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fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

“But what about the lurkers?”

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / When they made you they broke the cast

When they made you they broke the cast

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Jonah Goldberg’s latest on PajamaGate is so weird and dumb that I’m starting to wonder if he’s more sui generis than homo conservatis (via):

If you try to play out the life of Pajama Boy in your mind, he probably has a girlfriend. It’s just that she’s wearing the pants in the relationship, as they used to say. I picture her like Sarah Silverman in School of Rock or the girlfriend at the beginning of Office Space who everyone knows is cheating on Peter.

[…]

Pajama Boy is a Low-T liberal who wears a “this is what a feminist looks like” T-shirt and flinches whenever his girlfriend makes a sudden movement…

Reader Interactions

154Comments

  2. 2.

    Keith P

    Between their reactions to Jack Bauer, Santa Claus, Pajama Boy et al, I’m not starting to think that right-wingers don’t understand the concept of fiction.

  5. 5.

    PeakVT

    So says the writer (which is definitely one of these manly, showers-after-work type jobs) whose physique resembles no-one so much as the Pillsbury DoughBoy.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Is he so “low T” that he’s completely unembarrassed by the fact that he owes his employment to the fact that his mother sniffed through some girl’s underwear drawer?

  9. 9.

    Botsplainer

    I heard that idiot Erick Erickssen on Limbaugh’s show yesterday. Dude needs to see his doc ASAP.

  11. 11.

    Hunter Gathers

    Erick (Son of Erick) is just pissed off that Pajama Boy gets more action than he does. The only sexual activity that he gets is when his Poor Wife busts out the elbow length rubber gloves, lube, and Erickson’s crusty copy of The Fountainhead.

  13. 13.

    Violet

    Oh good Lord. That’s just pathetic. And this:

    Pajama Boy is a Low-T liberal

    Is this a new Thing? “Low-T liberal”? And why is Jonah Goldberg too afraid to say the word “testosterone”?

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    This “low-T liberal” did something that requires more testosterone than Jonah Goldberg could ever hope to muster in a gazillion years.

    I joined the Army.

  16. 16.

    Cassidy

    @Violet: Because “Low-T” carries the connection with the commercials of having erection problems, poor stamina and performance, etc. As someone noted above, considering Jonah’s physique, I’m guessing he his stamina runs out at about 5 steps.

  17. 17.

    muricafukyea

    The only reason I am aware of this nontroversy is because accidental trolls on Ball Juice like Doug J and the wankers on the orange satan keep talking about it. So remind me who are the ones trying to make it a real controversy again?

  20. 20.

    Cacti

    @PeakVT:

    So says the writer (which is definitely one of these manly, showers-after-work type jobs) whose physique resembles no-one so much as the Pillsbury DoughBoy.

    Reminds me of Al Franken’s book, when he talked about how scrawny little Rich Lowry called Democratic men “sissified” and “feminized”. So in response, Al called him up and offered to have a fist fight, with the loser donating $1,000 to the winner’s favorite charity.

    Wouldn’t you know, tough guy Rich declined the offer.

  21. 21.

    BGinCHI

    I’m a liberal married to a feminist and I will happily and easily kick the living dogshit out of Jonah Goldberg at any time or place he names.

  22. 22.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    When they made you they broke the cast

    Disagree. When they made Jonah they broke the shovel.

  24. 24.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    The author at his keyboard, preparing to let loose with another line ridiculing the girly, non-macho appearance of a model in a health care ad.

    The best part is that Goldberg writes this:

    there are plenty of gay dudes — and women! — who are vastly more masculine than Pajama Boy. … Seriously, the construction worker from the Village People would kick his ass. Besides, this is the gay enrollment ad for Obamacare (there’s also this). All of these dudes are manlier than Pajama Boy.

    Followed by this:

    Last, I love the rearguard effort from liberals trying to turn the mockery of Pajama Boy into proof of right-wing sexual insecurity.

    Gosh, I can’t imagine where anyone would get that idea Jonah.

  28. 28.

    Cassidy

    @Villago Delenda Est: He/ she has a point. Outside of freeperville and related collections of idiots, this “issue” only exists on liberal blogs. Admittedly, Doug just enjoys giving us a space to make fun of them. It could be worse. This could be a mix post where he is outraged and astonished that travelers travel by plane a week before a major family holiday.

