Political DBag Hall of Fame

I get that it feels more satisfying to throw up your hands and call it what it is. But if we truly believe in the values we claim to defend, things like free thought, democratic norms, reasoned debate, then shouldn’t we be the ones modeling that, even when it’s hard?


Well for starters, absolutely none of this is satisfying. That's the point. Modeling the behavior we'd like to see in others? Absolutely. When that fails to work, gets mocked as weakness, and your facts are replaced by disinformation, you start to feel less empathic and forgiving. 

We don't see this as much in HuskerBoard P&R where the ratio leans left, but I think a lot of us bring this frustration from the outside world of MAGA friends, family, colleagues, social media and news sources. 

Archy is AOC compared to other posters I've debated in other forums, where I've definitely tasted the other side of the ratio. But at the end of the day they voted for the same person at least twice, and have learned to make excuses for the inexcusable. 

 
But if we truly believe in the values we claim to defend, things like free thought, democratic norms, reasoned debate, then shouldn’t we be the ones modeling that, even when it’s hard?


Who, in your opinion, are "we?"

Who, in your opinion, are the posters in P&R who do not value what we claim to defend?

Who are the posters who do not value democratic norms?

Who are the posters who do not value reasoned debate?

Who are the ones not modeling this?

 
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Debating in the age of Trump doesn't feel like debating. It's not like arguing over deregulation, government spending, tax rates, or social programs. It's all about Trump because it's all about Trump, and it's hard because it's so f#&%ing weird. This is what it feels like to me:

Buddy: Cool news! This Nigerian Prince I met online is going to give me 22 million dollars for helping him get his money out of the country.

Me: You know that's a scam, right?

Buddy: It's totally legit. I can show you his email.

Me: I mean, did you ask yourself why a wealthy man would need someone like you to do his bidding?

Buddy: He said there would be people like you and I shouldn't listen to anything you say. You're just jealous.

Me:  Did you research any of this? If you took just five minutes you'd find out ---

Buddy: See it's not this rich guy's fault. It's all the a$$h@!es running the Nigerian government. They're jealous of him, too. 

Me: I honestly don't know what to say, buddy. Your money, I guess.

Buddy: Well that's the thing. I gave him your bank account information, too. That was part of the deal.

Me: Wait. What? No. No, no, no, no no!

Buddy: Why do you hate America?

 
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Debating in the age of Trump doesn't feel like debating. It's not like arguing over deregulation, government spending, tax rates, or social programs. It's all about Trump because it's all about Trump, and it's hard because it's so f#&%ing weird. This is what it feels like to me:

Buddy: Cool news! This Nigerian Prince I met online is going to give me 22 million dollars for helping him get his money out of the country.

Me: You know that's a scam, right?

Buddy: It's totally legit. I can show you his email.

Me: I mean, did you ask yourself why a wealthy man would need someone like you to do his bidding?

Buddy: He said there would be people like you and I shouldn't listen to anything you say. You're just jealous.

Me:  Did you research any of this? If you took just five minutes you'd find out ---

Buddy: See it's not this rich guy's fault. It's all the a$$h@!es running the Nigerian government. They're jealous of him, too. 

Me: I honestly don't know what to say, buddy. Your money, I guess.

Buddy: Well that's the thing. I gave him your bank account information, too. That was part of the deal.

Me: Wait. What? No. No, no, no, no no!

Buddy: Why do you hate America?
More accurate than you know.

 
It matters when they're demonstrably wrong, and won't speak to reality. It matters when facts are presented and the goalposts are moved. It matters when that line of thinking leads America away from Democracy and toward fascism. We attempt to nobly engage in conversation with those people - you and Guy have famously both tried - and it results in the same thing. Lies, distortion, party talking points.

Providing facts is not "posturing," but that's the vibe I'm getting from this post. Just as, while you said it wasn't your intent, the post I responded to containing the "both sides" comment came across as exactly what you said it didn't mean.

P&R is the way it is because facts matter to a lot of people who post there - people who largely don't agree with each other. And there are posters who treat it like a playground, and there are posters for whom facts are irrelevant in the face of party loyalty.

Enabling the latter of those groups is why America is in the position we're in today.
I’m one of these degenerate liberals skewing the average, so let me just contribute a few thoughts from my perspective.

I can largely agree with the notion that liberal and conservative America have never been more at odds with each other in my lifetime than they are right now. Personally I think a lot of it has to do with the M.O. of the guy who’s been steering the conservative ship for the past decade, I.e., never accept culpability, never take responsibility and always designate an enemy to blame. Perpetual tribalism from your leader only serves to further stigmatize perceived enemies. Trump kind of owns the concept that political opposition is in fact an enemy rather than just our countrymen with whom we disagree. But I digress. We got to disliking and/or misunderstanding each other this much different ways.

