Philosophy Now Forum

henry quirk wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:19 pm

commonsense wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:45 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:07 pm

ah, I never said right-wing militias are organized militants

So, false dichotomy. You were asked about militia and you answered about militants. Very subtle.

you sayin' I'm game-playin'?

You, compadre? Nooooooooo!

commonsense wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:51 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:19 pm

commonsense wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 5:45 pm

So, false dichotomy. You were asked about militia and you answered about militants. Very subtle.

you sayin' I'm game-playin'?

You, compadre? Nooooooooo!

my answers are always in keepin' with the questions asked

that is: I only give what I get

-Imp

-Imp

henry quirk wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:14 pm

commonsense wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:51 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 6:19 pm

you sayin' I'm game-playin'?

You, compadre? Nooooooooo!

my answers are always in keepin' with the questions asked

that is: I only give what I get

That’s true.

-Imp

-Imp

Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?"
Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:
"A few things spring to mind.
Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.
For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever.
I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.
Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.
And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.
Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.
He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.
He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.
That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.
God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.
He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.
In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump.
And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:
'My God… what… have… I… created?
If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

Impenitent wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 12:04 am

-Imp

I have to inform him that the right wing are still the establishment.

he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

in other words: brits prefer an attractive state socialist to an unattractive state capitalist

henry quirk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 6:58 pm he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

in other words: brits prefer an attractive state socialist to an unattractive state capitalist


0E237CC0-BB95-440D-99A0-B117200BFBFC.jpeg

Funnily enough I find Obama to be far too slick to be either genuine or likeable, and his wife is awful. All mouth and no brain.

There is nothing more 'passe' than an ex leader. I think he's probably doing more harm than good to Biden's campaign. It just makes Biden look silly, like he can't do things for himself.

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:44 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 6:58 pm he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

in other words: brits prefer an attractive state socialist to an unattractive state capitalist


0E237CC0-BB95-440D-99A0-B117200BFBFC.jpeg

Funnily enough I find Obama to be far too slick to be either genuine or likeable, and his wife is awful. All mouth and no brain.

There is nothing more 'passe' than an ex leader. I think he's probably doing more harm than good to Biden's campaign. It just makes Biden look silly, like he can't do things for himself.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump's talent is for working the crowd and he does this exceedingly well.

Belinda wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 8:08 pm

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:44 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 6:58 pm he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

in other words: brits prefer an attractive state socialist to an unattractive state capitalist


0E237CC0-BB95-440D-99A0-B117200BFBFC.jpeg

Funnily enough I find Obama to be far too slick to be either genuine or likeable, and his wife is awful. All mouth and no brain.

There is nothing more 'passe' than an ex leader. I think he's probably doing more harm than good to Biden's campaign. It just makes Biden look silly, like he can't do things for himself.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump's talent is for working the crowd and he does this exceedingly well.

Not a trait I admire either (the ability to whip a mob of idiots into a frenzy).

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 11:05 pm

Belinda wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 8:08 pm

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 7:44 pm

Funnily enough I find Obama to be far too slick to be either genuine or likeable, and his wife is awful. All mouth and no brain.

There is nothing more 'passe' than an ex leader. I think he's probably doing more harm than good to Biden's campaign. It just makes Biden look silly, like he can't do things for himself.

There is no doubt that Donald Trump's talent is for working the crowd and he does this exceedingly well.

Not a trait I admire either (the ability to whip a mob of idiots into a frenzy).

I sometimes wonder how individuals in those Trumpist mobs look attractive to each other.

Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 12:32 pm

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 11:05 pm

Belinda wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 8:08 pm

There is no doubt that Donald Trump's talent is for working the crowd and he does this exceedingly well.

Not a trait I admire either (the ability to whip a mob of idiots into a frenzy).

I sometimes wonder how individuals in those Trumpist mobs look attractive to each other.

I believe they see themselves in each other.