I just had this conversation with my daughter a week ago! So much focus on sex and people's personal lives! Nothing but a distraction from the real problems this world has. And too many people are letting these lesser problems control their decisions on what we really need to focus on. I fear we will lose our democracy if we don't get back on track.
It's hard to believe that educated people would believe their own propaganda. Pedophilia is the modern wedge issue to get people to vote against their economic best interests. Today's NYT documents a growing religious fervor in the American right: ‘This Is a Jesus Movement.’ IMHO it speaks to a racist collective subconscious reminiscent of blood libel.
Accusations of pedophilia are all over the internet. DeSantis, Hawley et al are free to say such things. But they are not free to defame individuals. When innocents are defamed, i.e. Biden and Hilary, they should sue anyone who repeats the lie.
Democrats can talk all they want about the silliness of Hawley, Cruz, Graham, and DeSantis, but it hasn't worked so far, possibly because Democrats don't have a tangible message of their own. The concept of taxing the wealthy, important as it is, is not getting through, perhaps in part because many middle class Americans already regard themselves as wealthy, or have aspirations of wealth. Democrats need to set up their own "big shiny object" not to distract, but to reward.
For example, proper healthcare, something that affects every American, rich and poor alike. We just don't have it. Obamacare was a step in the right direction, but was woefully inadequate because it ceded power to insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations, while leaving 40 million Americans either uninsured or underinsured.
An executive order, to make Medicare available to all who want it, would relieve tremendous pressure and economic burdens from tens of millions of households, and might seal a Democrat victory in November. As we have shown, it could also save as much as $1 trillion per year.
I'm all in favor of a wealth tax, but we really need something in addition.
Republicans are chipping away at our civil and Constitutional rights. They have no right to tell a woman that she has to have a baby if she has reason not to carry a child to term. They have no right to interfere with a parent’s right to have their transgender child treated by a doctor who is a specialist in that field. As for the sentencing of pedophiles, they are the ones who make the laws about sentencing. They need to do their jobs and change the laws governing sentencing guidelines that the judges go by.
The left talks about bad corporations and price gouging. The right talks about sex and transgender. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was barraged with questions about sex. Judge Kavanaugh was also barraged by questions about rape. I wonder if the two sides could talk about the REAL issues facing Americans without mud slinging. Did you all watch Sean Penn and Sean Hannity interview? Two adults with opposite opinions have a civil conversation. We need more of that in America. Russia and China are watching. It starts with each one of us on social media, with our family and friends. We need a re-set button in the USA called civil discourse: Civil discourse is engagement in discourse intended to enhance understanding; it is discourse that "supports, rather than undermines the societal good". Let's ALL begin today.
One thing we also should not forget. Republican obsession with sex is racist and misogynistic across the board. Yes, they don't like white gay or trans men but their real targets are women and people of color. They care little for abuse of kids of color or for forced birth children. They don't want their fragile little white boy babies to learn they really aren't better than anyone else. We need to remember their use of pedophilia, abortion, LGBTQ information, whining about fake critical race theory, and child care are all of a piece and we need to try to deal with them that way. Their target, as mentioned, keep women out of the public sphere through forced birth and lack of services, and keep people of color away from positions of power through white fears of what THOSE people will do. Scared white men and their white female surrogates have found that hatred, fear, and anger which are created whole from nothing are really effective particularly when there are media grooming those scared white people to be hateful, angry, fearful people. Democrats need to call out those things for what they are, racist and misogynistic. R.Sheets
During the Carter administration, we sent our only child to a small day care center. I assumed that by the time she had children, day care would be ubiquitous and caretakers better paid. Instead, during the Reagan administration, such centers were considered dens of iniquity; even middle class families took to hiring nannies, which meant that the kids were socialized differently. There was less peer interaction and nannies were isolated, too. In a mom and pop day care center in my small hometown, Pop went to prison for child abuse, which was never clearly proven. One of the big disappointments of Biden's plan is that child care seems to be off the table. Republicans may talk about pedophilia, but actual child care, mindfully administered, is far from their concerns. A lot of Republicans sound to me like spoiled, entitled children themselves. Funny that they're the ones who complain about the "nanny state."
