't attend Harvard because it was too far from home. My black grandson was also there. He's an actor now being chased to take the lead in plays in 6 states, hasn't gotten his college degree yet, but is working on it. My "Mexican" nephew was there as well, ensuring their spite. He's got a graduate degree and owns a number of small businesses.
While I don't "hate" anyone, I will not tolerate people spewing racism and hate and blaming minorities for THEIR failures, which to me, aren't failures. People who fail to achieve can be for any number of reasons, and simply preferring fishing to working, to me that isn't failing, you simply have different goals.
Failure doesn't make you less of a person, we all fail. Thinking you are inferior is dumb and self destructive. Blaming your self-assigned "failure" on others DOES make you less of a person. Take responsibility for your own actions.
The MLK quote reminds us that no matter how reprehensible our enemies are, denigrating them with horribly foul and dehumanizing names push us into some very dark places. His warning stands: Be really careful about judging and condemning others. These kinds of condemnations do nothing to help them, and actually have cancerous effects on us.
I think he was right. But you may disagree.
When at my place with DISH I do try to watch at least one of Tucker/Sean/Laura if interesting events are going on, or maybe once a week. On Sunday, I try to catch Mark Levine. I find it gets harder and harder, and I can't distinguish whether they are getting daffier or I've used up my lifetime cognitive dissonance quota. I notice that a common Fox response to serious Trump crisis is to "cover" trivia. For such pitifulness to have such power........
Ha, ha, love the comment. I try to listen to Fox Fascist Propaganda an hour a week, but usually cannot take more than 30 minutes a month before I lose interest and stare out the window. I love Science Fiction because it's based on facts, but I've never been much into Fantasy. Once they start inventing stuff, I drift off.
I went long here. Comments are supposed to be short, right? Oh well, here goes…
“They simply don’t believe in democracy or the rule of law: winning is all that matters with these folks.”
Right on, Thom. All that matters. And truth, too. They don’t seem to care a fig about facts or truth either. Thanks for putting your thoughts to follow up more on last week’s caller.
So, dealing with a person who seems to be reasonable with you. And yet holds fast to these “crazy alert” notions, and is now seemingly hard-wired NOT to hear a word you or I or any other truth bound person might say, no matter how reasonably we engage with them.
I don’t have an answer. I am glad and grateful that you, Thom will maintained your fair and mannerly posture. I might listen and hope upon hope that something that you or any of us might be able to say to avoid the anger and where that can lead. The worry of attitudes and alliances leading to actual acts of violence actually makes another strong case for engaging with as many “reasonable” persons was we can.
But energy is in finite quantities. At least it is for me. Too often I either want to just blow them off and ignore them, or change the subject and reasonably talk with them about something as trivial as the old school memory or the latest predictions for our team, etc. Chalk them up as lost souls. But damn! There is upwards to 40% of them, or more now.
Here is what is pulling my weary mind’s chain today. Who might want to engage with me or the larger community of your radio listeners on this:
By the time we get done yammering and whining about the latest “big lie” or horrific action one of these jerks like the TX and FL governors have just done, they have already accomplished their mission, to shock, to pervert truth, or more the like, to get the public’s attention, and a subsequent reaction.
For days on end these pranks, stunts and heretofore unthinkable things be they statements or activities will cause us to stammer and rant and so on. Meanwhile, they just plan on the next “big lie” and harsh chain that the think up to rattle.
Can we please ever get anybody’s ears to be rattling THEIR chains? If they will not even listen to us, then what is the solution? I’d like to see us, get to a more aggressive and assertive way instead of being so ably manipulated.
I know. Hope. Hope over despair. I worry that this society is ripe for worse outcomes. As we are now so divided, real enemies see our vulnerability. And I try not to lose sleep over this concern.
We have an election coming up. We are working here, to knock on doors. Try to engage with voting citizens. I guess that is the best antidote, and to work for a future we can all feel good about.
From the minute Trump descended the escalator, the Republicans had a choice to descend with him or lose him. There was nothing stealthy about him or the people that embraced his rude, crude style. They knew he was ruthless and that he meant to divide this country. They also knew he couldn't competently run a business. They knew he stiffed people and filed bankruptcy. They knew his foreign connections. They saw an opportunity to grow their ranks and took it. It cost them every ounce of credibility they had. And from what Thom has written of their history, they should not have had any to begin with.
When their second chance came along after January 6th, the Republican leadership again had an opportunity to pick a different direction. Did they use their moral compass? OH, HELL NO!
They are a threat to themselves, us, America, and we can extend that to the world. This isn't a "live and let live" situation with Republicans---it's a "live or let kill" one. They don't care if people get killed, democracy dies, or if life is tolerable.
The sane people of that party have spoken-up and broken their bond, the rest ARE an obvious threat.
