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You are here: Home / This I dig of you

This I dig of you

by DougJ|  March 15, 201612:35 pm| 120 Comments

This post is in: Both Sides Do It!

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I don’t know if you all read “The Dig” but this is one of my favorite things ever:

R.I.P., Civil Discourse. Killed By Bernie Bros & Partisanship, 3/11/16

Maybe we should be happy that the Bernie Bros have trained their anger and hate on someone their own size. After spending months harassing women, PoCs, respected Beltway journalists, and war survivors on Twitter, the Sanders militiamen finally left their mom’s basements to appear en masse to shut down a Donald Trump rally in Chicago.

[…]

The biggest problem in American politics is that we are insulated from opposing opinions. You might think that all people should be treated equal and trans people shouldn’t be stoned, and because all of your friends do, your Facebook feed is full of views that mirror yours. It’s called the panopticon, or in academic circles, the Funhouse Phenomenon. Just because you and everyone you know believes the Holocaust happened does not invalidate other views, and if you fail to acknowledge this, you’ll find yourself pitifully unequipped when you have to defend your ideals. People need to seek out contrary points of view on such pressing issues as how violently we need to eliminate 12 million Latino immigrants or what to do about the “Jewish problem” in order to form a fully-informed opinion.

Like him or loathe him, Trump is the Republican frontrunner. Instead of holding up protest signs and reacting to spit and water bottles hurled your way, how about actually sitting down and watching a Trump speech on one of the live 9-hour blocs on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News? Lord knows he’s not the first choice of polite Americans, but by refusing to even hear him out, you prove his point by your own logic.

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Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    March 15, 2016 at 12:40 pm

    …

    No.

    (waves protest sign)

  2. 2.

    Ella in New Mexico

    March 15, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    Like him or loathe him, Trump is the Republican frontrunner. Instead of holding up protest signs and reacting to spit and water bottles hurled your way, how about actually sitting down and watching a Trump speech

    Seriously, aside from the opportunistic insults thrown at what the guy perceives to be Sanders supporters, not getting AT ALL why you think this is one of your favorite things ever…

  3. 3.

    CapedJA

    March 15, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    Wow, reading that all I could think is that the guy’s message is effectually “Give hate a chance.”

  4. 4.

    Doug!

    March 15, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    It’s satire.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    March 15, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    I don’t know if you all read “The Dig” but this is one of my favorite things ever

    This seems to come from some alternate universe in which bullshit is confused for rational thought.

    Maybe we should be happy that the Bernie Bros have trained their anger and hate on someone their own size. After spending months harassing women, PoCs, respected Beltway journalists, and war survivors on Twitter, the Sanders militiamen finally left their mom’s basements to appear en masse to shut down a Donald Trump rally in Chicago.

    I guess it is useful to know that there are people who actually believe this stuff.

    Otherwise, this is surely one of those tales told by an idiot.

  6. 6.

    Cody

    March 15, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    Who in the world, at this point has not had a full dose of Donald Trump? How is that even possible? One would have had to consume ZERO media since June to not be able to repeat his entire platform, verbatim… in the unfortunate encounter of a 10 min conversation about him.

  7. 7.

    Doug!

    March 15, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    It’s satire, written by two kids who are probably both Bernie supporters.

  8. 8.

    Mike in DC

    March 15, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    Satire is not only underappreciated, it’s often undetected.

  9. 9.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 15, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    Doug! have you been FPing for them?

    ETA: Are the writers your graduate students, then? The writing seems very DougJesque.

  10. 10.

    Ella in New Mexico

    March 15, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    @Doug!: Ahhhhh! Thanks.

    No where near enough coffee this am….;-)

    This confirms my belief that people who vote Republican are incapable of understanding nuance due to fundamental differences in their brains.

    After I’ve pulled three 13 hr shifts at the hospital, mine can’t rip open a wet paper bag without at least two giant cups of stimulant anymore.

  11. 11.

    Poopyman

    March 15, 2016 at 12:48 pm

    @Doug!: Haven’t you heard? Satire is dead.

  12. 12.

    p.a.

    March 15, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    @Doug!:

    It’s satire.

    Getting difficult to tell given the current state of the media. ?’s are now obligatory.

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    March 15, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    @Mike in DC:
    Poe’s Law strikes again.

  14. 14.

    Larv

    March 15, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    I don’t see how you could read more than a paragraph of that without realizing it’s satire. And well done satire at that. I’m with Doug!, that was great.

  15. 15.

    b1narys3rf

    March 15, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    @Doug!

    It’s satire.

    :

    Oh really…

    Problem is with the 27%, they are unconsciously following these guidelines. Without taking it too seriously (I think) I’ve had a fine old time explaining to the Drumpalumpas online the last few days that, actually, they shouldn’t be butthurt when non-place knowing women, minorities, and maybe even some whites show up and express their displeasure.

    I hope that Hillary’s people have about six months’ worth of oppo ads, memes, and public appearances ready to drive Drumpf’s negatives so monumentally and even more low that dudez like Sen. Rob Portman will tearfully admit that he’s JUST KIDDING IT’S JUST A PRANK BRO about blocking Planned Parenthood and Supreme Court nominees – right before his ass gets fired by the people of round-at-the-ends-and-high-in-the-middle.

  16. 16.

    Doug!

    March 15, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I wish I had written that. The president Jeb Bartlett bit was especially brilliant .

  17. 17.

    HeartlandLiberal

    March 15, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    I had to read the quoted paragraphs twice, then go to the original and read the whole thing, before I realized the entire post at “The Dig” is quiet but incredibly cutting satire.

    When the author suggests you just have to set aside your belief that the holocaust happened, and sit down and have a few friendly beers among BLM and KKK proponents, you begin to suspect the purpose in his somewhat subtle but ultimately pointed satire.

    I grew up in the deep south during the civil rights movement, and the same thing could have written then, suggesting I just sit down and have a few beers with the KKK members who bombed the church and killed the four little girls across from Kelly Ingram Park, or regularly dynamited the few decent Black middle class homes on the southwest side, so that the city came to be called Bombingham. I am sure we would have all gotten along famously.

  18. 18.

    Ripley

    March 15, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    This satire is so meta it might actually sucker punch someone.

    ETA: Looks like it already did….

  19. 19.

    AnotherBruce

    March 15, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    @Poopyman: After reading The Dig, I hereby pronounce satire “very dead”.

  20. 20.

    NobodySpecial

    March 15, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    The biggest problem in American politics is that we are insulated from opposing opinions. You might think that all people should be treated equal and trans people shouldn’t be stoned, and because all of your friends do, your Facebook feed is full of views that mirror yours. It’s called the panopticon, or in academic circles, the Funhouse Phenomenon.

    I dunno about that Funhouse whateveritis that don’t Google well, but a panopticon it ain’t. Kinda like this article is supposed to be good satire, but it ain’t.

  21. 21.

    singfoom

    March 15, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    That’s some quality satire:

    This is particularly brilliant:

    He knows that Americans see young people as outright terrifying, what with their destruction of signs, delinquent Snapchatting, and loud hip hop chants (and not the good hip hop like Drake, whose music about being “ghosted” by women on Tinder is something a mid-40s journalist can relate to.

    The funny thing is that I’m 25 years past it, but I totally remember as a teenager / young adult feeling like i was looked at like I was a criminal by every single adult not in my family.

    The Dig wins the internet for the day.

  22. 22.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    March 15, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    That’s some weapons grade satire. Would you be surprised if that exact same piece appeared with Jim Hoft’s byline?

  23. 23.

    daveNYC

    March 15, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    @Larv: First paragraph could go either way. The second paragraph triggers the satire alert on the last line, where it specifically mentions raising the retirement age and cutting Medicare.

  24. 24.

    Kay

    March 15, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    reacting to spit and water bottles

    That’s the second time I’ve seen “spit” linked to Trump rallies. A WSJ reporter tweeted that he “shouldn’t have to wash spit off his clothes after covering a political rally”

  25. 25.

    ? Martin

    March 15, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    This is just irresponsible. How could anyone detect satire while Trump is running for president?

  26. 26.

    Larv

    March 15, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    @daveNYC:

    Yeah, on re-reading the original it’s not completely clear until the George Wallace line in para four. Also, I went straight to the link without reading the posted excerpt, which is a little more subtle. But still…

  27. 27.

    ruemara

    March 15, 2016 at 1:05 pm

    This is satire, right? Poorly done satire.

  28. 28.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    March 15, 2016 at 1:15 pm

    @Mike in DC: Need a <satire> tag to go with the <sarcasm> tag.

    ETA:

    And this is awesome satire.

  29. 29.

    daveNYC

    March 15, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    @Larv: Yeah, if it weren’t for the specific nouns (Jews and Nazis or POC and White Nationalists) it’s basically your standard beltway ‘can’t we all just get along’ BS.

    I guess the problem is that political media is so stupid these days that satirizing it is difficult since you have to dial all the stupid up to eleven to get it to register.

  30. 30.

    Big Ol Hound

    March 15, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    This is very juvenile “aren’t I clever satire” So they get the “5 piles of fake bullshit” award. This is the same as fart jokes in grammar school.

  31. 31.

    Patricia Kayden

    March 15, 2016 at 1:29 pm

    I did go against my better judgment and listen to one of Trump’s victory “speeches” last week where he was hawking steaks and talking about all of his business “successes”. It was embarrassing — even for someone like me who hates Trump. Never again.

    @Doug!: Any suggestion to listen to an entire Trump speech has got to be satire. Not really funny, but satire nonetheless.

  32. 32.

    Uncle Cosmo

    March 15, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    @Poopyman: Too much of what passes for satire these days is its gaseous second-cousin-twice-removed, flatire.

  33. 33.

    aimai

    March 15, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    @b1narys3rf: Drumpalumpas is great. If only Boehner was one of them we’d definitely be able to color code them.

  34. 34.

    Mnemosyne

    March 15, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    trans people shouldn’t be stoned

    Wait, why are trans people not supposed to smoke pot?

  35. 35.

    Pen

    March 15, 2016 at 1:35 pm

    I swear I’ve read that first paragraph as an actual honest argument before, and had basically the same thing explained to me as my “real” motivation for not supporting Clinton in the primary, but the second paragraph on puts this square in the satire camp.

  36. 36.

    Doug!

    March 15, 2016 at 1:36 pm

    I can see how this would seem stupid to people who haven’t read countless more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger Both Sides Do it stuff on their Facebook feed the past few weeks. But if you have, they all sound exactly like this.

  37. 37.

    aimai

    March 15, 2016 at 1:37 pm

    Is this the argument that Charlie Pierce and others have been making against the protest–that young people and POC should just sit downand sing kumbaya and wait until older heads figure things out? Or that older heads are not alarmed by Trump? Because this is the straw man to end all straw men. Most people who disagree with the protestors actions are not disagreeing because of someabstract norm of civility but because they think it was a tactical error. Such a tactical error, in fact, that Trump probably masterminded it to get some more free publicity as a victim. Trumpism isn’t going to be beaten by people shutting down his rallies–his voters can and will come out in droves to support him even if he goes silent (is silenced by) protestors.

    It remains to be seen whether the protestors can convert flash mob protest energy into voting energy–voting energy that could (in the case of chicago voters) take down Rahm Emmanuel for more energy and anti oligarchy points than protesting Trump. I hope they can. I hope the next thing after the protest was a register to vote rally in which people made alliances to throw Emmanuel out, to throw the governor out, and to clean up their local government.

  38. 38.

    Doug!

    March 15, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    @aimai:

    I thought Charles Pierce’s argument wasn’t quite that bad. But I’ve read lots of stuff that does sound like this.

    My one disagreement with Pierce is this: yes, he’s right that the protests at Trump rallies are helping Trump in GOP polls, but he’s wrong that that’s a bad thing. Trump is the angry orange face the GOP deserves. The better he does in the primaries, the faster the GOP brand goes downhill.

  39. 39.

    Chip Daniels

    March 15, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    We are in a world which defies satire I guess.

  40. 40.

    Larrybob

    March 15, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    Ron Fournier has a rival!

    P.S. It’s so hard to satirize the ridiculous.

  41. 41.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 15, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: He confirms every stereotype of the Ugly American. I am having a hard time explaining the Trump phenomena to my friends in other countries.

  42. 42.

    TheBuhJaysus

    March 15, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    I always enjoyed Camus more than Satire

  43. 43.

    Punchy

    March 15, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    What’s Jen Rubin think of all this hinky penmanship? I cannot sate my thirst until I know for sure…

  44. 44.

    Heliopause

    March 15, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    @Doug!:

    I have to admit, when I first read your post I was sure you were trolling, but then you go and give it away in the third comment. Not sure if I’m pleased or disappointed in you.

  45. 45.

    Technocrat

    March 15, 2016 at 1:49 pm

    Someone used the term “weapons grade” satire for this, and I agree. You can’t just leave this sort of satire sitting out where the kids might find it.

    Unfortunately, it also misses the point a bit. Protest, disruption and vandalism are on a spectrum, and it’s not hard to let your zeal push you too far down that spectrum. Rushing a cordon of Secret Service officers, for example:

    When Thomas DiMassimo tried to rush Donald Trump’s stage in Ohio over the weekend, he had a clear goal in mind. He wanted to send a message.

    “I was thinking that I could get up on stage and take his podium away from him and take his mic away from him…”

    Yeah, that’s not protest.

  46. 46.

    Linnaeus

    March 15, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    @Doug!:

    The thing about Pierce’s argument is that it gets made any time any kind of protest action is done. The anti-Trump protesters could have done everything Pierce said they should have done, and we’d still hear that it was too confrontational, too “alienating”, etc.

  47. 47.

    Benw

    March 15, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    @Doug!: both sides do it. What is it? It’s it! What is it!? IT’S IT!

  48. 48.

    Sly

    March 15, 2016 at 1:53 pm

    Not all social taboos are lacking in utility. I, for one, am rather glad to live in a society where the immorality of child rape is not a topic of polite debate between respectful parties. Even if that means that the precious “free speech rights” of pro-child-rape advocates is constrained by the inhospitable behavior of the anti-child-rape majority, who then themselves become trapped within the anti-child-rape echo chamber.

  49. 49.

    Linnaeus

    March 15, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    @Doug!:

    My one disagreement with Pierce is this: yes, he’s right that the protests at Trump rallies are helping Trump in GOP polls,

    My question here would be how much this is helping in terms of moving GOP voters who wouldn’t vote for Trump to voting for Trump or is this just a convenient cover for those who would find any reason to talk themselves into voting for Trump anyway?

  50. 50.

    Paul in KY

    March 15, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    @singfoom: I can remember being followed around in stores when I was 17 – 19 years old.

  51. 51.

    Cheap Jim, formerly Cheap Jim

    March 15, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @Doug!: Trump is the angry, ugly face the GOP deserves. Unless he wins.

  52. 52.

    Paul in KY

    March 15, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @ruemara: Well, you’re a pro from Hollywood, so you see the best satire all day, every day. Some of us rubes in the hinterlands don’t get the quality stuff very often.

  53. 53.

    Paul in KY

    March 15, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    @Doug!: The only rub on that is if people watching that start to ID with Trump & jackwipes at his rallies, and thus get more motivated (to vote for Trump).

  54. 54.

    rikyrah

    March 15, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    State of Illinois People!!!!

    IT’S ELECTION DAY!!

    Remember, the law has been changed…

    You can register to vote and vote on Election Day!

    Just go to your local precinct and bring 2 pieces of ID- one of which has proof of address.

    Here are Illinois forms of acceptable ID:

    • Illinois driver’s license

    • Illinois state ID

    • Employee or student ID

    • Credit card

    • Social security card

    • Birth certificate

    • Utility bill in applicant’s name

    • Mail postmarked to the applicant

    • Valid U.S. passport

    • Public aid ID card

    • Lease or rental contract

  55. 55.

    Paul in KY

    March 15, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: He’s like an Eva Peron, only shoutier, uglyier and richer.

  56. 56.

    germy shoemangler

    March 15, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    2016: Trump can’t win.

    2017: President Trump can’t do that, can he?

    2018: Are you watching The Hunger Games tonight? I hope my district wins.

  57. 57.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 15, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    @Doug!:

    Trump is the angry orange face the GOP deserves.

    Yes. The freakout during the Obama administration has made me realize that the glue holding the Reagan coalition together is the polite benefit of the doubt that conservative policies are not about racism. Trump is showing people who would never have believed it any other way what drives the Republican Party. If we’re going to change course from thirty years of self-destruction, the mask Reagan built must be destroyed.

  58. 58.

    aimai

    March 15, 2016 at 2:04 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Christ, its not like he doesn’t have a direct analogue in most other places.

  59. 59.

    Calouste

    March 15, 2016 at 2:05 pm

    More satire:

    Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said Tuesday he plans to stay in the Republican race for the White House even if he doesn’t win the primary in his home state tonight.

    Rubio said polls that show him trailing frontrunner Donald Trump by 20 points are “way out of whack” and “absurd.”

    “Tomorrow our plan is to be in Utah campaigning irrespective of tonight,” he said in a radio interview on WDBO, which was first flagged by BuzzFeed. “It would be a lot better to go to Utah being the winner of the Florida primary. It would give us a tremendous amount of momentum. It would give us 99 delegates, and that’s the way we want to do it tonight.”

  60. 60.

    aimai

    March 15, 2016 at 2:07 pm

    @Doug!: Oh, I meant that first sentence, uh…parodically. No, Charlie Pierce is not making this argument. He’s making the second argument–that is that protesting Trump increases his market share and has a negative effect on the anti trump argument. Especially if the violence can not be controlled since it will always be seen by the press and by Republican voters as a sign that Trump is correct and that the left is “out of control” and dangerous.

  61. 61.

    mb

    March 15, 2016 at 2:10 pm

    trans people shouldn’t be stoned

    This confused me at first.

