 |
| GOP candidate from Indiana, John Johnson |
“For almost three generations people, in some cases, have been given handouts,” Johnston said during the discussion. “They have been ‘enabled’ so much that their paradigm in life is simply being given the stuff of life, however meager.”
“What you see is a setting for a life of misery is life to them never-the-less,” he continued. “No one has the guts to just let them wither and die. No one who wants votes is willing to call a spade a spade. As long as the Dems can get their votes the enabling will continue. The Republicans need their votes and dare not cut the fiscal tether. It is really a political Catch-22.”
“The voters are the ones in charge,” Johnston said. “(H)owever when only 10-11 percent show up to vote, not much will change. People simply are not hurting enough, or simply happy enough that they will do nothing. consequently the dole continues.”
After this mouthful of slop got published in the local newspapers and on the "intertubes," John Johnson whines that he was taken out of context and he didn't really mean what he exactly said about letting poor people "wither and die." And did you catch "...calling a spade a spade..." dog whistle?
The GOP attracts lots of these misanthropic jerks. Can anyone guess why?
Shit attracts flies?
ReplyDeleteThis dudes comment notwithstanding it is generally true most politions these days days mightily resist calling a spade a spade. But they will pick of a drink or three. Or...
ReplyDeleteJust give them The Full Ayn Rand .
ReplyDeleteCalling a spade a spade was a nice touch, however. These folk are learning t be a little less overt.
Myself, I liked the "people aren't hurting enough" meme. Maybe we should be shutting off the water or revoking their food stamps.
The party attracts them because a large portion off the party believes them.
Jerry, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteRN, when someone is talking about welfare and the dole, then talks about calling "a spade a spade," it's pretty clear, to me and others, what he's implying.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP attracts lots of these misanthropic jerks. Can anyone guess why?
ReplyDeleteToo many Ayn Rand nuts in high places in the party, like Paul Ryan -- I think he's the one who actually requires his staffers to read Atlas Shrugged. The Randroids in the party leadership are the intellectual (if that's the right word) counterpart to the teabaggers among the rank and file.
They're attracting more and more of those who think that the least successful should indeed be left to die rather than helped, who really believe that the difference between the life of a Romney and the life of a homeless person is entirely a matter of personal qualities and not luck or circumstances -- a form of so-called "social Darwinism" that Darwin himself would have been revolted by.
There are more people like that out there than you probably think. I used to be one (that was a long time ago) and I understand the mentality. Mr. Johnson's words have a very familiar ring. And, yes, many of them are covert racists and have ways of expressing that in code, though Johnson strikes me as a lot clumsier about it than the people I used to deal with.
The good news is that as they dare be a bit more blatant about their cruel (to use the term from your devastating earlier post on the mentality) elitism, they give us a very powerful weapon against them. Romney's 47% remark probably hurt his campaign more than any other single thing. He's too smart to have said it if he'd known he was being recorded. Many of them aren't that smart.
Anyone who has studied Rand knows Ryan (and this jerk Johnson) are not Objectivists.
DeleteUs against Them-ism, the political reality of our times. Very non objective, very pervasive, and quite destructive.
Pursuit of ideological purity and extreme partisanship is ironically a bipartisan effort.
It is amusing to observe the stumble bums in both parties trip all over themselves to reach new heights of insanity.
If there is any sanity left in in country of ours the moderates and independents will seize the reigns of governance and govern in the long tern rational interests of the nation. As actually desired by the governed rather than the oligarchs, plutocrats, and the elitists.
I stand by my statement with respect to politicians in general, both parties included.
ReplyDeleteI assume you noticed I did not say he was right or support his position in the narrow context of this singular issue.
Addressing the quotation at hand.
ReplyDeleteYes, people have been and are continuing to be given handouts. These people are generally at the end of their rope, at least middle-aged, without much prospect of employment even if they had the skills or energy.
The suggestion that these very real people should be allowed to just wither and die sounds a little bit out of place in the United States of America. Maybe this guy has simply watched too many Star Trek episodes and somehow believed in the evil alien worlds that the writers used to satirize human foible. How about voluntary suicide stations? A planet with a history of war decides that it is much cleaner to simply decide who dies by a random computer program and those whose number comes up must report to the suicide stations?
How about Hitler's approach? Concentration camps. Death by execution or camp mass murder. Certainly this would make more sense than somehow forcing the death of U.S. citizens!?!
Obviously they would neither wither nor die given the beauty and humanity of the average U.S. citizen.
Nowadays, the "both parties are equally bad" position is so grotesquely absurd that it can only be a sign of deliberate intellectual dishonesty.
ReplyDeleteIf acknowledging that politics and politicians are generally dishonest or at best disingenuous, ridiculously partisan, are influenced by special interests, care only about reelection - power - and control, and etc. is being "intellectually dishonest" I wear the label proudly 753.
ReplyDelete"And did you catch "...calling a spade a spade..." dog whistle?"
ReplyDelete"Calling a spade a spade was a nice touch, however. These folk are learning t be a little less overt."
-------------
"You don’t grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?"
Syme, speaking to Winston in George Orwell's 1984
I was going to say give the guy credit for being honest, at least, in regards to his Randian hate for the poor. But I guess he walked that back when he claimed he was "taken out of context". Likely the problem is that we "don't understand" his Randian hate, and desire for poor people to die. I've heard that before (that I "don't understand").
ReplyDeleteEAB, if only the freedom to use hate speech went both ways. But it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteJust listen to the howls from the extremists on the right when one of their favorite oxen are gored. If anyone were to say a disparaging word about, say, Christianity, the extremists would demand heads on spikes.
This country has a long and shameful history of dehumanizing minorities. When a culture makes a decision to not accept the dehumanization of minorities, I believe that's a good thing.
The idiot who used "calling a spade a spade" knew exactly what he was doing. He used that slur in conjunction with his wish to let poor and probably mostly minorities "wither and die." Every American who was born before 1980 knows EXACTLY what "spade" refers to.
When people react to bigotry, the first to come out of their closets are the ones who defend it in service to "free speech."
RN didn't get it because he believes it.
ReplyDeleteRN, that response is itself an example of the form of intellectual dishonesty known as "creating a straw man". None of the things you list is even vaguely connected with my clearly-stated reason for calling you intellectually dishonest.
ReplyDeleteWhat I said is that taking the position that both parties are equally bad is intellectually dishonest. Which it is.
The Republicans are vastly more racist, homophobic, dishonest, inflexible, totalitarian, and committed to ideologies grossly hostile to the interests of ordinary Americans, than the Democrats are. It's not that those traits don't exist among Democrats, only that the difference of degree is so huge that comparing the two is like compairing AIDS and a mild cold.
Constantly brushing aside the evidence of that reality with dismissals implying that both parties are equally bad cannot be an honest mistake or misunderstanding. It's a deliberate effort to obfuscate the truth.
Here's all ya need to know to understand what the TeaParty Republican Party is all about:
ReplyDeleteThey admire an idiot, Sarah Palin, and a man who's reponsible for the deaths of a plane load of civilians.
They like their women sexy and stupid and their men macho and monstrous.
Politics and politicians are generally dishonest, or at best disingenuous. Most, however not all, are ridiculously partisan, influenced by special interests, care primarily about their own reelection, thrive on power and control, and will use that power and control to decide what is right for all.
ReplyDeleteI stand by the above reworded statement. If in your view that is either incorrect or "intellectually dishonest" so be it.
There are many views and I don't happen to agree with your views in total, nor anyone elses for that matter. I know it dives those who wish to control crazy. Regardless their political ideology.
Have a nice evening.
The inherent viciousness in this twisted, perverted point of view isas disgusting as it is alarming.
ReplyDeleteThe next time you want to cast aspersions and commit character assassination with willful misinterpretation take a good long look in the mirror.
One could only hope that what you see there might shock some sense into you, but this sick, witless point of view is so blinded by bias, I doubt any of you could see anything but sheer beauty in the ugly face of childish spite and malevolence staring out at you.
Mr. Free Thinke, viciousness? casting aspersions? character assassination?
ReplyDeleteI called what Johnson wrote "a mouthful of slop," and suggesting that poor people "wither and die," is, IMO, most certainly a mouthful of slop. Other than that, the only other label describing Johnson, which you see as "viciousness" was writing that Johnson is a "jerk."
That is it.
An uncomfortable fact, apparently for you to digest, is that Johnson is a Republican, and the GOP attracts his ilk.
You have attacked ME for giving my opinion of a GOPer who believes poor people should "wither and die!"
"viciousness, disgusting, alarming, aspersions, character assassination, sick, witless, blinded by bias, childish spite and malevolence"
Those are the terms you threw at me, Sir. A bit de trop, n'est-ce pas?
Your hysteria over my blog post is puzzling, since you're the first to come out and condemn anyone who practices political correctness. It appears you support calling a spade a spade or the use of any other bigoted word or phrase only when people you agree with use them, especially when they pejorative words are used against liberals, whom, day after day after day, you slander and condemn in terms less gentle than my calling Johnson a "jerk."
You run a blog that consistently trashes President Obama ("dirty son of a bitch" -- your words) and Hillary Clinton in the most degrading and dehumanizing way.
I have no idea what prompted you to come here and attack me with such ferocity. Only you can know what prompted this over-the-top reaction.
You seem to have a need to destroy, with a string of inappropriate invective, anyone whose opinion is contra to yours.
Perhaps you need to examine why that is.
And you may need to check your impulse button as well.
your "friend" Free Thinke has this up on his comment section:
ReplyDeleteWe welcome conversation
But without vituperation.
If your aim is vilification ––
Other forms of denigration ––
Alienation with self-justification
He came here and scolded you for calling a jerk a jerk and vituperated all over your blog.
Narcissists like that make the rules for others but never apply them to themselves. That would be too consistent.
No wonder he belongs to the crazy baggers. He sounds like he mixed up the kerosine bottle with the gin he apparently slugs down every morning.
Here's a suggestion for Free Thinke who can't stop himself from telling other people off.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like what Shaw writes, don't visit her blog and bitch.
Problem solved.