quote:

I got mad at the radio
I usually remember to emphatically mash my fist against the car radio when NPR segues from classical music into the afternoon news program. Unfortunately, today, as the clock approached 4pm and the final movement of Saint-Saens’ 3rd symphony faded out, I spotted a man wearing JNCO-sized basketball shorts walking down the sidewalk while chugging an entire 2 liter of Dew. The image of this horrible man so entranced me that I spent the next 10 minutes passively listening to the worst loving schlock on the planet.
They interviewed David Brooks about the newest chapter in Hillary’s extended coal miner gaffe and for a minute or two I didn’t even realize it was him: his May 6 column asserts that to compete with Trump’s rhetoric her platform needs more Big Ideas. This is undeniably true. Hillary’s “America Is Already Great” message is largely responsible for her inability to generate any enthusiasm among young people. Her promises of tax credits and job retraining programs are not enough to win over post-industrialites, hence why they cut her speech short by stripping her mic cable with their teeth so they could harvest the copper wire inside. What does Brooks suggest as an alternative? That she emulate David Cameron. That she propose “migration zones” to truck the unemployed out of the Rust Belt and into a region with an excess of full-time jobs for long-term unemployed high school graduates (???). This is almost word-for-word what Kevin “Gay Dracula” Williamson of the National Review wrote about the white working class in March:

quote:

Forget your sanctimony about struggling Rust Belt factory towns and your conspiracy theories about the wily Orientals stealing our jobs. Forget your goddamned gypsum, and, if he has a problem with that, forget Ed Burke, too. The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles. Donald Trump’s speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin. What they need isn’t analgesics, literal or political. They need real opportunity, which means that they need real change, which means that they need U-Haul. If you want to live, get out of Garbutt.

This stuff plays great with the poor and downtrodden, much like “listen to Bill Cosby and pull up your pants” preceded a massive exodus of black voters to the GOP.
Next up was an excerpt of John Kerry’s commencement speech at Northeastern University, itself a perfect encapsulation of the modern Democratic Party:
First, the superficial appeal to diversity:

quote:

“You are the most diverse class in Northeastern’s history — in other words, you are Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”

Second, a vision of the world where American military adventurism is a positive good and the Third World is eternally grateful for our failed attempts at nation-building. Essentially the White Man’s Burden, but you can’t say that anymore:

quote:

“When you consider the range of challenges that the world is struggling with, most countries don’t lie awake at night worrying about America’s presence; they worry about what would happen in our absence. We cannot be seduced.”

Third, a defense of free trade featuring a namedrop of capital-T Technology so devoid of context that it makes Thomas Friedman look coherent:

quote:

"We will never come out on top if we accept advice from soundbite salesmen and carnival barkers who pretend the most powerful country on Earth can remain great by looking inward and hiding behind walls at a time that technology has made that impossible to do and unwise to even attempt.”

Why does technology, gee-whiz, this stuff is nuts, we got all these apps on there and I barely even know how to turn the thing on, prevent us from adjusting our trade policies to benefit domestic workers? Whom amongſt us doth not underſtandeth the neceſsity to Uberize the global economy? I don’t know! Maybe there would be time for an explanation if the sentiment wasn’t expressed in the form of a literal, actual soundbite.

mysterious frankie posted:

what is this with the "neoliberal left" thing, like *morphs into old woman from car insurance commercial* that's not how any of this works *morphs back into self* you big dumbo *morphs into firework, explodes beautifully*

rudatron posted:

For mature human beings, being aware that people are products of their environment, tempers stupid & immature emotional reactions like hatred of a group of people. Rationalizing hatred as reverse-double progressiveness just means that you haven't actually internalized that fact - you're looking for an excuse for your emotional reactions, rather than challenging them.

comedyblissoption posted:

npr is a neoliberal shithole that pushed some anti-sanders messaging during the primaries. they only covered sanders from the context of a horse race and not from the context of what policies will benefit americans. theyre currently on the russia hysteria bandwagon. im glad other people call 'em out for what they are because im sick of the insufferable attitude of people who listen to that station as if it's an unbiased or decent news network.

comedyblissoption posted:

npr is a neoliberal shithole that pushed some anti-sanders messaging during the primaries. they only covered sanders from the context of a horse race and not from the context of what policies will benefit americans. theyre currently on the russia hysteria bandwagon. im glad other people call 'em out for what they are because im sick of the insufferable attitude of people who listen to that station as if it's an unbiased or decent news network.

zegermans posted:

leftists don't have a problem with the cross burners

Iron Twinkie posted:

God, rereading pre-election coverage just feels so surreal. At time it seemed we were lamenting the inevitable. On November 8th, Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow and we'll get another 8 years of neoliberalism as things will gradually get worse. That inevitability was so well cemented they couldn't even bother to offer the thinnest emptiest shreds of hope to people their policies have immiserated over the last 30 years. Of course these bloodless, alien loving ghouls lost to Trump.

