What the heck happened to Cannonfire blog?

[chiggerbit]

He's not the only Hillbot that's gone off the rails. I don't know what it is with them, but they seem unable to accept that their candidate lost. Maybe they bought into her "inevitibility", became emotionally invested in it and haven't been able to recover from that. They won't be happy until Obama loses. Their obsessiveness is getting kind of scary.

[Avalon]

Hamden, do a search here, we've had some conversations about Joseph Cannon here in the past few months that might give you more of a feel.

I think it was one of those frog in boiling water processes. I used to check in with Cannonfire daily, and never was disappointed. I valued his research and analysis like I (if I might say without sounding like I'm sucking up) valued yours.

It began to change about a year ago, maybe more. The biggest problem seemed to be that he was starting to get really fixated on "controlled demolition" theories for the WTC. He hated them, and their proponents, who he started to refer to as "trannies." I can only think that it was from some conflation with cross-dressing (i.e., CD). He began to insistantly shove his little neologism petulantly in the faces of his readers, started telling us how much he hated us, and wanted to take down the blog, not just take a break or just stop writing it. Joseph got the predictable chorus of "No, we love you, don't jump." He muttered something darkly about some family obligation that meant he had to keep on going with it, but didn't (at least at the time) explain what that might be. His occasional contributor (and perhaps some kind of blogging partner even? Don't know) Dr. Elsewhere got unceremoniously, publicly and nastily booted.

The Obama vs Hillary race got him even more wound up, and now he seems to be in some full-tilt mania over how he hates Obama and those who will vote for him over McCain. If you read Xymphora's blog several years ago, you wouldn't find the anti-Jew fervor that's destroyed his/her blog's usefulness. Joseph has always had the option for just ignoring people who disagree with him on the 9/11 events, but he continually chooses to take the bait and start scrapping.

People do have crises and end up reviewing and rejecting much of what they've believed before. People have breakdowns. He's mentioned having a bad sciatica problem, and pain and medication are behind a lot of internet anger in some posters I've known. I wish he'd get some medical help, because carrying around all that anger is pure poison for body, mind and soul.

I'm sorry to see this change happen with someone I respected. I don't like to get hit with the wall of pain and anger he's built up there, so I only check in every few weeks now, in hope that something will have changed, but it's just unreadable. A number of his regular readers have expressed their concern for Joseph when the comments section has been opened, but he's generally deleted them.

[HamdenRice]

Thanks for your replies. I think the thing that most disturbs me is that at some point, his contrarianism was taken to illogical extremes. That's my main question, really. There is something fundamentally illogical now in that blog that speaks to deeper issues than politics and goes to mental processes. For example, it's one thing to criticize certain people who, say supported Obama, called themselves progressives, and (in his view maybe) treated Hillary badly. It's entirely another thing to write the kinds of things he has been writing, such as, "all progressives are liars, all of them." He has taken on this strange habit of categorical thinking. I couldn't even say "all Bush supporters are ..." anything really other than Bush supporters. His writing is now full of these categorical accusations that don't make much sense.

The other thing that is disturbing is the degree of his hatred of Obama. It's disturbing on a number of levels. One level is its irrationality. He is constantly accusing Obama of things that no matter how hard I try to be objective and open minded about, simply aren't true. His accusations have become bizarre and ungrounded in reality. So there's this combination of being picky about the truth/falsehood of certain factual claims (birth certificate, Michelle's whitey comment) and completely disregarding the truth/falsehood of other claims.

As an African American, I also have to say I find that the reaction of some people to Obama is pretty depressing, and Cannon is one of them. Frankly, there is no way that the actual person of Obama could generate that much venom in certain people unless they bring certain emotional baggage to their evaluation. It's like the theme of Ellison's Invisible Man -- that certain white people are simply incapable of seeing the black person in front of them because they are seeing something else fixed in their minds.

I once saw this happen as an event of mass hysteria -- something I'm am trying to write about. I call it the New York Rodney King riot. It the day after the Rodney King riot in LA, around mid morning in Manhattan. Rumors swept through the city that young blacks from Brooklyn were swarming into Manhattan burning and looting like those in LA. Updates were coming through official office channels -- Macy's was on fire; Grand Central was being wilded by gangs; subway tunnnels had been blocked with barracades, locking everyone into Manhattan; and so on. My employer shut down, as did the employers of most of my friends, and we all went to our homes. When I arrived home, and turned on the news, the local anchor, Sue Simmons, was practically screaming, "nothing is happening, there are no riots anywhere." What happened was that the monsters in people's minds were more real than reality -- real enough to shut down the city, the stock exchanges, the stores, at a cost of millions and millions of dollars. That's kind of what has happened to Joseph.

