Mark Halperin’s indefinite suspension by MSNBC for calling President Obama a “dick” on the air for his behavior during the budget negotiations is a study in contrasts. The contrast between the consequences to the media of calling Michelle Bachmann a “flake” to her face and the contrast between a supposed technical competence and their inability to get their signals straight.
“Are we on the seven second delay today?” Halperin asked, in response to a question about President Obama’s “feisty” comments at a news conference yesterday. “I want to characterize how I thought the president behaved.”
Advertisement“Well, we have it, we can use it, right Alex?” Brzezinski asked to a producer off camera.
“Yeah, sure, come on, take a chance. Have faith,” Scarborough responded.
“Go for it, yeah, let’s see what happens,” Brzezinski said.
“I’m behind you, you fall down, I catch you. Trust me,” Scarborough assured him.
“And the precedent has been set on this show, so we’re good,” Brzezinki added.
Then Halperin expressed the fatal opinion, which sends everyone into paroxysms of apparently unfeigned laughter.
“We didn’t think it was going to go on the air, it was said by you in jest,” Scarborough said.
“We goaded you into saying it, and then we didn’t think you were going to say it, and we were kind of shocked, and then we laughed because we did not think it was on the air,” Brazeznski explained.
The contrasts illustrate a point that’s been made before on this site: the signal is often found in the excursions from the narrative, the variations that are superimposed on the carrier wave. The truest information in the media isn’t in what they read on the air, but what they blurt out in apparent earnestness or let slip through the cracks.
Although Halperin has already apologized for his sins, a look at the video suggests that the opinion he expressed would not be uncommonly heard with the cameras turned off. But with the cameras rolling things become radically different. That is the truly interesting aspect of an otherwise trivial occurence. Why must what is privately felt be publicly suppressed? According to MSNBC, because it does not conform to the “high level of discourse” it prides itself on having.
“Mark Halperin’s comments this morning were completely inappropriate and unacceptable. We apologize to the President, The White House and all of our viewers. We strive for a high level of discourse and comments like these have no place on our air. Therefore, Mark will be suspended indefinitely from his role as an analyst.”
They didn’t say that Halperin’s opinion was false; merely that it was unacceptable. He said the unsayable. But another reason besides demeanor suggests itself. MSNBC failed to keep the Party Line and so did Mark Halperin. Once they realized the magnitude of their transgression, even though the fall came from carelessness, it was imperative for them to engage criticism-self-criticism in order to regain entry to the tent.
While they may legitimately choose to do that — subject themselves to voluntary group discipline in order to maintain their standing — the audience deserves to see the process in operation in order to know that it’s there. The media has its biases and so does everybody else. But once everyone knows its there, allowances can be made for windage.
If there is any long term significance to the Halperin story it is a possible indicator that the governing narrative is weakening. Sovietologists have long known that the first, and often fatal signs of a factional distress are the unguarded lapses in “reliable” organs of information. A political enterprise is in real distress, not when it is attacked by its enemies which is normal, but when it can no longer be praised by its friends. And when those friends must deliver praise or respect through gritted teeth then the incipient trouble is all the greater.
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Did anyone notice how quick Banjo Boy threw Halperin under the bus as soon as he said what they urged him to say? Scarborough has become such a coward on “Morning Joe”. At least he used to mix it up with his guests but now he’s a RINO. And if Mika tells us one more time about how great Jimmy Carter and her daddy was I swear I’m going to throw something at the TV.
When you’re paid to be on TV, you must read your cue cards!
“Dick” probably wasn’t there.
That obama is one? That’s the kindest word I could use to describe that piece of trash. Best thing that happened to the GOP, EVAH! McCain would have been worse. And, we wouldn’t have been able to say obama’s loss proved Americans were racists.
Lots of sting and stink has been removed from the democrap’s argument.
What Soviet politicians–and narcissists– have in common is the fear of being the butt of a joke.
The joke will pop the bubble of illusion and no amount of apology will turn back the clock and put the joke back in the box.
Clearly Halperin understood this taboo and the consequences for the MSNBC faithful– and the MSNBC brand.
–that is why he was so concerned about the 7 second delay
Time off for the Holiday. MBraz claims she laughed because she didnt think the word was heard by anyone outside the studio, not that what he said was truthfully funny. If he was suspended for being “disrespectful” why was the laughter by the anchors considered any less disrespectful? The technology failed the poor guy, he should have spoken a much harsher word or phrase that the station’s software was programmed to filter and with which we all could agree.
