The Evidens
POSTED BY: JO753
UPDATED: Monday, February 14, 2022 07:11
VIEWED: 159178
PAGE 6 of 121
The conservative mind has become diseased
By Michael Gerson Opinion writer
May 25 at 7:32 PM ?
To many observers on the left, the initial embrace of Seth Rich conspiracy theories by conservative media figures was merely a confirmation of the right’s deformed soul. But for those of us who remember that Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity were once relatively mainstream Reaganites, their extended vacation in the fever swamps is even more disturbing. If once you knew better, the indictment is deeper.
The cruel exploitation of the memory of Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer who was shot dead last summer, was horrifying and clarifying. The Hannity right, without evidence, accused Rich rather than the Russians of leaking damaging DNC emails. In doing so, it has proved its willingness to credit anything — no matter how obviously deceptive or toxic — to defend President Trump and harm his opponents. Even if it means becoming a megaphone for Russian influence.
The basic, human questions are simple. How could conservative media figures not have felt — felt in their hearts and bones — the God-awful ickiness of it? How did the genes of generosity and simple humanity get turned off? Is this insensibility the risk of prolonged exposure to our radioactive political culture? If so, all of us should stand back a moment and tend to the health of our revulsion
But this failure of decency is also politically symbolic. Who is the politician who legitimized conspiracy thinking at the highest level? Who raised the possibility that Ted Cruz’s father might have been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy? Who hinted that Hillary Clinton might have been involved in the death of Vince Foster, or that unnamed liberals might have killed Justice Antonin Scalia? Who not only questioned President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, but raised the prospect of the murder of a Hawaiian state official in a coverup? “How amazing,” Trump tweeted in 2013, “the State Health Director who verified copies of Obama’s ‘birth certificate’ died in plane crash today. All others lived.”
We have a president charged with maintaining public health who asserts that the vaccination schedule is a dangerous scam of greedy doctors. We have a president charged with representing all Americans who has falsely accused thousands of Muslims of celebrating in the streets following the 9/11 attacks.
In this mental environment, alleging a Rich-related conspiracy was predictable. This is a concrete example of the mainstreaming of destructive craziness.
Those conservatives who believe that the confirmation of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch is sufficient justification for the Trump presidency are ignoring Trump’s psychic and moral destruction of the conservative movement and the Republican Party. Clinton, with a small number of changed votes, would have defeated Republicans. But Trump is doing a kind of harm beyond anything Clinton could have done. He is changing the party’s most basic moral and political orientations. He is shaping conservatism in his image and ensuring an eventual defeat more complete, and an eventual exile more prolonged, than Democrats could have dreamed.
The conservative mind, in some very visible cases, has become diseased. The movement has been seized by a kind of discrediting madness, in which conspiracy delusions figure prominently. Institutions and individuals that once served an important ideological role, providing a balance to media bias, are discrediting themselves in crucial ways. With the blessings of a president, they have abandoned the normal constraints of reason and compassion. They have allowed political polarization to reach their hearts, and harden them. They have allowed polarization to dominate their minds, and empty them.
Conspiracy theories often involve a kind of dehumanization. Human tragedy is made secondary — something to be exploited rather than mourned. The narrative of conspiracy takes precedence over the meaning of a life and the suffering of a family. A human being is made into an
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
Jo, I'm still waiting for evidence.
Quote:Well, JO, you have many problems, one of which is you dismiss normal word meanings that normal people understand. So, rather than use YOUR extremely peculiar non-definition of 'evidence'
Originally posted by JO753:
Reread the openning post.
Quote:I decided to use the normal understanding normal people have
Most peepl confuze it with 'proof' - sumthing that leadz directly to an undeniabl conclusion.
Quote:
ev·i·dence
'ev?d?ns/
noun
noun: evidence
1.
the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.
"the study finds little evidence of overt discrimination"
I don't think anonymous gossip can be used to indicate whether anything at all is valid. I sure hope you don't either.
Originally posted by G:
"I coined the slogan "We Suck!"© many years ago."
G is an avowed Putin-loving, pro-Russian, anti-American troll.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by THGRRI:
The conservative mind has become diseased
lol...
I'm sure, based on that title alone, that there is a WEALTH of great information in that article.
It's no wonder you are oblivious to how condescending and judgemental you are T when you read articles like that all day.
