One of the key goals of any authoritarian or totalitarian system is to dehumanize its opponents. Because without an opponent to mobilize against, people start looking seriously at the shortcomings the system’s autocrats bring to their lives.
And a good enemy isn’t really very human at all.
Whether it’s a drill sergeant during bayonet practice, or a Stormtrooper yakking about üntermensch, or a kommissar denoucing a kulak or a “wrecker”, the key in getting regular people in any authoritarian or totalitarian system to feel that rage with “the enemy” is to reinforce how really subhuman they actually are.
“President” Biden took the moral arc of American civilization a little further toward tyranny and barbarism over the summer, when he referred to half of Americans as fascists.
Former President Obama got curiously specific in referring to Republicans as “The Revolutionary Guard”.
But it was far from just national figures. Locally, reverse-McCarthyites were finding “fascists” behind hedges as well:
And of course, shut down all dissent:
I’m less surprised than most that it came to this, this quickly, in the run-up to the mid-terms:
And, suspecting as I do that the “red wave” we didn’t get this month may still be lurking out there somewhere, Big Left isn’t letting off the gas.
From the link:
“This is not just a book that we disagree with, and we are not calling for censorship. Many of us work daily with books we find disagreeable to our personal politics,” the letter signees write. “Rather, this is a case where a corporation has privately funded the destruction of human rights with obscene profits.”
Stand back while I fisk the fuck out of this twaddle.
It’s not censorship, no it’s making “obscene profits” out of destroying human rights. OK…
1. If it’s making obscene profits, that tells us an obscene number of people are utilizing their Constitutional right to freely read literature degenerates see as dangerous. That’s a human right, according to Bikebubble’s go-to source of all that is true:
“Human rights in the United States comprise a series of rights which are legally protected by the Constitution of the United States (particularly the Bill of Rights), state constitutions, treaty
and customary international law, legislation enacted by Congress and state legislatures, and state referendums and citizen’s initiatives. The Federal Government has, through a ratified constitution, guaranteed unalienable rights to its citizens and (to some degree) non-citizens.I had to edit that citation, because as US citizens, we are in no way restrained by what Germany, or Somalia thinks. Also because, Wikipedia.
First amendment; it’s in there, read it.
2. The right of a woman to kill her offspring is nowhere contained, even obliquely, in the US Constitution. Therefore, it is a privilege, granted by the government; like a driver’s license. What the courts giveth, the courts may taketh away.
Therefore, the stinking degenerates that signed the open letter are either:
A. Lying
B. Dumb as a stump
C. Baked
D. All of the above
Darned shame the thugs who beat up Rubio’s volunteer didn’t learn the hard way that he was armed.
Regarding Barrett’s book, it should be noted that the $272,000 salary of a Supreme Court justice probably doesn’t really cover expenses in any halfway safe neighborhood around there, so what the book banners are really trying to do is to make it impossible for her family to make ends meet. Or at least that’s what they think.
I certainly have my misgivings about huge book advances, as too often, they seem to be like quiet bribes. I don’t see any reasonable way that whoever is publishing Obama’s books makes back that $65 million or so unless some of that is going on. But if it’s going to be legal, it needs to be legal for conservatives as well as liberals.
Barret’s advance was $2 million, Mr. Bubble. You must have been getting your info from RuSsIAn pr0paGAndA…or maybe you just can’t find your reading glasses, or maybe you’re just not that smart.
I see you’re having trouble realizing that Barret is not spelled “O b a m a”, dullee?
Pro tip; if you’re trying to insult people’s intelligence, learn to read for comprehension first. Or otherwise you’re kinda insulting to the mirror.
If you look at who is behind these corporate cancellation attempts, you will find a cabal of young, woke middle management types.
This woman is typical: https://appleworld.today/archives/89670
“At Apple, Richardson oversaw initiatives focused on personal safety, account integrity, and content standards. She has spent the last six years helping fast-growing technology companies scale and operate responsibly in current and new markets.
Prior to Apple, Richardson held senior leadership positions at Airbnb for four years, guiding the company through regulatory changes by partnering with governments and community-based organizations in more than 220 countries and regions around the world. Prior to Richardson’s private-sector work, she served as Chief of Staff and Counselor to Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., in the U.S. Department of Justice for over six years.”
So if you are a non-binary or POC activist drone at Apple (or FB or just about anywhere, really), and you don’t like something your company is doing, you get maybe a dozen of your like minded friends to sign a letter to your version of Margaret Richardson and she tells everyone else that it is a violation of your organization’s policy to “platform” people who are against abortion or trans ideology or whatever, and the offending person is canceled.
Cancel culture promotes secondary boycotts as well. That is how you get 500 people “in the literary world” to endorse a blacklist on writers.
“Big Left isn’t letting off the gas.”
speaking of gas i saw regular unleaded for less than $3 per gallon today
i feared it was a sign the economy was collapsing as demand plummeted because consumers were treating gasoline as a luxury good to purchase behind rent and groceries
checking MSNBC it turns out consumers are cutting back gasoline purchases on concerns over covid lockdowns in china which proves lesko brandon’s inflation reduction act was genius and everything is rosy
whew that is a huge relief
Amy Coney Barret is married to another high profile lawyer & law prof. She has seven children. Two are adopted Haitian orphans. The youngest of her natural children is Downs syndrome.
Proceed with your demonization of ACB, lefties.
The topic is Amy Barret, Bikebubble. You said “huge payouts” and used $65m as an example.
Barret got $2m. That’s not huge, and she will certainly sell enough books to cover the advance plus profit. Your argument is flawed, because you are not informed on the topic, but you felt the need to assault us with your ignorance, yet again.
Honestly, this is like explaining to a 6 year old how a toaster works. Are you suffering from Alzheimer’s, Mr. Bubble, or have you always been dense?
My take, Dullee, is that you’re not going to get enough book sales to justify even Barrett’s advance. The whole scheme is too easily converted to bribery, and should be reined in.
You want to see someone assaulting people with ignorance, all you need to do is shave.
Tell you what, Mr. Bubble. I think you’re a know nothing numpty. And I’m willing to put money on it.
I bet you $100 that her book is a best seller.
I’ll give you an email address where you can get info on where to send a check.
Twitter’s covid misinformation page now says:
COVID-19 Misinformation
About this report
As the global community faces the COVID-19 pandemic together, Twitter is helping people find reliable information, connect with others, and follow what’s happening in real time.
Effective November 23, 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy.
The old policy was many, many pages long & bragged about how many tweets were taken down & accounts canceled.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220729013843/https://transparency.twitter.com/en/reports/covid19.html#2021-jul-dec
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