US Politics, October 2018: next week will be even longer

dude is using "beta" and "newfriend", both 4ch@n slang

Alpha male just means a-hole in plain terms ddoesn't it, though supposedly with charisma. & I tend to find those who are trying to live up to it don't strike me as the most charismatic anyway. Just leaves me wondering why people put up with it and don't find teh whole thing childish for the most part.

^^ my buddy definitely fits the alpha male profile, but he has lots of money - so people put up with it.

the worst aspect of the whole alpha/beta mindset is that it worships dominance and diminishes the role of kindness to invisibility, whereas in a correct scale of values these positions should be reversed.

"NPC" maybe even more revealing than intended because it betrays the dehumanizing hierarchy that these assholes all really crave: some people have agency and are at the center of the bildungsroman or the hegelian world-historical narrative, some don't, and aren't. unsurprisingly this is also how white supremacy conceive of nonwhites and how patriarchy conceives of women.

a bunch of orcs to be killed and looted, basically

Orcs are technically npc’s but more accurately just “enemies”. npc’s are more like the characters in town who say the same things over and over again because they’re not important enough for someone to write a dialogue tree.

NPC
https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fenacademic.com%2Fpictures%2Fenwiki%2F82%2FRobertASilvermanDarcyNader.jpg&f=1

whatever happened to 'red shirts'

i just had to look up this npc thing. This is really fucking stupid; I totally believe the GOP is using it. So fetch.

I thought of fetch when Fox News was pushing "demoncrats". Just too ridiculous to gain any traction. And now that's sticking, too.

They were only NPCs will be the justification for a future school shooter.

ryan zinke has fired the department of the interior's acting inspector general

This should probably be on another thread but this idea that some people see other humans as extras without value in some people’s tiny bubble of a world view is terrifying, disgusting and says a lot about why we are so totally fucked.

Gas prices definitely the sleeper issue for 2020 but the rest of that post ... I don’t know

sorry that was for another thread.

but this is for this one. good people

I’m in Coral Gables working with @martindvassolo. @NancyPelosi and @RepBarbaraLee were scheduled to campaign for @DonnaShalala and @DebbieforFL here today. About 25 protesters are standing outside, holding signs supporting Republicans and accusing Democrats of being communists. pic.twitter.com/4aStMkFwnx

— Jimena Tavel (@taveljimena) October 17, 2018

The crowd has grown. They’re striking the door to the building where the event will take place. They’re also screaming “commie” and calling the Democrats “witches.” pic.twitter.com/08ZafRtxwp

— Jimena Tavel (@taveljimena) October 17, 2018

also 🚨

Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka have all unfollowed Kanye West in the past few hours https://t.co/TPmsp7QN66

— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) October 17, 2018

xpost, Certain people have always seen "others" as extras without any value. It only gets shocking sometimes when people find it so easy to say it aloud.

“Witches”? That word seems to have a pretty elastic definition for Trump followers. At least the “rigged witch hunt” has a high chance of success.

impressive staying power for 'commie' as an epithet. someone needs to bring back 'copperhead' or 'hessian' imo

My dad called me a commie once. It was pretty hilarious. (and confusing)

bring back “pinko”

We've already brought back the "know-nothing" movement, but we forgot to bring back its name.

it was one of the many things we didn't know

This should probably be on another thread but this idea that some people see other humans as extras without value in some people’s tiny bubble of a world view is terrifying, disgusting and says a lot about why we are so totally fucked.

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Wednesday, October 17, 2018 2:58 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I would modify this myself and say that the extent to which we allow this become an acceptable means of discourse is the extent to which we're totally fucked. Sociopathy was always a thing, the extent to which its expression was tolerated or validated maybe not so much.

