What should The Left do now?

[Jerky]

Both your diagnosis and prescribed remedy are absolutely correct, Brekin. Sand pounding has many mental health benefits.

However, I can't help but wonder why our Nordaryan boardmate thinks the lives of children killed by one cohort of conservative right-wing religious fanatics are worth more than those snuffed out by a different cohort of conservative right-wing religious fanatics.

It can't simply be because the latter were killed by people who've been stamped with the seal of approval of the world's Great White Hope, Vlad-Vlad Putin, can it?

Can racialist realpolitik REALLY be so near and dear to Nordaryan's heart that it blinds him to all but that?

Just askin!
YOPJerky

Americans are Fucking sick.

You don't think posting atrocity videos of children to "prove" your point isn't emblematic of that?

The video is simply a record of the truth.
If you don't like it, I've got a big bucket of sand you can stick your head back into. Where shall I ship it. Don't worry, I'll pay for it.

Oh sure, you've got the truth, you've got the problem all figured out, you know whose responsible, and you've got the final solution. And you are going to hold everyone's face to the screen to watch your atrocity videos until they submit to the Trumphrer.
You can keep the sand, and go pound it.

[dada]

What should the left do. Make disturbing art, naturally:)

You are on to something very important here, I think. Very important.

shh!

Quick! Everyone to the legos! The revolution will be built brick, by tiny brick!

Oh, I'm sorry, did I upset you, brekin?:)

[Iamwhomiam]

Nordic, delete that video. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[dada]

Also, does "the Left" agree on its own aims? Should we make a list of desirable changes for the U.S. from a pro-people standpoint? It might be a worthwhile exercise.

I've seen some good lists on some threads here already. That Socialist Response thread has some pretty strong ideas to get us started.

But no, the left definitely doesn't agree on much of anything. The thing is, left/right is the x-axis. Authoritarian/anti-authoritarian is the y. I'm located in the farthest corner of the left/anti-authoritarian quadrant. And I don't get along very well with left authoritarians. I tolerate them. In the real world, I actually get along better with right-leaning people with an anti-authoritarian streak.

It's like Jack said somewhere recently. The left is a cat-herd. But we make the best of it, while staying true to our principles. What else can we do. It's like another famous Donald said: we go to war with the army we've got, not the one we might want or wish to have.

[brekin]

What should the left do. Make disturbing art, naturally:)

You are on to something very important here, I think. Very important.

shh!

Quick! Everyone to the legos! The revolution will be built brick, by tiny brick!

Oh, I'm sorry, did I upset you, brekin?:)

Not at all. I'm having a pretty good day.
I've just been primed to not take most "art will change the world" discussions seriously.
I would like to believe it. But adding an "F" to art in most of those sentences keeps things in perspective.



I'd rather have 8 years of some degree of humanity, common courtesy, national discourse, domestic and international cooperation and peace then an excuse to make more protest art. In fact, Trump is probably the most disturbing artist we've had for a long time. He created a cartoon character, put the suit on, tried to sell it, and the American public bought it.



All the anti-Trump art, much like the negative Trump media coverage leading up to the election only helped him.
You're all painting his portrait for him.
He should have been ignored after he opened his mouth in the campaign.

[Iamwhomiam]

Start raising funds for the Obama Library?
Compare presidential legacies?

[Grizzly]

^^^^ Now, that was dark humor. I can laughter about...

[JackRiddler]

If it were honest, however, the bloody mess on the left would be about half as big, and the one Trump has promised bigger than either. None so blind as can see, apparently.

[dada]

Glad to hear that you're having a good day, brekin.

I hate to repeat myself, but as I said, this wasn't about art changing the world, it was about disturbing art upsetting the applecarts of the right, throwing them off their game. The blood, guts, sex and death aesthetic as ammunition in the culture wargames.

I don't care about making protest art about Donald, never gave it a second's thought. So that doesn't apply to me.

I'm for demystifying art, like I'm for demystifying everything else. I'm an artist that doesn't give a shit about art. I'm sure I've said that somewhere before, as well. So I agree with you on that art/fart thing.

It's possible that your hang-up on power and authority does as much for Donald as the media coverage and the protest art. Possible, I say. I could be wrong about that. Wouldn't be the first time. I reserve the right to be wrong about many, many things.

But back to the blood, guts, sex and death aesthetic. I like that direction. Not only does it mess with the right, but it disturbs button-down minds everywhere.

Don't think I've ever mentioned this: My favorite video game is an old arcade game named 'Chiller.' You shoot a lightgun at targets in a torture chamber shooting gallery. Nothing shoots back, it's a race against the clock. The horror is psychological. That is, until you get used to it. Then you have a steady hand, dismembering bodies with a surgical precision.



Oh, 'trigger' warning.

