Althouse: "People who get easily outraged are the stupidest people on social media... It's just very low-level thinking. These are the foot-soldiers in the mob..."

June 6, 2019

"People who get easily outraged are the stupidest people on social media... It's just very low-level thinking. These are the foot-soldiers in the mob..."

This is a long and very high-quality podcast. I clipped out one part that I especially liked:

105 comments:

Bay Area Guy said...: I am outraged by this podcast!

Joe Rogan is pretty darn good. He comes off as a common sense, non-expert on most topics, which allows him to have good discussions on such topics.

Not to drag politics into every conservation, but ya gotta admit that almost all the outrage mob (pussy hats, Antifa, BLM, earth day, pie in the faces, etc, etc) is comprised of Leftist morons.; 6/6/19, 11:41 AM
Michael K said...: This is along the lines of "The Tsugi Tube Theory," which we all used to joke about. A cardiac surgeon I knew named Harold Tsugi had this theory that the mind is a long tube and, once it gets filled with information, every new fact learned makes something fall out the other end.; 6/6/19, 11:57 AM
joshbraid said...: The point about carefully crafting the "news" product to stimulate and addict is very astute. Does our society really want to support those who make money from helping to addict people to their stimulant? I hope the answer is "no" yet it appears to be "yes".; 6/6/19, 11:58 AM
mandrewa said...: So I just saw the excerpt. Now I have to see the whole thing.

But that was really good! I've never thought of it that way.

That's now part of my thinking about how the world works. It is so clearly true.; 6/6/19, 11:59 AM
TickTock said...: @Michael K,

I believe Sherlock Holmes had a similar perspective ...; 6/6/19, 12:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Wow... The guy's a menace. Predicable Thought Police talking points. I'm sure Leftists love him. Scary person.
This is the Central Scrutinizer...
It is my responsibility to enforce all the laws
That haven't been passed yet
It is also my responsibility to alert each and every one of you
To the potential consequences
Of various ordinary everyday activities
You might be performing which could eventually lead to
The death penalty - or affect your parents' credit rating...
Our criminal institutions are full of little creeps like you
Who do wrong things; 6/6/19, 12:03 PM
rehajm said...: Do I want to work with this person? Do I want to associate with this person? Their mind is just cluttered with junk.

Problem is many times these people are not foot soldiers in society they are officers: Captains, Majors, Brigadiers.; 6/6/19, 12:11 PM
rehajm said...: I think Facebook and Twitter and a bunch of these other social media platforms are committing slow motion suicide

Faster please.; 6/6/19, 12:16 PM
Lucid-Ideas said...: This is why Twitter has been so toxic quite frankly. Twitter was built and designed for this very thing. As a Trump supporter who understands the power to 'get around' the gate-keepers it has provided him even I have said for god's sake why did he say that? But you have to remember that Obama had is gaffe moments too. Grain o' salt.

Those with power aside, it has genuinely enabled others - the 'never happies' - to lynch, dox, and attack many, many of whom don't even use the platform.

Twitter is a poo-flinging device that enables psychotic apes to fling poo with never before seen speed. Maybe the solution is creating a high-tech 'poo' shield that isn't called 'Jack Dorsey'.; 6/6/19, 12:17 PM
Fernandinande said...: "People who get easily outraged are the stupidest people on social media...

Here's another assertion:

"If You're Not Outraged, You're Not Paying Attention"; 6/6/19, 12:21 PM
rehajm said...: the left wants to take down the right, the right wants to take down the left

He gets that wrong. The right wants the same platform as the left.; 6/6/19, 12:22 PM
eddie willers said...: I believe Sherlock Holmes had a similar perspective ...

He likened it to an attic. It could only hold so much.; 6/6/19, 12:26 PM
tim maguire said...: I like Joe Rogan, but he pumps out about 4 hours of podcasts a week and who's got time for that?; 6/6/19, 12:31 PM
Fernandinande said...: "If you pay attention to [24 hour/day news feed/obsession], it will eventually drive you insane. This goes back to Clockwork Orange where he has his eyes opened up and he's forced to watch the news."

