February 6, 2014

"Together, these weaknesses led to the biggest Obamacare derp storm of the year."

A sentence, summing up after a list of 2 things, from a Salon article by Brian Beutler titled "Anatomy of a media disaster: Why the press is botching the latest Obamacare story."

Okay, I get it. Journalism sucks. Reporters glance at something, see how it works with what they wanted to say anyway, and slap it up there to get the scoop and claim the traffic, in the very style they'd denounce bloggers for using, if they bothered to bullshit about blogging anymore, which they don't, because they want to be your blogger now.

But what's with "derp storm of the year." Is that the way grown men talk now?

In case you're wondering, Urban Dictionary supplies this definition of "derp" — with 11,000+ "up" votes — from 2005: "A simple, undefined reply when an ignorant comment or action is made. Brought to life in the South Park series, when Mr. Derp made a guest apperance [sic] at South Park Elementary as the chef for a day, followed by hitting himself in the head with a hammer and exclaiming 'Derp!'"



More at "Know your meme," taking it back to the 1998 movie "Baseketball" (made by South Park's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone). It seems to have arisen from "dur" which was a variation on the older "duh." "Duh" was big in the 1960s, by the way, when it was a shortened form of the original — do you remember? I remember! — "uh buh duh." I'm guessing at that spelling. Was it ever written? Maybe it should be spelled "ubbaduh."

Anyway, all I'm saying is... the stupidity is running deep this morning, and even the observers of stupidity are manifesting their stupid idea of superiority by talking stupidly. Beutler. I'm looking at you. Beutler. Beutler. Beutler...

86 comments:

MTN said...

Bueller?

Henry said...

From the article: But most people also probably think it’s a great thing if people in their early 60s can retire early, or people in their 40s can start a business, or people in their 30s can raise their kids at home because they’re no longer locked into their jobs for the health insurance.

Thank you, Mr. Brian Beutler, for proving your own thesis. Most people think its great to go to Disney World too. Your rosy observations have nothing at all to do the with CBO report which is not about cool hipsters starting their own businesses, or middle-class parents spending more time with their kids, but about poverty-line workers facing an implicit tax for working extra hours. Go to the CBO report and search for the term "implicit tax".

Your comments do reflect the White House spin, which is a tell.

rehajm said...

1- The negative incentives of ACA are real. The high marginal tax rates the subsidy system imposes reduce the incentive to work. Though according to Salon- information they'd prefer not to disclose = misinformation.

2- They got they're talking points from the same place as Garage. Used the same examples verbatim. Not that it mattered as they all seem to concede the reduction in labor output as a result of ACAs incentives...

Progs, the ACAs war of words is over. It's live and the data is rolling in. Good luck trying to spin...

B said...

Relax everyone. We're not losing 2 million jobs. People are voluntarily working less and taking a massive subsidy to stay at home more often. That's a good thing! Right?

Oso Negro said...

Perhaps it is meant in the computer game sense of "derp," with which a very high percentage of younger men would be aware and our good Professor not so much. A "derp" gun in a video game is one that is especially powerful and knocks out an enemy immediately.

Henry said...

This meme that people in their 40s can start a business is especially galling. The ACA is brutal to the self-employed, the independent contractor, the creative retailer. We've already seen this. This was the first wave of misery to hit.

If you're actually a professional or skilled tradesman not at poverty wages, the ACA makes it incredibly painful to leave a job with benefits and start your start-up. You will get less coverage at a higher deductible and a greater cost, just at a time when you are probably cash-poor because of your business investment.

And what about the unskilled worker, the type of worker mentioned in the CBO report?

That worker faces real income loss, and an implicit tax for working more.

That worker, if she is ambitious and wants to work for herself, or if he is earnest and wants to get ahead, that worker will enter the cash economy.

The cash economy already exists. The ACA will make it bigger. And because it is a black market, the CBO can pretend it doesn't exist.

Ironically, the cash economy will reward the hardworking and independent. They just won't show up in the statistics.

Hagar said...

These people have no idea of how real people work.

gerry said...

Oh, well.

I will be given my death-panel orders to die just as the $2 trillion shit hits the fan.

The millenials will suffer. At least I have that comfort.

Ann Althouse said...

@Oso Negro That would not fit the context.

garage mahal said...

Old spin: 0BummerCare doesn't even work!

New spin: 0BummerCare works too good!

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Oso Negro said...

@Ann - except that some of the pundits have been trying to derp the other side by claiming this either substantially proves the failure/success of Obamacare. But in fairness, I had never heard of Mr. Derp til you posted him.

AustinRoth said...

