Quo Vadis GOP?

[Jacob]

I think this is fair and fairly apt too.

The problem unfortunately is that for a period people hostile to the idea of any kind of social justice used the pose of the internal audit to undermine any attempt at action. "Just asking questions" and "isn't it funny that..." was used as a deliberate sabotage technique.

It turns out it's quite difficult to distinguish between Nazi shitheads trying to disingenuously stir up shit and people asking difficult questions in good faith. I mean, individually we're all sure we're pretty good at it... but collectively it turns out to be hard to execute on consistently.

What period are your referring to?

The way I see it things started out benignly.  A while back someone posted a letter that MLK wrote to white supporters who advised him to go slow.  He didn't respond to them as the enemy.  He responded to them as allies to be reasoned with. 

Then things went to shit in the 70s with the rise of black militancy and feminist militancy.  Discourse with well intentioned allies disappeared and got replaced with catch phrases like sexist male pig and Uncle Tom and don't trust whitey.

I personally noticed the trend of "just asking questions" as a technique to undermine and oppose social justice in various forms in the 'aughts and early teens, with the assumption that questions askers were asking in bad faith becoming default in maybe the mid teens? Something like that?

It's not limited to social justice topics, of course, the rise of trolling as a form of discourse was pretty widespread - but I think it was used very deliberately by the alt right; and, I think, very effectively as the impact spread to general society. It doesn't take that many times to be subjected to a barrage of disingenuous bad faith questions before it wears you out, and it doesn't take too many times to have your good faith questions dismissed as bad faith before that sours your either.

[Admiral Yi]

I personally noticed the trend of "just asking questions" as a technique to undermine and oppose social justice in various forms in the 'aughts and early teens, with the assumption that questions askers were asking in bad faith becoming default in maybe the mid teens? Something like that?

It's not limited to social justice topics, of course, the rise of trolling as a form of discourse was pretty widespread - but I think it was used very deliberately by the alt right; and, I think, very effectively as the impact spread to general society. It doesn't take that many times to be subjected to a barrage of disingenuous bad faith questions before it wears you out, and it doesn't take too many times to have your good faith questions dismissed as bad faith before that sours your either.

You're talking about professional provocateurs like Ben Shapiro?

[Legbiter]

Content, form and style all matter - and there is a side to "wokeism" of HR bureaucracy or academic critique that I just think most people don't respond well to, not least because it's something very alien to most people's lives. It's why I think there is something to the idea of capital "woke-washing" but also that I think it appeals and makes sense to people from a certain educational background/in certain sectors but not others.

Average Centrist Dad reaction to 1 minute of progressive Anglo-American shitlib messaging via social media...

[The Larch]

Glad to see that the President Supervillain account is back in action.

https://twitter.com/PresVillain/status/1632431944557375489?t=TaG0akujpS5TbAmQcLZFjg&s=19

[Jacob]

You're talking about professional provocateurs like Ben Shapiro?

I'm sure they figure into it, but I was more thinking more broadly. Gamergate exemplifies the democratization-of-trolling-as-political-activism, but I feel like it was widespread beyond that. And my personal recollection is that I saw the hardening of attitudes in response to that in leftist spaces in the same period.

[Jacob]

Average Centrist Dad reaction to 1 minute of progressive Anglo-American shitlib messaging via social media...

Do you consider yourself an Average Centrist Dad?

[Admiral Yi]

I'm sure they figure into it, but I was more thinking more broadly. Gamergate exemplifies the democratization-of-trolling-as-political-activism, but I feel like it was widespread beyond that. And my personal recollection is that I saw the hardening of attitudes in response to that in leftist spaces in the same period.

Well I think the work around is to shift the focus from good faith to the merits.  Argued based on logic, reason, and evidence.

[The Brain]

I certainly self-censor these days in a way I didn't feel I had to earlier. I no longer defend democracy or freedom of speech under my own name online. I still feel I can do it on Languish.

[Zanza]

Eyeing a run for president, Ron DeSantis wants to 'Make America Florida'

[Valmy]

Average Centrist Dad reaction to 1 minute of progressive Anglo-American shitlib messaging via social media...

Average Centrist Dad should stay off social media.

[grumbler]

Average Centrist Dad reaction to 1 minute of progressive Anglo-American shitlib messaging via social media...

Average Centrist Dad should stay off social media.

Average Centrist Dad reaction to 1 minute of progressive Anglo-American shitlib messaging via social media...

Average Centrist Dad should stay off social media.

Angry Old Average Centrist Dad shouts at clouds.

[Razgovory]

I certainly self-censor these days in a way I didn't feel I had to earlier. I no longer defend democracy or freedom of speech under my own name online. I still feel I can do it on Languish.

Your real name is The Brain.  I thought that was just a nickname.

[viper37]

Arkansas governor to relax child labor laws

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law this week legislation that rolls back significant portions of the state's child labor protections.

The law eliminates requirements for the state to verify the age of children younger than 16 before they can take a job.

Sanders believes the provision was "burdensome and obsolete," spokeswoman Alexa Henning said in an emailed statement. Remaining state and federal regulations are still in effect, she said. Sanders signed the Republican-backed bill on Tuesday.

Federal officials have pledged to crack down on child labor law offenses after regulators discovered hundreds of violations in meatpacking plants and after press reports emerged of children working in hazardous occupations around the country.

The Labor Department fined Packers Sanitation Services, a subcontractor for meatpacking plants, $1.5 million in February for illegally hiring children, some of whom sustained chemical burns after working with caustic cleaning agents.

Other states are also considering loosening child labor protections. A bill advancing in Iowa would allow 14- and 15-year-olds to work certain jobs in meatpacking plants and would shield businesses from civil liability if a youth worker is sickened, injured or killed on the job.

Republican leaders in Congress tapped Sanders, 40, the youngest governor in the nation, to deliver the GOP response to President Biden's State of the Union address last month.

In her remarks, the former White House press secretary for Donald Trump accused Biden of caring more about "woke fantasies" than Americans' economic concerns and called him "unfit to serve." Several times she called Biden and the Democrats "crazy" as she painted a grim version of the country under their policies, asserting that Americans' freedoms were at stake.

"In the radical left's America, Washington taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire, but you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country," Sanders said. "Whether Joe Biden believes this madness or is simply too weak to resist it, his administration has been completely hijacked by the radical left. The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy."

For nearly two years, Sanders was Trump's chief spokesperson, sparring with reporters over his policies and rhetoric. She also acknowledged having provided false information in his defense. The daughter of former governor Mike Huckabee used her high-profile job and family ties to realize her own political ambitions, becoming Arkansas' first female governor.

[Legbiter]

Average Centrist Dad reaction to 1 minute of progressive Anglo-American shitlib messaging via social media...

Do you consider yourself an Average Centrist Dad?

Your biggest character flaw (aside from failing to notice this post was a drunk good-natured dunk on Sheilbhs' technocratic side), is assuming everyone who doesn't explicitly confess your Sol Invictus ideology automatically conforms to your worst fears.

Everyone still here I'd catch a bullet for, no exceptions. Keep that in mind on every weekend henceforth.

[Zoupa]