Right Wing Media: congratulations Rush Limbaugh on three full years of sobriety!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Right Wing Media: congratulations Rush Limbaugh on three full years of sobriety!

«‹›3441 »

Raskolnikov38: Mar 3, 2007; We were somewhere around Manila when the drugs began to take hold

Radish posted:

Also it's like the CIA's one successful adventure.

That we let Canada take all the credit for at first :canada:

# ? May 28, 2014 19:36

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 18, 2024 03:24

Jazerus: May 24, 2011

Pththya-lyi posted:

My dad does the same thing. He didn't need to see The Hunger Games or the Dark Knight Rises to know that they should be lauded for their libertarian messages. (DKR "shows the truth about Occupy." You will, of course, remember how the OWS protestors stole a nuclear device and held the entire city of New York hostage and executed the elite citizens in a series of show trials.) He has read the Harry Potter books and joins others in hailing its libertarian message:
http://studentsforliberty.org/blog/2011/12/08/the-libertarian-subtext-of-harry-potter/

(The italicized quote is evidently meant to follow the third paragraph, but it breaks up the fourth paragraph instead because of a formatting error.)

Yes, J.K. Rowling created a libertarian champion while exploiting Britain's welfare system. (She'd held a job, but quit it to write her first book, so she didn't technically need to be on welfare.) A libertarian champion who grows up to be a government bureaucrat.

I find it hilarious that they completely miss the one way that the HP books are kind of libertarian - the Ministry of Magic is so hilariously incompetent that Dumbledore has to organize a (well-regulated :hurr:

) militia to fight Voldemort, twice.

The most amusing political thing in Harry Potter is probably that Uncle Vernon reads the Daily Mail.

# ? May 28, 2014 20:00

Intel&Sebastian: Oct 20, 2002; colonel...
i'm trying to sneak around
but i'm dummy thicc
and the clap of my ass cheeks
keeps alerting the guards!

idk, being a put-upon kid who is secretly better than normal people, more skilled, and a born leader through the power of unexplained magic sounds pretty fuckin libertarian to me.

# ? May 28, 2014 20:17

JediTalentAgent: Jun 5, 2005; Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!

Pulled himself up by his broomstraps?

# ? May 28, 2014 20:50

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

The V for Vendetta stuff is fascinating to me because of how badly the right-wing media tipped its hand in their reaction to it. If you'd only heard it secondhand and still wanted to discuss its political message (although who'd be dumb enough to try and do something like that?) it'd be pretty easy to frame it as "anti-big-government, suck it libs."

If you've seen it though then you know the movie is clearly more about criticizing fascism, religious bigotry, media distortion, authoritarianism, and even a bit of isolationism. When Fox and co. came out saying the movie was attacking Bush and conservatism, it was another tacit acknowledgement that they represent all those things. They know their ideology is a hideous scam, and they're the closer analogue to the ruling administration shown in the film.

# ? May 28, 2014 21:06

Hieronymous Alloy: Jan 30, 2009; Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!; Morbid Hound

Alan Moore originally wrote V for Vendetta in response to Thatcherism so it actually isn't that far off to say it's an attack on conservatism, especially right-wing bigotry and authoritarianism. Of course, that's not really a bad thing.

# ? May 28, 2014 21:09

Miltank: Dec 27, 2009; by XyloJW

does anyone have a link to Fox commentators on V for Vendetta?

# ? May 28, 2014 21:10

Unzip and Attack: Mar 3, 2008; USPOL May

Yes I'm sure Harry Potter would absolutely oppose the minimum wage and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Business owners should be free to refuse service to black people because that's where all the freedom comes from, you see?

# ? May 28, 2014 21:10

Intel&Sebastian: Oct 20, 2002; colonel...
i'm trying to sneak around
but i'm dummy thicc
and the clap of my ass cheeks
keeps alerting the guards!

