Lying loudly about dog whistle politics on upward on the subtlety scale is not exactly a Jedi mind trick. He just pushes well known buttons and happened to be the loudest, firstest, angriest.
Yes, but he is so damned good at lying that he is able to convince the weak minded to agree with him. That's Jedi mind trick territory.
It's stupid to assume everyone who agrees with him are weak minded. He is just VERY good at appealing to fear, anger, and righteous indignation. These are feelings that we all have and it's not easy to appeal to them as well as he does.
I mean, he is incredible in his delivery. Just enough emotion in his voice to betray his indignation, pauses at exactly the right spots to allow for a "Hell yeah" without missing his next point... He's good.
By definition, the weak minded aren't too hard to convince.
Maybe it's just because I'm generally pretty good at swaying people (just not on this forum ;-)), but I just don't think he's particularly good at it. He's just loud and says what his angry listeners would say if they thought they could get away with it in mixed company. That's easy.
Edit: WOW, I'm listening to that angry Youtube lady now. Holy shit. Mental illness is a terrible thing.
It's not just his effect on the weak minded but also the knowledge among the strong minded that he has that power. Republican officials have to listen to him because of that. He holds a large portion of pitchfork wielding crazies in his thrall.
Lying loudly about dog whistle politics on upward on the subtlety scale is not exactly a Jedi mind trick. He just pushes well known buttons and happened to be the loudest, firstest, angriest.
Yes, but he is so damned good at lying that he is able to convince the weak minded to agree with him. That's Jedi mind trick territory.
It's stupid to assume everyone who agrees with him are weak minded. He is just VERY good at appealing to fear, anger, and righteous indignation. These are feelings that we all have and it's not easy to appeal to them as well as he does.
I mean, he is incredible in his delivery. Just enough emotion in his voice to betray his indignation, pauses at exactly the right spots to allow for a "Hell yeah" without missing his next point... He's good.
"Weak minded" may not be the best word for it, but I was going along with the whole Jedi mind trick terminology thing where the weak minded are most susceptible. I admit it's not a perfect metaphor, but you gotta at least give Limbaugh credit for his talent at appealing to those feelings that you specified.
Ugh I'm sick of hearing these idiots throwing temper tantrums and yelling "I didn't get my way, so lets secede!" (As if the last time that happened it was a grand ole time for everyone, yay civil war!) My first reaction upon hearing about the petitions was "let the backwards-thinking asshole religious nuts leave, who needs 'em"... but then I remember, oh that's right, I live in one of those hillbilly states. So it pisses me off that these people think its okay to secede their state from the US when a large percentage of people also living in that state do not think the same way they do! (aka aren't backwards-thinking asshole religious nuts). As much as I want to leave Georgia, I want to leave on my own terms and when I want. Not because I find myself suddenly living in the new country of Christonia.
I hope they all secede. I really do. But just the people who knee-jerk reaction want to. Not the normal people who live good lives and aren't racist or otherwise horrible.
Plenty of Christians are not bigoted or socially regressive. Its pretty super bigoted to refer to a hypothetical backwards regressive ignorant nation as Christonia.
Plenty of Christians are not bigoted or socially regressive. Its pretty super bigoted to refer to a hypothetical backwards regressive ignorant nation as Christonia.
Should have been pretty obvious I was calling out the "lets secede" people as the backwards-thinking whatever whatevers. But if they want to call me a lying cheating socialist dirty liberal just because I am a Dem, voted for Obama, what have you... then I can call them colorful names, too. So nyeh. Also I grew up in super-duper-hillbilly town, so my description was quite accurate for what I've been exposed to. So nyeh again. :-P
Plenty of Christians are not bigoted or socially regressive. Its pretty super bigoted to refer to a hypothetical backwards regressive ignorant nation as Christonia.
Considering that the vast majority of idiots willing to go so far as secede are largely interested in doing so for religious reasons, yeah, I think "Christonia" would be a fair bet. There are plenty of non-crazy Christians, even Romney supporters, but I think those who are willing to go so far as secede can be categorized as nuts.
So its OK to use the religious identifier as the slur? So its OK to refer to terrorism as Muslim politics as usual, etc since they also act for religious reasons. I get that a lot of people on this board are victims of the bible belt, but that's still bigoted.
So its OK to use the religious identifier as the slur? So its OK to refer to terrorism as Muslim politics as usual, etc since they also act for religious reasons. I get that a lot of people on this board are victims of the bible belt, but that's still bigoted.
Oh no, somebody come quick. The social majority is under attack!
Bigotry is still bigotry when applied to a globally privileged class. Give it a rest. If a white boy is beaten for being in a black neighborhood is it morally neutral? Of course not. You don't fix social ills by perpetuating them and its a stupid argument to make.
My parents are super Christian. As in, they believe in God, go to church, have conservative views taken from the Bible etc. But they are not "backwards-thinking asshole religious nuts". Only the backwards-thinking assholes that prescribe to a religion are "backwards-thinking asshole religious nuts." See the difference? So I am specifically attacking the crazy backwards oh whatever the fuck people who are using religion as an EXCUSE for what they are trying to do (which is an atrocity in my eyes, I believe religion at its core is a beautiful thing and shouldn't be abused like this).
But you are right, I shouldn't just attack the religious nuts. ANYONE who believes gay people are second class citizens who do not deserve the same rights as straight people, who believe women shouldn't control their own bodies and instead should just pop out tons of babies no matter what, who believe its not okay to help the poor/disabled/just-plain-unlucky people in this country when they're down, who believe only well-to-do advantaged people deserve healthcare, fuck those cancer kids losing their insurance, who believe everyone should follow THEIR religion even though most people in this country are from different backgrounds... etc.... are sick. Fuck those people and let them have their own country. (Except that normal people would have to move, moving sucks! >.<)
So I am specifically attacking the crazy backwards oh whatever the fuck people who are using religion as an EXCUSE for what they are trying to do (which is an atrocity in my eyes, I believe religion at its core is a beautiful thing and shouldn't be abused like this).
Yes, some such people may merely be "using religion as an excuse", but a lot of the time those people are in fact doing what they believe is right.
Also, I disagree strongly with the idea that "religion at its core is a beautiful thing". I'd agree somewhat if you replaced it with "spirituality", but even then the term is far too tied up with things that are divergent from reality.
So I am specifically attacking the crazy backwards oh whatever the fuck people who are using religion as an EXCUSE for what they are trying to do (which is an atrocity in my eyes, I believe religion at its core is a beautiful thing and shouldn't be abused like this).
Yes, some such people may merely be "using religion as an excuse", but a lot of the time those people are in fact doing what they believe is right.
Also, I disagree strongly with the idea that "religion at its core is a beautiful thing". I'd agree somewhat if you replaced it with "spirituality", but even then the term is far too tied up with things that are divergent from reality.
Yeah, I think I did mean spirituality there. Religion is the organization surrounding spirituality... I get those mixed up sometimes. What I meant is that I think a person believing in a deity/spirit/presence/whatever that watches over you and will send you to a wonderful place when you die... that's beautiful stuff. Not the "rules and regulations" that tend to go along with religion.
The part about that woman ranting hysterically and frothing at the mouth in the video on the previous page that was so damned hilarious was that she thought that not enough people were sharing her videos and facebook posts...and that's why Obama won.
Yeah, I think I did mean spirituality there. Religion is the organization surrounding spirituality... I get those mixed up sometimes. What I meant is that I think a person believing in a deity/spirit/presence/whatever that watches over you and will send you to a wonderful place when you die... that's beautiful stuff. Not the "rules and regulations" that tend to go along with religion.
Sure, it's nice to imagine people not really having to die, but it's a serious mistake to think that this is actually the case. Beliefs detached from reality are highly corruptible, and the general social willingness to accept these kinds of beliefs forms a pillar of support for organized religion and many kinds of woo, some of which are genuinely dangerous.
I'm not a fan of organized religion at all, but Jesus was a pretty upright dude overall. Tolerance love and socialism I can get down with.
Even organized religion has its good points. It has played a significant role in community building and organization, and still does.
Yes, this also results in exclusion, and there are clearly better ways to handle these things than to tie them to religion, but this doesn't mean there aren't positive aspects to organized religion that should be recognized.
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I mean, he is incredible in his delivery. Just enough emotion in his voice to betray his indignation, pauses at exactly the right spots to allow for a "Hell yeah" without missing his next point... He's good.
Maybe it's just because I'm generally pretty good at swaying people (just not on this forum ;-)), but I just don't think he's particularly good at it. He's just loud and says what his angry listeners would say if they thought they could get away with it in mixed company. That's easy.
Edit: WOW, I'm listening to that angry Youtube lady now. Holy shit. Mental illness is a terrible thing.
Won't somebody please think of the christians!!!
But you are right, I shouldn't just attack the religious nuts. ANYONE who believes gay people are second class citizens who do not deserve the same rights as straight people, who believe women shouldn't control their own bodies and instead should just pop out tons of babies no matter what, who believe its not okay to help the poor/disabled/just-plain-unlucky people in this country when they're down, who believe only well-to-do advantaged people deserve healthcare, fuck those cancer kids losing their insurance, who believe everyone should follow THEIR religion even though most people in this country are from different backgrounds... etc.... are sick. Fuck those people and let them have their own country. (Except that normal people would have to move, moving sucks! >.<)
And yes religion gets used as a meme in defense of shit behavior way too often.
Also, I disagree strongly with the idea that "religion at its core is a beautiful thing". I'd agree somewhat if you replaced it with "spirituality", but even then the term is far too tied up with things that are divergent from reality.
Yes, this also results in exclusion, and there are clearly better ways to handle these things than to tie them to religion, but this doesn't mean there aren't positive aspects to organized religion that should be recognized.