The Ultimate Snowflakes

NPR has an interesting article about how conservatives, despite controlling all three branches of the federal government and being stronger nationally than at any time since the 1920s, still feel as if they're under seige and losing the culture wars. Some choice comments from the article:

President-elect Donald Trump proclaimed on election night 2016: "The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer."

With his victory, Republicans held more power than they have had in nearly a century. Conservatives had control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House, and held a majority of the country's governorships. Conservatives also now have a majority on the Supreme Court, in no small part because of Trump's election.

[Yet] Many feel unfairly persecuted by the powers that be in American culture.

"I think that is a difficult thing for a lot of liberals to get, that for them you know they look and say, 'Trump's in charge, Mitch McConnell's out there, Paul Ryan — well Republicans have got everything,' " said John Hawkins, the founder of Right Wing News, a Facebook group with more than 3 million followers.

But beyond politics, Hawkins said, the average American conservative feels bombarded daily with disrespect.

"He turns on a TV show where he's insulted, and then he's like, 'well, maybe I'll just unwind and watch an awards show' — the Oscars or something — where he gets trashed all day long," Hawkins said. "He goes to Twitter and he's got some you know guy calling him in a-hole ... this is sort of like a pervasive all-out attack if you're a conservative. And it's all the time sort of thing."

At the core of the problem for many American conservatives is a feeling that the culture war has been irrevocably lost to their ideological opponents.

Kurt Schlichter, a columnist for the conservative Townhall.com, recently wrote a column speculating about whether there could be another civil war. He concluded there could be one and predicted how the left would lose a violent conflict if it came to it.

"We want to be treated with respect, and we will not tolerate anything less which is just unacceptable for this to continue. I'm tired of Hollywood spitting on us. I am tired of academia spitting on us. I'm tired of the news media spitting on us," he said.

Yet these same people call Democrats snowflakes. Link to article: https://www.npr.org/2018/04/27/606230683/despite-so-much-winning-the-right-feels-like-its-losing?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180427

They’ve already lost the culture wars of the 1980s, and they know it.

Wah! We want to be treated with respect as we trash the liberal elites in the big cities!!!

ChrisL68 said:

Wah! We want to be treated with respect as we trash the liberal elites in the big cities!!!

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Yep. It seems as if many conservatives regard "fair treatment" as "I can trash, insult, and say offensive things about people and groups of people I don't like all day long, but they are not supposed to respond in kind. My fellow right-wingers and I must be treated with the utmost respect, but I don't have to show any respect for libruls and their ilk." It reminds me of David Halberstam's description of Vice President Nixon in his book "The Fifties", in which he notes that Nixon would lash out, often harshly, at his political opponents, but if they responded in kind he would see himself as a victim and the target of unfair attacks. I've also read several times that Trump follows the same pattern. He secretly wants The New York Times and other mainstream media to respect and praise him, yet he lashes out at them all the time, and pursues policies that liberals oppose, thus ensuring that their criticism continues - yet he still craves their respect and support. Right wingers are odd folks.

Just die off old clinched assholes, just die off.

Highland Deac said:

Yep. It seems as if many conservatives regard "fair treatment" as "I can trash, insult, and say offensive things about people and groups of people I don't like all day long, but they are not supposed to respond in kind. My fellow right-wingers and I must be treated with the utmost respect, but I don't have to show any respect for libruls and their ilk." It reminds me of David Halberstam's description of Vice President Nixon in his book "The Fifties", in which he notes that Nixon would lash out, often harshly, at his political opponents, but if they responded in kind he would see himself as a victim and the target of unfair attacks. I've also read several times that Trump follows the same pattern. He secretly wants The New York Times and other mainstream media to respect and praise him, yet he lashes out at them all the time, and pursues policies that liberals oppose, thus ensuring that their criticism continues - yet he still craves their respect and support. Right wingers are odd folks.

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Sounds like some of the 10 year olds I know.

WakeandBake said:

Sounds like some of the 10 year olds I know.

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In the first couple of months of Trump's presidency, when his twitter rants were still the talk of the town, I remember watching several conservative talking heads on the Sunday morning talk shows arguing that liberals just needed to be the "adult in the room" and ignore Trump's social media comments and attacks. So your "10-year-olds" example is probably not that far from the truth, sadly.

It’s classic kid behavior. They can dish it out but they can’t take it. Most of us learn that lesson, but some don’t. I laugh like hell when comedians and whoever make fun of liberals and PC and all that. That kind of self deprecation runs counter to conservative thought. They just can’t muster it, and nowadays they’ve even lost the ability to even mildly criticize themselves.

avalon said:

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What in the hell is this? Maybe it's a dumb question, but why would a conservative who wants to be taken seriously allow himself or herself to be seen in a video with a dude with a nazi tattoo. On his face.

Should i recognize that guy? I only recognize that shithead Milo.

wakephan09 said:

What in the hell is this? Maybe it's a dumb question, but why would a conservative who wants to be taken seriously allow himself or herself to be seen in a video with a dude with a nazi tattoo. On his face.

Should i recognize that guy? I only recognize that shithead Milo.

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No idea, desperation? Running out of places to get attention? I recognize the name McInness because he founded that white supremacist group where they fight each other over cereal, or something.

Ok, i looked this guy up. Apparently his name is Tan and he claims the swastika is an Eastern symbol of peace. On his face.

He's very anti-muslim.

Anybody else read the Town Hall article referenced in the NPR piece?

