After nearly a decade of being forced to take Trump seriously, Democrats increasingly call BS on the whole charade

Sure, Donald Trump is a threat to democracy — a would-be dictator on day one who has called for terminating the U.S. Constitution so he can hold onto power even after losing a free and fair election. But while draped in the rhetoric of populism, Trump and his MAGA movement are not actually popular; the man himself has never won more votes than the person he ran against, a majority of Americans twice rejecting him and his off-putting cult of personality. That he was ever president is more or less because a few thousand swing voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania thought it would be fun.

President Joe Biden won in 2020 largely by promising to a return to normalcy and baseline competency. In 2024, Democrats are making a similar argument but more forcibly: They’re pointing, laughing and dismissing Trump and his circus as a total freak show to which we can’t return.

  • bricklove@midwest.social
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    3 months ago

    Look, I’m sorry I didn’t vote in 2016 but I’ve voted every time since then and started paying attention to local politics. Now I have a protected bike lane next to my neighborhood and the roads aren’t full of holes

    • TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world
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      Good job. That’s all we should ask of you. You made a mistake, learned from it, and vow not to do it again. As long as you uphold that, you’ll be an outstanding citizen, and that’s all we should ask for.

      I like protected bike lanes and roads without holes in them too!

  • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I find it quite strange that “old and weird” seems to work better than “corrupt and criminal”.

    • HWK_290@lemmy.world
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      Probably for 2 reasons:

      1. quote “all politicians are corrupt and criminal” so this tactic doesn’t land (look at the dem senator from NJ)

      2. few people know convicted felons but they do know “old and weird” people, so they can better draw personal parallels

      • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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        I think the “weird” attribution has a way of infecting his supporters as well.

        If you support a criminal, that doesn’t necessarily make you a criminal. If you support a corrupt politician, that doesn’t make you a corrupt politician.

        But if you support somebody weird? Well that makes you weird. Trump’s weirdness infects you. It’s the cheese touch of politics.

        • paraphrand@lemmy.world
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          For a decade now there has been a certain crowd who considers Trump’s criminality and general disregard for truth to be cool in a “gangster” way. Gangsters are leaders.

          Weirdos, not so much.

      • Match!!@pawb.social
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        It’s also a plausible way out. Someone can convince themself that Trump was not as old and weird 10 years ago, so they did not make a mistake voting for him then

      • Serinus@lemmy.world
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        (look at the dem sensor from NJ)

        The one that we’re forcing out, yes. Not as fast as we got rid of Anthony Weiner, but they’re out.

        The worst Dems have at the federal level might be Pelosi making stock trades. You know, like half of congress, but for some reason only she (rightly) gets attention for it. Maybe we should include more people than just Pelosi in that conversation.

    • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
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      I think it’s because for so long they’ve relied on Democrats/people on the left (I say that because it’s not just in the US, it’s become the right-wing tactic all over the place) being serious and arguing in good faith, IE: they’ll just say the wildest shit that’s blatantly untrue, and people on the left tend to bust out the facts and links to long explanations of why that’s false, and they just counter it with more nonsense until their opponents get tired and quit, then they proclaim victory. But if you just go “you’re weird, fuck you” and then refuse to follow up on it they kind of don’t know what to do with it.

      Also, the amount it’s pissing them off means it’s working, everyone keep doing it!

      • bitwaba@lemmy.world
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        arguing in good faith [edit: faith was originally missing. That’s what I get for Lemmy on the toilet-ing]

        I specifically remember Trevor Noah having an opening monologue to the Daily Show some time just prior to or after Trump having taken office about this exact topic. Essentially he was saying it allowed Trump to control the narrative. Every time he lied, the left leaning media would be off digging up facts and statistics to come back and says “ah ha ya! Look at this!” But by the time they get back to respond, he’s gone off and changed the topic and made another blatantly false condemnation of some group of people. And so the cycle repeats itself.

        Noah’s proposed solution was the same as a child having a tantrum: ignore them. When things go wrong, make it clear why it’s a result of his policies or rhetoric. Stop playing politics like you’re playing them with a competent adult. You’re not.

