I’m
afraid further dialogue with our conservative friend is going to be difficult,
if not impossible.
I
have made appeals to facts, evidence, reason and decency. So far it has been
utterly futile. I’m not surprised, as I understand the nature of the authoritarian
personality. Their brains are wired differently from most people’s brains.
Their fight-or-flight mechanism of the amygdala is more easily activated, and
their emotional response to other people and different views is generated
there.
Our
friend Darrell asserts:
“But
BLM, the organization, only wants to foster hate and division...Black Lives
Matter (the organization) is not about black lives. They could not
care less about the dozens of black people killed every single week...The
bottom line is that this not about black lives mattering. It is
about furthering a Marxist, godless agenda... Thuggish people...espouse
violence and have very little to do with denouncing actual racism.”
Reader/Commenter
Rain concurs:
"BLM
and Antifa don't care about blacks as human beings."
Darrell
affirms:
“That
is absolutely the case, Rain....Marx would be proud, as these useful idiots are
following his play book exactly. They seemingly want to remove a phantom
"authoritarian government" so that they can put in place their own
"progressive" authoritarian government which one dares not deviate
from for fears far greater than just what the current cancel culture does.
Again, this is evil.”
Politifact
quoted Russell Berman, a professor at Stanford University and a senior fellow
at its conservative Hoover Institution who has written critically about Marxism.
From:
PolitiFact: Is Black Lives Matter a Marxist movement?
“Black
Lives Matter’s “emphatic support for gender identity politics sets it apart
from historical Marxism,” and the goals listed on its website “do not appear to
be expressly anti-capitalist, which would arguably be a Marxist identifier,” (Professor)
Berman added.”
As
admitted by Berman, “support for gender identity politics” isn’t Marxism
So
is this belief stated at BLM Marxism?
“To
love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a prerequisite for wanting
the same for others.”
I’ll
answer. No. In fact, it is 100% American values.
Contrast
this statement of beliefs with birther Trump’s long term friend, ally, confidant and advisor Roger Stone, flashing the hand signal for white power.
Former
Republican political strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson says this
about the GOP. "This is an authoritarian personality cult."
How
can we reach these people? Their hearts are hardened and minds are closed by
Right wing authoritarian ideology and its pernicious taint of white supremacy and
racism.
I
try to take a compassionate viewpoint, and understand this way of thinking is
rooted in resentment, misunderstanding, and fear.
Nobody
is born a racist. Racism, like an authoritarian mindset, is largely cultivated by nurture, rather than nature.
We
have a racist president running a campaign dedicated to agitating more resentment,
misunderstanding, and fear. Hate is being fueled as a weapon of division and
leverage for power, as the president sends legions of unwelcomed militarized federal law enforcement, and possibly private Blackwater mercenaries, to quell property damage and vandals.
Remember the Right's howls of "States' rights!"? Forget it. It's OK If You Are Republican. IOKIYAR may as well be the only law of the land.
Never mind all the "collateral" casualties. Countless peaceful protesters have been clubbed and gassed by these heavy-handed proto-police state actions.
Millions
of white Americans are buying into it. Our friend Darnell is even regurgitating
Trump’s MAGA rhetoric, and even Nixon’s “moral majority” slogan. Does he even
know Trump has NEVER had a majority of votes or support from Americans?
Does
he understand he is regurgitating the words of the nation’s two most criminal,
racist, and dishonest presidents?
Nonetheless,
I gave it one more shot.
This
is what I wrote to Darrell:
===
Here
is what I know.
I
know this will not be published or addressed.
I
know you prefer not to tolerate reasoned dissent.
I
know you can't refute facts and evidence, but there is something that takes
your authoritarian personalities to a dark new low.
"But
BLM and Antifa don't care about blacks as human beings."
Is
this really how both of you think? Really? I hope not.
I'm
horrified. This is exactly how hatred and racism are amplified.
How
is this remark NOT demonizing AND dehumanizing of real human beings in the
worst possible way? This is Nazi level hate. How is this remark NOT evil?
I
would appeal to basic decency, a sense of shame, humanity, and conscience of
someone uttering this.
But
authoritarians...have no use for those qualities. They have surrendered their
souls to a monstrous cruel ideology.
And
it fits right in with the hateful words of Republican and "good
Catholic" Rep. Yoho. In his sick and hateful mind, I'm sure AOC "doesn't
care for people as human beings" either. And I'm sorry to say I wouldn't
be the least bit surprised you share that sickness of soul.