I wasn’t going to vent again but this article describes the basic sick, depraved, dark and sinister ideology of the right wing nutters. They are psychotic and willing to burn our hard fought democracy down in order to keep power by minority rule. The tRump nutters’ vision is cruel, anti democratic BS based on demonizing “others “ and outright lying to their base to keep voters agitated and angry at everyone else. My parents served in the armed forces during WWII ( my mom was an Army nurse in the Philippines and my dad served in the Army in Europe) and would be horrified at the emergence of the fascist right wingers in office and spewing propaganda on the networks. My mom lived long enough to witness tRump become President and called him “that pig “. They were the original Antifa ( as so many who fought in the world wars were also). I am also Antifa- ANTI fascist. We as Americans need to hold those who are agitating for the destruction of our constitution and the rule of law accountable by voting the fascist authoritarian crazies out and prosecute the criminality that is rampant in the tRump cabal.
Be thankful about the healthy sentiments of your parents. I went through hell beginning with the invasion of Iraq and ending with the election of Obama, because I was bound to my parents by caregiving and just shutting up isn't even enough with these fanatics. If you aren't joining in enough, they know you're against them. And I could shut up, but the joining in, no. My sanity was saved because after my dad died I had a separate tv set in his "den," and could watch Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.
Blessings to you and all caregivers, Mmerose.
All valid points. Sadly 33% of Americans don’t vote, and 66% that do vote don’t pay attention to the issues.
We can’t reach this demographic with words because politics are boring to them.
tl;dr: Show that you are Democracy Aware. 🇺🇸♾
One of your BEST rants ever!.....Incredible communication!
Btw: It’s National Voter Registration Day!
Today is a national day of action to ensure everyone has their voice heard. Join Meetup in stepping up for our democracy by registering to vote! Register to vote 👉 here.
https://vote.civicnation.org/register/meetup/
Even if the Democrats get stronger control of both houses of Congress in November, with the number of people who adamantly deny the validity of our elections, a strong contingent of Americans will consider the government illegitimate, and count any action taken against it, including violent ones, to be "patriotic." Will we then be compelled to defend democracy and the vision of a just nation for all under the rule of law with more than just rhetoric? To me, this is a very serious question.
If we have a Commander-in-Chief who intends to defend the Union, then we can hope on the military. Interestingly, the June/July edition of Hillsdale College's "Imprimis" propaganda rag features an essay titled: "The Rise of Wokeness in the Military." Heritage Foundation denizen Thomas Spoehr is outraged that: "Our fighting men and women are required to sit through indoctrination programs, often with roots in the Marxist tenets of critical race theory, either by Pentagon diktat or through carelessness by senior leaders who delegate their command responsibilities to private Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion instructors." And so on in that vein, basically putting out news of a lot of GOOD things going on there! (I have a couple of family remnant "subscriptions." Rummage around the kitchen table of any remnant Republicans in your family.) ps Ret. Lt. Gen. Spoehr blames the poor recruitment currently on rural kids who don't want to get their racism messed with. Dude, almost anybody who can fog a mirror can get a civilian job, now! The military is not currently the employer of last resort!
Let us hope the President will be willing to take such action against insurrection, and that the military will stand behind him. There has been reluctance to use the military against American citizens, however egregious their behavior. But it was done in the South back in the 60s, so there is precedent
And where is the plan to stop them? Is voting alone enough? How do we get our elected and unelected cowards to act lawfully to throw those guilty of breaking the law, and especially sedition and treason, in prison? Wishful thinking never works.
I understand your frustration Mmerose. Too many family members and friends are hooked on Fox and Fox-lite sources and can’t see that they are lied to on a daily basis. And it took me awhile to find other news outlets besides Fox and CNN because they were the main news sources on cable packages back 20+ years ago. I too finally found MSNBC ,PBS, NPR and Free Speech TV( where I first became aware of Thom Hartmann and other progressive voices).But it takes effort and determination to research other sources of news and opinions that many people don’t want to bother or are unaware. Thankfully my dad was a definite progressive after serving in the war and talked to my brother and sister and me to understand the importance of union bargaining, better healthcare for all, and policies that benefit all Americans. He subscribed to other newspapers from Europe and “underground “ papers that reported news during the Vietnam war which gave a different perspective than the local newspapers and Tv at the time. He praised FDR’s contribution to help Americans with basic foundations of better living conditions and called out the harmful policies of Republicans as far back as I can remember so I definitely had a different upraising then many Americans. Are all Republicans “bad”? No of course not but too many buy into the myths that conservatism is the only patriotic ideology based on Christianity so therefore should be the only governing party.
Thom, I must take you to task about how and when Reagan set up the weapons deal with Iran. That came later in his “regime.” He undid what Jimmy Carter had arranged to have the hostages released. THEN he swooped in to appear the great “savior of the day” to have the hostages released. The WEAPONS came later with the Iran-Contra deal and moving weapons through Israel to fund a war in Central America. I like facts - ands so do you.
As for the rest of it - big YES! The GOO has to go.
Not according to the President of Iran at the time. He said Reagan cut the deal *before* the election: https://hartmannreport.com/p/will-trump-end-up-in-prison
Well I did know that part - but NOT the part about weapons being part of the deal. Either way, a rotten president who we are now barely recovering from.