      • cm0002@lemmy.world
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        Hmm, I wonder if commenting that in that strange Lemmy place c/conservative would have the same effect lmao

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        But if you just go “you’re weird, fuck you” and then refuse to follow up on it they kind of don’t know what to do with it.

        Well, if it were that easy, the right would’ve been beaten a long time ago. If Kamala ever gets a chance to debate Trump (spoiler: he will never debate her) she isn’t going to just respond to everything he says with some variation of “you’re weird; fuck you”.

    • Asifall@lemmy.world
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      I think at least some of it is because republicans already call democrats corrupt and criminal. When the dems come back and make the same accusations it just looks like bickering. Ideally the substance of such claims would matter but current political discourse in the US prioritizes sound bites and quips

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      It’s because it’s a fascist movement.

      Fascism is organized around a strong leader who supposedly embodies the values of the movement. A fascist leader isn’t a leader who’s thoughtful and fair, they’re strong, determined, filled with righteous anger, etc.

      Corrupt and criminal can be twisted into those characteristics. It’s not “corruption”, it’s taking advantage of suckers. Something you have to be clever and ruthless to do. It’s not “criminal”, it’s ignoring laws meant for lesser people.

      On the other hand, a fascist leader’s image isn’t compatible with weakness and strangeness. Fascism is all about claiming the national identity is under threat by “others”, immigrants, intellectuals, homosexuals, etc. The fascist leader needs to be seen to embody all that’s good and right about the true national spirit. But, if they’re seen as weak and weird, that’s not something anybody wants to associate with.

      • Vittelius@feddit.org
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        To add to that I’d like to quote Ian Danskin (aka Inuendo Studios) from his guest lecture about Gamergate at UC Merced:

        Bob Altemeyer has this survey he uses to study authoritarianism. He divides respondents into people with low, average, and high authoritarian sentiments, and then tells them what the survey has measured and asks, “what score do you think is best to have: low, average, or high?”

        People with low authoritarian sentiments say it’s best to be low. People with average authoritarian sentiments also say it’s best to be low. But people with high authoritarian sentiments? They say it’s best to be average. Altemeyer finds, across all his research, that reactionaries want to aggress, but only if it is socially acceptable. They want to know they are the in-group and be told who the out-group is. They don’t particularly care who the out-group is, Altemeyer finds they’ll aggress against any group an authority figure points to, even, if they don’t notice it, a group that contains them. They just have to believe the in-group is the norm.

        https://innuendostudios.tumblr.com/post/660337457916706817/i-was-invited-to-give-a-talk-on-gamergate-over

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          Great quote. It explains why they’re especially sensitive to the idea that their position is not normal.

          • Vittelius@feddit.org
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            exactly. In the next paragraph Ian even has some examples of how that works in modern day American conservative political culture:

            Reactionary politics is rebellion against things they dislike getting normalized, because they know, if they are normalized, they will have to accept them. Because the thing they care about most is being normal.

            This is why the echo chamber, this is why Fox News, this is why the Far Right insists they are the “silent majority.” This is why they artificially inflate their numbers. This is why they insist facts are “biased.” They have to maintain the image that what are, in material terms, fringe beliefs are, in fact, held by the majority. This is why getting mocked by Stephen Colbert was such a blow to GamerGate. It makes it harder to believe the world at large agrees with them.

            This is why, if you’re trying to change the world for the better, it’s pointless to ask their permission. Because, if you change the world around them, they will adapt even faster than you will.

            Honestly the whole talk is worth a listen. It’s depressing because, well, it’s about gamergate but it explains so much (and it’s probably one of the parts of his alt right playbook series of video essays getting shared the least on social media

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              You have to love the irony of the far right considering themselves the “silent” anything.

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        Its really fascinating. Their image is to embody what is “normal”, “natural”, “right”. They’re bullies, claiming they’re better than everyone else, and using those differences to push that superiority.