This
sure as hell isn't the message of Christ. Hypocrites. Yes. I mean it. Your
hearts are darkened with anger and fear, and you believe the very worst of
people you don’t like.
Trump
has really brought out the inner fascist in conservatives.
God
help us from all this white nationalist racism.
Have
you seen the picture of the gloating criminal Roger Stone, flashing the white
power hand signal with a group of racist Proud Boys?
Are
these your kind of people? Are you a "Proud Boy" too? It is
abundantly clear you would never accuse those racists of the same hateful
qualities you want us to think BLM has.
And
there's a word for that extreme bias. It is racism, and it is real.
You
never did tell us what you think “real racism” is. Maybe it’s time for a look
in the mirror.
Maybe
an honest examination of your words will give you a clue. I understand
self-examination is not a conservative value. I know conservative beliefs are
never questioned.
It
doesn’t take a saint to know some beliefs are horribly wrong.
Yet so
many angry and hateful Republicans and conservative Christians call themselves
“virtuous”, "patriots" or "racial realists".
Which
is why there is one more thing that I know.
There’s
one thing they will never understand.
Racism
isn't racism to racists.
I
sincerely hope I am wrong, and you regret embracing the hateful racist words.
I
hope you find a conscience, so I can say you are not racists and fake CINO, Christian-In-Name-Only,
hypocrites.
But
that is something I may never know.
==
I
really don’t have much more to say to Darrell. It is entirely up to him to
examine his conscience and beliefs.
It
is sad that we cannot hold much hope for this from the right-wing authoritarian
personalities.
What
I can do is continue to expose, question, challenge, disprove, and condemn
their cruel, angry, hateful and false beliefs.
This
is not just my responsibility to humanity, truth, and decency. It is nothing
less than my patriotic duty to our country.
Posts
21 comments:
It's easy to use all encompassing words - everybody, all words like that because they leave no leeway.
However - fact of the matter is almost all of people you just wrote about are unreachable.
Darrell is no different and he knows his position is the correct one.
It is my hope you will not waste your writing skills again on the likes of people like Darrell.
Big troubles a hummin.
One Fly,
After all the usual lies, false accusations, blame, "victim cards", delusions, and other far Right claptrap, this latest outburst of sheer racism is far enough down this particular rabbit hole.
He and the troll-of-numerous-names have shown us all we need to see of their extremist Right Wing Authoritarian ideology and bigotry.
Our Right Wing Authoritarian Case Studies for these two are complete.
They are now case numbers RWA-1 and RWA-2. The RWA called Rain is case number RWA-3.
It is clear where the truth is because all you get to refute the truth are lies and opinions. Truth wins every time in those cases.
Speaking of duty to country and patriotism. I'm convinced that a very many fine people who claim the "conservative" identity would be Royalists/Loyalists/Sympathizers and decry the actions of our Nation's Founding Fathers as _____-ism if they lived during the Revolution.
Complaints of spray painting buildings and blocking traffic sound just as tone deaf as sympathizers of the Crown decrying the Boston Tea Party. The Darrell's of 1775 cheered on the Redcoats as they tried to stampd out defiance and violence during the Battles of Lexington and Concord, just as the Darrell's of 2020 cheer on Federal antagonism in Portland.
TB3,
Right you are.
A quick overview show the long pattern of conservatism.
Conservatism has historically supported the dominant power, whether monarchy, aristocracy, theocracy, or autocracy. Now military and police aggression, the interests of the economic elites, and power of corporate entities are staunchly defended by conservatism.
Conservatism has always been opposed to progress, from US independence to the emancipation of slaves, from women's suffrage to Social Security and Medicare, and through the civil rights and voting rights acts.
Conservatism and the Right Wing Authoritarians have been long time dance partners.
Now we have a hellish brew of conservatism with Right Wing Authoritarians, white nationalism, racism, bigotry, malevolent avarice, and theocracy. Boil them together and we have Trumpism.
All of this is due to emotion over reason, and belief over facts. The fear, resentment and anger are nurtured by their ideological propagandists, and bubble up from their over-active amygdalas.
Perhaps conservatism really is a mental disorder.
As predicted, Darrell wouldn't publish my remarks. He responded to them, though, so how's that for "fair and balanced"?
True to form, he had more unsupported accusations for me, as in "name-calling, cancel-culture BS..."and, of course he says I "lie". What the lie was, we will never know.
If he valued truth and honesty, one would expect he'd be happy to provide some truth and honesty. Nope. Another mystery. Just more anger, false accusations and misrepresentations.
Only God and Darrell know what, or whom, I have "canceled". Another mystery for the ages.