  30. 30.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud:

    He actually found some brain-damaged woman to marry him, and consent to bear children.

    Which was his excuse as to why he couldn’t put his own precious ass on the line in Iraq for FREEDUMB!

    Cowards like Goldberg need to die a few thousand deaths.

  32. 32.

    Zam

    You can tell all this from a fucking photo? Jesus fucking Christ conservatives aren’t happy with stereotypes that already exist, they are just making them up now, apparently living in a world where you can’t know all you need to know from basic outward appearances is just too much for this ass to process.

  36. 36.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Cassidy:

    These twits need to be mocked. Incessantly. “Pajamagate” exists only in the alleged minds of the wingtards. Not even the Village idiots are paying any attention to this supposed “blunder” by the blah guy.

  38. 38.

    StringOnAStick

    Jonah yet again makes clear that to him, life is still the playground where he constantly got his butt kicked in 6th grade, but with the revision that this time by Gawd, he’s not the lowest one on the totem pole, that “low-T” guy is.

    Seriously, this Jonahn excretion reads like he’s found a way to deal with his male status/insecurity issues, and as usual with conservatives, it involves kicking down, hard.

  39. 39.

    handsmile

    From the “Family” section of Goldberg’s Wiki entry:

    “Goldberg is married to Jessica Gavora, former chief speechwriter and a senior policy adviser to former Attorney General John Ashcroft,[26] and they have a daughter. Their dog Cosmo, a.k.a. “Snowball,” “of indeterminate parentage and upbringing,” also contributes articles to National Review.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_Goldberg

    I have no reason to doubt that the second sentence is true as well. In fact, I suspect those articles would be better-reasoned and written. Dogs hate to eat paste, after all.

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    The guy in the photo isn’t even there as himself. He’s a model posing in character. Jonah Goldberg is obsessing on a fiction.

  41. 41.

    Buffalo Rude

    J. Dough Loadpants is like a living and breathing Ignatious J. Reilly… Without the benefit of being a character in one the greatest pieces of American literature.

  42. 42.

    Anoniminous

    Folks, it’s really not nice to make fun of the mentally ill. The man clearly has severe psychological problems and needs professional intervention to bring him to a functional state.

  45. 45.

    Jane2

    I must have missed the Pajama Boy outrage amidst all the War on Christmas and Duck Dynasty faith persecution hoopla. Or should I say, “missed”….I’m happy to continue being in the dark.

  46. 46.

    Suffern ACE

    Since the image has evoked such strong emotions and unlocked so many imaginations, can we say that this ad is art? Is the image sublime?

  47. 47.

    blueskies

    @Cassidy:

    Outside of freeperville and related collections of idiots, this “issue” only exists on liberal blogs.

    In other words, across the spectrum of the American political blogsphere.

    If you don’t want to be bothered with political minutia, possibly another hobby would suit?

  48. 48.

    Citizen_X

    @Anoniminous:

    The man clearly has severe psychological problems and needs professional intervention to bring him to a functional state.

    Said professional is only to be addressed with “Yes, Mommy!” whenever the ball gag is removed, right?

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    C’mon Jonah, time to fess up: how long did mommy force you to wear Monica’s stained dress?

    Dude has issues, and would be unemployed if not for his family connections.

  51. 51.

    Matt McIrvin

    Sui generis my ass, this is modern conservatism: completely obsessed with policing fragile masculinity, protecting it from female attack, and worrying about who wears the pants in what relationship.

  54. 54.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    and just in case you thought the Pantload was the dumbest dough ball on the Right this week…

    The congressional candidate who compared ‘Duck Dynasty’ star Phil Robertson to Rosa Parks for ranting about non-Christian cultures and arguing that blacks weren’t mistreated in the Jim Crow era of the United States is standing by his defense.
    “To me, not knowing him, it is clear that he wanted to expose the, what I call, persecution of people who are open Christians. What better way to do it than in an open interview not on your television show so A&E can’t argue some breach of contract,” Republican Ian Bayne told TPM in a phone interview Friday.
    “So having seen that I believe and I thought it was complimentary to Rosa Parks because I see Rosa Parks as a courageous person that stood up in the face of a system that was bad and said hey, enough is enough,” Bayne said.