        It turns out the most effective method to combat bullies is to… bully them. Point out how abormal, unnatural, and inferior they are. Its such a core element of their existence that they fall apart without it.

        I’m not proud of it. But also, I’m not crying about it.

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          It’s not even necessarily bullying them back, it’s more refusing to be bullied.

          Beating up a bully can be an effective strategy, but it’s risky, you might lose the fight. And, since it’s a fight they want it’s one they probably think they can win.

          Laughing at a bully is attacking them where they’re weak. It’s defusing the fight by making people not want to back them, and by doing that making them want to retreat.

        • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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          I see it more as calling out that the emperor wears no clothes. Don’t play by their rules. Expose the farce!

          The media have been complicit in this. Treating Trump like a serious candidate helped him win the election.

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        It was creepy how many times they said the words “strong” and “strength” during the Republican convention. They worship strength. Might makes right.

    • DannyMac@lemm.ee
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      We need David Tenant to go on some social media platform and say to the world, “Doesn’t Ex-President Trump look tired?”

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      The whole schtick the right wing is selling is trying to claim that they are the normal Americans.

      When you point out that it is weird as hell to worship a reality TV star while wearing diapers and fake ear bandages, they are forced to look in a mirror and realize that actually, no, they are not the normal ones.

    • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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      And they’re not even being real about it.

      “You know there’s something wrong with people when they talk about freedom — freedom to be in your bedroom, freedom to be in your exam room, freedom to tell your kids what they can read,” Walz said. “That stuff is weird. They come across as weird. They seem obsessed with this.”

      And buttigieg: “Republicans, including Fox News anchors, “will take a look at Donald Trump and say he’s perfectly fine, even though he seemed unable to tell the difference between Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi; even though he’s rambling about electrocuting sharks and Hannibal Lecter; even though he’s clearly older and stranger than he was when America got to know him,” Buttigieg said. “They say he’s strong as an ox, leaps tall buildings in a single bound. We don’t have that kind of warped reality on our side.”

      I actually felt a strange sort of relief when I opened this article and saw the headline. But after reading it…that’s it? Why can’t they come out and talk like real-ass people? We get it, you’re professional politicians that are soooo smart. But level with people, for fucks sake.

      Just in the middle of a typical dem speech, even if it’s scripted, go “off script” like:

      […]and…I mean. Maybe this isn’t ‘proper,’ but forget proper for a minute…what the hell is wrong with trump? And Vance, for that matter. Why are we all pretending this is normal? That what they say and do is normal? These aren’t normal people. They’re…weird. Really weird. And frankly—they’re just hateful assholes. We can’t let these freaks have any real power again. We remember last time, right? It was horrifying for a lot of people. Good people were being threatened for who they are. Forget that. We can’t let these weird, sad wannabe fascists take power. Give a wannabe fascist any power, and they’re not “wannabe” anymore. They can just be fascists. And with this corrupt Supreme Court? We would be in deep shit. I get it, we outside of the freak show that is the far right, have our differences. Those to the left of us don’t think we do enough. Those to the right of us think we do too much. But, no matter what, we aren’t those freaks. And right now, that is the most important thing. Keeping wannabe dictators and bonafide weirdos away from the adult’s table. We want to do more for everyone. And keeping trump and Vance and all of the equally strange and hateful Republican grifters and con artists will allow us to do more. So…let’s try to keep this asylum from falling to the inmates.

      Democrats have just decided that “decorum” and appearances are still somehow the way to go. Be fuckin real with people. Don’t give us the form letter politician shit. That is obviously where we’re at as a country. The sooner they learn that the better chance they’ll have.

    • Lianodel@ttrpg.network
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      For sure, and it is absolutely true.

      I just like “weird” because it only works one way. For people who value individuality and diversity, it doesn’t necessarily have a negative connotation. For people who value conformity, it’s a devastating insult. Apparently Ben Shapiro went on Megyn Kelly’s show to cry about it, which is great.

    • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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      This makes a lot more sense than weird. Old and weird is something one could put on a T-shirt or on a lemmy nbio and enjoy displaying it. It’s basically a Weird Al Yankovic T-shirt.

      And the meaning of brat really hasn’t changed except in some limited social circles, just like the close association between coconuts, monkeys, and primitive tribal connotations. It’s as if someone was leading the Democratic marketing campaign by selling it within the bubble but in such a way that it is ultimately ineffective and easily twisted, and it’s giving me serious 2016 vibes. I really hope I’m wrong and just out of touch.

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    So my buddy and I were bored in the car yesterday and I made up a game called “let’s bet how many minutes it will take me to scan through AM radio and hear that the immigrants are invading.” I was really sad when I won in, I shit you not, less than 3 minutes. But before he got to that when I first tuned in he was going on a whole rant about being butthurt that the orange one was being called a weirdo. It really upset the guy which was just absolutely hilarious. Oh and he managed to slip a transphobic pronoun joke in the middle of the rant. Remember all of this happened within less than 3 minutes of me starting at the bottom of the AM dial.

    • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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      I love in the south and the radio is a fucked up place. It’s mostly all Christian or Republican talk radio. They tell people how they should think. like some random dude on the radio has all the answers.

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    still don’t understand what’s wrong with being weird. republicans just hate it because their bigoted mind associate it with being different and they hate that.

      • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        yeah that’s what i meant; they’re the ones turning it into a negative attack. the dems are just planting the seeds.

    • npz@lemm.ee
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      I think there’s different meanings in different contexts. You don’t want to be the “creepy weirdo” kind of weird, but then there are people who are into weird art or have weird kinks and they are great

  • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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    promising to a return to normalcy and baseline competency.

    Here’s the thing. Biden hails from an era of politics where one would absolutely get lit up by the media for breaking decorum.

    It’s been a slow decline for some time, but the Republicans along with their propaganda outlet Fox News have slowly changed the country’s thermostat on this over the last few decades. Much like wearing a winter parka in the summer heat, maintaining complete and total political decorum in this climate is no longer a boon, it’s a handicap. We all saw Biden take one heck of a beating while taking the high road and never really taking the (rage) bait to hit back in quite the same way. But while that approach is performing on virtue, the optics are one of a punching bag in the eyes of many crucial voters.

    So tactics have been changed, and boy have they ever.

    What I appreciate about this approach is that it’s actually very light-handed, considering all that could be done. It also looks downright polite compared to how much right-wing media has run with hyperbole and even outright fabrication. Yet running on the rather casual sounding observation of “old and weird” is generating actual results. It’s also refreshing to loudly point out what we were all baffled about from the get-go: “Don’t they know? I mean, they’re seeing the same stuff we are, right?”

    I welcome this new shift to “bless your heart” politics.

    • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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      I welcome this new shift to “bless your heart” politics.

      This is the equivalent of pointing out grammatical errors in an otherwise logically sound argument. This is not a positive development, it is a sign that things are continuing to get worse.

      • bss03@infosec.pub
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        logically sound argument

        Not even a little. Trump is wrong about what the problems are, and proposes “solutions” to the non-problems that we know will make them worse.

        Plus, he’s old and weird, and he running mate might be young-ish, but double-weird instead.

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          Let me rephrase this.

          This is like pointing out grammatical errors in both a logical/illogical argument.

          You are either the person going ‘neener neener you misspelled a word’ to a person with a sound argument, or you’re stooping to the level of an idiot to defeat an idiot.

          If you cannot recognize why both are bad, I am not going to explain it to you.

          • FarmTaco@lemmy.world
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            Problem is you are pretending like the illogical argument didnt sit in office for 4 years.

            • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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              No, I’m not, you’re reading into what I’ve said and think you’ve got me because you don’t understand what I’m (and by association, you’re) talking about.

              • FarmTaco@lemmy.world
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                I’m sorry if you cant recognize the ridiculous strawman argument you put up, I’m not going to explain it to you.

                • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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                  Not a strawman lil guy, you just can’t read. Actually, the only strawman placed is the one you propped up.

