Political Theatre category archive
Interregnum: Is Is the End of “The West”? 0
Der Spiegel wonders who will will the void. A nugget:
One hundred years later: Trump.
Trump, who wants nothing to do with globalization; Trump, who preaches American nationalism, isolation, partial withdrawal from world trade and zero responsibility for a global problem like climate change. And all of this after a perverse election campaign marked by resentment, racism and incitement.
Picture This 0
Job’s Anger has a round-up from around the world of editorial cartoons about the election. Go visit.
“Laboratories of Democracy” 0
It is sometimes said that, in the U. S., states are the laboratories of democracy. Peter St. Onge suggests that, if that’s the case, take a look at North Carolina.
Facebook Frolics 0
There’s another word for “fake news,” y’know. When I was a young ‘un back in the olden days, we called it “lies.”
“I Know I Am but What Are You?” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Jeremy Sherman dissects the Republican Party’s electoral strategy–repetitive fact-free discourse. A snippet:
(snip)
“This guy doesn’t think. He just automatically says whatever makes him sound infallible.”
“That’s not true.”
“See, he did it again.”
“No, you’re the one who makes stuff up.”
“There he goes, like a robot turning every challenge back on the challenger.”
“I’m not doing that. You are.”
“There it is again. See that, folks?”
“Well, you do it too.”
“Always defensive.”
“I am not!”
“See that? He’s proving my point.”The no-growth formula is their MO, their only trick, their one-size-tricks-all, wall to wall formula.
He goes on to argue that, against such thinking, facts are useless, which, I suppose, has been borne out by events. For example. (Regrettably, he does not suggest an effective approach beyond “wait it out.”)
The System Is Gamed Gamey
0
Last week, Paul Krugman argued that the election was rigged, but not by who you might have thought.
This week, Dick Polman explains how the system has been rigged from the git-go.
The Unifier 0
Click to see the original image.
There are dark times ahead, but Noz managed to find one bright spot for someone.
The Art of the Con 0
Mostly I’ve avoided news articles claiming to know why the election turned out the way it did. Too many of them smell of “I’ve got a deadline and have to write something.”
I think that this one, though, is onto something.
Aside:
What I’m waiting for is an analysis of what went wrong with the polling, not that I paid much attention to it. I hoped it was correct, but I had a bad feeling about this election for months. To echo what Chauncey Devega said, I thought that racism, America’s original sin and lasting stain, would play a much larger role than many expected.
I think it’s far to early for reasonable analysis of the polling failure, but it does seem as if the “Likely Voters” classification was way off
Floodgates 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Elizabeth J. Meyer looks at the wages of Trumpery. A snippet:
First, we have to be able to put these behaviors in context. I have been researching and writing about biased harassment in schools since the early 90’s, and never have I seen so many documented incidents covered in the media in such a short period of time.
It’s just starting.
Backfire 0
Garrison Keillor suggests that the election won’t work out well for Trump voters. A snippet:
To all the patronizing BS we’ve read about Trump expressing the white working class’s displacement and loss of the American Dream, I say, “Feh!” — go put your head under cold water. Resentment is no excuse for bald-faced stupidity. America still is the land where the waitress’ kids can grow up to become physicists and novelists and pediatricians, but it helps a lot if the waitress and her husband encourage good habits and the ambition to use their God-given talents and the kids aren’t plugged into electronics day and night. Whooping it up for the candidate of cruelty and ignorance does less than nothing for your kids.
Do please read the rest. I expect that, a year from now, it will prove to have been prescient.
Facebook Frolics 0
I doubt that there’s anyone whose disdain for all things Facebook exceeds mine, but, really, Facebook is a symptom of stupid, not the cause of it.
Full Disclosure:
I have a Facebook account. If I didn’t use it to pimp this blog, I would have abandoned it long ago.
Ryan’s Derp, Hands Off My Medicare Dept. 0
Nothing says “America” like making health care more expensive or, ideally, unobtainable.
I wonder what all the old white men who voted for Trump will think of this.
Aside:
There was a pickup truck festooned with flags and Trump signs on a major local street for several weeks. I passed it on election day. Seated beside it were two old white men. All I have to say to them is “Get a brain, morans.”
By the by, I’m an old white man, but I already have a brain, thank you.
Look in the Mirror 0
Shorter Roger Chesley: No, we are not better than that.