FuzzySkinner posted:

I keep listening to Chapo's Trap House and their words, along with this post accurately describes my feelings of disgust for them right now.

I used to think the old Conservative talking point about there being a "LIBERAL" media was horseshit. But you know what...it's a half truth. They are liberal, but only when it comes to the sort of liberalism that is espoused by Bill, Hillary and Obama. Beyond that? Well we see what happened during the primary and election cycle.

Honestly? I'm tired of their influence. They've hitched their wagons with neocons and all they care about are just the least important poo poo imaginable. Vague platitudes, and Red baiting 2.0. It feels like they're bizarrely threatened by any sort of change to their current control of the affairs and are now trying to protect that influence with Bush era republicans assisting them. It's really gross and disgusting.

I don't understand why people like Donna Brazille, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Hillary herself just don't go away at this point. It feels like outlets like Time Magazine and others are so desperate to have this sort of neoliberal/west wing fantasy that the rest of the country has moved on from and wants nothing to do with.

comedyblissoption posted:

npr is a neoliberal shithole that pushed some anti-sanders messaging during the primaries. they only covered sanders from the context of a horse race and not from the context of what policies will benefit americans. theyre currently on the russia hysteria bandwagon. im glad other people call 'em out for what they are because im sick of the insufferable attitude of people who listen to that station as if it's an unbiased or decent news network.

FuzzySkinner posted:

I don't understand why people like Donna Brazille, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Hillary herself just don't go away at this point. It feels like outlets like Time Magazine and others are so desperate to have this sort of neoliberal/west wing fantasy that the rest of the country has moved on from and wants nothing to do with.

Iron Twinkie posted:

I'm trying to articulate my thoughts without it coming out as a string of profanity with the word GLOBALISTS inserted at random intervals. In my mind the core of the problem is that we have a Political and Media class in the first place and more importantly how insulated and isolated it has become. In order to get anywhere in politics or in one of the six companies media has been consolidated down to, you need both social connections to get your foot in the door and the financial means to work for little or no pay. To even get someone's coffee, you need to be in a position where food, clothing, shelter, or any other basic necessity isn't a concern and never has been. Their focus on tone, procedure, and palace intrigue is because those are the topics and social capital of everyone else they have ever known. They themselves and no one they have known has ever had a real problem in their lives.

I think what makes me angrier than anything else is that they have no comprehension of just how much they are loathed and hated. The increasing desperation of huge swaths of the population isn't even background noise in their world. They believe they are loved.

Iron Twinkie posted:

I'm trying to articulate my thoughts without it coming out as a string of profanity with the word GLOBALISTS inserted at random intervals. In my mind the core of the problem is that we have a Political and Media class in the first place and more importantly how insulated and isolated it has become. In order to get anywhere in politics or in one of the six companies media has been consolidated down to, you need both social connections to get your foot in the door and the financial means to work for little or no pay. To even get someone's coffee, you need to be in a position where food, clothing, shelter, or any other basic necessity isn't a concern and never has been. Their focus on tone, procedure, and palace intrigue is because those are the topics and social capital of everyone else they have ever known. They themselves and no one they have known has ever had a real problem in their lives.

I think what makes me angrier than anything else is that they have no comprehension of just how much they are loathed and hated. The increasing desperation of huge swaths of the population isn't even background noise in their world. They believe they are loved.

comedyblissoption posted:

npr is a neoliberal shithole that pushed some anti-sanders messaging during the primaries. they only covered sanders from the context of a horse race and not from the context of what policies will benefit americans. theyre currently on the russia hysteria bandwagon. im glad other people call 'em out for what they are because im sick of the insufferable attitude of people who listen to that station as if it's an unbiased or decent news network.

FuzzySkinner posted:

It's gotten so bad that even my dittohead father has now fully embraced elements of "New deal" leftism. I've heard him bitch about how corrupt the banks are, how we need to invest in infastructure spending...all of this.

