We need to talk about Donald: cursing and swearing allowed

[cronus]

Trump reminds me of the Mule in the Foundation novels. He's not following standard human behaviour, trying to figure his game then absurdity is the first thing but the more it goes on the more you feel he's playing the whole human race and following some other agenda or motive of operation that is, well, almost alien. I mean if aliens invaded who would they 'assimilate' for maximum control of the human domain?

[Svartalf]

Well, Obama did accept the prize and take the money, now, I'd like to know what he did with it...

[Feck]

After Trump .... Pence? I can count my privilege about him being Pusa, I'm not a women living in the US .

[Rum]

(Edit: response to previous but one)

The same as Henry Kissinger probably.

[Brian Peacock]

Kissinger to take over from Bannon.

[Rum]

I think Kissinger wins. He won at the same time as escalating a war big time, whereas Obama, bless him, just got lumbered with a war he couldn't actually do much about.

[Hermit]

Whether the motives of anti-fa street fighters are as pure as the driven snow or not, the street battles they engage in are, to Joe Public, no different to drunk soccer yobs having a go at members of a rival club. Not a good look if you want to be taken seriously in terms of a reasoned critique of neo-nazi thugs...

Good point.

And that is what trump exploited when he emphasised "there's blame on both sides". There is no equivalence between white supremacists, anti-Semites, general fascists and whatever other dregs of humanity gather under the umbrella of the so-called alt-right on one side and those who want to stop them in their tracks on the other, but the vast disinterested masses don't care about the kerfuffle unless it gets in the way of watching their favourite TV shows. Even then they don't give a fuck about who is fighting whom and why.

[JimC]

What does get ramped up by events such as Barcelona is anti-muslim/anti/immigrant sentiment, which the right will use quite effectively. When the left does its whole "anti-Islamophobia" thing, any subtleties simply get lost, and they can easily be portrayed as both pro-muslim and traitors to their own countries...

[Jason]

Whether the motives of anti-fa street fighters are as pure as the driven snow or not, the street battles they engage in are, to Joe Public, no different to drunk soccer yobs having a go at members of a rival club. Not a good look if you want to be taken seriously in terms of a reasoned critique of neo-nazi thugs...

Good point.

And that is what trump exploited when he emphasised "there's blame on both sides". There is no equivalence between white supremacists, anti-Semites, general fascists and whatever other dregs of humanity gather under the umbrella of the so-called alt-right on one side and those who want to stop them in their tracks on the other, but the vast disinterested masses don't care about the kerfuffle unless it gets in the way of watching their favourite TV shows. Even then they don't give a fuck about who is fighting whom and why.

Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God?

[Hermit]

Whether the motives of anti-fa street fighters are as pure as the driven snow or not, the street battles they engage in are, to Joe Public, no different to drunk soccer yobs having a go at members of a rival club. Not a good look if you want to be taken seriously in terms of a reasoned critique of neo-nazi thugs...

Good point.

And that is what trump exploited when he emphasised "there's blame on both sides". There is no equivalence between white supremacists, anti-Semites, general fascists and whatever other dregs of humanity gather under the umbrella of the so-called alt-right on one side and those who want to stop them in their tracks on the other, but the vast disinterested masses don't care about the kerfuffle unless it gets in the way of watching their favourite TV shows. Even then they don't give a fuck about who is fighting whom and why.

Oh, isn't life a terrible thing, thank God?

No. You are, and there is no God to thank for anything.

[Jason]

Might be. No one really knows for sure.

[Hermit]

Might be. No one really knows for sure.

Of course. Like nobody knows for sure whether the flying spaghetti monster exists. I certainly don't, but until I see some evidence for such existence I happily assume it does not.

Send me a PM if ever you find any.

[L'Emmerdeur]

The 'reasoned critique' approach was certainly effective when employed by Jewish intellectuals in opposition to the Brownshirts. Racists are notoriously vulnerable to sound argument. After all, the ideal of a white ethno-state is inherently peaceful, and those who dream of establishing it only ever engage in violence when provoked in an unreasonable manner.

[Hermit]

The 'reasoned critique' approach was certainly effective when employed by Jewish intellectuals in opposition to the Brownshirts. Racists are notoriously vulnerable to sound argument. After all, the ideal of a white ethno-state is inherently peaceful, and those who dream of establishing it only ever engage in violence when provoked in an unreasonable manner.

I don't recall anyone arguing that racists are notoriously vulnerable to sound argument. Few people are, incidentally, regardless of what views they happen to entertain. The problem, as I have mentioned a few hours ago in the preceding thread, with denying anyone the right to voice an opinion (short of inciting violence) on the grounds that it is evil is that, once employed, the definition of evil has a habit of encompassing an increasing range of opinions.

[pErvinalia]

The one good thing he has done so far has been in Syria, the US military supporting the curds and helping drive IS away.

They're Kurds, not lumps of coagulated milk.