An open thread for non-personal stuff (there’s another one for personal stuff). As usual, no trolls, no MRAs here!
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Open Thread for Non-Personal Stuff: January 2016 Party Girls Edition
We Hunted The MammothBucking the Backlash
Alan –
I think a lot of people are assuming that because many leftists still want to TALK about what’s problematic about a candidate, that equals “won’t vote for them.” So every time we try to say, “hey, this thing is not cool, you know,” we get bombarded with angry “BUT BUT HILLARY SUX STOP STANDING IN THE WAY OF PROGRESS.”
Which is, you know, exactly what my annoyance was about in the first place. I will grudgingly vote for Sanders (because voting for POTUS is always a grudging activity for me) but I’m sick of the pressure to respect his sacred cow status.
@ LG
That’s interesting, thank you. I’ve said I’ll report back any feedback without comment so as not to skew the results so I hope you don’t think I’m rude if I don’t actually respond. But you do raise a good point.
*sits on hands and tries to keep schnozz out*
OH MY GOD THE SANDERS FANBOYS. And I like the guy, generally. But seriously, I feel like I literally can’t mention anything negative about him, ever, or anything even slightly positive about Hillary, ever, lest I get buried in a landslide of #FeelTheBern.
I mean, there’s plenty to critique Hillary about, but the way Bernie fans respond to her isn’t “political opponent,” it’s “woman on the internet.” And it’s really squicky.
I found about this shite in The Independent today:
https://www.change.org/p/emma-watson-spend-one-week-in-a-calais-migrant-camp-for-feminism
Some disingenuous git is demanding that Emma Watson spend one week alone in a refugee camp, in order to prove that refugees are feminists. FFS, this has red pill all over it. When she predictably ignores the petition I expect to see misogynists accusing her of hypocrisy.
@Alan:
I read, some years ago, an interview with the proprietor of an American expatriate bar in London. He said that one of the most interesting things about Americans is that they always go drinking in politically aligned groups.
The interviewer asked him which type of Americans were easier to serve, Democrats or Republicans?
Republicans by far, he said. Every group of Republicans has an unspoken leader and takes their drinking cues from him (almost always a him.) If he drinks a scotch then they all have status drinks, if he stays on Coke then they all go with soft drinks, et cetera. This is ideal for bar staff. Democrats are utterly disorganised and will go with their own personal choice for drinks regardless of what the others are having.
I think the swallow-your-pride-and-follow-the-banner aspect of that is probably a symptom of the same thing that leads your friends to notice that right-wing people will vote the party line even if they hesitate to be associated with it.
@ snork maiden
I can’t speak for Hermione; but if people want to read about the experiences of a feminist woman in a refugee camp, here’s a link…
https://kthavocblog.wordpress.com
(KT is wonderful, all my friends are so much *better* than me)
@katz:
I don’t know many Bernie Sanders fanboys, sadly (or perhaps not) but the impression I get is that they’re a stone’s throw from the #RonPaulRevolution folks in terms of demographics, enthusiasm and online behaviour. Is this borne out?
I think there’s a difference here between leftist politicians and (especially far) leftist voters. Leftist politicians are usually willing to compromise and form coalitions to advance their goals, whereas right-wing politicians (eg, the Tea Party) are happy to just be obstructionist if they can’t get exactly what they want.
But far-left voters tend to be idealists who want an ideologically pure candidate, which creates a cycle of deification and disillusionment. They supported Barack Obama because he was new to politics and didn’t have a lot of political dirt in his background, but now there’s a far-left Obama hatedom because he had to do Actual Politics and didn’t just instate a perfect progressive agenda across the board.
If Bernie got elected, I’d expect to see the same thing again.
There’s a lot of Green Lantern theory of the presidency going on here.
Ddog, I read makeup sites/books, read sites that are feminist and/or female-oriented, and have an aunt and cousin who like makeup and like to talk about it. I’ve never heard anyone say that getting fake tans or wearing foundation/bronzer that’s too dark for your skin are racist. The general consensus from the people/sites I’ve had (limited) experience with is that fake tans are fine and the people who wear too-dark foundation/bronzer fall into one of three categories: insecure about their skin tone (as you said), don’t know their proper shade, or (this was more common a few years ago when it was still on) trying to emulate the Jersey Shore girls. I think it’s a nonissue and the people you saw complaining about it are just bored and looking for something to complain about to fill their excessive free time.
