Perhaps the greater horror of fascism, from a philosophical perspective, is that it is essentially against the concept of meaning itself.

Language is merely another tool to enforce domination and submission. All that really matters is being on the winning side.

Too bad I haven't read Sartre, that quote is brilliant and I already have reinvented it poorly a few times.

(Usually while analyzing verbal encounters with Turks\Azeris on Armenian issues, though, since open anti-Semites are hard to find, but them too.)

Anyone that's been in a relationship with an abusive narcissist can clearly see the playbook. They live in a world where the only thing that matters is power and control because their grandiosity entitles them to anything they want. They manipulate reality so that they are always on top. There is no truth beyond that. Additionally, since they are entitled to everything but don't get it, they see themselves as an eternal victim that blames everyone else. This makes any relationship with them inherently antagonistic. Thus, anyone debating with them using logic to reach a valid conclusion will be wasting their time because the goal of the narcissist is simply to have power. They will dodge questions, distort reality, and even straight gaslight.

Another technique they use is to project. They assume that everyone else is like them, so when they accuse someone of something, the vast majority of the time it is a confession. For example, if they accuse someone of stealing an election, it's because they tried to steal it but were unsuccessful. Since they were unsuccessful at winning the election through cheating, then the other side must have been cheating too, or they would not have won. In there minds, everyone is playing this game. They literally cannot conceive a world based on rationality and see anyone that engages in that as a threat that will dismantle their delusional grandiosity.

Watching the MAGA movement is like watching a narcissist function on a societal level. It really is the same thing. If the Democrats truly wanted to rid the country of this deranged movement, then they would hire a team of psychologists that specialize in working with narcissists in order to develop a skill set to control and limit the abuse this mentality pushes onto others. Otherwise, we're all screwed because a narcissist cannot stop themselves from abusing others.

I wonder if that sort of right wing person is capable of doing science. I think they can't, due to the parallels with the most deadly scientific fraud perpetrated by Ancel Keys. He had no qualifications, but in the late '40s he stole a hypothesis and claimed it was his

This new affliction heart disease could be caused by eating saturated fats

The only good thing he did was design a good study to test the hypothesis, but his study unfortunately proved the opposite. People in the control group (eating the normal diet full of butter, eggs, and meat) lived longer than the intervention group, who replaced butter, eggs, and meat with linoleic acid (an omega 6 oil)

So he buried the study and said "we didn't run the study long enough, but we are certain due to the results we have that saturated fat is causing heart disease"

They are and yet we, through their actions over the years, and our own inaction, are playing their game. We continue to talk instead of act. We continue to argue instead of act. We speak of standing up and yet do not act. We hope that, in the U.S., the justice system and democracy will act for us and yet we do not trust it, and still we do not act.

I know this is a little harsh. After all, we are doing something. Just that the Republican base and especially the MAGA cult is willing and has acted. Not that we should take such harsh action, only that I feel we rely too strongly on pushing our "leaders" instead of just coming together.

I'm a big believer in the "both sides" theory. Stick with me here.

One side is a trash can fire. They do some fucked up shit.

The other is the Springfield Tire Fire.

Both sides suck, but one side sucks so bad that there's no way to ever fix it.

You go high, we go low

https://youtu.be/MAbab8aP4_A

A stick in a pile of flaming dogshit would have been a better president than Trump.

She would have shut down international airports

Event 201 conclusions said the opposite.

mandated rigorous screening to avoid spread.

Yes, this was possible. Many countries did track and trace well.

And nobody would’ve died so it would’ve been overreach and unnecessary.

What's important is what the most people say.

It would be if it weren't for the electoral college.

I hear what you are trying to say (e.g. 11% are hard-right, roughly the same are hard-left, leaving almost 90% somewhere in the middle), but on the other hand... MOST people (I think?) in the countries that Nazi Germany took over did not desire to be invaded. In like manner, not everyone in Russia (most people even?) would like for the invasion of Ukraine to stop, and yet it goes on. i.e., not everyone's opinion is always taken into account equally.

Recently we just had a fantastic example in how McCarthy was booted from his Speaker role... by a handful of hard-line extremists. Never mind what "most" people want: the extremists pushed, and they won.

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. - Archimedes

Even that is dubious if what most say is based on nonsense.

He lost the general election. By over 3 million votes. He won the EC because, for the 5th time in just under 250 years the EC went against the popular vote.