The article in question is written by a leftist and it's surprisingly insightful... and honest. The article begins by mentioning something I've been saying all along: unless there is real proof that Trump worked with the Russians to hack the Democrats, then this issue will never resonate with the public. Yep. Foreign affairs simply don't matter to the public, nor does it make any sense that somehow it was wrong for Trump to talk to the Russians. Don't we want our presidents talking to foreign countries? Didn't Obama famously do this himself to media acclaim? This theory never made sense as scaremongering.
Anyways, the article then notes that no proof has been uncovered to support this claim. There is NO evidence at all. Indeed, despite everyone on the left (and many on the right) looking for anything to support this theory, "there is no fire at all. There’s no little campfire, there’s no little candle, there’s no spark. And there’s a lot of people looking for it."
This creates a problem for the left. As the article puts it,
"so many media figures and online charlatans are personally benefiting from feeding the base increasingly unhinged, fact-free conspiracies ... that there are now millions of partisan soldiers absolutely convinced of a Trump/Russia conspiracy for which there is no evidence. And they are all waiting for the day, which they regard as inevitable and imminent, when this theory will be proven and Trump will be removed."Yep. Sound familiar?
According to the article, the Democrats are getting worried that these people will never accept the truth. They worry that these morons have reached the phase of conspiracy thinking where the very lack of evidence becomes evidence of the conspiracy. So what the Democrats are doing now is trying to lay the foundation for people to understand there simply is no evidence of a connection. This is being pushed by liberal newspapers, liberal politicians and other liberal hacks. Even CIA Chief Michael Morell, whom the article suggests knowingly lied to push this theory during the campaign, are now trying to defuse the tards.
Good luck with that.
Personally, I think this is a failed mission from the get-go. The politicized fringe portion of the American public has become so paranoid, retarded and steeped in conspiracy thinking that they simple cannot accept when their cherished theories fail. They just keep adding their disappointments to their theories. And it strikes me that this issue has becoming a ticking time bomb waiting for some Democrat to try to tell the truth and that will spark the next phase of the revolt, where the sitting members will be deemed unpure heretics and they will be put up against the wall in the name of the real TRUTH.
This is the problem with obsession. First, it blinds you. Then it causes you to lose all but your closest your friends. Finally, it makes you turn on those who are left.
Thoughts?
I'm been proclaiming Trump a Putin fanboy (common on the alt right) rather than a secret Russian agent since forever. Secret agent sounds worse/more sinister so that is the narrative many of Trump's detractors have gone with.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why they would abandon it at this stage. The strategy of feeding delusion to win power worked out well enough to get Obama and Trump into office and helped out their respective parties in the legislature.
While the strategy tends to blow up in one's face eventually, it works well enough and long enough that parties are more likely to double down on it (telling themselves that once they win power, they can set about trying to keep what has always happened before from happening again) than abandon it.
Yes, there is a segment of both parties who are disturbed by outright lies (I am among them) but they are meaningless. Far more people embrace blatant fabrications as a useful tool and scorn those who disdain them from a moral and/or practical perspective as delicates unwilling to 'do what it takes to win'.
On a related note, Trump's initial claim that Obama ordered Trump Towers wiretapped has failed to be supported by facts (everyone in a position to know has stated it simply isn't true and requests for Trump to offer supporting evidence have been ignored) so Trump has now started claiming that the intelligence service of one of our close allies wiretapped him at the request of Obama.
ReplyDeleteThe lies are just growing bigger and crazier.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/world/europe/trump-britain-obama-wiretap-gchq.html?_r=0
President Trump provoked a rare public dispute with America’s closest ally on Friday after his White House aired an explosive and unsubstantiated claim that Britain’s spy agency had secretly eavesdropped on him at the behest of President Barack Obama during last year’s campaign.