  62. 62.

    Mike J

    March 15, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I am having a hard time explaining the Trump phenomena to my friends in other countries.

    Do they think Le Pen and Farage don’t count? The whole Brexit movement is based on the same racism as the Trump campaign.

  63. 63.

    Benw

    March 15, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    @aimai: exactly! And if he’s beaten in the general, America will have rejected our fascist! He sure is an ugly caracture though.

  64. 64.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 15, 2016 at 2:13 pm

    @Mike J: They expect better from us than they do from Europe, is my guess. We did elect Mr. Obama, not once but twice.

  65. 65.

    C.V. Danes

    March 15, 2016 at 2:15 pm

    I’m pretty sure the Holocaust happened.

  66. 66.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 15, 2016 at 2:17 pm

    @Mike J: They expect better from us than they do from Europe, is my guess. We did elect Mr. Obama, not once but twice.

    Plus what America does, matters a whole lot more than what happens in Britain or France. They are nowhere as important in world affairs as they were say a 100 years ago.

  67. 67.

    Bobby Thomson

    March 15, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    @Doug!: some of us curate our feeds to avoid reading stupid drivel. Life is too short to facilitate hearing stupid stuff.

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    March 15, 2016 at 2:19 pm

    @Technocrat: Saw an interview with that guy, and he seemed more than a bit unhinged.

    @Calouste: Damn that smarmy little shit-weasel! I was so looking forward to his GBCW speech.

  69. 69.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 15, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    @Sly:
    I think the immorality of child rape should definitely be a topic of polite discussion between opposing parties. I want the level of child abuse that occurs in our country dragged out into the open, the lies of ‘No one should tell me how to raise my children’ exposed, and the myth that it’s strangers who are the danger, not family members, revealed as a myth. Not to mention anti-vaxxers, conservatives who exploit the home-schooling system to keep their kids from learning about the outside world, and ‘think of the children!’ campaigns that are appeals to get the government to help them keep their children ignorant of sex, which ruins lives when the kids start having sex anyway. I get kinda worked up at how America pretends all this doesn’t exist because it’s just rude to question that parents know best for their kids.

  70. 70.

    Betty Cracker

    March 15, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    @Doug! — This blog seems uniquely impervious to satire. I think the only satirical post I’ve ever not had to explain after the fact involved an elephant-sized badger, complete with illustration.

  71. 71.

    Mike J

    March 15, 2016 at 2:24 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Britain leaving the EU because people are upset about Polish plumbers would be a big deal. I wonder how many working class people of Polish descent in the US support Trump and don’t understand irony.

  72. 72.

    Calouste

    March 15, 2016 at 2:24 pm

    @Betty Cracker: What else do you expect him to say? He’ll be out tomorrow. Only Kasich has a chance to keep Trump from winning the nomination on the first round by picking up some north eastern states.

  73. 73.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 15, 2016 at 2:24 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Some of us did figure it out, though. How are your beautiful doggies?

  74. 74.

    germy

    March 15, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    Any updates on Todd Palin’s recovery? I thought the whole story was confusing. First they say he’s in ICU (sounded very serious) and Sarah is rushing to be at his side, then instead she makes more Trump appearances. Is Todd okay? And how did his son’s court appearance go?

  75. 75.

    JMG

    March 15, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    Great moments in TV live shots. CNN reporter in front of polling place in Hialeah, Fla. “All reports are that turnout today is very strong, just not here where we can see it.”

  76. 76.

    Bobby Thomson

    March 15, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    @aimai: the protestors weren’t even on the same page as to whether to protest silently. Chances of them having been organized enough to register voters are nil, assuming they all even care about elections.

  77. 77.

    GregB

    March 15, 2016 at 2:29 pm

    @srv:

    There’s that number again.

  78. 78.

    Gordon Schumway

    March 15, 2016 at 2:30 pm

    I LOVED the panopticon bit.

  79. 79.

    Spinoza is my Co-pilot

    March 15, 2016 at 2:32 pm

    So some here (incredibly) didn’t get this was satire at first, though the very second paragraph made that pretty obvious, and it continued to be obvious from there. The first paragraph could have been from any random rightblogger that Roy Edroso regularly skewers, but after that…

    Others thought it was very good satire; conversely, still others thought it crappy satire.

    I thought it was in the middle there and made some mildly humorous satirical points that I figured fit right in to the general BJ worldview. My personal favorite was the “shout out” to the lame-ass shitty music of Drake.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    March 15, 2016 at 2:43 pm

    @rikyrah:

    What? Valuable public service announcement on an “is it or isn’t it good satire” thread??! : )

  81. 81.