I imagine a Right Wing Authoritarian personality might consider it "name calling" for me to note their personality traits. They are very sensitive, angry, and resentful that we understand their basic psychology and personality. If they had open minds they might understand us better, but that has never been their nature.
But fair is fair.
He's free to call me what I am as well. I know that isn't name calling. I'd never deny being a Left Wing Anti-Authoritarian personality, leaning towards democratic socialism in support of fair elections, equal representation, equal justice under law, and guaranteed voter rights for all adult citizens. Supporting Constitutional taxes, Constitutional regulation of commerce, and Constitutional provision for the general welfare would be the rest of the basic foundation of my political inclinations.
Yup. That would be me, alright.
But this discussion isn't about such distractions.
Here is Darrell's response:
~~~~
Well, one of our longtime readers has once again quickly regressed to his old ways. I was out camping for the last week, and evidently that only exacerbated his anger as he thought I was intentionally ignoring him. He wrote several of his typical name-calling and leftist shaming comments which even he admitted I would probably not publish, and indeed I won't. Most of his nonsense is just that... cancel culture, leftist virtue signaling propaganda crap. I am not going to waste much time on him, because it really serves no purpose.
That said, there are a few items I will address. Dave asks what I define racism as. I think Merriam-Webster does an adequate job of defining it: "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."
Based on current leftist rhetoric, the definition of racism has morphed from anyone opposing any of President Obama's policies on principle, to any white person that is not shamefully sorry for being white and there-by oppressive to people of color.
Evidently Mr. Dubya missed the entire first paragraph of this posting where I explicitly stated that of course all black lives matter and that racism is a pernicious evil. But that isn't enough for many of our leftist brothers and sisters in today's cancel culture. You have to support the Marxist, nuclear-family-disrupting, pro-LGBT, capitalist-abolishing, defund the police and prisons BLM organization or you are obviously a racist in their eyes. You see, you cannot just fight racism; you must fight for leftist causes too.
I refuse to accept the validity of their premise. It is absurd and is nothing more than a political agenda to further their own disproven ideologies. I gave a sample of BLM's(the organization)views previously in these comments in their own words. Dave and the left want to mitigate or ignore those comments though.
The bottom line is, like I said, I will be happy to publish comments that are contrary to my own thoughts, but I will not put up with name-calling, cancel-culture BS. You can lie and do that on your own blog, which apparently Mr. Dubya already has.
~~~~~
There you have it. Once more I stand accused.
If anyone else can find an example of my "name-calling, cancel-culture BS, and lie", please share it with me.
And while you're at it, can anyone tell me how these hateful false accusations and outright lies about BLM could NOT be seen as racist?
“But BLM, the organization, only wants to foster hate and division...Black Lives Matter (the organization) is not about black lives. They could not care less about the dozens of black people killed every single week...The bottom line is that this not about black lives mattering. It is about furthering a Marxist, godless agenda... Thuggish people...espouse violence and have very little to do with denouncing actual racism.”
Reader/Commenter Rain concurs:
"BLM and Antifa don't care about blacks as human beings."
Darrell affirms:
“That is absolutely the case, Rain....Marx would be proud, as these useful idiots are following his play book exactly. They seemingly want to remove a phantom "authoritarian government" so that they can put in place their own "progressive" authoritarian government which one dares not deviate from for fears far greater than just what the current cancel culture does. Again, this is evil.”
From this we are to learn Black lives matter more to Darrell than to the members of Black Lives Matter, who care NOTHING about Black lives.
How reasonable, compassionate, informed, and wise of him.
How stupid of me not to have understood that long ago, amirite?
The left isn’t fighting against fascism. Instead, they are fighting FOR authoritarianism. They claim that their political message transcends the law; that it allows them to control cities; that it allows them to destroy property; that it justifies their designs on canceling heretics; that it permits them to block roads, create no-go zones for non-rioters, prosecute those who stand against them while themselves avoiding persecution.
Leftist-run cities have shown what happens when police and federal law enforcement are demonized and Leftist-run cities have shown what happens when police and federal law enforcement are demonized and unsupported by elected leaders; when local leadership can seize “emergency powers” — then pick and choose who to punish: rioters are exempt from lockdowns; you can sing in the streets but not in churches; masks are required, but not for them.
They reduce you to your skin color, your “gender” — but mostly, to your politics: individualism, respect for rule of law, constitutional order and the color-blind equanimity that comes with it — all of these things are reduced to the cancer of “whiteness.”
“Systemic racism” is their empty catechism; it creates a Kafka trap in which you are defined by your original sin of birth, but you can neither receive absolution or forgiveness.
