A liberal's perspective on the smugness of liberalism:
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/21/11451378/smug-american-liberalism
There is a smug style in American liberalism. It has been growing these past decades. It is a way of conducting politics, predicated on the belief that American life is not divided by moral difference or policy divergence — not really — but by the failure of half the country to know what's good for them.
In 2016, the smug style has found expression in media and in policy, in the attitudes of liberals both visible and private, providing a foundational set of assumptions above which a great number of liberals comport their understanding of the world.
It has led an American ideology hitherto responsible for a great share of the good accomplished over the past century of our political life to a posture of reaction and disrespect: a condescending, defensive sneer toward any person or movement outside of its consensus, dressed up as a monopoly on reason.
The smug style is a psychological reaction to a profound shift in American political demography.
Beginning in the middle of the 20th century, the working class, once the core of the coalition, began abandoning the Democratic Party. In 1948, in the immediate wake of the Franklin Roosevelt, 66 percent of manual laborers voted for Democrats, along with 60 percent of farmers. In 1964, it was 55 percent of working-class voters. By 1980, it was 35 percent.
Continued . . .
The white working class in particular saw even sharper declines. Despite historic advantages with both poor and middle-class white voters, by 2012 Democrats possessed only a 2-point advantage among poor white voters. Among white voters making between $30,000 and $75,000 per year, the GOP has taken a 17-point lead.
"Finding comfort in the notion that their former allies were disdainful, hapless rubes, smug liberals created a culture animated by that contempt"
The consequence was a shift in liberalism's center of intellectual gravity. A movement once fleshed out in union halls and little magazines shifted into universities and major press, from the center of the country to its cities and elite enclaves. Minority voters remained, but bereft of the material and social capital required to dominate elite decision-making, they were largely excluded from an agenda driven by the new Democratic core: the educated, the coastal, and the professional [OP's note: Their conservative counterparts are referred to as the 1%].
It is not that these forces captured the party so much as it fell to them. When the laborer left, they remained.
The origins of this shift are overdetermined. Richard Nixon bears a large part of the blame, but so does Bill Clinton. The evangelical revival, yes, but the destruction of labor unions, too. I have my own sympathies, but I do not propose to adjudicate that question here.
Suffice it to say, by the 1990s the better part of the working class wanted nothing to do with the word liberal. What remained of the American progressive elite was left to puzzle: What happened to our coalition?
Continued . . .
Why did they abandon us?
What's the matter with Kansas?
The smug style arose to answer these questions. It provided an answer so simple and so emotionally satisfying that its success was perhaps inevitable: the theory that conservatism, and particularly the kind embraced by those out there in the country, was not a political ideology at all.
The trouble is that stupid hicks don't know what's good for them. They're getting conned by right-wingers and tent revivalists until they believe all the lies that've made them so wrong. They don't know any better. That's why they're voting against their own self-interest.
As anybody who has gone through a particularly nasty breakup knows, disdain cultivated in the aftermath of a divide quickly exceeds the original grievance. You lose somebody. You blame them. Soon, the blame is reason enough to keep them at a distance, the excuse to drive them even further away.
Finding comfort in the notion that their former allies were disdainful, hapless rubes, smug liberals created a culture animated by that contempt. The rubes noticed and replied in kind. The result is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Financial incentive compounded this tendency — there is money, after all, in reassuring the bitter. Over 20 years, an industry arose to cater to the smug style. It began in humor, and culminated for a time in The Daily Show, a program that more than any other thing advanced the idea that liberal orthodoxy was a kind of educated savvy and that its opponents were, before anything else, stupid. The smug liberal found relief in ridiculing them.
The internet only made it worse. Today, a liberal who finds himself troubled by the currents of contemporary political life need look no further than his Facebook newsfeed to find the explanation:
Study finds Daily Show viewers more informed than viewers of Fox News.
They're beating CNN watchers too.
NPR listeners are best informed of all. He likes that.
You're better off watching nothing than watching Fox. He likes that even more.
The good news doesn't stop.