Of course, the obvious unstated fact is those who are now 'too stupid' to avail themselves of living yet further off the government teat will be supporting all these lazy, shiftless bums, otherwise known as Democrats.

Someone again please try to explain how this is not another step towards pure socialism.

Roughcoat said...

This blog has gotten to be very unpleasant.

Anonymous said...

'Duh': Used to Express Actual or Feigned Ignorance or Stupidity. The OED says it's origin is imitative and gives a first quotation from a 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon (as documented in J. E. Lighter's Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1994)):

Duh... Well, he can't outsmart me, 'cause I'm a moron.

Also Used by the Character "Moose" in Archie Comics as a Signifier of Low Intelligence.

Urp: Slang for 'to vomit'. In Comic Usage it Often Portends the Moment Before the Action, as an Awareness of the Coming of Said Action; See 'Dilbert' June 11, 1994; Pinky & the Brain #26 for Examples.

'Duh' + 'Urp' Leads Us to 'Derp': Stupidity with the Additional Layer of Internal Discomfort.

When Used to Mock the Intelligence of Celebrities it Becomes "Depp" (Usage derived from 'Derp' and 'Johnny Depp').

As Far as Can Be Determined, "Derp" does not Have Direct Connotations of "Dorf" (from Wiki: Dorf on Golf is a 1987 comedy film starring Tim Conway, Vincent Schiavelli and Michele Smith. The film is the first in a series of eight films released by Conway using the Dorf sporting theme), although the Aspect of Low Intelligence is Shared.








Brando said...

Then: "If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan!"

Now: "Your old health plan was terrible! You should be happy to have this new, more expensive plan!"

Then: "If you like your job, you can keep your job! ACA will result in millions of new jobs!"

Now: "Your job sucked anyway! Now you can stay home and have more free time!"

Dave (in MA) said...

I remember "duh" in the '60s from Chumley, the slow-witted walrus from Tennessee Tuxedo, but I don't recall "uh buh duh".

rhhardin said...

It's not what they want to say anyway, but that their paying audience will not tune away from.

The ladies must not feel confused.

gk1 said...

Did we really think the democrat's with bylines wouldn't try to spin the CBO report into something positive? They are sliding on their own mountains of bullshit at this point and it would be fun to watch if the damage wasn't so widespread and unnecessary.

Nonapod said...

By the way, I always bristled a little when a talking head affixes non-partisan to any government organization. Just because an organization is declared to be "non-partisan" doesn't in fact mean that it's not chock full of very partisan individuals, especially if you're talking about a government organization, or that this group is beyond reproach when it comes to objectivity or possible corruption.

Unknown said...

This law is liberating you from that job you didn't like.

The "not death panels" will be liberating you from that life you didn't like.

Xmas said...

Ann,

How could you not know the story of Derpy the Pony?

tim in vermont said...

Think of the good all of this unemployment is doing for the climate!

rehajm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rehajm said...

I recall proper usage of 'uh buh duh' in response to a statement of the obvious.

A response to ignorance required the interjection "DOI!"

rehajm said...

I'm sure the folks at Salon are expert at proper usage

Wisco said...

Yeah, that's the big scandal here: grown men say, "derp."

Go ahead and ignore that whole "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN"-level media disaster and focus on the use of slang.

You could've saved a lot of time here if you'd just condensed this whole post down to "SQUIRREL!"

Ann Althouse said...

"How could you not know the story of Derpy the Pony?"

That's a later deployment of the word, like 2011, it seems. I have seen that before.

It's like if I use the word "stupid," I'm supposed to let you know that I've heard about Stupid the Horse.

effinayright said...

Americans have historically been able to move to better job opportunities.

What I want to hear the leftnoid Obama acolytes explain is how the ability to move to a new job in another state (say, to North Dakota's oil boom) will affect a person's health insurance.

If you got insurance in state A, will doctors in state B treat you? I think not.

Andy Freeman said...

I'm job locked by my mortgage and know people who are job locked by rent.

I'm also job locked by the cost of food and so on.

Shouldn't someone pay to set me free?

BTW - The 1% loss of total income will come almost entirely from folks in the bottom 20% of income. Their share of income is about 11%, so their share will drop from 11% to 10%, which means that they'll be making about 9% less.

It's almost like Obama is intentionally creating more income inequality so he can campaign against it.

CWJ said...

T Rellis @ 10:00

Yep. All that quality of (other people's) life stuff.

Brennan said...

"The ACA convinced me to work so little I left my job." - New Welfare Recipient

"You didn't build that." White House

Unknown said...

ndy Freeman said...
The 1% loss of total income will come almost entirely from folks in the bottom 20% of income. Their share of income is about 11%, so their share will drop from 11% to 10%, which means that they'll be making about 9% less.

