July 19, 2023

"When I asked a Pikeville, Ky., businessman why he thought the Democratic Party had become 'unhinged,' Henry, as I’ll call him here..."

"... studied his cellphone, then held it for me to see a video of two transgender activists standing on the White House lawn in Pride week. One was laughingly shaking her naked prosthetic breasts, the other bare-chested, showing scars where breasts had been cut away. The clip then moved to President Biden saying, 'these are the bravest people I know.'"

Said the Berkeley sociologist Arlie Hochschild, quoted in a NYT op-ed by Thomas B. Edsall, titled "'Gut-level Hatred' Is Consuming Our Political Life."

61 comments:

MadisonMan said...

The "unhinged" part is Biden calling people who have had surgery the bravest people [he] knows. It seems silly to me to call this example "gut-level hatred" and I question (without reading) why the Op-Ed is trying to frame it that way.
Then I see it's a Beserkley Sociologist and a NYTimes piece. Talk about out of touch with reality! (Or is to say that hateful?)

RNB said...

Not having read the (paywalled) NYT article, did the Berkeley sociologist equate calling such behavior 'unhinged' with 'gut-level hatred'? Pointing out the nakedness of the emperor's new boobs doesn't seem hateful to me. Just (as I believe the expression now is) 'based.'

Aggie said...

"Just look at what you made me do ! ", sez the people responsible for crafting the messages and spitting them out to saturate the media airwaves 24 / 7 - and then arbitrarily censoring those that disagree.

Kate said...

Any Republican would make that comment. This only becomes important to 2024 if Henry is a Democrat.

Jersey Fled said...

“these are the bravest people I know.'"

And Hunter is “the smartest guy I know”

Kind of makes you wonder about his judgment, doesn’t it?

Amadeus 48 said...

I don't have access to NYT, but does Edsall deal with the gut-level hatred coming left to right?

Also, your selection suggests that there is something wrong with "Henry" for thinking that Biden's touting these poor deluded souls indicates that the Dem party has gone off the rails.

Michael E. Lopez said...

Available outside the paywall here:

https://tncb.ecowas.int/news/index.php?v=article/gut-level-hatred-is-consuming-our-political-life

AlbertAnonymous said...

Lemme guess, the opinion author and the bezerkley psychologist both shit all over the “hick from Pikeville” and we’re supposed to think he’s the hateful one?

We’re in upside down world.

Enigma said...

I see this as following the parallel rise of Trump and Jordan Peterson. BOTH were falsely labeled 'conservatives' by the ignorant left -- both would have been JFK and Bill Clinton voters back in the day.

In 2016 Peterson refused Canada's mandatory gender pronouns and said the new law resembled the USSR's censorship practices. For speaking against totalitarianism he was called "alt-right."

In due course, the herding effect ate the moderate left as they granted power to their zealots and psychopaths. The moderates took one for the team. Mentally, they wrapped Trump, COVID, Gibson's bakery at Oberlin college called racist for confronting a black shoplifter, Colorado's Masterpiece Cake shop taken to court for Christian beliefs, and anything outside university utopian bubble culture into a big ball of projection and rejection.

But, it all started with Jordan Peterson saying that mental illness is real, and it often results in measurably adverse life outcomes. He wasn't wrong, his views were data-driven, and they were the closest thing to "progressive" that anyone recently said!

So now, we have an unserious left that lies to itself and lies to the public against its own hard-fought "human rights values" of a generation ago. The left has crumbled, they just don't know it yet. Wait for a Wile E. Coyote fall from a cliff soon. As with Star Wars Episode 3, the left has already murdered their own younglings. Extinction event in progress.

Warn the ravens in the desert about this crew.

Howard (not that Howard) said...

The comments over there are full of "Republicans don't believe in democracy." How they square this inane position with their heroes in the federal government imposing fiats on everything from transgender "health care" to transferring student loan debt to taxpayers is unclear.

Cheryl said...

Both of the posts today just make me hate people. But this one...How can the authors and researchers possibly be the obtuse? Ask yourself, if this behavior came from someone you agree with, would you condone it?

"Henry," or "Hank" as his friends probably call him, would be mortified if someone he was friends with got invited to the White House and behaved like this. As a matter of fact, he probably wouldn't be friends with someone who would do that in the first place. Then to call the behavior laudable and praise the people behaving in such a way and call Hank a gut-level hater is to completely misunderstand what is going on.