Livid British officials adamantly denied the allegation and secured promises from senior White House officials never to repeat it. But a defiant Mr. Trump refused to back down, making clear that the White House had nothing to retract or apologize for because his spokesman had simply repeated an assertion made by a Fox News commentator. Fox itself later disavowed the report.
Anthony, I think the problem is the fear that they will be consumed by the monster they are creating. They are feeding this idea that Trump is pure evil and will be brought done because of it. If Trump is never brought down, the zombie army they have created will toss them aside and go look for leaders who will promise to do what they can't.
ReplyDeleteWhat's more, imagine the shattering of faith to tell the choir that Satan's not as bad as we initially thought. That isn't going to work. It will get the choir to turn on you.
Basically, they've been playing with fire.
On the Brit thing, for the most part Trump has done well. Unfortunately, every once in a while, he whips out these crazy zingers that are obvious bullshit and they blow up. He needs to learn to STFU when he's ahead.
ReplyDeleteOf topic, I've been watching the NCAA tournament and there are four adds they keep repeating that are just pissing me off.
ReplyDelete1. There is a Gatorade ad which seems intent on confirming the worst stereotypes whites have of blacks being angry. Every piece of this ad reeks "hateful."
2. There is a laughable ad in which a bunch of female athletes try to tell us that "sports doesn't care about gender" and then they go right ahead and make it all about gender.
3. There is this strange Samsung ad with a guy who says he's speaking for the "current generation" (he sounds like he's twenty, but he looks like he's wearing a mask to make him look 50). In the ad, he talks about how the one thing "this generation" (snowflakes) has in common is when they are told that they can't do something, they respond with... "watch me."
Actually, the snowflakes he's talking about responds a tad differently. They rush to whiny blogs to whine their outrageous at not being given everything they want, and then they... well, they quit.
4. Finally, there's an ad in which another snowflake drops a microphone after announcing some new deal by some phone company. Then he remembers something he forgot, so he drops another microphone. And another, as he complains that the microphone is getting heavy.
This ad has my utter contempt. The guy is such a wuss that I honestly feel compelled to bully him.
Ironically, the kids in the current generation (along with my girls) will eat these snowflakes alive. They are the most aggressive, take no shit, offer no quarter generation I've seen in my entire life. Watch your pampered butts snowflakes... they are coming for you.
Does anyone else find it odd that our political parties are choosing sides between Russia and ISIS? That observed, I think it wisest to side with Russia. They, at least, have a stake in--and no small contribution toward--the Western tradition, The proper attitude toward Russia, in my estimation, should be one of returning her to the fold. ISIS, by contrast, has no love for Western culture, and give no reason to think they might gain any.
ReplyDeleteSwitching gears: The whole point of the dossier was to get people saying "dossier" which makes people think of spies. Even though the dossier was on Trump, it was associated with Trump, which to the illogical mind, makes Trump the spy. Trump needed to not be the spy, which means somebody else has to be the spy. "Wiretap" isn't as nifty a word as "dossier" but it worked. Suddenly, Obama became Nixon. Nixon is worse than a spy. Facts don't matter as much as intrigue in narrative warfare. What's more intriguing than spies? Nothing. Look for a different approach in the persuasion game soon.
tryanmax, It is interesting that they called it a "dossier" because that does implicate spying. Ultimately though, they overshot and no one found it to be the least bit credible.
ReplyDeleteDear God save me from CNN! I am at the airport having to watch the endless snark analysis on the Comey hearings today. Apparently the FBI has been investigating the Trump/Russia hacking connection since July. And the CNN pundits interpret that as "impeachment to follow" next week.
ReplyDeleteThere is no place to go to not hear CNN....aaahhhhhh.
But Bev, In the words of constitutional scholars on the left... "WE KNOW HE'S GUILTY! HE'S EVIL! HE MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING!!! HE'S BEING LOOKED AT BY THE FBI, HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU NEED?!! DAMN THE TRIAL!! LOCK HIM UP ALREADY!!!"
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those instances where it is vital that we toss out the Constitution so that no conservative can escape justice. The Constitution's protections only apply to liberals in good standing.
