Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

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

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / It’s Hard to Convince People that You’re Killing Them for Their Own Good

It’s Hard to Convince People that You’re Killing Them for Their Own Good

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I was going through a box of papers this afternoon, and I was ruthless – maybe too ruthless – in throwing away papers that they say you should keep.

But I found one gem that was bittersweet.

A bumper sticker, in the words of Molly Ivins: “It’s hard to convince people that you’re killing them for their own good.”

It was true back when she said it all those years ago, and I wonder if it’s ever been more true than it is today.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  2. 2.

    Uncle Cosmo

    In case it hasn’t been mentioned, BJ on my laptop browser (Firefox) shows only the most recent topic on the front page; for the next one must click to the next page, etc.

  3. 3.

    teezyskeeyz

    @Baud:  I was gonna say, the mortality rates of red counties and states doesn’t seem to be dissuading Republican base voters at all.

  10. 10.

    Marmot

    A bumper sticker, in the words of Molly Ivins: “It’s hard to convince people that you’re killing them for their own good.”

    I kind of can’t believe nobody’s mentioned the Iraq War and all the “we’ll be greeted as liberators!” propaganda.

  13. 13.

    smith

    Here’s more support for the idea that Republican governance can kill you.  But contra Molly Ivins, their voters seem to be convinced that it is for their own good.

    So what does it say about a political party which incessantly promotes its respect for life and yet whose states’ policies overwhelmingly and repeatedly produce the highest rates of death from cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s, influenza, diabetes, traffic accidents, guns, workplace accidents, suicides and murders?

  18. 18.

    WaterGirl

    @Uncle Cosmo: @teezyskeeyz:  and apparently everyone in the first 10 comments!

    That was just for like a minute or two as I was troubleshooting the sidebar issue on the front page.

    edit: That’s not a slam, though.  I would rather hear about a problem 10 times than not at all. :-)  It’s just that I came to this thread after already fixing the problem

    edit 2: FYI, the culprit was a bit of stray HTML code that came in the with the ThreadReader text.  Easy fix.

    edit 3: oops!  I forgot to set the magic # back to 7 posts after I changed it to one to see which post was causing the problem!

  21. 21.

    SFBayAreaGal

    I’m having the same problem on my android. I have to click the next page to see the previous topic.

  22. 22.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Marmot:

    I kind of can’t believe nobody’s mentioned the Iraq War and all the “we’ll be greeted as liberators!” propaganda. 

    My brain mentions that to me every day – and that Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld are in Hell.

  23. 23.

    Ohio Mom

    @WaterGirl: Nope, still happening to me (safari on old iPhone).

    However, not anywhere near my current top ten list of headaches. I can live with it.

  26. 26.

    brendancalling

    “It’s hard to convince people that you’re killing them for their own good.”

    Tell that the the horsepaste and bleach-drinking crowd.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    It’s hard to convince (thinking) people that you are killing them for their own good.

    So I guess that doesn’t really apply to people who are still in Trump’s corner.

  37. 37.

    CaseyL

    These are people who are conditioned, or have been conditioned, to think everything that happens is God’s Will – right up to and including their own children dying of preventable, treatable diseases.  They probably even see it as a badge of honor, to lose a loved one to their God.

    For me, a more interesting question is why they continue to worship a God who is by all accounts a sadistic psychopath.

    Why don’t they find a better one to worship?

  38. 38.

    leeleeFL

    @Old School: Hillary Clinton’s stance on Iraq!  She stated she wouldn’t be supporting Clinton, and then said that!  I miss her!  I’ve quoted that often!

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    Awe :)

     

    Kimberly D. Manning, MD (@gradydoctor) posted at 7:55 AM on Mon, Feb 26, 2024:
    My late father tutored my son 2x per week in math all the way from California—and always had on a Tuskegee shirt when he did.

    Ha.

    His grandson is now a freshman at TU—and is strong in math to this day. NEVER underestimate the power of your influence—or intention.

    Yeah. https://t.co/fuiLUmWiVD
    (https://x.com/gradydoctor/status/1762114230788960311?t=RlEybjqsqhs-OwWyC7mifA&s=03)

  45. 45.

    RaflW

    @CaseyL: The argument never works on wingers, but who are we to say that g-d wasn’t guiding the hand of Louis Pasteur or Jonas Salk?

    I’m not one to think g-d works that way, or even have any certainty whatsoever that g-d exists. But if the Xtian right is so convinced that g-d guides them, why do they think he doesn’t have an interest in the lives and paths of doctors, scientists or anyone else?

    Some of those professionals might even be evangelicals themselves! (Maybe not a ton, given the anti-science-ness of many, but it’s not a given. My former boss 20 years ago was a mega-church, bible in the van at all times evangelical. And progressive and science-believing.)

  46. 46.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    Molly Ivins was before my time but I recently watched the documentary about her.  She hated Bill Clinton for gutting welfare and refused to vote for him a second time—she sat out the 1996 election.

    I definitely didn’t see that coming.

    The doc is free on Kanopy if anyone is interested. Molly was hysterical and Ann Richards was a stone fox.