One wonders, what is the point of writing an article with a title like that? Obviously the only people who would ever read it are people who are already squarely in that "camp".
Seems to me like Mr Gerson was just masturbating in public when he put that out there, and anybody who is reading it and posting the link to it just joined in his circle jerk.
Have fun boys.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by THGRRI:
The conservative mind has become diseased
Good article.
I hope the parents sue Hannity. I think he'z Fox'z last prime time ratingz winner, so if they dump him, the hole dam station will crash.
They hav dun real damaj to the country.
----------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
http://www.7532020.com
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 6stringJoker:Quote:
Originally posted by THGRRI:
The conservative mind has become diseased
lol...
I'm sure, based on that title alone, that there is a WEALTH of great information in that article.
It's no wonder you are oblivious to how condescending and judgemental you are T when you read articles like that all day.
One wonders, what is the point of writing an article with a title like that? Obviously the only people who would ever read it are people who are already squarely in that "camp".
Seems to me like Mr Gerson was just masturbating in public when he put that out there, and anybody who is reading it and posting the link to it just joined in his circle jerk.
Have fun boys.
In the process of setting electoral districts, gerrymandering is a practice intended to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries. The resulting district is known as a gerrymander; however, that word can also refer to the process. The term gerrymandering has negative connotations. Two principal tactics are used in gerrymandering: "cracking" (i.e. diluting the voting power of the opposing party's supporters across many districts) and "packing" (concentrating the opposing party's voting power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts).
When this is done successfully, the hardliners, religious zealots, people who are fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals have all the influence. This is because those who believe otherwise are no longer within these voting districts. They have been carved out of the district. It leaves those holding office hostage to their wishes. To pursue a different course of action against their wishes is political suicide.
The fact that you don't understand this in of no surprise to me Jack. It will be the doom of the Republican party. They only remain afloat because of the anger permeating throughout the countryside. Remember, there were 16 of the top Republican leaders running for president. All were rejected before they got started.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by THGRRI:
The fact that you don't understand this in of no surprise to me Jack.
It's not that I didn't understand it. I didn't read it. My point was that the only people who would read an article with that title are people who will already agree 100% to everything inside of it.
So the question is, what's the point of writing it?
The answer is self-gratification and patting of his back by those who join in the circle jerk.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I only have time for this
Quote:
A segjestion for you: If you dont want us to think you are a Putin operativ, at least admit ... that he iz not interested in helping America.- JO
GOOD HEAVENS! OF COURSE he's not interested in helping America! Why would he be? He's (presumably) interested in furthering Russia's interests: That's his job; that's what he's supposed to be doing!
Not only is he NOT interested in helping America, Russia's (or his) interests can conflict with ours.
But you'll notice I said OUR interests. America's interests. Not our interests for Syria, or Iraq, or Russia, or Cuba or Malawi. Not abstract concepts like "democracy", or "freedom" or "human rights" elsewhere. Not some vague desire to "win".
OUR interests.
That's why its so important to figure out what OUR interests are: So we can defend them and not get distracted into spending money and lives doing things that are (at best) for some other nation's benefit and (at worst) counterproductive to our own.
-----------
"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake
THUGR, JONESING FOR WWIII
All those guns 1kiki, are pointed towards your beloved Russia. All those cyber capabilities, pointed right at Russia. Thanks Putin, and get ready to duck.
I'll accept your apology any time, THUGR. But I know you're not man enough to give me one
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 6stringJoker:Quote:
Originally posted by THGRRI:
The fact that you don't understand this in of no surprise to me Jack.
It's not that I didn't understand it. I didn't read it. My point was that the only people who would read an article with that title are people who will already agree 100% to everything inside of it.
So the question is, what's the point of writing it?
The answer is self-gratification and patting of his back by those who join in the circle jerk.
We know you didn't read it. Why, because we can tell you don't read by what you post. I've stated that many times here about you. Now, I'm not going to dispute you in this post. I'll let a republican do it. A republican who is a conservative but not a nut. Pay attention Jack, he's speaking to you.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The Joe Scarborough show... known most recently for telling us that it was their job to tell us what to think.
I'll pass.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 6stringJoker:
The Joe Scarborough show... known most recently for telling us that it was their job to tell us what to think.
I'll pass.
Yep, no surprise there. That's OK though. Your ignorance doesn't change the facts. It never has.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME