"But the guy is Hitler. And by that I mean that we are being Germany in the 30s. Do you think they saw the shit coming? Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over who would say anything at all. And I’m not advocating for Hillary or Bernie. I like them both but frankly I wish the next president was a conservative only because we had Obama for eight years and we need balance. And not because I particularly enjoy the conservative agenda. I just think the government should reflect the people. And we are about 40 percent conservative and 40 percent liberal. When I was growing up and when I was a younger man, liberals and conservatives were friends with differences. They weren’t enemies. And it always made sense that everyone gets a president they like for a while and then hates the president for a while. But it only works if the conservatives put up a good candidate. A good smart conservative to face the liberal candidate so they can have a good argument and the country can decide which way to go this time. Trump is not that. He’s an insane bigot. He is dangerous.... Please pick someone else. Like John Kasich. I mean that guy seems okay. I don’t like any of them myself but if you’re that kind of voter please go for a guy like that. It feels like between him and either democrat we’d have a decent choice. It feels like a healthier choice. We shouldn’t have to vote for someone because they’re not a shocking cunt billionaire liar..... I get that all these people sound like bullshit soft criminal opportunists. The whole game feels rigged and it’s not going anywhere but down anymore. I feel that way sometimes. And that voting for Trump is a way of saying 'fuck it. Fuck them all'. I really get it. It’s a version of national Suicide. Or it’s like a big hit off of a crack pipe. Somehow we can’t help it. Or we know that if we vote for Trump our phones will be a reliable source of dopamine for the next four years. I mean I can’t wait to read about Trump every day. It’s a rush. But you have to know this is not healthy..... I know I’m not qualified or particularly educated and I’m not right instead of you. I’m an idiot and I’m sure a bunch of you are very annoyed by this. Fucking celebrity with an opinion. I swear this isn’t really a political opinion. You don’t want to know my political opinions. (And I know that I’m only bringing myself trouble with this shit.) Trump has nothing to do with politics or ideology. He has to do with himself. And really I don’t mean to insult anyone. Except Trump. I mean to insult him very much. And really I’m not saying he’s evil or a monster. In fact I don’t think Hitler was. The problem with saying that guys like that are monsters is that we don’t see them coming when they turn out to be human, which they all are. Everyone is...."
Wrote Louis C.K. in March 2016.
I looked it up because, since we've been talking about him a lot lately, I wanted to get a sense of his politics. I'm trying to process the current spate of sex stories without reference to the politics of the particular person who's coming under fire. It's easy to assume anyone in show business is a political liberal, but I think a lot of that is completely shallow, people saying what it's to their advantage to say. The passage above is actually extremely well-written and full of twists and turns and ideas that I loved getting the chance to read. Don't turn off just because you hate the Trump-is-Hitler meme. He does something different with that.
November 12, 2017
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173 comments:
Hitler starts a war in which 60 million died; 27,000 per day. No, he wasn't evil at all. And Trump is EXACTLY like Hitler.
Hope we never hear from Louis CK again. Complete idiot.
There's a reason his name is Louis Cuck.
Ok, I read to the end, at Ann’s request.
Total f***ing waste of time.
I don't have any patience with the Trump/Hitler thing. Or the Bush/Hitler thing. Or the Romney/Hitler thing. It's sheer intellectual laziness. No, it's worse - it's stupidity and ignorance and minimizing Hitler's crimes against humanity and the horrible suffering of his victims.
Per Ann's "The passage above is actually extremely well-written and full of twists and turns and ideas that I loved getting the chance to read." i read it.It was nothing but a bunch of ad hominem attacks against Trump, nothing of substance. Jason said it best.
We ARE living in 1930s Germany. We can see the brownshirts among us. We can see their efforts to stifle thought and speech and behavior. Thankfully, Trump has thrown a wrench in the agenda of the Nazi Democrats, if only for a time. But watch out. They will become more violent.
Eisenhower/Hitler, now that would have taken some balls.
Hitler....bigot...national suicide.....blah blah blah. It’s not original. Same old Trump hyperbole, insulting his voters.
Do you mind if I pull out my dick for a little while?
Did Hitler have a casting couch?
Ah, John Kasich. You could have been the guy! You could have been the sacrificial lamb and joined the august ranks of Dole, Romney, and McCain, all the best loved republicans in the media, until they were Hitler for a few months until they lost. Now they have the signal honor of being the republicans the media run to for quotes bashing other republicans. And that could have been you, if your support hadn't topped out at 3%.
"But the guy (Trump) is Hitler...."
Louis C K L M N O P needs to read up on recent history. Romney, McCain, Bush the Younger were all Hitler.
And really I’m not saying he’s evil or a monster. In fact I don’t think Hitler was.
What?
I hope he Louis C.K. pulled his dick out in front of Sarah Silverman and Chelsey Handler.
"The passage above is actually extremely well-written and full of twists and turns and ideas that I loved getting the chance to read."
It's drivel. Or pablum. Or maybe both.
Hitler was an evil monster. He really was.
Trump is not.
Even comedians should not blur some lines.
Yeah.
I always get my politival information from people whos profession is to make people laugh.
Louis CK the slightly less intellectusl Bill Burr.
So a conservative Republican is sort of OK, if its a guy like Kasich or McCain (who was so Hitler back in 2008 but is now a respected elder statesman.)
The reason that Trump is president is because conservative vs liberal is pretty much dead. It is now traditional/nationalism vs radical/globalism. Globalists think that if they erase national identities and boundaries they will eliminate war. I remember reading about it way back in the 70s when I was still in high school. It wasn't a secret, there was no conspiracy. I remember reading an article ridiculing nationalists' concerns over flags.
Nationalists realize that the elimination of nation states won't end war, it will just mean killing people because they want to have a nation. In addition, globalism is not so great for the middle class of wealthy nations.
Globalists will tell you that globalism is inevitable. I have heard Obama state so. He said "globalism is inevitable." Nationalists will ask why. Morale arc of history says the globalist. Utter nonsense says the nationalist.
Interesting times.
Louis CK the slightly less intellectusl Bill Burr.
At least Bill Burr can be funny. I have never understood Louis CK's popularity.
"Total f***ing waste of time."
Althouse's obsession with the cesspool of Hollywood and pop culture is seriously degrading the Althouse Blog Experience, IMHO. But perhaps it's just me.
It's easy to assume anyone in show business is a political liberal, but I think a lot of that is completely shallow, people saying what it's to their advantage to say.
So show-biz people claim to be liberal only because other show-biz people claim to be liberal?
Reasons why Trump is president.
“While Poland could be invaded and occupied,” Trump said, “and its borders even erased from the map, it could never be erased from history or from your hearts. In those dark days, you had lost your land but you never lost your pride.”
“Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?”
More self-gratification from a man who has become famous for it.
Once a wanker....always a wanker!
I wonder what Louis C. K. Said about Romney before the 2012 election. My guess is that he wasn't saying how Romney is a "reasonable" choice.
What is the evidence that Trump is a bigot? I have never understood that accusation.
Its also a revolt against the technocratic state which is basically a return to feudalism. Technocrats will tell you that "everything is interrelated now" so you need everything controlled by a strong central authority that relies on experts to get things right.
I remember an episode of West Wing were a conservative sees a room full of reports compiled by government workers and derides it as a waste. The liberal (who is of course the good guy) dares him to pick out any one of them at random and he will demonstrate that the report is important and worthwhile. How else, after all, to manage everything.
Technocrats have no use for democracy, seeing it as outmoded as buggy whips in the modern age. Elections are well and good, as long as the right people get elected. That's what has all the right thinking people upset about Trump. He wasn't supposed to get elected because he isn't one of the "right" people.
"The passage above is actually extremely well-written and full of twists and turns and ideas that I loved getting the chance to read."
I guess I missed the well written part along with the lovable ideas.
I was sure it was going to be Miley Cyrus.