          • bss03@infosec.pub
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            Fascists don’t get civil debate. They get mocked, beaten, and ignored. If you don’t understand why I call people that are involved with Project 2025 “weird”, I’m not going to explain it to you, again.

            • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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              The death of civil discourse, ladies and gentleman. Propagated by people who think they’re doing the right thing. The same people who are responsible for the complete lack of civil discourse online, who would have thought?

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    Yeah, trying to overthrow the government and create a theocratic dictatorship, run by a probable amoral atheist felon who is functionally illiterate is pretty weird. Life in general has just been weird for the past 10 years now, but I feel like a large part of it is caused by Republicans in general enabling weird shit to happen.

  • NineMileTower@lemmy.world
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    The reason it works is because there is no refuting it other than, “Nah uh!” It’s almost the equivalent to repeating someone’s argument back to them in a tone to sound stupid. HOWEVER, this tactic works when arguing with a kindergartner, so it works here too.

    • Timii@biglemmowski.win
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      It’s also a primal fear for narcissistic men to be called ‘weird’ or ‘creepy’ by attractive women.

      • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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        Actually narcissistic people don’t care about that, because narcissistic people aren’t sexually attracted to anyone. Narcissus rejected everyone who made moves on him. That’s why, at 16, he was put to death by the gods for not loving anyone.

        • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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          Narcissism is not a sexual orientation. You can be a narcissistic asexual. But being a narcissist does not mean you dont experience sexual attraction in the colloquial form of the word.

        • someguy3@lemmy.world
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          Not that I’m an expert but sexuality is independent. Also, narcissists understand power dynamics and need to be on the top in every regard.

        • Nbard@aussie.zone
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          amazingly confident in incorrectness.

          Narcissus wasn’t put to death. His own self-absorption killed him.

          • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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            Some one, therefore, who had been despised by him, lifting up his hands towards heaven, said, “Thus, though he should love, let him not enjoy what he loves!” Rhamnusia74 assented to a prayer so reasonable. There was a clear spring, like silver, with its unsullied waters, which neither shepherds, nor she-goats feeding on the mountains, nor any other cattle, had touched; which neither bird nor wild beast had disturbed, nor bough falling from a tree. There was grass around it, which the neighboring water nourished, and a wood, that suffered the stream to become warm with no rays of the sun. Here the youth, fatigued both with the labor of hunting and the 104 III. 413-445 heat, lay down, attracted by the appearance of the spot, and the spring; and, while he was endeavoring to quench his thirst, another thirst grew upon him.

            Rhamnusia made him fall in love with his reflection. It’s right there in the text.

        • thrawn@lemmy.world
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          Like others here, I gotta say it’s super weird that this comment is focused on Narcissus the character’s specific death rather than the actual disorder. It’s like getting caught up on Oedipus’s platonic relationships. The disorder references the character but does not demand that every detail of the story is relevant.

          NPD is diagnostically defined in the DSM-5 (APA 2013; pages 669-672) as a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy, with interpersonal entitlement, exploitiveness, arrogance, and envy. Five out of nine of these criteria need to be present to meet the diagnosis of NPD.

          (The nine can be found online from many sources. None mentions sexuality.)

          There’s good reading on sexual selfishness or sexually addictive behavior from narcissists. One from the American Journal of Psychiatry, emphasis mine:

          In addition to the grandiose and vulnerable subtypes, there is a healthier group of individuals with narcissistic personality disorder, described as “high-functioning,” “exhibitionistic,” or “autonomous.” These individuals, illustrated by Mr. A, are grandiose, competitive, attention seeking, and sexually provocative, while demonstrating adaptive functioning and using their narcissistic traits to succeed.

          For a more contemporary comparison, it’s like seeing the trope of the Starscream and insisting that for the archetype to fit, they must be disintegrated by the guy they backstabbed reborn and renamed. The disorder is named after the self obsessive behavior, not the less important particulars.

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            3 months ago

            Naming an ego disorder after Narcissus is ridiculous. The boy’s core character trait was his lack of interest in relationships with other people. The self-obsession isn’t his character trait, it’s a punishment inflicted on him by the gods. It would be better to call it Nemesism. Nemesis is the god who inflicted the self-obsession. If you’re talking about Narcissus, the asexuality is why he was killed. The asexuality is the trait the Greeks saw as evil.

            • thrawn@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              I mean maybe, but I assume that by the time it was named, people mainly remembered the staring at oneself until death thing. The story is old enough that it’s been simplified many times, I’ve heard it more without the curse bit than with. The authors aren’t really around to correct the record.

              I’m curious, were you more familiar with the particulars of the story than the actual disorder, and just applied it? I’m confused about the point of the orignal comment. It feels like you’re more interested in Greek myths than the actual discussion that was happening.

              Which is fine— there’s a place for that, even if that wasn’t the way to introduce the subject. I’d have been (and really, still am) interested in other not-entirely-faithful myth inspired names. But by beginning with an inaccurate take on the contemporary term narcissist, it mostly just led to confusion.

              • MindTraveller@lemmy.ca
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                3 months ago

                I was extending the benefit of the doubt. If we’re all speaking Greek, and disagree on whether Trump is asexual, well that’s a very weird conversation to have but it could result without malice. However, if someone is throwing around ableist slurs and saying Trump’s evil is the result of neurodivergence, then they deserve to be punched in the face.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 months ago

      Get out of my brain.

      I was literally just wondering why it’s so effective and I think it’s this.

      Most liberal “insults” are draped in facts and figures, to the point that Republicans just close their ears and say AlTeRnAtIvE fAcTs.

      I think the simplicity, and it’s fact-less insult cuts through their reasoning brains (which there wasn’t much of) and hits them in the emotional centers.

      I mean…it took Democrats 6 years to figure this out?

      Better late than never but happy we’re finally hitting below the belt.

    • Zak@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      That might be part of it, but the Republicans tried a similar attack against Biden and it mostly didn’t land. It only works when it’s true in the sense that the average person genuinely finds the position or behavior in question disturbing.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    At this point can we consider that MAGA is the “new” and Americanized version of the Nazi party, and that Trump is trying to become a somehow worse version of Hitler?

    Sure, there’s no rhetoric about the Arian race in the public literature, but the ideals and concepts are pretty similar. Instead of considering anyone who is non-white, non-blonde, non-blue eyed, to be less than, it’s instead about “God loving Christians” and basically the concept of, if you’re not with us then you are not an American.

    Transpose some conceptual groups for fairly equal in size/scope groups, and it’s essentially the same playbook.

    Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. C’mon America… You were a big factor in defeating the Nazis… DON’T BECOME THEM

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Sure, there’s no rhetoric about the Arian race in the public literature

      Maybe not overtly, but there are TONS of *wink wink, nudge nudge* rhetoric about the Aryan race, they just couch it in dog whistles and have for decades. Here’s the famous Atwater quote from 84 where he admits it:

      You start out in 1954 by saying, “N****, N****, N****.” By 1968 you can’t say “N****”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “N****, N****.”

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        I would agree that it’s a lot of nudge, nudge, wink, wink, underlying white supremacist ideology.

        I don’t even think it’s a secret. They just refuse to say it overtly because of the social impact of it. A portion of people who voted, and will vote for Trump, might have a problem with them being very obviously racist/Nazis.

        I don’t think that’s a majority, but those that now or less stay out of politics, and are just habitual Republican voters (maybe they’re subscribed to the party or something? A “card carrying Republican” type thing), would see the overt racist/Nazi themes and reconsider their position instead of blindly doing what they’ve always done.

        Instead it’s about making things “great”, an overly broad and obtuse term to use as a focus of your political goals. With vague and ultimately meaningless talk about what that means, without any actual hard statements.

        They’re avoiding any commitments to do a specific thing or achieve a specific goal, and it’s all a smokescreen. Anyone paying attention knows that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, which is essentially what they’ve promised at every turn. The horrible fuckery of the medicare system comes to mind. They were going to make it “great” and affordable… How? Nobody knows. They didn’t even know. What did they deliver? Not that. It’s not great. Affordable? That is debatable. It’s not just Medicare. It’s everything.

        They only other time I’ve seen this phenomenon is at work. Sales people will sometimes promise clients that a product will do everything for them. Well beyond the abilities of that product. I’m not in sales. I’m a technical support/implementation person. I have to give the end user/client the bucket of cold water to say, no, it doesn’t do that, and it’s not able to do that. When I approach management about it, the response is inevitably “make it work”, aka, find a solution, and don’t bother me about it. I tend to quit jobs that put me in that kind of a position, so it’s rare that I end up in it.

        What Trump, and a lot of what I’ve heard from his party lately, does is entirely the same. He’s acting like a shady sales person, telling you everything that he thinks that you want to hear, then foisting the task of actually accomplishing any of his wild statements onto implementation people who basically tell him that his promises and statements about what we can do, or will do, cannot be achieved. They’re told to “make it work” and they do their best, but it ends up making things fucking suck. I don’t blame anyone except the sales person telling me that they can do something that I later find out, cannot be done.

        My main problem is that, this isn’t just his own business that’s going to suffer and fail as a result of his insane ramblings. We’re talking about the country of the United States of America which will suffer immense damage if he is allowed to continue this circus.

        I don’t believe anything he says.

        I generally don’t believe politicians. I also don’t believe most sales people. As for a politician with the approximate credibility (or lack thereof), of a sales person? You do the math.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I think he tries to be Americanized version of Putin. And Putin tries to be Russian version of Hitler

    • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
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      4 months ago

      The argument I have heard from the Republican voters is some derivative of “we need to bring this country together and be united!” After a few questions is always under their ideology.

      They want everyone to change to worship their fascist, racist, and regressive ideology rather than pull their heads out of the sand and realize everything they stand for is absolute trash.

      Most of them don’t understand why we don’t worship Trump like they do. It’s so confusing to them that we don’t worship Biden or Harris like they worship Trump. To be a Republican is to lack all empathy.

  • shish_mish@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Laughter is a great weapon, as even the Irish Bards of old knew. And the plus point is that it is true, they are old and weird. They want to go round inspecting children’s genitals…definitely weird. They rather mothers die than get medical treatment in an event of a dangerous pregnancy. Likewise, they think child marriages are OK. They think forcing women to have babies is OK but passing laws to help those babies live is not. They want to go back in time and roll back all the progress society has made in being kinder, fairer and more inclusive. They love conspiracies and think they have special secret knowledge . There is so much more,I hope someone turns it all into a catchy song that goes viral.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      There’s two sides to that.

      Some of them are like tucker Carlson or Boris Johnson. They look ridiculous on purpose so that’s what people talk about instead of the horrendous shit they’re advocating for.

      So by all means laugh at them, it hurts their follower count. But don’t outright dismiss them.

      They might be stupid and weird that doesn’t make them less dangerous

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Republicans are so old… and just soo weird.

    And trump doesn’t laugh or have a dog?

    There’s a lot of other very bad things going on, but they are also just… They’re just so fucking weird?

  • Zombiepirate@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    When reactionaries tell you to stop something it’s because it is effective.

    If they cry and foam at the mouth you should go even harder.

    They’re a minority of weirdos and should be reminded of such at every opportunity.

    • A Phlaming Phoenix@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Yeah, that’s why “no you” doesn’t work here. I know I’m a weirdo. I like being a weirdo and hanging out with other weirdos. You call me a weirdo and I’m like, “Yeah, cool.”

      But group identity is everything to a conservative. Conservatism, as it has been said, depends on an in-group and an out-group. “Weird” could only ever be a pejorative to the conservative who really needs to conform and not be weird. A person who accepts the diversity of humanity doesn’t need everyone to be the same, so weirdness isn’t really all that weird. When the in-group is weird, it’s not an insult.