rolling explaining conservatism

this does not apply to The Troops or The Cops or The Firefighters or the EMTs because those are all people who work hard every day* serving everyone for a pittance**

* standing around

** more than any teacher ever makes

Is it fair to say that mewling, quivering cowardice (overlaid with a gossamer-thin veneer of tuff guy bluster) is a necessary quality in the conservative of today?

Fear and anger.

Pretty depressing to see firefighters and EMTs lumped in with Cops and Troops. Very much not the same thing at all.

And tbh, really insulting to a lot of people who got into their professions to save lives, not kill people or act out authoritarian codes of social control.

OK dude, but the thin blue line fan club for specific subsets of government employees includes them whether you like it or not

Mrs HD has taught classes to cops & firefighters (among others) & she says contrary to popular belief the firefighters are worse than the cops. More testosterone, bigger chips on their shoulders, misogynist as hell. This may not translate into on-the-street outcomes, probably due to the nature of the two jobs, but she says the public image of the puppy-cuddling noble fireman is the biggest con going.

Also usually extremely white, relatively speaking

My limited anecdotal experience with firefighters lines up with that.

One of the worst DJ gigs I ever had was a house party on Staten Island. Full of white firefighters and their girlfriends. I actually lugged my vinyl over on the Staten Island Ferry and back again (I think this was the same night that I met Tim H and many other ilxors out for drinks on the Upper West Side? I made it there at like 3am, after the firefighter party??)

The party was utterly unmemorable apart from two classic DJ moments:

- As a Groove Is In The Heart mashup is playing, I'm asked if I can play 'Groove Is In The Heart'

- As a Cerrone track is playing, I'm asked if I can play 'some disco'

I was positive I'd told this before on this thread: DJs: piano-dropping moments

but it seems not

oh my god, condolences

the sheer energy it takes to appear friendly and collected at a gig like that would leave me exhausted for 3 days.

El Tomboto, sure, but you also have to remember, at least speaking for EMTs, that a majority of them aren't actually government employees— most are employed by either private ambulance companies or hospitals. I know this because my husband is an EMT and works in the busiest hospital in the large city we live in, and spent several years working for a private ambulance company.

So sure, link up the blue/red/yellow/grey lives matter yahoos together, because they belong together!

But aside from some notable whacker types, a lot of EMTs are smart people who are trying to do good and get paid marginally well for the work they do.

My friend who’s been an EMT has relayed many stories of the right wing, hyper-masculine work environment she had to tolerate (before saying fuck it and becoming a midwife). But I feel like we’re talking past each other here.

So sure, link up the blue/red/yellow/grey lives matter yahoos together, because they belong together!

Like the only way EMTs belong with those aforementioned aggrieved asshole groups is that many firefighters are required to be EMTs and have to take rotating EMT shifts as part of their contracts.

ohhh the red line is firefighters then? what a fun new hanky code

I don't think we're talking past each other, I don't think you're actually taking anything I write into consideration.

Like most of the EMTs I've met and who my husband works with are Black and brown folks who dislike cops and are huge advocates for patients, but that might be because I live in a majority-minority city where hospital workers stage walkouts for racial justice and whatnot.

Fine, I shouldn’t have said EMTs. My friend’s experience is not representative of the entire profession.

When my husband did a FEMA tour in Florida after a hurricane a few years back, he ran into some of the types yr talking about. But for the most part, he's had pretty decent experiences with his co-workers.

But aside from some notable whacker types, a lot of EMTs are smart people who are trying to do good and get paid marginally well for the work they do.

Like David Lee Roth

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/pXzE1Fmq-SI/hqdefault.jpg

Yeah I think EMTs are the exception to the first responder toxic stew--iirc most of them can't even live off what they make on the job and hold down a 2nd job as well. That's nuts.

Also the first EMTs were the Freedom House Ambulance Service of Philadelphia!

anecdotes are annoying but my ex-wife who worked in housing hated EMTs because they would bitch at people they were giving naloxone to and call them junkies etc. when they were called to the building she ran

Like also-underpaid teachers EMTs don't seem any less likely to be reactionary assholes about various things IME.