In short, you are defined by your birth, your color, your sex — and there is no escape: either you are born an oppressor who must be fought, or you are born a victim entitled to perpetual grievance, regardless of how much power you actually enjoy. This is the very structure of authoritarianism run through populist fascism.
Well, that's too bad. Restart his blog just to add his voice to the ever shrinking "conservative" echo chamber.
"BLM is this, because it is! Everyone knows it!" - Darrell, probably
"Of course BLM, but my problem is with the "ORGANIZATION", now read as I proceed to quibble over a bunch of made up issues that I haven't bothered to research myself and I just took as gospel from the other seven hundred disingenuous "conservative" blogs I read that I model my own blog after" - Darrell, probably
"I don't know what Marxism is, but if I repeat it enough, we'll make Marxism sound relevant again and we'll give Democrats another inaccurate label in our never ending ad hominem war against them! 'Cause name calling and misrepresentation is all we have left in our arsenal! See my post on what I believe BLM is!" - Darrell, probably.
Anonymous.
Man. I'm glad you warned us. The "Left" sounds like a terrible threat to the nation.
Right wing terrorists have only killed hundreds of Americans, but graffiti is truly a horror. Police kill with impunity, but blocking traffic is so much worse for our freedom.
And most all, you really nailed it with, "born a victim entitled to perpetual grievance, regardless of how much power you actually enjoy."
Nobody sets a better example than our president. No president has ever been treated so badly. He's been treated much worse than Lincoln and JFK.
TB3,
It would appear so. And let's not forget who the "real victims" are in all this. It's not the dead, it's the cops and white conservatives, you know, the ones with the guns.
And those democrat run cites are awful.
Absent from this criticism are the cities governed by Republicans. San Diego, Jacksonville, Fort Worth, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Omaha, and Miami all have similar urban issues.
We all know the One Rule. IOKIYAR
You know what's hilarious about "Anonymous"'s comment? They decry being defined by birth, by color, by sex, by gender. Nevermind they start the whole comment with very same identity politics with the whole 'leftist' meme the "right" has so ingrained in their little online puppets. Decry being reduced to a gender, sex, or color but have no problem using an even less defined 'Leftist' identity for their fellow Americans they just happen to think they disagree with.
I particularly chuckled at this bit: "when local leadership can seize “emergency powers” — then pick and choose who to punish: rioters are exempt from lockdowns; you can sing in the streets but not in churches; masks are required, but not for them."
Now the "right" decries "local leadership" but says nothing of the Federal government sending in, uninvited by the local leadership mind you, Federal agents to stir the pot and ramp up the violence? How very "states rights" and "conservative". "leftists" spray paint federal buildings and break some windows, SEND IN THE FEDS. Cliven Bundy literally takes over and occupies federal property, LEAVE HIM ALONE. Right? "right". Politics is freaking Sportsball and the hyperbole and double standards have become tiresome, "conservatives". Grow some ideals and be consistent.
"And those democrat run cites are awful."
I agree, they are.
"Absent from this criticism are the cities governed by Republicans. San Diego, Jacksonville, Fort Worth, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Omaha, and Miami all have similar urban issues."
Whataboutism to avoid the real point of the post, that being
"In short, you are defined by your birth, your color, your sex — and there is no escape: either you are born an oppressor who must be fought, or you are born a victim entitled to perpetual grievance, regardless of how much power you actually enjoy. This is the very structure of authoritarianism run through populist fascism."
"Whataboutism to avoid the real point of the post, that being" - Anom
Actually, no. It's pointing out that you are intentionally omitting facts to justify your point. Your point being that this is happening in "Democrat-run cities" and Dave is pointing out that this is happening, simultaneously, in cities run by non-Democrats. So he's pointing out your point is untrue. The crux of Whataboutism is that it's a means of pointing out hypocrisy as a means of dismissing or disregarding an argument. Dave isn't pointing out your hypocrisy, he's pointing out your inaccuracy.
Also, the real point of the post? Your response would have been an excellent opportunity to further enlighten Dave and his readers on what that was rather than attempting to project a dodge onto Dave.
What's your point, then, Anon?
TB3,
It seems they think we can't see their delusions, projection, double standards, moral relativism and and flip-flopping hypocrisy,
I generously allowed Anonymous two posts, but since he ignored my stated conditions, that will be all we hear from him unless he posts with an identity.
Only cowards can't put an identity to their words.
Anonymous wishes to unilaterally define terms and project accusations of whataboutism.
