Many Liberals Have No Idea of the Craziness of the Right Wing - Oliver Willis

[FelineOverlord]

Last edited Mon May 3, 2021, 12:16 PM - Edit history (1)

This is a great thread about liberal complacency.

The last few years on Twitter I saw some resisters telling us voting would fix it all or that Mueller would take care of it and it would all just go away.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Turbineguy]

1. For many on the right

Fox News has been their source of information for their entire lives after getting out of diapers. They are like North Koreans who believe that their Dear Leader can bend the laws of physics.

[certainot]

24. fox is the cartoon cliff notes for talk radio

fox is part of the free speech spectrum, with political alts a click away
also it cannot be locally/state coordinated like talk radio stations

[FelineOverlord]

2. This is the kind of stuff we are up against

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Bayard]

13. An insult to wolves

[Caliman73]

17. Yep. Wolves, who hunt together, share their kills, and care for their sick.

Wolves in general exhibit the kind of altruism and collective living that right wingers would call socialism. Right wingers have no coherent ideology and are typically ignorant of the way basically anything works in the world.

[CaptainTruth]

37. If it said "Right-Wing Crybabies" it would be correct.

[Lonestarblue]

38. Isn't it ironic that Trump and his cult continually align themselves with losers.

The Confederates lost the Civil War, with their flag thus becoming the symbol of hatred and of losers. The Nazis lost WWII, with their symbol representing hatred and losing. Yet both have been adopted by the Trump cult. I guess they all like to be losers.

[azureblue]

40. well, that's the point

Trump wants to collect all the losers and get them to fight for him. And if Trump wins, then the losers will be winners. Trump knows how to manipulate them very well, and they follow him blindly, without a single thought.

[Progressive Jones]

53. "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers." -- Unknown nt

[NEOBuckeye]

48. "PatriotTakes" - LOL

What’s so “patriotic” about sucking the dick of a liar like Flynn or a convicted criminal like Stone?

This person is sadly deluded. Maybe he should turn all his strutting, rage and weaponry inward onto himself?

[Progressive Jones]

54. "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Samuel Johnson nt

[JHB]

52. "I don't coddle the weak-minded or run with traitors" because I AM them!

[uponit7771]

3. K&R, I just got through reading about China's "Cultural Revolution" which was mostly Mao's attempt

... at stoking young militias to kill people so he can stay in power for nearly 10 years after killing 5% of China's population with stupid econ policies.

I don't see how Trump is doing different, basically stoking the stupid so he can stay in power

[KPN]

28. Great observation and instructive analogy. Fortunately, we won last year's election and have

a reasonable chance of avoiding the consequences that China's experienced as a result of the "cultural revolution". Nevertheless, the similarities between the GOPs "cancel culture" offensive and China's "cultural revolution" are remarkable and frightening. We are a long way from being out of the woods.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

4. It was horrible years ago, before I couldn't...

... stand to hear "their side" anymore.

Once it reached the point that many of them were declaring Democrats as pure evil, or not fully human, I was done.

That was many years ago on right-wing radio, and I'm guessing that it's even worse now.

[KPN]

31. Ditto here. It's not a brand new phenomena by any stretch. The GOP has been stoking it

to their advantage -- misguidedly I would add -- for decades now.

[Richard58]

35. Oh it has gotten MUCH worse.

I am in my 60's and I remember how this demonization of the Left started with The John Birch Society and then was pushed by Rush Limbaugh. It keeps getting worse year after year. It used to be that the Right thought the Left was just dumb and a bunch of bleeding hearts. Now the Right says that those on the Left are mentally ill and a danger to America. They have even gone so far as to say we are "demon possessed" and "subhuman".
I know this because I will go to right-wing sites just to see what they are talking about and it is frightening as hell! They are eagerly waiting for a civil war where they will wipe us all out! I'm serious! They talk with gleeful anticipation about dragging "Libs" into the streets and executing them. In their minds after they have "cleansed" America of "the cancer of the Left" America will be a paradise.
They don't care about democracy or freedom even as they blab about how much they love the Constitution. Many want Trump as dictator and the country under one party rule--GOP of course.
We should not underestimate just how crazy the Right is in this country. They are fed a steady diet of hate from outlets like Fox, Newsmax and OAN, not to mention talk radio. We must push back or else we are doomed!

