Chad LoderJan 8, 2023

When you see someone like Elon Musk embracing the far right, it's not because the far right has any kind of coherent political or intellectual worldview he agrees with. It's because the far right is the last bastion of shitty people - they will accept anyone regardless of their personal behavior.

The far right have no standards for behavior, identity or beliefs - you only need to share the raw desire to dominate others. The far right welcomes all manner of abusers, thieves, grifters, and scoundrels.

Logically therefore if you're an abuser, thief, grifter or a scoundrel you will eventually find that the only friends you have remaining are far right extremists.

Show threadWitchyDiana

@chadloder

Eh, there are a lot of shitty people who aren't chums with far right people, the difference is in covert vs overt behavior, I think. There are abusers who have leftist or at least liberal politics and are good at behaving in public, while indulging in their abuse in private, and only towards their victims. That's part of how they acquire victims.

Jan 8, 2023 at 5:19pmWeb
Show threadAlexander Hamizdat 🌹Jan 8, 2023
@witchydiana we're getting better at outing those slimeballs too, and it's pretty often that they'll discover a sudden affinity for the alt-white when we do. @chadloder
Show threadChad LoderJan 8, 2023

@witchydiana I never said that right-wingers are the only shitty people. I am describing a very specific dynamic.

In fact, when an abuser is outed from leftist circles, you often see them move to the far right where they run the "I was a leftist until cancel culture came for me" grift.

Show threadWitchyDianaJan 8, 2023

@chadloder

It's specifically the last sentence in your first toot I'm responding to here, lots of shitty people are able to get revealed to be shitty in one community, and then infiltrate a different community. It's certainly hard-to-impossible if you're a household name like Elon Musk, but I don't see it as a solid eventuality that an abuser, thief, grifter, or scoundrel can only ever end up with far right pals.

Maybe we're just talking differing levels of fame or notoriety here.

Show threadChad LoderJan 8, 2023
@witchydiana I see your point. I think the global far right is unique in that many groups will tolerate people in SPITE of their shitty personal behavior, whereas the far right tends to lionize people because of said shitty behavior.
Show threadWitchyDianaJan 8, 2023

@chadloder

Oh, absolutely.

Show threadpost-punkedJan 9, 2023

@witchydiana

Chad is not knowledgeable enough to determine causes of Musk's choices, & I don't have the time for it. His basic point is not about the far right but that Elon Musk is shitty. There will be public negatives of anyone so known & significant.

There is a purpose in such toots if you want a debate & following by being controversial, but it's not the truth.

Age & detachment might help understanding.

Show threadHegelian PrincessJan 8, 2023
@chadloder @witchydiana Taibbi being a case in point
Show threadbeevoJan 8, 2023
@julieofthespirits @chadloder @witchydiana Abusers and grifters that find acceptance in the right usually also end up blaming "lefties" for being extreme left and hypocrites, instead of admitting their behaviour or crimes is the reason they lost acceptance.
Show threadrobinJan 8, 2023
@julieofthespirits
What was it that Taibbi did to be ostracised? I don't know as much about Taibbi as Greenwald, but in Greenwald's case it feels kind of like he wandered over to the right of his own volition. I mean, he's always been pretty unpleasant to people online, but I don't remember him being cancelled for it.
@chadloder @witchydiana
Show threadHegelian PrincessJan 8, 2023
@nottrobin @chadloder @witchydiana after metoo people dug up his first, not very widely distributed book where he brags about sexually harassing his Russian coworkers while working as an expat journalist there, he went (back) to the right immediately afterwards
Show threadrobinJan 8, 2023
@julieofthespirits
Ah ok. Yeah that sounds like it'll do it.
@chadloder @witchydiana
Show threadedgeoforever 🍎Jan 8, 2023
@nottrobin @julieofthespirits @chadloder @witchydiana Greenwald didn’t so much wander to the right as returned to it. He was defending Nazis pro bono before his short lived stint of criticizing W when he earned his “lefty aura”. He also supported the war in Iraq, before attacking every democrat who voted for it#
He simply returned to his roots once he became Tucker Carlson’s cohost.
Show threadBilly Bragg's Liquid AminosJan 8, 2023

@witchydiana @chadloder I feel like there's a connection to be made here with Dan Price; how he was held up in the press as some sort of "anti-Elon" hero of the working class, when the entire identity was cover for his deeply shitty and violent personal behavior.

But the overt/covert distinction is surely why "traditional" conservatives of the McConnell ilk are frustrated with the MAGA assholes. The GOP has always been the party of bigotry, oppression, greed, and cruelty, but they did it with a veneer of respectability because they weren't overt. Now there's Nazis marching in the streets and flinging their shit in the Capitol — it's downright unseemly! It can't be controlled, and it's giving away the game.