Okay, I’ll say what everyone else here is thinking.
You are a Richard and not a Dick.
So Obama will NOT be a second term president and will NOT hold a position of power within the Democratic Party once out of office.
Halperin is just advertising for a job with the future leaders of the Party. He knows that the King will be struck and fatally so he’s securing his place with Brutus.
Cris Wallace was spreading disinformation. Mark Halperin revealed a state secret.
So what would have happened if he had substituted the phrase “real jerk” for “dick”?
Would the show’s hosts have reacted so strongly? I think not.
But would msnbc have reacted the same way? Would they have felt the need to perform penance to avoid excommunication from the Church of What’s Happenin’ Now?
Was the sin in the “extremeness” of the thought, as exemplified in the word “dick”? Or does it lie in thinking the thought at all?
You are a Richard and not a Dick.
I would rather have a Johnson than be called Johnson, than be called Johnson and not have one.
One wonders. If Halperin had called Obama an “idiot” a “flack” or a “failure” would that also have been oops-we-meant-bleep-to-it-sorry?
Halperin used “dick” instead of “idiot” because he was sure it was bad enough to be bleeped.
Everyone is focusing on the word and its off-color content and not the message behind it.
This brings back Joe Biden’s “Clean” comments about Obama. What he was really saying was that Obama is “neat, clean and sharp-looking, but he is an empty suit.” Instead they focused on “clean” in order to make everyone forget what it was all about.
It’s like the focus on “the gun” when there is a shooting. Never mind that it was done by a genuine nutjob who should have been institutionalized years ago or a 17 time loser criminal that should have been locked up for life, it’s the gun they want to talk about.
We are not just talking about Orwellian Newspeak but rather Leftist Nonspeak.
RWE @10: So you’re saying that if the word “dick” had been bleeped, then the only thing that would have changed would have been how Halperin was punished? That he would have been “talked to” behind closed doors rather than publicly shamed?
I agree that the focus should really be on the fact that Obama was criticized at all on msnbc. Which makes me wonder how Halperin was even allowed on to deliver that message.
Is this simply frustration among the faithful? Or is this some unknown’s trial balloon, part of battle space preparation for a primary challenge in 2012?
This is a massive slur against all African-Americana, setting back progress 200 years.
Obama should sieze NBC, fire its leadership, force it to sell controlling interest in preferred stock to the Treasury, and then place NBC’s union in control. This could be the needed next step to nation-building America.
It would seem that some still like Dick.
Tingle Reaches Top of Chris Matthew’s Legs. Lodges in Crotch.
“Chuck, I heard the earth move today. The president — he is out there.” — Wednesday, June 29 – msnbc tv – Hardball with Chris Matthews – TODAY.com
http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/5minute_arguments/tingle_reaches_top_of_chr.php
Puts me in mind of that old anti-Nixon slogan: “Lick Dick in 72.” Could be updated for today’s Obamalationists to “Lick O’Dick in 12.”
Humm, could also be sold to Log Cabin Republicans.
“According to MSNBC, because it does not conform to the “high level of discourse” it prides itself on having.”
This is, of course, rubbish. There are a multitude of factors involved here but the top ones in descending order might be; 1) He is the titular head of the Democrat party that the network shills for. 2) MSNBC does not want to insult the communist tyrant because he is the first black president and it would be politically incorrect to do so. 3) You do not insult Chicago thugs, union, community bosses, or otherwise.
CH – “McCain would have been worse.”
I agree. We need to give McCain a nice big hero medal like the one given to the lion in OZ and move on. He’d have been given to sappy old man sentimentality like Dole trying to prove to the communists that he is just like them and would swing open the doors of the US to all of the deserving people because America was his to give away. Ol’ John has just been in politics for too long.
Wretchard writes:
Joe:…What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
I would like to go on record as saying I DO NOT support the implied homosexual slur in this quote. Quite trying to put words into Joe’s mouth. Leave some room for the president!
6 – WH “So Obama will NOT be a second term president and will NOT hold a position of power within the Democratic Party once out of office.”
He may not win a second term, but you can be sure that the One will be around for years to come. He will be the gift that keeps on giving. Think of Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson rolled into One. Ugh.
