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Author Topic: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American: T+0  (Read 1391675 times)

Max™

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4515 on: September 21, 2016, 03:19:56 pm »

I still can't get over how weird it is that we have to take seriously anything in which a career politician is up against a reality tv... person.

How the fuck did this happen? I mean, I've been watching it with that sort of horrified fascination you might get when you see a vehicle break down on train tracks, but as it gets closer and closer I can't help but feel like I forgot something... wait, are you supposed to unbuckle your seatbelt before trying to climb out of the vehicle?
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mainiac

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4516 on: September 21, 2016, 03:24:30 pm »

And then you remember that it's your car on the train tracks?
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« Last Edit: February 10, 1988, 03:27:23 pm by UR MOM »
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RedKing

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4517 on: September 21, 2016, 03:37:35 pm »

I still can't get over how weird it is that we have to take seriously anything in which a career politician is up against a reality tv... person.

How the fuck did this happen? I mean, I've been watching it with that sort of horrified fascination you might get when you see a vehicle break down on train tracks, but as it gets closer and closer I can't help but feel like I forgot something... wait, are you supposed to unbuckle your seatbelt before trying to climb out of the vehicle?
No, I get it. It's the horrified curiosity you feel watching someone on a ledge planning to jump. You know you're supposed to hope that they change their mind, get pulled inside, whatever. But there's this dark little piece that wants to see them jump, just because "hey, that would be unusual. Different. Something special."

I think that's a lot of Trump's appeal (and Perot before him, and Ron Paul, and hell even Bernie Sanders). Even if you know they're fundamentally a bad idea, they're at least different, and thus offer the hope that things will be different. (It's the same faulty logic underlying the phrase "Well, anything is better than this," because there are almost assuredly things that are not. Such as being in the same situation but naked and covered in fire ants.)

But Trump is more like watching someone with a suicide vest walking into a preschool. Very bad things are likely to happen, and no amount of curiosity makes it worth that.
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Mephansteras

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4518 on: September 21, 2016, 03:42:29 pm »

But Trump is more like watching someone with a suicide vest walking into a preschool. Very bad things are likely to happen, and no amount of curiosity makes it worth that.

That is a really apt statement.
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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4519 on: September 21, 2016, 03:43:16 pm »

Does this mean that the left is now becoming the new right? Because it certainly seems a lot more hilarious as of late.
No, it doesn't. Note well I said moreso. There's still a hell of a gulf between the two, even if some of the political and rhetoric techniques are becoming even more ubiquitous. Some of the extremes touch a bit but we've got a hell of a lot more of one extreme. Can you guess when one it isn't? It starts with an L, and doesn't end with -tarian.
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Point is, caricatures have always been a thing, but when it gets to the point that you're treating real, living people you interact with as said caricatures, then you've pretty much thrown away your perception in favor of a political narrative.
Strawman, mate. From hell. Folks get treated how they act, by and large, and both ends of the spectrum still are largely fine working with each other when someone involved in the interaction isn't being a massive shit. It's just some of us seem damned intent on being just that. (Hint: They're the ones getting shat on, here.)
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Another good thing is realizing that the US is kind of fuckhuge, so your personal experience, no matter how geographically encompassing it may be, will never be able to paint a realistic picture of the entire thing.
Having been from one coast to the other, I'm pretty damn aware the country's bloody huge. Oddly enough, there's still some pretty serious similarities among political inclinations that are geographically distant, particularly among conservatives (unsurprisingly, that's what happens when diversity and whatnot isn't much encouraged by the platforms involved). There's differences, too, but we ain't exactly talkin' about blue dogs or rockefellers or whatev'. You might not be able to peg down literally every single political group or individual in the country but identifying common behavioral patterns and ideological positions between large ones ain't the most difficult thing in the world to manage. It's not much of a challenge to have a pretty decent idea of what you're walking into for a particular political environment.
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What I'm saying is, don't imediately dismiss people because they disagree with you, because thats kinda the point of modern society, because things got rather shitty when people did otherwise.
If you think simple disagreement is the problem you have not paid one lick of attention to what's going on here. Folks ain't being dismissed or whatever the hell because they just disagree or just because of what side they're on, it's happening because of the positions they're expressing and supporting. Oddly enough, when a conservative shows up and expresses positions that aren't, well, Trump-tier, them and their supporters don't catch nearly as much flak. Helps if they're not the closest thing you can be to a literal con-man and not be in a jail cell, too. You'll also note well that as long as the subject isn't politics folks can usually still get along fairly well if, again, someone involved isn't a massive shit.

Not so sure I can say the thing same about liberal candidates, though. The conservative hate machine runs strong, and doesn't care nearly as much about silly shit like "facts" or "honesty". Which is a hell of a thing to say, because the other end of our media isn't exactly the most observant about either, either.
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Max™

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4520 on: September 21, 2016, 03:45:12 pm »

And then you remember that it's your car on the train tracks?
Oh shi-
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mainiac

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4521 on: September 21, 2016, 03:47:59 pm »

And then you remember that it's your car on the train tracks?
Oh shi-
I think October is the month in which people will realize that this is actually happening.  They were so resigned to Clinton that they didn't bother to consider that the polls weren't that far apart.  I would like to think that they realize this is actually happening and wise the fuck up but very little this election has made that seem possible let alone likely.
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« Last Edit: February 10, 1988, 03:27:23 pm by UR MOM »
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Max™

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4522 on: September 21, 2016, 03:50:06 pm »

Saw something about it possibly being good for people to get spooked by them polling closer if it motivates people to go vote.
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RedKing

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4523 on: September 21, 2016, 03:55:20 pm »

Saw something about it possibly being good for people to get spooked by them polling closer if it motivates people to go vote.
You mean like this?
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mainiac

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4524 on: September 21, 2016, 04:15:18 pm »

LOTR, 2016:

Democrats: Gondor, the land on the edge of the darkness, if it falls the earth is doomed
Bernicrats: Rohan, natural allies of Gondor but they dont bathe despite having all those idlyic rivers
Trumpeteers: Mordor, obviously
Republicans: Umbar, once a land of good it has joined the darkness
Green Party: Saruman, trying to help the forces of darkness in order to be on the winning team
European Union: Dwarves, good guys more or less but tend to ignore problems until a dragon is at their door (not to say that the Men of Middle Earth dont do the same, just with different problems)
Putin: Smaug, sitting on a pile of mineral wealth
Ukraine: Laketown, many parts of this haven't been destroyed by Smaug yet

I dont know who the Dunedain or the Elves are.
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Ancient Babylonian god of RAEG
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« Last Edit: February 10, 1988, 03:27:23 pm by UR MOM »
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BorkBorkGoesTheCode

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4525 on: September 21, 2016, 04:23:05 pm »

I dont know who the Dunedain or the Elves are.
Environmentalists?
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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4526 on: September 21, 2016, 04:25:12 pm »

UK is The Shire, obviously. I mean it is The Shire, always, but in this instance many Hobbits are hunkering down in their hobbitholes, or trying to, and debates are raging as to whether we've had The Scouring yet, or it is yet to come...
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mainiac

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4527 on: September 21, 2016, 04:31:44 pm »

Hey guys, do you guys want to do a little bit to fight the forces of darkness?

Go to this site: New Hampshiregop.com/debate-prep-survey
Fill it out.  Make sure to specify that you want Trump to talk about Ukraine or Russia.  Then, pick a zip code in upstate New Hampshire and put that as your location:http://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/nh/

Make sure to pick a different code in upstate New Hampshire from earlier posters.  I did 03570.

This is very unlikely to matter but I figure there is a small chance the results of this poll might actually matter (it is Trump after all...).  A few dozen votes in upstate new hamshire could actually be noticeable.  And I think we would be doing America and the world a service to get Trump talking about Ukraine and Russia during the debates.  At the very least it would be doing a service to the world of comedy.

I don't see libertarians in your table. Maybe flip 'em with Greens and make the Greens the elves?

Gary Johnson seems to not be making a concerted effort to help Trump like Jill Stein is.  Maybe the Druedain, Treants or Oathbreakers?

Greens cant be the elves because the Greens aren't the eternal adversaries of the darkness with countless battles under their belt.  The Greens accomplishments are... well Ralph Nadar got that law for seatbelts.

Maybe black people are the Elves?  Or the gays?  Neither of them really fit with the "departing from this land" thing.  Rockefeller republicans?  But they're already gone...
« Last Edit: September 21, 2016, 04:34:02 pm by mainiac »
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Ancient Babylonian god of RAEG
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« Last Edit: February 10, 1988, 03:27:23 pm by UR MOM »
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Baffler

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4528 on: September 21, 2016, 04:32:13 pm »

The Dunedain are the Founding Fathers, remembered fondly (and not undeservedly) but the myth is still nicer than the reality. The Elves are... I dunno, the ancient Greeks?
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mainiac

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Re: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American
« Reply #4529 on: September 21, 2016, 04:33:20 pm »

The Dunedain are the Founding Fathers, remembered fondly but the myth is nicer than the reality.

So you are saying you expect Alexander Hamilton to return when hope seems lost, defeat Trump and become president?

Ooooh, flyover country can be the Middle Men.  Besides the name being perfect they are found in all sides, are treated as stoic but ignorable and really aren't that different from the Numenoreans.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2016, 04:38:05 pm by mainiac »
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« Last Edit: February 10, 1988, 03:27:23 pm by UR MOM »
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