    Face

    March 15, 2016 at 2:44 pm

    Rubio said polls that show him trailing frontrunner Donald Trump by 20 points are “way out of whack” and “absurd.”

    “Unskew these polls!”

    /Jerry Rondowski and Lech Wedneski glance a confused look in Rubio’s direction

  82. 82.

    Trapped in Ohio

    March 15, 2016 at 2:45 pm

    @srv:

    Nobody gives a shit. Why do you even post here? Shouldn’t you be on Breitbart ot something?

  83. 83.

    Miss Bianca

    March 15, 2016 at 2:46 pm

    @Betty Cracker: @Doug!:

    Out here in rural CO, people tend to be very earnest. I had to learn to tone down my big-city-slicker snarkery. I’ve just gotten used to thinking of it as “irony deficiency.”

    ETA: So people going, “wait, what? Is that supposed to be funny?” on BJ just seems oddly…normal…to me.

  84. 84.

    jl

    March 15, 2016 at 2:47 pm

    Obviously satire. Onion does it better.
    I try to avoid being one of the ‘small frightened mammal’ school of the Democratic Party.

    As for substance:
    First, Sanders has explicitly said that he does not want his supporters disrupting or trying to shut down any rallies.
    Second, kind of pointless trying to tell millions of people who are able to spontaneously organize themselves what to do, and then hanging lack of results on a Democrats.
    Third, GOP and their hacks are going to lie no matter what HRC, Sanders, the Democrats or anyone actually does. So pointless bending over backwards or going into contortions to avoid attacks and smears.

  85. 85.

    mmeep

    March 15, 2016 at 2:47 pm

    @Mike in DC:

    I’m with you. I give grades for good satire and missed all of said content.

  86. 86.

    beltane

    March 15, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    @germy: This is a time when Andrew Sullivan would come in handy. Maybe he will come out of retirement to investigate the matter.

  87. 87.

    Eric U.

    March 15, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    there needs to be a version of Poe’s law for U.S. journalism. Although in a way, they are extremism

  88. 88.

    Sloegin

    March 15, 2016 at 2:50 pm

    Even professional snarkologists are running into difficulty these days. I blame it on all of us living in some increasingly bizarre alternate universe.

  89. 89.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    March 15, 2016 at 2:53 pm

    @germy: ADN is probably the go-to place for Palin news. I’ve not seen anything later than this.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    John Revolta

    March 15, 2016 at 2:54 pm

    @Mike J: I’ve got a friend who’s a Polish plumber. All he has to remember is that shit is on Friday and payday runs downhill.

  91. 91.

    Technocrat

    March 15, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’d love to see it if you can find a linky.

  92. 92.

    sharl

    March 15, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    Thanks for linking the hilariously* idiotic-by-design Carl Diggler, Doug. The two youngsters who created this media Frankendork are Felix Biederman (@ByYourLogic) and Virgil Texas (@VirgilTexas). Biederman just graduated college within the past couple years, and Texas was originally at the Something Awful website (and I never have decided if “Virgil Texas” is his real name, but I’ve never seen evidence to the contrary).

    Biederman once tweeted a bit on The Dig’s creation story – IIRC he is a blend of Mark Halperin and Ron Fournier, with just a dash of one of the neocon’ish warbloggers (I think it was Tom Nichols). The Dig is a parody of the current crop of rather highly compensated political “analysts”.
    ……..Lately The Dig has been mercilessly mocking Nate Silver – a little too much so, IMO – because his predictions have been better. The “method” used by these two kids is explored in this post by media reporter and fellow youngster Brendan James. A brief excerpt:

    Both guys are political junkies, and while their approach is unconventional (and occasionally vulgar), they appear to have a real grasp on the intangible element of politics. That’s something Nate Silver’s calculations can’t handle, Biederman said.

    “[Silver] just built this computer, but this election doesn’t make any sense,” he said, noting the primal feelings that seem to be fueling the Trump phenomenon. “It’s not like 1992 or 1996 anger, which was nonspecific and vague; it’s actual palpable anger.”

    He was quick to burn the other, non-data, gut-based side of the spectrum as well, made up of elite talking heads who cash six-figure checks for bum predictions. “These idiots think deep anger disappears because they’ve never been that angry about anything in their lives,” Biederman said with a laugh.

    ~

    *I’ve linked stuff like this here before, including The Dig, and in my experience the folks here are more conservative in their literary/rhetorical tastes in such matters, as would be largely expected from an older crowd, even a group that mostly self-describes as liberal (60-yo Boomer here, fwiw).
    ……Much like I enjoyed sitting on the floor of my parents’ bedroom in the 60s – to be near the Encyclopedia Britannica’s – and my stamp collecting book laid open, going from the stamp images to the country description in the encyclopedia to learn more about faraway places, so too do I like following a number of the smart under-40 crowd I find on Twitter, to see how they are handling a world so different from the one I grew up in. I don’t have kids of my own, and in fact am rarely around them except during family holidays. That’s unlike a lot of people on this forum, at least some of whom appear to engage with their kids in political discussions in an open and mutually instructive manner.

  93. 93.

    Peale

    March 15, 2016 at 2:56 pm

    @Bobby Thomson: They aren’t really organized. I think they are important to have in the sense that if you went by media coverage, if there weren’t regular people showing up to state that they don’t like what he would do as president, it would appear that potential resistance to him is a bunch of Democratic celebrities and politicians now saying that he’s racist and fascist. I think there is widespread disgust with Trump on the Democratic side, but I also agree that showing up at these rallies as a Democrat and shouting “Bernie” isn’t going to do much and might backfire badly. There isn’t much Democrats can actually do to stop Trump from party nomination. That’s really up to TPTB in the Republican party and their primary voters. The firewall that will prevent Trump from being president is actually the Democratic party, since Republicans aren’t doing their jobs very well.

  94. 94.

    Paul in KY

    March 15, 2016 at 2:57 pm

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Would assume alcohol was involved.

  95. 95.

    different-church-lady

    March 15, 2016 at 2:58 pm

    @Mike in DC:

    Satire is not only underappreciated, it’s often undetected.

    Occasionally it’s even non-existent.

  96. 96.

    Peale

    March 15, 2016 at 2:58 pm

    @germy: It’s weird. All she needed to say is that “I was going to go home, but it turned out the injuries were really minor but I had to miss the earlier rally because I had to find out what was wrong with my dear, dear husband.” Instead, it looks like she just ditched a crowd because it wasn’t important enough for her time.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    March 15, 2016 at 3:00 pm

    @Doug!: It’s satire when you look at the article in context at its actual site.

    But’s its not very good, and goes on too long.

  98. 98.

    Peale

    March 15, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Yeah. In general, most people don’t like dry and wry. It’s best to have multiple shticks available that work towards all audiences. Somewhere between Lenny Bruce and Hee Haw.

  99. 99.

    Exurban Mom

    March 15, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    Honey, no. The Panopticon is a type of prison where the guard can see you but you can’t see the guard. The inmates don’t know when they are being watched, so they internalize the feeling that they are being watched all the time.

    I think the writer is trying to describe “groupthink” actually.

  100. 100.

    Patricia Kayden

    March 15, 2016 at 3:05 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: I know what you mean. I still have Canadian family and friends who squeeze me about how the hell someone as dumb as Bush the Younger could get elected twice. I have zero explanation for them as I myself find it puzzling.

    I can imagine the side eye we’ll get when we travel abroad if Americans elect Trump. Lawd!!

  101. 101.

    Peale

    March 15, 2016 at 3:06 pm

    @Brachiator: yeah. The picture was key. framing the African American woman protester as a representative of the Berniebros was the tell.

  102. 102.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    March 15, 2016 at 3:08 pm

    Finally, someone does some real investigative digglering and ties the Gamergate crowd to the BernieBros. That makes me happy enough to punch a millennial.

  103. 103.

    sharl

    March 15, 2016 at 3:10 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: This comment would delight the creators of Carl Diggler.

  104. 104.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    March 15, 2016 at 3:10 pm

    , how about actually sitting down and watching a Trump speech on one of the live 9-hour blocs on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News?

    Diggler turned me into giggler with this line.

  105. 105.

    Peale

    March 15, 2016 at 3:11 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Meh. Just start travelling to places you know they don’t have a leg to stand on in that regard. Fuck snotty Frenchmen with their “As least oui ave nut let Le Pen ween” poses. Go to Hungary for a change of pace. If Duarte wins in the Philippines this year, there’s your destination. He’s not rich like Trump, but he’s got that “I’ma gonna take out the trash. I might even shoot ’em myself. To get things done, you gotta break the law sometimes” boast down. Nice beaches in the Philippines.

  106. 106.

    Miss Bianca

    March 15, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    @Peale:

    Or you go the Johnny Carson route, which I’ve used on numerous occasions when an attempt at humor falls flat: you fix your audience with a gimlet eye and say, “See, the REASON that’s funny – “

  107. 107.

    sharl

    March 15, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    Regarding the (in)effectiveness of protests against Trump: that may depend on the agenda of the protesters. Specifically, a lot of the Chicago protesters had a very local concern, and decided that the Trump rally action might just help to get the vote out against widely (and rightfully) detested Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

    The Bernistas shouting outside the Trump venue on Friday likely didn’t help their guy in any way (and the Sanders campaign had nothing to do with their activity, fwiw), although some Chicago Bernie supporters have gotten smart, and have been activity helping the #ByeAnita campaign in advance of today’s election. Lots of evidence for that in @PrisonCulture‘s twitter feed. Whether it will be enough to help in the election today is anyone’s guess.

    Nationally, of course, the coverage and images by CNN, Fox, etc. will only help Trump in the GOP primaries, which comes as no surprise whatsoever to anyone paying attention.

  108. 108.

    Calouste

    March 15, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    @Peale: It wasn’t just that the French didn’t let Le Pen win. When he got through to the presidential runoffs in 2002, everyone got together to vote against him, and he was beaten 82-18. In the U.S. Trump will probably lose 52-48.

    And in France LePen is seem as an extremist, where in the US at least a quarter of one of the two mainstream parties is to the right of LePen.

  109. 109.

    Daulnay

    March 15, 2016 at 3:43 pm

    @aimai:

    No, Charlie Pierce is not making this argument. He’s making the second argument–that is that protesting Trump increases his market share and has a negative effect on the anti trump argument. Especially if the violence can not be controlled since it will always be seen by the press and by Republican voters as a sign that Trump is correct and that the left is “out of control” and dangerous.

    This. For how violent counterprotest gets used by Trumpists, see “The Nazi Seizure of Power”

    Do not feed the beast, please.

  110. 110.

    geg6

    March 15, 2016 at 4:38 pm

    @Daulnay:

    Exactly. I don’t always agree with Pierce, especially lately, but he’s absolutely right on this point. Sad as it makes me to say, Doug is completely wrong here, IMHO.

  111. 111.

    robert thompson

    March 15, 2016 at 4:44 pm

    When facts become fungible this is what you get. Sorry I am late to this party but I had to say that obvious point; that the Holocaust did happen and I don’t give a rat’s ass if someone thinks it did not. They are categorically wrong and by all honoring all opinions as valid, collectively we all become more stupid.

  112. 112.

    ellennelle

    March 15, 2016 at 4:45 pm

    @Mike in DC:

    and in this case, undetectable?

  113. 113.

    aimai

    March 15, 2016 at 5:32 pm

    @sharl: Fantastic! I love the idea of tying any Democratic campaign (national) to local issues like the “byeAnita” campaign. That is what we need. Hats off to the Bernie supporters for doing this.

  114. 114.

    TallPete

    March 15, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    @Larv: Who are you kidding? I could name at least one fp writer (and more than a few commenters) here on BJ that might have written that first paragraph – an not intended it as satire.

  115. 115.

    Princess

    March 15, 2016 at 6:45 pm

    @aimai: The Sanders campaign has nothing to do with the #ByeAnita campaign, which came before the presidential candidates started getting involved in IL (though I am sure most of his voters will vote against her and supper the #ByeAnita movement). In fact, I’d say Bernie stepped on the campaign a bit last week when he started to go hard against Rahm, who is not on the ballot, without mentioning that there was someone closely tied to him was was on the ballot.

  116. 116.

    Arrik

    March 15, 2016 at 6:46 pm

    I love “The Dig!” Shades of Walter Monheit’s Blurb-O-Mat in the old Spy magazine.

    Oooof!

  117. 117.

    Central Planning

    March 15, 2016 at 7:52 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think the only satirical post I’ve ever not had to explain after the fact involved an elephant-sized badger, complete with illustration.

    I don’t get it.

    :P

  118. 118.

    goblue72

    March 15, 2016 at 8:57 pm

    Carl Diggler is well known satirist. This is like the Onion.

  119. 119.

    mclaren

    March 16, 2016 at 1:05 am

    @Ella in New Mexico:

    Instead of holding up protest signs and reacting to spit and water bottles hurled your way, how about actually sitting down and watching a Trump speech.

    Why bother? They were a lot better in the original German.

  120. 120.

    No One You Know

    March 16, 2016 at 3:24 am

    I’m afraid I’m satire-proof at this point. It just read as if it were a guest post from a noxious aunt.

    Shell-shock will do that. And after the Trump debate performances, satire is gonna have to be Dickensonian in scale and Swift in exaggeration to make an impression on me.

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