I suppose Naval Ravikant is not the name of a salt-water resistant paint, but it should be because this guy is not very good.; 6/6/19, 12:31 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/6/19, 12:33 PM
Anonymous said...: I can see some people I know to be smart, well educated and well read that exhibit none of that on social media. The non-election of HRC made politics an obsession. Posting some link to an article about any thing that goes after the right as if its a fact.; 6/6/19, 12:35 PM
Unknown said...: Definitely worth the time to watch in toto. My favorite section begins at 1:17.05.; 6/6/19, 12:37 PM
Howard said...: Naval makes a strong argument how reading something like the Althouse comments causes brain damage and mental illnesses in the same way Alex is deprogrammed in A Clockwork Orange; 6/6/19, 12:38 PM
n.n said...: Every so often there will be people who manage to leave the continuum and enter hyperspace. Of course, we are not gods or goddesses, not even Q, let alone God, and we can only realize partial emancipation and even then with irregular bursts.; 6/6/19, 12:42 PM
Quaestor said...: Howard wrote: Naval makes a strong argument how reading something like the Althouse comments causes brain damage and mental illnesses in the same way Alex is deprogrammed in A Clockwork Orange

Howard's cry for help.; 6/6/19, 12:51 PM
tim maguire said...: stever said...I can see some people I know to be smart, well educated and well read that exhibit none of that on social media.

It's actually hard to not be a dumbass on Twitter. But some people really handle it well. So it can be done.; 6/6/19, 12:51 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Personally, I don't want to "take down the Left"

I'd prefer that they just shut the fuck up and get jobs --in the private sector.; 6/6/19, 12:52 PM
bleh said...: Althouse, did you listen to the entire podcast? Rogan's guest makes, I think, very compelling points about the lack of objectivity in the media and how the Internet has changed everything -- and why your complacency or satisfaction with the actions of YouTube/Google is sorely misplaced.; 6/6/19, 12:56 PM
Mid-Life Lawyer said...: Interesting common sense stuff. I got off Twitter about a year ago. I miss it for things that I love to keep up with and the Twitter's ability to deliver information quickly. Track and Field events, for example, as many of those events are not televised and the results are often not available immediately but someone will usually be tweeting live. I even miss it for the toxic politics, but I occasionally miss crack cocaine as well although I'm very aware it's not good for me.; 6/6/19, 12:59 PM
rhhardin said...: There are mobs on the right. Ed Driscoll at Insty specializes in click-baiting them.; 6/6/19, 1:02 PM
rhhardin said...: Outrage is an etymological mistake in the first place.

It comes from French outre, beyond what is proper. Using the wrong fork, wearing black socks in tennis.

Made into a noun with -age, English notices "rage." Wearing black socks is an outrage, and the reaction to it is rage.

Not one person in ten notices that the thing that's improper and the reaction to it are two different things, not a single one called "outrage."

This is so useful - what is improper deserves rage - that the word was reimported back into French.

If you commit something outre, you can expect rage.; 6/6/19, 1:06 PM
rhhardin said...: On not finishing books, I always finish them; furthermore there are notes in the margin to serve as an index for refinding stuff.

I'd like to see this guy read Derrida.; 6/6/19, 1:09 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “I believe Sherlock Holmes had a similar perspective ...”

I use this with some frequency. My partner had a photographic memory when younger (she claims to still have such, but that is her own hallucination). So, on a fairly regular basis, she will ask me how many times has she told me something that she thinks that I should know. I usually pick some random number out of thin air, such as maybe “7”. I almost always pick an odd number, and tend towards primes. (She on the other hand requires even numbers to be comfortable). Rarely mentioned any more is that if I don’t remember the required factoid, I very likely don’t remember how many times she told me factoid in the past. It is at this point, if she insists on pursuing this line of discussion that I, on occasion, bring in Sherlock Homes. This is, of course, unfair, since she loved his ability to solve mysteries with his observational abilities, likely believing that she could do the same. And I had the audacity of using him to bolster by point, and hence why she, at times, considers my approach to arguments unfair.; 6/6/19, 1:10 PM
MayBee said...: I completely agree. It's too bad the outrage mobs have so much power.

Companies really need to start learning how to deal with this. Hint: Like Trump in 2016 dealt with all of the many calls to stop running for president, or apologize.; 6/6/19, 1:16 PM
rhhardin said...: I gather Naval is a professional smart person. I.e. a scatterbrain.

Actual smart person for comparison, listen to Richard Epstein on rule of law
https://www.econtalk.org/epstein-on-the-rule-of-law/

a guy who finishes books.; 6/6/19, 1:21 PM
Unknown said...: "I gather Naval is a professional smart person. I.e. a scatterbrain.

