shanen
shanen's JournalBig debates are FAKE! How can we do better?
Proof of fakeness: In 2016 the big GOP debates led to Trump as the nominee.
So now the Democratic Party wants to do it the same way? Insanity is doing the same thing and hoping for a different result. (At least that's one famous definition, though I'm dubious about the attributions.
My specific suggestion is small debates (in the Lincoln-Douglas style), but given the past null reactions here, I'm not motivated to spend a lot of time writing it up here, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm posting this short comment as an intro to the topic and hoping you have a better idea, but I will also reply to my own thread with a copy of my letter to one of the minor candidates (whose policies I especially like).
The Imposters: The comedy I want to see and join
Actually, I'm hoping this already exists and someone can URL me some videos to laugh it. However, this form of the idea only came to me after I met a couple of impersonators yesterday. One guy was imitating Trump, and it was kind of frightening, but the other guy looked exactly like Kim Jong-Un, and he was terrifying... But he gave me this newish idea:
I want to see a comedy show where part of it is Trump leading the audience in a mock rally. Another part of the show would involve Big Kim (because he was taller than the real dictator) doing voice-overs to reveal what Trump is really thinking. The Trump would say something crazy or apparently inexplicable, and then freeze while Big Kim does the voice-over of what's going on in the punkin' orange head. Three categories there: (1) How whatever he said will make money for himself, (2) How the words will destroy his enemies, (3) Flashes of contempt for the suckers who believe him.
For the kicker, after some "jokes" about child separation, they would start the mock rally. Trump would lead the audience in a mob chant of "Lock kids up, LOCK KIDS UP!" The audience would find a Trump mask under their seats. It could be as simple as a piece of paper with an angry Trump face and a mouth hole. The mob would be a bunch of angry little Trumps led by the big Trump.
Of course (at least it's obvious to me) the real idea is to show how horrible Trump's angry chanting mobs are. Concretely, in the form of a short viral video of trying to lock up innocent children. I'm imagining about 30 seconds with a crescendo of angry unison in the middle gradually shifting to inchoate screams of rage. I know it's not likely that Trumpists can think, but maybe a few of them will see the video and actually think "Do I want to be part of that?"
Like I said, I'm eager to see the video, though I'd even be glad to buy a ticket to support the cause and to participate as part of the travesty of Trump and everything he stands for.
How did a bottle of wine in Oberlin, Ohio get ramped up to $11 million?
What I was most interested in and could not find in an earlier discussion on Democratic Underground, in the original article, nor in the Wikipedia article (where half of the history of Oberlin College in the 21st century is about this story) is an explanation of how this got ramped up to $11 million.
Talk about extreme escalation. This started with a couple of kids trying to get some booze. I think there probably was some profiling going on, but most likely it was for youngsters who had no legal business gathering in the alcohol section.
So on the one hand I have a question plus some related personal reminisces, but on the other hand, I really doubt that DU is a suitable venue for such a discussion... Here goes anyway?
(1) My main question is "Were any rightwing extremists behind the escalation?" Was this minor incident seen as a golden opportunity to attack the liberals? Was there any baiting or triggering used to goad students, staff, and even falculty into getting involved? As the incident escalated, where did the lawyers come from? In particular I'd like to know about the bakery's lawyers and who funded their efforts.
(2) Personal memory #1 is of how kids got booze in my youth, which was usually by asking an older person to buy it. Has that path been blocked? Perhaps under Ohio law it's a major crime now?
(3) Memory #2 is about how, in 2016, under the emotional stress of the Trump election, I made an extremely bad purchase decision. I didn't go all the way to the five-finger discount, but I bought a piece of garbage from a company that I already knew to be a source of bad products... Yet another aspect of the divisive insanity that is destroying America?
(4) Memory #3 is actually a series of encounters with Trumpists. In several cases they are people I have known for years and who used to seem sane, but who now eagerly defend insane beliefs. I had such a run in just a few days ago. This case was someone I hadn't met since 2016, but we both remembered each other from repeated meetings and social discussions more than 10 years ago. After a couple of minutes I decided there was something odd, so I probed a bit and his brainwashed Hillary hatred exploded like a land mine. (If Hillary was 1/10th as evil and the deep state was 1/10th as powerful as he thinks, then how can he possibly explain their failure to "handle" the election of 2016?)
Profile Information
Name: Shannon JacobsGender: Male
Hometown: Big Stupid Texas
Home country: Alice's Wonderland
Current location: Mars
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 349
