Latest best most stable new band name, fact!
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take like, all hail hypnotoad
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Just a quick interjection: there’s a starting (?) sociological diffusion discussion in Germany about the middle class being a driving force behind the recent neoconservative-nationalist-xenophobe developments in European and particularly German politics. Core idea, abridged and paraphrased (possibly very badly) after having heard this though colportage:
The middle class fears for it’s previous success, as it sees underprivileged new contestants (e.g., immigrants, like the US dreamers) developing a social mobility which they believed to be their chance and place in life. Which, I should add, they feel to have lost already since at least the late 1990s and it’s neo-liberalist reforms (incidentally, in Germany, brought forward by the SPD, which is now at a historical low).
The middle class also feels unrepresented in the current governments and parliaments, who they perceive to be elitist and self-catering, and at the same time appeasing the new contestants.
The trouble is that this belief itself is thought to be installed and used by populists, who are, in fact, quite surely self-catering elitists.
I think that maybe, we underestimate the voters of the populists when we assume it’s lack of education (science, facts, and media fall under this headline in my book) which brings voters to fall among the wolves.
And polarisation, while a being a huge issue, isn’t exactly something new. However, the vile and aggression piled on social media makes most sensible people uneasy. Different topic, though - related to the above mainly by the readiness with which populists play this new propaganda medium.
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Old but good…
classism and corporatism effects on capitalism = late stage capitalism
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Different WB character, yes, but I was thinking that “very stable genius” also pairs nicely with “I own a mansion and a yacht.”
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“Buttons aren’t toys!”
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On the other hand, the far-right (Mercer/Bannon, Heritage Foundation, etc) were angling for a popular push of Ted Cruz as their useful idiot. Unfortunately for them, Donald Trump swept in and they had to try and reform their plans around him.
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That’s the same hand. That is the how of how the Republicans fucked up. It was a glorious slow motion car crash of the “clown car”. Their party was mid take over, old conservatives vs tea bagger alt-rights, so several failed party-jackings left them fragmented and in-fighting and we all ended up with the worst president in US history. hoo-ray.
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Fascists, war criminals, and more fascists
… and the name of the show is from a book about organized crime
STAY CLASSY FOX 
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have you not been paying attention?
Dershowitz is a trump ally.
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Yes. Been sucking up big time
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Took me a minute to remember the reference. That’s a pretty deep cut right there. Well done.
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You sure he didn’t mean this?
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Super Genius!
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Yup.
As I’ve been ranting about here for a year or so, fascism is a middle-class pathology. It’s based in the defence of fading privilege.
The working class are the primary victims of fascism, not its base.
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I don’t know, at this point none of it is having any impact. “Moron-grade insane” is the new norm for me. You could have the Mystery, Inc. gang rip off the rubber mask and reveal The Donald to actually have been Aunt Sally Mae Withers the whole time, it wouldn’t make me bat an eye.
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Interestingly, this thought was expressed, in a way, in one of Germany’s large newspapers by a sociologist, Stephan Lessenich. Not for the first time, I might add. And I have the feeling this is really an ongoing discussion amongst scholars.
BTW, Lessenich publishes in the culture pages (Feuilleton) - a part of any newspaper addressing, classically, an upper middle class audience.
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