He brought up cities and their leaders. Only an authoritarian personality wouldn't allow inclusion of related content and call it whataboutism. Does he even know what it means?
We'll never know. He's done here.
I thanked him for the description of his fascist leader. Then he had to subject us to his false framing and abuse of language by unilateral definitions again. He has nothing left to contribute. We clearly got the message. "Leftists are authoritarian fascists, Blacks people are to blame for racism, and only Democratic governed cities are allowed to be criticized".
He must really like that quote. I wonder who he stole it from?
"...Authoritarianism run through populist fascism". This is Hitler, Mussolini, and Trump, not representative democracy.
Yada, yada, yada. Same kool-ade, different day.
"He brought up cities and their leaders. Only an authoritarian personality wouldn't allow inclusion of related content and call it whataboutism. Does he even know what it means?"
I fear they do not believe they need to know what it means. It is a charge levied at the arguments that they clearly side with, so they just levy it back.
I mean? Look no further than the other assertion Anon made, right?
"The left isn’t fighting against fascism. Instead, they are fighting FOR authoritarianism." - Anon
It's clear that they have a limited understanding of pretty basic concepts. The people currently in power are being labeled authoritarian by many of the people who are protesting, so of course since these people wish to be heard against those currently in an authoritative role and acting in overly authoritative ways... truly the people protesting are the true authoritarians. Otherwise, they would sit down and shut up and not force us to have to try and listen to their grievances. You know. The American Way. Apparently. In Anon's skewed view of America.
If only those terrorists in Boston Harbor would have just sat down and shut up. Those damn authoritarians trying to impose their views on true, conservative values.
TB3,
What a world they inhabit. BLM and Obama are the "real racists". Protesting authoritarian police brutality is "authoritarian".
Their accusations are their confessions.
Right Wing Authoritarian liars remind me of this:
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20
Watch the servants of mammon twist this one around:
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24
Oh, speaking of authoritarian... the day they announce we had a massive Q2 GDP drop our President tweets one of his "brainstorming" tweets about delaying the election due to the possibility of "fraud" in mail-in voting.
I'm waiting for when all the hypocrites who hyperbolically complained about the tyranny of the Obama administration to come to terms with their shame and pride and start to realize their team isn't respectful of the Constitution or the Law or Order like they claim.
TB3,
We'll be waiting a long time, as we have learned the "One Rule". IOKIYAR It's OK If You Are Republican.
This means the Constitution can only be interpreted by conservatives. Lucky for them it turns out to be quite flexible to suit their agenda.
I do not know what is going on between you and Darrell, but what you say you posted largely made no argument. It was mostly an ad hominem attack ir a rant. Admittedly, I don't have the context, but whatever his arguments were, did you have a rebuttal? It does look like he may have repeated propaganda. It seems a shame that your rebuttal is a claim that the other side is racist, more propaganda.
I know your inclination will be to show the other side seeming racist. Don't bother. That would be more propaganda.
If you want to debate points, perhaps a direct rebuttal to a single point, that does not question a man, but a position only, would be more persuasive.
Starting with this: "We have a racist president running a campaign dedicated to agitating more resentment,..." you go on a pointless rant that would only speak to someone seeking affirming propaganda.
I think you are an intelligent and talented man, who seems to be shelving both out of anger.
"Once it begins to carry us away,it it s hard to get back again to a healthy condition, because reason goes for nothing once passion has been admitted to the mind." -- Seneca
UnTrump,
Thank you for your critique. I admit that anger, propaganda and ranting are features of this blog. But facts, reason and evidence are also offered.
I am "debating" a person who accused me of telling lies, yet didn't indicate what the lies were. What do you do with that?
The single point to address becomes the accuser himself.
It's odd that you frame the propaganda issue with "he may have repeated propaganda", while my citing and condemnation of racism was indeed "propaganda".
I think you will find direct rebuttal to different points and positions. Why would I NOT point out the racism of Trump, white nationalists, and the far Right? Is there no point in calling out racism in bigots and Nazis? Maybe not to their faces, but for the rest of us it is important to understand them. It is entirely appropriate to condemn both them and their racism.
I have observed those who are most angered by, and vehemently deny, accusations of racism are the real racists. "I'm the LEAST racist person!"
I did what I said I did: "What I can do is continue to expose, question, challenge, disprove, and condemn their cruel, angry, hateful and false beliefs."
I appreciate your challenging me to evaluate my words. Generally conservatives, authoritarians, and angry people would never do that.
Seneca's caution is valid, but I don't see where I've let "reason go to nothing". But as for passion, Yeats made this observation:
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
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