But because the researchers DO agree they will condone. That's the difference. For one side, any behavior is in bounds as long as you hold the "correct" view. For the other side, certain behavior is never okay regardless of your view. You can be rejected for your behavior perhaps even before you are rejected for your view. As a matter of fact, you won't be rejected for your view as long as you don't force it on anyone else. But this "you will be made to care" is too much.

Cheryl said...

Ask yourself, if this behavior came from someone you agree with, would you condone it?

"Henry," or "Hank" as his friends probably call him, would be mortified if someone he was friends with got invited to the White House and behaved like this. As a matter of fact, he probably wouldn't be friends with someone who would do that in the first place. Then to call the behavior laudable and praise the people behaving in such a way and call Hank a gut-level hater is to completely misunderstand what is going on.

But because the researchers DO agree they will condone. That's the difference. For one side, any behavior is in bounds as long as you hold the "correct" view. For the other side, certain behavior is never okay regardless of your view. You can be rejected for your behavior perhaps even before you are rejected for your view. As a matter of fact, you won't be rejected for your view as long as you don't force it on anyone else. But this "you will be made to care" is too much.

***Sorry if this is a double-post. Having trouble with Google this morning.***

Temujin said...

I guess they noticed that the Democratic Party led by the President has been trying to lock up his main opponent for a few years now, huh? Gut level hate? I'd say its Constitution burying hate.

Dave Begley said...

I firmly convinced that this trans business is how the conservatives win in 2024. Why? Because it is 2 + 2 = 5.

The party of Science is denying science. It is gaslighting of the highest order.

One of the greatest gifts to the GOP was when state Senator M. Cavanaugh was on the floor of the Unicameral going nuts over trans people. It's all insane. And it is the Dem party line.

Last week in Omaha, the Pride Festival was held. A little 6-year-old girl was dancing with drag queens. That little kid had no agency. She was being exploited by her parent. This is evil.

Gusty Winds said...

To the eye of a normal person, parading around naked in public is crazy. Parading around naked in public in front of children to celebrate pride month is even more crazy.

Parading around naked in public in front of children to "protect the environment" in Madison, WI is crazy. But we expect nothing less from Madison.

Saw a video yesterday on twitter. They are everywhere. Tranny dance show for kids. Tranny simulates masturbation with a dildo. White Mom's and kids cheer.

Scariest thing with these trannies who dance for kids is the satanic / witch like make up and costumes they wear. Something really sinister about the make-up and clothing. Evil stuff.

Critter said...

It’s not hatred, it’s disgust. The progressive left now defines anything they like that conservatives don’t embrace as hatred. It’s another way of calling us Nazi’s.

Why should I care what they think? They have lost their moral compass.

Leland said...

Yeah, I've noticed how much progressives hate Elon Musk, despite Elon actually accomplishing the progress that progressives claim to desire. Envy is a bad thing.

wendybar said...

And the Pikeville, Ky., businessman was absolutely correct.

donald said...

Talk about zero self awareness.

Gusty Winds said...

I don't feel hatred toward sick liberals taking kids to tranny shows and parading naked in front of kids. The sexualization of kids is sick. It's more a feeling of disbelief and disgust. My heart breaks for these kids being groomed by liberal teachers in the public schools.

But I fully accept that as an unvaccinated straight white male, they hate me, and the community where I live.

Of course the bullshit left will assign "hatred" and "anger" to men on the right.

You're on a sinking ship. Who's lifeboat you getting in? The one filled with witch dressed trannies, college educated white women, and Pete Buttigieg? Or you getting in the one with men like Jason Aldean, Matt Gaetz, Mel Gibson?

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Purposely misreading the room again. Sorry prog expert but the word eluding you is disgust. Normal America is disgusted by the overtly sexual behavior in public and repelled by the whole pride display as we are notoriously prudish folk. We are further disgusted by the mean and unfair treatment of young women by men who put on a female uniform for the thrill of inflicting pain and humiliation on people born with the physical attributes they covet. Repeated attempts by Big Media to normalize this behavior at the same time they gaslight us and claim that their grooming acts and books in primary school rooms are figments of right wing fevered minds. It’s of a piece with so much of the “believe us or your lying eyes” attitude of the elite ruling class and their contempt for the sane Americans who refuse the bullshit they’re selling.

Cappy said...

Maybe it's gut level disgust.

rhhardin said...

Every unwritten rule is oppression. Unwritten rules make society possible.

Big Mike said...

'Gut-level Hatred' Is Consuming Our Political Life.