Google “teabagger on MSNBC” and you will get nearly a million hits.(970,000+) Google the more specific search phrase: “use of the term teabagger on MSNBC” and you will get more than half a million hits. (550,000+)
So somehow it’s acceptable to use the pornographic term “teabagger” repeatedly on MSNBC, to use it enough to generate nearly a million web hits, yet we are told it is “unacceptable” at MSNBC to use the term “dick” to describe a president (who himself is quoted using the term “teabagger” in Jonathan Alter’s 2010 book. BTW and for the record, Mr. alter is also a very frequent guest on a variety of MSNBC shows…)
No wonder they got their signals crossed.
I’m not struck by the differences so much as the similarities of the two incidents. I think there’s a good chance that Bachmann is a bit of a flake and a better than even chance that Obama can behave on the ‘dick’ end of the spectrum. All of which is true for most of us most of the time. It’s called a personality profile. Bush was a Cowboy. Nixon was a crook. Johnson was an @ss. Kennedy was a real d^ick. Cater a nut. And Clinton was from Little Rock. (I have no idea what that means.) Much as we love to hate them, the Beltway journo crowd has a refined ear for nuance. Obama missed his mark with the speech, although I liked parts of it – particularly the part where he comes out and engages with the ‘snarling herd.’ Some of our leaders will not or cannot do that. Obama gives it a go.
RWE – “Everyone is focusing on the word and its off-color content and not the message behind it.”
My impression was the same before I turned off the Two Minute Hate speech. It was namby pamby talk of action then, ‘it’s all-of-those-other-guys-fault’. One would be tempted to call it chicken shit but Obama came off like an ass instead.
The Left is having buyer’s remorse. Obama is all packaging and no message.
I still wonder about MSNBC’s marketing and finance. They compete with CNN for the bottom of the ratings so do the viewers that they have buy enough advertised product to keep them profitable or is it just a vanity project for deep pocket liberals? Is MSNBC a pay off for the parent corporations crony deals with the Dims?
“We strive for a high level of discourse?” Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow-what an objective bunch. They genuflect when Captain Clueless is called a dick but they toss the word “teabagger” around constantly.
Dick is racist!
Obama Songs
Oh the mood of Obama it’s time to say good bye
You’ve lost your good old mama
And must have more dollar you know why
Or
If you’re going to go Obama
We could use a change of view
But if you’re going to California
That’s alright, any place will do
Well, I guess we just want rid of you
Would this be too provocative of a bumper sticker? Osama Obama 2012
I’m guessing Jerry’s a closet Dick.
Morton @ 17: excellent point. Too bad Halperin did not use the verb form of that word in his rant.
Hypocrisy? You’re soaking in it!!
Next on Obamanation, Dick uncut.
@ 21. YBR.
The operative word in this inside joke is the word “from”. Arkansawyers to this day roll on the ground laughing uproariously at what their state put over on the rest of the nation. [ie: The patently false notion being governor of Arkansas somehow prepared one to go on to do greater things]. No extra charge for this, btw.
18. not 21., YBR
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/geithner-said-to-weigh-leaving-treasury-after-debt-ceiling-debate-resolved.html
Is brave Sir Timothy really running away because “he needs a break”, “family concerns”, or has he realized that his boss is a……….DUCK!
Following up on one topic of the post, I’m wondering what they say when the seven second delay is operating correctly.
Pre time warp: “Why doesn’t Obama ever take his head out of his ass?”
Post time warp: “Obama never looks down on ordinary people.”
Pre time warp: “Obama is a dick”
Post time warp: “The presidential message was a light beam”
and so on…
According to Drudge, Geithner is resigning too.
That supports my original posting that Obama has fallen from favor amongst the Democratic power structure. The “unexpectedly” slow start to the fundraising is another supporting datum.
#16 AM,
I don’t think anyone would consider Carter to have, at any time once he left office, much personal power in party affairs. He certainly grandstands enough but he annoys EVERYONE except Michael Moore.
Halperin was both wrong and ungracious. Obama isn’t man enough to be dick.
“The truest information in the media…” is that MSNBC is in the cellar. This was a planned twofer: give them something to talk about other than the crummy economy + free advertising for The Morning Shmo.
“Countries where you could go to jail for calling the president a dick–
In Thailand, a country with some of the world’s harshest lesè majesté laws, insulting the monarchy can bring a sentence of three to 15 years in prison, and the scope of the law is pretty wide:……..
In France, the crime of insulting the president can carry a fine of up to 45,000 euros.
A 21 year-old man was arrested for an unspecified insult against President Nicolas Sarkozy during a visit to a rough Paris suburb last year.
In the Netherlands, there were two seperate arrests in 2007 of citizens calling Queen Beatrix a whore.
