Althouse: "There’s a confluence between the alt-right and the alt-left regarding Vladimir Putin and the..."

March 4, 2017

"There’s a confluence between the alt-right and the alt-left regarding Vladimir Putin and the..."

"... ratfucking (to use a venerable Watergate-era term) performed by Russian hackers, trolls, and bots. The Tyler Durden Fight Club alt-right idolizes Putin as a bare-chested manly man, as opposed to a metrosexual like Obama and an emasculating harpy like Hillary. This isn’t a beefcake fetish the alt-left shares. Instead, it invokes McCarthyism and the specter of a new Red Scare to characterize rising alarm over the Russian cyber-warfare as a rehash of Cold War bogeyman tales. In a widely noticed Facebook post, director Oliver Stone (whose most recent film was a soft-focus portrait of Edward Snowden) reminisced, 'I remember well in the 1950s when the Russians were supposed to be in our schools, Congress, State Department—and according to many Eisenhower/Nixon supporters—about to take over our country without serious opposition (and they call me paranoid!).' Stone ascribes the hysteria over the Russian hijacking of the democratic process to mainstream-media mau-mauing. 'As much as I may disagree with Donald Trump (and I do) he’s right now target number one of the MSM propaganda—until, that is, he jumps to the anti-Kremlin track because of some kind of false intelligence or misunderstanding cooked up by CIA. Then I fear, in his hot-headed way, he starts fighting with the Russians, and it wouldn’t be long then until a state of war against Russia is declared.'"

The Alt-House is trying to read James Wolcott's article "Why the Alt-Left Is a Problem, Too/Much of the media spotlight has been on the 'alt-right.' But the 'alt-left' provides a mirror image distortion: the same loathing of Clinton, rejection of 'identity politics,' and itch for a reckoning."

32 comments:

mockturtle said...: I doubt that very many of the right--or the alt-right--idolize Putin. I certainly preferred Gorbachev.; 3/4/17, 7:19 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Wolcott’s problem with the alt-left is that it sees Democrats and Republicans as Coke and Pepsi, and it refuses to buy into the Democrats’ Russian fantasies.; 3/4/17, 7:33 PM
Hagar said...: I am absolutely in the dark about what "the Russians" are supposed to have done other than the accusation that "they" were the ones who gave the e-mails of Hillary, the DNC, and Podesta to Wikileaks to publish?
Even if true, and I have not seen even "a smidgeon" of proof of that, so what?
No one appears to suggest that these e-mails have been tampered with in any way, so who cares even if it was "the Russians" who gave them to us to read?

And here is another take on "foreign interference with our elections!; 3/4/17, 7:35 PM
Michael K said...: If Wolcott is turning on the left, they are in big trouble.

Stone is a nut and always has been.; 3/4/17, 7:56 PM
Anonymous said...: The surprise isn't that Wolcott still writes like that, it's that someone is still willing to pay Wolcott to write like that.; 3/4/17, 7:59 PM
Quaestor said...: Then I fear, in his hot-headed way, he starts fighting with the Russians, and it wouldn’t be long then until a state of war against Russia is declared.

And they call him paranoid... evidently for a good reason.; 3/4/17, 8:01 PM
rcocean said...: Drugs really damage the mind - example James Wolcott.; 3/4/17, 8:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Michael K: If Wolcott is turning on the left, they are in big trouble.

He isn't turning on the "left", he's a clueless old fart past his political sell-by date, trapped in boomer delusions, and grumbling about the "alt left" whippersnappers who aren't showing proper respec' to their lefty elders' pieties. The left that's in big trouble is Wolcott's.; 3/4/17, 8:13 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Wolcott is the turd who was gleeful about the prospect of a hurricane hitting Bush voters - he thought it fitting that those awful Bible thumper get punished with an Act of God. I found that article, written in 2003 or 2004 (before Katrina) so repellent that I stopped bothering with anything Wolcott wrote after that.; 3/4/17, 8:14 PM
Jaq said...: Yes, the loathing of the Clintons is all about sexism. They have never given a reason to be loathed, after all, until this recent election fuckup, they have always given value for money to their wealthy donors.; 3/4/17, 8:27 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Someone the other day called it the "Ctrl-Left." I'm keeping that.; 3/4/17, 10:04 PM
Wilbur said...: God, how would you like to be remembered as, to have your legacy be ... an emasculating harpy? Couldn't happen to a nicer human being.

I'll bet she and The Slickster still blame Comey.; 3/4/17, 10:14 PM
Michael K said...: "The left that's in big trouble is Wolcott's."

Nah. The new left is crazy in a way that the boomers were not. The boomers were drugged up but not as crazy.; 3/4/17, 10:27 PM
Nyamujal said...: This article makes no sense. Is this what passes for a think piece these days?; 3/4/17, 10:51 PM
wholelottasplainin said...: Someday soon, the new left's gonna learn that their mastery of blunts and bongs is not remotely the same as mastering firearms.; 3/4/17, 10:52 PM
Martin said...: I followed the link and tried to read the Wolcott article but gave up--he is just a deranged Clintonite, a fine match for the deranged alt-left and deranged alt-right, whatever exactly they may be...; 3/5/17, 12:44 AM
Steven said...: @Hagar

You have to understand. Russia isn't part of the Fourth Estate, but usurped that estate's exclusive prerogative, the right to publish stolen information. Therefore, "democracy", which is the condition where the commoners do what the Fourth Estate tells them to do, was hijacked by an illegitimate provider of information.; 3/5/17, 4:43 AM
J2 said...: Walcott overwrites everything.

