What's so strange is that I'm told the slaver's rebellion flag they carry has nothing to do with hate but only with heritage, so weird they'd make sure to carry it specifically and juxtapose it as being on the same level as the US flag, what heritage could they mean, what what.
This is so strange because I'm told every day by Republicans that the KKK is a DEMOCRAT PARTY institution, why would they be using the Republican president's exact slogan, could it be because the president uses their slogans, too? Unknowable mystery.
I mean I'm sure the Demoncrap KKK (who are for sure Democrats) really appreciated the Republican President using their exact slogan exactly, like exactly, and repeatedly, in his campaign and in his inaugural and since, so weird a Republican president would do that.
I'm sure the leftist KKK and Neo Nazis (socialists, don't you know) really appreciated it when the Republican president for some weird defended them as "many fine people" when they showed up as "Unite the Right" to protest the removal of statues celebrating the slaver's rebellion
Hey guys, it's always a good time for another reminder that the President of the United States uses the exact same slogan and phrases as Neo Nazis and the KKK and other white supremacists, and has for years, and Evangelical Christians and Republicans couldn't be happier with him.
Always a good time for another reminder that Laura Ingraham did this at the Republican National Convention, and even if you don't think that this is what it quite obviously is, Neo Nazis absolutely think it was that thing, and they loved it.
They think it as deeply as they need; that is, exactly enough to allow themselves to go on believing whatever they want while still considering themselves good people.
They're not looking for something to believe—they're looking for a reason to not care.
I want to dig into this, since my book VERY FINE PEOPLE comes out tomorrow, and it's in large part about precisely this sort of polemic trickery in service of bullshit apologia of supremacy.
There's a slight of hand at the start that catapults us into the massive lie.
Let's do the slight of hand, first. The article presupposes to answer the question "Did Trump call Neo-Nazis and white supremacists 'very fine people'?
This is savvy if what you want to exonerate the comments, because it answers the wrong question, and dismisses the right one.
What Trump said is that there are "very fine people on both sides."
That would be the side counter protesting against the Nazis who organized a pro-Confederacy protest.
And then the side full of Nazis and those who found common cause with Nazis.
THE HUMAN PROBLEM
Last week an image went viral online. It was generated by a computer from the classic movie 12 Angry Men. It added no value, and it was being used for no good reason.
It's a perfect encapsulation of where our dominant cultural narrative has brought us.
It's my belief that things that provide positive value to humans are good, and that those who make good things should be compensated for it.
I also believe that people should have access to good things whether or not they can pay. It's the reason I love libraries, for example.
This strikes me as an appropriate way to organize society, provided that we believe society is meant to benefit humans rather than money, and that humans—being inherent generators of value and of limitless potential value—deserve the fruits of society even if they can't pay.
It seems certain people insist that we all as a society pay the cost of a serious problem they are creating, just so that they can imagine themselves to be the solution to it.
For example: the Prosper TX police and their brand new murder tank.
The tank is a MRAP, which stands for Mine Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle. The MRAP has an MSRP of $689,000, which in case you didn't know is a lot of money—about a fifth of the school lunch debt for the whole state, to give a totally random example of another type of expense.
Some have dared ask why a prosperous town in north Dallas, which is presumably free of mines, needs a mine resistant ambush protected-vehicle.
So a local news affiliate provided a helpful explainer, uncritically transcribing the police rationale for the MRAP unchallenged.
It seems to me that this is a nation mediated by fear—by who is permitted to feel it and who is permitted to spread it, and who gets to claim they are frightened or threatened, and who gets to define those parameters.
To explain, let me tell you about the trails I run.
When I run trails, I sometimes encounter people in twos or threes but mostly ones, and sometimes, as you might expect, some of those people are women.
I’ve seen pictures of me when I’m jogging; I’m 6’2” 230 lbs. and even if I’m trying to smile, exertion turns it into a scowl.
So, I do my best to seem as non-threatening as possible on the trail. I don’t know how successful I am, but I try to give space, and make a little unobtrusive cough from a dozen yards back if I’m coming up behind so as to not suddenly startle somebody with my sudden presence etc
I'll admit I'm surprised they found him guilty. The pig president hasn't seen a lot of direct consequences, despite a lifetime of flagrant infractions against law and basic human decency.
In this immunity he is an extension of his cult.
It's worth detailing how how this works.
Our nation's country's cult of mostly male mostly white mostly Christian supremacists establish their immunity through moral authority.
To establish their moral authority, they use a variety of tactics that will be familiar to anyone who has spent time around a narcissist bully.
I understand that suggesting we lie to fascists is a controversial thing to say. It's extremist, in a way that Sam Alito's stop-the-steal flag and Harrison Butker's speech will never be. It's dangerous divisive talk, in a way in ways that a plan to deport 5% of the nation isn't.
I think this tells you what sort of things are and aren't instinctively treated as normal by mainstream institutions.
Christian fascism can never escalate; it can only be escalated upon. It can never be exclusionary; it can only be excluded, and that exclusion is always unjust.
There's a strong current even among those not a part of our nation's popular and empowered cult of creepy religious bigots, that what's more important than opposing creepy religious bigots is dealing in good faith with them. The idea being that good faith will create good faith.