[Buckeye_Democrat]

43. I'm not too surprised, given how that was the past pattern.

It's the kind of thing that happened in Germany regarding Jews too, decades before Hitler and the Nazis were in power. It didn't just suddenly happen over there because of Hitler.

The industrialists in Germany promoted it and largely supported the Nazis too, similar to some of the wealthy and several right-wing groups in this country using similar tactics.

[azureblue]

45. it's like a martial artist

They do not want to fight, and they will not be provoked, until it becomes a matter of personal safety. Then they first defend themselves, then attack to stop to attacker. We are past the point of personal safety. They are way past the point of reason, and only hate drives them. We cannot respond with hate but we can respond by not responding to their attacks but creating counter attacks of our own. They have no concept that there is any other battlefield than theirs and they are surprised when they find out other wise. Our counter attack is to turn their hate and suspicion back on them and let them destroy each other. We have a fault - we do not get out in front with facts and plans (well, Biden is changing that) so we do not control the narrative. We need to learn how to create and use hot button phrases and get them out in a coordinated plan. Right now the right controls the media because they know how to keep a constant string of generated outrages rolling. Get ahead of that and that will throw them off track.

[LittleGirl]

50. Spot On Richard58!

LittleGirl born in ‘59.
This is not normal! You spelled it out like I remember!

Welcome to DU!

[SammyWinstonJack]

55. The Scum really should be careful what they wish for.

[Retired Engineer Bob]

51. I knew I could never support Republicans

Once I heard on right wing radio a serious proposal to quarantine those with HIV in fenced in camps. I had recently been diagnosed with HIV. I recall thinking they are seriously proposing putting me in a concentration camp. To this day I cannot wrap me mind around Log Cabin Republicans- is it a form of masochism or the stockholm syndrome?


“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Martin Niemöller

From https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. I'm not sure that not attributed it to insanity is "complacency"

If your position is "a large number of Republicans are genuinely deluded due to mental illness", then there's not a lot you can propose to fix that within a generation or more. You are not realistically going to get many of them disqualified from voting due to mental incapacity, and you're not going to be able to reason with them. Because they're crazy.

Even fixing it 30 years from now by educating children to understand reality, evaluate facts, recognise the gaslighters and bullshit artists, and so on, is a massive undertaking.

The fix truly is voting. You have to get the sane people, which includes many who don't normally vote, to vote for the sane party.

[AdamGG]

8. A school in a lberal area could give kids that education now

but in the areas where it's really needed, that will be hard to pull off.

[colsohlibgal]

6. I Do

What was fringe when I was young is not so fringe now, courtesy of Social Media. It was magnified when a man of color with an African sounding name got elected twice. It amplified the crazy.

[AdamGG]

7. Saw a wackjob with "Don't blame me for this, I voted for Trump" stickers all over his car

the other day near Kansas City. I steered clear of that guy.

[StarfishSaver]

9. I find this kind of "I am more attuned than everyone else is" analysis to be off-putting

[reACTIONary]

25. +10 nt

[KPN]

33. I'll double that ... +20!

The simple truth is, if you don't already understand this about the right, you aren't liberal.

[ancianita]

41. Me, too. +20 Liberals are not the party in denial. 81+million showed that.

To be liberal is to see, understand and NOT accept any premises of the Right.

[Hortensis]

68. Oh, I don't know. In both 2016 and 2020 some primary candidates ran on healthcare.

(Not HRC or Biden.) Not IF we would be able to have a national program because the Republicans were determined to block and make it unconstitutional, either.

LW discussions ranging from happily positive to intractably factional raged -- not against the Republicans -- but against each other, about which of two similar, for-profit, capitalism-based plans we should have.

All through 2017 it continued, with one faction supporting one plan, the other other passionate about the need to repeal it -- at the very same time fascistic attitudes were exploding on the right and Republicans controlling the federal government were doing their best to do just that, and openly plotting their takeover.

Doesn't get much more blindly complacent than that. Though I'd have thought that when babies were kidnapped from the arms of their mothers and put in cages, concern at least, if not fear, might have shifted to the growing, looming, evil reality a lot more than it did. After all, it's not all about immigrant children. They will destroy all the progressive programs dear to all of us if they get control.

[catrose]

34. Truly. I know insanity is out there, but I can't bathe in it and remain functional. And I live in TX

[ProfessorGAC]

62. +1

Totally agree!
What makes this author so much more aware than the vast majority of liberals?