ReplyDeleteHere is why nobody likes leftists... Yahoo has an article asking if Belle from Beauty and the Beast is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Idiots. Way to try to spoil a classic tale of redemption.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think conservatives were worried about a gay moment.
ReplyDeleteThe level of success of the live action remake of Beauty is insane. The overwhelmingly female audience clearly wasn't put off by the fact a minor character is gay.
ReplyDeleteThe movie looks to me like it adds nothing so I am grateful my daughters have no interest in it despite their love of the original.
The overwhelmingly female audience clearly wasn't put off by the fact a minor character is gay.
ReplyDeleteThe primary consumers of gay male fiction are straight women.
tryanmax and Anthony, Disney played a bit of a game with it too. They waited until forever to announce there's a gay character so that people had already decided to see it. Then they announced the gay character and immediately spread the word "don't worry, if you didn't know he was gay, you couldn't tell from the film." I'm not sure if that's true, but it's an effective way to diffuse the issue.
ReplyDeletei read this article myself and also found it interesting. i don't think there is any fire or it would be leaked. as pointed out by Pollack today, the only real crime of which there is any evidence is unmasking Flynn's name and leaking it
ReplyDeleteThe whole "Beauty & The Beast" take that she must be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome is hysterical (take either definition of that word 'cause both work). Seriously, it is a fairytale to teach children to "never judge a book by it's cover" so to speak. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThe whole "gay character" is just marketing and "virtue signaling" to make $$$$$$$. See? Disney is hip & cool again 'cause...! They've kinda' run their course in recreating fairytale princesses into kickass "Princesses" feminist Girl Power virtue signalers, so now they've moved on to turning hero-worshiping sidekicks into same-sex crushes.
Since Andrew posted this, I've seen at least three stories under dishonest headlines and even more dishonest ledes proclaiming that "it's a fact" that the US president is under FBI investigation for a possibly plotting with Russians to interfere wit the election. This is true, guys! This is really true. I mean, yeah, the investigation turned up nothing, but it's really happening! (The investigation, I mean.)
ReplyDeleteThis is the journalistic equivalent of my grandma freaking out about being on death's door because the doctor ordered some tests. I mean, why would he order tests if he didn't think something is wrong!? Except, in the case of the journalists, they know there's no "there" there, but it's the only scrap of a story they have left to report.
Regarding the gatorade commercial, I kind of remember a marketing class about how ads work. Gatorade has long established that it is supposedly "better than water" for sweating athletes because it replaces electrolytes blah blah. Now, they want to speak to female athletes, and that is where this ad is aimed. It fits right in with "throws like a girl" and other "empowerment" themed ads
ReplyDeleteHi Jed,
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't respond yesterday. I didn't get home until late.
I think you are right about the Gatorade commercial. This is corporate use of "social justice" to sell products and they don't really care what the effects are of their efforts.
I actually asked my daughter to watch the commercial and I got her take on it. Her first reaction was: "Why are they all taking with their mouths full of food?" After that, she said, "They're all really angry too."
Nice work, Gatorade.
tryanmax, I don't think journalists care, honestly. I think they are happy to push their agendas with lies or whatever omissions they think they can get away with.
ReplyDeleteBev, "Virtue signalling" is the right word. That's exactly what it is. They are so publicly proud of themselves for something most people won't even notice.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the Gatorade ads in question, but companies using popular things to sell their products is par for the course. Whether or not they believe in those things is another matter but insincere ad campaign is almost a tautology.
ReplyDeleteBev,
ReplyDeleteI'll take that bet. The end of the era of the Disney princess has been predicted repeatedly (even by Disney) but those movies keep making dumptruck loads of cash. I doubt that gays are going to become a focus.
Homosexuality is popping up more often in animation (Steven Universe springs to mind) but I will be surprised if anyone makes a hundred million dollar bet on a gay lead anytime soon.