Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

No one could have predicted…

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

This blog will pay for itself.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / That Golden Ratio

That Golden Ratio

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If you have no idea what it means to be “ratioed,” click this link and then look at a beautiful specimen right here:

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    cain

    What the fuck are they talking about? It just means they are racists too.. do we need to include degrees of racism? Some better than others?

  5. 5.

    MattF

    Because they ‘referenced’ South Africa’s policy? No, because they lied about it. And… oh, yeah, a lot of other things.

  7. 7.

    shelley

    So ,what are they suggesting. We have two choices, racist or stupid? With Tucker its neither; he’s just cynically opportunistic.

  8. 8.

    TenguPhule

    If Trump and Tucker are “racists,” then what do you call those other people?

    Nazis.

  9. 9.

    Lapassionara

    I know what I don’t call them: President of the United States. They may be evil, but they are not the ones trying to take citizenship away from people born in the US and from people who have become naturalized citizens. Nor do they have a big TV audience to listen to their views.

    Sheeeeeeesh!

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    @cain:

    do we need to include degrees of racism? Some better than others?

    All racists are evil. But some are more evil then others.

  11. 11.

    randy khan

    Interesting pitch from Tim Kaine, received in my email earlier today:

    J.G., I’m about to ask you to support my campaign again. But first, let me tell you why.

    On election night, even if I were to win by a big margin – but we didn’t flip a single Congressional district from red to blue here in Virginia… well, that just wouldn’t be good enough. But if I get re-elected by just one point, and we take a whole handful of seats, helping Democrats win back the House and the Senate – now THAT’s a win I could be proud of.

    We won’t have the resources to support our great Congressional candidates if we don’t hit our goal this month. We still need more supporters to step up before tomorrow’s deadline if we want a chance at making this goal and securing more resources. I sure would appreciate it if you could donate online today.

    I’m actually seeing this in other VA fundraising as well – a local member of the House of Delegates (in a really safe seat) said at her recent fundraiser that the money would be used in competitive districts to take back the majority.

  12. 12.

    jl

    @chopper: “really racist.”.
    You get the award for best answer. I guessed just also ‘racist’ was correct on an earlier thread.

    Is there an Annals of Ridiculous Arguments where we can submit this tweet as a case study?

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    If mentioning an incredibly skewed view of South Africa’s land-reform policies was the only racist thing that either Trump or Carlson had done or said, people might be inclined to give them a pass on the label ‘racist’. Hell, if that was the only racist thing from them _this month_, maybe. But, you know, pattern of behavior.

  16. 16.

    Mary G

    I think that is the most spectacular ratio I have ever seen, and I am proud to be a part of it.

    American Conservative gets extra bonus points because the article is by Jack Hunter, AKA the Southern Avenger, Rand Paul’s racist ex-aide and co-author.

    Wikipedia:Hunter’s reputation as a political operative was discredited following the Washington Free Beacon’s revelation in July 2013 that he had repeatedly espoused racist views on a local South Carolina radio station under the Southern Avenger moniker. His racist comments included expressions of contempt for Hispanic immigrants, and a call for NAACP director Kweisi Mfume, whom he referred to as “NAACP Grand Wizard,” to be tied to a tree and whipped.[3][4] Following these revelations, Hunter resigned from Rand Paul’s staff in what the Senator called a “mutual decision.” In a November 2013 article for Politico, Hunter repudiated his former views, writing “I’m not a racist; I just played one on the radio.”[5]

  17. 17.

    boatboy_srq

    Easy.

    “Racists.”

    Or perhaps “fascists.”

    Just as there’s no gradation to accommodate people who joined the Nazi party for its pride in the fatherland or its economic policies, there’s no gradation amongst racists. The only place “a little bit racist” is excusable is Avenue Q.

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    Irony is dead. Megan McArdle has a column arguing that misinterpreting statistics is bad.

  19. 19.

    MisterForkbeard

    @cain: Dude, if you call Hitler Youth “nazis”, what do you call Hitler? They can’t BOTH be nazis, right?

    Sigh.

  20. 20.

    gene108

    Conservatives really do not understand that you do not get to tell people, when they are or should be offended.

    They really cannot grasp the idea that what makes them happy may injure other people, and therefore they should stop. Or what they are doing causes problems for others.