@Althouse, Democrats and lefty extremists, and enablers f their behavior such as yourself. picked the fight with Normals, not us with you. You can end it any time by capitulation. You’ve been suffering from the “victory disease,” and gotten yourself addicted to the neverending culture wars. By pushing for postpartum abortion* the whole lot of you lost Roe and now you lost your beloved race and sex quotas.
_________
* And even if you, personally, did not support allowing “unwanted” babies born alive to die from lack of neonatal support, it is clear that you ally yourself with people who do.

Mark said...

That gut-level hatred includes encouraging and even promoting people to hate their own bodies. They have done it with women for years, and now such self-hatred is for kids too and kicked into the extreme of bodily mutilation and learned mental illness.

So in addition to these sad self-haters, who are the real haters? The ones pushing this or the people who would like to keep people from cutting off body parts and also maintain sexual privacy in private areas?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

body mutilation is very brave.

Come on, man.

Sebastian said...

"Gut-level hatred"

True, progs have hated us for a long time. We're just coming to terms with that fact.

Sydney said...

Well, that right there is a good example of one of the many ways the Democrats tell us they are unhinged. I don't have a gut-level hatred of Democrats, but I do think they have become unhinged. I look at the people in my life who support Democrats, and I find most of them do so with a zealous fervor that is like a religion. Somewhere else on the internet I read someone referring to the mainstream media as the prophets of the Democrat religion, and I think that's right. The people in my life I am thinking of seem to follow whatever line the media has given them. They really think that the righteous thing to do is to support trans activism, even if it means giving children life altering hormones, because they heard on CNN or NPR that this is not harmful. They can not comprehend the harmful effects of unrestricted illegal immigration or defunding the police. I've lost so much respect for people I once respected because they seem to have lost their ability to critically assess things. I don't hate them, though.

gilbar said...

Whose hatred? I'm not sure i follow
WHY is it, that self mutilators are now: THE COOLEST PEOPLE, IN THE WORLD?

Ampersand said...

If you look at the posts tagged "Thomas Edsall", you'll see that his journalistic niche is coverage of the ways in which the leftier side of the Democratic party undermines the unambiguously desirable central goal: political control by Democrats.

Original Mike said...

What does hate have to do with it? It's a reasonable opinion to view that behavior as unhinged.

They've worn the word 'hate' out as they did 'racist'.

Bob Boyd said...

The gist of the piece is that Republicans want to take us back to 1963, the year before the civil rights act, to preserve the supremacy of the white race in America and undo gains made by women and the LGBT community.
This is false, of course, even ridiculous, but many Dems believe it with all their hearts. They will never stop believing it, no matter what Republicans say or do. As a result, anything is justified in their minds, to prevent Republicans from holding office or having power. Anything. They have a religious fervor to go to war with these Republican straw men, opposition to whom has become central to their self-conception. What would it take to break this fever and dispel this fever dream? I can't imagine.
Discouraging at times. I'm going to go build something.

BothSidesNow said...

The NYT article lists eight statements based on which one can tell a person's partisanship. The eight statements pretty much encapsulate a liberal's view of what issue matter. I wonder whether other statements might be of interest:

Do you think it is appropriate to condemn as immoral the torching of buildings? [During the 2020 George Floyd riots, a prominent NYT reporter said it was immoral to condemn to the burning of buildings.]

Do you have any concern that the murder rate in many places in the US is much higher than in the rest of the world, including, for example, in Kabul, Afghanistan?

Do you have any concern over programs that teach that attributes such as a sense of urgency or a desire to get the right answer are examples of white supremacy?

The point is, the statements set out in the article seems designed to present "the other side" as a group of Neanderthals.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Bob Boyd said...

The gist of the piece is that Republicans want to take us back to 1963, the year before the civil rights act, to preserve the supremacy of the white race in America and undo gains made by women and the LGBT community.
This is false, of course, even ridiculous, but many Dems believe it with all their hearts.


Yes, it is false, but they have to believe it. They are trying not to think about the DemocRAT party collapsing under its own weight, which I think will probably happen in the next 5 years or so.

Michael K said...

I've lost so much respect for people I once respected because they seem to have lost their ability to critically assess things. I don't hate them, though.

Yes, I have two children, both lawyers, who have become hard leftists. We don't talk about politics but once in a while one of them will blurt out something that astonishes me. One said, when we were talking about high gasoline prices, "Well, that's capitalism." What ? The other, my FBI daughter, blurted out in the middle of a dinner in a restaurant, "Daddy you have to stop watching Fox News." Since I don't watch TV, this was a example of her ignorance and her bias. I have an other daughter who was a Bernie bro before she had her daughter. Being a mother has made her very thoughtful.