The first people I saw sharing the "OH BURGER FLIPPERS WANT $15 AN HOUR HUH" memes were EMTs.

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/pXzE1Fmq-SI/hqdefault.jpg

Somebody get me a doctor
You better call up the ambulance, I'm deep in shock
Overloaded, baby, I can hardly walk
Somebody get me a doctor
Somebody get me a doctor
Feelin' over fine
And I'm speedin' down that line

milo, do you have any sort of positive views on anything? were you born in a petri dish from Thomas Ligotti's sperm?

It would be silly to pretend that EMTs were all perfect specimens just to keep poz vibes only, wouldn't it?

EMTs are under the same pressures as anyone else that obstruct them from feeling solidarity with the burger flippers and have the same issues as other first responders that might push them toward viewing the "junkies" they deal with as one more hassle to deal with rather than troubled people.

It would be silly to pretend that EMTs were all perfect specimens just to keep poz vibes only, wouldn't it?

but what if we went ahead and did it anyway

I hear it's easy to imagine, if you try.

Fucking christ, milo, give it a goddamn rest already.

The absolute nerve to make one post!

one, lol

525,600 shitposts
525,000 FPs so dear

Milo, you ascribe biases and stereotypes willy-nilly, and then utilize them to damn populations or buoy them based on loose ideological strictures.

I didn't damn any population. "No less likely" is not damning.

milo is no less likely than a spread pair of ass cheeks to spray diarrhea all over this thread.

Give me a break.

There's a reason you've used burger flippers twice in this recent conversation, but I'm not sure why. Do you believe burger flippers can be awful humans, too? What about junkies? Would you talk massive shit about them?

why do people think burgers flip

There's a reason you've used burger flippers twice in this recent conversation

Because that's the language that was used in the memes about who deserves a better wage.
https://kfor.com/news/paramedics-response-to-burger-flippers-making-15hr-goes-viral/

But I didn't 'talk shit' about EMTs so I don't know what you're on about.

A working class job is the only place I ever heard coworkers openly endorse the KKK. Perhaps their souls could've been saved if they'd been flipping burgers rather than stocking shelves.

How do a killfile someone again?

"kayfabe," in other words?

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/predicate-fear/616009/

Conservatism is a form of modern aristocracy, and nobody would ask 'What would the King do that could make him lose your support?", just as no one would ask such questions of a bear. This isn't a language of logic, but it's not one of emotion either, it's a language of power.

There may be an element of fear in that, what if the dogs gets loose? But I don't think fear is a primary factor

"Conservatism is a form of modern aristocracy"---a lot rides on "a form" here! Classical aristocrats placed a great deal on "honor", which consisted chiefly in the capacity/privilege to lose one's life in the defense of others/a way of life. By contrast the modern "bourgeoisie" opposed the classical aristocrats and sought to replace the honor ethic with a more individualized ethic, something of the old Stoic point of view that we can only be responsable to what we have under our control. So I saw this weeks' revelation about the current USA president to be a typically ham-handed articulation of the bourgeoise ethic, unsurprising since that is his class.

"One thing I’ve learned about Trump and about the country is that Trump has always exploited honor systems. He’s always looked for places where people obey the law not because they have to but because it’s seen as the right thing to do. They don’t want to go against social convention, and so they follow the rules—but when you break the law, it’s not like a cop steps out from behind a pillar and arrests you. He takes advantage of that. When he finds a place where there’s an honor system, he exploits it. He does what the honor system doesn’t expect. And he often gets a huge advantage out of that. He did that in his business often. He did it at his charity—he didn’t follow charity rules, and he took advantage of the fact that the charity system takes a long time to catch up with you if you do that."

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/trump-organization-legal-troubles-investigations.html

has anyone interviewed corey robin recently

xp Nice find! Yes, the bourgeois ethic has no place for honor in any classical sense.

To say that both the aristocrat and the bourgeois seek power misses that they seek different kinds of power, and neither sees the other's kind of power very well; or more importantly, neither understands the draw of the other's kind of power very well.

The bulk of the right wing in the USA today does not seek a return to aristocracy, to which they could never belong. In the current USA president they have a leader who suits their understanding of power.