It seems to me that a lot of what Joseph is now writing is delusional. And I don't mean that as a typical online insult; I mean it in the psychological/legal context -- a person's absolute belief in an assertion of fact despite all evidence to the contrary.

One last clarification about my DU/Kos comment. I think Joseph at one point hoped he could use DU as a springboard audience, kind of the way Will Pitt and Larissa Alexandrovna and Jeff did. For reasons that are unclear, Joseph has always been banned from DU and refused membership. At one point we emailed about it and he asked why he was banned, and I in turn emailed the mods, of course to no avail. DU has never explained it, but I suppose it has something to do with things he used to write vis a vis Israel that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic. I also assume that once he started using the term "trannie" as a joke insult to CD proponents, he would be pre-emptively banned as homophobic.

[Jeff]

Thanks Hamden, you make good observations. Sad ones, as well.

[Fat Lady Singing]

I once saw this happen as an event of mass hysteria -- something I'm am trying to write about. I call it the New York Rodney King riot. It the day after the Rodney King riot in LA, around mid morning in Manhattan. Rumors swept through the city that young blacks from Brooklyn were swarming into Manhattan burning and looting like those in LA. Updates were coming through official office channels -- Macy's was on fire; Grand Central was being wilded by gangs; subway tunnnels had been blocked with barracades, locking everyone into Manhattan; and so on. My employer shut down, as did the employers of most of my friends, and we all went to our homes. When I arrived home, and turned on the news, the local anchor, Sue Simmons, was practically screaming, "nothing is happening, there are no riots anywhere." What happened was that the monsters in people's minds were more real than reality -- real enough to shut down the city, the stock exchanges, the stores, at a cost of millions and millions of dollars. That's kind of what has happened to Joseph.

That's a really fascinating and, as far as my limited memory goes, underreported incident. I hope you post some more about it here on the message board. It's interesting that there wasn't any kind of modern-day Orson Welles radio broadcast prompting the reactions, but that also makes me wonder what the trigger *was* -- although perhaps, as you suggest, the trigger was more of a diffuse collective fear.

Sorry for the diversion from the OP... now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

[Avalon]

While race may indeed have some part in Joseph Cannon's reaction, his hysteria on 9/11 subjects before Obama was involved in the presidential race suggests that it is the way he'll respond to anything that goes from dislike to obsessive fixation and hatred.

Joseph, if you are reading this -- with all due respect, you need medical help.

[LilyPatToo]

HamdenRice said:

As an African American, I also have to say I find that the reaction of some people to Obama is pretty depressing, and Cannon is one of them. Frankly, there is no way that the actual person of Obama could generate that much venom in certain people unless they bring certain emotional baggage to their evaluation. It's like the theme of Ellison's Invisible Man -- that certain white people are simply incapable of seeing the black person in front of them because they are seeing something else fixed in their minds.

Thank you for that clear statement on a murky subject. Now to find one on the HillaryBots that I can use to grok their particular irrational hobbyhorse.

Sorry to go a bit Off Topic...but only a bit.

LilyPat

[8bitagent]

Fox News: Commentators joke about about they wish someone would "knock off Obama"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjYpkvcm ... re=related

The fact this video has not been spread, Olbermannized, ect shows how people don't want to see how truly dangerous politics has become

Look at this string of clips of how much hate speech Fox uses against minorities in America:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY04gIruZ4E

Geezus. I used to laugh at Fox News, but after that guy went on a rampage at that church...now I am fearful of right wing talk radio and Fox.

Look at this string of clips of attacking Obama on Fox:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouKJixL--ms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjvNSpsPu1k

"He's an African anyway" says one guest on Fox News, saying why
he has no business running.

[sunny]

Hamden, thank you for your perceptive and compassionate observations.