The other kids are at least as conservative as I am.

Bob Boyd said...

A couple more thoughts on this propaganda.
A 65-year-old Republican was 5 in 1963. A 60-year-old hadn't even been born yet. How many Republicans are sitting around pining for the social order of pre Civil Rights Act America. It's ludicrous.
More Republicans than Democrats in Congress voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act.

And I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I'm just a dumb nail pounder with an Althouse problem.

Yancey Ward said...

LOL! You go, "Henry"!

Pikeville, Ky is basically my hometown- I grew up just outside of it and graduated from the local college.

YoungHegelian said...

Well, since the Biden Administration banned the trans activist who bared his/her breasts from any future White House events, does that mean the Biden Administration is guided by "gut-level hatred" too?

Mea Sententia said...

“Politics is the systematic organization of hatreds,” said Henry Adams. But Edsall is only concerned with hatreds on the right, and the authorities he quotes are all on the left.

Biden’s “the bravest people” comment here reminded me of Trump’s “very fine people” comment.

hombre said...

What is "consuming our political life" is tribalism initiated by Gramscian Marxists and fueled by Democrats and other left-wing nitwits. The hate is a by-product as is MAGA cultism.

It was brave of Trump to make himself a target so lefties could abandon all pretext of decency. Everything is going as planned.

Remember when the tribe was "American"?

rcocean said...

Attacks on Conservatives or Republicans = well deserved
Attacks on Liberals/Left or Democrats = Creating a climate of Hate

Attacks on transgenders = hate speech
Attacks on Christians = fighting for tolerance.

Burning a Gay flag = hate
Burning an American Flag = freedom of expression.

M said...

It’s not hatred. It’s natural revulsion. It’s the same thing that makes you flinch away from a rotting corpse.

Rusty said...

I think it's gut level stupidity. I mean the other side is aggressively pursuing idiocy at an alarming rate. But I guess that's what one must do when one is a lefty. Suspend reason.

Political Junkie said...

Kate at 827 won the thread.

Mike Yancey said...

Alt link for those w/o NYTimes access:

https://dnyuz.com/2023/07/19/gut-level-hatred-is-consuming-our-political-life/

Mike Yancey said...

The NY Times is part of the Democratic media complex.

Why would the Op-Ed try to frame that (cellphone boob vid and other types of responses) as "gut-level hatred"? Because it's their job, that's why.

"Republicans see a world changing around them uncomfortably fast and they want it to slow down..."
Yeah. But I'm not SAYING Blacks can't vote and women can't work! (My mom worked her whole life until she couldn't. She picked cotton when she was a kid. Just sayin').

"...would you want to go back to 1963?"
No one wants to go BACK.
All we're saying is maybe... juuuust maybe... floppin' your fake boobs (a) in front of children (b) in public, (c) in front of the White House - might not be the best thing in the world.

Freeman Hunt said...

I dunno. I think that clip encapsulates the off-the-rails-ness pretty well. Hate not required.

Mary Beth said...

Gut-level hatred? Does Thomas B. Edsall remember the Trump presidency? Or was it different because that hatred was deserved?

Biden promised to "bring dignity" back to the White House. I don't think showing a video of a very undignified moment at an event thrown by Biden is "hatred" unless it's hateful to point out the lies and hypocrisy.

Two-eyed Jack said...

Conservatives don't yearn for 1963, they yearn for 1993. The modesty of their desires would embarrass progressives if they were somehow understood.

Gospace said...

Critter said...
It’s not hatred, it’s disgust.


He got there first with the truthful correction.

Gut level disgust.

phantommut said...

When you've lost Berkley sociologists you've lost America.

Michael K said...

Discouraging at times. I'm going to go build something.

We are ruled, at all levels, by people who have never built anything.

Jupiter said...

Oregon Governor Kate Brown closed the Pacific beaches to punish us for not wearing COVID masks. You're damn right I hate her filthy, stinking guts. I would stay up after 10:00 PM just to see her hang. Is that so unreasonable?

Amadeus 48 said...

Thanks to Mike Yancy, I read the article. My impression?

1. Thomas Edsell and most of the academics he consulted don't seem to know many Republicans.

2. Republicans seem to be a little more in touch with human nature than Democrats.

3. Republicans understand that no one is coming to save them. Democrats seem to believe that the government can, should, and will.

