Well, well, well. The Art of Malicious Ridicule is finally getting some attention. Thanks to my thank-less climate science postings and confronting the liars that make a career out of misleading innocents - I’ve become intimately familiar with the tactic of Ridicule Driven Misdirection to make sure that every dialogue and attempt at education ends in a pile of shit. Which is why I think it’s important for Americans to start thinking about it. Thank you “freewayblogger” for writing the article, even if his french gets the better of him occasionally.
The Invention of the Invention of the Internet: The Weaponization of Ridicule and Why It Matters https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/25/1767124/-The-Invention-of-the-Invention-of-the-Internet-The-Weaponization-of-Ridicule-and-Why-It-Matters - May 25, 2018 When Robert Mueller comes out with the results of his investigation, it won’t matter if the number of indictments is five counts or five figures: Trump won’t pay any attention. He’ll just call it fake news and ... the Republican party will shuffle along behind him, ... I have no idea what awaits us after that, but if we have the rule of law and justice on our side, and all they have is lies, bullying and ridicule, trust me: we’re goners. ... Even before Michael Dukakis hopped into a tank and rode off into history, ridicule has been an irresistible weapon for Republicans, and we’ve allowed them to use it to devastating effect.... Laughable as things like the tan suit and dijon “scandals" of Obama may seem, the Republicans would’ve gladly impeached Obama over the color of his suit or choice of mustard if they thought they could get away with it. They would’ve done it as if these were the most egregious crimes imaginable, and that impeaching him for it was the most natural thing in the world. If you don’t believe me, consider the suspension of disbelief required to still claim to trust and support Donald Trump. ... We all have different ideas about where everything started going wrong. ... ... (limburger and gore story) ...I fear for my sleepy nation. Will this upcoming mid-term election be the beginning of the end for our American Democracy; or for the Trump/GOP kleptocracy?At some point Al Gore should’ve asked what Rush was smoking in his cigars, or explained how phenomenally stupid someone would have to be to think or repeat such a thing. But Al Gore, like the rest of us, chose to ignore what was obvious foolishness, and I’m afraid we did so very much to our peril. Because the thing we were ignoring was a new social phenomenon - a sort of voluntary mass-hallucination where people gleefully repeated as true something they knew was entirely false en masse for no other reason than ridicule, and for some reason they weren’t the assholes, you were. Lies are as old as language itself - they may in fact be the reason language was invented - and masses of people all parroting things they know are not true is as old as religion. But Al Gore inventing the internet was the first instance I can think of where a prima facie lie was spread for no other reason beyond ridicule, and may have been the moment where conservatives got that first addictive taste of those sweet, sweet liberal tears.So whether trump’s facing indictment, or even impeachment - Trump ain’t going nowhere and his traitorous supporters aren’t going anywhere either. Bush V. Gore taught the Republicans 1) there’s no punishment for stealing an election and 2) if things are at all close they can lie, cheat and bully their way to victory, because there’s no punishment for that either. By now we should already know that things like reason, precedent and the rule of law are meaningless to them, and on the off chance that ten or twenty million of us marching for a day or two doesn’t do the trick, ...