Meh. Debasing yr. political opposition is as old as the hills. Hoi Polloi. Rabble. Mob. Lumpenproletariat. Ragtail and bob. Riffraff. Trash. Scum of the Earth. Redshirts. Unwashed masses. Them.

i think the gleeful cruelty of current discourse is really something else on another level though, and the ease w/which you'll find people who will cheer on your cruelty.

otm, the cruelty is the point as per that Atlantic article

fwiw, my point in bringing up hegel and making reference to patriarchy and racial supremacy theory was in part to suggest that there is nothing remotely new about people dehumanizing other people and refusing to imagine them as independent beings with agency over their own lives or politics. it was expressed, tolerated, and validated as essentially the baseline assumptions undergirding imperialism among many other forms of domination. this is important because it's not unrelated to the current moment: reactionary politics promises to turn back the clock to the "great" era when among other things it was not merely "tolerated or validated" but normative to approach the world this way.

someone needs to bring back 'copperhead' or 'hessian' imo

Hessian never went away - it just means headbanger now.

Doc otm

xp

nothing is new, everything must be fought again

the rhetorical move of designating groups of people as literally sub- or non-human is not new, but I'm not sure it's ever been deployed in a population with such ready access to lethal weapons

I refer you to the American south during slavery

thankfully no ar-15s back then but yes i guess you're right. we could also say "they didn't have 4chan" but i imagine white landowners and those invested in their success had their own "social networks" that were as pernicious and gameable

I think they were called cotillions or country clubs or somesuch

Jesus, the dude in that video is about as pathetic and sad as it gets.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Wednesday, 17 October 2018 17:51 (three hours ago) Permalink

That "beta male" guy on the talk show really depressed me. His comments are like a mise-en-abime of cynicism. First of all, the whole glib tone of the show (and many others besides) is already a horror—treating politics like this game, in which most of the people speaking don't even much care what they're saying, and in which the substance of policy and its effects is completely forgotten.
Second, the very basis of his comment--the "beta male" thing--not only is predicated on a ridiculous, grotesque (as the woman put it, "gross") idea about human behavior that I doubt he himself even believes .
Third, the guy can't even articulate what the hell he means in applying this idea to O'Rourke, and when pushed even slightly just stammers a bunch of 4chan memes and empty clichés.
It's like, in order to even get from wherever this guy is talking from, to somewhere that is actually meaningful and considers politics in terms of the lives of constituents and how they might be helped, you have to wade through numerous levels of absolute disingneuous bullshit, such that even contemplating it makes me exhausted. Kudos to the second woman for trying to call him out, and a pox on the host for charging in with the "civility" penalty flag.
In sum, "beta male" guy needs to stick his head in a Vitamix and turn it up to top speed.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republican-narrow-lead-tennessee-u-senate-race-poll-104107134.html

looks to me like what's gonna happen in the Senate is maybe the Dems lose Heitkamp but pick up Heller, with the rest being a wash/status quo

Beto isnt polling worse than trump was before the election. Maybe he is but I am not a numbers guy. I still believe.

Beto becomes a bad pun in certain hands , particularly if you miss spell it.

Is that where the idea came from?

Doh I'm republican don't know the difference between an o or an a

xp you mean Rosen? I hope Jackie Rosen beats Dean Heller and I hope Kyrsten Sinema beats Martha McSally , but not so sure about either anymore

it would also be really nice if Phil Bredesen beat Marsha Blackburn

The beta/alpha/cuck stuff is the most disgusting discourse i’ve ever seen.

ever?

wait a few days

ah right sorry I meant Rosen.

Sinema is polling ahead of McSally last time I checked.

Bredesen is behind though.

xp

Heller's barely ahead of Rosen. swap out Heller for Sinema in my original post

I know it's not that likely but I'm still hoping for a wave that sweeps Sinema, Rosen, Bredesen and O'Rourke into office and that holds the seats occupied by Heitkamp, McCaskill, Donnelly, Manchin and Nelson

I’m just bracing for the GOP to hold the House by one seat, no way I’m letting my hopes get higher.

that doesn't look very likely

they are being massively outspent by the Dems

I feel certain the house is a done deal. Dems may pick up one in the Senate or not. Beto winning would be a miracle, but I'm optimistic he'll push some close down ballot races over the top.

w any luck McConnell will keep fucking up and putting his flipper in his blobfishmouth https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcconnell-gop-may-take-another-shot-at-repealing-obamacare-after-the-midterms/2018/10/17/7a0e7c70-d23c-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html?utm_term=.190cd3ef7750