We live in two Americas. Sad, tragic in fact, but unfortunately true. One of the problems in the culture war is that a lot of people on the left are criticized for “amplifying” the bad behavior on the right, as though calling it out was a means of endorsement and not what it is, a means of exposing the truth. There is an erroneous feeling that the right-wing pundits are like naughty children, if we just ignore their bad manners, they’ll go away. That isn’t how it is with children and that’s not how it is with MAGA, either. The uber right is out of control. You need to hear about it.
Having our heads buried in the sand is what got us to this place. Believe me, after Trump got elected in 2016 and I started watching old clips from Right Wing Watch and such places, I kicked myself for not having been in touch with all this sooner. Because it was out there. Trump may have seemed to have snuck up on us, but he did not. The cultural waves he rode in on were in motion for quite some time before he showed up.
We should all be kicking ourselves for not waking up before. But if you’re awake now, listen to Ron Filipkowski, who is a tweeter I follow religiously — as you undoubtedly know if you read this blog regularly. I started following him because he got tuned into Mike Lindell’s particular flavor of insanity early on in the game, and he has only expanded outward. Seriously, you need to hear this.
Part 2 pic.twitter.com/Hj7oHf5qsz
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) October 28, 2022
We have to stay awake. Vigilance is the price of liberty. It’s a cliche because it’s true.
And Filipkowski is right. I also see a lot weirder stuff than I post on any given day because that is the nature of the right-wing media beast. It is a hydra headed and toxic creature. Believe me, the stuff that you don’t see is far far stranger than that which you do. And it’s frightening. We live in an era where mental illness has been normalized.
And we need to stay on top of it. Donald Trump blindsided us. He blindsided us all, the pollsters, the main stream media, the lot of us progressives and Democrats lulled into our liberal stupor by eight years of no drama Obama. We were clueless about what was really going on in this country. We thought Hillary would just stroll into the White House. How monumentally stupid we were.
November 8, 2016 was a stinging ice water bath for me. I was disillusioned quickly and harshly. I never want to know what that’s like again.
I had done a few blogs in the fall of 2016, but post-election, I began blogging in earnest because I was horrified at what I saw. Trust me when I tell you, I’m still horrified. We got Trump out of the White House, yes, but we have not gotten ourselves out of the woods. Not by a long shot.
And for those of us that did see it coming, that still see it coming, & are watching human zombies do nothing while we feel like we are screaming: “I told you so” gives zero satisfaction.
I’m horrified b/c I’ve come to the conclusion that either fundraising on fighting authoritarianism is so good that actually legislating to prevent authoritarianism might make the fundraising well dry up & we can’t risk that so….or life long politicians are more stupid than me (NO political experience) when it comes to political messaging.
The people of the world did the same thing during Hitler’s rise to power. That’s how he ended up as Time magazine’s Man Of The Year in 1938. Seems we’ll never learn. We’ll know for certain after the midterms. There will be no turning back.
“There is an erroneous feeling that the right-wing pundits are like naughty children, if we just ignore their bad manners, they’ll go away. That isn’t how it is with children and that’s not how it is with MAGA, either. The uber right is out of control. You need to hear about it.”
Ilove There is an erroneous feeling that the right-wing pundits are like naughty children, if we just ignore their bad manners, they’ll go away. That isn’t how it is with children and that’s not how it is with MAGA, either. The uber right is out of control. You need to hear about it.”
But, Ursula, but you are preaching to the choir! And considering the cool response from the Republi-chicken Movers and Shakers to the brazen home invasion at the Pelosi residence, we most certainly do need to address the Elephant in the Room. The rhetoric coming from the right is what fueled the attack and everybody knows it. But the good people on the left are being targeted by these crazies caught in the misinformation bubble (why don’t we just call it what is is:The Big Lie Echo Chamber. I’m sufficiently freaked out and I think I should just go to bed!
It’s a very human condition: decent people cannot bring themselves to believe that they’re surrounded by evil people until it’s way too late. That wilfull ignorant bliss is the human default position. It’s known in irreverent circles as The Head Up The Ass Syndrome.