A heartfelt obit for Maya Angelou by way of the NRO:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/378969/maya-angelou-simpsons-jonah-goldberg

Jonah Goldberg posted:

I don�t have much to add to Tim�s post below. I wouldn�t call myself a huge fan of hers � or any other poet of the last 50 years. But she always struck me as a dignified and impressive lady. What did come to mind was her treatment on The Simpsons (I�d hoped she played herself, but apparently not). It was at a book fair, and Angelou was on a panel along with Tom Clancy and Amy Tan. Kent Brockman was moderating:

Kent: Alright, does anyone have a question for our panel that�s not about how much money they make? [Audience's hands go down]

Lenny: [at microphone] Uh yeah, I�m a techno-thriller junkie, and I�d like to know, is the B-2 bomber more detectible when it rains?

Kent: Oh, what do you think, Tom Clancy?

Clancy: Well, the B-2�

Lenny: No, no, no, I was asking Maya Angelou!

Angelou: The ebony fighter awakens, dabbled with the dewy beads of morn. It is a mach-5 child, forever bound to suckle from the shriveled breast of congress.

Lenny: Oh, Maya, you�re a national treasure!

I should add that while Angelou was describing the B-2, Moe is stunned, exclaiming, �Maya Angelou is black!?�

# ? May 28, 2014 21:16

LaughMyselfTo: Nov 15, 2012; by XyloJW

Note the linked post:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/378959/rip-maya-angelou-proud-gun-owner-and-user-tim-cavanaugh

quote:

RIP Maya Angelou, Proud Gun Owner

Poet, author and personality Maya Angelou has died at the age of 86. Angelou was found dead this morning at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C. No cause of death has been announced.

Angelou gained literary fame with her 1969 literary memoir of childhood and adolescence I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which went on to become a fixture of high-school reading lists. Angelou authored six subsequent memoirs and multiple volumes of poetry, becoming in the process a widely recognized cultural ambassador who advocated for participatory literature and dispensed sound if unspectacular wisdom of the type that is said to boost childrens� self-esteem. She turned in memorable roles in the landmark 1977 ABC miniseries Roots, as well as playing cameos in movies including Madea�s Family Reunion. (Sample line: �Love is many things. It�s varied. One thing it is not and can never be is unsure.�)

I will confess that Angelou�s writings did not generally keep me up reading all night, but she had an impressive career and earned celebrity in a business � poetry � that is not known for catapulting its practitioners to megastardom. Angelou got what may have been the widest audience for her work when she read a non-rhyming poem at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993. Older readers may recall that �On the Pulse of Morning� seemed like a slog at the time, but I can tell you it�s �The Rime of the Ancient Mariner� compared to Richard Blanco�s �One Today,� which rung in President Obama�s second swearing-in, and Elizabeth Alexander�s 2009 inaugural work �Praise Song for the Day,� a poem so boring economists now believe it reduced America�s 2009 GDP by a quarter of a percentage point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Fg0mu32h5IY

Angelou also emerged very late in life as an off-hand supporter of the right to bear arms. In a 2013 interview with Time magazine�s Belinda Luscombe, the ancient poetess talked Star Trek and death (�I�ll probably be writing when the Lord says, �Maya, Maya Angelou, it�s time��), but she also recounted how she used a gun for home defense:

Did you inherit your mother�s fondness for guns?

I like to have guns around. I don�t like to carry them.

Have you ever fired your weapon?

I was in my house in North Carolina. It was fall. I heard someone walking on the leaves. And somebody actually turned the knob. So I said, �Stand four feet back because I�m going to shoot now!� Boom! Boom! The police came by and said, �Ms. Angelou, the shots came from inside the house.� I said, �Well, I don�t know how that happened.�

The comedian David Alan Grier enshrined Angelou for all time with a series of free-verse testimonials for Butterfinger, Pennzoil, Froot Loops and other household products. They capture the true Angelouvian note:

[Other video I can't find]

Update: The Washington Post brings up another good point about Angelou. She was a sharp critic of the �Race To the Top� education initiative and an opponent of the relentless drive toward bigger, dumber and plainer standardized testing. Whatever your feelings about the kind of �everybody�s special� boosterism that goes on among advocates for child creativity, the mechanization of schooling (and less widely noted, the short shrift given to all subjects not in the standardized tests) is dismaying, and Angelou was right to argue kids should be reading better books rather than learning to take better tests.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure Maya Angelou was a gun owner because she was some NRA nut, and not because blacks were once specifically prevented from owning them

# ? May 28, 2014 21:19

Hazo: Dec 30, 2004; SCIENCE

The National Review mourns the passing of May Angelou, best known for her role as a black gun owner.

Also she was some kind of writer or something we guess

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Alan Moore originally wrote V for Vendetta in response to Thatcherism so it actually isn't that far off to say it's an attack on conservatism, especially right-wing bigotry and authoritarianism. Of course, that's not really a bad thing.

Oh I know, sorry if that didn't come across. I was just surprised that the RWM didn't try to cloud that fact.

# ? May 28, 2014 21:46

Zuhzuhzombie!!: Apr 17, 2008; FACTS ARE A CONSPIRACY BY THE CAPITALIST OPRESSOR

But what does Guy Fawkes have to do with any of it?

# ? May 28, 2014 22:19

kik2dagroin: Mar 23, 2007; Use the anger. Use it.

Limbaugh spent most of today mansplaining and trying to link Elliot Rodger to liberals

quote:

RUSH: Because of this incident out in California with Elliot Rodger, there are women all over this country now writing blog posts and creating hashtags taking the occasion of this event to make the point that this shows how women are discriminated against and oppressed at least many times in their lives. It does make sense, if you understand the left, and if you understand that every event, particularly a crime, is one of the best and fastest ways for them to advance the agenda.

So here you have a disturbed, mentally ill guy who goes on a shooting and killing rampage, and the feminists of the world rise up and say, "See what we're up against?" You have one male go nuts here, and every man is capable of what this guy does, right? Now, follow me on this, the way the feminists and the way the media and everybody else portray it, so Elliot Rodger goes nuts and that becomes symbolic of what every man is capable of.

And yet when militant Islamists blow up the World Trade Center, what's the first thing we're told? Now, don't judge the whole religion by this, no, no, no, no, no. These are just some isolated events with some isolated malcontents. But you let some Looney Tune go nuts in a sorority house or wherever he went nuts, and all of manhood is indicted.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I think what's happening here with these feminists, they're trying to take this isolated incident and indict all of maledom. It's what they're doing, and they're doing it not just one or two of 'em. It's become the way, and women, "victimitis" is just amazing. They're saying, "See? See? This may not happen to us every day, but every woman will face this kind of threat or unwanted attention many times in her life. See what we're up against? See what we have to face?" It's the modern incarnation of all men are predators and brutes and you need to be afraid of them. That is the meme.

And then we find out also that there's a not very much or very loudly reported characteristic of Elliot Rodger. Dig deep into his -- whatever they're calling it -- manifesto. Do you know what this guy was maybe primarily motivated by? This guy hated the rich. In fact, he wrote or put on his video -- he spoke about, whatever -- how mad he was that his mother didn't marry into wealth.

That was the biggest mistake, the biggest unfortunate thing that happened to him was that his mother did not marry into wealth. She instead chose, I don't know, principle or whatever else he said. Now, who is it that's been ginning up class warfare, and who is it that's been ginning up hatred of the rich?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Yeah, CNN has the news on the Elliot Rodger manifesto. He called his mother "selfish" for not marrying into wealth. He wrote about how seeing rich families enjoy life made him resent that his, quote, "damnable mother had not married into wealth instead of being selfish." Now, again, you know, every time one of these things happens, the first thing the Drive-Bys do is see if they can link it to the Tea Party.

Then they try to link it to conservative talk radio. Then they try to link it to some Republican politician someplace. So we always eschew that. We don't play that game because it's cheap. But it's fun to kind of reverse roles now and then. As far as these people are concerned, these perpetrators cannot be responsible. There has to be some external force like the Tea Party poisoning their minds.

Conservative talk radio must be filling them with hatred, bigotry, and whatever the cliches are. Republican politicians are planting in their heads elitism and all that, whatever it is. It can never be that a perp is simply a bad guy and is responsible for what he does. There has to be some external force. The gun. The NRA. Okay. The more we learn about this guy, the more obviously we see he was conditioned by liberalism.

He hated, he resented the rich to the point of calling his mother damnable and selfish for not marrying a wealthy guy. He hated women. Who is it that's out there talking about the War on Women all the time? It's the Democrat Party. Now, you know me, and you know yourselves: When this kind of thing happens, we do not make a mad dash to try to blame this and politicize everything that happens.
...
Listen to this guy. Does he not sound exactly...? This is what you get with class warfare. It's Occupy Wall Street with a gun.

This is exactly the kind of mind-set that the Democrats create with this class welfare rhetoric. They create the resentment. They want people to resent the rich -- and then when the rich get theirs, "Oh, tax increase!" and lose everything, then people like Elliot Rodger are happy. His life hasn't changed any, but he's happy that others are suffering.
...
It's what he reads and sees on TMZ, E! Entertainment, social media, you name it, and he feels like he's really missing everything and being left out. But this hatred for the rich goes deep, folks, and he's not the only one that harbors it.
...
RUSH: This #YesAllWomen hashtag that's going around. Now, they make it a point to say not all men do what Elliot Rodger did, but all women face the fear of what he did every day. So here you have profiling, Elliot Rodger goes out, does what he does, and all of a sudden every male is potentially capable of this kind of thing. Yet when militant Islamists engage in jihad and terrorism, what are we told? No, do not judge all Muslims. Do not judge all of Islam. These are rogue, random acts. These are not events typical of this great religion, but when an Elliot Rodger goes nuts, this is something every woman faces. The fear of exactly this is something every woman faces every day in her life.

And, of course, where do these women turn for safety? Well, by definition, they can't turn to men. Men are the threat. So they turn to Obama. They turn to government. Government will protect them. Government will shield them from the evil that lurks around them each and every day. They can't be comforted by a man, because men are the threat. Now, good liberal men, Alan Alda and Shinseki, John Kerry, they're not capable of this kind of thing, so they are allowed to be protectors. So we have that going on. We've got the fact that this guy hated the rich and perhaps as motivated by that as anything else.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/05/28/feminists_blame_men_but_killer_s_manifesto_dripped_with_class_warfare_rhetoric
The Drive-By-Media is inventing things wholesale linking this guy to the Tea Party, but we don't do that around here! *invents poo poo wholesale linking the manifesto to liberalism* :smuggo:

Not finished being a sack of crap for the day, he also tried to evoke the image of Harry Reid going into the Senate Chambers and unloading a clip in all the rich fucks sitting in Congress... which would pretty much be 98% of them

quote:

RUSH: Can I make another observation? We're told that we need to get sensitive and we need to start recognizing the traits in people like Elliot Rodger so that we can maybe stop them before they act. We've gotta become more vigilant. We've got to see the signs -- and then when we see the signs, we have to be willing to act on the signs that we are seeing, the telltale signs that we might be dealing to somebody unbalanced, capable of mass murder and violence.

We must take steps, as a society and as a culture, to stop this. Well, I'm gonna tell you somebody we need to keep a sharp eye on. This is what the left is telling us, and I think somebody needs to put Harry Reid in a safe and secure place. This obsession that he has with the Koch brothers very much scares me, this irrationality that Harry Reid has with the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers responsible are for global warming?

The Koch brothers are responsible for everything wrong in politics? The Koch brothers are responsible for everything bad? The man has the Koch brothers on the brain. This man, Harry Reid, hates and resents the Koch brothers every bit as much as Elliot Rodger hated women. I see the signs. I see the irrationality. I see the red flags. The danger signs are clear as a bell with Harry Reid. Somebody needs to do something.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/05/28/dingy_harry_displays_danger_signs

And lest we forget this zinger

quote:

RUSH: Ron in Manassas, Virginia, I wanted to get to you. I know you've been waiting, and I appreciate that. Hi.

CALLER: Hey, thanks, Rush. I really appreciate getting on and I was listening to the current commander-in-chief talk to the young new lieutenants there at the Academy. I'm a retired Army lieutenant colonel of 26 years, and it was sickening to see the commander-in-chief. It really gives you a glimpse into his disdain and lack of understanding of the military. He's sitting here telling these young guys that just finished four years of intense training:

"Oh, I'm gonna take care of you! You're the first class I'm not gonna send to Afghanistan or Iraq," and why do you think these guys are thinking? That's what they're training for, and here this guy's standing up there saying, "I'm gonna take care of you. I've got good intentions for you, you good Boy Scouts. I'll just send you over here and let you stay at Fort Bragg" or wherever.

RUSH: You know, that's a good point. He said that in a way that he wanted accolades and appreciation. He told 'em they're the first graduating class that's not gonna be sent to Iraq or Afghanistan, as though that is some sort of great progress. I don't know how many have actually want to go, but you're right. They've trained for it, and they want to put it to use and so forth. It's just the whole mind-set that this man has about this country that was inescapable in that speech today.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/05/28/the_obama_doctrine_america_sucks
Just look at the url title, so juvenile :allears:

# ? May 28, 2014 23:32

Intel&Sebastian: Oct 20, 2002; colonel...
i'm trying to sneak around
but i'm dummy thicc
and the clap of my ass cheeks
keeps alerting the guards!

quote:

"Oh, I'm gonna take care of you! You're the first class I'm not gonna send to Afghanistan or Iraq," and why do you think these guys are thinking? That's what they're training for, and here this guy's standing up there saying, "I'm gonna take care of you. I've got good intentions for you, you good Boy Scouts. I'll just send you over here and let you stay at Fort Bragg" or wherever.

He's right. It's the same phenomenon as all of those firefighters across the country who are massively disappointed every day that a highrise doesn't catch on fire in their district.

# ? May 28, 2014 23:48

Minghawk: Oct 9, 2012

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Alan Moore originally wrote V for Vendetta in response to Thatcherism

I was about to say that moths' 'sci-fi Hitler' was a bit off, but if that's his interpretation then everyone gets away clean, and nobody's made any specious comparisons. Everyone wins!

# ? May 28, 2014 23:49

radical meme: Apr 17, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

moths posted:

I typically notice conservative "values" in film when they manifest in some eye rolling racist grandpa poo poo. Consider when the swarthy foreigners (from a sandy place) teamed up with OWS to nuke Gotham city. It's like, OK Nolan- We get it, you're a rich white guy and this was the scariest scenario you could imagine.

OF COURSE you only see this in hyper unrealistic fantasy circumstances, like Red Dawn or 24. Are there any grounded films where the conservatives were right all along?

Seven Days in May. Every character in the movie, except for the President, is ultra-conservative. It's the ultra-conservative General against the ultra-conservative Colonel defender of the constitution. it's a really good movie.

# ? May 28, 2014 23:55

BiggerBoat: Sep 26, 2007; Don't you tell me my business again.

Fat piece of poo poo Rush Limbaugh posted:

A bunch of backwards bullshit that only a retard would entertain.

Has anyone mentioned in this thread yet that Rush Limbaugh is a giant, fat piece of poo poo? Because that would be glaring oversight if it hasn't been brought up.

I mean, I know. Just look at these gun control advocates and women politicizing this thing where a guy who openly hates women murders them in cold blood with guns. How does that connection get made?

"Meanwhile, here's a movie I've never seen based on books I've never read called The Hunger Games which must be related somehow because Hollywood and, while I'm at it, I may as well advocate abstinence only education to help explain why a guy who's mad that he's a virgin killed some people, but, Christ, would you just look at these left wingers and that dumb, grieving father politicizing this thing?

You're doing the Lord's work here, kik2dagroin, with these posts. That is if the Lord's work is making me want Rush Limbaugh to suffer a massive heart attack because I hate him and his influence so much. Godspeed.

Fake edit: where did this whole "right wing/shock/outrage/be a mean rear end in a top hat" as a vehicle to success start, really? The first person I can think of is Morton Downey, Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Downey,_Jr.

But I bet it goes further back than that.

# ? May 29, 2014 00:00

Sir Tonk: Apr 18, 2006; Young Orc

BiggerBoat posted:

Fake edit: where did this whole "right wing/shock/outrage/be a mean rear end in a top hat" as a vehicle to success start, really? The first person I can think of is Morton Downey, Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Downey,_Jr.

But I bet it goes further back than that.

Downey perfected acting conservative on TV. Before him, Buckley seemed like the ideal conservative to emulate.

# ? May 29, 2014 00:08

Intel&Sebastian: Oct 20, 2002; colonel...
i'm trying to sneak around
but i'm dummy thicc
and the clap of my ass cheeks
keeps alerting the guards!

Rush is indeed just a god awful human being and it's objectively provable via quotes from his own scrubbed transcripts. The thing that really kills me is how much effort and skill he puts into being straight up lazy. He obviously has enough of a grip on the news to do better commentary than he does, he's got just as much of the opportunity and means to do research as anyone in news radio, he's got enough clout that he could get in on a lot of exclusives.

But instead he's resigned to this gross rhetorical jiu jitsu match with himself everyday where he's just using his on the spot skills to kill hours upon hours doing war on a field of liberal strawmen. He spends tons of time making up all kinds of elaborate pretend reasons for being angry (hello Sandra Fluke) that'd rival Glenn Becks chalkboard, and are often worse because there's no mind given to what he said a few minutes ago if it doesn't jive with where his improv is going. He's just doing what Glenn Beck used to do, where you just brainstorm on ANYTHING until it damns liberals (paying no mind to if it's true or remotely possible), only he's got the skills to do it on the fly passably.

The Hunger Games transcripts are revealing as gently caress. He gets into the weeds where it's obvious he doesn't know ANYTHING about what he's discussing, gets scared that he's going off the rails, and starts asking callers for plot points and opinions of what the movie meant so he can get back on track bullshitting.

Intel&Sebastian fucked around with this message at 00:32 on May 29, 2014

# ? May 29, 2014 00:26

Die Sexmonster!: Nov 30, 2005

BiggerBoat posted:

You're doing the Lord's work here, kik2dagroin, with these posts. That is if the Lord's work is making me want Rush Limbaugh to suffer a massive heart attack because I hate him and his influence so much. Godspeed.

If the lord's work is causing me to skip through paragraphs out of frustration/boredom I'll take it. I appreciate the posts at least so I don't have to actively seek them on a site like Daily Kos.

# ? May 29, 2014 00:32

Your Sledgehammer: May 10, 2010; Don`t fall asleep, you gotta write for THUNDERDOME

FuzzySkinner posted:

I realize it's very much an anarchist/libertarian type of movie but I really enjoyed "V for Vendetta" FWIW.

Not trying to be a dick, but as far as political philosophies go, anarchism and libertarianism are about as far away from each other as they could possibly be, and you really shouldn't conflate the two. They are both anti-state, but for diametrically opposed reasons.

# ? May 29, 2014 00:37

Nintendo Kid: Aug 4, 2011; by Smythe

Your Sledgehammer posted:

Not trying to be a dick, but as far as political philosophies go, anarchism and libertarianism are about as far away from each other as they could possibly be, and you really shouldn't conflate the two. They are both anti-state, but for diametrically opposed reasons.

The reasons they support something stupid are immaterial, they both support something ludicrously stupid and with an identical true end state.

# ? May 29, 2014 01:05

ProperGanderPusher: Jan 13, 2012

agarjogger posted:

Ahahahah. You had me until gently caress you. He got a hundred hundred breaks, and there was a time when he used to thank everyone responsible for them weekly on his sex call-in radio show. Maybe he's comparing his own slog up the fame ladder to that of a Disney channel replicant. Idk we seem to talk about this guy an awful, awful lot. I only had to hear about his desire for private trash service twice before I turned his rear end off. I guess it's cute, like my dad would be cute saying that stuff.

He can be pretty funny on occasion and was a bit of a goon icon for a while, which is why his shitlordian economic views (and to a lesser extent social views) are so painful to read and hear about. I stopped listening to him after he guest starred on Hannity or some poo poo to bash OWS and complain about how nobody respects and looks up to rich people like in the good old days.

# ? May 29, 2014 01:08

PeterWeller: Apr 21, 2003; I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

Intel&Sebastian posted:

idk, being a put-upon kid who is secretly better than normal people, more skilled, and a born leader through the power of unexplained magic sounds pretty fuckin libertarian to me.

