The Milquetoast Wit

Last time , I explained how a key motivator for some Trump supporters is ignorance of his behavior. This angered some people. The following will definitely not relieve their ire. Donald Trump’s approval numbers remains comfortably around 40% . This means approximately 40% of the population remains in support of Donald Trump, in spite of the numerous bad behaviors I listed last time. Since then, he’s even managed to add a few new ones, like using his brush with death as an excuse to tell the American people to not fear the Coronavirus. Never mind that his treatment included several experimental drugs that aren’t available to the average American. Generally doctors don’t prescribe experimental treatments unless proven methods aren’t working. So, maybe do fear the Coronavirus. Some people aren’t aware of Trump’s behavior problems. Some people are aware of them and don’t understand why they’re worth worrying about. This group of people continue to support Donald Trump, not out of ign...

Last time , I wondered why people still support Donald Trump. This time, I examine one reason for this phenomenon. When it comes to human behavior I generally try to avoid reductive reasoning. Behavior is too complex and varied to be easily explained by one or two factors and I loathe ad hominem attacks (probably because my family resorts to reductio ad hitlerium the second I dare suggest government should take steps to deal with the runaway wealth inequality issue). With that being said, it has become increasingly apparent that people who continue to support Donald Trump at this point in time do so for three reasons (now, of course there are combinations of these three that create new reasons, but we’ll cover that later.  The first thing that leads people to continue to support Donald Trump is…   Ignorance is, as they say, bliss. After four years, it should be practically impossible to be ignorant of Donald Trump’s many failings, gaffes, and gr...

What makes Donald Trump worth it? This isn’t a rhetorical question, not really. It’s something I’ve genuinely struggled to comprehend over the last four years. Why do people ignore every reprehensible and grotesque act he commits? What makes him so worthy of the sort of blind support and faith that is usually reserved for religious figures? Why do people tether their souls to Donald Trump? The first thing to bear in mind is that Donald Trumps problems aren’t policy-based. If it were, you wouldn’t see an outpouring of support from Republicans for his opponent this election. People would still disparage him at every turn, the same way people disparaged Obama, Bush, Clinton, the other Bush, you know, politics. The problems with Donald Trump are entirely based on his behavior and reckless abandon for rules and norms. Rules and norms are important in government. They are especially important in a democracy. A monarchy may claim it’s power from god and use fear of the divine to keep the ...

The most revealing thing about political discourse on the internet is you get to see just how few people actually have meaningful convictions when it comes to politics. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of people who are deeply convinced what they believe is right and best for society. Unfortunately, there’s far too many people whose convictions begin and end with support for one of the two major parties. So long as their team wins, the methods don’t matter. Damn the norms and rules, what are they but niceties and pretenses that stand in the way of victory? Well they’re kind of everything. It’s a sad state we live in when the majority of people expect hypocrisy in politics. Not only do people expect hypocrisy, they tolerate it, defend it, and justify it. I assume there was a time when people actually held elected officials to some sort of standard. Maybe you have to go back to prehistory to find a time when people enforced a level of consistent conduct by their leaders. Groog didn’t ...

 This is my very first blog post in... 6 years. Wow. I mean, I'm not going to lie that seems very much like me to do. Actually, the most surprising thing is that I didn't somehow lose the login info for this site and that I'm actually making a return.  I read some of the stuff I wrote the first time around. I don't recommend you do the same.  Apparently I've changed a bit over the last 6 years and I find the guy who wrote all that stuff to be an obnoxious twat.  The only reason I'm leaving it up is because I think it would be intellectually dishonest to hide it.  Also, for as much as I dislike a lot of what I wrote, the through line of my argument had enough integrity for me to not be totally ashamed. Even 6-7 years ago I was committed to being philosophically consistent. My philosophy has changed, quite a bit, but even back then I refused to change my beliefs to fit the whims of those in power. Which is to say, even when I was a proud republican in name, I coul...

Mike Huckabee Hates Women?  The thing I hate about politics is that people are constantly looking for ways to make their opponent look wrong, to the point that they even fabricate issues. Mike Huckabee’s recent comments about women supposedly show how out of touch Republican’s are, but I am yet to see the issue with his statement. I’ve read enough editorials about the subject to understand that he is reducing women to nothing but “libidos,” except he’s using a straw-man argument so that’s not his actual position. I’ve also seen plenty of explanations that women’s desire for access to birth control is not due to unrelenting sexual appetites, but a quick web search reveals that most birth control costs $50 a month without insurance, and if that’s out of your budget you probably shouldn’t be having sex because you probably can’t afford a kid if you get a bad batch. All of which is to say that Mr. Huckabee’s argument that Democrat’s have targeted women voter’s exclusively throug...

New polls suggest that 99% of all individuals born after 1962 recall the assassination of JFK as, “something that definitely happened” while 1% recall it as, “a deeply traumatizing experience on a personal level.” This has come as a shock to many individuals born before 1962 who are unable to understand how anyone could not view the event through a personal lens, suggesting that the majority of individuals born before 1962 have a very poor understanding of how memories and personal experiences work. A similar poll of individuals born before 1962 shows that 99% of them view the assassination of Abraham Lincoln as, “something that happened” while 1% viewed it as, “a deeply traumatizing experience on a personal level.” 1% of individuals participating in the second poll were later burned at the stake for witchcraft.