Louis CK is right about one thing. He is an idiot. Not surprisingly, he is wrong about almost everything else. Where did he get his idea of Hitler or 30's Germany? From "Springtime for Hitler"?
No, being thin-skinned, plain-spoken, and a blowhard does not make you Hitler. There's a small matter of a murderous ideology, and state control of both media and industry.
A small hint for Mr. CK: It's because of idiocy like yours that many voters who did not otherwise care for Trump stlll felt compelled to vote for, or at lest not against, him. The left has been pushing thin-skinned, blowhard, take-no-prisoners demagoguery hard for at least 30 years that even now tries to destroy anyone they don't agree with, all the while laying waste to economic fundamentals and basic freedoms aside from sex. When you're ready to stop your rampage, come to the table, and we can talk.
And guess what? Your fellow travelers were telling us Romney and Bush were also Hitler, so you might understand why your saying so means nothing to anyone with any perspective.
Anyway, of course, he'd like Kasich. The self-righteous "conservative" who apparently can't be relied upon to actually uphold any conservative principles, just push progressive approaches more slowly. The conservative progressive. Not sure why he thought he could play any role other than spoiler in the Republican race. But my guess is he was fully aware of that.
There were 17 candidates in the Republican primary. 16 of them did not get 1 - 2 billion (by media estimates) in free advertising. Whether the media played Trump stories 24/7 because it helped their bottom line or because they were trying to help Hillary or both, they helped Trump get elected over the other 16. And let's not forget Hillary's role in getting Trump. Per her campaign, he was the opponent they wanted. They got him and then did not beat him. Sports 101 - if you are are confident enough to make that call, you move heaven and earth to win. You don't insult their fans and phone in the effort.
Had my own encounter with TDS/progressive insanity yesterday, which I've largely been able to avoid by careful curation of my online and social media experience, so it was doubly shocking and upsetting. These people are completely cukookoobananas. This takes a minute to tell but hang with me; it's a good illustration of how these people (in which I include LCK) are suffering from mass delusion and mass personality disorder.
A Christian scholar I follow on Facebook shared a NYT article explaining the legalities of why the Texas church shooter would have been charged with X number of murders, with X being the number of dead bodies plus 1, because one of the women was pregnant. Naturally the NYT was in hives over anything resembling 'fetal personhood,' which the scholar commented on as being a sad thing. I left a comment along the lines of my own pregnancy being currently pretty close in gestational age to the one that was lost in the shooting, and I was feeling my baby move and shift inside me as I wrote, and it was bewildering to me that anyone could deny that such a being is a person.
Well. A friend ("friend") of 25 years, my best friend in junior high and high school, in both of whose weddings I served as matron of honor, also commented on the thread with "I just donated to Planned Parenthood in [scholar's name]'s honor. Enjoy." The only way she could have seen that, since she certainly is not in the habit of following Christian scholars on FB, was that it popped up in her feed that I had commented, she investigated, and was so enraged by people expressing that a fetus' life has value [including one of her best friends in the world discussing her own current pregnancy] that she had to pull her metaphorical pants down and take a big old shit over that belief. I knew she had wackadoo politics, but that degree of spitefulness and hate completely floored me.
I made an instant decision to never speak to her again, so that's dealt with, but it's sobering to consider the level of hatefulness that some of these people have. If I had a libertarian or right wing friend whose beliefs I agree with who was that big an asshole to people who thought differently, I would suggest therapy because their beliefs had clearly become a proxy for their deeply troubled and pathologically misanthropic orientation to the world. Even though I believe in gun rights, what a giant cunt I would be to intrude into a discussion thread where someone was mourning the loss of life via gun violence and say "I just donated to the NRA in your honor. Enjoy." What kind of freak does that, and thinks they're in the right because they're "standing up for what they believe in" (her defense when my husband called her out)? This is where the actual hate is, the actual Nazi shit, and I can't understand why so many lefties can't see it.
"Althouse's obsession with the cesspool of Hollywood and pop culture is seriously degrading the Althouse Blog Experience, IMHO. But perhaps it's just me."
Some obsession. I haven't gone to the movies in over a year. I watch maybe one current TV show in the "scripted" category ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"). I listen to less than one minute of current pop music in a given month. I recognize very few of the current celebrities and care about nobody who's entered the scene in the last 10 or 20 years.
I didn't care about his statement concerning the libel laws because I knew there was 0% chance that it would happen. I cared a lot more about appointing conservative judges and enforcing the immigration laws. Maybe that's because they still had civics classes in high school when I attended and I know what a senator is and that there are 100 of them. And that there are three branches of government, the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, that have separate powers and are supposed to check and balance each other.
The problem with saying that guys like that are monsters is that we don’t see them coming when they turn out to be human,
Yeah, but LCK can seem 'em coming a mile off!
How did Louis CK treat his admirers? He was the big star. They were just normal people.
What did he do with the opportunities these interactions presented? Did he live up to his public persona, kind, caring, gentle, wise? Nope.
He chose to dominate and humiliate those women just to see how much they would take to be in his presence.
I don't want to read a condescending lecture from this guy about who will be corrupted by power and how I need to defer to his judgement in such matters.
Ok, I read to the end, at Ann’s request.
Total f***ing waste of time.
Yep. Agree 100%.
In any event, the establishment is still convinced that if they can just get Trump out of office politics will go back to "normal."
The important thing is to get the voters back under control.
I don't think we are 40% liberal or 40% conservative. The people that fit those definitions are a minority. Most (normal) people have a mixture of views that don't fit easily into either box. Our particular political system makes the country's views seem more uniform than they really are. I am not advocating change, dozens of small parties as in Italy doesn't lead to good government either, but we should understand that the current system only works for a minority.
Meh. Just another Hollywood pervert using his soapbox to spread leftist political views. We can safely ignore him.
Pants said: "This is where the actual hate is, the actual Nazi shit, and I can't understand why so many lefties can't see it."
Self awareness is not normally a progressive trait. It makes it harder to maintain supported and contradictory beliefs.
So Louis C.K. doesn’t think Hitler was a monster? Good to know.
But there was a monster in the last election. Her name is Hillary.
His politics are as well adapted as his sexual proclivities.
I don’t know why this happened to me but watching the video Althouse posted of CK, a few posts back, I didn’t find him as funny as I remember him being funny to me.
I’m being swept away by the mob action against him? I guess.
10 days ago LCK was one woke sunuvagun.
Today, he’s got 6 odd attack columns in Vulture.
Vulture is in fact All sex abuse all the time.
Well written?
There was a time when televangelists were bigger than they are now and their ‘inappropriate’ personal sex life, hipocrictical sex lifestyle brought them down. Is what is going on now similar to that I wonder?
The Stand-Up Comedian in Tacoma...
"Okay people, I've been telling you about shitty things I've done, to see if you're still going to hang in there with me. And -- I know -- a lot of them have had to do with sex. Maybe I'm more fucked up about sex than other people: I don't know, that's why I've been asking you...
But now I'm going to tell you something that I think is going to break my bond with a lot of you. Oh yeah, some of you are going to be PISSED, I expect. I mean, you've rolled with me about listening to a girl pee and fucking a fat chick, but THIS ONE...
Well, here goes: I voted for Trump.
Oh yeah: I hear the moans -- you aren't very happy with me right now. Maybe you'll never be happy with me again, I can see that happening. Because a lot of you HATE Trump. You believe he is evil, maybe even Hitler, and I voted for the fucker: yeah, I did...
I don't love the guy, but there was a choice, and I made it: I hit the brakes. And I really don't believe that people are going to be rounded up in cattle-cars. If I turn out to be wrong about that, then my bad, okay...?
And I'm not trying to get you to like Trump, or like my decision. People are strong in their views, I get it. And -- yeah -- I'll still stick it to Trump -- that's my job, right? My job is to tell jokes about whoever is President. But this is MY picture of America: I believe you can vote for whomever you want, and then you talk shit about him...
