Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #ConServative

@MattWalshBlog

I don't want to *quote tweet* @MattWalshBlog but I'll quote him this way. he said something amusing (betraying his own fears) but it's also very telling, and typical of the "#conservative" (i.e. #fascist) set:

"The Leftist Rage Mob Turns On One Of Its Own | Ep. 113x"

(cont'd)

@mtaibbi

the *leftist rage mob*. heavens! those leftists (or "woke" folks or whoever) are so *angry*! all the time!

angry people are always wrong; just ask @mtaibbi or @NateSilver538 (or @MattWalshBlog) and they'll tell you: being angry is evil and only evil leftists are angry.

(cont'd)

that's part of the doublethinkful game that right-wing people are used to playing with emotions: they can't make up their minds whether leftists are always *angry* or whether they're always weak and crying—but #conservatives are at least certain that *emotions* are bad.

(cont'd)

Read 10 tweets

@elonmusk

re-watching "All the President's Men" reminded me sharply of something that honestly should have been more *obvious* to me—it's a simple but telling thing.

the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @bariweiss fascist crowd don't champion *liberty* or *freedom*. only "#FreeSpeech".

(cont'd)

@mtaibbi

of course one can't say that the @mtaibbi / @elonmusk crowd meaningfully believe in "free speech" as more than a convenient badge, a flag they wave, a message they wear on signboards—for that is how fascists see *all political language*. to them, it's all mere branding.

(cont'd)

@elonmusk

but it's telling all the same that it's just the one very particular sort of #freedom that the @elonmusk / @mtaibbi / @ShellenbergerMD crowd pretend to admire (even though they don't, really.)

that's very typical of Western thinking, unfortunately. they're not alone.

(cont'd)

Read 11 tweets

So yesterday I was fed a story in my news app that enraged me. #Cdnmedia is in a crisis. The rank inability to employ logical reasoning, the pushing of a narrative for political ends, is not reporting. It is propaganda & it misinforms the public, not the opposite. #cdnpoli

It was more shockingly poor reporting on Chinese interference, implying a connection where no factual evidence is provided. Merely a faulty attempt to draw conclusions without substantiating anything. Just garbage reporting. #CdnmediFailed #cdnpoli

The article even admits it has no evidence, merely wild speculation implying that the drop in #Conservative votes is due to a vague implication of Chinese interference. Chiu lost & because he lives in a RW bubble, imagines that it must be “interference”…#CdnMediaFailed #cdnpoli

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@NateSilver538

*bigotry* is a subject that right-wing (and "independent") bigots—@NateSilver538, @DavidAFrench, @DKThomp, whoever, there's so many of these clowns—have attempted to keep as confused as possible. they want to pretend "bigot" is merely a slur, not a meaningful word.

(1/x)

but as I've pointed out before, bigotry is really just overdeveloped snobbery. the snob—the person who has very definite ideas about their personal superiority, and the superiority of their own intellect and tastes and everything else—is already showing "bigoted" behavior.

(2/x)

just as one may exhibit abusive behaviors from time to time without necessarily being "an abuser" (i.e. someone whose whole personality is abusive behavior), a snobbish person may say bigoted things without necessarily being "a bigot", i.e. someone who does nothing else.

(3/x)

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@NRA

so, let's talk about how #2A / #2AMaga cultism—you know, @NRA-fuelled obsession with a comically absolutist reading of the Second Amendment of the @usconstitution—is a tool of fascıst politics.

it's quite simple: rich people can hoard more guns. that's the core point.

(1/x)

https://twitter.com/wyonaf/status/1631659014588071937

@NRA

the *false premise* of Second-Amendment cultism is that unrestrained ownership of firearms is the great equalizer. "God made Man but #Colt made them equal," and so forth.

the @NRA, the @GOP, and bountiful #conservative propaganda promote this idol: equality through guns.

(2/x)

@Timcast

but guns are just *things*, just stuff—consumer products—and therefore, allowing "anyone" to buy a gun favors only the idle rich. it's privileged "passive income" types like @Timcast and @Cernovich, people who have great gobs of free time and leisure, who hoard firearms.

(3/x)

Read 12 tweets

@globalnews

Something else in this CSIS/Fife story, doesn’t pass the smell test & once again, demonstrates #CdnMediaFailed. Who keeps being interviewed by @globalnews & others? None other than Richard Fadden. The former Harper appointee of @csiscanada, later Harper NatSec advisor. #cdnpoli

Richard Fadden was also Harper’s Deputy Minister of National Defence from 2013 to 2015. He was also Harper’s Associate Secretary to the Cabinet.