Liberals aren't just better informed. They're smarter.
They've got better grammar. They know more words.
Smart kids grow up to be liberals, while conservatives reason like drunks.
Liberals are better able to process new information; they're less biased like that. They've got different brains. Better ones. Why? Evolution. They've got better brains, top-notch amygdalae, science finds.
The smug style created a feedback loop. If the trouble with conservatives was ignorance, then the liberal impulse was to correct it. When such corrections failed, disdain followed after it.
Of course, there is a smug style in every political movement: elitism among every ideology believing itself in possession of the solutions to society's ills. But few movements have let the smug tendency so corrupt them, or make so tenuous its case against its enemies.
"Conservatives are always at a bit of a disadvantage in the theater of mass democracy," the conservative editorialist Kevin Williamson wrote in National Review last October, "because people en masse aren't very bright or sophisticated, and they're vulnerable to cheap, hysterical emotional appeals."
The smug style thinks Williamson is wrong, of course, but not in principle. It's only that he's confused about who the hordes of stupid, hysterical people are voting for. The smug style reads Williamson and says, "No! You!"
Why are young men today so disillusioned with life? What's going on that's causing them to opt out and not bother any longer with real life?
Every thing sucks except my japanese video games
Just gonna keep making these threads huh?
>>71688994
Ratchet and clank was just too damned fun
how does this make you feel?
>>71688729
That's kinda sweet desu
I think it's cute.
>>71688729
Black man doing honest work.
VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES:
Connecticut: 4/21 online - 4/25 in-person
Nebraska: 4/22 REGISTER HERE: https://www.nebraska.gov/apps-sos-voter-registration/
Washington: 4/25 online - 5/16 in-person
Oregon: April 26
New Mexico: May 10
NJ: May 17
CA, S. Dakota: May 23
*URGENT PSA* For PA Trumpers:
>You will be voting for 3 DELEGATES on 4/26
>Your ballot will NOT list who the delegate supports
>You need to find who is in YOUR DISTRICT below:
http://www.kellerfordelegate.com/#!know-your-delegates/s4vv7
>Find your congressional district here:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
>DELEGATES Donald Reagan: 845/WowCow: 559/GeezOhMan: 146
SUPER GOP ELECTION TRACKER: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hkgLa844MzTgeqcmrkeSrLnq7vJJZl2S7lMz8Qf5xq8/edit#gid=0
http://trumpgeneral.com
http://www.rallyfortrump.com/
http://www.stopthesteal.org
Latest Banter: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
http://www.donaldtrump2016online.com/
UPCOMING EVENTS
http://www.donaldjtrump.com/schedule/
RALLIES/TH
>Rally Harrisburg, PA 4/21/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTjEl7slx6c
>Rally Berlin, MD 4/20/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXO7JCS5xIU
>Epic Rally, Indianapolis, IN 4/20/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2WRFx3me2w
>NY Victory Speech 4/19/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OarcEO_d_A
INTERVIEWS
>Trump's Family on NBC TODAY 4/21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oW-Z1a7iRs
>Trump Town Hall NBC TODAY 4/21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6MLHLIfdc
>Larry King on MSNBC, Trump Not Racist 4/13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_knRyu2ol8
ENTERTAINMENT
>Trump Video - EP 3 "The Real Donald Trump Story"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmWOOrwDUug
>Trump is Batman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBKNJnsZ8kM
>Crooked Hillary Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV3PyGmjBOQ
>NEW! YOU CAN'T STUMP THE TRUMP VOL. XXIII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjmHBwY1bAg
THIS IS A MOVEMENT
>>71687607
warhol awoo when?
How do we let Trump know that his views on trannys are DEAD WRONG?. I doubt those are even his views. He is trying to pander to a demographic that is less than one percent of the population.
If anything these comments will hurt Trump.
VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES:
Connecticut: 4/21 online - 4/25 in-person
Nebraska: 4/22 REGISTER HERE: https://www.nebraska.gov/apps-sos-voter-registration/
Washington: 4/25 online - 5/16 in-person
Oregon: April 26
New Mexico: May 10
NJ: May 17
CA, S. Dakota: May 23
*URGENT PSA* For PA Trumpers:
>You will be voting for 3 DELEGATES on 4/26
>Your ballot will NOT list who the delegate supports
>You need to find who is in YOUR DISTRICT below:
http://www.kellerfordelegate.com/#!know-your-delegates/s4vv7
>Find your congressional district here:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
>DELEGATES Donald Reagan: 845/WowCow: 559/GeezOhMan: 146
SUPER GOP ELECTION TRACKER: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hkgLa844MzTgeqcmrkeSrLnq7vJJZl2S7lMz8Qf5xq8/edit#gid=0
http://trumpgeneral.com
http://www.rallyfortrump.com/
http://www.stopthesteal.org
Latest Banter: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
http://www.donaldtrump2016online.com/
UPCOMING EVENTS
http://www.donaldjtrump.com/schedule/
RALLIES/TH
>Rally Berlin, MD 4/20/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXO7JCS5xIU [Embed]
>Epic Rally, Indianapolis, IN 4/20/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2WRFx3me2w [Embed]
>NY Victory Speech 4/19/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OarcEO_d_A [Embed]
INTERVIEWS
>Trump's Family on NBC TODAY 4/21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oW-Z1a7iRs [Embed]
>Trump Town Hall NBC TODAY 4/21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6MLHLIfdc [Embed]
>Larry King on MSNBC, Trump Not Racist 4/13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_knRyu2ol8 [Embed]
ENTERTAINMENT
>Trump Video - EP 3 "The Real Donald Trump Story"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmWOOrwDUug [Embed]
>Trump is Batman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBKNJnsZ8kM [Embed]
>Crooked Hillary Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV3PyGmjBOQ [Embed]
>NEW! YOU CAN'T STUMP THE TRUMP VOL. XXIII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjmHBwY1bAg [Embed]
/MELANIAGEN/
It's time for a woman to stand her ground.
One that all our young ladies will be proud to look up to.
She will be an idol for all young girls across the United States, and perhaps, even the world.
A star that will reign supreme: there she is! Miss Melania Trump — First Lady to our President of the United States, Donald J. Trump!
>Ms. Melania: She Votes NY! A Day in the Life... Stride in Heels!
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/melania-trump-votes-ny-primary-38518181
>Ms. Melania: Interview - Her Life and Her Marriage. BREAKING - She's Legal!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbvGxDmD3dY
>Ms. Melania: Interview - With Mr. Trump & Their Marriage; Serene+Graceful+Nimble!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgYTCHrWkxI
** MELANIAGEN MISSION STATEMENT **
Young girls do not know who to follow in our world in this day and age.
They cuck, they squeal, they cheat, they lie. Where does the moral end and the sin begin?
What's a woman to look up to these days? The media is terrible; a façade to all beautiful females in this world!
Crooked Shillary thinks she can set the standard of victory for our girls. Pathetic!
MISS MELANIA, a beautiful and elegant woman like no other, stands the test of time. She presents herself anew, to the gazes of all women: she is the one of intelligence, beauty, and most of all? She is down-to-earth and true.
It's up to MELANIAGEN, with the help of TRUMPGEN, to create a better world.
Let's see our girls shine up into the sky high!