We've become a nation of two football teams, and we HATE the other team, hate them. We fucking celebrate when a guy on the other team gets an injury. We hope the opposing quarterback gets caught with young boys in his hotel room, because then we can hate AND be satisfied...
Here's the thing: I just want to look at the cheerleaders, okay? I want to look at their tight bodies in short skirts and dream about spanking one on the ass. I want her to call me 'Daddy', okay? "Daddy, I'm not wearing panties," that's what I want to hear...
You guys can watch the game, I'm going to try to sneak into the cheerleaders' locker room and be ready to smear lotion on their thighs. If their thighs need lotion: I bet their thighs need lotion. Whatever they need, I bet I can help...
Thank you, you've been great...
I am Laslo.
All I read was another democrat. Waste of 2 minutes of my life.
Donald Trump and the people who voted for him aren't the ones trying to enforce political correctness. Political correctness is more Hitler/Nazi like it seems to me.
The passage above is actually extremely well-written and full of twists and turns and ideas that I loved getting the chance to read. Don't turn off just because you hate the Trump-is-Hitler meme. He does something different with that.
Help us out here. Neither I nor anybody else here is able to see this "something different" you're touting.
Trump is anti-PC. Everybody else is worried about offending women in their public postures.
Sydney
There is no evidence that Trump is a bigot. The Left just says it to discredit Trump. To them, saying it makes it true.
I guess LCK masturbating in front of fans was his version of Andy Kaufman reading The Great Gatsby and driving out all of the fans but one. The one who applauded at the end. LCK was looking for that one perfect fan who got it.
"I swear this isn’t really a political opinion. You don’t want to know my political opinions. (And I know that I’m only bringing myself trouble with this shit.) Trump has nothing to do with politics or ideology."
Disordered, schizophrenic opinions can also be political; there is no need to separate them when they come as one, the mad and the political.
I love proggies appealing to the better angels of my nature, because they are damn sure to conjure up Angel fucking Martin, their worst nightmare. I told everyone if you wanna get nuts, to let's just GET NUTS!
Remember the time Trump sent mobs to create an air of violence at his opponent's rallies so that he could use the violence against her? Me neither, that was the Democrats.
I would like to hear the exact set of facts that makes Trump Hitler, you know, facts similar to the above. Facts from the real world, not "alternative facts." But LCK told us he isn't that smart and can't do stuff like marshal facts.
I can see a few of the ideas Ann talks about. Louis likes the notion of putting different parties in, but not for any particular reason because of a playground notion of fairness. Sort of like Hillary saying "it's my turn, because."
Now, if I was on stage, I'd frame it like this: Government is a great opportunity to get taxpayers to pay for things they don't want! You can rip 'em off for millions and pass it along to your guys, the guys who are financing you.
So what you want is to spread the graft around. Let the green companies and the phony-baloney NGOs have it for four year, the corporations with their tax breaks and construction projects in flyover states the next four.
I admit it needs work. Check me out at "Chuckles' Laugh Factory" in Flint next weekend. And buy my merch!
Misplaced: Nice rant! I also have 'friends' like that. Their behavior is puerile and their attitude intolerant. Let them scream at the sky. It won't help.
Althouse to Paco: "Althouse's obsession with the cesspool of Hollywood and pop culture is seriously degrading the Althouse Blog Experience, IMHO. But perhaps it's just me."
Some obsession. I haven't gone to the movies in over a year. I watch maybe one current TV show in the "scripted" category ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"). I listen to less than one minute of current pop music in a given month. I recognize very few of the current celebrities and care about nobody who's entered the scene in the last 10 or 20 years.
That's what makes it even weirder that you're obsessing about what these degenerates get up to.
Paco is off the mark only in the sense that it's always off the mark to cavil about a blogger's chosen content. It's your blog, and if you want to furrow your brow about potted-plant jizzers until Christmas, ain't nobody's business but your own.
Ron Winkelheimer said...
Its also a revolt against the technocratic state which is basically a return to feudalism. Technocrats will tell you that "everything is interrelated now" so you need everything controlled by a strong central authority that relies on experts to get things right.
I couldn't agree more. This, to me, represented the soul-death of the Obama presidency. So many who claimed to be liberal or progressive so incredibly happy with the idea of deferring democracy to experts.
I don't listen to politicians for their opinions on comedy (i.e., something they know nothing about), so why would I listen to comedians for their political opinions (i.e., something they know nothing about)?
Help us out here. Neither I nor anybody else here is able to see this "something different" you're touting.
I agree, Angel-Dyne. Why would a rambling, pointless diatribe by a half-baked comedian be considered profound? Or be considered at all? Just because he has revealed his perversions to us, are we to 'ooh' and 'aah' over his every pronouncement?
"Althouse's obsession with the cesspool of Hollywood and pop culture is seriously degrading the Althouse Blog Experience, IMHO. But perhaps it's just me."
A lot of people in the Louis CK posts have made a point of not knowing who he is.
To a different part of America he is a hero, a truth-teller.
Althouse is showing a part of our culture that many have segregated from.
I think that is a wonderful thing.
I am Laslo.
“We shouldn’t have to vote for someone because they are not a shocking cunt billionaire liar.”
See what he did there with the words they and billionaire. Is he talking about Donald Trump or about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump?
mock: I agree, Angel-Dyne. Why would a rambling, pointless diatribe by a half-baked comedian be considered profound? Or be considered at all? Just because he has revealed his perversions to us, are we to 'ooh' and 'aah' over his every pronouncement?
I'm assuming Althouse sees an original take on something, an observation (accurate or not) about the American political landscape that hasn't been belabored a thousand times over, a novel productive insight. So I'm honestly curious, 'cause I ain't seeing anything here that comes anywhere near fitting that description.
He is creative because sometimes he uses four dots and sometimes he uses five dots. But not six dots.
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...
'fetal personhood,'
In California - and probably other places - feminists have it both ways: a fetus is a person whose death can be treated as a murder unless the mom contracted for the killing.
ALTHOUSE says: "The passage above is actually extremely well-written and full of...ideas that I loved"
I'd say "You MUST be kidding!" but you are obviously and sadly not. Take a few days off is my suggestion....
Loius is the type to say "no I have 30" if you ask if he has beer. To him, being in possession of more than one beer means you would be lying if you (weren't an obedient, servile proggie who) said you had one, one plus 29 more in this case.
Only if you are an extremist, which is as Jon Stewart taught us all anyone who disagrees with the Moderate, Reasonable, Prudent Jon Stewart, would you think there are thoughts about an issue other than Jon Stewart's that aren't extremely extreme.. When Jon's opinions change, it is not from moderate to extreme, he is always moderate as are all his opinions, it is only extreme to notice any said changes.
Blogger Sydney said...
"What is the evidence that Trump is a bigot? I have never understood that accusation."
There's no evidence that he is a nazi either.
I find it odd that the recently former president who acted most like a fascist and did all he could to trample on the rights of the people is viewed as someone slightly less holy than christ by those on the left. Of course most(normal) people rejected Obamas and the left leaning congresses policies.
"Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over who would say anything at all. And I’m not advocating for Hillary or Bernie."
-- Mein Kampf: Written 1925. Hitler, elected: 1934. But, yeah. Sure. No one could see it coming. I'm sure everyone who read Mein Kampf just thought, "Hitler! That wacky rapscallion!"
Obviously,
ann is the type of woman who gets off on watching a man like Louis siCK masturbate for her...
"A good smart conservative to face the liberal candidate so they can have a good argument and the country can decide which way to go this time. Trump is not that. He’s an insane bigot. He is dangerous."
-- We gave you guys Romney and McCain, and they ALSO got called "not good smart conservatives" and that they "Couldn't have a good argument" and that they were "insane bigots" and "dangerous." So, then the rest of the conservative/center right faction stopped listening to me about the sorts of candidates they put forward. It's like the minister's daughter. Eventually, they figured, "Well, we might as well embrace what we've been told we are, since we're getting the punishment for it anyway."