It’s far worse than I thought. It’s completely out of touch with any reality.

https://townhall.com/columnists/kur...-would-lose-the-second-civil-war-too-n2459833

It’s a good example of how conservatives project their flaws into liberals.

———
It’s obvious that the central tenet of the Democrat Party platform is now hatred and contempt for Normal Americans. Taking their cue from the elites in Europe and Canada who are stripping dissenters of their free speech rights and religious freedoms, the leftist elite is moving to solidify its hold on power here with the eager assistance of tech companies and the moral support of the Fredocons who yearn to return to pseudo-relevance as the ruling class’s slobberingly loyal opposition. In California, the leftist government is practically firing on Fort Sumter. And nationally, these aspiring fascists are especially eager to disarm Normal Americans – doing so would be an object lesson in who’s the boss, as well as solving that frustrating problem of the Normals having the ability to resist.
——-


And that’s just the start.

It’s a big fantasy about US land war in red and blue areas.

It’s strange.

It’s an exaggerated and largely fake victimhood, I think.

Real victims of oppression tend to have empathy for other victims.

These yahoos seem to have none.

I think they really feel like they're victims. Keep in mind these are people who believe the slaveowners were the real victims of the Civil War era.

Hey, thank God for Liberal Snowflakes. WTFK do you think is offsetting CO2 emissions!?

‘Global Snowflake’ is not merely a cultural phenomenon but is having an environmental impact..

See this NBC report...

PhDeac said:

Anybody else read the Town Hall article referenced in the NPR piece?

It’s far worse than I thought. It’s completely out of touch with any reality.

https://townhall.com/columnists/kur...-would-lose-the-second-civil-war-too-n2459833

It’s a good example of how conservatives project their flaws into liberals.

———
It’s obvious that the central tenet of the Democrat Party platform is now hatred and contempt for Normal Americans. Taking their cue from the elites in Europe and Canada who are stripping dissenters of their free speech rights and religious freedoms, the leftist elite is moving to solidify its hold on power here with the eager assistance of tech companies and the moral support of the Fredocons who yearn to return to pseudo-relevance as the ruling class’s slobberingly loyal opposition. In California, the leftist government is practically firing on Fort Sumter. And nationally, these aspiring fascists are especially eager to disarm Normal Americans – doing so would be an object lesson in who’s the boss, as well as solving that frustrating problem of the Normals having the ability to resist.
——-


And that’s just the start.

It’s a big fantasy about US land war in red and blue areas.

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Yeah, I read it and other article referenced, and they're both nuts. This "Kurt Schlichter" guy on townhall (his name sounds like a Nazi bad guy from a WW2 movie) refers to conservatives as "Normals" and liberals as fascists. I love his insistence on comparing modern libs to the South in the Civil War. I hate to tell Kurt this, but it's not modern liberals who support a states rights philosophy, restricting minority rights, reading the Bible or Constitution literally, flying the Confederate flag and still revering the "heroes of the Confederacy", and so on. It ain't liberals who are supporting Robert E. Lee in his scenario. The first third of the article is mostly just your typical extreme-right ranting, but the last two thirds of it is definitely disturbing, as he goes into a very detailed description of how liberals would be crushed in a second civil war. I also love his last reason why right-wingers would win any such conflict:

"Then there’s another factor, an intangible but a crucial one. It’s commitment. The Democrat threat to peace is based on its policies designed to deprive Normal Americans of their right to speak freely, to worship freely, and to defend themselves and their rights with firearms. Make no mistake – millions of Normal Americans are willing to risk death to defend those rights. In fact, many swore to do so when they entered our military and law enforcement. But who is the leftist big talker willing to die to impose the fascist dream of censorship, religious oppression, and disarmament on Normal American citizens? Is the screeching SJW at Yale going to suit up in Kevlar? Is the Vox columnist going to grab a M4? Is the Hollywood poser going to switch her gyno-beanie for a helmet?"

So, conservatives really believe in their ideals and will fight and die for them, but liberals are just pussies who don't really believe in the things they claim to stand for, so they won't fight. I've thought for a long time that most conservatives simply don't think that liberals are sincere in their beliefs, and this guy pretty much just states it. They're wrong, of course, but you'll never shake them from that belief. Southern conservative slaveowners thought the same thing about the North before the Civil War too, and were proven wrong on the battlefield. Even Robert E. Lee later said that he never thought the North would go the distance to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. At any rate, this guy is clearly batshit crazy, but I suppose that does make him a "Normal" conservative these days.

I should add that the many comments below the article are hilarious in an ignorant, pitiful kind of way. They have great fun discussing the future civil war. One guy says that since conservatives still own most CB and Ham radios, they should take out the internet to cut liberal (Millennial?) communications, and yet with CBs and Ham radios they could still communicate with one another (I'm sure rural rubes still own most of the nation's walkie talkies too). One guy says they should emulate Nathan Bedford Forrest, the "Wizard of the Saddle", and he's clueless that he was also the first KKK "Wizard" too. A not so funny post suggested that a "hit list" be drawn up of people to round up and execute after the "normals" take over California and other blue areas to keep them pacified. Among the targets were liberal professors, pols, labor union leaders, lawyers, etc. Again, the poster is apparently clueless that this is exactly what the Nazis did after taking over an area. Pathetic and disturbing at the same time.

Ignorance of history is one of conservatives’ best weapons.

The careful messaging that has worked on these people will go down as one of the greatest bamboozles in American history. Just astounding work.