Actual smart person for comparison, listen to Richard Epstein on rule of law"

I gather from your comments you're not a person who finishes podcasts. AMIRITE? ;); 6/6/19, 1:24 PM
Carol said...: I don't think I know anyone who's that much into social media and meets that description of continual outrage. And I live on Twitter. Who is he talking about? Is he conflating all sorts of accounts into one Outraged Person? I assume most people can put the phone down and go about their business.

But I'm just here in Bumfuck Montana.; 6/6/19, 1:26 PM
rhhardin said...: He's not very good at what it's like working for a large company. You're only a cog in a machine if you choose that career path. If you stay at what you like doing, all the administrative load is removed from you by bosses that actually work for you.; 6/6/19, 1:31 PM
rhhardin said...: All the "what is intelligence" and AI stuff is sophomoric.; 6/6/19, 1:40 PM
rhhardin said...: "Being good at Go doesn't mean you can create great poetry."

The great poetry cliche.; 6/6/19, 1:42 PM
traditionalguy said...: The Internet has changed everything the same way Printing press once changed everything. Now everybody learns truth from the shared effect of masses of educated sources. That effectually sets the slaves free. Slave Masters then demand Mass Censorship or they will kill the system. But Trump says no way because he is a product of the Reformed Calvinist knowledge the Printing Press first set loose.; 6/6/19, 1:47 PM
rhhardin said...: "it's a positive sum game. You create something brand new and you exchange it with me for something brand new I've created a higher utility for both of us the sum of the value created is positive"

He has no idea what he's talking about. The system depends not on a higher value but differing values between the traders. A middleman creates wealth by finding people with stuff they're happy to exchange leaving both better off even after taking a cut for himself.; 6/6/19, 1:48 PM
rhhardin said...: You can't be racist if you're white.; 6/6/19, 1:52 PM
n.n said...: What a day to insult "foot soldiers" ...

In a mob. Supposedly, the soldiers had better motivations, and, hopefully, exhibited better conduct, as much as that is possible in that particular frame of reference.; 6/6/19, 2:06 PM
Sebastian said...: "People who get easily outraged are the stupidest people on social media... It's just very low-level thinking. These are the foot-soldiers in the mob..."

Yes, they are foot soliders. No, they are not stupid: the prog culture war works. Their outrage is a tool to scorch the earth. Their low-level thinking is good enough.; 6/6/19, 2:15 PM
readering said...: Does this mean I will be the brunt of less outrage on this social media site from now on?

Hah, no.; 6/6/19, 2:25 PM
MadisonMan said...: I like Joe Rogan, but he pumps out about 4 hours of podcasts a week and who's got time for that?

Yes. Every time I listen I learn something, and it's fun to listen to. But I have no time for it. Maybe when I'm retired and walking around town :); 6/6/19, 2:28 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: interesting--not to be considered 'Naval'-gazing

decades ago, either Sci/Am or PsychologyToday had a piece that related--
A point made was, in times before far-reaching media, you could only be
exposed to news that was within your sphere of influence. What you heard
about was most likely something you could do something about.
Today, as cited in the video, being overwhelmed by far-flung reports is
too much for our capacity. This was seen as a cause for feelings of
impotency and thus potential rage.; 6/6/19, 2:30 PM
stevew said...: Depends. Are the easily outraged doing it out of a real, emotional reaction to something or for a social and political purpose? The former are stupid people, the latter are gamers.; 6/6/19, 2:30 PM
Francisco D said...: Does this mean I will be the brunt of less outrage on this social media site from now on?

Don't play the victim. No one is outraged with you.

They simply find your efforts at trolling to be childishly stupid.; 6/6/19, 2:34 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: I'm tired of the word "weaponized". You could say it outrages me. It seems to be used to mean "used in a way I don't like". Just like racism means "something I don't like".; 6/6/19, 2:35 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “I like Joe Rogan, but he pumps out about 4 hours of podcasts a week and who's got time for that?”

People who commute and people who work out. It’s great for that. Also for doing chores and personal grooming.

It’s better than music for these things, I think. I like audiobooks but they require a sustained attention that make them worse for all these things except walking and very unchallenging drives.; 6/6/19, 2:38 PM
readering said...: I interrupt the outrage to report that a kid from Monmouth County NJ is into the women's semis at the French Open. Now if they would only give the women the best court.; 6/6/19, 2:43 PM
bagoh20 said...: I admit that I too get outraged by something almost daily, but we can all tell you how serious the thing is we are outraged about. They are often very serious transgressions in serious areas. The thing is that our outrage usually amounts to no action, so that emotional energy is wasted and probably bad for us to experience so often, but are we to just not give a shit? Can you respect someone who is not outraged by a serious transgression against say the U.S. Constitution, a war, social upheavals, etc, becuase that's also pretty much the mindset of an idiot. I wish I could let it all slide, but can an intelligent, informed and passionate person really do that?

Maybe a wise one can, but if they never get pissed, they aren't much use to anyone, and are just furniture.; 6/6/19, 3:01 PM
Ken B said...: Fantastic. Thanks for this.; 6/6/19, 3:03 PM
Amadeus 48 said...: Man. There's a lot of outrage out there. There is a bit of outrage on this thread.

I don't think you need use Twitter/Facebook/Instagram to get the dopamine hit. I think you can get it from cruising the blogosphere. Shifting among Powerline/Althouse/Instagram/YahooFinancePortfolios/WSJ/SDA/Neo leaves me craving more stimulation faster. What's new? An hour later, I drag myself away from the laptop with nothing much to show for it.

Sad.; 6/6/19, 3:05 PM
PM said...: The coming onslaught of 5G radiation levels might thin out the mobs.; 6/6/19, 3:05 PM
Narr said...: My working theory since the age of about 16 is that at any given moment, 80-95% of humans are some combination or compound of stupid, crazy, and evil.

Today stupid, crazy, and evil have all the time and technology in the world on their side.

Narr
Trying not to be part of the inferno; 6/6/19, 3:09 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: has the threshold of what is 'outrageous' been lowered?
Has cheapening the meaning of certain things contributed to this?
(ie: 'Nazis'-- 75 years ago that meant something waaaay different
than today); 6/6/19, 3:11 PM
Browndog said...: I had no idea who Rogan was, until he appeared on Louder with Crowder. They had a bit of a falling out, but Rogan came back on months later, and agreed to disagree--hatchet buried.

The highest rated Rogan podcast was his epic interview with Alex Jones after he had been banned from every social media outlet.

Recently, Jourdan Peterson hosted a podcast with the first of the first banned names--Milo.

Early on, Peterson dismissed Milo as a 'crash and burn' insignificant player. Peterson left with a new found respect.

Oh-the first time I've ever heard of this Milo guy was an interview (Louder with Crowder) with Milo. I didn't like his language, but understood he was perceptive, intelligent, and made legit points.

More speech, not less.

The alternative to banning, stifling speech, is blood.

Althouse should know this--she's preached it for decades.; 6/6/19, 3:16 PM
bagoh20 said...: I have developed an outrage recently to Italian food like spaghetti, fettuccine, etc. Who ever thought that making food into long strings was a good idea. It's a pain in the ass to eat, and I can't do it without getting sauce all over me. It's impossible to eat lying down, or any position but hunched over your plate. Now, your ravioli, or meatballs, or gnocchi, now those are intelligent designs, but long strings of food with sauce on it? Really?; 6/6/19, 3:23 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: One of my pet peeves with the "LGBTQ" community is this instant outrage about everything Trump. I can't have a conversation without the hysterical outrage being directed towards me personally.

No appreciation that our leading diplomat in Europe is an openly gay married man, the US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who is also leading an international effort to decriminalize homosexuality. I'd think that might be a big deal for LGBTQ, but it isn't. Or I should say, it can't be.; 6/6/19, 3:25 PM
n.n said...: openly gay married man, the US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who is also leading an international effort to decriminalize homosexuality

Not the transgender spectrum generally? Not other orientations and marriage configurations? More "=". Baby steps, I suppose.; 6/6/19, 3:41 PM
J. Farmer said...: It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that." As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. "I find that offensive." It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I am offended by that." Well, so fucking what.

-Stephen Fry; 6/6/19, 3:44 PM
readering said...: bagoh the Chinese will be outraged by your statement on pasta. Marco Polo stole long stringy noodles from them. Put the blame where it is deserved!; 6/6/19, 3:47 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: is there a longing in the human psyche to be a champion of virtue and justice?

Does it require a set of ideals to uphold/fight for?
If so, what are the bases for theses ideals? Are they infallible?
Is consistent personal compliance to these ideals required,
or can you 'opt-out' when convenient?; 6/6/19, 3:53 PM
JackWayne said...: This is so boring in the sense of being common sense that I consider it fake news.; 6/6/19, 3:57 PM
Tommy Duncan said...: Speaking of outrages, did any Democrats travel to Normandy to pay homage on D-Day?; 6/6/19, 4:08 PM
bleh said...: Speaking of outrages, did any Democrats travel to Normandy to pay homage on D-Day?

Speaking of D-Day, I've seen a lot of garbage online lately about how the Soviet Union defeated Hitler, not the United States, and we should be thanking them for it. Interesting timing, but purposeful. The argument is, basically, that the Soviet Union lost 25 million more men in the war than the US and the UK combined, and therefore the Soviet Union did the heavy lifting.

Maybe, just maybe, the Soviet Union was poorly trained, poorly equipped, and poorly supplied, and thus were fodder for the German military. Did it make a difference? Yes, of course it did. At the very least, Germany's bullets weren't free, and it helped to have some of the their attention focused on the eastern front.

I suspect this newfound desire to rethink who defeated Hitler has a lot to do with communism and anti-Western, anti-capitalist sentiment. Antifa are the good guys, y'all, and everything to the right of Antifa is fascist capitalist pig stuff.; 6/6/19, 4:18 PM
readering said...: Pelosi declined press invitation to attack Trump while she was on foreign soil. No such scruples for Trump.; 6/6/19, 4:19 PM
readering said...: Soviets also killed a lot more Germans (and their allies) than UK and US combined. Patton would say that's the true measure.; 6/6/19, 4:20 PM
langford peel said...: “I like Joe Rogan, but he pumps out about 4 hours of podcasts a week and who's got time for that?”

Rogan has one of the best podcast out there. He seems to have one really engrossing guest each week. What I do is check out the excepts on Youtube and if I like the guest I watch the whole episode.

He also posts a highlight reel each week that you can catch to get the high points.; 6/6/19, 4:21 PM
Francisco D said...: "I am offended by that." Well, so fucking what.

Apparently there are people raised to believe that being offended is a way of borrowing victimhood - the exalted status.

That offends my sensibilities, but I am a big boy and my psyche will survive.; 6/6/19, 4:22 PM
langford peel said...: readering said...
Pelosi declined press invitation to attack Trump while she was on foreign soil. No such scruples for Trump

Bullshit. She just said she wanted to see Trump in Jail not impeached. That's not attacking Trump?; 6/6/19, 4:22 PM
readering said...: Not while in France. But hey, it feels good to say bullshit, doesn't it. Soothing to be outraged!; 6/6/19, 4:37 PM
narciso said...: well the so called Antifa, I don't call them that it flatters their pretension, nor resistance, such cohorts in the west, were largely communist, the French the Italian and greek for instance, which was problematic because of the Molotov/Ribbentrop pact, and the fact the german army trained in the soviet union, between the wars,; 6/6/19, 4:39 PM
narciso said...: the strigoi like so:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/democrats-invite-psychiatrist-to-capitol-after-she-calls-president-unstable-violent-danger-to-public-health/; 6/6/19, 4:46 PM
traditionalguy said...: He who pretends to be outraged is no longer told to calm down and get a life. He is given power to destroy targeted sacrificial scapegoats. And the Sadists get real pleasure from doing it.; 6/6/19, 4:47 PM
Browndog said...: readering said...

Not while in France. But hey, it feels good to say bullshit, doesn't it. Soothing to be outraged!

U.K. is not 'foreign soil' according to the one who opines on the 'feel good' of bullshit.; 6/6/19, 4:52 PM
mandrewa said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/6/19, 4:52 PM
Rick said...: "If you're not outraged you're not paying attention".

There's even a uniform; 6/6/19, 4:55 PM
langford peel said...: That's true but the Commie bastards did not get enough credit for the massive losses they had to endure to stop the Krauts.

Now that they are not Commies they are our natural rivals who can split up the world with us. They know in their hearts that the chinks are the real problem.