"And really I’m not saying he’s evil or a monster. In fact I don’t think Hitler was."
-- Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Let's uh... let's put the brakes on here. What does someone have to do to BE evil or a monster if Hitler isn't dinging on your Paladin senses?
"That's what makes it even weirder that you're obsessing about what these degenerates get up to."
I'm interested in understanding America. The idea that the degenerates are on the other side is self-flattering. It's as bad as saying "basket of deplorables." We're all in this together, and I think that's what Louis CK is saying.
"Paco is off the mark only in the sense that it's always off the mark to cavil about a blogger's chosen content. It's your blog, and if you want to furrow your brow about potted-plant jizzers until Christmas, ain't nobody's business but your own."
I guess the fake news stuck. Am I the only one who remembers that it was not, in fact, a potted plant but a restaurant pot, the kind used for cooking?
When I was growing up and when I was a younger man, liberals and conservatives were friends with differences. They weren’t enemies.
That's dangerous talk to modern day lefties. Stuff like this is why they want to Weinstein him.
"Let's uh... let's put the brakes on here. What does someone have to do to BE evil or a monster if Hitler isn't dinging on your Paladin senses?"
The text continues at the link, but I believe I've included enough to make his point clear enough that a reader who isn't actively hostile should understand.
If you think X is a monster, then X is different from you, over there and different from all the people who come along and are, obviously, human. But if you think X is a human being, when X does monstrous things, then you can't be so comfortable. You know you and everyone you know are human beings, and you have to keep alert and keep asking where are we going wrong. Watch out for other human beings. They might be like X. When X first arrived, he was seen as a human being, and he was a human being. There are no monsters. Stop feeling the security. of believing there are monsters.
LASLO says: "Althouse is showing a part of our culture that many have segregated from. I think that is a wonderful thing."
Yes, right, of course - a "wonderful thing Althouse is showing us" - just like someone showing you his penis.
Right, Hitler is a monster though. I mean, Louis makes the same point about Trump, that he's other. He's not like us, he's different, and dangerous. Hell, Louis even says: "If you are a true conservative. Don’t vote for Trump. He is not one of you. He is one of him." He makes the distinct point that Trump isn't one of you at the link. He calls Trump a "cancer."
If Louis meant for his theme that all people have the potential to be bad and we need to remember that part of being human... he should have written it without doing his damndest to paint Trump as a cartoon villain who was The Other out to literally corrupt and destroy the Us.
Hot buttons make the monster.
The text continues at the link, but I believe I've included enough to make his point clear enough that a reader who isn't actively hostile should understand.
So, if some of us think you waste too much of your blog space on pontificating show-biz celebrities, we are being 'actively hostile'. Well, no more gumbo [through your Amazon portal] for you! ;-)
Seriously, though, it is your blog and you can talk about whatever you want and we have to freedom to ignore these types of threads. Which I will do. Thank you.
"So do not believe the monster when he tells you he is monstrous because others treat him as monstrous. He is monstrous because he lets the task of becoming human wait upon how others treat him" Stanley Cavell
link
Ann Althouse wrote:
> Some obsession. I haven't gone to the movies in over a year. I watch maybe one current TV show in the "scripted" category ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"). I listen to less than one minute of current pop music in a given month. I recognize very few of the current celebrities and care about nobody who's entered the scene in the last 10 or 20 years.
Ms. Althouse, I take you at your word. Yet your blog, which used to be about local politics and the college scene, is increasingly about celebrities (Louis CK, Kim Kardashian, "Caitlin" Jenner, Taylor Swift) and YouTube videos. It has become much less interesting as a result. If I wanted that fluff I would read Entertainment Weekly.
Also: Lots of people saw Hitler coming. Stalin. Mao. Pretty much every major dictator in the modern era? People saw it coming. That's why there were mass exoduses from those places. It's not that he's wrong and inconsistent, it is that he's so blatantly wrong and inconsistent.
For example, Hitler didn't come to power through election. He was appointed Chancellor, that's when he started doing "Hitler things." The reason this is important is because it shows that Germany was broken. Everyone knew who Hitler was, and they STILL appointed him. As far as I know, Trump's only major books have been saying how great he is, not, talking about genociding anyone who is corrupting Germany.
Yeah. Trump's a blow hard. An asshole. Whatever else. But, he's not a Hitler. He might eventually become it -- I mean, I didn't expect Obama to trample the First Amendment by spying on Congress and journalists, but here we are. So, power could further corrupt Trump. But, this text doesn't do anything but say what has been said before, only with even more wrongness.
1. Conservatives and liberals should be able to be friends
2. You conservatives support an insane bigot who is just like Hitler!
3. How can you expect us to be friends with people who support insane bigots who are just like Hitler?
ALTHOUSE says "There are no monsters. Stop feeling the security. of believing there are monsters."
I suggest you're just word-playing, here, Althouse, your goal being some 'Deep Thought' idea. There are and will be human "monsters" just as long as there are YOUR so-called "human beings" who act in 'monstrous' ways. Res ipsa loquitur.
[And yes. I consider Germany broken before Hitler even came to power. If a government can consider appointing someone who openly advocates for murdering millions of people and aggressively expanding into their neighbor's territory to further the murder train, it is a broken government. And, if they didn't care to bother to read Hitler's book before appointing him, then they're broken in an entirely different way.]
As bad as trump is, Hillary (and Bernie) is worse. The Democrats are just as much to blame for Trump as the Republicans are.
Trump is like Hitler because he ended DACA because their was no constitutionally acceptable funding for it and so he asked Congress to either appropriate it or let it die.
Trump is like Hitler because he stopped paying money to the insurance companies that Congress never appropriated.
Who was it ignoring the constitution and usurping the power of Congress to the Executive, using his "pen and phone" rather than deal with the duly elected representatives of the people? Wasn't Trump that was like Hitler.
Trump is like Hitler because he has too much respect for the Constitution and too much regard for Congress's role as an independent branch of the government! That's what he gets wrong that Obama got right?
Am I warm liberals?
"It's easy to assume anyone in show business is a political liberal, but I think a lot of that is completely shallow, people saying what it's to their advantage to say." The fact that showing liberalness is to their advantage shows progs have won the culture war in many sectors of American society.
However shallow the personal commitment of individual progs may be, they are not shallow about protecting themselves against witch hunts by their fellow progs. The Weinsteins excluded, most are laboring under Sacco Syndrome.
Except Trump is NOT an "insane bigot" or some "crazy" "Lying cunt billionaire".
Basically, he just says the same old boring shit liberals always say. "Why can't the Republicans nominate a *good* candidate, y'know someone who's a liberal who just wants to tax a little less and be more interventionist?" Y'know a *conservative* like David Brooks or Jennifer Rubin.
Its not the Trump voters that are bat-shit crazy, its the liberals. If you don't like open borders, out-of-control Globalization, transgender bathrooms, then you're Hitler.
Is it that big a waste of your time to skip a post about a subject you don't care about? I do it all the time.
Louis C.K.?
Evil oft evil mar.... but in this case it's just a Trump hater who is a hypocrite. Lots and lots of them out there.
"See what he did there with the words they and billionaire. Is he talking about Donald Trump or about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump?"
-- I can't see anyway to interpret that sentence to include Hillary Clinton: "Please pick someone else. Like John Kasich. I mean that guy seems okay. I don’t like any of them myself but if you’re that kind of voter please go for a guy like that. It feels like between him and either democrat we’d have a decent choice. It feels like a healthier choice. We shouldn’t have to vote for someone because they’re not a shocking cunt billionaire liar."
The entire paragraph is about picking someone other than Trump. Every other they/them used there is about the field of non-Trumps. He specifically states that "between him [Kasich] and either democrat we'd have a decent choice," and since Clinton is one of the Democrats, it would be weird if in the next sentence he was referring to her as "a shocking cunt billionaire liar."