Fadden was also Harper’s Deputy Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Canada from 2006 to 2009. #cdnpoli #CdnNatSec

As we all know, there is zero chance that Harper would have anyone in his tight inner circle appointed to multiple positions without being a #Conservative partisan, which Fadden is. He worked closely with Jason Kenney (particularly), Vic Toews & Peter Van Loan also. #cdnpoli

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@csiscanada

Claiming China had the ability to chose 🇨🇦’s gov’t right down to whether minority or majority, it utter nonsense. How was this done, exactly? Someone @csiscanada showed #RobertFife “top secret”materials? Is that legal? How did Fife obtain clearance to view such material? #cdnpoli

We all witnessed a tsunami of disinformation & info ops AGAINST the Liberals in the last 2 elections. We saw attacks & manufactured “scandals”. I monitored multiple media sites & don’t recall disinformation about the #CPC in the almost entirely #Conservative owned #cdnmedia.

This recent skewed piece by #RobertFife has a political agenda. China absolutely interferes, as does Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, UAE & of course, the networks of US billionaires (ie Koch Network). But to suggest 🇨🇳 was able to choose our gov’t is suspicious as hell….

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@GOP

I ask my few readers to consider the following possibility: ALL "#conservative" ideology these days—whether it's from @GOP ideologues or the @Conservatives' ideologues or #Christian ideologues or "gender critical" ideologues of the @bindelj sort—has a very specific motive.

(1/x)

@DouthatNYT

not the motive you might be thinking!

I suggest that ALL these people—@DouthatNYT, @realchrisrufo, @Docstockk, @michaelshermer, whoever—adapt their ideology specifically according to who humiliates them in arguments the most reliably. because these people *can't argue*.

(2/x)

right-wing ideology can't be supported *logically*, because the core and center of "movement #conservatism" is irrational and emotional: they like old beliefs and old concepts, old ways of wielding power and regulating human beings, and they don't want anything to change.

(3/x)

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Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic@mamot.fr)

Western culture does not regard children as human beings. the values of "the West"—the values instilled by authoritarian #Christianity—do not permit children to be respected as human beings who deserve to have their feelings and wishes respected, like any other person.

(1/x)

@bindelj

no better example of the general Western *contempt* for children can be imagined than the "gender critical" cult—the @bindelj / @Docstock / #JKRowling brigade—which functions almost entirely as a kind of support group for abusive parents who loathe their LGBTQ+ children.

(2/x)

@jk_rowling

they cling to the faded celebrity of @jk_rowling as a shield against the charge that they despise children—after all, #JKRowling is the Best Fantasy Writer in the Universe, according to the @HJoyceGender / @AbigailShrier gender theorists. she's the friend to all children!

(3/x)

Read 23 tweets

@doctorow

@liberal_party

PJ O'Rourke once quipped that "The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." But conservative parties have unlikely allies in the project to discredit public service: neoliberal "centrist" parties, like @liberal_party. 1/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mck… 2/

The Liberals have become embroiled in a series of scandals over the explosion of lucrative, secretive private contracts awarded to high-flying #consultancy firms who charge hundreds of times more than public sector employees to do laughably bad work. 3/

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@mtaibbi

one more rumination for tonight, I think. this one is about something that's been called "contrarianism"—a word that's been coined in some attempt to describe the perplexing behavior of celebrity 'influencers', specially the more toxic ones like @mtaibbi and @mattyglesias.

(1/x)

@Twitter

but the behavior is probably quite general. just about *all* of the #journalist and #media figures who have some privileged access to the press and to mass audience have learned to behave in this way on @Twitter and social media: they run away from challenging questions.

(2/x)

@LPDonovan

the blue-checked "influencers" of the @LPDonovan / @StevenTDennis / @JakeSherman sort (I've picked three names almost at random) are the people who have *benefited the most* from the #Internet-ization of #journalism. social media has amplified their social privilege.

(3/x)

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@AEI

Western #education is in abysmal state, and #capitalism is to blame.

the noisemakers at all levels of the #conservative noise machine, from the august @AEI propagandists (like "race scientist" @charlesmurray) to circus sideshows like @Timcast, try to blame "woke", but...

(1/x)

@mtracey

that "woke" game is extremely thin by now. really it's just rebranded Red Scare nonsense. in 1950, it was Commies who were "destroying our youth" with virulent ideas that right-wing ideologues didn't like, like abstract algebra; now @mtracey and @DouthatNYT blame "woke".

(2/x)

@realchrisrufo

but ask any low-level right-wing expert on "woke"—ask @realchrisrufo or @ConceptualJames what "wokeism" actually *is*—and you'll get the word "Marxism" in no time: "woke" is, in other words, nothing new at all. it's the same old paranoia about pinko Rooskies in closets.

(3/x)

Read 19 tweets

@KrisAtLarge

I am not a #Christian; my friend Chara (who writes at @KrisAtLarge) is Catholic—albeit a heretical one—but I am no "believer". as I've said, I tend to leave religion to others.

all the same, it's tough *not* to have opinions about #Christianity—we're inundated with it.

(1/x)

@GOP

in the United States especially, right-wing politics—which infallibly promotes an extremist and hyperpoliticized form of #Christianity—pours enormous effort and money into publicizing #Christian political demands.

@GOP politics and Bible-bashing are practically the same.

(2/x)

@GOP

in fact, it seems like *all* public spokespersons for Christianity in the U.S. are political figures. #Christian @GOP politicians and activists and corporate executives proudly proclaim their purpose in public office to be the promotion of "Jesus" and "faith" and "values".

(3/x)

Read 20 tweets

#geopolitical tedium is not for me. I like the world of ordinary matter and energy (and physics and chemistry and all of it) far too much. I like tools and instruments and equipment, and knowing how to use them. fretting about #Russia or #China is not my highest priority.

(1/x)

@jack

yet American #politics and political #media have completely inundated popular culture—because @jack Dorsey and #MarkZuckerberg permitted the politicization of #Internet #socialmedia. on specious grounds they kicked down the door between "public" and "private" online.

(2/x)

@TheDemocrats

now, both @TheDemocrats and the @GOP, both @UKLabour and the @Conservatives, and political parties and political figures all over the world freely do business in full public view; @elonmusk openly conspires with @mtaibbi and @lhfang and @bariweiss in full public view.

(3/x)

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@elonmusk

let's try again. I wanted to write more *specifically* about Mr. @elonmusk—speculating about why he's the catastrophic person he is, based on what's popularly known about him. everything I'm going to mention is something reported in the popular press (not by @mtaibbi.)

(1/x)

https://twitter.com/PnictogenHorses/status/1619558112171810819

@elonmusk

we know that Mr. Musk had an abusive father, whom @elonmusk has had little good to say about. the man was typical colonialist trash—a South African grifter and speculator who *got lucky*, making a lot of money quickly with a partial share in an apartheid-era emerald mine.

(2/x)

@elonmusk

Mr. Musk (and certainly his #ElonMusk fan club) has tried as hard as possible to suppress any chatter about the emerald mine; Mr. @elonmusk himself, a prolific and habitual liar, has even tried to pretend that the press made it up. but it's too broadly reported to deny.

(3/x)

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Lori Spencer

@RealLoriSpencer

@tjmac87

Every night at 8PM Central this weekend, I’ll be showing episodes of my recent talk with two American #communists, Tyler McConnell @tjmac87 and @RealCalebMaupin.

In Part 2 of “Making Alliances,” we ask: “what do #libertarians and Communists agree on?”

Lol I know this show will trigger some folks who might say that libertarians and communists can’t agree on a damn thing, but watch and you might be surprised!

@RealSpikeCohen

Perhaps @RealSpikeCohen, @angela4LNCChair, and @ComicDaveSmith would enjoy this conversation as well. ☝️

You too @nick_brana!
@PeoplesParty_US @LPMisesCaucus @LPNational @beinlibertarian @LarrySharpe

Read 6 tweets

oh right! we were going to write something about the power of language.

hm, how to start.

let me begin with talking about a concept that I learned from classes in ancient Greek: the *grammatical particle*. it's a type of word, in linguistics.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatic…

(1/x)

@SDSU

I remember being impressed during @SDSU Classics classes by this entire book on ancient Greek particles: abebooks.com/book-search/ti…

*particles* are words that have no inflection or clearly defined "part of speech" in a sentence.

"um" and "er" are particles in English.

(2/x)

we could regard "um" and "er" as linguistic filler—words with no real meaning, merely taking up space—but the insertion of such particles does give us some information about the *mood* or *feeling* of the person speaking.

here, "um" and "er" convey a sense of uncertainty.

(3/x)

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@TheDemocrats

#capitalism broke #computing and the #Internet, and it's tough to see how to repair the damage—and by the way, @TheDemocrats assisted in this destruction. @BillClinton's presidency was *disastrous* to technology.

the worst was this: capitalism made the #Internet a *joke*.

(1/x)

@mtaibbi

it's still a joke. @mtaibbi and @jessesingal and @mattyglesias, and the rest of the elite "influencer" set who have proliferated in American #journalism (and polluted it), have assisted immensely in this massive _trivialization_ of a technological achievement.

(2/x)

@GOP

and for no other reason than right-wing spite: the @GOP is a party of hatreds and they *loathe* Sen. @algore, who would have made a much better President than the genocidal coke fiend from Connecticut/Texas. they associated "the Internet" with Sen. Gore, and spat on it.

(3/x)

Read 10 tweets

Take note of the new fascist costume worn by wealthy privileged #Conservative elites in order to hoodwink the gullible. #NeverVoteConservative #cdnpoli #PierrePoilievreIsLyingToYou

They’ve ruined plaid shirts.

#PierrePoilievreIsLyingToYou (or his rich friends), use this costume a lot. #cdnpoli

Read 6 tweets