[bigtree]

10. another scolding

...this time this fellow is lecturing a straw man.

[Mr. Sparkle]

11. I dont think the democratic leadership realize how a right wing multi billion dollar media industry

Last edited Mon May 3, 2021, 02:07 PM - Edit history (4)

is thrashing them every day over the minute things or crazy made up rubbish, all under the guise of helping the gop get elected. An off shot of this is that a portion of the country lives in a fake news reality created by these fake media power brokers.

Just yesterday i saw a poll where 70% of republicans believe that Biden didn't win the president election, 6 months later.

The party leadership have one and a half years left in power to fix this, my only concern is i don't think it is even on their radar.

[LymphocyteLover]

42. EXACTLY THIS-- too many Dems don't seem to get this

[StarfishSaver]

64. They don't get it but you do?

[LymphocyteLover]

69. seems like it... if they get it, they don't do it or explain why they aren't doing it

[StarfishSaver]

70. Ok - let's assume for the sake of argument that they get it but aren't

Last edited Fri May 7, 2021, 06:39 PM - Edit history (1)

doing what you think they should and not explaining to you why they're not doing it ...

1) What exactly do you think they should be doing that they're not doing;

2) How exactly should they be communicating to you why they're not doing it; and

3) Who is "they"?

[LymphocyteLover]

73. I'm far from the only to point this out or suggest it, so it's not "just me" that don't understand

this. The idea is that left-wing billionaires fund left-wing media, specifically radio and TV stations to counteract the heavy rightwing presence that is the only option in rural areas.

They would be the billionaires and Dems who have access to them.

[uponit7771]

59. +1,

[StarfishSaver]

63. Democrats in leadership don't understand this but you do?

How are you so much more knowledgeable about what's happening to them than they are?

[Mr. Sparkle]

65. The right wing media are getting worse, more now, more so then ever.

Have you seen our politicians do anything about it, to curtail the mountain of bullshit? A tax audit of Bill O'Reilly doesn't count.

I think they are afraid of been labeled politically motivated if they ever tried to clean it up , after been savaged by the right wing press for the best part of last 3 decades.

[StarfishSaver]

67. I think they understand this better than any of us do

But since they have to actually make very hard choices on many different fronts things aren't as simple as they may appear to those watching from the sidelines.

You may not agree with how they're approaching this, but assuming they are somehow clueless, don't know as much as you do, or that they don't understand as well as you what they're dealing with and how to deal with it is a bit much.

[Mr. Sparkle]

72. Can you point to any evidence of this...

and a plan of action. I would love for you to prove me wrong

[IronLionZion]

12. Masks and vaccines are taking away our freedoms

COVID is an excuse for the deep state cabal to turn us into a socialist hell. Democratic cities have been taken over by lawless mobs and burned to the ground. etc.

My favorite is when country folks try to tell me what DC looked like last summer and show badly doctored photos as "proof" when I live here and have eyes.

[ScratchCat]

26. Don't forget that riots last summer

are why the price of lumber goes up every week in 2021.

[IronLionZion]

32. Biden killed so many oil pipeline jobs

that it jacks up the price of lumber as desperate people burn wood for heat. Not because of the tremendous increase in home construction/remodeling. They're blaming Biden for rising gas prices because of taxes and regulations. It has nothing to do with workplaces and travel opening back up.

[kimbutgar]

14. My husband works with a guy that is so in the right wing cult he can barely talk to him

He saturates 24/7 in right wing media. 60 minutes, local news and even the evening news on the networks is fake news. Only Fox, Oann and Newsmax are the truth, and history will record rush Limbaugh as a great truth teller and patriot.

A lot of his fellow co workers think he is funny and don’t want to discuss politics. My husband and I think he is mentally ill. I tell my husband to keep his distance from him but my hubby likes to poke the hornets nest for fun. 9-11 set this guy on the path he is and he got radicalized and this guy is a Mexican raised in Texas who now lives in California. He is so ethic looking he could have been picked up by INS during the MF45 reign of terror.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

19. I've likewise poked the hornet's nest with those...

... types of coworkers.

It's usually been a social experiment for me, checking to see how crazy they are.

If one of them complained about Nancy Pelosi, I'd interrupt to say something like, "Trump needs to FIRE her right now!" Then I'd observe the idiot agreeing with my comment!

One Trump-cultist moved to this area from WV, but he didn't seem to realize I was mocking him despite how I used a strong Southern accent like him whenever I did it. And despite how I'd speak "normal" to another coworker who appeared nearby.

