Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Message to Monty

Monty, Monty, Monty.

I see you tried to engage dover beach with your "defending institutions" argument.   

It has gotten you no where, of course, because all he is interested in is institutions defending (or rather, forcing on the citizens as a whole) his conservative Catholic values on abortion, marriage, etc.  

Here's the thing:  people like him who can watch the violent riot and death calls at the Capitol, and all of the evidence from the Congressional hearing, and still think Trump was the one unfairly treated, are just plainly too stupid to bother arguing with.   They are willfully blind and are more sympathetic to Christian flavoured fascism than anything else, because it gets them the laws they want forced on everyone.    

They love you dropping in because it gives them a thrill that you think they are worth engaging with. 

They aren't.  

The only thing I think you should ever say to them is just "you are too stupid to argue with."

5 comments:

GMB said...

Its really socially irresponsible for you guys to let Steve get away with his persistent lies. Lying about CO2. Lying about the last American election. Don't let him do that. He fucking means harm and these ideas cause harm. They are designed to cause harm.


This is real intention to do harm that Steve displays when he goes in for these persistent lies. When he cannot be reasoned with.

Probability laws cannot be repealed. They cannot be suspended. Thats why we know its a coup. All these fucking leftist lying cunts cannot change reality no matter how they wish upon a star.

John said...

It is not that they are stupid it is what Pinker calls "my side bias". That pervades so much political debate these days that I have lost interest in the subject and prefer discussing the recent Guardian article outlining increasing concerns about the causative underpinnings for the modern evolutionary synthesis. Dover Beach will never accept any proposition that represents a challenge to his faith. He's locked in religiously and politically. Nothing in heaven or hell will change his mind. His cognitive behavior is like Dawkins. So much of the Jungian shadow lurking there.🤣

Monty is entitled to play his game. The responses to him remind of the concept of perseveration, which concerns repetitive behaviors that the organism has little or no control over; typically used in relation to psychopathology.

Steve said...

I know "stupid" isn't the exact thing going on there, John.

It's more a convenient shorthand for "your biases are now so extreme your expressed opinions are the same as those of someone extremely stupid."

And as I have been musing recently, I don't think enough credit (in a social science sense) has yet been given to the Right wing media "influencer" leadership to the normalisation of "stupid" views. Have you noticed how many at New Catallaxy now link with approval nearly every Tucker Carlson opinion? The man is a pure propaganda machine who pumps up the confected outrage for a living - and he gives a sense of community to those who are readily convinced that their worst views are not their's alone.

To lesser degree, the Catallaxy blogs give the same comfort, and that is why I don't its helpful for monty (or anyone) to engage with them. It lends an air of legitimacy to the whole enterprise.

I am especially strongly of that view regarding those who are virtually Christofascist - and who think the Left are literally evil. There are many of them now at dover's blog, and Currency Lad is like a trolling joke of a historian now.

John said...

Catallaxy displays the marks of cult like cognition. Yeah I take your point, in a way it is very stupid because when it comes to their preferred political positions they abandon any attempt at objectivity. When it suits them they'll quote talking heads that are clearly propagandists. They end up having to quote nutjobs like Carlson because in their collective hive mentality nearly everyone is against them.

GMB said...

"Catallaxy displays the marks of cult like cognition."

Yes they do. But so do you guys. You did know that the American election was stolen on the night didn't you? Or are you just playing silly-buggers?