HRC? She just supported killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people. In this she is not different from Trump, actually, and not at odds with US leadership before Trump, now, and after Trump. I think it’s curious that gratuitous, psychopathic, wholesale slaughter is considered all right but boasting about groping is not. I guess it’s because in the first case the victims are mostly not White, whereas in the second case they mostly are. But that’s America for you.
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Ah, I see that now, sorry for my misreading.
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Or maybe people are opposed to both. Despite his boasts that he’s going to “bring our troops home” Trump will not do that and will in fact entrench us deeper into our conflicts and will probably ham-fistedly make it worse, because he’s a bully with no sense of true diplomacy.
Also, please stop acting like sexual assault is ever okay, like this is some sort of thing to be dismissed. This is not an either-or thing. [quote=“starrygordon, post:81, topic:87451”]
I guess it’s because in the first case the victims are mostly not White, whereas in the second case they mostly are.
[/quote]
So, HRC is the real racist?
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Well, Zizek is a professional gadfly, and RT exploits that for its master’s cynical purposes. If Know-Nothings and bigots are going to respond badly to “political correctness” (i.e. attempting to consider Others with a modicum of respect and understanding before criticising them) that isn’t reason enough for liberals to do away with it entirely and embrace their own version of a black-and-white worldview.
Even if the world is returning to the economically (and now environmentally) tighter and meaner state where right-wing authoritarians like Putin, Orban, Farage, Le Pen, Wilders, Erdogan, Modi, and our own Apricot Il Duce thrive, it doesn’t mean that liberals and progressives should throw in the towel when it comes to nuanced criticism of anti-liberal institutions (e.g. fundamentalist Islam).
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The plot to Heinlein’s Revolt in 2100. As scary now as it was when he wrote it.
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Don’t forget McCarthyism, though.
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It’s been bad during the period of prosperity I mentioned, just not the 19th-century Presidential campaign bad to which we’re now returning. Some of those campaigns make the anti-Catholic bigotry against Kennedy look like a tea party.
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I am not unaware of, nor a fan of RT’s paymasters.
Wasn’t Socrates executed, in essence for being a “gadfly”?
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#Short-fingered LOSER
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“Three, maybe four in every ten voters are going to vote for a man who boasted proudly of getting away with sexual assault.”
It will definitely be more than three out of ten. I think you underestimate the stupidity of the American voter. Trump might win. His supporters aren’t swayed by allegations of sexual assault regardless of how many new stories come to light in the days ahead. They just don’t want Hillary to take their guns. People were saying the same thing about Bush when “Fahrenheit 911” was released. They thought it would sink his campaign. Instead it probably helped get him reelected by lulling his opponents into a false sense of security while it emboldened Republican voters to show up at the polls on Election Day.
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There’s nothing wrong with people being gadflies, but (especially in the modern media context) their statements can be susceptible to manipulation by people with agendas quite contrary to their own.
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From misunderstanding to purposeful misinterpretation… an artist or an intellectual has no control of how what he puts out is perceived. Adding layers of subtlety may to some extent prevent triggering hysterics, but does it truly address the above-mentioned spectrum?
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My point is, if you’re giving an interview to an hysterics-triggering media outlet like RT (or Fox or the Daily Mail, etc.) and you’re as intelligent and thoughtful as Zizek is, you might want to tone down your usual gadfly’s bombast and hyperbole while making your valid points. If you don’t, your thoughtful comments and observations are likely to get headlined as “Political correctness solidifies hatred, it doesn’t work.”
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Ditto “binders full of women.”
I’m glad neither of those men won, but I’m not sickened to my core by the thought of living in a country where John McCain or Mitt Romney were considered serious contenders for the office.
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to be fair the format wreaks havoc with hard science, what chance stand philosophy?
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Mute fear sure can look like civility, to those who support the regime.
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How about what Zizek said about Trump himself?
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/134505/slavoj-zizeks-take-donald-trump-zizek-y
http://inthesetimes.com/article/19410/clinton-trump-and-the-triumph-of-ideology
The last one is especially interesting. The problem, as I see it, is that Zizek misses the virulent strain of racism in the US. Would he have been on board with Milosevic, despite his obviously xenophobic rhetoric, if he had promised some “liberal” things? I doubt it. Given the supporters Trump has, the race issue being central to his campaign is throwing African Americans yet again, under the bus.
And Trump, despite not being a “real” Christian dominionist, has embraced their platform and thinks he knows better than the generals about Russia, about Daesh, about China.
The slight possibility that he will embrace more liberal policies than Clinton isn’t persuasive, IMHO. He’ll flow with those who back him, like every other politician, and in this case, that coalition includes some very right wing, racist people, who are looking to become a key part of the political system.
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Until recently, the medium coarsened everything it came into contact with. I worked in TV news in a previous career, so I know how the sausage is made. I will always remember a co-worker who noticed my rapid ascent in the newsroom sincerely warning me not to stay too long because “TV is an evil business.” This was before Fox News and long before RT amped up the evil.
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Good point.
I agree with your entire post except for one small point - rocket scientists can be the most appalling sexists (after all, they help design big phallic things that often carry warheads) and their EQs can be pretty low.
I’m not sure what phrase we should substitute for something not being rocket science in the sense of not being difficult, but I’ve decided to avoid the phrase in future. (I’ve already been described elsewhere as a pearl clutching SJW, might just as well get used to it.)
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You know, the original quote from SPY was “thick-fingered vulgarian”, and it’s funny that Trump got hung up on the “thick-fingered” part (which I think is really more metaphorical, like calling someone “ham-fisted”) and completely ignored the “vulgarian” part.
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