I do wish the citizens of this country (or what's left of it) would get down to brass tacks and demand that their representatives focus on real, concrete, life-affecting/life affirming issues, you know such things as: raising taxes and reining in the oligarchs running the nation, squirreling away wealth, avoiding taxes and doing a pretty all-encompassing job of it. (We could turn our attention to such issues as: SSA or health care or education or infrastructure or the pandemic aftermath or gun violence or the global climate crisis, you know issues that affect the daily lives of us all.) It is not my business or concern how people choose to run their personal lives, who they choose to love, how they teach their children about justice, fairness, respect and care for others UNLESS the rights, peace, and safety of all those in society are endangered. I believe people have a right to choose how to live, who to love, and their own values and religious (and other) beliefs in so far as they are following the laws on the books (not the new ones cooked up to serve those who would dictate my personal behavior and what's left of my own well-being and that of others.) This is a time when our law-makers need to stand up for the law and what is right, decent, and humane, NOT a time when they waste our time (and theirs) and our money (and theirs) filling the coffers of wealthy individuals who have decided that what is important in life is money and power and not much else. I read recently that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is considered a wealthy man in Ukraine because he has achieved popular acclaim and financial success as a performer; his salary as the President of his nation was and is the equivalent of $11,000 a year....the Ukrainians got far more for their money (which is probably substantial in their country) than we did on the many politicians who find it hard to do their jobs and prefer to sow dissension and hatred to following the laws on the books and passing new ones that address the real crises the nation faces and not the personal lives and choices of ordinary working-class citizens and residents. My message to ALL those serving the public as elected officials: Cut the crap and do your job!
And again, their patented M.O. of this tactic is SO blatant . As was examplified by Sen Lindesy Graham at the Senate Budget Commitee Hearing the other day !
"What about securing the border Senator?"
His question could NOT have been more off topic ! A blatant attempt once again to derail a meeting dealing with the real, daily and tangible issues facing the average American family . Me thinketh the Republican collective protest a bit to obviously & adamently about people's private gender related issues. Just how apathetic and dumbed down is anyone who pays them any mind . Let alone vote for one of theirs !
There is also another reason that they are "fixed on sex"! They want " control" over women, etc.and these groups put up a fight with them on the real issues that concern is! Secondly, they want African Americans' back in "Jim Crow" and"Slavery" as, some of my neighbors have stated in my area! This is frightening!! We are losing are "rights" slowly! Soon no group will have any Rights!!
For lack of real policies supported by Americans, the republicans always grab the low hanging fruit of abortion, books, race, etc. It's easy because so many people vote on emotion. Republicans don't give a hoot about any of these culture issues, but it keeps voters distracted from issues that really matter and negatively affect all our lives. Democrats must stay focused on the issues at hand and make their message strong and consistent. We must keep focused too and spread the word whenever and wherever we can.
Exactly. Keep saying this. Somehow, the Democrats always put themselves on the defensive, letting Republicans drive the discussion, for example, responding, "I am not a pedophile." That is a sure way to lose elections.
Also, what about those Republican orgies that Madison Cawthorn mentioned? And the investigation of Republican Matt Gaetz's possible sex trafficking of minors?
I think it is something different and much worse. Most of us have heard of blood libel. This is a different slander, but made for the same purpose. The Blood Libel is the myth that Jews perform secret rituals that use the blood of infants. If it were true, it would be a crime so heinous that no one would tolerate the people who did it. And that's what happened -- pogroms, massacres, burning people at the stake. The Blood Libel made it OK to attack people whose only real crime was practicing a different religion. So, I don't think that it's a coincidence that Q-anon came up with an absurd fantasy that centers around sexually abusing children -- a crime that no right-thinking person would tolerate. It makes it OK to suggest that Democrats should be disenfranchised. The purpose of the Blood Libel is to dehumanize. And that's why DeSantis is talking about "groomers."
This is precisely right, the old smoke and mirrors. The Religious Right has always been obsessed with sex, and it probably could be argued that repression is its own stimulus to bad behavior- witness the conservative priests and their depredations, not to mention "grab 'em by the pussy" Trump.
I just had this conversation with my daughter a week ago! So much focus on sex and people's personal lives! Nothing but a distraction from the real problems this world has. And too many people are letting these lesser problems control their decisions on what we really need to focus on. I fear we will lose our democracy if we don't get back on track.