It helped pass the time at work, I guess.

I had to be careful to only do it with them around. I didn't want more sane coworkers to ever think I was crazy too!

[azureblue]

47. have your husband tell him

that if Bush had not made a point of ignoring all the frantic warnings the outgoing Clinton administration was blaring at Bush, 9/11 would not have happened at all. Google Bush Aug PDB. and google : Bush, OK, you've covered your ass". - Bush's response when he was told about the warnings of an imminent attack on the WTC. Jeez - Clinton people even flew out to Bush's ranch to try to convince him. That is why Bush had that "Oh, hell" look on his face, when he was told about the attack.

And have your hubby tell the RWNJ that Cheney made plans to take over Iraq's oil fields the day Bush took office. That is why even though Bin Laden was in Afghanistan, Bush turned the troops toward Iraq. Iraq had nothing at all to do with 9/11, but they had the oil that Cheney wanted.

[kimbutgar]

49. Whenever my husband tries to point those type of facts

The guy starts motor boating talking over him right wing talking points and he can’t get in a word otherwise. The guy is so far gone in his right wingers insanity it feels like he’s brain damaged neurally. There is no reasoning with him whatsoever ever. My husband has bascically given up except for a few sarcastic comments he manages to get in.

At first I said my husband exaggerated it and he put his phone on record and played a 2 minute encounter I was stunned.

[Klaralven]

60. It's hare to tell how prevalent they are, since they have largely shifted to social media

The regular media metrics and normal polling don't really measure the right anymore.

They don't have regular phone lines, and their "news" is videos watched on smartphones.

[johnp3907]

15. Ah, so liberals are the problem!

Got it!

Liberals are always like Bowie’s “children that you spit on.”
“They’re quite aware of what they’re going through.”

[crickets]

56. +1

[marye50]

16. I knew how crazy they were back in 2015 when the first Duggar scandal broke

And RWers were defending Josh Duggar molesting his sisters by saying he was “just a child” and that liberals were only going after them because they were “Christian Conservatives”.

[TomSlick]

57. The Duggers were just following the scripture.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)

[DownriverDem]

18. Not the Liberals I know

We are very worried about the Midterms of 2022. We have been yelling about focusing on them for months. If we lose the House, there goes the Biden/Harris agenda.

[Bayard]

20. We've been re-doing all our farm boundary fencing

The neighbor came tooling down on his riding mower the other day. He offered his old rusty gate to us for a, "good price". I politely declined. Mr. Bayard was elsewhere.

I'm sure it was just an excuse, since he hasn't spoken to us since we moved here nearly 7 years ago. Almost immediately, he jumped into politics, no doubt to feel me out. I listened as long as I could, then finally asked--where do you get all that crap? Fox News. It went downhill from there, with me correcting him on every rethuglican lie, and sometimes just outright laughing. He finally got tired of trying to beat me into submission, and rode off into the sunset.

I was instantly sorry, since I've had bad neighbor problems before with total idiots. I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut for long, or as my ex used to say--tolerating fools.

[BobTheSubgenius]

21. As bad as the average person thinks the RWNJs to be - if the think of them at all -

I promise you, those lunatics are way worse than that.

[johnthewoodworker]

22. I'm a 62 y.o. retired, democrat, socialist, union man who has embraced anti fascism for years. I

live up North, avoid republicans, own dogs, have guns, and engender hatred from the Republican/Nazi morons. Things will most certainly get crazier. As usual, I encourage others to read on brown shirts and buy guns if you can.

[ancianita]

44. My Millenial son in New Mexico says exactly the same thing.

avoid republicans, own dogs, have guns, and engender hatred from the Republican/Nazi morons. Things will most certainly get crazier. As usual, I encourage others to read on brown shirts and buy guns if you can.

His words. All the time he says he's always looking out for "brown shirts."

He is co-chair of the Democratic Party of his county. I fear for him, sometimes, but know that he clearly sees the 'brown shirts' liberals are up against.

So glad to know there are Democrats like both of you at different ends of the country.

[FelineOverlord]

23. Most Liberals Have No Idea of the Craziness of the Right Wing

When Willis is talking about liberals ignoring RW media, I am sure he is talking about some of the stuff I have been seeing on Twitter and other social media for 5 years.

There were quite a few who NEVER thought Trump could win in 2016 despite the warning signs.