  47. 47.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @PaulWartenberg: I vividly recall a panel discussion moderated by Pat Schroeder with Molly Ivins where she called out Bill O’Reilly as a bully. It was a simpler time.

  50. 50.

    Josie

    I just read that Colin Allred (running against Ted Cruz) has invited the Dallas doctor who left the state for an abortion and wrote about it to the state of the union speech. He obviously thinks this is a winning position, even here in Texas. He is a centrist Democrat who has a chance to pull this off. i hope we can help him with the time comes to get out the vote. Remember: Texas is not a red state; it is a voter suppressed state.

  51. 51.

    smith

    Alvin Bragg is getting things lined up for the next stop on TFG’s Finding Out Tour. In advance of any new fireworks, he’s requesting a gag order just like the one granted by Judge Chutkan and upheld by the DC Appellate Court. He’s also requesting that names and other identifying information about jurors be kept private. Before this is all over, there may be a whole set of judicial rules developed just for TFG.

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    1st world problem, Amazon edition.
    You know package tracking? Those packages can really have an adventure to countless unknown places.

    Monday, February 26
    8:56 AM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    4:41 AM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    3:25 AM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    Sunday, February 25
    11:46 PM Package left the carrier facility.
    11:33 PM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    2:50 PM Package left the carrier facility.
    2:16 PM Package left the carrier facility.
    Saturday, February 24
    7:44 AM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    6:00 AM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    Thursday, February 22
    1:44 AM Package left the carrier facility.
    1:24 AM Package left the carrier facility.
    Wednesday, February 21
    8:31 PM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    7:16 PM Package arrived at a carrier facility.
    Tuesday, February 20
    6:12 PM Carrier received the package.
    Carrier picked up the package.

    Never lose hope, little package, people are watching out for you!

  55. 55.

    David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch

    There’s a lot of…well,
    badness in the world today.

    I see it in court every day.

    I’ve sentenced boys younger than you
    to the gas chamber.

    I didn’t want to do it.
    I felt I owed it to them.

    ~ Caddyshack

  56. 56.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Marmot: ​

    I kind of can’t believe nobody’s mentioned the Iraq War and all the “we’ll be greeted as liberators!” propaganda.

    Reminding me of my college friend’s car, which was her parents’ car, and has eternally had a john prine “your flag decal won’t get you into heaven any more” sticker on it. Probably not in use any more, I wonder if her latest one has it!

  58. 58.

    cain

    @smith: I mean sure – if its their time – check out. But they also make you stay in the damn hospital and making you spend money till you bankrupt everyone.

  59. 59.

    TBone

    I supported Veterans for Peace during the Iraq debacle and sported a dove bumper sticker from them.  Bought my dad an XXXL T-shirt too.  I used to be a strict pacifist, sweet summer child.

  62. 62.

    smith

    @cain: Something I’ve been curious about is the relative economic hardship caused by COVID cases in red and blue states. We know that there were more deaths the more Republican an area was, which implies there would have been a lot more hospitalizations as well, and many more families wiped out financially as a result. Haven’t seen any research on it, though. I wonder if those experiences changed anybody’s mind about single payer health care, or other evil socialist schemes to relieve those burdens.

  64. 64.

    bjacques

    Molly Ivins was the greatest. One of her early columns was about the Austin Funhouse, back when Texas state politics were merely goofy (if you were white, anyway) and not unrelentingly mean, like now. I got to see her give a speech at University of Houston in the late 1980s. There’s a collection of her columns with a cover photo of her leaning back with her boots on the table, like Mercedes McCambridge in “Giant”. Bless.

  65. 65.

    TBone

    @RaflW: I had to remind people more than once that “God created science” with the “you fucking nincompoop” part left unsaid.

  66. 66.

    TBone

    @bjacques: I first saw Giant in Texas!  My nickname there was Lil Philly.  Like a rambunctious colt who taught them what a REAL cheesteak was, not a slab of beef on a slice of white bread 🤣 I had to send that back to the kitchen!

  71. 71.

    lowtechcyclist

    @PaulWartenberg:

    I wonder how many of us read Molly Ivins back in the day, if we share that commonality.

    When her book “Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She?” came out, a friend recommended it to me. I read as much of her stuff as I could from then on.

  73. 73.

    Subsole

    @RaflW:

    Y’all would likely be horrified at how many medical professionals are conservative.

    The intellect, it appears, is capable of a staggering degree of compartmentalization…

  76. 76.

    TBone

    @David 🏈 Mahomes! 🏈 Koch: I adore Sam W. in the Netflix series Grace & Frankie, it’s such an opposite character from Jack McCoy and really shows his range.  That series kept me sane through an awful time of life.  I like Law & Order also, I sometimes sit outside and play the theme sound real loud for my Rumpy neighbors 😆

  78. 78.

    EarthWindFire

    @Subsole: Yeah, it’s frightening. My spouse left his doc when she advocated COVID vaccine choice. Some of them really let money and their politics override their medical education. I say money, because up until spouse’s ex-doc, I saw a liberal/conservative split between lower paid GPs and higher paid specialists.

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