4. Democrats appear to be obsessed with race. Republicans seem to consider people as individuals.

5. My personal radar is pretty good at figuring out who is on the right in social gatherings. Usually they distinguish themselves by being quiet. Mostly, they would evade the litmus test questions that Edsell's sources propound.

6. Democrats appear to have a high level of reverence for absurd ideas. Here's a pro tip from the political right (as set forth today by Megyn Kelly and Helen Joyce on Megyn's podcast): if you have or ever have had a penis, you are a man.

Michael K said...

I have decided that a key fact, often not recognized by those on the right, is that Democrats and their European equivalent, want to depopulate the Earth. Kamala Harris admitted it the other day. The left is calling it a "conspiracy theory" but there are other examples of such "gaffes." The whole climate hoax is a pretext to reduce population, maybe by starvation which would follow the ban of fossil fuels.

MadTownGuy said...

Michael K said...

"I have decided that a key fact, often not recognized by those on the right, is that Democrats and their European equivalent, want to depopulate the Earth. Kamala Harris admitted it the other day. The left is calling it a "conspiracy theory" but there are other examples of such "gaffes." The whole climate hoax is a pretext to reduce population, maybe by starvation which would follow the ban of fossil fuels."

Already happening in Sri Lanka.

"My View
Following
Saved
Macro Matters
Insight: Sri Lanka faces looming food crisis with stunted rice crop
By Devjyot Ghoshal and Uditha Jayasinghe
August 16, 20222:51 AM EDTUpdated a year ago




[1/5]Nallathambi Mahendran, 67, a farmer, walks through his paddy field, amid the country's worst economic crisis, in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka July 28, 2022. REUTERS/ Devjyot Ghoshal




Summary

Yields and acreage sown to crops down in Sri Lanka
Lack of fertiliser and fuel hampers harvest and planning
Rural community already under pressure, fears for next crop
Country in throes of economic crisis, currency reserves low
KILINOCHCHI/COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Nallathambi Mahendran walked through his four acres of emerald green paddy fields in northern Sri Lanka's Kilinochchi district, indicating the height the plants should have reached by now. They were several feet short.

The standing paddy crop across most of this major rice growing belt is stunted for the second successive season because of the lack of fertiliser, according to farmers, a union leader and local government officials.

In 10,900 hectares of land under cultivation in Kilinochchi, the average yield is likely to hit 2.3 metric tonnes per hectare, according to government estimates seen by Reuters.

In previous years, paddy fields in the area delivered around 4.5 tonnes per hectare, according to a local government official who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.

Across rice farms in this Indian Ocean island, the bleak picture is emerging that the summer harvest could be as low as half that of previous years, according to experts.
"

MadTownGuy said...

More from the Reuters article on Sri Lanka:

"Some critics trace Sri Lanka's unfolding food catastrophe to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's decision in April, 2021, to ban chemical fertilisers overnight, part of a drive to make the country's produce more organic.

Faced with widespread protests from the farming community, the ban was lifted last November, but not before disrupting supplies and leaving most Sri Lankan farmers without essential fertilisers for last year's "Maha" season.

By April, Sri Lanka's financial crisis had strangled the economy and, with foreign exchange reserves at record lows, Rajapaksa's government failed to procure enough fertiliser.

The lack of hard currency at a time of spiralling prices sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine also squeezed imports of essentials including fuel, cooking gas, medicines and food.

'DYING EVERY DAY'
Resulting shortages led to an outburst of public anger against the government and once-powerful president, and sometimes violent mass protests eventually forced Rajapaksa to flee the country and quit the presidency.
"

Rusty said...

Michael K said...
"Discouraging at times. I'm going to go build something.

We are ruled, at all levels, by people who have never built anything."
This.

Narayanan said...

Original Mike said...
What does hate have to do with it?
============
is that digital infringement of Tina Turner?

Narayanan said...

"Some critics trace Sri Lanka's unfolding food catastrophe to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's decision in April, 2021, to ban chemical fertilisers overnight, part of a drive to make the country's produc
=========
did the Presdient want to 'promote organic' for the health of population or virtue-signal to the TouristVisitors? or exports?

so literally not enough shit go around.

Narayanan said...

... Here's a pro tip from the political right (as set forth today by Megyn Kelly and Helen Joyce on Megyn's podcast): if you have or ever have had a penis, you are a man.
==========
so no balls needed >>> RINO can be MAN