Watch out, Hillary Clinton! Dilbert creator and self-described master persuader Scott Adams has discovered the Twitter hashtag that will spell your doom!
#Hillbullies.
See, it’s “Hill” for “Hillary Clinton,” and “bullies” for “bullies,” and it sounds like “hillbillies” which is HILARIOUS, so therefore LANDSLIDE VICTORY FOR TRUMP.
Let’s back up a second here, in case you don’t fully grasp Mr. Adams’ PERSUASION MASTERY.
You see, Adams has been trying for some days now to reverse the perception that Trump and his followers are bullies — you know, just because Trump has repeatedly called for protesters at his rallies to be beaten up, and his followers have gone ahead and done that, you know, that sort of thing.
But as Adams sees it, it’s Hillary’s supporters who are the REAL bullies, because some of them have called him “silly” on Twitter.
No, really. This is his response to someone literally calling him “silly.”
This is the social shaming (bullying) we see everywhere now from Team Clinton. https://t.co/YHrc7WRn0n
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 25, 2016
And here he is taking on someone who jokingly referred to him as the creator of the Garfield comic strip.
Notice that the bullying is about the messenger, not the message. As per usual. https://t.co/Tq4iWTFCN2
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 25, 2016
And here he is responding to someone who called him a “douche.”
We also learned that Clinton bullies like you attack the messenger, not the message. https://t.co/RHKrtcCPvR
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 25, 2016
But there was something, well, lacking about his replies, persuasion-wise. “Clinton bullies” doesn’t have much of a ring to it. Even when it’s rendered as the hashtag #ClintonBullies.
Now Adams has turned his MasterPersuasion up to 11 with a devastating new hashtag. I am speaking, of course, of #Hillbullies.
BAM.
Adams wasn’t the first to use the hashtag to go after Ms. Clinton; assorted tweeters have been using it sporadically for some time. But none of them had Adams’ reach, or his enthusiasm for the hashtag, which he’s pulled out again and again since his earthshattering discovery of it.
Watch the #Hillbullies pretend I want a terror attack so they have an excuse to bully. https://t.co/uIiqU1TH72
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 27, 2016
#Hillbullies literally hallucinating. https://t.co/Ztbr0hxcjG
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 27, 2016
I tell you how I induced cognitive dissonance in the #Hillbullies. https://t.co/i1l0LRglcH #Trump #Clinton
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 27, 2016
I know that #Hillbullies always attack the messenger, not the message. https://t.co/JpLhkqFi2k
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 27, 2016
#Hillbullies could cause WW3 https://t.co/lht0ajv5Lh
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 27, 2016
#Hillbullies have not yet noticed that their leader turned them into the thing they hate most. Her hypnosis is strong. #Trump
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 27, 2016
#Hillbullies don't need arguments. https://t.co/7ivZPCxR3e
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) October 27, 2016
Apparently it has not occurred to Mr. Adams that calling someone a “Hillbully” isn’t technically an argument either.
But no matter. Adams’ fans think he’s a GENIUS.
https://twitter.com/jacksongott/status/791778322900398080
@ScottAdamsSays I now see how fast a little persuasion can take fire. fascinating. #hillbullies this is a whole new world for me. ty scott
— Mr Spat (@JoeSpadaford) October 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/paulvnickerson/status/791784086939598848
Naturally, people have started making the memes.
#HillBullies Bully…it's what they do. pic.twitter.com/53XRBFNLGJ
— Soyocracy (@Westsea77) October 27, 2016
I don’t know about you, but all this persuasion is making me dizzy.
(Note: I realize that I used the “fanbullies” in the headline of my last post. In my defense, I only used it twice. I hadn’t seen Adams’ tweets before using it, which must mean that I am as much of a MasterPersuader as he is for attaching “bullies” to another word.)
I was going to whose troll tell capitalizing random words was. Then I remembered that’s pretty much all of them.
LOL, if you support Trump…
You DO NOT believe in “equality for all”. You are supporting a campaign based in bigotry AND misogyny.
You DO NOT agree with “justice for all”. Trump is all for the arbitrary and capricious application of the law. He thinks Vladimir Putin is a model leader…and you want to talk about Clinton’s propensity to “abuse power”? Puhlease.
If you support Trump, you are an utter hypocrite if you profess shock at Clinton’s alleged shady dealings.
Just a couple of examples of hypocrisy:
Giving Trump a pass on his foundation, which used charitable donations to buy Trump a painting of himself, while going after non-stories on Clinton’s foundation
Being shocked, shocked, shocked about Clinton having been under investigation over e-mails but omitting to mention that Trump is being investigated and sued for his sketchy “university” and apparently bribed the AG of Florida to not be investigated for that very thing.