And, in 2006, Poland launched a national manhunt for a man who farted loudly in response to a request from police to show more respect for then President Lech Kaczynski.”
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/06/30/countries_where_you_can_go_to_jail_for_calling_the_president_a_dick
Tex #11:
What I am saying is that if he had not used the D word to ensure being bleeped then he would have not have used any word.
He instead would have said something like, “I am somewhat disappointed in the President but I realize that his actions are understandable given the incredible pressures he is under that I cannot even comprehend and which are due to the intransiant and incredibly right wing approach demanded by the out-of-the-mainstream radicals that now control the Republican Party in response to the hate mongering slope-skulled tea party brownshirts that have seized control of so much of the public discourse.”
34 Victor: “And, in 2006, Poland launched a national manhunt for a man who farted loudly in response to a request from police to show more respect for then President Lech Kaczynski.”
That’s because the men of his nation (as would the men of any nation) wanted to award him for his hilarious ability to fart on queue. Think of the possibilities!
“Countries where you could go to jail for calling the president a dick–
For several years, early in the Republic, Americans could also go to jail for calling the President — in print — the late 18th-century equivalent of “a dick.”
This was because of the Aliens and Sedition Act under John Adams.
We are approaching a time when this will come back. Al sorts of people want to censor “right-wing radio” for instance.
I see T-shirt possibilities. It would stimulate the economy more than anything the president has tried. How about Obama with a scowl on his face, holding up two peace signs saying, “I am not a Dick!”
32. ErisGuy Halperin was both wrong and ungracious. Obama isn’t man enough to be dick.
Obama isn’t man enough to play golf like a man. He plays like a “chick”.
In defense of John Adams for signing the Aliens and Sedition Acts, it was a time of great tension with revolutionary France. French agents and sympathizers were definitely causing troubles in our young republic.
Not sure how effective the laws were with dealing with the French but Americans learned that such laws don’t fly in this free country.
Or we USED to know that. The Left seems to think they were alright and there is a real potential for such laws again if we allow leftists to continue to hold and extend power.
MSNBC is no slouch at insulting Presidents. Consider what Olbermann said about Dubya. And said. And said.
This recent insult of a President of the Democratic Party is probably a first for MSNBC.
Two possible responses.
1) Hypocritical of MSNBC to suspend him, considering Olbermann et al.
2) It may well be this is the first time an MSNBC talking head strayed off the reservation and insulted a President from the Party of All The Good People. Perhaps the discipline is for that reason.
sherlock holmes
Three points to make:
1. MSNBC is owned by General Electric. GE owes an ever growing portion of their revenue stream that results from government regulation. For example, clean energy equipment and locomotive engines. MSNBC is their loss leader to show loyalty to the machine.
2. Their is an acronym in common use by law enforcement – TODDIT. short for “the other dude did it”. They hear that a lot when there is more than one person involved in a crime. When you screw the pooch you do all you can to blame the other guys.
3. “Money is the mother’s milk of politics” come from a land long ago and far away” In that land TV time was very expensive and yard signs and telephone banks were the tried and true method of GOTV efforts.
Today TV time is comparatively much cheaper. You can run 30 second spots on specialty channels, for example movie and cooking shows, and get far more eyeballs for a lot less money.
The internet is far more effective at reaching eyeballs than signs and phone banks.
The importance placed on campaign chests as an effective tool is vastly overrated.
Dick is actually short for dickhead, which is not from the sexual organ but from something like German’s thickhead, stupid.
It’s the right word, not a term of abuse, though it’s conventionally a term of abuse too.
Halperin meant that Obama was pretending to be stupid so as to tell lies as talking points.
Calling him a prick instead would imply malevolence instead of stupidity.
Conventionally taboo words have exact connotations, which taking offense and shocked pearl-clutching wants to suppress.
The story has legs for lots of reasons, but one is that the word was apt, and everybody was thinking it without words.
Supply the right word, and it makes its way around the world.
Somewhere on YouTube I saw a clip of Katie Couric wired up but not on the air; what a nice and interesting woman when she’s off camera.
The narrative is a harsh mistress.
This is protected free speech, however, when you are working for a media outlet, you are subject to their rules and the consequences of their authority.
I find that these derogatory terms are unnecessary, and that they show the low level of professionalism of the presenter.