Libs, for all our foibles, understand the world the way we do by way of a left-leaning media structure featuring most of the mainstream media conglomerate and increasingly formal education since were apparently now the party of college educated voters. For all their flaws, these media sources are objectively usually pretty factual.

There is no analogue in the right-wing media ecosystem. Guy mentioned the WSJ which is more old-school Republican and doesn’t really carry much currency in MAGAland. Fox News might as well be Trump TV as they’re completely punted on bring anything but a mouthpiece; this is how millions of Americans understand the world. And conservatives are increasingly relying on online right-wing media outlets including YouTube content creators, podcasters and influencers, all of whom prioritize views, downloads and clicks well above propagating truth. Joe f#&%ing Rogan is the paragon of truth-telling to millions of our fellow citizens whose bulls#!t detectors are broken and are as helpless as Joe himself at realizing when they’re being served up a pretty-sounding pile of rank dishonesty and junk science.

I’m rambling but this situation is not sustainable. We’ve lost the ability to communicate well with each other because we take our cues from radically different places. I don’t know how we bridge the gap. There’s a joke in there somewhere about liberals trying to reach across the aisle while cons are busy punching them in the face.
 

But I know it pisses me off. And I’m not in a place where I want to come together and hold hands and sing kumbaya. What happened to personal responsibility? Why are only some of us expected to understand how the world actually works while some of us get to choose their own adventure based on vibes? 
 

Sometimes I wish I had been raised conservative because it seems like life would be a lot easier and less troubling.

 
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this guy

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That water-carrying bundle of bulls#!t excuses is really at his worst right now.  
He’s loving every minute of the Trump dips#!ttery while feigning having reservations about the most minor of details.
 

Oooh, it could really cost Trump if things don’t work out. No dumbf#&%, it is and will hurt our country and our citizens. Trump will be just fine while we suffer. But sure, let’s worry about some egomaniac greedy billionaire’s political concerns instead.
 

Go ahead and tell me how these fúcknuts are not fully indoctrinated cult members. They’re so far gone they can’t begin to see it.

 
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He’s loving every minute of the Trump dips#!ttery while feigning having reservations about the most minor of details.
 

Oooh, it could really cost Trump if things don’t work out. No dumbf#&%, it is and will hurt our country and our citizens. Trump will be just fine while we suffer. But sure, let’s worry about some egomaniac greedy billionaire’s political concerns instead.
 

Go ahead and tell me how these fúcknuts are not fully indoctrinated cult members. They’re so far gone they can’t begin to see it.
Annnnnnd the cycle is complete.  Dips#!t ^^^^^^see JJ^^^^^^, tries to I he y himself into a discussion he doesn’t understand.   Tries to argue against a point not even being talked about, gets huffy when called out and corrected on it.   Posts in the woodshed to complain.  The circle jerk that is JJ.   Tune in next week for the rerun 

 
Annnnnnd the cycle is complete.  Dips#!t ^^^^^^see JJ^^^^^^, tries to I he y himself into a discussion he doesn’t understand.   Tries to argue against a point not even being talked about, gets huffy when called out and corrected on it.   Posts in the woodshed to complain.  The circle jerk that is JJ.   Tune in next week for the rerun 
I’m impressed. You managed to crawl out of Trump’s àss long enough to make another post. Or is the wifi reception in there just that spectacular?
 

Back to carrying that water with ya now. The billionaire needs all the help you can provide to continue fúcking us over.

 
I’m impressed. You managed to crawl out of Trump’s àss long enough to make another post. Or is the wifi reception in there just that spectacular?
 

Back to carrying that water with ya now. The billionaire needs all the help you can provide to continue fúcking us over.
Are you kidding me?   That’s the best retort you have.  😬   The respect meter is going down by the post.  I thought you were better than this type of effort.  Step your game up son.  

 
Are you kidding me?   That’s the best retort you have.  😬   The respect meter is going down by the post.  I thought you were better than this type of effort.  Step your game up son.  


Do you think you're remotely close to anyone else's "game" on any of these threads, son? 

You think you're schooling anyone when you pull one of your dips#!t anomalies or false equivalencies out of the panicked right wing spin room?

And you pretending you did/didn't vote for Donald Trump last November has a real O.J. Simpson "If I Did It" vibe, fwiw.

Some of us are pissed because jizz-gobbling ideological whores like yourself have empowered some of the worst people in America to hurt millions of real people in moronic and totally avoidable ways. Every time you launch a defense/blame post you pull a hamstring and make respect virtually impossible. 

It's not to late to redeem your soul. Start by totally changing.  

 
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