It's almost like Obama is intentionally creating more income inequality so he can campaign against it.

--it almost like the educational system has ruined math education to the point where all but a very few will even understand what you just said. I'm sure that has been a multi generational accident.

tim in vermont said...

The whole society is job locked by the need to ensure their is sufficient food, shelter, money for taxes, health care, ....

Why is it OK for some to simply opt out in the eyes of people who are normally much more collectivist?


Just a rhetorical question.

Scott M said...

or people in their 30s can raise their kids at home because they’re no longer locked into their jobs for the health insurance

But not women in their 30's, no-sir. Amy Glass would shit a cow if she found out women were using their freetime to raise kids instead of hiking across Asia.

Undertoad said...

"Derp" as a word is to modern Internet culture what the word "swell" was to youth culture in the 1950s.

If you aren't part of the cool kidz innernet culture, you don't "get it" and you are "square" and not hip to the lingo. I mean, sorry, but that's what it is.

You can complain that news articles should not use jargon or slang, but the writers and editors that are in on it are only writing according to their own vocabulary. In other words, yes, it's the way that grown men talk now, and pushing back against that is just as valid as pushing back against the word "swell". That is to say, not at all.

Language evolves, cultures create memes; it is inevitable, and yes it means you still have to look words up when you don't know them.

Seeing Red said...

Sux to be a blue-stater making over $100K/yr, but they voted for this.

Seeing Red said...

Obamacare's gonna release the 21st century Renaissance
I tell ya!

Unknown said...

When a culuture prompts teens to act like adults it is growing.

When the culture produces adults acting like teens it is a dying culture.

Illuninati said...

I wish Obamacare really were working correctly like the people at Salon would have us believe, but it is not. No amount of journalism can cover the problems.

Probably the worst thing to happen to he country is when the Democrats won (and sometimes cheated) their way to a filibuster proof majority. This allowed their arrogance and hubris to take over and for them to produce a terrible piece of legislation without any semblance of a bipartisan consensus.

Hagar said...

The CBO is a "non-partisan" agency, but not an independent non-partisan organization.
It is a creature of Congress and will only analyze the problems Congress requests it to analyze and then only based on the facts and assumptions Congress gives it to work with.
Stick to the yellow line and stay on the pavement, or someone will join the ranks of the unemployed!

Hagar said...

This study is B.S. to start with, and the reporting on it is worse yet.

khesanh0802 said...

@Henry 0907

I have been entertained by the verbatim use of WH talking points by so-called journalists. Good of you to point it out.

Mary Beth said...

2011 is forever ago in internet popularity. Derpy Hooves was named that by the fans, not the creators. At last year's SDCC, most of the people who went to the MLP panel were adults and the pony they had the most questions about was Derpy.

I think she is an example of more mainstream use of the term by adults. She's what I think of when I see the word "derp".

My idea of what's mainstream may be a little skewed.

Kelly said...

The only time I've seen derp used is by a middle school girl on a Facebook posting.

TrespassersW said...

Garage sez:
"Old spin: 0BummerCare doesn't even _work_!

New spin: 0BummerCare _works_ too good!"

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Anonymous said...

The sad fact is, people no longer think of wealth creation, they only think in terms of money, which aren't the same things.

And what we find here is less wealth creation. The more people who stay home and sit on their couch (Which the CBO projects will undoubtedly be happening) the less wealth that will be created.

We need people to work. To be productive in society. To help create wealth.

We don't need people receiving money for nothing and their sex for free.

SH said...

Hah... we have not even hit the institutional and structural wave of problems yet. They're still being phased in (and in many cases; still being written by the regulators).

This is where the ACA will 'save money'... by giving us less [of course]... and paying less [cutting supply and R&D (by removing incentives for innovation)].

What could go wrong. Just more Republican fear mongering right? I wish...

Peter said...

One way or another, if you've got two million fewer people working you've got just that much less going into the GDP.

Perhaps some of the two million are off creating great art and literature, bu it's far more likely they're just watching junk TV.

It amounts to a (further) shrinking of the economy, even if you declare that, really, it's OK because someone else is paying for the rent and the food and heating bill. And contraceptives, of course.

Drago said...

garage: "New spin: 0BummerCare works too good!"

This is just the latest variant of 'it's not "unemployment" it's "fun-employment' lefty meme to cover for the negative incentives that were the transparently obvious and inevitable result of obamacare.


Drago said...

Peter: "One way or another, if you've got two million fewer people working you've got just that much less going into the GDP."

The left could not care less about "growing the pie" as long as they get greater and greater control over the shrinking pie.