I do not watch or listen to these media
clownsprofessionals. They really do not have anything substantive to say.Richard Nixon was a braver man than Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon was a more loyal American than Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon was a smarter man than Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon was a harder worker than Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon was a more decent human being than Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon was a successful lawyer, unlike Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon was an accomplished Author, unlike Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon was more musically talented than Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon triumphed over hardship through his own efforts, unlike Barack Obama.
Richard Nixon had better taste in women than Barack Obama.
Don’t insult the memory of Dick by calling Obama by his name.
To be perfectly clear, Halperin meant to call Him a Dick Nixon, but just forgot to add the Nixon part.
obama is a dick.
so what?
He is actually much worse than a dick, but, the real story is that hard core libs now hate obama and are willing to let it show.
obama raped his whores.
Give this boy his own show:
http://www.youtube.com/user/drinkingwithbob#p/u/99/Qq8EtamSo-g
Think he calls The One something a little more stinging that a dick.
re: exact connotations.
Shades of WFB.
Would that Mr. Halperin were that clever. Ditto the audience.
Thank you Morton Doodslag for your #17.
The crowds of smirking Leftists who obsessively repeated that blatant sexual reference show emphatically how mired their culture is in pre-adolescence.
Consider also the TITANIC hypocrisy of the immediate sacking of Halperin by the same whining Leftist Loonies that browbeat the world with the threadbare myth of Rightwing BLACKLISTING of the sacred Hollywood writers accused of Communist associations.
Victor,
Let us be clear: the protection of citizen’s right to insult a leader they consider to be an ill-bred pathologic liar comes from the Constitution, and from tens of millions of citizens who have put their lives on the line to defend that constitution from the likes of tyrants like the present occupant of the White House. If Obama has exerted himself detectably in his adult life, it has been to undermine, sabotage, and destroy the freedom of dissent in this nation, among all the other freedoms we have enjoyed.
Don’t know much about history
Don’t know much geography
Don’t know much about a science book
Don’t know much about that Austian gook
But I do know that I love myself
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be
Now, I was claimin’ to be an “A” student
For maybe by being an “A” student baby
I can win your love for me
I twice addressed this story today. Once simply to note the obvious: the inconsistency of how the agency of lies responded to disparagements of Bush and Bamy.
It was my second and more alarming thought that drove me to think “hey, this is surely a Belmont Club issue — what does Wretchard see?”
Richard — I think your bottom line “And when those friends must deliver praise or respect through gritted teeth then the incipient trouble [for the regime] is all the greater” is too optimistic.
I saw that it was all too stagey “yeah, go ahead Mark, I got your back — NOT! ” And then fast forward to Mr. Halperin’s exceedingly obsequiousness in taking on all the blame, abject contrition, and self-debasement.
I see you invoked the Soviet meme, as did I. Good. But I see it not to say the beginning of the end of Obama — but quite possibly the beginning of the new tyranny. I’m sure Solzhenitsyn would recognize my title: “If I’ve Insufficiently Debased Myself, PLEASE Tell Me” .
It’s as if Mr. Helperin’s debasement is helping set the new high standard for decorum towards any president of these United States (MSNBC’s Augustus), and setting a new low for suppressing American free speech.
Taken with the Rep. Weiner implosion, I was struck by something I read last night on the Schlock Mercenary web site. The site creator, Howard Tayler, was talking about his experence with the new Google+ site vrs. Facebook.
In the midst of a thoughtful discourse of the two venues and the changing nature of public and private he made this comment,”but in the future all bathrooms are made of glass”
This I think is at the heart of what is roiling all socities right now. It is one thing for a reporter to out Earl Butz for a racist joke, it another for the reporter to also be outted.
Anyone thinking that there may be wheels within wheels here? A commentator calls Obama a “dick” — most people would never have known about it; it was MSNBC after all. By suspending the silly commentator, this is news — a story that will run & run. Good advertising for MSNBC, and a good way for the Democrat insiders to spread the word within their own ranks that many of them do not buy the “Obama is unbeatable” hype.
As Rush Limbaugh says, all he does is articulate what many people think but never heard expressed openly on the airwaves before. Maybe Democrats have for one shining moment found their own Rush Limbaugh.
My guess is that all the propaganda about Obama being unbeatable has not been aimed at Republicans; it has been aimed at restive Democrats, to discourage anyone from challenging their rather weak incumbent. Where is the man (or woman) of courage in the Democrat Party who will run against Obama for the 2012 nomination? Thanks to Halperin, we may be a step closer to finding out.
rh #44 – RE: “Halperin meant that Obama was pretending to be stupid so as to tell lies as talking points.”