Later, there were many who were absolutely positive that Mueller would take care of EVERYTHING, not realizing that Mueller's agenda was quite narrow and he was being sabotaged.

There were also those who would say that all we needed was MORE people to vote for Hillary and Biden, forgetting that that didn't work out for Al Gore or HRC. What we needed was MORE people in key states.

We really didn't pay as much attention to swing states as we should have. That was changed during the 2018 midterms and in the 2020 elections. What a difference it makes!

I admit that I never watch Fox, Newsmax, or OANN (I rarely watch television except for Rachel and TCM).

I was TOTALLY unaware until 2012 just how badly RWNJs were being brainwashed. I never listened to Limbaugh, either.

I used to post on City-Data Forum during 2012 and was puzzled when Republicans were absolutely positive that Mitt was going to win in a LANDSLIDE. Every poll I saw had Obama and Mitt very close.

It wasn't until I saw Karl Rove freaking out on election night that I finally understood.

[Warpy]

27. RWNJs look crazy to us, we look just as crazy to them

The one thing that defines them is the hierarchical mindset, a flow chart from god to his mouthpiece to an oligarchy of one sort or another, and the common people at the bottom, grateful for every day they still suck air. They understand this, it suits them, they don't have uncomfortable choices to make and can do whatever they do for a paycheck without thinking too much about it. They feel reverence for the hierarchy and its god and its god's mouthpiece on earth and all the symbols of such.

To say we don't get it is an understatement.

They find our lack of rigid structure and easy to access symbolism extremely uncomfortable and our lack of reverence distasteful, and that is an understatement, too.

Since they're not about to decamp to third world autocracies and we are not about to descend en masse to Scandinavia, we're going to have to figure out how to cope with each other. Religion used to satisfy their need for autocracy, but Reagan muddied those waters.

I suppose we're going to have to embark on a campaign of teaching them to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to god that which is god's all over again.

[aggiesal]

29. This speech from the movie "American President" nails it ...

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He is interested in 2 things and 2 things only;
Making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it.
That ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections.

I love this speech.

[Dawson Leery]

71. This is the essence of conservatism.

Fault the "others", the minority classes for the troubles of the world and promise to control them.

[SWBTATTReg]

30. Crazy indeed...now there are rumors being stirred up that rump will return to office in August, 2021

of all things. Under what circumstances I don't know nor can I even visualize how and when such a thing would happen.

And I thought that people were involved in this Country's political process as it is supposed to work, from A to Z, but obviously not, seeing all of the misinformation, the false hype, and worse still going on today.

[peppertree]

36. "I like crazy people," Faye Dunaway once remarked. "They're committed."

And never has this been more true than for today's radicalized Repug voters.

Even Jim Jones' disciples, in the end, realized something was wrong, and tried to resist drinking the Kool Aid.

Repugs would yell at the server to hurry up and give them more.

[Politicub]

39. It's so easy for people like this random person to criticize and complain.

He’s a smarmy dude, too.

Glad he popped up on the scene to tell us all how easy the fix is.

[maxsolomon]

46. Disengaging from their Propaganda is Self-Care, Oliver.

The RWNM has a purpose: Agita. Keep Cons agitated, feeling victimized, under attack, and filled with resentment. People that are upset react; they don't think.

I understand precisely what the RW Media & Pols (and Russian Disinformation) are doing, but if I engage with their targets (my elderly relatives), all I do is alienate them. They can't be persuaded otherwise; they have to disconnect from the lies.

They won't. They feel alive when believing lies.

Do I wish the Dems had a Media machine that could compete? Sure. But it wouldn't be as engaging without hyperbole and lies.

[kcr]

58. I'm not impressed.

Yes, many of them do truly believe, but that's nothing new and I fail to see how this is our fault. And voting isn't the answer? That's the very definition of complacent. Voting is one thing those crazies do consistently and reliably. That's why our side has to constantly harp on voting to try to keep up. It would be foolish not to.

[UCmeNdc]

61. Trump is a fascist. Many of the leadership within the GOP support Trump's fascist agenda.

Trump's agenda is to limit minority voting rights, change voting laws to have small select groups of people to legally have the power to decide final election results, ultimately with the aim to grab back the ruling power.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

66. They are violent Nazis waiting to happen.

Their widespread support for the fascist insurrection and establishment of the Dictatorship of the Sad Old Elvis is not a drill.