But they keep putting their heads in the sand, and ignoring these people. They don't matter to them. They bailed out wall street and gave the finger to main street. They get to go back to their white upper class neighborhoods, or gentrified neighborhoods, then look down at everyone else that doesn't share their sesame street version of "diversity".

Typo posted:

something I thought of

Obama took Andrew Jackson from the $20 last year

Trump (prob at Bannon's behest) layed the wreath at Jackson's tomb and tweeted about him and put his portrait in the oval office

there's prob no better symbolism for the way democrats gave up their original core identity as anti-bank, anti-northeastern elite populists with its core constituents in the south and midwest than this

wizard on a water slide posted:

as an aside I think it's astounding that there are ppl on this forum and probably itt who take it as axiomatic that people on the trans spectrum or w/e are inherently repulsive, while simultaneously not getting how someone can hate poor people

nobody likes poor people, including a lot of poor people; poor people constantly need financial help, dress and eat poorly, are less healthy, less educated, etc etc etc

liberals hate poor people for the same reason everybody else does, which is that many of them are repellent; liberals are just more forthright about it because they're more concerned with aesthetics than socialists and the far right, and they have fewer other people to spread their hate around to (whereas the us far right, for example, hates pretty much everybody including each other). the foundation of social science is the belief that we're products of our environment, and study after study after study has shown that poverty has negative consequences on basically every physical and mental quality of a human being

here's the punchline tho: this is precisely why nobody deserves to live in poverty

this is why you become a leftist in the first place, why you fight for economic justice, etc because poverty is loving gross and inhumane, and the myth that it's somehow ennobling and aggrandizing is one of the vilest lies in american mythology

in other words, turn their hatred of poor people into passion for economic justice lmao

Jeb! Repetition posted:

What's the point of NPR existing now that Car Talk's over?

FuzzySkinner posted:

i know his background kinda contradicts this, but when's the last time you've heard a Dem champion FDR and his legacy?

FuzzySkinner posted:

i know his background kinda contradicts this, but when's the last time you've heard a Dem champion FDR and his legacy?

I got stamps the other day and the post office worker from behind the counter seemed so drat proud they featured "New Deal" programs on them. Those programs are STILL taught in school to this day as an example of how we dug our asses out of financial ruin and helped grow the middle class.

They don't do that. You know who they do like to talk about. i'll give you a little hint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXqz0-fVcn4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seBrOcoj89s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0AjH0ahWU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQai93glsy0

(That last one? Ran in Ohio during the election btw).

Typo posted:

I was gonna say bernie but then I remembered that he's not a democrat

Condiv posted:

that makes me wanna vomit

bad dems are disgusting

comedyblissoption posted:

npr is a neoliberal shithole that pushed some anti-sanders messaging during the primaries. they only covered sanders from the context of a horse race and not from the context of what policies will benefit americans. theyre currently on the russia hysteria bandwagon. im glad other people call 'em out for what they are because im sick of the insufferable attitude of people who listen to that station as if it's an unbiased or decent news network.

FuzzySkinner posted:

They were trying to reach some small sliver of "NEVER TRUMP" republicans that is such a minuscule, pathetic sample size that it's not even worth addressing.

The Brown Menace posted:

the size is 3 (bill kristol, jennifer rubin and rick wilson)

and they all probably still voted trump or abstained, lol

FuzzySkinner posted:

They were trying to reach some small sliver of "NEVER TRUMP" republicans that is such a minuscule, pathetic sample size that it's not even worth addressing.

quote:

At least publicly, Schumer has no worries about his party’s dwindling fortunes among working-class white voters. “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.”

Iron Twinkie posted:

The modern Democrats desperately, DESPERATELY want to be the party of Wealthy, Socially Conscious, Smart, Respectable Republicans.

FuzzySkinner posted:

i know his background kinda contradicts this, but when's the last time you've heard a Dem champion FDR and his legacy?

I got stamps the other day and the post office worker from behind the counter seemed so drat proud they featured "New Deal" programs on them. Those programs are STILL taught in school to this day as an example of how we dug our asses out of financial ruin and helped grow the middle class.

They don't do that. You know who they do like to talk about. i'll give you a little hint:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXqz0-fVcn4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seBrOcoj89s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV0AjH0ahWU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQai93glsy0

(That last one? Ran in Ohio during the election btw).

MaxxBot posted: