Saturday, July 22, 2017

Label snobs



We are obsessed with labels.  Sometimes labels can serve a very useful purpose, but at other times they just get in the way.  How...why have we become like this?

When I was a kid in the last century I remember there were Ford guys and there were Chevy guys, and the two would never mix.  Each felt they were always right, and the other side was always wrong.  Fast forward and today we have rock-solid Lexus guys and Mercedes guys.

Wine:  Aristocrats (wannabe or actual) always chose French wines.  California wines were unthinkable.  Labels rule!

Style:  Neiman Marcus vs Saks Fifth Avenue has now deteriorated to Walmart vs Target.  Labels rule!

And of course, philosophy.  We Americans seem hopelessly wed to our labels of either Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, capitalist or socialist.  Labels rule!

Today there are a few new caveats, however.  A new subset of voters is based on race or gender or sexual preference.  A female candidate will pull in many more than the usual number of female voters.  A black candidate will get the black vote.  An LGBT candidate will likely get the LGBT vote.  Labels rule!

As President Nixon was boarding his helicopter to leave Washington back in 1974, there were still 24% of the American people (mostly hard-core Republicans) who supported him.  Labels rule!

Currently a vast majority of Republicans (but only 35% +/- of the population) feels President Trump is doing a great job.  Labels rule!

Listen up knuckleheads:  LABELS ARE STUPID!  We're being played.  It's a public relations game.  The PR guys can regurgitate on demand all the "facts" that support their point of view, and just conveniently omit those pesky facts that don't.  And if they don't have any facts to support their position, they just make some up.  Why do you think Snopes exists?

Democrats need to understand that Republicans CAN have some good ideas, and vice versa.  Capitalism is great, except when it's hijacked by greed.  Socialism is IMO generally flawed, but can also give us some incredibly useful programs, like public financing of schools, and (some would argue) Social Security and Medicare.

Learn to think for yourself, because if you let someone else think for you, they will own you.  And there's a label for that, too.

S


22 comments:

  1. Find me a Republican "idea" that isn't about catering to special interests or giving more money to the rich and I might agree.

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    1. So you're waiting for someone else to spoon feed you? YOU need to look for good ideas wherever they exist, and they're out there, and not depend on others to do your thinking for you.

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    2. So you got nothing then, invalidating your whole post. 😂

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    3. You STILL don't get it Pat. YOU need to be sceptical of every thing you're told. Do your OWN research. Like too many people you only what to read/see/believe what you want to.

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    4. I'm asking you to give me one idea Republicans have that I should think isn't terrible. Just one. Ironically a Hillary supporter did the same thing on Twitter when I challenged her to provide an example of one idea HRC had that didn't originate with Bernie Sanders. Like you she stonewalled by saying to go "look it up." If you can't name one that's fine. Just man up and admit it instead of stonewalling.

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    5. OK Pat....the Libertarian and Tea Party wings of the Republican Party are against "crony-capitalism", more commonly known as corporate welfare, and their position is slowly but surely gaining acceptance within the GOP.

      Pat, you are a prime example of what IMO, as my post states, is wrong with America. It's not the fact that you're a liberal Democrat, which is perfectly all right, but you are a CLOSED-MINDED EXTREMIST liberal Democrat. Your kind, along with your mirror opposites, CLOSED-MINDED EXTREMIST conservative Republicans, are ruining our country. Go back and look at the comments you leave...I've never heard you ONCE say anything positive about ANYONE except Democrats. You seem to seethe venom every time Republicans are even mentioned. You seem buy what the Democratic Party PR machine pumps out, with no apparent dissent. They say it, you believe it. MSNBC good, FOX News bad. Have you ever read The Economist? Have you even HEARD of The Economist? They have some interesting views of what is going on here because they are not from here. They're based in the UK. You really should try reading opposing views on topics that interest you just to get some perspective. No one side is ALWAYS RIGHT. You need to pull your partisan stick out of your...umm...just open your eyes and ears a bit more.

      Still friends, right? :)

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    6. It's not a matter of being closed-minded; it's that you can't articulate the point I'm supposed to accept. So "some" Republicans are against corporate welfare. And "some" Democrats support corporate welfare, which is why Bernie Sanders got so many votes in the primaries. But being against corporate welfare is not a Republican idea and certainly not anything they're trying to push in legislation--just the opposite in fact.