It's hard to believe that educated people would believe their own propaganda. Pedophilia is the modern wedge issue to get people to vote against their economic best interests. Today's NYT documents a growing religious fervor in the American right: ‘This Is a Jesus Movement.’ IMHO it speaks to a racist collective subconscious reminiscent of blood libel.
Accusations of pedophilia are all over the internet. DeSantis, Hawley et al are free to say such things. But they are not free to defame individuals. When innocents are defamed, i.e. Biden and Hilary, they should sue anyone who repeats the lie.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/christian-right-wing-politics.html
Democrats can talk all they want about the silliness of Hawley, Cruz, Graham, and DeSantis, but it hasn't worked so far, possibly because Democrats don't have a tangible message of their own. The concept of taxing the wealthy, important as it is, is not getting through, perhaps in part because many middle class Americans already regard themselves as wealthy, or have aspirations of wealth. Democrats need to set up their own "big shiny object" not to distract, but to reward.
For example, proper healthcare, something that affects every American, rich and poor alike. We just don't have it. Obamacare was a step in the right direction, but was woefully inadequate because it ceded power to insurance companies and pharmaceutical corporations, while leaving 40 million Americans either uninsured or underinsured.
An executive order, to make Medicare available to all who want it, would relieve tremendous pressure and economic burdens from tens of millions of households, and might seal a Democrat victory in November. As we have shown, it could also save as much as $1 trillion per year.
I'm all in favor of a wealth tax, but we really need something in addition.
Republicans are chipping away at our civil and Constitutional rights. They have no right to tell a woman that she has to have a baby if she has reason not to carry a child to term. They have no right to interfere with a parent’s right to have their transgender child treated by a doctor who is a specialist in that field. As for the sentencing of pedophiles, they are the ones who make the laws about sentencing. They need to do their jobs and change the laws governing sentencing guidelines that the judges go by.
The left talks about bad corporations and price gouging. The right talks about sex and transgender. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was barraged with questions about sex. Judge Kavanaugh was also barraged by questions about rape. I wonder if the two sides could talk about the REAL issues facing Americans without mud slinging. Did you all watch Sean Penn and Sean Hannity interview? Two adults with opposite opinions have a civil conversation. We need more of that in America. Russia and China are watching. It starts with each one of us on social media, with our family and friends. We need a re-set button in the USA called civil discourse: Civil discourse is engagement in discourse intended to enhance understanding; it is discourse that "supports, rather than undermines the societal good". Let's ALL begin today.
One thing we also should not forget. Republican obsession with sex is racist and misogynistic across the board. Yes, they don't like white gay or trans men but their real targets are women and people of color. They care little for abuse of kids of color or for forced birth children. They don't want their fragile little white boy babies to learn they really aren't better than anyone else. We need to remember their use of pedophilia, abortion, LGBTQ information, whining about fake critical race theory, and child care are all of a piece and we need to try to deal with them that way. Their target, as mentioned, keep women out of the public sphere through forced birth and lack of services, and keep people of color away from positions of power through white fears of what THOSE people will do. Scared white men and their white female surrogates have found that hatred, fear, and anger which are created whole from nothing are really effective particularly when there are media grooming those scared white people to be hateful, angry, fearful people. Democrats need to call out those things for what they are, racist and misogynistic. R.Sheets
During the Carter administration, we sent our only child to a small day care center. I assumed that by the time she had children, day care would be ubiquitous and caretakers better paid. Instead, during the Reagan administration, such centers were considered dens of iniquity; even middle class families took to hiring nannies, which meant that the kids were socialized differently. There was less peer interaction and nannies were isolated, too. In a mom and pop day care center in my small hometown, Pop went to prison for child abuse, which was never clearly proven. One of the big disappointments of Biden's plan is that child care seems to be off the table. Republicans may talk about pedophilia, but actual child care, mindfully administered, is far from their concerns. A lot of Republicans sound to me like spoiled, entitled children themselves. Funny that they're the ones who complain about the "nanny state."