I love those Tyler Burdens at Zero Hedge.

This wiretap/Fisa story has been out for months. Credit Louise Mensch at Heatstreet:

https://heatst.com/world/exclusive-fbi-granted-fisa-warrant-covering-trump-camps-ties-to-russia/; 3/5/17, 7:39 AM
Oso Negro said...: Speaking of Russians and the good old days, I have just started to read "The Naked Communist" by W. Cleon Skousen. For years I had been bumping into the "45 Communist Objectives for the United States" thing and it sounded so much like a "just so" story that I finally looked into it. People go insane about the Koch brothers and Soros, but I do wonder how many Soviet initiatives to influence our culture trudge on like extras from the Walking Dead 25 years after the USSR collapsed.; 3/5/17, 8:04 AM
Anonymous said...: J2: This wiretap/Fisa story has been out for months. Credit Louise Mensch at Heatstreet:

It is not, however, taking the turn hoped for by Ms. Mensch.

What Mensch really deserves credit for is for being, arguably, the most gloriously unhinged Russians-under-the-bed Trump-hater in all the land.; 3/5/17, 8:38 AM
J2 said...: I wouldn't make that argument. What is it?; 3/5/17, 8:41 AM
Darrell said...: You have to understand. Russia isn't part of the Fourth Estate, but usurped that estate's exclusive prerogative, the right to publish stolen information. Therefore, "democracy", which is the condition where the commoners do what the Fourth Estate tells them to do, was hijacked by an illegitimate provider of information.

See, you are just pushing the Democrat narrative. There is no evidence that Russia was involved. And lots of evidence that they weren't--like the statements from Julian Assange.; 3/5/17, 9:07 AM
J2 said...: Darrell

I don't think you understand Steven's comment. You have it backwards. Reread.; 3/5/17, 9:20 AM
Darrell said...: J2, I think you don't know what you are talking about. If you accept the "Russia did it" premise, you are making the Democrat's job easier. And their job is to usurp power.; 3/5/17, 9:27 AM
Robert Cook said...: "The surprise isn't that Wolcott still writes like that, it's that someone is still willing to pay Wolcott to write like that."

Write like what? Wolcott has always been a great writer. I first starting reading him in the Village Voice in 1975, and I'm reading his book of collected criticism right now. His prose is crisp, vigorous, and tartly funny.; 3/5/17, 9:39 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Drugs really damage the mind - example James Wolcott."

Heh! And you have evidence he uses (or has used) drugs?; 3/5/17, 9:40 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: The Wolcott piece was a defense of the American aristocracy.
Thing is, America is not supposed to have an aristocracy.; 3/5/17, 9:56 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Blogger Oso Negro said...
People go insane about the Koch brothers and Soros, but I do wonder how many Soviet initiatives to influence our culture trudge on like extras from the Walking Dead 25 years after the USSR collapsed.
Like Stalin's directive that every socialist socialist party not under the direct control of his comintern was to be labeled capitalist and fascist? That's still got all of the Left believing that Mussolini and Hitler weren't socialists.; 3/5/17, 10:06 AM
Robert Cook said...: I just read the Wolcott article, and I enjoyed it as I always enjoy his writing...even though in this piece, he puts forth a viewpoint I oppose. For the most part, the "alt-left" persons and websites he disparages are people and sites I enjoy reading and largely agree with. (I've never heard of Jacobin or of Tulsi Gabbard.)

I think Wolcott here is too credulous as to the "sky-high, mile-wide evidence" of Trump's collusion with Russia, and his incapability (or unwillingness) to see Clinton's considerable ills is disappointing, but akin to the readiness of many partisans to forgive their object of partisanship, (much as many here who heaped scorn like stones on Obama's head--mostly justified--but often juvenile and sometimes nutty, forgive or even applaud Trump, who is obviously emotionally infantile, intellectually incurious, uncaring, devious, dishonest, crude, and a boor).

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the piece because I like Wolcott's voice. He's fun to read.; 3/5/17, 10:19 AM
Robert Cook said...: "The Wolcott piece was a defense of the American aristocracy.
Thing is, America is not supposed to have an aristocracy."

American has always had an aristocracy, like it or not. That said, I think Wolcott would disagree with you as to his article being a defense of the American aristocracy.; 3/5/17, 10:30 AM
Bilwick said...: " The Tyler Durden Fight Club alt-right idolizes Putin as a bare-chested manly man . . . "

Really? "Idolizes"? How does he know that? Is this a statement based on actual experience with the alt-right, or is it just attempted mind-reading? It's hard to picture Wolcott crawling out from the "liberal" cocoon to actually get some first hand experience with the alt-right.; 3/5/17, 3:19 PM
Steven said...: @Darrell

There is no evidence that Russia was involved.

I grant that I provisionally believe it is true that the US intelligence community illegally and unethically leaked information that endangered a high-level US asset in the Kremlin, rather than the existence of that source and what was reported being a lie. It is possible I'm wrong and there isn't a case where a journalist should be put in jail for contempt until he gives up the name of a source who should serve a five-year prison sentence.; 3/5/17, 5:20 PM