Let's go out and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
>Brought to you in part by MISSMELANIA and TRUMPGEN
Stay positive and HIGH ENERGY! THIS IS AWOO~VEMENT
inb4 Canadian shillposting
Links updated for April 21
https://syriagenerals.wordpress.com (everything you need is here)
Thread for discussion of Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Libya
>Interview w/ Assad
http://youtu.be/wELCDCPsw6M
>Thread theme
http://youtu.be/4fWyzwo1xg0
http://youtu.be/XacvydVrhuI
http://youtu.be/0x4GQDoN0Lk
>Fratured Video
http://youtu.be/l1cL0MPSlgg
http://youtu.be/4KLFdSgPzhs
http://youtu.be/XS8D1HF5Otw
PERMA MAPS
>Live hohol with ticker
http://mideast.liveuamap.com/
>Interactive military map
http://militarymaps.info/
>Timeline map of Syria
http://www.cartercenter.org/syria-conflict-map/
>Twitter maps
@syria_protector
@PetoLucem
@miladvisor
@a7_mirza
@hamza_780
RECENT MAPS
>N. Aleppo (April 21)
https://i.imgur.com/aBuwP52.jpg
>Jisr al Shughur (April 19)
https://i.imgur.com/MJ9Veaa.jpg
>Daraa (April 19)
https://i.imgur.com/ORHTzEF.jpg
>Palmyra (April 19)
https://i.imgur.com/HWHDYmZ.jpg
>Aleppo City (April 17)
https://i.imgur.com/XKTwjBX.jpg
>Khanasser (April 16)
https://i.imgur.com/lVTKocS.jpg
>Tel al Eis (April 14)
https://i.imgur.com/tSMVSFE.jpg
DEVELOPMENTS (April 21)
>NDF, Assyrian forces capture several sites in Qamishli as Kurdish troops target airport
>Syrian Army, Desert Hawks storm Kabani for 3rd straight day
>ISIS’ sleeper cells activated in Syria’s Idlib
>ISIS suicide attacks kill dozens of Kurdish militants in northeast Syria
>Syrian Air Force drops thousands of leaflets over northern Homs: “surrender now”
>Ceasefire falls apart as Kurdish, government forces clash in Qamishli
>Tiger Forces liberate another mountaintop in northern Palmyra
>Prominent Free Syrian Army commander assasinated overnight in Idlib
>Fighting erupts in Taiz after Saudi troops attack the Houthi forces
>UN confirms Yemen peace talks will start Thursday
Previous >>71657368
>SouthFront April 21
http://youtu.be/BadW22I6tEU
>>71686819
1ST FOR GREATER ISRAEL AND BIJI KURDISTAN.
SAAnime
>>71686819
any Turks here use toruchan?
Get in here and roll for your favorite candidate to win! For a roll to count, your comment must include the name of your candidate AND reply to the latest map update.
To win each state, you have to roll a "0" or dubs. First to 270 wins!
Candidates:
>Hillary Clinton (D)
>Ted Cruz (R)
>Gary Johnson (I)
>John Kasich (R)
>John McAfee (I)
>Bernie Sanders (D)
>Jill Stein (I)
>Donald Trump (R)
Election begins right now in the Northeast!
============================
***REPLY HERE TO ROLL FOR MAINE***
============================
TO WIN - Roll a "0" or dubs.
No write-ins. Re-rolls allowed (must reply to map update too)
Anyone?
>>71686326
***Example roll for Kasich*** (if "0" or dubs, Kasich would win Maine)
I was bullied, humiliated, harassed all throughout my youth and still suffer today as a broken down unemployed shut-in virgin.
I've clung to right wing politics because I genuinely felt like I was doing good for myself and, my "people".
However the thought keeps coming back to my mind from time to time: why should I, a loser, give a single fuck what happens to this society and it's people?
In all honesty the idea of Chad and his whore wife's future getting fucked up by Muslims excites me more than their prosperity. And I know I'm caring about the future of this land way more than them on a daily basis.
Pic to get your attention.
>>71686213
You should give a fuck because if you save it, you'll move up the ladder.
Get your life together.
>>71686213
Nice pic
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/donald-trump-transgender-people-should-be-allowed-to-use-bathroom-of-their-choice/
What did he mean by this?
>>71685507
he means people can have the liberty to do what ever they want
>>71685570
Including the liberty for mentally ill men to whip out their dicks in front of little girls?
It means the news media is 100% devoted to reporting things about Trump to make /pol/ fly off the handle now, which is to say, /pol/ is the most influential thing in the world now.