Except none of that is true about Harry Potter. Hell, the whole "better than regular people" bit is an ideological stance that is thoroughly villified and refuted. One of the central adult characters is a wizard whose mind is absolutely blown by "mundane" technology. And Harry is only singled out because the Villain was all tl;dr about a prophecy.

# ? May 29, 2014 01:38

FMguru: Sep 10, 2003; peed on;
sexually

One of the funnier characteristics of Harry is how much he generally sucked as a wizard, relying on his much smarter friend and her notes to barely pass his basic classes. His only talents were as an athlete and a knack for DADA. His primary accomplishment as a war leader was to sacrifice himself and die in the middle of the big fight. He had a good heart and was fiercely loyal to his friends and had a strong sense of justice and right and wrong and...that's about it.

# ? May 29, 2014 01:44

PeterWeller: Apr 21, 2003; I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

His athletic and DADA skills aren't tops either. His girlfriend is as good or better than him at sports and his sort of brother by fate is eventually as good at fighting evil wizards. One of the points of the series is that Harry is a thoroughly unremarkable kid except for the strange circumstances he is thrust into. This is in part because he is a mirror on which young readers can project and reflect themselves, but it's also because of the series' central ethical stance against the vanity and bigotry of entitlement, a stance diametrically opposed to libertarianism.

# ? May 29, 2014 02:45

Pththya-lyi: Nov 8, 2009; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2020

For those who are curious about how libertarians have embraced Harry Potter, check out this academic paper about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In it, author Benjamin H. Barton speculates that Rowling's experiences with public assistance soured her on government bureaucracy and claims that "Rowling�s story smacks of success through self-reliance and sheer force of will. The Harry Potter novels likewise show a strong strain of self-reliance and stubborn independence, and Rowling came upon these themes the hard way. Anyone who has pulled herself out of poverty as Rowling has is likely to believe that self-reliance and hard-work are the keys to success, and to be conversely wary of government intervention" (1536-1537).

This claim is weakened by the facts that 1) Rowling intentionally took advantage of the British welfare system (as I've already mentioned) and 2) she endorsed her country's center-left Labour Party in 2008 on the grounds that they would treat "poor and vulnerable families" better than the Conservatives would. She blamed conservative policies, not liberal ones, for making her suffer during her years in poverty.

# ? May 29, 2014 03:23

PeterWeller: Apr 21, 2003; I told you that story so I could tell you this one.

Hah. The weight of that article rests on HBP's negative depiction of the Ministry of Magic and comes to the cliche conclusion: "the government that governs best governs least." But the problems with the MoM in HBP stem from their lack of governance. They avoid addressing their citizens' concerns about the outbreak of evil wizards from their secret off-shore and outsourced black site and apparently don't pay for night security staff.

The problem with libertarian analysis along these lines is that they take any depiction of a poor government as an indictment of all government. They do the same thing with the Hunger Games. They probably did it with The Magic Tollbooth.

PeterWeller fucked around with this message at 03:49 on May 29, 2014

# ? May 29, 2014 03:47

Axolotl: Jan 23, 2002; Whatever

Intel&Sebastian posted:

He's right. It's the same phenomenon as all of those firefighters across the country who are massively disappointed every day that a highrise doesn't catch on fire in their district.

You'd think that, but in my experience, that retired Lt. Col is right. The unfortunate reality of military service is that deployments, especially combat deployments, give those servicemembers "street cred", if you will, and factor into awards/medals, promotions, leadership positions, etc. I think the desire to participate in real world military missions is especially prevalent in new officers and enlisted recruits.

But so what? Despite what the Republicans want, we shouldn't keep funding and engaging in endless military actions just so that military members get a sense of fulfillment in their military service. The US has been engaged in this conflict for longer than any other in modern history and we don't need to keep throwing good money after bad.

# ? May 29, 2014 04:43

deoju: Jul 11, 2004; All the pieces matter.; Nap Ghost

This "Harry is a libertarian" BS is just a Conservapedia-esque case of distorted thinking.

"Libertarianism is good. Harry Potter is good. Therefore Harry Potter is libertarian."

A while back in an interview on the Daily Show for one of her non-Potter books she talked about how she was happy to pay taxes to support the programs that were there for her when she needed them, otherwise she would have a tax shelter set up.