As soon as you internalize that basic fact it will all make sense.

Drago said...

The left here is coming to the realization that the lies they have been telling about the effects of their policies really aren't necessary anymore.

That's why you see things like this: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/02/06/the-philosophical-debate-beneath-the-obamacare-jobs-freakout

Snip: “GDP growth isn't a good in and of itself,”

Uh.

Yes it is.

The left knows their policies will inevitably lead to a reduced standard of living for the masses so it's time to start rolling out all the benefits of the GDP not growing!

Basically, we're becoming France.

Anemic annual growth, if at all, certainly below population growth expansion. High structural unemployment along with long-term unemployed folks dropping out of the labor pool; massive increase in gov't welfare etc.

The left believes we have crossed a demographic and political threshold where their old lies no longer are needed.

I believe they are probably correct in that.

Illuninati said...

Drago said:
"The left believes we have crossed a demographic and political threshold where their old lies no longer are needed.

I believe they are probably correct in that."

Bingo. That explains a great deal of the open lawlessness on the left.

Fortunately people are individuals not demographics so the left might be in for a nasty surprise in the future.

James said...

Because anyone who doesn't talk like Althouse is talking stupidly.

rehajm said...

Basically, we're becoming France.

We're officially France when President Hillary stands at the podium with Bill on her left and Elizabeth Hurley on his.

garage mahal said...

This is just the latest variant of 'it's not "unemployment" it's "fun-employment' lefty meme to cover for the negative incentives that were the transparently obvious and inevitable result of obamacare.

Weren't you here just a few weeks predicting over 100 million would lose their health insurance due to ObamaKKKare? Nostradamus you aren't.

Vesparado said...

Obamacare is about freedom, which we 60's cats understand:

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...

Known Unknown said...

But what's with "derp storm of the year." Is that the way grown men talk now?

YOUR ANSWER IS IT'S SALON.COM! Why would they ever write like grown men?

Known Unknown said...

Weren't you here just a few weeks predicting over 100 million would lose their health insurance

Hey, dude -- the employer mandate hasn't even kicked in yet.

Ann Althouse said...

My question is: Is this the way grown men talk now?

Known Unknown said...

My question is: Is this the way grown men talk now?

"Grown men sound like idiots. You won't believe what happens next!"


Known Unknown said...

Or you could ask Mr. Derp Storm himself:

bbeutler@salon.com

Job said...

Thank you, Simone.

garage mahal said...

Maybe if Beutler was gushing over how Obama winked and pointed a finger in his direction, and linked to a "I Stand With Obama" video, he would seem more grown up?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Id like to Garage's take on the ACA's other newsworthy fact that came to light today. The Web site used computer code written by a Belorussian state-owned contractor, who created a way to divert most of the internet traffic for the ACA registration through Belorussian servers. Nothing like you confidential data being perused by the world's foremost state-sponsored cyberhackers.

Don't worry. Nothing will go wrong. The country's in the very best of hands, as Garage will tell us. War is peace. Slavery is freedom. Sloth is productive. Welfare is better than GDP growth. The moon is just the sun at night, it's heaven and hell...ahhh

Doug said...

A Republican president would be burned in effigy for this fiasco.

Doug said...

A Republican president would be burned in effigy for this fiasco.

garage mahal said...

Belorussian servers. That's a new one.

Known Unknown said...

Maybe if Beutler was gushing over how Obama winked and pointed a finger in his direction, and linked to a "I Stand With Obama" video, he would seem more grown up?

Miss the point, much?

The issue isn't whether or not you nor I like the ACA, or whether or not Beutler likes the ACA, but what the hell kind of syntax do we allow "journalists" to use to convey information?

Drago said...

garage: "Maybe if Beutler was gushing over how Obama winked and pointed a finger in his direction, and linked to a "I Stand With Obama" video, he would seem more grown up?"

LOL

Says the side that asserted that obama was "sort of a God".

James said...

My question is: Is this the way grown men talk now?

You go, girl! Put those man-children in their place for using language that makes you feel out-of-touch!

Drago said...

garage: "Weren't you here just a few weeks predicting over 100 million would lose their health insurance due to ObamaKKKare? "

Nice "KKK" touch.

Let me guess, anyone predicting more folks will lose their health insurance due to obamacare are liars again.

Is that it? LOL

Once again, for those who are "slow", the 100 million who lose their insurance will lose it later this year (in the summer and fall) as employers begin to adjust to the obamacare impacts.

This is already beginning to happen but won't hit full steam until later in the year.

Try and pay attention.

The timeline for this has been laid out numerous times.

Over and over again.

So the pattern is once again initiated.

garage will claim it won't happen.

