dagblog - Comments for "Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia"

If people see the connections

rmrd0000 — Fri, 26 May 2017 23:20:18 +0000

In reply to It's bad. For Democrats to

If people see the connections between the Trump team and Russia, the profit making schemes of the Trump family using the White House as a piggy bank, and the Russian attack on the Clinton campaign and conclude that Donna Brazille is the problem, the republic is lost. Democrats are not the problem. If Democrats have to meet an unobtainable standard (that is in constant motion), there is no point in trying. The voters of the United States have failed us.

Physician, curate thyself.

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 26 May 2017 18:00:00 +0000

In reply to it's more like it won, there

Physician, curate thyself. Mashing up Narrative with Narrenschiff, we end up on a fool's errand, while "SHARE your own existence" reminds me of the guitarist for Betty Blowtorch, Sharin Needles. Nope, as we've tried for centuries, it will be replaced, one more opinion to get in the last word, then another, and another, our little corner of culture will fade quick, summoning up that short story I read eons ago set in an arid desert, the only sign of the previous civilization was some signpost or bust or something saying "Moses", or looking a bit closer & digging a bit deeper, "Robert Moses". Nietzsche's eternal recurrence is just a bad internal monologue of things you could have said but didn't for one reason or another, meanwhile someone else will say it better and more succinctly and successfully and what not, Paradise Lost becomes In-a-Gadda-da-vida become Ricky Nelson's Garden Party becomes Cinema Paradiso. Plagiarism - we're always picking the bones of the past until its pristine with beauty and insight. Yes, it will be replaced - we're all replaceable. Maybe this time even with machines, if we live that long.

Thanks, went ahead &

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 26 May 2017 17:50:55 +0000

In reply to So what's the new PoMo?

Thanks, went ahead & published as a diary. Just wait til I tell all my friends on Twitter, I'm fahmous!!!

it's more like it won, there

artappraiser — Fri, 26 May 2017 17:39:29 +0000

In reply to So what's the new PoMo?

it's more like it won, there's nothing to replace it, there's nothing to compete with it, it is all there is, nothing to argue about, nothing to explain, they are it and it is them, 100% accepted. Everyone "CURATES" their own persona and their own truth, reality and history of the world. Should you want to express that to others (not that you expect that to change anyone else's own curated reality, but simply to SHARE your own existence) you do that with "NARRATIVES".

So what's the new PoMo?

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 26 May 2017 17:22:06 +0000

In reply to wow I'm glad what I said

So what's the new PoMo?

PS I agree, interesting comment by PP that unexpectedly appeared deep in this odd thread

It's bad. For Democrats to

HSG — Fri, 26 May 2017 16:36:35 +0000

In reply to Unfortunately, Twitter does

It's bad. For Democrats to regain power (which would be good for the country), they must be both better (perhaps much better) than Republicans on economic issues and more credible. Republicans have several electoral advantages including a much greater ability to exploit our bigotries. Personalities closely identified with the Democratic Party, like Donna Brazile, who adopt Mensch as a - well - mensch damage the party's credibility and suggest that chasing conspiracy theories matters more to Democrats that improving the economic conditions of the working class.

I responded quizzically to your declaration that Mensch "says what progressives want to hear, so they give her a pass on credibility" for the following reasons: A) As a self-identified progressive, I took it as an insult. B) Mensch's Russia-baiting is not, in my experience, what progressives want to hear. C) You did not back up the assertion.

Notwithstanding the sarcasm in your reply to my response, I do appreciate your apparent recognition that you over-reached in the acknowledgement that you are "unable to calculate the mean progressive score of Mensch's followers."

wow I'm glad what I said

artappraiser — Fri, 26 May 2017 15:29:50 +0000

In reply to This is not a college paper.

wow I'm glad what I said inspired this long-winded literary response! Rich with brain food. Especially on "wisdom of crowds" and the Silver stuff. (Comes to mind, I remember MJ Rosenberg once commenting on a discussion thread about Obama's popularity without knowledge of his policy thusly: "what's wrong with populism?: I hope he gets it now.)

Welcome to the 21st century, not like they promised us on "The Jetsons." Change has been the most popular campaign keyword since Clinton/Gore in 92. That promise has finally been fulfilled, has it ever! Sometimes my head just aches, give up, want a rocking chair.

Edit to add: best to just let go of the PoMo thing, I've learned they are not teaching it in (online) college anymore, it's so yesterday. We are now PoPoPoMo.

Unfortunately, Twitter does

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 26 May 2017 15:10:17 +0000

In reply to I don't equate Trump

Unfortunately, Twitter does not offer a progresso-meter, so I'm unable to calculate the mean progressive score of Mensch's followers based on the Ginsberg Scale of True Progressive Ideology. Sainato apparently has access to these analytics. Either that or he's talking out of his ass.

(Regardless, this is irrelevant to the question of whether Mensch's conspiracy peddling is bad for Democrats and the country in general.)

I don't equate Trump

HSG — Fri, 26 May 2017 12:41:49 +0000

In reply to Dagblog, shmagblog. Mensch

I don't equate Trump opponents with progressives. Every true progressive opposes Trump of course. But plenty of neocons and neolibs as well as Democratic insiders, like David Brock and Donna Brazile, with no fixed ideology, oppose him too. I would posit that Mensch's followers come as much or more from the second cohort of Trump opponents because her feverish Russian conspiracy theories provide an attractive explanation to them for Hillary's loss.

Michael Sainato is a strong progressive and Bernie supporter who scathingly attacked Mensch in Jared Kushner's Observer on April 20. I mention that Kushner owns the Observer because he obviously has a personal and financial interest in debunking Mensch. Feel free therefore to take Sainato's observations with the appropriate grains of salt. Still, his piece is well-sourced and his conclusions seem consistent with the ongoing debate here over Mensch's worth. From it:

[Mensch's] followers are primarily comprised of Clinton supporters who can’t accept that Clinton lost the election because her campaign was a train wreck. They fall in line behind everything Mensch says, occasionally ignoring her overtly incorrect claims but still lending credence to her “theories” about Russia.

Yeah, there's a lot toxic

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 26 May 2017 12:32:23 +0000

In reply to Hate to see it propagated?

Yeah, there's a lot toxic crap on the internet. We try to keep most of it off dagblog.