# ? May 29, 2014 04:59

Shbobdb: Dec 16, 2010; by Reene

Re: Harry potter, China Melville's "kraken" critiques Harry potter as a petite bourgeoisie empowerment fantasy the same way his Bas-Lag books are a genuine response to the "epic pooh" critiques of Lord of the rings. The bas-Lag novels attempt to create a communist fantasy genre, contrasting with the fascism in lotr. Kraken is more overt in its criticism, bordering on satire or even outright parody. Given cm's views on libertarians, he may well agree that hp is a libertarian fantasy. That would make sense, given his view that libertarians are failed capitalists. ,,

# ? May 29, 2014 05:04

Post 9-11 User: Apr 14, 2010

"It's unfair to indict all men!" -Guy who went to the Dominican Republic to gently caress sex slaves

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/rush-limbaugh-freaks-when-he-gets-calle

# ? May 29, 2014 07:54

JediTalentAgent: Jun 5, 2005; Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!

BiggerBoat posted:

Fake edit: where did this whole "right wing/shock/outrage/be a mean rear end in a top hat" as a vehicle to success start, really? The first person I can think of is Morton Downey, Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Downey,_Jr.

But I bet it goes further back than that.

There was a fairly okay documentary on Morton Downey, Jr. on Netflix (I think it was called "Evocateur") and there is an eventual focus in the documentary on the similarity in style to the modern post-MDJr right wing pundits of today.

I think it could have been better, but it was interesting enough.

# ? May 29, 2014 08:10

moths: Aug 25, 2004; I would also still appreciate some danger.

Axolotl posted:

I think the desire to participate in real world military missions is especially prevalent in new officers and enlisted recruits.

I think the desire to be perceived as eager is far stronger. "I'd rather stay home, squander my signing bonus, and ensure my new spouse doesn't cheat" is what I got from most new enlisted - but expressing that sentiment won't get you very far in the culture.

# ? May 29, 2014 11:19

Axolotl: Jan 23, 2002; Whatever

moths posted:

I think the desire to be perceived as eager is far stronger. "I'd rather stay home, squander my signing bonus, and ensure my new spouse doesn't cheat" is what I got from most new enlisted - but expressing that sentiment won't get you very far in the culture.

Yeah, but no amount of "eagerness" will give you the credibility and respect from your peers that you get from actual experience. I think that desire for the respect of fellow servicemembers is very ingrained in military culture. I mean, a Private with combat experience is more respected than a Lieutenant without it.

# ? May 29, 2014 14:06

Sir Tonk: Apr 18, 2006; Young Orc

Axolotl posted:

I mean, a Private with combat experience is more respected than a Lieutenant without it.

Lieutenants get no respect either way, c'mon now.

# ? May 29, 2014 14:17

moths: Aug 25, 2004; I would also still appreciate some danger.

Well lieutenants don't get much respect period. Boasting about how you can't wait to punch Osama bin Hussein in the face is broadly encouraged, while questioning the wisdom of an unwise war can be a career-wrecker.

So if someone asks if you're pumped about combat, the right answer is never "honestly I'd rather keep performing equipment maintenance here in Georgia, then go home, get drunk, and have sex every night." That's not the answer to give unless you're into career suicide and total social ostracization.

# ? May 29, 2014 14:36

Post 9-11 User: Apr 14, 2010

If you're a member of The Wrong Party then your wounds and medals are fake and you're a traitor, DTA, so on and so on.

# ? May 29, 2014 15:03

esto es malo: Aug 3, 2006; Don't want to end up a cartoon

In a cartoon graveyard

The fact that Kerry was successfully trashed for his service is something I will never fully understand.

# ? May 29, 2014 15:05

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 18, 2024 03:24

Levantine: Feb 14, 2005; GUNDAM!!!

joeburz posted:

The fact that Kerry was successfully trashed for his service is something I will never fully understand.

It's more understandable when you realize that Conservatives only 'care' about Are Troops when they play for their team (and usually not even then!). The rest aren't Are Troops so gently caress 'em.

# ? May 29, 2014 15:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Right Wing Media: congratulations Rush Limbaugh on three full years of sobriety!

«‹›3441 »