  55. 55.

    Suffern ACE

    @Matt McIrvin: men and women look a lot alike when they are excruciatingly thin and exceedingly fat. We could write a series of articles on Chris Christie’s androgyny as a primer to his run.

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Loadpants is freaked out by the notion of a skinny guy with glasses sitting around his family home over the holidays. And it is inspiring him to write fan-fic?

  57. 57.

    Ash Can

    The blather about “pajama boy” from the right has been very revealing. These people are not well. (How ironic that they’re demonstrating this in response to a health care ad.)

  61. 61.

    Slugger

    I need some help with my computer. I ran a GIS for Jonah Goldberg and got a soft-looking fat boy instead of Chuck Norris.
    Seriously, masculinity is not such a fragile flower that sitting around in pajamas will endanger it. Also, back in the day, I knew someone who appeared in ads for Marlboros; it may come as a surprise to some that this icon of macho was in a long-term same sex relationship (shocking to note that people in modeling or entertainment are sometimes gay.)
    Mr. Goldberg, learn what manliness is and buy a mirror.

  63. 63.

    handsmile

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Just what is it with Neo-Confederate rhetoric about Rosa Parks and standing (cf., the infamous RNC tweet “…Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism”)? It couldn’t possibly be that they have no idea what she actually did, could it?

    Also, did Mr. Bayne happen to suggest what centuries-old injustice Phil Robertson would have a role in ending?

    Of course, he did correctly cite Parks’ legendary civi-rights rallying cry, “Hey, enough is enough,” which I believe is chiseled over the entrance to the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, AL.

  64. 64.

    ? Martin

    @Slugger:

    Seriously, masculinity is not such a fragile flower that sitting around in pajamas will endanger it.

    This. Anyone who sounds the alarm is just broadcasting how insecure they are.

  65. 65.

    FlipYrWhig

    Instead of having a cohort of right-wing pundits and supposed humorists, can we just replace them with a recording that endlessly repeats the phrase “This is you!”? It would be a clear step up.

  66. 66.

    Cassidy

    @blueskies: Sure, whatever contortions you gotta make for yourself. Be my guest. Stupid and wrong isn’t a way to go through life, but I won’t stop you.

  68. 68.

    Mike in NC

    If it weren’t for nepotism and wingnut welfare, Jonah Goldberg would be cleaning floors at Burger King, and doing it poorly.

  69. 69.

    cckids

    @BGinCHI:

    I’m a liberal married to a feminist and I will happily and easily kick the living dogshit out of Jonah Goldberg at any time or place he names

    I’m a 50+ year old mother of 3, and I will happily & easily do the same.

  72. 72.

    Served

    I’m in the target market for this ad. I’m 27, and this whole thing is really conservatives showing their ignorance of young people. Last weekend, I saw dozens of bros in these on a bar crawl. Young guys wear these ironically. The most masculine, secure men were wearing them. It’s just a funny item of clothing. Christ.

  74. 74.

    Baud

    If you try to play out the life of Pajama Boy in your mind,

    You see someone who will never have to live life worrying about access to health care.

  75. 75.

    Ash Can

    I’m guessing that if poor Jonah ever listened to what women think is masculine, his head would pop like a kernel of corn.

  76. 76.

    shelly

    Sweet Jesus, they’re STILL going on about this? Oh well, the ‘gossip’ section of my newspaper had it’s third article in as many days about Mr. Duck Dynasty Bible-quoter. Don’t these folks have other things to worry about, like getting ready for the Holidays,,,,,uh, I mean Christmas, Christmas!

  77. 77.

    GregB

    I imagine that Jonah Goldberg’s nights are filled with warm dreams of Ayn Rand rogering him with a strap-on while Sarah Palin feeds him buckeyes and sings Pat Boone songs.

    It seems to be a weird stream with a lot of these wingnut baggers. One chap I know cannot post an anti-Obama screed without some reference to an ass or his ass or all of our asses getting reamed or plowed or stuffed or jammed. I mean every frigging time he spouts off it ends with ass reference.

  81. 81.