It just proves that the Germans are our real enemy. I hope Trump told German Hillary that before she loses her gig.; 6/6/19, 4:56 PM
mandrewa said...: "Speaking of D-Day, I've seen a lot of garbage online lately about how the Soviet Union defeated Hitler, not the United States, and we should be thanking them for it."

Yeah I see that too. Two counterarguments:

A) The Soviet Union and Germany were allied at the beginning of World War II and they coordinated their actions. They jointly invaded Poland and met at a predetermined line in the middle. They had also jointly divided up Eastern Europe between them by agreement and each of them had a list of nations they were going to invade. And thus when the Soviet Union invaded Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and etcetera that was part of the alliance. And the same for Germany, or up until the National Socialists stabbed the Communists in the back and invaded the Soviet Union.

B) What if the United States had not declared war on Nazi Germany? And the Soviet Union had won. What would have happened? Well the Soviet Union would have conquered all of Europe.

The Soviet Union wasn't there to help anyone, except totalitarians.

The only reason that Europe didn't become a unified totalitarian state in World War II was because of the British Empire and the United States.; 6/6/19, 4:56 PM
narciso said...: yes, you can see it reflected in the way the eastern bloc from east germany to Romania, shaped up, could the soviets have really taken france, and everything along the atlantic wall,; 6/6/19, 4:58 PM
Browndog said...: Who goes to college campuses, sets up a table with a placard that defies leftist dogma, with "change my mind" inviting free and open debate?

Steven Crowder.

Who defends him?

No one.; 6/6/19, 5:01 PM
Fernandinande said...: There's even a uniform

uniform : clothes :: slogan : assertion; 6/6/19, 5:11 PM
bleh said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/6/19, 5:19 PM
bleh said...: “Two counterarguments ...”

I agree with the first of those arguments, and the Soviets should be blamed for facilitating Hitler’s rise. And the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 was a huge unforced error. Bad weather sure did a number on the Germans.

Maybe the second one is true too, but I don’t know. Another counterargument: without the US/UK invading in 1944, the German-Soviet war of attrition would’ve dragged on until Germany got the bomb and utterly destroyed Moscow.; 6/6/19, 5:22 PM
narciso said...: could they have, conrad stark was the science commissar of the reich, and he banned all non aryans from the nuclear program, Heisenberg was their best, and we know how that turned out, but they would have made progress with their next generation weaponry like the jet fighters and the giant subs,; 6/6/19, 5:28 PM
readering said...: Another big if for WW2. Hitler scheduled invasion of USSR for May 15. But Italian debacle in Balkans led him to go to bail out Mussolini first, delaying invasion until June 22. Crucial differnce given climate of Western USSR.; 6/6/19, 5:52 PM
narciso said...: there is that, also thankfully hitler's frontline commanders were so virulently anti Slav, that they alienated their allies in the Ukraine, on account of the holomodor, the decade prior; 6/6/19, 5:56 PM
Browndog said...: Readering...trying to change the subject.

Inga would be proud.

He's succeeding.; 6/6/19, 6:03 PM
Rick said...: readering said...
Soviets also killed a lot more Germans (and their allies) than UK and US combined. Patton would say that's the true measure.

Soviets murdered a substantial number of their own people as well as sending them into combat criminally unprepared which led to their elevated death toll. It's interesting left wingers neglect to mention this while crediting the Soviets. If you didn't know better you might think their only interest is ensuring the US gets as little credit as possible.; 6/6/19, 6:20 PM
Phil 314 said...: For some reason the comment about the ease of outrage reminded me of Harummpffing in "Blazing Saddles"; 6/6/19, 6:32 PM
Phil 314 said...: readering said...
Pelosi declined press invitation to attack Trump while she was on foreign soil. No such scruples for Trump

Clearly Nancy Pelosi owns the moral high ground; 6/6/19, 6:41 PM
Browndog said...: Of the estimated 70–85 million deaths attributed to World War II, over 30 million, the majority of them civilian, occurred in Eastern Europe

Since we're changing the subject-

It's a lot easier to win a war if civilians are of no matter. "principles" and stuff...but Americans are the bad guy.; 6/6/19, 6:48 PM
narciso said...: and another fool, who has yet to receive his comeuppance,

https://spectator.us/d-day-macron-nothing/; 6/6/19, 6:49 PM
narciso said...: Their government counterparts:

