The Political Thread

[paddykafka]

Following developments in the States as protests over the lockdown grow and the President complements them!!!!!!!

Not entirely sure the human race is going to get through this after all.  :-(

I had to put the computer away and go to my happy place when I read that. I mean: I know he's a horrible man - he's proved it time and again. But to foment armed rebellion against his political opponents during a national health crisis is ... AAAAARGH!

.... aaaaand he tops it.  So, medical advice from Trump:

- do nothing, it is all a conspiracy by the Democrats.
- inject yourself with disinfectant.
- sit under a sun lamp.
- fish cleaning tablets.
- 9mm trepanning.

Sorry folks but I think there is only one thing left to say, and apologies for the vulgarity here:

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!

No apologies necessary, as far as I'm concerned, TJM. I would consider your reaction a perfectly justifiable response that a sane, decent, morally upright individual could possibly make in the light of present events.

And to which I will add my own: AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHH!!!

[Professor Bear]

The word "journalism" obviously covers a lot of ground, but the overall problems amount to the same thing: distrust of journalism has not happened in a vacuum, and be it the BBC covering for pedophiles or games journalists selling good reviews, the industry has done itself no favors.
You could bang on about how class interest has seen the profession reduced to gatekeepers of hegemony like Chomsky does, but tbh, the mainstream media has slowly and surely eroded what trust in the institution of journalism there was until we got here, and no lessons have been learned along the way.  Our media is a sewer and it will not get any better while it self-regulates.

[IndigoPrime]

I don't disagree there are problems, but as someone in the industry, I've also seen a breakneck shift away from people willing to pay for media. When the money disappears, problems appear. Either publications trying to do the right thing have to cut costs, and keep going. The result is slips and production issues and more. Or you get a rich backer, and at some point inevitably end up doing what they want. Meanwhile, Facebook and others obliterated the notion of even short-form (let alone long-form) news for many, replacing news with nuggets of headlines that few people read beyond.

So we are all culpable. It's not just the journalists who are to blame for the current state of play.

[JOE SOAP]

Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus 'cure' wrote to Trump this week

Mark Grenon wrote to Trump saying chlorine dioxide 'can rid the body of Covid-19' days before the president promoted disinfectant as treatment

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-leader-group-peddling-bleach-cure-lobbied-trump-coronavirus?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR1YxIxkgmOvWM3wadM4Tx02ja5vzZZGQKz5LoTox2HXUFFh-fO0AeKiM5M

[von Boom]

So we are all culpable. It's not just the journalists who are to blame for the current state of play.

This.

[Funt Solo]

So we are all culpable. It's not just the journalists who are to blame for the current state of play.

This.

Years ago when Trump started using the phrase "fake news" I thought - but that's just a way of denying any story you disagree with. That's a really dangerous phrase.

A couple of weeks later I was chatting with my dad about his work with the Greens, and he complained about the "fake news" and I thought - but that's just a way of denying any story you disagree with. That's a really dangerous phrase.

A while later I was reading posts on my favorite message board, and I noticed people complaining about the biased media who didn't see things the way they did and I thought - but that's just a way of denying any story you disagree with.

I'm not sure if it's more ad hominem or straw man, but dismissing information you don't like without actually addressing the content of the message is ... weak sauce. But it's a weak sauce that a lot of people are enjoying on their discussion burgers these days.

[Professor Bear]

But what if the story appears in the Byline Times?  Surely that's an immediate red flag*?



* No pun intended.

[Funt Solo]

Ah, well then it's to be believed utterly without question because it's fighting the good fight against the mainstream media. It has a special "Not Fake" badge that their reporters (both of them, mind) stick on top of the "PRESS" sign tucked into their hat-band. Definitely not agenda-driven. You couldn't say anything about chips or shoulders, certainly.

[Funt Solo]

Sorry to double-post, but I found what's perhaps real fake news, in that we didn't need any "experts" to fact check that staying too long in a sun-bed and drinking bleach isn't good for you and doesn't cure illness - but the BBC has a fact-check article.

That's just shit that everyone (except for the president of the US) knows. Humanity just innately knows that drinking corrosive fluid and sun-burning yourself is bad.




* I admit I added the donkey head.

* Truth: I googled "horse's ass" to see if I could paste a horse's ass over Trump's glowing visage, but a cartoon of his face as a horse's ass came up in the search results, and sort of defeated the purpose.

[Dandontdare]

He's now claiming that he was being sarcastic to wind up the media.

So that's alright then.

[Tjm86]

He's now claiming that he was being sarcastic to wind up the media.

So that's alright then.

Really???????????

[sorry, was that too sarcastic?]

[paddykafka]

He's now claiming that he was being sarcastic to wind up the media.

So that's alright then.

Well, since he has demonstrated a clear talent for comic timing and expression, no doubt his next gig after the Presidential one will be on the Stand-Up Comedy Circuit.

(Now THAT is how you do Sarcasm).

[Professor Bear]

You couldn't say anything about chips or shoulders, certainly.

The tone and direction of comments here and elsewhere make this choice of phrase especially poignant.

[sheridan]

I'm not sure he has dementia. I don't really recognise in him what happened to my gran, although I guess it affects people very differently. What I do see is someone who has some kind of personality disorder (likely narcissism) combined with huge privilege, and with the more typical issues that come with age (poor memory) and sheer arrogance (talking bullshit, like he has all his life, but now being under scrutiny for it).

Yes, I've seen what dementia is really like, and it's nothing like whatever Trump has.

[Funt Solo]

You couldn't say anything about chips or shoulders, certainly.

The tone and direction of comments here and elsewhere make this choice of phrase especially poignant.

Honestly, I'm often baffled, confused and wrong-footed when it comes to discerning tone and intent in a forum setting. I imagine you and I are in approximately the same place, as regards political bent and level of cynicism with the world.

Despite years of experience that should maybe make me know better I sometimes climb up on my high horse and then have to suffer the indignity of awkwardly sliding off, usually into a muddy puddle.

Also, introspection.