tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20704380.post3485414543260909909..comments2024-03-22T17:35:52.045-04:00Comments on Extra Thoughts: Seriously? A vote has no expressive content?Lydia McGrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20704380.post-9364203361371196622016-08-31T15:31:24.538-04:002016-08-31T15:31:24.538-04:00I don't have time to fisk all of the same-old ...I don't have time to fisk all of the same-old same-old things being said in that post. We're hearing it ad infinitum these months. I'll just note a few things: First, the post assumes that this is all strategic. In other words, it assumes that there is no expressive content to a vote such as (as a minimum), "The person I'm voting for is not a scum-bag and is minimally qualified for the office for which I am voting." The entire post treats voting as a contentless pull of a lever. I think that's a bizarre and obviously false assumption.<br /><br />Second, the point B in the post shows the corrupting effect of a Trump candidacy. Point B assumes the nonsense one hears now from the alt-right, the implication that Trump's babblings, including the crude ones, constitute some kind of "strategy" of "bringing a gun to a gun fight." This is nonsense on steroids. Making fun of the disabled, calling people schoolyard names, and talking dirty about women (and yes, I'm including more than just what Trump has said during the campaign) are just bad, pointless, childish behavior. They aren't strategic. They aren't an effective form of fighting. They're just dumb. They just reflect a lack of self-control and a big mouth. But Trump supporters, esp. the alt-right, think they are oh-so-smart by trying to fold Trump's infantile behavior into some Grand Theory according to which he's gettin' all savvy and no longer being "too nice" to the left. It's all hogwash from the start, but what it means is that Trump supporters are learning to think that there is something good about bad behavior as a thing in itself. From that flows the alt-right, who will talk in _precisely_ the same way about vile, anti-semitic or n-word-laced spewing on Twitter. Um, yeah, you guys are so, so effective. We're all so glad we have you to "do our dirty work for us" and "bring a gun to a gun fight." Meanwhile, _really_ effective workers on the right such as the ADF, Ted Cruz, et. al. get called vile names because they don't happen to like the alt-right.<br /><br />That is the world of Trump supporters, and that is the world into which Bill V. is sticking his toes when he mouths misguided platitudes like those in point B.<br /><br />Third, he calls Trump a patriot in the post. A selfish one, but at some point a patriot. Pardon me while I laugh out loud. Yet more confusion and corruption of the intellect. Anybody who thinks Trump is a patriot (yes, even "in second place" after his own ego) is just engaging in wishful thinking. No, Trump is using this country _for_ his own ego, and that is all there is to the story.<br /><br />Finally, gotta love the "you're a damned fool" final line. Principles? We don't need no stinkin' principles around here. If you disagree, you're a damned fool.<br /><br />To my mind, those who allow themselves to be taken in by Trump, in any degree, are courting that label far more. As witness the blind-siding of Ann Coulter recently as Trump back-pedals on immigration. The schadenfreude was hard to resist for those of us who always knew that Trump always just uses his supporters and is bound to, precisely, nothing at all.<br />Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20704380.post-16176546139063075622016-08-31T15:29:06.027-04:002016-08-31T15:29:06.027-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Lydia McGrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423567323116960820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20704380.post-45014200777945072942016-08-30T22:56:58.344-04:002016-08-30T22:56:58.344-04:00Hi Lydia,
What do you think of this post arguing,...Hi Lydia,<br /><br />What do you think of this post arguing, in part, that conservatives should vote for Trump? <br /><br />http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2016/08/could-a-catholic-support-trump.htmlAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08938265226234600826noreply@blogger.com