Give me 1 good reason why you arent joining the American Military, /pol/. Is it because youre a fucking pussy? Why won't you die for your country? Get off your lazy asses and join the marines or airforce or something like that. Fight for us.
>>71685410
>t. Schlomo
>>71685410
I would join if my country wasn't using the military as some sort of rent-a-army
I had knee replacement surgery after a car crash at 16. I tried to join the navy and Air Force but neither would have me.
After I got my bachelors, I tried again for the coast guard and still no go.
>President Barack Obama is trying but failing to reassure foreign leaders convinced that Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.
>They're in full-boil panic.
>“They’re scared and they’re trying to understand how real this is...”
>Leaders, members of their governments, even their aides are so spooked that they don’t want to say anything, and many privately admit that it’s because they think he’ll win, and a quote now could mean a vengeful President Trump going after them personally next year.
>Then there are the more parochial concerns: that Trump’s rise will encourage and empower their own nationalists.
He's doing it. He's really doing it.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/trump-terrifies-world-leaders-222233
Ayn Rand is squirting in her grave right now, can you feel it?
Good. The world should have a bit of fear of the greatest superpower ever.
The terror is real
How come the best musicians are always black?
I thought black people were inferior?
They arent
When you speak of artists, you should refer to the color of their soul, not their skin.
>>71684655
The answer is still black.
VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES:
Connecticut: 4/21 online - 4/25 in-person
Nebraska: 4/22 REGISTER HERE: https://www.nebraska.gov/apps-sos-voter-registration/
Washington: 4/25 online - 5/16 in-person
Oregon: April 26
New Mexico: May 10
NJ: May 17
CA, S. Dakota: May 23
*URGENT PSA* For PA Trumpers:
>You will be voting for 3 DELEGATES on 4/26
>Your ballot will NOT list who the delegate supports
>You need to find who is in YOUR DISTRICT below:
http://www.kellerfordelegate.com/#!know-your-delegates/s4vv7
>Find your congressional district here:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
>DELEGATES Donald Reagan: 845/WowCow: 559/GeezOhMan: 146
SUPER GOP ELECTION TRACKER: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hkgLa844MzTgeqcmrkeSrLnq7vJJZl2S7lMz8Qf5xq8/edit#gid=0
http://trumpgeneral.com
http://www.rallyfortrump.com/
http://www.stopthesteal.org
Latest Banter: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
http://www.donaldtrump2016online.com/
UPCOMING EVENTS
http://www.donaldjtrump.com/schedule/
RALLIES/TH
>Rally Berlin, MD 4/20/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXO7JCS5xIU
>Epic Rally, Indianapolis, IN 4/20/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2WRFx3me2w
>NY Victory Speech 4/19/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OarcEO_d_A
INTERVIEWS
>Trump's Family on NBC TODAY 4/21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oW-Z1a7iRs
>Trump Town Hall NBC TODAY 4/21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6MLHLIfdc
>Larry King on MSNBC, Trump Not Racist 4/13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_knRyu2ol8
ENTERTAINMENT
>Trump Video - EP 3 "The Real Donald Trump Story"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmWOOrwDUug
>Trump is Batman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBKNJnsZ8kM
>Crooked Hillary Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV3PyGmjBOQ
>NEW! YOU CAN'T STUMP THE TRUMP VOL. XXIII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjmHBwY1bAg
THIS IS AWOOOOOVMENT
>>71684110
Boop
And no malaysiafag in sight...
Can someone edit SNL Trump into the NY win projection?
What is the ugliest language and why is it German?
>>71683821
7 to 1
>>71683821
French is worse
wo sind die Nederlander??
also 7-1
Transgender Inside Edition reporter Zoey Tur has sent Donald Trump a nude selfie on Twitter.
Tur caused controversy last year after he beat up Jewish podcaster Ben Shapiro.
He is the father of Katy Tur, an MSNBC campaign reporter assigned to the Donald Trump campaign.
>>71682546
Would.
LMFAO
EVERYBODY RETWEET THIS @KATYTURNBC
https://twitter.com/ZoeyTur/status/723292995949199360