    They have no capacity for compassion.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    Sen. Orrin Hatch wants the FTC to investigate Google

    Google not only enjoys a “dominant position” in the search marketplace, said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), but the tech company has expanded its reach since 2013, when the Federal Trade Commission closed a probe into Google without launching a major enforcement action.

    In a letter to the FTC, Hatch — a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and its antitrust subcommittee — asked the agency to “consider the competitive effects of Google’s conduct” in light of what he said were “disquieting” reports of potentially harmful behavior by the search giant.

    The Russians must have one hell of a file on Hatch.

  23. 23.

    Glidwrith

    Guys, you HAVE to click through. Our very own Angry Black Lady is quoted in the article. Woohoo!

  25. 25.

    TriassicSands

    @cain:

    …do we need to include degrees of racism? Some better than others?

    Of course, because there are some very good racists and some really bad racists. And some racists are really good people and some are not.

    This is particularly important in the Republican Party where voters need to know just how racist their racist candidate is. They don’t want to waste their votes on someone who is merely a mediocre racist. They want someone willing to go all the way.

  27. 27.

    SUZANNE

    If Trump and Tucker are “racists,” then what do you call those other people?

    Deplorable

  29. 29.

    gene108

    If Trump and Tucker are “racists,” then what do you call those other people?

    Racists.

    I’m not sure how true this is, but somewhere I read Eskimos have 13 different words for snow. Do we really want to go down the path, where we have different words for different levels of evil?

    I can’t deal with their “logic” or lack thereof.

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    @JPL:

    By the end of last year, the phenomenon of Twitter ratios finally crossed over into predictability. In December, Newsweek tweeted, “Does Hillary Clinton have terrible taste in men, or just too ambitious to be a supporter of other women?” Imani Gandy, a journalist and legal advocate, summed up the internet’s response rather aptly:

    Imani Gandy o—€
    ✔
    @AngryBlackLady
    Replying to @Newsweek
    I’m just here for the ratio.

    2:29 PM – Dec 6, 2017
    628
    25 people are talking about this

  32. 32.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    @TenguPhule:

    I really don’t think these gigantic businesses like Google, Facebook and Amazon are good for society over the long haul. I think we’re going to have to do some hard thinking about how we can regulate these behemoths to serve the interests of society as a whole. But this shit is just shit. Donald Tяump, Orrin Hatch and all these other random and variegated shitbags aren’t doing this with anything but their own narrow self interest in mind. Whatever we do to rein in these monstrosities, we have to wait until the people doing the reining in are honest, decent people.

  33. 33.

    TenguPhule

    @gene108:

    Do we really want to go down the path, where we have different words for different levels of evil?

    We passed that waypost 18 years ago.

  34. 34.

    les

    That’s just stunningly stupid. I guess their point is there’s only one racist in the world–the worst one. Nobody else earns the title.

  39. 39.

    gene108

    @TenguPhule:

    Anti-trust cases against tech giants is something that needs to be considered, if you look at how Amazon and Google dominate their markets.

    When the Clinton Admin lawsuit anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft was dropped, when Bush, Jr. took office, I think we missed an opportunity to curb monopolistic power in the tech sector.

    But I don’t think Republicans really care about creating competitive tech markets. Hatch is just pissy because Donnie Dolllhands is pissy and upsetting Donnie Dollhands could cost him his Senate* seat.

    * I don’t know, what they put in the Senate water, but no one wants to retire from there. Strom Thurmond was 100 years old, and didn’t want to retire. Must be the best job in the world.

  40. 40.

    TriassicSands

    @TenguPhule:

    Plus, that is a distinctly Democratic/liberal/progressive point of view.

    Republicans need help making sense of their candidates.

  42. 42.

    A Ghost To Most

    President Donald Trump’s legal team is stepping up their efforts to attack the “legitimacy” of Robert Mueller and the investigation into the 2016 election hack.

    According to The Daily Beast, the “counter-report” will work to research “possible conflicts” of interest for every person associated with the investigation. Thus far, the White House and Trump’s lawyers have taken out nearly every person at the FBI that spoke to former FBI Director James Comey after his meetings with Trump. Their efforts to take down Mueller’s team will likely be similar.

    These fucking guys don’t know how to stop digging

  46. 46.

