USA Politics

She probably won’t lose, but it’s amazing how many races in deep red states have become competitive recently because of bad candidates.
 
I’m not really sure but I think it’s a combination of several things. Bad politicians starting at the local level and working their way up to national races because nobody was paying attention, lack of a real opposition party to force the GOP to field a strong candidate, fringe right wingers pulling in hard during the primaries for candidates who can’t win in the general, etc.
 
It could also be that we now know much more about candidates than we did pre-2007 (advent of smartphones + increased adoption of social media)

Before, all the public really knew about a candidate was what the national media reported and it was rare to see people take an interest in congressional races in states other than theor own (or even their own for that matter).

Now, any gaffe uttered in public or private and anything posted on Social media is likely to catch up to anyone running for office and be propagated broadly and quickly.

The Onion had a joke about this about 6 years ago:

https://politics.theonion.com/report-every-potential-2040-president-already-unelecta-1819595196
 
It is true that races are nationalized a lot more. Special elections like the one in Mississippi get a lot of attention. It’s a double edged sword. I think these races are too nationalized, but it’s good that people are becoming more informed and engaged.
 
Saphrax said:
Iow, any gaffe uttered in public or private and anything posted on Social media is likely to catch up to anyone running for office and be propagated broadly and quickly.
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As Trump proves, this does not do anything to diminish a candidate's chances, though.
 
Perun said:
As Trump proves, this does not do anything to diminish a candidate's chances, though.
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He is an anomaly. James Gunn can be fired for ten-year-old tweets, contestants be banned from American Idol for old scandalous videos, but Trump can say/do whatever and it actually enhances his popularity.

I think it was Howard Dean in the early 2000s that during one rally cried out "Heeya!" And just like that he was out. Another GOP candidate, who's name eludes me at the moment, referred to an audience member as, "Mubutu," and again just like that any chances of being a serious candidate gone. Yet Trump mocks opponents, disabled people, the press, women, minorities, etc. and.... nothing. Literally ANYONE else would have been dead long ago, but the outlier that is Trump not only survives, but thrives.
 
The Flash said:
I didn't know about this. Pretty ridiculous. His apology is honestly sad, he had to disassociate himself from jokes, saying he doesn't do offensive jokes anymore.
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That’s what virtue signalling got him. Now he’s self-policed just like many others on the left. The right has the advantage in that the less PC they are, the more points they score, That wasn’t always the case — I remember a lot of right wing censorship advocacy happening with art, literature and music during the 1980’s. An exception and perhaps bellwether of the PC movement was the PMRC was led by Democrat Al Gore’s wife Tipper, though.

Historically, the radical left when it gets too prominent will silence the moderate left and either devolve into totalitarianism (Stalin, Mao) or be defeated by the reactionary authoritarian right (Franco, Mussolini, Pétain). The reactionary right tend to appeal to the moderate right’s moral values and their fear of the radical left (we kind of saw this in 2016). So far, the left are propagating increasingly bad optics (hissy fits, antifa violence, deplatforming, directly attacking certain demographics) while the right tries to make themselves out to be the more rational group.

Arthur Koestler’s book “Scum of the Earth” details how radicalism, particularly bolshevism, in interwar France led to a reactionary response by the French military high command and ultimately the formation of the Vichy government.

This is why I’m pro-moderate even though I place somewhere near Gandhi on the political quadrant (left wing libertarian). Polarizarion of any sort seldom ends well for the populace at large.

Quiz that gives a general idea of where one stands in the politcal quadrant.
https://www.politicalcompass.org/test

To me, authoritarianism is the greatest evil, regardless of whether it’s left or right wing.
 
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Saphrax said:
So far, the left are propagating increasingly bad optics (hissy fits, antifa violence, deplatforming, directly attacking certain demographics) while the right tries to make themselves out to be the more rational group.
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Well the right isn't really convincing anyone but themselves when they act like the "rational" group. Their optics are pretty terrible as well.

Alt-right and alt-lite movements are toxic and have plenty of violent hate groups themselves. The last three prominent politically motivated cases of domestic terrorism were all carried out by individuals aligned with the alt-right, the Charlottesville vehicle-ramming attack, the Florida bomber and the Pittsburgh synagogue attack. As for the hissy fits, the right gets triggered just as often, just on different issues. Remember the outrage about Colin Kaepernick? Not to mention pretty much every issue the left is prone to get triggered about, the right is prone to get triggered about, just in the opposite position. As for deplatforming, that's a different issue, there just aren't as many prominent media outlets with right-leaning executives, so can't really make a comparison on that end.

This is not meant to be a whataboutist sentiment, obviously, I'm very disappointed with the increasing anti-free speech and pro-equality of outcome tendencies on the left, especially since I'm a left-leaning individual myself. There are times where I feel quite alienated in that regard. Being a free speech absolutist, an opposer of equality of outcome and affirmative action, and having a stricter view on immigration aren't positions that would win me favors with most left-wingers.
 
Saphrax said:
That’s what virtue signalling got him. Now he’s self-policed just like many others on the left. The right has the advantage in that the less PC they are, the more points they score, That wasn’t always the case — I remember a lot of right wing censorship advocacy happening with art, literature and music during the 1980’s. An exception and perhaps bellwether of the PC movement was the PMRC was led by Democrat Al Gore’s wife Tipper, though.
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It's worth pointing out that the firing of Gunn was triggered a right-wing network that drew attention to Gunn's old tweets for the purpose of discrediting him in the eyes of Disney, likely as a direct response of Gunn disapproving of Trump. Disney, as a company, reacted very quickly and I can't personally think of any actual "left-wing SJWs" I know who believe his firing was justified.
 
@LooseCannon and @The Flash


I think the rape jokes rather than any criticism of Trump were the main reason.

I realize my prose was prolix there but would rather discuss my overall stance: authoritarianism of any stripe is bad.

Instead of debating who is most wrong among the SJW v alt-right contingents — both groups I wish would go battle it out in an arena somewhere and leave the rest of us alone.
 
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