I have quite a few relatives who are NaziRepublican Party worshippers. They don't understand that their religion is a death cult that wants to accelerate the "end of times". Well, I guess they do understand that, what they don't understand is the mythology they believe in is - mythology. When they destroy the planet, humans will cease to exist, not be rewarded with some horrible world where nobody has sex, plays the Dead or Stones, or drinks or smokes pot, as if anyone would enjoy such a place.
I consider NaziRepublican Party worshippers as tumors. Some are benign, others are malignant, but all will kill you if you don't do something to remove them from society.
Thom. I joined this site to learn more about how the far left crafts its rhetorical formulations. Needless to say it’s been an invaluable education. You provide perfect examples for readers to see how ideological biases work to persuade or how opinions, if cast correctly, can appear as certain truth. As well, we can learn how writers vastly generalize narratives as ways to push dogmatic political agendas. These rhetorical efforts are similar to what we find on the right, but yours come without any subtly. In fact your rhetoric asks readers simply to acknowledge that what your writing is absolute or objective truth. Not sure if the irony is lost on you or your writers, but your style is almost a mirror image of how right wing Christians communicate. They too allow for absolutely no complexity, no subtlety and also demand that all people see it their way. And of course, they too always come off as moralizing know-it-alls.
Taking this a little further. You write as if each of the “threats” to America are self-evident. However, the vast generalizations you use to support your arguments, clearly undermine your logic. Certainly the far left would disagree, but maybe one example might succinctly make my point. You accuse Republicans of using “gay, lesbian, and trans people as political pawns to generate hate and fear.” This is absolutely untrue. Republicans do not call teachers and politicians “groomers” and they do not argue that queer people represent an existential threat. A small group of hysterical propogandists do so, but you simply imply every Republican believes this formulation. There are legitimate concerns about how to introduce sexuality into the schools but the vast amount of people on the right do not believe what you accuse them of. You’ve simply condemned tens of millions of people, and one must ask why? I can only guess that your motive is to use them as “political pawns to generate fear and hate.”
In fact, each of your threats can be understood as an accelerant to generate hate and fear. I simply cannot imagine anyone reading any of your opinions and seeing them as ways to reconcile any of our civil issues. Your approach can only perpetuate more fear of fellow Americans. Your approach actually empowers the left to justify their abject hatred of all Republicans. I really do not know how you justify this kind of rhetorical approach. It's baffling.
I’ve previously shared this Jacques Ellul quote, but in light of your opinion piece, it seems more relevant than ever. “Those who read the press of their group and listen to the radio of their group are constantly reinforced in their allegiance. They learn more and more that their group is right, that its actions are justified; thus their beliefs are strengthened. At the same time, such propaganda contains elements of criticism and refutation of other groups, which will never be read or heard by a member of another group...Thus we see before our eyes how a world of closed minds establishes itself, a world in which everybody talks to himself, everybody constantly views his own certainty about himself and the wrongs done him by the Others - a world in which nobody listens to anybody else.” (Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes)
If YOU support Trump and/or don't speak out about his craziness......then you're a REPUBLICAN like the ones Thom references......case closed.
“Case closed” is not an argument. Thom said it so that settles it? Sounds exactly how conservative Christians argue their dogmatic feelings.
Check out the adjunct Thom Harmann Program I get it automatically with my subscription here in a separate, later email. Scroll down there is "The Daily Stack." This is essentially a mass of footnotes that would impress even old Prof. Strauss. We get it that you have read a book or two, but dare I say: "Get real?"
That newsletter is free and available at www.thomhartmann.com. Thanks for mentioning it!
Thanks for your suggestion. But the history of academics remind us that footnotes really don't prove much except that there are a lot of people that agree with one another. Your final sentence is very strange. The reminds us of the good and the bad of living in freedom. We get to say whatever we want and we get to demean others and assume some weird superiority about what's real and what's not.
Yes, I try to read as much as I can from all the ideological sides and try to engage in the conversations. Some of the conversations are constructive and some are far less so. As for your slight about reading books? When one choses not to read outside his or her ideological beliefs they become incredibly demanding and often times, a lot worse. Or as Ellul implies: People like this feel their group is right, and that their actions are justified. They can simplify the issues, make vast generalizations, and never see how closed minded they've become. They then readily default to a sophomoric conclusions that they are right (good) and the other side is wrong (evil). And in the end, one sides feels they know what's real and lets the other side know they are our of touch with reality.
But like I said, this is what's great about living in America. We can say almost anything we want. We can judge other people's motives. And because we feel we have the "truth" on our side, we can shut down the conversation and tell people they are out of touch with reality because they don't agree with my feelings. Sadly, both sides do this and that is the reason we face such an uncivil place in our country.
Oh dear. I did have second thoughts that you wouldn't "get" the old tongue-in-cheek understatement compliment. To have "read a book or two" signifies respect for how obvious it is that the subject has read extensively. Euphemism can be tricky, but "read a book or two" is nothing I invented. Probably read it in a book! Intended to convey that your well-readness is recognized, and you are in good company here.
Got it. Thank you for clarifying. Appreciate it.