When it begins to happen he and Inga will call those folks who claim to be affected liars.

When it can no longer be denied that it's happening, garage will once again tell us the he doesn't know anyone who this is happening to (his "anecdotal" defense)

That will morph into "hey it's happening but it's not a big deal".

That will morph into "fun-employment"!!!

Then the next wave will be on the horizon and the left will simply reset.

TosaGuy said...

Garage thinks unemployment is great when it comes to Obamacare, but will hold those same unemployment numbers against Gov. Walker.

garage mahal said...

"The issue isn't whether or not you nor I like the ACA, or whether or not Beutler likes the ACA, but what the hell kind of syntax do we allow "journalists" to use to convey information?"

I was referring to this

Meade is working on a dance to go with the "Stand With Governor Walker" song, and there's a big pointing-while-winking move.

Meade says he joined the standing ovation at this point, and that Scott Walker looked at him and gave him: 1. a smile, 2. a nod, and 3. a wink. Meade was quite pleased about that!
It should be noted that Meade was sitting in a part of the gallery that was packed with people who were not applauding and not standing, so his belief that the smile-nod-wink was precisely for him is not delusional.

garage mahal said...

Garage thinks unemployment is great when it comes to Obamacare, but will hold those same unemployment numbers against Gov. Walker

The CBO director said, among other things, that ACA would lower unemployment.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Note to garage, I told you in advance that the software was shitty and the "back-end" wasn't even built out when they "launched" the site. You and everybody else know that if a business did this to its customers the shit would have already hit the fan and people would be in jail pending trial for fraud.

But when it's your icon of empowerment, Obama, he is shielded by government immunity for his crimes against humanity. Now, true to many predictions, the shitty software with the unsecure servers is indeed full of security holes that foreign agents and homegrown hackers can exploit. Read it yourself, you mocking pig:

The belorussian connection.

Note many experts said things like this: David Kennedy, head of the security firm TrustedSec, said the Obamacare website was not designed well and has “a lot of security flaws.”

So who is the real "idiot" (to quote Garage): the person who knowingly goes on a site like healthcare.gov or the person who says "Your a dummy7 for not going on Obamacare's site and buying insurance"?

We know your answer Garage.

CWJ said...

garage mahal commented -

"Belorussian servers. That's a new one."

I think they are like secret routers, only real.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

But seriously, Garage, what exactly is your definition (as applied to the ACA) of working well?

[Nice one CWJ!]

Michael K said...

"The CBO director said, among other things, that ACA would lower unemployment."

How would we know when the criteria keep being shifted? The only true measure is the number of employed vs population. And it is lower than any time since 1950.

Nate Whilk said...

As to the use of "derp", maybe it's just to emphasize that they think this is cartoon-level stupidity.

Althouse wrote, "Duh" was big in the 1960s, by the way, when it was a shortened form of the original — do you remember? I remember! — "uh buh duh."

I was born in 1951 (Chicago). This is the first time I've heard "uh buh duh" and that "duh" is its shortened form (supposedly). Of course, "duh", as spoken by stupid characters (in movies and cartoons), has been around for ages.

So where is the original from?

garage mahal said...

But when it's your icon of empowerment, Obama, he is shielded by government immunity for his crimes against humanity

I don't even like Obama. I think he is a shitty president. That has nothing to do with the
ACA, and nothing to do with the utterly nutty stuff righties come up with to criticize it.

Joseph Blieu said...

Garage, what we have here is a failure to communicate, you need to get your mind right.

Anonymous said...

It seems like only yesterday that the ACA was going to liberate 2.5 million drudges to pursue their dreams and propel America back to world leadership in conceptual art installations. Now we learn that not only is that not going to happen, but an untold number of artisanal light bulb makers and welded-metal sculptors are going to be sucked for the first time into the maw of wage-slavery! What gives?

Anonymous said...

This is fascinating.

Garage wrote:

"Weren't you here just a few weeks predicting over 100 million would lose their health insurance due to ObamaKKKare? Nostradamus you aren't."

And yet, on this very site, Ann Althouse linked to:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/10/31/obama-officials-in-2010-93-million-americans-will-be-unable-to-keep-their-health-plans-under-obamacare/

What will garage say now that one of the comments here agrees with the Obama Administration? I mean, he wants to mock!

Fen said...

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Unemployment is work

Anonymous said...

Beutler is almost certainly using Paul Krugman's urp-versus-derp distinction, which is pretty intuitive in the first place.

"Derp, on the other hand, means being proved wrong but continuing to loudly assert the same thing again and again regardless."

Should you be at least a little embarrassed not to know this sort of thing?