    Mike with a Mic

    @? Martin:

    I’m pretty sure the better route of attack for the dude in the ad would have been “look at this fucking hipster douche bag” rather than “he’s a pussy whipped girly man”.

    Why drag Silverman into this though? She doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who would be cruel to her friends or run around cheating on a partner. She’s known for being foul mouthed, not being a jerk.

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    @Amir Khalid:

    Jonah Goldberg is obsessing on a fiction

    “Obsessing on a fiction” pretty much sums up the last _______ years of the GOP.

    The Barack Obama they hate is a fictional character they invented that bears little resemblance to the actual Barack Obama. Same with Hillary, Nancy Pelosi, welfare queens, death panels, and on and on and on.

  86. 86.

    Liberty60

    @? Martin:
    This reminds me of Corey Robin’s thesis:

    “From the French Revolution to the Tea Party, conservatism has been a reactionary movement, a defense of power and privilege against democratic challenges from below, particularly in the private spheres of the family and the workplace.”

    http://coreyrobin.com/new-book/

    Nothing terrifies conservatives more than a perceived threat to their manly essence- and this ties together their rage at worker empowerment, a social safety net, women’s autonomy, gays, or insufficient warmongering.

    Nearly every conservative position sooner or later comes back to masculinity.

  88. 88.

    Baud

    @Ash Can:

    Starting in 2017, the tubes are going to be full of “why didn’t we know about this at the time?” posts regarding the Obama years. The answers — (1) because the media suppresses this stuff and (2) most people decided to stick their heads up their asses during this time — will continue to allude most people.

  89. 89.

    Mike with a Mic

    @MomSense:

    It doesn’t take much skill to troll Republicans. They seem to spend all their time reacting to their own shadows and imaginary threats.

  91. 91.

    Ash Can

    @Baud: Even better, I bet the newsies themselves — with an utter lack of irony and self-awareness — will be reporting breathlessly about these things, saying, “Why didn’t we know about this? Why didn’t they tell us? Why were they hiding it?” And they’ll blame Obama for not communicating with them.

  92. 92.

    chuck butcher

    I’m just a tad curious what tea party set Jonah runs in that only includes effeminate or gay liberals since my practical experience includes a bunch of very much not either. it also includes quite un-closeted gays (how would I know about closeted) and I’m not real clear on just what defines effeminate here (liberalism?) so probably them also. What is really funny is that in a lot of the circles I run in, by appearance , vocation, and general whiney passive agressive entitled tone Jonah would qualify for an exclamation of, “What a PU%%Y!” (no I don’t mean the thing I’m quite fond of) Not to get into a chest-beating contest with the unequipped, but Jonah, what I do and who I do it with are way too much for you – and a shit ton of your admirers – and I’m well beyond Liberal so I really ought to qualify for your silly pigeon-hole.

  93. 93.

    Ash Can

    @Citizen_X: I didn’t know about it until an LGF commenter posted someone’s tweet on the article. I’m thinking that despite its flaws I should read TPM more often.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    @Ash Can:

    Until 2009, this was a role I thought liberal blogs would fill — giving us information that the media chose not to report on. They still do some of that (as your link indicates), but for the most part, I think they’ve gone in a different direction.

  96. 96.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Ash Can:
    From the linked piece at Think Progress:

    on Thursday, Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, announced yet another $15 million in humanitarian aid and the pending presence of U.S. military advisers to assist the African Union’s forces in restoring peace.

    Is this the third country Obama’s invaded, or the fourth… I can’t keep track. Do we still count Jordan? And Mali?

    It is, however, all about the oil. It always is.

    No blood for no oil!

  98. 98.

    gogol's wife

    This is a really funny thread. Thank you, BJ commenters.

    I was just thinking this morning how history will treat this era. It is so clear to me that the failures of the media in relation to Obama are going to emerge in stark relief.

  99. 99.

    TCG

    Seriously, how many white men vote Republican because they think voting for Democrats is for girly men?

  101. 101.

    gogol's wife

    And I just have to add to something that’s implied in some of the other comments but not quite stated: There is nothing sexier than a nice man in pajamas sipping hot chocolate.

  109. 109.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Ash Can: It’s always oil.