I once saw this happen as an event of mass hysteria -- something I'm am trying to write about. I call it the New York Rodney King riot. It the day after the Rodney King riot in LA, around mid morning in Manhattan. Rumors swept through the city that young blacks from Brooklyn were swarming into Manhattan burning and looting like those in LA. Updates were coming through official office channels -- Macy's was on fire; Grand Central was being wilded by gangs; subway tunnnels had been blocked with barracades, locking everyone into Manhattan; and so on. My employer shut down, as did the employers of most of my friends, and we all went to our homes. When I arrived home, and turned on the news, the local anchor, Sue Simmons, was practically screaming, "nothing is happening, there are no riots anywhere." What happened was that the monsters in people's minds were more real than reality -- real enough to shut down the city, the stock exchanges, the stores, at a cost of millions and millions of dollars. That's kind of what has happened to Joseph.

I've never even heard of that! I look forward to your take on it.

[HamdenRice]

Another aspect of the crazy illogic that has taken over Cannon's blog is his complete abandonment of any concept of cause and effect. For example, an entry near the top of the blog right now is a rant about how Obama will lose and the Democrats will lose the House and Senate because of the recent swing toward McCain in the polls. And the reason? Because on internet forums like HuffPo, DU and Kos, people have been "attacking" Palin's daughter. Even if it were true that all the speculation about whose baby Trig is was an "attack," look at how preposterous the underlying cause/effect proposition is: low information, independent voters who have swung toward McCain did so because of discussions progressives have had almost entirely among themselves in internet discussion boards. Can anyone rationally believe that some of the more outre discussion topics at DU and Kos are causing the swings in national polls?

Similarly, back during the Hillary/Obama drama, he consistently blamed Obama for anything that was written about Hillary on Kos and DU. When asked about it in the comment section he demanded that Obama denounce Kos and DU -- as though Obama is a DU or Kos poster or even knows of their existence. But when Ferraro or Bill said something directly about Obama, supposedly neither Hillary nor her campaign could be blamed.

In other words, it's not just the venom and hatred that makes the blog hard to read (not to mention racism and the subtly implied anti-Semitism that has always characterized the site); it's the craziness of the reasoning. It's kind of like watching an acquaintance have a nervous breakdown.

[redsock]

I used to like the blog too, for his 9/11 posts and other researchy posts, but he's become like a oddball yelling at passing cars on the highway now. I check in once a week, but don't last more than 2 minutes of scrolling thru the "O-bot" screeds.

And I do not understand why he feels the need to broadcast how much he hates the CD people or explain over and over (and over, at such length) why he is deleteing their comments.

Shit, lots of blogs get trolls. Just put on moderation and delete them (readers will never know they even exist) without making such a fuss. His anti-CD and anti-troll rants -- plus his big threat to shut down the blog because of trolls -- are pure drama queen stuff.

It's a shame. Same thing about xymphora. He had great 9/11 stuff.

[redsock]

What is also weird is how often he quotes comments left by obviously insane racists on message boards.

They are total idiots and no one who has a brain in their head gives a shit about their ravings.

So why does he post dozens and dozens and dozens of them, in BOLD, as if they are representative of millions of people?

[82_28]

NOW HEAR THIS!

As always: I will never allow assholes to use this blog to blather on about "controlled demolition" and similar nonsense. In my opinion, those myths were deliberately created to deflect attention from the tale of Suter and his lads.

Alas, I know full well that if the "controlled demolition" nutcases get a foot in the door, they will barge in and wreck the joint. One must never argue with such people, not even for a moment. They are like Holocaust revisionists and those dolts who think we never went to the moon: Utterly unworthy of debate.

Therefore, the only person allowed to discuss 9/11 on this blog is yours truly. You may not discuss the issue here from any perspective. An unfair rule? Perhaps, but experience is a harsh teacher, and I learned my lesson nearly a decade ago. The "controlled demolition" bozos must not be allowed even the slightest opening.

It's a big internet, folks, and there are other sites. Dig or split.

That's from his like latest post (post thanksgiving 2015). Even if the buildings weren't demolished under explosive control they "fell" victim indeed to CD. Even if it was just the planes -- that part was controlled at the very least. There was some control into what happened. It begs at the very least, the control of the airplanes in order to fly into the towers.

I too used to like to read him. But I think I will only read him for amusement if ever again. Same with Kunstler -- he's turning into a crochety old thanksgiving uncle. I checked his shit out yesterday for the first time in months and found him to be basically racist now that gasoline is under $3 a gallon and has been wrong about everything in at least the last ten years. Shills, at least those two. Adios. Righteous indignation, great. Imagination, not so great.