I am trying to think back to the Golden Age LCK refers to, when we were all just "friends with differences." The really unhinged era began in 2000, when Democrats convinced themselves that Dubya had stolen the election. Their rage at losing the WH then led to screams of George W. Bush is a Nazi, Cheney is a Nazi, McCain is a Nazi, Palin is a Nazi, Romney is a Nazi. (Although Bush, McCain and Romney have apparently dropped out of the Nazi Party for the time being because they hate Trump.) And here in Wisconsin, Walker became Hitler when he ran for governor, although he had served as Milwaukee County executive for years and nobody had picked up on his totalitarian tendencies at the time.
The second a Republican (any Republican, GOPe or not) decides to run for higher office - Instant Hitler!
Before 2000? In 1992, a liberal friend got so angry with me when I confessed I was thinking of holding my nose and voting for Bush I because Perot was crazy and Clinton was clearly a sleazebag that she walked out of a restaurant when we were waiting for a table. Remember how fresh and hip the Clintons seemed to a lot of people in 1992? A Boomer president instead of yet another stodgy WWII generation geezer! My (former) friend became furious at me for not loving the Clintons like she did, for seeing them though different eyes because that interfered with her idealized view of them. I saw the same attitude when Obama was running.
LCK is full of shit about this mythical era of civility, when Democrats and Republicans graciously agreed to differ. It didn't exist at any point in LCK's life, since he was born in 1967. His very earliest political memories would have been of Watergate, although I doubt he was paying much attention at that point, and then of Reagan's election when he was 13. You know, Ronnie Raygun, the idiot who hated poor people and was going to blow up the world?
We are seeing the rancid fruit of the seeds first planted by the Democrats in 1968, when the party became radicalized and the decision was made to focus on minorities and cultural issues instead of the bread-and-butter concerns of the white blue collar class. It took a while to turn things around - all those old WWII era geezers, old fashioned Dems like Scoop Jackson had to die off and be replaced with radical Boomers. But here we are and every GOP candidate is literally Hitler. Both LCK and Kasich are lying to themselves if they believe that the Son of the Mailman wouldn't have become Literally Hitler if he had won the nomination.
"I just donated to Planned Parenthood in [scholar's name]'s honor. Enjoy." Prog doing' the prog thing. It would be worth serious study: is such hateful intolerance more common on the left. Hypothesis: yes, by an order of magnitude. Maybe we can get Jonathan Haidt on the case.
On the one hand, Trump is fighting back. On the other hand, prog outrage is making them more violently intolerant. They will do anything to destroy him, and us deplorables. Only Oprah can save us.
Omg, I thought it was a potted plant. A cooking pot.
I haven’t followed the fast and furious avalanche of allegations, I’m working ten hour days, but I’m glad Althouse is, at least touching upon it, because I’m interested in where it comes from, mob actions. I want to be able to recognize it when I see it so I won’t be seduced by it.
I think if someone donates to a charity under someone else's name, and they put the deduction on their taxes, they should be charged with fraud.
Sorry, Althouse. Woke up this morning, padded downstairs in my fuzzy slippers and comfy terry robe, poured myself a cup of hot, delicious coffee, opened up the browser for some interesting morning reading, opened up Althouse...
Oh God, it's fucking Wankgate again. Thus the intemperate remarks, which (considering the content of this post) were a bit off-base. Rude of me to criticize the free ice cream. Sorry.
"If you think X is a monster, then X is different from you, over there and different ..."
As M. Sablan has remarked, that's just what is going on in excerpt you quote, except that the "monster" is Trump, and the person being normalized is Hitler. That's just fucking weird and scary.
Globalists think that if they erase national identities and boundaries they will eliminate war.
Yes, you'd think 1914 would have ended that idea. Germany's largest trading partners were England and France,
China is not building those false islands to increase exports.
I agree that Ann has been obsessed with celebrities for several months. Maybe it is the Hollywood sex scandals.
I still don;t know who Louis CK is and don;t want to know.
My wife and I did attend a performance of "Tosca" in the wilds of Tucson last night and that is enough, plus an occasional movie. I was thinking of going to "Murder on the Orient Express" but the reviews are terrible.
Comedians, no thank you. Laslo and Ammo Grrl on Powerline are enough for me.
We're all in this together, and I think that's what Louis CK is saying.
Yeah? So where are the attacks on Obama, Hillary or Bernie?
He's just calling the Right Deplorables in a longer form format.
There are no monsters. Stop feeling the security. of believing there are monsters.
Bullshit. Hitler was a monster. Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Guervera, and Amin were monsters.
"Ms. Althouse, I take you at your word. Yet your blog, which used to be about local politics and the college scene, is increasingly about celebrities (Louis CK, Kim Kardashian, "Caitlin" Jenner, Taylor Swift) and YouTube videos. It has become much less interesting as a result. If I wanted that fluff I would read Entertainment Weekly."
What's your idea of what's interesting? You refer to some earlier time when the subject matter here was more to your liking, but this blog has been consistent in the mix of topics over a period of 14 years, so I don't know what you're talking about. If you want a lot of politics all the time, this was never your blog, and this particular post is right in the zone of subject matter that I've been doing all along.
Oh, I see a line I missed: "which used to be about local politics and the college scene..."
I think your memory is faulty. Local politics? What are you even thinking of there? I'm almost completely uninterested in the specifics of local politics. I followed the Wisconsin protests in 2011 because they were a fantastic photo-op right down the street.
The "college scene"... don't even know what that means except photos of the UW campus. Maybe you mean the "law school" scene....
I am trying to think back to the Golden Age LCK refers to, when we were all just "friends with differences." The really unhinged era began in 2000,
I think it goes back to 1964 and the Daisy Ad.
Some things Althouse writes about interest me; others do not. A little bit of Dylan goes a long way with me. (I've always preferred Leonard Cohen.) I don't comment in some threads that do interest me because I see someone else has made my point for me, and usually better than I can. If I am not interested in the topic, I don't comment. Is that hard? Bitching about the topics a blogger chooses to write about reminds me of the boring people who inevitably jump into any baseball thread to announce that baseball is boring. I don't have the urge to tell soccer fans that I find soccer boring. Why piss on their enjoyment?
The masturbation he performed for us is actually extremely well-done, and full of twists and turns and images that I loved getting the chance to see.
He explained to us how his dick is actually a lollypop. I found that fascinating, and worth considering as an alternative interpretation and a unique idea, something you should consider before lazily falling back into your well-worn world view.
LCK has some interesting points, but mostly I think he is just drawing the reader in with what are essentially rhetorical tricks:
1. False modesty, "I swear this isn’t really a political opinion. You don’t want to know my political opinions. (And I know that I’m only bringing myself trouble with this shit.)"
2. Fake moderation: "...I wish the next president was a conservative only because we had Obama for eight years and we need balance."
The thing is that Romney was both literally and metaphorically an Eagle Scout: Yet he was an extreme right wing Hitler. Trump, for all his bombastic ways, is the most liberal Republican since Nixon.
Leftists want to always seem like it is reasonable this time (it is always this time) to make an exception to the idea that it is our turn.
It is better to get this stuff out in the open, even when if writing it or speaking extemporaneously you aren't certain if posterity may one day conclude it is worthy of a label of Better Than Nothing, contra Ingraham's shut up and sing schtick.
Why not want to hear what entertainers think of you, especially when N A S T Y? Why encourage them to be smart and hide their contempt and hate? We should salvate at the thought of their long proggie necks sticking out opinions.
Don't you wanna know 1) who your money is going to 2) remarks, even off-hand, that can help you assess the culture the make-believe is created amongst and 3) who is respectful of you enough to not go out of their way to let you know numbers 1 and 2?
Yeah, I got it. Trump is Hitler. Neither Trump nor Hitler are/were monsters.
But Hitler killed 6 million of his own people. Hitler plunged the world into the most destructive war of all time.
But NOT a monster?
OK, no scales, fangs or leathery wings. I get that, but monsters take many forms.
[As an aside, I don't care for Kasich. But he should be happy his campaign died off. If not he'd be a Hitler AND not president.]
My employees can no longer afford even shitty health insurance, despite the fact that I pay 60% of their premium. Even the cheapest plans are virtually useless. Government officials now have precedent to use government bureaucracy like the IRS, EPA, and intelligence agencies as weapons against the citizens, and they have seen others in their positions ignore congressional orders, and refuse legal authorities, lie openly to the public on important issues, pass immensely damaging laws without even reading them, and make law from the executive branch, while convincing foreign powers that we are spineless, can be ignored, and are easily bought off, and he thinks Trump is a problem? How conveniently narrow-minded, and uninformed.
"which used to be about local politics and the college scene..."
All of these people just want Althouse to stop writing about what she prefers to write about. Even when they fail miserably at faking authenticity. Kind of weird. I guess there just aren't any other blogs.
This whole "not a monster" is either about playing with the meaning of words to make distinctions without differences, or aimed at small children.
AA: I'm interested in understanding America. The idea that the degenerates are on the other side is self-flattering. It's as bad as saying "basket of deplorables." We're all in this together, and I think that's what Louis CK is saying.
This is a non sequitur in the context of this particular exchange, but OK, it's on-topic for the thread. So, in that context, no, Louis CK isn't saying anything original here, he's just throwing in some sloppy "we're all human" bromides and amid the standard brainless "OMG Trump is so dangerous" stuff. "We're all in this together". Oh, OK, that's a novel observation. Totally sheds new light on the problems we face. It's not that we have serious, consequential differences of opinion about "the way things ought to be", it's that we don't think people with whom we have those profound disagreements are human. Yeah, that's the problem.
And your expansion on this theme @9:04 is monstrously trite. The fundamental theme itself ( that "the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being", etc., etc.) is not false or trivial (if hardly novel), but where are you and this guy going with it? It's all bar-room rambling and church-lady sermonizing - which *is* false and trivial.
If you don't think our "othering" each other really explains much about our current divisions, "then you can't be so comfortable".
"Stop feeling the security of believing" that it's just a matter of us not recognizing that we're all in this together...
The thing is that Romney was both literally and metaphorically an Eagle Scout: Yet he was an extreme right wing Hitler.
I have yet to see a Leftwing analysis of the election that says:
"You know, maybe the way we treated Bush, McCain and Romney had something to do with the election of Trump......"
Gahrie said...
I think it goes back to 1964 and the Daisy Ad.
11/12/17, 9:44 AM
You're probably right about that. I'm not old enough to remember the '64 campaign, but I've read about it and yes, Goldwater was portrayed as a bloodthirsty racist extremist who was going to kill us all. (With Nelson Rockefeller playing the role of the moderate voice of reason, speaking truth to the extremist loons in his own party.) And once again, in due time, he became a respected elder statesman - when he criticized the Religion Right.
I don't remember any great animus against Ford, although the Chevy Chase portrayal of him of a hapless klutz on SNL was, in retrospect, stupidly nasty. Ford had been a gifted college athlete. He could have been a pro football player if he had chosen that route. Ford, a very decent man, was perhaps too bland to inspire hatred He also wasn't around for very long.
tim in vermont: All of these people just want Althouse to stop writing about what she prefers to write about.
While continually reading and posting in threads they keep insisting are totally boring and obsessive and of no interest to them.
If you don't think our "othering" each other really explains much about our current divisions,
Othering is a basic and fundamental aspect of human nature. It probably goes back to the 200,000 years man spent as hunter-gathers competing for scarce resources in a cold world.
The magic of the United States was the rejection of othering and the idea that we could become one people, E pluribus unum.
Unfortunately the Left has never accepted that idea, and has been effectively destroying that idea for well over a century.
Using reasonable sounding words is now the verbal version of a jacket you wear over your explosive vest. At least Trump wears his on the outside, which I prefer in those wishing to influence and control me.
"I agree that Ann has been obsessed with celebrities for several months. Maybe it is the Hollywood sex scandals."
What you regard as "the Hollywood sex scandals", Althouse (If you insist on calling her Ann, at least call her Ann Adair) regards as a welcome and long-overdue change in social and professional mores. Certainly, the mob is hunting a new species of witch these days. I guess "racism" was wearing a little thin. And I have to admit, I had no idea of the extent to which these guys were abusing their positions, and these chicks were putting up with it.
It was kind of a long read, but he did make one good point;
"I’m an idiot and I’m sure a bunch of you are very annoyed by this. Fucking celebrity with an opinion."
You tell 'em, Louis-Louis!
Just now I'm reading a biography of Lenin. Granted Lenin wasn't Hitler or even Stalin, but he was the worst that was on offer in 1917. He was the first ruler of the 20th century to use mass terror as an instrument of governance. What was striking was not that he was so ruthless and wrong headed, but that so many otherwise sensible intellectuals considered him to be both a visionary and a practical man of affairs. H.G. Wells didn't share Lenin's Marxism, but he wrote about how level headed and open minded he appeared after his interview with him........They see Hitler everywhere, but are blind to the Lenin's in their midst. If Louis had done a set where he explained that like most ordinary guys he sometimes liked to wank one out in front of fans and admirers, but he's not like those Hollywood big shots who actually rape women, then I would be more accepting of his humble pilgrim pose. The fact is he worked in a cesspool, and he added his share to the contents of that cesspool.
I read it again. Every single point he makes is banal, stupid, and I think dishonest. He would never vote for a Republican, including Kasich, who could easily be a Democrat. The only point I think is really sincere is that he hates Trump. Very edgy.
I've read about it and yes, Goldwater was portrayed as a bloodthirsty racist extremist who was going to kill us all.
I remember it ell and I voted for Johnson, the only vote I regret. I voted for Johnson because Goldwater seemed so inept as a candidate.
It seemed like getting nominated was all he was after.
Recently, I've been reading (via audio books) Robert Caro's biography of Johnson. This pattern of massive overkill and personal destruction of opponents was a pattern of Johnson's life. It went back to college when he threatened to embarrass a girl involved in a school election at the little college they both attended who had claimed to someone that she went to U of Texas, a much more prestigious school. He destroyed her and she dropped out. He did the same thing in the Senate,
Johnson was a real sociopath. Most of that probably came from him as it was his pattern.
a liberal friend got so angry with me
Wow, I think I know your friend!
H.G. Wells didn't share Lenin's Marxism, but he wrote about how level headed and open minded he appeared after his interview with him.
Wells was pretty far left and part of the whole "Progressive" thing in the early 20th century.
He was also part of the free love movement of that time.
and these chicks were putting up with it.
I've been told we're not supposed to call them chicks anymore.
A new twist on Trump is literally Hitler trope? No thanks, I'm good.
The whole thing is stupid.
The point he makes about everyone having potential for evil is ruined by the analogy to Hitler because anyone who failed to see the danger of his rise just wasn't paying attention. It really doesn't matter if you view dangerous leaders like that as inhuman evil monsters or just deeply flawed humans- the only thing that matters is whether or not the evil acts can be foreseen by what is already in public view when they arrive on the scene. What is the dangerous ideology espoused by Trump? He's the least ideological Republican we've had in a long time, indeed even eschewing some Republican policy positions that liberals have been opposing for a long time.
And then there's the fact that he himself "others" Trump by announcing him as an unacceptable candidate.
And then there's the faux concern about needing balance, which to CK means that he'd be ok with "conservative" presidents who are centrists like Kasich. It's telling that he didn't say he'd be ok with an actual conservative candidate who could respectably represent the conservative views, like Cruz.
Also telling that everything he thinks about Trump being an unacceptable candidate for left wing people is exactly how right wing people feel about Hillary Clinton, whom he "likes".
If we're Nazi Germany, does that mean he thinks that the Obama administration was the Weimar Republic? Sure the economy was bad, people hated and mistrusted the government, and the politicians made decisions that were not in the best interest of the citizens, but is it really fair to imply they were Weimar bad?
I'm reasonably sure that Althouse bought the Trump is Hitler meme very early on. But she did a very quiet volte face very early on. It's in her archives, if you care to look.
The words and thoughts of a true jerk-off artist.
Louis C.K. was ankle deep in the cesspool, but considered the cesspool to be a soapbox. I don't think we should look to the entertainment industry for moral or political guidance.
Careful, Professor. A few more posts like this and you won't be getting many Amazon port hole clicks. It's like you don't even realize this is a conservative blog.
Howard, it's not like Althouse has never been at odds with her conservative readers before.
Althouse provides the wind, we tack against it. I guess Howard mostly likes blogs where his ideas are never questioned.
Don't cry. Dry your eyes. You still have Obama's Trail of Tears from Mogadishu to Tripoli to Damascus to Kiev to Berlin.
And the Obamacare-gap seems to have investors from left, right, and center.
As does immigration reform (i.e. emigration, refugee crises)) in second and third-world nations.
And Gore is still pushing the prophecy of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming.
Also, abortion rites, Planned Parenthood, and diversity, adopted from Germany's National Socialists, is a progressive condition.
So, there is still Hope.
Just to illustrate the point Misplaced raised, from NYT OpEd today:
"But the deepest rift is with the apologists, the “good” Trump voters, the white people who understand that Mr. Trump says “unfortunate” things but support him because they like what he says on jobs and taxes. They bristle at the accusation that they supported racism, insisting they had to ignore Mr. Trump’s ugliness. Relying on everyday decency as a shield, they are befuddled at the chill that now separates them from black people in their offices and social circles. They protest: Have they ever said anything racist? Don’t they shovel the sidewalk of the new black neighbors? Surely, they say, politics — a single vote — does not mean we can’t be friends.
I do not write this with liberal condescension or glee. My heart is unbearably heavy when I assure you we cannot be friends.
The same is true, unfortunately, of those who hold no quarter for Mr. Trump but insist that black people need to do the reaching out, the moderating, the accommodating. Imagine the white friend during the civil rights era who disliked blacks’ being beaten to death but wished the whole thing would just settle down. However likable, you could not properly describe her as a friend. Sometimes politics makes demands on the soul.
Don’t misunderstand: White Trump supporters and people of color can like one another. But real friendship? Mr. Trump’s bruised ego invents outrageous claims of voter fraud, not caring that this rhetoric was built upon dogs and water hoses set on black children and even today the relentless effort to silence black voices. His macho talk about “law and order” does not keep communities safe and threatens the very bodies of the little boys I love. No amount of shoveled snow makes it all right, and too many imagine they can have it both ways. It is this desperation to reap the rewards of white power without being so much as indicted that James Baldwin recognized as America’s criminal innocence.
For African-Americans, race has become a proxy not just for politics but also for decency."
"it only works if the conservatives put up a good candidate. A good smart conservative to face the liberal candidate so they can have a good argument and the country can decide which way to go this time. Trump is not that. He’s an insane bigot. He is dangerous.... Please pick someone else. Like John Kasich. I mean that guy seems okay. I don’t like any of them myself but if you’re that kind of voter please go for a guy like that. It feels like between him and either democrat we’d have a decent choice."
Note he doesn't seem to demand any specific quality from the "liberal" candidate..Hilary and Bernie equally "good".
BTW, Kasich's Dad worked for the post office.
Back in the day, Trump was endorsed by race hustler Al Sharpton...has a Jewish son in law as a close advisor.
I guess the accusation of bigotry is strictly referencing illegal and poorly vetted immigration.
"The passage above is actually extremely well-written and full of twists and turns and ideas that I loved getting the chance to read. Don't turn off just because you hate the Trump-is-Hitler meme. He does something different with that."
Although full of twists and turns, is was not well-written, and you and Louie may be the only ones who loved it. It was a huge waste time, and I will decline the link, thank you very much.
CK LITERALLY called Trump Hitler, told us not to vote for him, and then claimed that he wasn't saying anything political. When he says it would be ok for a Republican to be president, he means only if they nominate a "normal" Republican, that is, a Democrat. Like most liberals, CK seemed to be less against Trump than against he right of Deplorables to vote for whomever they choose for whatever reasons they think are important.
By saying "It was funny for awhile" CK is belittling Deplorables by calling their vote for Trump a joke. They were not joking, and his snide joke is not funny.
" It's like you don't even realize this is a conservative blog."
Howard, I think you don't understand. My impression has been that this is a libertarian blog.
The fact that Trump haters and other insane types come around and blather does not mean that most participants here are Conservatives, like Ricochet for example.
That is a blog with lots of NeverTrumpers and I was attacked so vigorously for once commenting that I would not wrote a letter of recommendation for an applicant to medical school who did not believe in evolution that I quit that blog for a year,
A lot of commenters here, like me, are pro-choice but draw the line at 20 weeks.
The level of Trump hate distorts politics so much that it blurs the lines on the right.
The Democrat Party has pretty much adopted Socialism. I have two daughters that are lefties and they pretty much support the concepts of Socialism. One is a government employee and the other is an art world type.
Religious people, Jew and Christian, pretty much support conservatives and Trump. I;m not particularly religious but I understand why.
The left has adopted the Culture War and is intolerant of anyone who questions its dogma.
Personally, I think the left is isolating itself but that is what identity politics does.
"When he says it would be ok for a Republican to be president, he means ...."
that he would be happy if the Republicans ran a candidate he only disliked, but did not distress him. And that the candidate would lose.
[You will note he did not say he votes R occasionally to aid in that all so important balance. The Ying-Yuck of public service.]
“My impression has been that this is a libertarian blog.”
Althouse isn’t a libertarian, no more than she is a liberal. I see her as a person who likes seeing things in her own way and for her own purposes which may change from time to time.
“A lot of commenters here, like me, are pro-choice but draw the line at 20 weeks.”
That’s simply not true, you and I and a few other pro choice commenters are most definitely in the minority here.
“The Democrat Party has pretty much adopted Socialism. I have two daughters that are lefties and they pretty much support the concepts of Socialism. One is a government employee and the other is an art world type.”
The FBI agent you’ve spoken of so many times?
I do think it’s interesting that there seem to be an increasing number of commenters here who are bored with the many posts about celebrity sexual scandals.
Uh....Ann....
Weinstein then proceeded to expose himself to Sivan and began to masturbate. Sivan said she was deeply shocked by Weinstein’s behavior and was frozen and didn’t know what to do or say. The incident in the vestibule didn’t last long. Sivan says Weinstein ejaculated quickly into a potted plant that was in the vestibule and then proceeded to zip up his pants and they walked back into the kitchen.
Was this later corrected? I only ask because this is a somewhat iconic image to which I frequently make reference.
- Krumhorn
This is where the actual hate is, the actual Nazi shit, and I can't understand why so many lefties can't see it.
Misplaced, this can be explained as the result of the generalized belief of the lefties that they have a locked-down monopoly on virtue. When we sneer down our collective prog snouts at the deplorables convinced in our superiority, we have no awareness of our fashionably matched brown shirts, our pitchforks, and our wild eyes filled with pure hate and malevolence.
- Krumhorn
For African-Americans, race has become a proxy not just for politics but also for decency."
Meaning, I suppose, White people are indecent?
Perhaps because of their racism?
Sounds legit to me!
It's like you don't even realize this is a conservative blog.
It's not the blog that's conservative...it's most of the people who post comments that are conservative.
Jesus, you people are so serious about the most trivial issues. You don't need to explain yourselves explicitly, you do that well enough responding to Herr Professors articles.
Blogger tim in vermont said...Althouse provides the wind, we tack against it. I guess Howard mostly likes blogs where his ideas are never questioned.
Do you see the irony here, Tim?
"Althouse isn’t a libertarian, no more than she is a liberal. "
I have been under the impression for years that she is libertarian.