    Aleta

    Ron DeSantis Was Reportedly an Admin of Racist Facebook Page
    Click on a page called “Tea Party,” which boasts 94,000 followers and claims to be “the oldest and largest #TeaParty group on Facebook,” and you’ll find that one of the first posts this morning is a glaringly racist meme. (Some memes are at the article, at New Times.) The racist post is par for the course for the page, which has also shared at least six posts since Tuesday supporting Florida’s new GOP gubernatorial nominee, Ron DeSantis. Until reporters began asking questions yesterday, DeSantis was reportedly one of 52 listed administrators of the offensive page.
    DeSantis’ affiliation with the Facebook group was turned up by Natalie Martinez, a reporter with Media Matters, who noted that numerous other GOP candidates are also admins, including Arizona Senate candidate Kelly Ward and Virginia Senate candidate Corey Stewart.
    It doesn’t appear that DeSantis himself posted recently on the page, but his affiliation with such an obviously racist group wouldn’t help his argument that he “accidentally” used the phrase “monkey it up.”

    -New Times

  48. 48.

    TenguPhule

    @Luthe:

    The likelihood of McMegan ever correctly interpreting a statistic is 1 in 1,000,000,000.

    But that would mean its a sure thing! //

  50. 50.

    p.a.

    Ya see! Ya see! They’ve never actually killed a blah. Advocated for it (Central Park 5 etc.) Excused it. Justified it ad nauseam. Overlooked it. Covered it up.
    Totes differs.

  52. 52.

    California Stars

    I actually read that article last night, because every once and a while my masochistic tendencies compel me to check what neurotic drivel Rod Dreher is spouting about LGBTQ people on TAC.
    It was particularly maddening in that the author, and those responding positively to him, were clearly racist. IIRC the article’s premise was essentially, “If I say I’m not racist in an arrogant enough tone, that makes me not racist, so nyah nyah… btw scary black people REALLY ARE stealing white farmers land, so scaryyyyy!!!!”
    Fortunately there was a fair share of intelligent and accurate pushback in the comments section from folks on all ends of the political spectrum (TAC’s only saving grace=the occasional smart Republican commenter).

  53. 53.

    phantomist

    RAVA: Maybe you think we’re in cahoots.

    ELAINE: No, no . . . but it is quite a coincidence.

    RAVA: Yes, that’s all, a coincidence!

    ELAINE: A big coincidence.

    RAVA: Not a big coincidence. A coincidence!

    ELAINE: No, that’s a big coincidence.

    RAVA: That’s what a coincidence is! There are no small coincidences and big coincidences!

    ELAINE: No, there are degrees of coincidences.

    RAVA: No, there are only coincidences! ..Ask anyone! (Enraged, she asks everyone in the elevator) Are there big coincidences and small coincidences, or just coincidences? (Silent) ..Well?! Well?!..

  55. 55.

    eemom

    Saying that something “is nonsense”, as in the retweeted thingy, has got to be one of the lamest ass phrases in the history of written advocacy. #personalvexation

  56. 56.

    MisterForkbeard

    @TenguPhule: The thing is, there’s absolutely reason to investigate Google and its anti-competitive practices.

    But choosing “silencing conservatives” as the reason to investigate them is laughably stupid. Which is probably why it’s going to happen, thank you Republican America.

  58. 58.

    Duane

    Maybe the American Conservative just has a “tenuous factual basis.” You know, lying. Stealing that from Maggie.

  60. 60.

    Martin

    It’s a pretty clear, definitive hierarchy:
    racist
    whitey
    ofay
    redneck
    peckerwood
    cracker
    white trash
    honkey
    super honkey
    dead honkey

  61. 61.

    debit

    Since this post is under Clown Shoes…remember when all the press pictures of Obama seemed deliberately chosen to make him look tired and confused? When Trump first ascended to his golden throne, the pictures were always of him smiling or using his “presidential” expression (lips slightly pursed, chin jutting out, brows furrowed). Now every picture seems to be of him with his mouth open, like he’s mid scream. I approve.

  62. 62.

    California Stars

    @debit: I’ve noticed a lot of him with the pouty lips. Don’t know if that’s a collective trend among newspaper art directors or if he’s just making that face a lot lately (I suspect it’s the latter).

  63. 63.

    Gelfling 545

    Beyond racist if they are actually worse thsn Trump they SHOULD be called defendabts before the International Criminal Court.