I do wish the citizens of this country (or what's left of it) would get down to brass tacks and demand that their representatives focus on real, concrete, life-affecting/life affirming issues, you know such things as: raising taxes and reining in the oligarchs running the nation, squirreling away wealth, avoiding taxes and doing a pretty all-encompassing job of it. (We could turn our attention to such issues as: SSA or health care or education or infrastructure or the pandemic aftermath or gun violence or the global climate crisis, you know issues that affect the daily lives of us all.) It is not my business or concern how people choose to run their personal lives, who they choose to love, how they teach their children about justice, fairness, respect and care for others UNLESS the rights, peace, and safety of all those in society are endangered. I believe people have a right to choose how to live, who to love, and their own values and religious (and other) beliefs in so far as they are following the laws on the books (not the new ones cooked up to serve those who would dictate my personal behavior and what's left of my own well-being and that of others.) This is a time when our law-makers need to stand up for the law and what is right, decent, and humane, NOT a time when they waste our time (and theirs) and our money (and theirs) filling the coffers of wealthy individuals who have decided that what is important in life is money and power and not much else. I read recently that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is considered a wealthy man in Ukraine because he has achieved popular acclaim and financial success as a performer; his salary as the President of his nation was and is the equivalent of $11,000 a year....the Ukrainians got far more for their money (which is probably substantial in their country) than we did on the many politicians who find it hard to do their jobs and prefer to sow dissension and hatred to following the laws on the books and passing new ones that address the real crises the nation faces and not the personal lives and choices of ordinary working-class citizens and residents. My message to ALL those serving the public as elected officials: Cut the crap and do your job!
And again, their patented M.O. of this tactic is SO blatant . As was examplified by Sen Lindesy Graham at the Senate Budget Commitee Hearing the other day !
"What about securing the border Senator?"
His question could NOT have been more off topic ! A blatant attempt once again to derail a meeting dealing with the real, daily and tangible issues facing the average American family . Me thinketh the Republican collective protest a bit to obviously & adamently about people's private gender related issues. Just how apathetic and dumbed down is anyone who pays them any mind . Let alone vote for one of theirs !
There is also another reason that they are "fixed on sex"! They want " control" over women, etc.and these groups put up a fight with them on the real issues that concern is! Secondly, they want African Americans' back in "Jim Crow" and"Slavery" as, some of my neighbors have stated in my area! This is frightening!! We are losing are "rights" slowly! Soon no group will have any Rights!!
"First, it’s part of their culture war, and culture wars sell with voters (and the media) eager for conflict and titillation."
titillation - the arousal of interest or excitement, especially through sexually suggestive images or words
I bet Freud would agree with you this morning. Politicians, the media, and propagandist have built their business on titillation.
For lack of real policies supported by Americans, the republicans always grab the low hanging fruit of abortion, books, race, etc. It's easy because so many people vote on emotion. Republicans don't give a hoot about any of these culture issues, but it keeps voters distracted from issues that really matter and negatively affect all our lives. Democrats must stay focused on the issues at hand and make their message strong and consistent. We must keep focused too and spread the word whenever and wherever we can.
Exactly. Keep saying this. Somehow, the Democrats always put themselves on the defensive, letting Republicans drive the discussion, for example, responding, "I am not a pedophile." That is a sure way to lose elections.
Also, what about those Republican orgies that Madison Cawthorn mentioned? And the investigation of Republican Matt Gaetz's possible sex trafficking of minors?
I really appreciate Dr Reich's comment on CNN. It's a master class on public speaking. If you review his statement, it's a textbook example of:
1. Tell them what you're going to tell them,
2. Tell them, and
3. Tell them what you told them.
Bravo. You told us here already!
I think it is something different and much worse. Most of us have heard of blood libel. This is a different slander, but made for the same purpose. The Blood Libel is the myth that Jews perform secret rituals that use the blood of infants. If it were true, it would be a crime so heinous that no one would tolerate the people who did it. And that's what happened -- pogroms, massacres, burning people at the stake. The Blood Libel made it OK to attack people whose only real crime was practicing a different religion. So, I don't think that it's a coincidence that Q-anon came up with an absurd fantasy that centers around sexually abusing children -- a crime that no right-thinking person would tolerate. It makes it OK to suggest that Democrats should be disenfranchised. The purpose of the Blood Libel is to dehumanize. And that's why DeSantis is talking about "groomers."
This is precisely right, the old smoke and mirrors. The Religious Right has always been obsessed with sex, and it probably could be argued that repression is its own stimulus to bad behavior- witness the conservative priests and their depredations, not to mention "grab 'em by the pussy" Trump.