@ Katz
I think you’ve really hit the nail on the head there; but like I say, I’m trying to get untainted intel, so again hope you don’t think I’m rude if I stay out of it (you may find that quite a refreshing change!)
@ Alan,
thanks for the link, I’ll check it out. I’ve a friend who’s been doing supply runs to the French camps, and she’s only encountered friendship and gratitude.
What’s despicable about the petition is the negative assumptions it makes about the refugees, the assumption that Watson would be raped were she set foot in there. Its supporters are demanding she ‘put her money where her mouth is’, as if one young woman represents every person who wants the refugees to be allowed protection in Europe.
Ironically if Watson were to spend a week in The Jungle, she’d be fine. A high profile visitor like her would be treated like an honored guest I expect. At least the authorities wouldn’t bulldoze the place while she was in it.
On The Indy’s facebook page the story is causing a lot of confusion among people unfamiliar with red pill trollery.
I’m happy that my friends who are Bernie fans aren’t too sensitive about criticism. Every candidate has flaws and vanishingly few will align perfectly with anyone’s every issue or view.
I figure the true believers in any given campaign must be the lucky few who agree with that candidate in almost everything. I wonder what that’s like?
Auntie Alias:
FWIW, I’m always interested to know how our friends from other countries feel about politics and issues here in the U.S. Also, I often hesitate to participate in petitions directed at other countries’ leaders (heck, sometimes even other states!)
“I don’t know many Bernie Sanders fanboys, sadly (or perhaps not) but the impression I get is that they’re a stone’s throw from the #RonPaulRevolution folks in terms of demographics, enthusiasm and online behaviour. Is this borne out?”
Oh, GOD, yes.
@ hambeast
Well you wouldn’t want to fall foul of the Logan Act 😉
Doctor Mew
http://9gag.com/gag/amX1884?ref=fbp
Alan, you had me going there for a minute! Then I looked it up and I don’t think a bunch of petitions from the petition site.com would run afoul of that. *whew*
I mostly don’t sign those anyway. We Americans stick our noses into way too much stuff we haven’t any business doing as it is. I live in horror of being an Ugly American!
@Hambeast, Social Justice Beastie
I stick to petitions in my own country. It feels dishonest to sign a foreign petition asking for political action. (Maybe it isn’t but the idea makes me uncomfortable so I don’t do it.)
Sorry to be the one to break this, but I know people here follow this sort of thing.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/22/la-loche-canada-school-shooting-lockdown-saskatchewan
Charlotte Rampling has just been added onto my list of ‘women who really should know better’.
Re the debate around the primarily white and male Oscars:
Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling has called a boycott “racist against white people”.
Sigh…
Ugh, the Oxford English Dictionary thinks feminists are rabid.
http://www.themarysue.com/sexist-usage-examples/
I’ve been seeing some “don’t support Sanders because he can’t possibly win” Clinton boosting on my FB feed. It usually results in Sanders boosting. The resultant cascade reminds me of the fistfights in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher between the monks who do the cleaning.
My usual response is “I have pledged to vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is, up to and including the galvanized corpse of George McGovern”. That usually gets a positive response.
Dumb tech question of the day: is there a way to troubleshoot an iPhone/iCloud sync? My iPhone 4 has not been syncing with iCloud for almost five months now, despite the fact that I have had the thing connected to a desktop via USB cable in an area with free wifi, and locked. What should I start to look at to try and figure out what’s wrong here? Any ideas?
Another article about Jared Rutledge.
Darkstatistic, I too live in this city (airport rhymes with egg?)
I can’t believe how useless that “initiative” is if the person running it is so clueless that they think the conversation they’re having with “that group” is useful.
From LindsayIrene’s link:
Interesting, this idea that game turns ordinary men hateful and bitter. I wonder if it’s true.