BTW, it seems that this latest “development” is a whole lot of nothin’.
@kokoda
Thanks for clearing that one up!
Suggest all use grammatical sentences.
(Anyway, it’s gonna be difficult to watch anything after I’ve plunged red hot needles in my eyes – something I’d infinitely prefer to do.)
The capitalization thing is weird. I mean, I get it – it’s used For Emphasis, to point out which words are Stronger. Just, well, they pick such weird words to emphasize. It is a pretty interesting window into the mind, though. Words that were inappropriately capitalized in his post are:
Intelligence
Wisdom
Suffer
Wisdom
Dude really, really wants us to know how wise and smart he is, and how much he suffers for us. He’s like Jesus, really.
As you probably all know by now, the FBI are investigating an ex congressman about some explicit messages he sent to a minor. They’ve siezed the computers in his house. One had a few copied emails on. The guy’s (ex?) wife used to work in Hilary’s office as an aide.
Infer what you will from that.
They are still married but currently estranged.
kokoda, speaking as an atheist myself, atheism is not a golden ticket to rationality. There are plenty of atheists that believe stupid things.
Alan: it means grasping at straws. Because that’s all they’ve got.
Kokoda kokoda
I don’t mean to diss ya
But less than two whole weeks
To find some cripplings leaks?
Oh sweet sweet 5 8 3
Please help this poor soul see
Trump will be history
And it’s no mystery
Your wish of bigotry
For male toxicity
Is a piss in the breeze
Sorry for your unease.
The source of those emails is a particularly gross dude, too. Anthony Wiener has been caught doing inapropro things numerous times – sexting and texting all over the dang place. He was disgraced while in office once by sexting with a dominatrix, then had to resign when he did it again several months later. That’s when his wife decided that she wasn’t going to “stand by her man” anymore.
Apparently he’s still at it, chasing under-aged girls, going from inappropriate to outright disgusting.
But hey, the Republicans could use the tenuous link to the Clinton campaign to smear Hillary, so the actual criminal issue will be buried beyond public awareness. So that’s nice. Thanks, elephant dudes.
I’ve a question for non-American Mammotheers. Are election seasons in other countries as awful as those in the United States?
@Laughter at Bigots
Our most recent election, here in Australia, was widely described as having a “marathon” eight-week campaign. I can’t even imagine what it’s like dealing with all that shit – and avoiding substantive policy discussion – for, what? Eighteen months?
It just hit me how many of their CONSPIRACIES!!! boil down to a man doing something wrong without Hillary’s knowledge and Hillary being forced to take responsibility for it.
1. I wonder why Trump isn’t even being forced to take responsibility for what he himself has done, much less what other people have done… Oh yeah, misogyny.
2. I wonder why men behaving badly are being thrown around as evidence that women shouldn’t be president… Oh yeah, misogyny.
After reading this article, I remember why I don’t read “Dilbert” anymore.
@Laugher at Bigots, the recent Canadian election was considered one of the messiest. It was 14 weeks, which was way, way longer than it usually is, and it was messy because the Conservatives really went all-out on the mudslinging. They said Trudeau was too young and inexperienced! :O
A big part of why the US has such long, drawn-out elections (I think) is because they’re set on fixed dates. Everyone knows when the election is in advance, so you can plan a two-year campaign. In Canada (and most Commonwealth countries I think) an election is called when the ruling party calls it, or after 5 years, whichever comes first. Additionally, an election is called if there’s ever a vote of non-confidence – i.e. if the House of Commons rejects a budget from the ruling party.
This has an effect of a) ensuring that the governing party never proposes a budget that’s going to make all the other parties vote against it, and b) ensuring that the government will call elections when they feel they’ve got the best chance at re-election. Likewise, the opposition and other parties can sort of anticipate when an election might be called, but can’t really be sure. It means they’ve always got to have some level of preparedness, but can’t be constantly campaigning.
End result is that we tend to have short election campaigns that happen when “times are good.” Makes for a stable transfer of power between governments, but also means that governments tend to rule for longer periods of time.
~takes off dork glasses~
It doesn’t help that, as soon as the new investigation was announced, lot of media tried to make it A Big Deal seemingly before knowing why it mattered or why the FBI is doing it. (Handsome Jack’s links helped explain a lot. Thanks for sharing.) What it does do is provide the opportunity to read what one wants to believe into it. Many have already made up their mind about what it means, like our little troll friend earlier. A writer for Gizmodo straight up says, “…this is certainly going to be used as ammunition by the Republicans, but it’s hard to see this having much impact outside of Trump’s base.”