    I learned certain ways of looking at the world, and how the US acts in it, thirty, forty years ago. I’m older now, I don’t have the time, or quite frankly, the energy to learn new ones — and certainly not the time or energy to look at things on a case-by-case basis.

    So I’m going to use the time and effort I’ve saved by recycling these same, old, reliable ideas — the immutability of US imperialism, for example — that have stood me in good stead for so long on other things.

    You should see my raised-bed gardens. And I’ve taught myself to play the viola da gamba.

    How cool is that?

  111. 111.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    We desperately need an open thread, because I just found out that there’s some kind of weird connection between computer programmers and what I’d call some kind of freakish hybrid libertarian-fascist political belief, and I need to know more about this. Who here has any insight on this? Why would computer programmers be especially susceptible to libertarian-fascist hybrid-freako political thought? I’d never heard about this before.

  112. 112.

    Mike in NC

    The headline in today’s local newspaper read “President puts rosy spin on 2013”. But the author wasn’t named Jonah Goldberg.

  116. 116.

    Violet

    @Ash Can: Takes lots and lots of probiotics for your stomach bug. Like four or ten times the amount you’d usually take. It really works.

  121. 121.

    Cervantes

    @Citizen_X:

    Never heard a word of it, from the MSM or here.

    It’s been reported.

    Look at Thursday’s Guardian, for example:

    Armed gangs are rampaging through the Central African Republic carrying out atrocities including executions and mutilations, despite the presence of French and African troops. […] Amnesty said its research “left no room for doubt that crimes against humanity have taken place, including extra-judicial executions and mutilation of bodies”. It added that civilians were being hacked to death and villages razed to the ground on a daily basis, even since the arrival of French and African Union forces.

    And here’s Carlotta Gall in yesterday’s NYT:

    BANGUI, Central African Republic — Clashes broke out in several quarters on Friday here in the capital, leaving 19 people dead, shattering the tentative lull that had held for a week and revealing the dangerous numbers of armed militiamen still in the city.

    It’s not yet time to congratulate the “Atrocities Prevention Board.” What the Administration is doing now is good, but the story’s not over.

    [I can’t think of a way to link this story to the likes of Jonah Goldberg so I’ll stop here.]

  123. 123.

    Mike with a Mic

    @Baud:

    Oh, I was referring to what I like to drink when I sit around naked on a cold day. That or a hot spiced rum.

  124. 124.

    Ash Can

    @Violet: Thanks for the tip! Now that my appetite is coming back, I’ve made it a point to eat yogurt. However, your tip prompted me to do a search for other food sources of probiotics, and i was happily surprised to see miso on the list. I happen to have a container in the fridge right now, so will be adding that to my recovery menu.

  125. 125.

    debbie

    @Ash Can:

    It may sound hokey, but that vitamin water really makes a difference too. I had the flu last year and it really helped me to start to recover. I’m sure it’s the electrolytes.

  132. 132.

    Violet

    @Ash Can: If you can get any probiotics in pill form or powder form it’s an easy way to really load up on them at this point. You don’t have to take them forever, but to aid recovery you want the good bacteria to outnumber the bad bacteria that are causing you gastric problems. That’s when the probiotics pills come in handy–they get a lot of those good bacteria in you fast. Of course natural forms like yogurt and miso are good too, but it’s not always easy to get enough of them in that form as your intestinal system isn’t always ready to take on the food. Hope you feel better soon!

  133. 133.

    Mike with a Mic

    @MomSense:

    I hate to break this to you, but clothes aren’t going to stop the pain if you drop a hot beverage on your balls, it’s still going to suck. As anyone who’s tried to carry hot coffee between their legs while driving way to fast can attest. Worst of all with clothes on it gets stuck in the clothes prolonging the suck. The best way to consume hot drinks is totally in the buff.

  134. 134.

    Death Panel Truck

    I’m a high-T liberal. Several years ago I had my testosterone checked as part of an effort to see why I was so depressed and irritable. Turns out I have testosterone to give away. I pegged the needle, which seems odd to me, because people seem to equate high-T with a “macho, macho man!” I am not at all a macho kind of guy. As for being irritable, well, I guess maybe it’s because I’m an asshole. At least Mrs. Truck thinks so sometimes.

  135. 135.

    gene108

    @TCG:

    Seriously, how many white men vote Republican because they think voting for Democrats is for girly men?

    Most of them.

  137. 137.

    Lurking Buffoon

    @Death Panel Truck: You’re probably a lot more secure in yourself than most of those “macho, macho man!” types. In my limited experience and observation, lack of insecurity tends to make people laugh at whatever their culture’s definition of masculinity/femininity is.

  139. 139.

    Eric U.

    I don’t know why this entertains me so much, these people have influence over how the country is run. Low-T. Most Low-T males in the U.S. are probably white republicans given their age

  140. 140.

    West of the Rockies

    I haven’t posted/explored much here lately (going through a divorce), but can I ask, are Ted & Helen still posting here? Anytime I have logged on, I haven’t read that person’s miserable rantings.

  141. 141.

    TR

    I think Lady Jonah doth protest too much.

    It’s like listening to Ted Haggard and Larry Craig rant about the gays back before they were outed themselves

  143. 143.

    schrodinger's cat

    @Eric U.: Aren’t they worried that males of the swarthy type have too much testosterone and that the Messican type peeplz is having too many bebbehs? So they are only concerned about T levels in certain males.

  145. 145.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Cervantes:

    It’s not yet time to congratulate the “Atrocities Prevention Board.”

    The very existence of such a board, if it exists — I pray it doesn’t — is an affront to all right-thinking progressives anywhere.

    It’s just cover for Western neo-colonialist bigfooting on a good day, and an open invitation for Iraq II — or is it III? — on a bad day. The people of the CAR need to thank God every day they have no oil.

    The answer is anodyne expressions of regret. Regardless of the problem.

    What happens in Bangui stays in Bangui.

  147. 147.

    jl

    White Santa gate, and Duck Dynasty dude rants and raves, have some interesting angles.

    But the ACA ad pajama boy? Really? WTF?

    I think intense interest in any aspect of pajamaboygate, whatever that is, could be a real criterion for mental impairment, even among reactionary GOPers and teabaggers, and professional conservative hacks.

    If any of my teabagger kin bring up pajamaboygate over Christmas dinners and family meet ups, I will make inquiries about maybe they should get medical evaluation.

  148. 148.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @jl:

    Pajamaboygate is the perfect topic to use my patented method for shutting up wingnut relatives: pretend not to have heard of it, stare at them in puzzlement when they snicker about it, and make them explain in detail what it’s about.

    This worked like a charm at Thanksgiving when my wingnut brother asked if we were going to talk about Obamacare over dinner. I blinked in confusion and said, “Well, I wasn’t planning to, but we can if you want.” Which forced him to try and explain the “scandal, give up halfway through because he realized how stupid it sounded, and asked me to pass the salt.

    Feigning ignorance of stupid wingnut scandals — keeping the peace at holiday dinner tables for almost a decade now!

  149. 149.

    SFAW

    Cole –
    I know it’s OT, but did Jonah ever pay off that bet?

    That cheap prick. He probably weaseled out with some bullshit excuse about your name or some such.

  152. 152.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I think it’s mostly that computer technology has been at the center of extraordinary technical innovation and great moneymaking over the past half-century or so, so people involved in it have a tendency to think of themselves as special Gods of Technology with unique insights on rationality. Libertarianism, with its emphasis on supposedly superior rationality and its valorization of the competent individual, is a good fit.

    I should say, most of the programmers I’ve known are not libertarians. But there’s a higher fraction than in the population at large.

    Electrical engineers are similar. Both camps also have a somewhat-greater-than-baseline tendency to buy into pseudoscientific beliefs that are sometimes politically loaded: creationism, climate denialism, anti-relativity crankery, Velikovskianism, etc. There’s a belief that they understand science better than actual scientists do.

  153. 153.

    Petorado

    Conservatism is a pathology where this class of person has an inability to logically apply Occam’s Razor and therefore must always look for the most complex conspiracy behind every ordinary event.

  154. 154.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    In defense (albeit, an unnecessary one) of the onesie, as Peter Griffin once pointed out (back when that show was still funny), it’s nice when you can poop and be warm. Just sayin’.

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