I must categorically disagree. Germanic roots nonwithstanding, the word “dick” in American vernacular has zero to do with intelligence. When I say, “My boss is a real dick”, he might be the most brilliant guy in the world. He’s a “dick” because he…… calls off sick then yells at me for doing same, makes me work weekends, effs up and then blames his secretary, yells at and intimidates the intern because he can, and kinda likes doing it…. etc etc.
In other words, to use a interchangable synonym…. he’s a an —hole.
Halperin categorically said nothing about Obama’s intelligence. It was entirely about his character, as the guy who…. takes a zillion vacations and then whines at Congress for leaving town, makes Republicans do the budget work while he golfs and then attacks them for the work they are doing, blames everyone under the sun, from talk radio to low- and and mid-level employees to Europeans for the results of his own catastrophic decisions, to bringing Paul Ryans and Supreme Justices into Hallowed halls of executive speech, only to pour abuse upon them that cannot be answered back…. mainly because he can…… etc etc.
In a sentence – He’s kind of a dick.
Nothing about intelligence, which is in fact questionable, but Halperin is not doing that here. It is all about character, and Halperin does not like what he sees.
He’s a bit late to the party, but welcome anyway.
Kin @ 56: Yes, as my link above attests, my first thought as to why this incident might have been staged was for publicity. MSNBC is the lowest of the low, so it sure fits them. So I agree with you.
I took it a step further and to draw a Pravda-like lesson from it because of the implied danger. MSNBC’s commercial interests are far less troubling than if they’re working under some Statist plan however harebrained and contrived. If it was to set a new low standard for how to politically cower to those in power, they’d want Mr. Halperin to be far more contrite than the comment warrants.
What happens next to Mr. Halperin, and how conforming the rest of the media acts, will tell us more.
What…some Democrat is going to run against the magic negro? Well then they better have a minority or protected status that trumps black/liberal…handicapped Native American lesbian???
Whomever finds it more comforting to imagine signs of a correction than to recognize another incremental step has been advanced on the road to human rights eradication, he has resigned to subjugation.
@ Pascal Fervor of #60,
Not necessarily. The faltering of a foe always invites attack. Old Media has always been quite servile to the Democratic Party since the 1990s. That Halperin was sacked by his lib employers for saying this on the air is nothing new. That he would be have enough independence of mind to actually think and speak differently from their official line in private shows more of a mind left than I had fancied any liberal to still have and is therefore indeed a sign of hope. If you’d seen how cult-like the libs became from the 1990s unto the present day you would know what I mean.
The pettiness with which his colleagues betrayed him is mixed news. It bothers me that they’ve become the sort of people who would do this thing to one another, I consider it more worthy of a reality show like “Survivor” than real life, but on the other hand the fact that their infighting has become that vicious suggests not only a house divided but a house divided beyond the point of repair. I don’t think many of the “Survivor” casts would do very well in the real world so that does say interesting things about the future of the Left. ^_^
“so that does say interesting things about the future of the Left. ^_^”
Once you understand the Sustainability mindset, this is not a good thing. If the meaning of a scorched earth doctrine does not mean much to you now, it will; they are not planning on going alone.
Stalin hunted down the leftest of the Left, Trotsky, because he outlived his usefulness. The Left is so unthinking each figures it can’t be them. They remind me of those in the gulag who went to their deaths muttering “if Stalin only knew.” So what if the Left is filled with innumerable useful idiots, maybe even in greater percentage that we witness on MSNBC. They have been the squeaky wheels and shock troops who provided motive for the Statists to ratchet up their power, but become dead weight and a threat once that power is achieved. That kind will never learn.
But the Left still has its nihilists, misanthropes, and variety of others that are too obscure to include here and now. It is they who would aim to take you out with them. And that all is in the planning of the Sustainability nuts whose morality is not the live and let live of the rest of us.
TB, once one recognizes that there are people in power who really do believe themselves superhuman, and that all the rest of humanity is worth less than them, one undergoes a paradigm shift in understanding how big the threat really is. Because the moral code of these supermen most likely evaluates you less than the latest strain of antibiotic resistant strep.
The Left is not the whole or even the primary threat. And I think you even see that in that you think they are on the wane. Yes they are, but for the Stalin/Trotsky reason. The primary threat is the Statists for whom the Left has been extremely useful. See: they are neither Left nor Right, but for themselves. The rest of us are merely raw material with which they wish to play until they’re done with us. We cannot fight that if we refuse to see it.