It's wired in, it's blatant, and it's old news, but to me it remains pretty remarkable that the establishment press in the U.S. uses the term "conservative" to mean any action the extreme right wing favors.
The more extreme the act, the more "conservative" are the actors!
Thus, the Freedom Caucus in the House — the members of which are the most ready to let the U.S. default on its debt — are routinely described as the most conservative faction in the government.
They con those they serve.
Then they're not conservatives, they're "responsibles." Good for them!
@thomnottom @jayrosen_nyu well, socialist/ communist/ Marxist might be generally considered pejoratives, but they still exist as somewhat accurate descriptors. And that's without even reaching for anarchosyndicalism etc. The left has many terms.
Maybe the right does too? They have libertarian, which is often much more appropriate than conservative, but of course many of the "libertarians" still seem to want to control women's bodies for some reason...
@jayrosen_nyu The term "conservative" is definitely misused these days. Conservative used to mean people who wanted to maintain the status quo.
Instead, modern right-wingers should properly be called "regressives" because they want to enact a lot of radical regressive policies.
@PensiveTM
It depends. He randomly flips from fairly traditional conservative (similar to his old mentor McCain) to full MAGAt (when he wants to impress Trump or The Base).
It's hard to tell if Graham has any firmly held beliefs of his own at all.
It can backfire though. I know plenty of black and brown people who would potentially be fiscally #conservative small government voters, but instead f'n hate everything conservative because it means white supremacist fascists now.
Clearly we need a new terminology to describe these maga people. Definitely not "conservative." "Fascist" may be accurate, but I think too many people don't really understand what fascist means (including me). "Terrorist" also works, but that word carries too much baggage. Personally, l'm going to call these magas "anarchists."
#maga #gop #republicans #anarchist #uspolitics #politics #uspol #journalism
Deadly Predators amply describes the fact they feed on all others , regardless of motivation or ideology , and insures all others know they are passive prey waiting for their turn
That's a good one. It sure does seem that magas are all about fear.
They're corrupt stone cold killers in an undeclared war , dominating all others and targeting groups for destruction as they methodically pick them of one group at a time
#Cdnpoli #Uspoli #MoralDecadence
When looked at historically and objectively the US did not fall apart overnight . It has taken a long time to achieve the current level of corruption and focused effort to condition people to passively wait for destruction, to feel helpless .
#Cdnpoli #Uspoli #MioralDecadence
Moral decadence lowers standards of moral behavior and creates new but lower criteria for ethics and justice. Putting it simply, people are no longer required to act morally or ethically.
Society no longer expects its members to preserve their commitment to the very basic moral norms.
Moral decadence creates a general sense of cynicism. People no longer expect each other to be noble. They no longer expect each other to be honest.
Interesting article. Thanks! I think that with the decline it is so important that our justice system enforce laws fairly and clearly. Trump has acted in an openly unethical and criminal way in an attempt to normalize this decadence. And his followers seem to have fallen for it. Or it appeals to them because they already have no respect for our laws. That's why Trump needs to be prosecuted and sent to jail!
No argument from me, but Trump is merely the culmination of decades of corruption, dishonesty, greed and hate - the current face. DeSantis is the same .
The rot now runs very deep as there is no Justice in the US , no Just Supreme Court, no law , just domination . Trump was enabled by media who promoted his unending lies without question or correction . Also Hitler used radio , and Trump , or his ilk, use Twitter, the Far Right Extremist scum platform .
I don't know why that is. I imagine that those in power over the years have figured out that it's not that hard to "train" us. Religion has been very useful to them. Not so surprising (but ironic) that it is the religious right who financed/enabled Trump's election. Since Hitler wasn't religious, I wonder why he hated the Jews and others. I need to do some reading...
You don't have to be religious to use religion -division- as evil is never done so well as when done in the name of religion .-eg Crusades, ISIS ,etc.
Yes, because they have a sense of self-righteousness about what they're doing.
Yes, and it requires no foundation in facts or reality . It is the suspension of logic and enables fanaticism & prejudice as normal . , accepted.
There was no place for women at the last supper as religion made them sub human, chattels to be used by men .There are no Catholic Priestesses but millions of male tax free pedophiles , predators in the name of God .We see this in action in America now . as God gives rights -really ?
Yes, you're right. I guess I was looking for a word that would be triggering.😁
@dswidow @jayrosen_nyu how about feudal?
Divine right to rule. A class system where there r different more lenient rules for the rich. Child labor. Women second class citizens with fewer rights than men. Inequitable distribution of wealth and burden of taxation. Christian theocracy. Crusades against the Muslim. Vilification of scientists like Gallileo.
It all fits.
A return to the Dark Ages. I like "feudal." Though that time has been idealized somewhat, so it may not evoke the right feeling.
I guess I'm okay with people being stupid assholes, if that's what they prefer. Where I draw the line is when it affects me. Keep your stupid out of my life, thank you. And the same applies when they inflict their stupidity on others. Institutionally, it's the same. Everybody doesn't have to be the same, but all should have the same rights.
The person that coined the word fascism, Mussolini, said it is the merger of government and private businesses.
@jayrosen_nyu similarly as I’m sure you know the radical/conservative axis is inverted here in Australia. The Liberal party and it’s coalition partner are called conservative, but is in truth increasingly the radical right, and the Labor party is the conservative centre right.
The media here ties itself in knots trying to understand the current Labor government and why it’s so slow to adopt change because they fail to understand this.
And from afar it looks like the UK is the same.
The media should refer to them as what they are : far right radicals.
@jayrosen_nyu First they conflated the word conservative with the word Republican, which, for a very brief time, might have made sense, if it was explained well enough. Next, they conflated this Trumpian thing, a species of personality cult, with Republicanism, which never made sense. And now, they have, by principle of unthinking transportation or absence of language creativity, conflated conservatism with Trumpism. This is what happens when your journalists (or their editors) lack historical perspective and adeptness with the language. It doesn’t help that the Republicans absorbed the Dixiecrats and that the party and structure that resulted was coopted by the Trumpists, but I think the American public is smart enough to appreciate the changes that occurred and for major media to make the distinctions. Joe’s got a good assimilative handle for it: Extreme MAGA Republicans.
It bears some resemblance to fascism, but in the end, I can’t really go there. Its myth of decadence is too selective, its ultra-nationalism nearly isolationist, and its militarism hardly different than what preceded it. We’re living with a cult, borne of a demagogue, with a nice helping of racial and ethnic bigotry. I wouldn’t dignify it with a political label that suggests a world view. It’s too confused and will o’ the wisp for such labels. I’m afraid we’re all painting around the margins somewhat with Trumpism. Reminiscent of a lot of bad shit, but essentially sui generis.
Thank you for that informed reply, Frank.
@finserra @jayrosen_nyu I think Hillary chose the best word :
Deplorable
Does it matter the specific reason ?
@jab01701mid @finserra @jayrosen_nyu
Some of my ancestors thought this about Hitler and his followers. They did not live to the ripe old age of 73 that I have.
@finserra @jayrosen_nyu there are demagogues throughout recent US history: Lester Maddox, George Wallace, Huey Long, etc. All non-ideologically really, but having right wing CEO support BECAUSE they can be bought AND because they can sell the small government message to the rubes.
What is fascinating to me is (1) the openness of the business leaders lining up to buy a piece of a trump administration part 2, and (2) the NYT actively promoting DeSantis. Wild.
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