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/05/30/scorched_earth_lives_upturned_muellers_targets_speak_out.html?fbclid=IwAR07qkTNa-60dKx4-5IIWSy0cSCBN7LgAzZN_kjTw_h0ABPcGZuGEMuBR-s; 6/6/19, 7:09 PM
narciso said...: Here's an interesting twiat:

https://mobile.twitter.com/LisaMei62/status/1097673309167239168; 6/6/19, 7:59 PM
narciso said...: Oh how about that:

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/447394-key-figure-that-mueller-report-linked-to-russia-was-a-state-department; 6/6/19, 8:04 PM
Browndog said...: HyperlinkCode.com...just sayin'; 6/6/19, 8:11 PM
narciso said...: The first link is about muellers victims including Joseph Sarah who hasn't awaken from the stroke after his interrogation

The second Is where the coup plotters stayed in 2016, which is the same hotel trump stayed in lomdom; 6/6/19, 8:16 PM
narciso said...: The third is about yet another russiam connection this time to Manafort that really wasnt entirely.; 6/6/19, 8:17 PM
readering said...: Mandrewa: the US did not declare war on Germany. Hitler did Roosevelt the great service of declaring war on the US. Saved him very touchy political problem. Public interest naturally focused on revenge on Japan for sneak attack.; 6/6/19, 8:54 PM
readering said...: What's all this complaining about minimizing US role in WW2? We were truly the arsenal of democracy. The conversion of industry from civilian to military production and the creation of a worldwide transportation network a stupendous feat. US share of world GDP was approaching 40 per cent. We killed and were killed by land, by sea and in the air. The last like nobody's business.

But we suffered virtually no civilian deaths, no domestic property damage. I'm sure US soldiers, sailors and airmen thought their leaders often careless with their lives, but compared to other leaders...

In 1938 nationalist leader Chiang ordered flooding of the Yellow River to stop Japanese advance. 400-500,000 countrymen killed. In some countries that saw little or no fighting famine alone killed hundreds of thousands. War is hell but it was far more hellish outside the US.

The Russians (today, not just before 1991) often resent not enough credit given to their role in the war. From a few comments here I see where they get the idea.; 6/6/19, 9:15 PM
wildswan said...: One way I deal with social media is to ask what book is being continued by the blog entry or tweet. For instance, to me, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is at the basic book for almost all environmental and even climate change entries. "They're just saying that again", I think to myself, but with more recent data or a new slogan. Even An Inconvenient Truth is the same thing as Silent Spring - only in that book you see environmental damage becoming climate change. So I don't feel that anything new is being said. Or the Colonialism thing - you read Franz Fanon, then you know what will be said by AOC. So no need to "keep up" by following social media. But Trump is not a book that has been written before so while I don't follow tweets I do watch a lot of his speeches on Youtube, and I have learned about the attempted coup by reading bloggers like Sundance or by stories to which Althouse or commenters here direct me. And I look up the most notorious tweets and quotes attributed to him by his enemies on this blog and get the context. And overall, I think the attempted coup would have succeeded without social media - if we just had the press, the FBI, the CIA - what would have happened? But also social media has been used to drive some followers completely mad so that they are throwing over the Constitution and participating in online lynch mobs. So tech guys are starting to talk about how and why this happens and how we need to understand it as in this podcast. And that, too, is social media - though Glenn Reynolds has just written a book on social media reform. In short, I think you can keep your head your own if you read the book on the issue and then in a controlled way keep up with new information. The book could be online on Kindle or a PDF but the point is the "old, long controversy", as Althouse was saying, is spread out on display to be read and understood, not to be encountered in bits as a repeated mental cattle prod which reduces one to the condition of an overstimulated lab rat. (BF Skinner); 6/6/19, 10:10 PM
narciso said...: Because we were proactive we werent invaded had we lost the carriers at pearl, or had the Japanese found then around midway things would have been different. Because we armed the UK through lendlease we had a base of operations; 6/6/19, 10:49 PM
narciso said...: We haven't been invaded since the war of 1812, japan and Germany took to the empire game, the first sought out Korea and China, the second eastern Europe with the occasional African colony; 6/6/19, 10:53 PM
GlobalTrvlr said...: One of the best podcasts and guests I have heard in a long time. It is a must listen.; 6/7/19, 6:25 AM
TJM said...: and the overwhelming number of those angry crazies come from the left side of the aisle; 6/7/19, 7:33 AM