At WaPo, an op-ed writer claimed that the new investigation could de-energize Democrats and re-energize Republicans. Although how much more energized could many Republicans be to vote for Trump because they hate Clinton? And how this would sway undecided voters, unless they already believed Clinton was untrustworthy, I don’t know.
A writer for The Atlantic argues that this is further evidence of “Clinton’s believability problem“, saying: “The announcement of an examination of new emails containing classified information (possibly from electronic devices belonging to Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin) could be damaging, given that it resurrects a problem Clinton has proven woefully unable to dispense with. … In the end, the news of the FBI’s continued investigation may turn out to be not much of anything. The problem for Clinton is that, as we have seen so far in 2016, public trust is a set of feelings more than it is a set of facts. This is not fair, but it is also true. Clinton’s extraordinarily long career in public service has given her a resume that she proudly touts as evidence of her qualification for the office of president—and it is difficult to begrudge her this. But all of these years of service have brought an accretion of skepticism relating to her believability—feelings that are sparked with each turn of the news cycle, no matter their relevance. Perhaps the news this week is that, for skeptics of Clinton, it isn’t news at all.”
The Atlantic writer, who wrote and published that piece before a lot of the details came out, also cites the Podesta e-mails (which, imo, show nothing except that in-fighting and politics as usual were at work behind the scenes; how–scandalous), as well as the rumors that Clinton will choose Lael Brainard as Treasury Secretary, as examples of her “believability problem”. Still, she isn’t wrong that the investigation feeds an “accretion of skepticism”, regardless of the facts. And all signs point to this being another non-scandal blown out of proportion.
I don’t have a lot of hope that, once this election is over, the next 4 years will be any prettier.
Another reason our election seasons are so long is because there are so few regulations on campaign finance. Candidates raise more and more money so they can do more and more campaigning and the bar for how much money and campaigning it takes to run for president, US senator or governor just keeps getting higher and higher. If only we had fully publicly funded elections. There would be a finite amount of money and campaigns could only afford to do so much.
@WWTH, one of the reasons the Conservatives were trounced so heavily in the recent Canadian election is because they were still spinning up an American-style of campaign finance, but our regulations were too tight to let them really go wild with it. They also went with an American style of media control. That ended up being a huge negative for them, and they lost almost everything to the Liberals because of it (and because of the Conservative track record as well).
So there is hope! You gotta patch up those holes in your campaign finance laws! Even if it stays private, there are still lots of ways to fix it! You can do it!
The Daily Beast published possibly the best headline for an article about the new FBI-Clinton…thing. I give you: “Hilary Haunted By Big, Stupid Weiners.”
The article itself is really good, too: “The FBI isn’t technically “reopening” the Clinton email probe, nor are any of the emails unearthed while looking into Weiner from Clinton, or even hidden from investigators by Clinton. But Team Trump has their talking point now, that Hillary Clinton’s email saga is ongoing and untenable, and it’s all thanks to Anthony Weiner’s inability to resist temptation or stay away from technology. This is the third round of Weiner sexting allegations, and the fourth time his wagging junk has humiliated him, his family, and those associated with his family. We’ll likely never know what sort of fruit got Adam and Eve cast from the garden, but we know today’s male sinners are partial to Apple. And Blackberry.”
Laugher at Bigots
October 28, 2016 at 8:12 pm
They’re bad enough in Canada, however the election seasons in the U.S. are at a particular level of awfulness for a couple of reasons
1) They are really, really, really long! – Think about it: the Trump circus began on June 16, 2015. In other words, this dumpster fire has been blazing for 16 going on 17 months!
The thing is, in the u.s. you have primaries, which run for almost a year before the general election campaign begins. Also, a huge amount of fundraising is involved.
2) The political culture in the U.S. is particularly toxic. In Canada, the Stephen Harper government that was in power til last year imported many of the slimy dishonest techniques that the U.S. right has been honing for decades. Vilification of “the other”, faux populism replete with lies and slander have had a seriously poisonous effect in many countries but the right wing propaganda machine is very strong in the U.S.
@kokoda
October 28, 2016 at 11:27 am
Words do have meanings
Meaning what I want them to mean
Nothing more, nothing less
They obey my will under duress
Opinions are one thing
Facts are another
But by my will
They are joined together
My opinion is fact
And that’s forever
See, I get my news
From those I know are right
To reinforce my views
Right wing propaganda sites
Give me what I need
There, I view, I read
I gather these facts
Carefully chosen, and attack
Those who disagree
Who mock, who don’t believe
Any old thing will do
By my word, I make it true
Words do have meanings
Meaning what I want them to mean
Nothing more, nothing less
They obey my will under duress
Liberty and justice for all! says the guy supporting someone who is deliberately eroding public faith in the democratic election process.
Quick question: Is Adam Scott literally the opposite of Scott Adams?
Yes.