Hate Sells category archive
Freedom of Screech 0
Jonathan Friedman of PEN America argues forcefully that the current crusade against books, particularly books available to students, is ideologically driven and unprecedented in the level of coordination amongst the anti-idea brigades and that it is part of a larger crusade against public education in general. Here’s a bit from his article:
In Walton, Florida, when the superintendent decided to yank two dozen books off school library shelves, for example, he told the press, “I haven’t read one paragraph of the books at this time.” His decision to pull those titles was done unilaterally, based on a list emailed to him by one of these advocacy groups. Those groups somehow held more sway than the views of teachers, librarians and parents who disagreed with the bans in the district.
The entire article is worth the three or four minutes it will take you to read it.
Facebook Frolics 0
One more time, “social” media isn’t.
Rather, it is a pipeline of puerile and viaduct of vile.
Playing the Pawns 0
Michael Paul Williams has serious qualms about and see grave ethical issues with Virginia Governor Trumpkin’s decision to use transgender students (which, remember, are an almost infinitesimal proportion of the populace) as political pawns.
But, then, using innocent persons as pawns seems to be all the rage with today’s Republican Party.
“But It’s the Only Possible Explanation” 0
Joseph Mazur takes a look at how paranoid and/or manipulative thinkers turn coincidences into conspiracies. An excerpt:
Follow the link, where he expands on that thought.
What’s in a Word? 0
Per PoliticalProf, not nearly enough.
“We Were Only Following Orders”* 0
The “Oath Keepers” going on trial Monday for their participation in the January 6 Capitol riot plan to blame Trump attribute their conduct to their obedience to the wishes of Donald Trump.
I suppose it’s too much to hope that they will subpoena Trump to testify on their behalf.
_________________
*Where have we heard that defense before?
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
At the Roanoke Times, Roland Lazenby describes how Virginia Military Institute’s “Old Guard” has united with Virginia’s Governor Trumpkin to fight a rear guard action.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago catalogs Florida Governor DeSantis’s lies about the asylum seekers he had kidnapped and transported. Here’s a bit from her article:
“They aren’t from Jupiter or Mars,” says Emilio Martinez, a Cuban American immigration lawyer. “And the ‘unauthorized’ is categorically untrue.”
“What they’re doing [arriving at the border and asking for asylum] is not illegal,” Martinez said, an assertion echoed by other lawyers, citing federal laws.
Misdirection Play, Thought Police Dept. 0
Clarence Page, in a longer article about attempts to ban books and shove ideas under the rug, sums up the current, exptremely popular misdirection play on the part of the right-wing. He even mentions our own Governor Trumpkin:
Follow the link for context.
Afterthought:
I share Page’s opinion of Huckleberry Finn.
Despite the prolific use of the n-word, as was common in the time that the novel was written, the arc of the story is a powerful indictment of racism; Huck chooses friendship and humanity over bigotry. Those who are distracted by the n-word miss the message of the missive.
Mark Twain understood America, and he understood the stain of its original sin.
(Spellink erorr corexed.)
Descent into the Maelstrom 0
Thom and David Corn discuss the Republican Party’s decades long descent into extremism.
Florida Man 0
I think that Florida’s Governor DeSantis has plucked Grung_e_Gene’s last nerve.
Methinks he is onto something.
After all, I’m a Southern Boy who grew up under Jim Crow. I am familiar with–er–DeSantis’s type.
The Disinformation Industrial Complex 0
Joe Pierre, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, is less than optimistic about the role mistrust and misinformation play in dis coarse discourse. Here’s a bit of what he says; follow the link for the rest (emphasis added).
Now, why is there so much misinformation out there? Misinformation and disinformation—the deliberate spread of falsehoods—is a for-profit industry where the pay-offs are financial and political.
Those sitting atop of the disinformation food chain are masters of exploiting the normal cognitive machinery that we use to process information, taking full advantage of our propensity for confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, and motivated reasoning that all act in the service of preserving a stable sense of self where ideology and identity are fused.
Monetizing Sadism 0
Republicans are fundraising on being mean for the sake of mean.
The irony is that, unless they are descended from Native Americans, they are descended from immigran–oh, never mind. They are beyond irony.
They are, indeed, beyond caricature.
We are a failing state.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Thom and Chris Lehmann of The Nation discuss the possible implications of Florida Governor DeSantis’s kidnapping and transportation of immigrants who were legally seeking asylum in the United States.
Thom is less than sanguine.
While we’re on this topic, the editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun offers its opinion.
Suffer the Children 0
As Michael in Norfolk points out, that’s the policy of our own Governor Trumpkin.