  64. 64.

    Tim C.

    One of the side effects of going after the most extreme racist organizations and institutions as been the idea, that really started to set in as a kind of dry rot, that only the most awful and violent racist acts were the really big problem. This as allowed a lot of Citizen’s committee types as their ilk to think of themselves as “not really racist.” The fictional town of Maycomb is a good example (To Kill a Mockingbird) Yeah, Bob Ewell, might be the worst human being in town and the worst racist, but you know what? Walter Cunningham is pretty bad too. So’s pretty much every white person in the book, including Atticus Finch. Something Harper Lee waited until nearly her death before she rubbed our noses in it. I know it’s a cliche, but “Not being as bad as Bob Ewell” isn’t the standard anyone should aim for.

  65. 65.

    Luthe

    @California Stars: Pouty lips and crossed arms, like a toddler having a tantrum.

    (Autocorrect wanted to use “potty” instead of “pouty.” It may have been on to something)

  67. 67.

    Mandalay

    @Gin & Tonic: Well, you just persuaded me to buy that book. The end of that essay was magnificent:

    Don’t be a coward like me. Stand up and tell the speaker this: C.W. Schultz-Lorentzen’s Dictionary of the West Greenlandic Eskimo Language (1927) gives just two possibly relevant roots: qanik, meaning ‘snow in the air’ or ‘snowflake’, and aput, meaning ‘snow on the ground’. Then add that you would be interested to know if the speaker
    can cite any more. This will not make you the most popular person in the room. It will have an effect roughly comparable to pouring fifty gallons of thick oatmeal into a harpsichord during a baroque recital. But it will strike a
    blow for truth, responsibility, and standards of evidence in linguistics.

  68. 68.

    misterpuff

    The math is this: you can’t be a little bit racist, if you are, you are a racist.

    Much like the “single drop of blood” espoused by all your fine slavers and Nazis.

  69. 69.

    Gelfling 545

    @TenguPhule: No they are bad regardless of whether or not they are “metabolically challenged”, to borrow the term from Charles Stross.

  73. 73.

    California Stars

    @Luthe: Definitely onto something. Whether it comes out of his twitter regions or his pouty face, it’s all excrement.

  74. 74.

    danielx

    There are people with far, far more offensive racial views than Donald Trump or Tucker Carlson. If Trump and Tucker are “racists,” then what do you call those other people? https://t.co/8dNSOT1qDE

    — The American Conservative (@amconmag) August 30, 2018

    You call them racists, Katie. All of them, including the shitgibbon and Tucker Carlson.

  75. 75.

    California Stars

    @Jay: Oh my goodness, the last sentence of that article is delicious:

    “As for Sanduja and the two users whom he says threatened him, none have quit the site, despite the real Nazis, the specter of fake Nazis, and the allegations of conspiracy—both by and against Gab.

    They’re all still online, freely bickering with each other until someone calls the police.”

  76. 76.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jay: This is particularly amazing, from the company founder in 2016 after decrying “the left bias of social media”.

    “What makes the entirely left-leaning Big Social monopoly qualified to… define what ‘harassment’ means?”

    I mean, it’s when someone is harassed? Like you’re being harassed now by your racist and alt-right customers, you supercilious twit?

  78. 78.

    low-tech cyclist

    I used up one of my NYT views for the month, and all I got was a pathetically incomplete explanation of what a ‘ratio’ is.

    OK, the ‘ratio’ is (likes + retweets)/replies. The higher the ratio, the better. The closer to zero, the greater its suckitude.

    I gather (though it said nowhere) that anyone ‘talking about this’ has replied. And the heart is obviously likes.

    If there were a third number in sight, I’d assume that was retweets, but there isn’t a third number.

  79. 79.

    boatboy_srq

    @California Stars: Don’t you love how these purveyors of the ideal of the Galtian Libertardian Alt-Right Armed-and-Polite Paradise keep running to the security state whenever someone says something nasty that hurts their feefees?

  81. 81.

    California Stars

    @boatboy_srq: Right? I found myself wondering what exactly the police would do…”So…You say you’re being threatened by someone who’s a subscriber to the violent, threatening website you administrate?”

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    @jl:

    Annals of Ridiculous Arguments

    That office is 4 doors down on your left.
    No, your other left.
    Holly hell, just walk around till you find it.

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