That's more along the lines of the "art" I'm talking about:)

[brekin]

Glad to hear that you're having a good day, brekin.
I hate to repeat myself, but as I said, this wasn't about art changing the world, it was about disturbing art upsetting the applecarts of the right, throwing them off their game. The blood, guts, sex and death aesthetic as ammunition in the culture wargames.
I don't care about making protest art about Donald, never gave it a second's thought. So that doesn't apply to me.
I'm for demystifying art, like I'm for demystifying everything else. I'm an artist that doesn't give a shit about art. I'm sure I've said that somewhere before, as well. So I agree with you on that art/fart thing.
It's possible that your hang-up on power and authority does as much for Donald as the media coverage and the protest art. Possible, I say. I could be wrong about that. Wouldn't be the first time. I reserve the right to be wrong about many, many things.
But back to the blood, guts, sex and death aesthetic. I like that direction. Not only does it mess with the right, but it disturbs button-down minds everywhere.
Don't think I've ever mentioned this: My favorite video game is an old arcade game named 'Chiller.' You shoot a lightgun at targets in a torture chamber shooting gallery. Nothing shoots back, it's a race against the clock. The horror is psychological. That is, until you get used to it. Then you have a steady hand, dismembering bodies with a surgical precision.

Oh, 'trigger' warning.
That's more along the lines of the "art" I'm talking about:)

Why thank you.
I doubt the blood, guts, sex and death aesthetic messes all that much with the right though.
Sure The Last Temptation of Christ may put them in a slight tizzy, but that's not because of the blood, guts and death, but because Jesus had a sidechick.
They loved the bloody Passion of Christ and a bloody, bloody, war movie is going to be packed to the rafters with the right and button-down minds. That is catnip to them.
I don't think you can "disturb" the right with that, other than pestering, annoying, irritating them by hitting their hot buttons inlaid within their catnip.
As they worship guns, thinks cities are cesspools of immoral vice, torture and old testament justice a-ok and think dying for ones country and even ones church or local fire department or police station is sweet Valhalla, running them through a Wolfenstein Abu Gharib matrix would probably not be disturbing to them.
Forcing them to watch a Lethal Weapon remake helmed by a lesbian Cagney and Lacey, though, that would be probably like the Gom Jabber for them.

[OP ED]

It's my dream to play the villain in that film.

[dada]

Forcing them to watch a Lethal Weapon remake helmed by a lesbian Cagney and Lacey, though, that would be probably like the Gom Jabber for them

I like it! Now we're getting somewhere.

I agree, blood, guts, sex and death is no big thing on its own. It's the aestheticizing it that gets people twisted up. Placing the blood, guts, sex and death in the improper contexts. The observer must be coaxed into certain mindframes, for the aesthetic to have disruptive impact. This is why it's a job for an artist. It takes practice and skill. And a good artist will make it look easy.

It's like media subversion. The goal is dispelling its power. "Fake news" appears to be subversive, but has the opposite effect. The form the subversion takes is what matters.

The rightwinger, the authoritarian, the religious fundamentalist will accept, even celebrate horror presented in the contexts they are comfortable in. But if you hit them in the right way, they are shocked and offended. I'm suggesting that this can be taken advantage of.

[Iamwhomiam]

I thought is was funny too, Grizzly. The kind of humor that makes one feel uncomfortable for having laughed, rather than cried.

True enough, Jack. We'll have to wait and see what horrors Donald's Team unleashes.

Obama and the Bush Legacy: A Scorecard
By John Cassidy May 31, 2012
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/obama-and-the-bush-legacy-a-scorecard

Military Deaths Under Clinton and Bush
By Joe Miller
Posted on January 29, 2008
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/01/military-deaths-under-clinton-and-bush/

This was the most recent on Obama I could find. We might have to wait a few months for mortality figures to be released.

Obama’s Numbers April 2016 Update
Trade deficit and illegal immigration are down; real weekly earnings and federal debt are up. Our quarterly update of Obama's scorecard.
By Brooks Jackson
Posted on April 6, 2016
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/04/obamas-numbers-april-2016-update/

[OP ED]

If it were honest, however, the bloody mess on the left would be about half as big, and the one Trump has promised bigger than either. None so blind as can see, apparently.

What war exactly has Trump promised? It's hard to maintain focus while he blathers incoherent, so I may have missed it. (the competition seemed to be deliberately staging a series of excuses for confrontational encountering with Russia, which would have been unlikely to end well and I frankly find it difficult to imagine a worse geostrategic package)

Also, half as big because of what? What are the parameters for blaming the executive?

(I mean the death rates in Iraq and Afghanistan have slowed significantly, but some of that is because we abandoned half of the territory and they can't be properly accounted anymore and any official number is based on guesswork)

(Is Libya our fault? Which portion of Syria gets counted? What about Lebanon? Covert actions in South America maybe actually increased in the last eight years, but deciding the numbers and who killed whomever is again problematic due to whitewash and blackout. What about Ukraine? Etc)

[seemslikeadream]

What should the Left do now?

Go to the Urinaugeration

and see Uretha Franklin sing