      Certainly nothing they've done so far under Trump would make me want to cross the aisle at all. The disastrous "healthcare" bills, banking deregulation, environmental deregulation...what is it that as a "liberal" I'm supposed to think isn't bad?

      Show it to me. Send me a link. Don't just say, well look it up. Read The Economist. That's weak sauce.

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    7. "Show it to me. Send me a link. Don't just say, well look it up. Read The Economist. That's weak sauce."

      Your logic, or lack thereof, escapes me. I mentioned to you a source for a non-partisan view of the issues, and now you want me to...what...read it to you? Show it to you? Send you a link? Can't you Google "The Economist"? Being spoon fed the news isn't going to get us out of this mess. It's what got us INTO this mess.

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    8. Is the Economist an official publication of the GOP? You honestly can't name one idea of theirs I should support, again invalidating your whole point about some imaginary middle ground.

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    9. "Is the Economist an official publication of the GOP?"

      What an appallingly ignorant thing to say. You really are too lazy to even look it up, aren't you? I hope someday you can find some happiness, but honestly, I'm not optimistic. Good bye Pat.

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    10. Jeezus.....this is supposed to be some kind of 'even tempered', somewhat 'moderate', even 'willing to compromise' blog. Thanks for correcting that for us.

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    11. So suggesting we all be more open minded is not moderate? So not allowing myself to be dragged to the extreme fringe is a violation of even temperedness? Not in the world I wish for it isn't.

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  2. The only time I ever saw two adults fight happened when I was a kid. One of our neighbors across the street worked at the3 Ford plant and the guy next door worked at the Chevy plant. They were always arguing about who made the better car and one day they went after each other with shovels. Scary for a kid to see.

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    1. Ooh, I want to read about that on your blog.

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    2. 'chuckles', well Stephen, read the exchange above to see the internet version of that. What's ironic to me is it just drives home the point that we really can't talk to those who we disagree. Doesn't matter who's 'right' or 'wrong', the exchange proves we're in a world of doo-doo when it comes to compromise, the backbone of the system of gov't we've used for a long time.

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  3. Many voters are intractable on hot button issues: abortion, gun control, zealot patriotism, religion, etc. Take one single issue a person feels strongly about and they vote based on that one issue alone or how an organization (e.g. NRA) or religious group (e.g. catholics) they belong to TELLS THEM how to vote. Politicians are then elected to be intractable. Supreme Court justices are then nominated to be intractable. What is lost is what is in the best interest of "we the people."

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    1. Yes, we're at a crossroads in our country, and we're already too far down the wrong path to retreat. Our country has lasted about as long as most in modern times, longer than others. We may still be the 'United States' in name for some years, but we've ceased being that in reality. I think the map, political and geopolitical in 50 years may be far different than it looks at present.

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    2. Since I probably last another 50 years, I'm curious to know how you see things playing out? A long, slow decline as happened in Great Britain? An abrupt revolution as happened in Czarist Russia?

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    3. I would submit we have past the crossroad for these reasons:

      1) Citizens United. The Supreme Court decision that said corporations were the same as individuals.
      2) Gerrymandering
      3) Lobbyists

      "We the people" don't elect. Corporations, big money and alignment of voting districts does (and most recently Russia).

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  4. Low and slow
    Decline varies, with history. The Roman empire, one of the longest lasting, declined through neglect, infighting, changing economics, etc. The Greeks before them declined because of social change in areas they thought theirs, but weren't. The Ottoman Empire because of internal conflict and despotism. The British Empire because they didn't keep up with history, and portions of their government at conflict with 'empire'.

    I don't know that we ever had an 'empire'. We had a period where we were one of the acknowledged world powers. Then, despite the view that Reagan orchestrated it, the Soviet Union collapsed. The US then had the opportunity, the chance, to change the world.
    Instead we got a series of leaders, president and legislatures, who didn't have the vision.
    Now we got trump. Who, more than anyone, is taking us down the road not traveled. Our decline is going to be different.
    The difference is we're going to collapse economically, yet we are a gov't that is devoting over half it's resources to the military. We're a nation in decline with nucs. Will we go quietly into that night? That's a big question. We've already answered, with trump, how our decline will happen. what we will do with it is still up to us, to an extent.

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  5. Well, personally I like the wine with the label with the cute wallaby on it. But I still would be friends with the person who likes wine with the cute owl on it. So there.

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  6. The only time I ever saw two adults fight happened when I was a kid.


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