Why not ask her,?
Althouse wrote:
“This is what I felt back in 2007 when I had my in-person interactions with a group of libertarians. From the archive:
"Where I was when I was out of my milieu."
"Responding to Jonah's response to that hot diavlog."
"Here's the post where I take on Ron Bailey of Reason Magazine."
"Adler, Drezner, and Levy try to close the glass window on debate, and I say, Aw, come on, you're not gonna say that now."
To put it very plainly and simply, to me, the libertarians lacked humanity and they were using their pride in their commitment to abstract ideas to resist examining the reasons why they liked the ideas they were wedded to. I think people like that would be very dangerous if they had political power. Intellectually, as people to converse with, I found them cold and rigid, not interested in talking about anything on the level that I am seeking, and creepily eager to insult me for being on the wrong level.”
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2015/06/why-are-libertarians-mostly-dudes.html
LOL!
It turns out that you Michael K, were the very first commenter on that thread.
COMMENTS:
1 – 200 of 215 Newer› Newest»
Michael K said...
Repeal the 19th !
Maybe men are smarter ?
6/5/15, 10:56 AM
From that thread in 2015:
Ann Althouse said...
"Michael K beat me to it. Most women simply aren't as intelligent and are too focused on touchy-feelings that distract from their view of reality. Law professor women clearly are not excepted because they mistake a rational perspective for lacking in humanity."
I consider the belief in your strict rationality to be an emotional phenomenon accompanied by emotional blindness. I think that is both dangerous (in power) and boring (in conversation).
6/5/15, 11:32 AM
More from that thread, good stuff:
Ann Althouse said...
"Most women simply aren't as intelligent..."
Aren't as intelligent as what, most men?
So what? Every individual is at some level of intelligence (or varying levels relating to various mental tasks).
I think libertarians are simplifying the mental tasks they face, and one reason they may like being libertarian is that it allows them to feel intelligent. It's just like the way I feel physically stronger when I choose a flat terrain for my walks.
The idea that libertarians are mostly men because men are more intelligent is ludicrous. It would make more sense to say libertarians are mostly men because men lack emotional intelligence. Or: because men are more afraid of appearing unintelligent. Or: because men are more interested in having tools that make them feel dominant.
6/5/15, 11:38 AM
I have been under the impression for years that she is libertarian.
Althouse claims to be libertarian, but loses her shit whenever she actually around any of them.
I consider the belief in your strict rationality to be an emotional phenomenon accompanied by emotional blindness.
This is the type of absurd bullshit that leads me, sadly, to ask that we repeal the 19th Amendment.
Belief in rationality is an emotional phenomena?
Emotional blindness?
The idea that libertarians are mostly men because men are more intelligent is ludicrous.
True. The real reason is that women are too obsessed with the feelz.
It would make more sense to say libertarians are mostly men because men lack emotional intelligence.
Sure...if you're obsessed with feelz that is.
Or: because men are more afraid of appearing unintelligent.
No...in that case they'd be obsessed with the feelz.
Or: because men are more interested in having tools that make them feel dominant.
Patriarchy!!!!!!
I'm just glad that no woman ever was interested in dominating anything.
Isn't it nice of Hollywood stars to take time out from raping each other land molesting children to lecture us on our faults?
Read that somewhere and thought it fit perfectly here.
@Sydney said...
What is the evidence that Trump is a bigot? I have never understood that accusation.
One of the many synonyms for bigot is "monomaniac" from the word "monomania" which is a form of partial insanity conceived as a single pathological preoccupation in an otherwise sound mind.
Who doesn't know that Donald Trump is totally preoccupied with his extreme narcissism, bordering on solipsism - which blinds him from realities outside of his own mind? He truly is not in control of his emotions and thought patterns - and the condition makes him dangerous to our safety and even our very existence.
Inga is all emotion, no brain.
"Althouse claims to be libertarian, ..."
I've never heard her claim to be a libertarian.
He he he. FACT: Men are more emotional than women, it's just that women are not afraid to express their emotions. This is why the great creatives are men. Women don't have the physical strength coupled with their responsibilities birthing and raising babies, they cannot afford to have the flights of fancy that men abscess over.
Re the Trump-as-Hitler theme so beloved by the Stupid Left, on tonight's episode of "The Simpsons," one character referred to Kellyanne
Conway as "the female Goebbels." Really. I mean, that's so stupid I doubt that even Robert Cook would buy into it, even as a joke. (Inga, maybe.) I would be willing to bet my bippy that if you examined the beliefs of the show's writers they would almost certainly be "liberal," i. e. statist; and therefore almost certainly closer on the Statist Scale to Goebbels than Miss Conway. In fact, like Trump, if she were more of a statist, they'd probably like her better.
One of the many synonyms for bigot is "monomaniac" from the word "monomania" which is a form of partial insanity conceived as a single pathological preoccupation in an otherwise sound mind.
Citation please.
But even if true, it's just handwaving to distract from the fact that you have no evidence that he actually is a bigot.
Monomania is not a synonym for bigot.
When you believe in limited government, have no constitution, keeping your hands off the marketplace, letting people deal with the consequences of their actions, pragmatism, the NHS,, a queen with no power to speak of and a senate whose members have lifetime tenure what do you get in the best case? Thatcherism. about as close to a libertarian there’s ever been, and I think our reflects our host’s sensibilities.
"I think libertarians are simplifying the mental tasks they face, and one reason they may like being libertarian is that it allows them to feel intelligent."
One reason I lean libertarian is that I know I'm not intelligent enough to be making decisions for other people. You don't seem to be limited by such doubts.
Thatcherism. about as close to a libertarian there’s ever been, and I think our reflects our host’s sensibilities.
Thatcher was not a libertarian, she was a conservative and a Conservative. She also really didn't give a shit about feelings, and would strongly reject our host's insensibilities.
"What is the evidence that Trump is a bigot? I have never understood that accusation.
One of the many synonyms for bigot is "monomaniac" from the word "monomania" which is a form of partial insanity conceived as a single pathological preoccupation in an otherwise sound mind.
Who doesn't know that Donald Trump is totally preoccupied with his extreme narcissism, bordering on solipsism - which blinds him from realities outside of his own mind? He truly is not in control of his emotions and thought patterns - and the condition makes him dangerous to our safety and even our very existence."
First of all, no it is not a synonym for bigotry.
Secondly, please enlighten us about the many hours you spent with President Trump on your couch to come to this diagnosis, Herr Doktor.
Howard said...
Jesus, you people are so serious about the most trivial issues. You don't need to explain yourselves explicitly, you do that well enough responding to Herr Professors articles.
11/12/17, 6:24 PM
At long last, not satisfied with telling the hostess how to post, now you instruct the commenters how to comment. Good luck with that.
"One reason [libertarians] . . . like to be libertarians is that it makes them feel intelligent." Actually it's intelligence that makes libertarians feel intelligent. At least that's been my experience. And it's hard not to feel proud of it when you consider the drivel most people believe. If, for example, you're a "liberal" or some other form of State-cultist, you've been swilling a type of snake oil even the least educated hillbilly inbred is too savvy to swallow.
Interesting to read, sure.
But at its heart, his screed makes him out to be a sniveling whiner. God, he ought to have just put a cork in it.
Thatcher was pragmatic. No conservative would have put up with the NHS or going to war with Argentina over nothing save the conviction that this is what it would take to stay in office, and she was the only one fit to lead it. Ditto Reagan. Thou shalt not say anything negative about another Republican is not a conservative sentiment. Think McCain or Bush 1, the spy master and his son. And we think Putin is bad. At least he hasn't had as many people killed as Bush senior, out of necessity no less. A true pragmatist. Recovering by putting these agencies back on their feet after the democrats with malice demolished them post Nixon for doing nothing more than LBJ did, handing out walking around money from a safe that Langley kept stocked, when not pilfering the other parties' secrets.
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