2018 archive
Narcissus Now 0
Bill Eddy offers a field guide to narcissists. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest (emphasis added).
This reminds me of someone . . . .
Picture This 0
Donald Trump’s “Again”:
Image via Job’s Anger.
Precedential Lingo 0
In line of the theme of dehumanization that I mentioned yesterday, David Pakman finds that Donald Trump’s language has precedent. And it’s not pretty.
Dehuman Race (Updated) 1
Although Donald Trump has backed away from his policy of ripping immigrant families apart, the impulses that led to it are no doubt still there. At Psychology Today Blogs, Paul Thagard explores one of them: Dehumanization. Only by thinking immigrants less than human can some justify separating children from their parents.
And, really, you don’t have to read many comments from the supporters of Donald Trump’s actions towards immigrants to see dehumanization in full force.
Here’s a bit of his piece:
The transferred emotions include disgust, fear, hatred, and anger. These form a hideous package that can be used to inspire and justify extreme measures against despised groups, ranging from separating children from their parents to slavery to gassing. Dehumanizing groups of people produces a kind of emotional Gestalt shift, replacing the respect and compassion that normally go with recognizing people as human, with a different emotional package that applies to threatening subhuman species. Propaganda campaigns were used by the Nazis, Hutus, and other aggressive parties to bring about this kind of emotional shift.
Addendum, Later That Evening:
Noz passes along Josh Marshall’s suggestion that there’s more to this than meets the eye. Even though subtlety is not generally a Trump quality, it is worth noting that the architect of the ripping families apart was Steven Miller.
(Misconfigured link fixed.)
The Sounds of the Trumpling 0
It’s a difficult listen, but listen do.
Para-Military Side Effects 0
Arthur Rizer and Emily Mooney argue that, in a most insidious fashion, the clothes may indeed make the man.
Space Farce 0
In related news, Elie Mystal comments on Trump’s “space force” idea. A snippet:
Image via Job’s Anger.
A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight 0
Our household air conditioner broke on Sunday.
A new one is scheduled to be installed tomorrow. Natch, this happened just in time for the hottest hot spell of the year so far. That’s just how stuff works.
At the ABC Store today, I mentioned this to the clerk. He wanted to know who I called for service. When I told him, he was most gratified that I had not called [some other outfit]. He was most emphatic about it.
I filed his remarks away and will not call [some other outfit] in the future.
Flip Joints 0
It seems that most of the waiting rooms I visit–the ones with televisions, that is–have reached a consensus that HGTV is the least offensive channel to set their TV dials to (remember dials?). Accordingly, I see far more home renovation and house flipping shows than I would willingly submit to.
I have, however, seen enough that I found this New York Times article on real-life house flippers and how their experiences differ from the HGTV narratives an interesting read.
It illustrates again that “reality TV” and reality are in no way related, just as “Fox” and “News” ar–oh, never mind.
QOTD 0
Rex Stout:
Nothing is obvious in itself. Obviousness is subjective.
Stout, Rex, The Silent Speaker (New York: Bantam, 1958), p. 117
(QOTD was late to work today.)
Standing and Deliverance 0
Elie Wystal is not impressed with the Supreme Court’s decision not to rule on the Wisconsin gerrymandering case because of “lack of standing.” A snippet:
That’s like arguing that a bird has no interest in the tree, and can only argue for the preservation of her particular branch.
Do read the rest.
Hostages 0
Mike Littvin infers that the inhumanity is intentional.
The unforgivable grabbing of more than 2,300 children from their parents at the border — some of these parents here to seek asylum — and housing them in what amounts to cages is meant to force bleeding-heart Democrats to the table to give Trump his ridiculous $25 billion border wall.
Follow the link for the entire article.