My Counterpunch Articles: HUMAN OBSOLESCENCE, 28 July 2023

[Joe Hillshoist]

You are a bloody good writer Jack.

[Iamwhomiam]

Coincidence! I shared a link to your Counterpunch author's page on Thursday and was pleasantly surprised to find you had just posted your newest article, Jack. Chiming in with kudos to compliment your Conspiracy Panic.

Yeah, Joe, he is. Seems like it's getting better all the time!

[liminalOyster]

This is a great piece, Jack. Kudos.

[Belligerent Savant]

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Humorous (or perhaps tragic, but predictable - a classic comedy) side-note. I shared a link and excerpt of Jack's latest Counterpunch article on a sports blog i visit on occasion (as a lowly Jets fan - one of numerous activities I undertake to distract my attention away from the criminality on display every day), since a number of the blog members consider themselves 'leftists' (and yet, largely subscribe to all the standard MSNBC tropes); I was curious to observe their take.

In short, they dismissed the article/author -- and the messenger -- as, among other gems, 'moronic' and 'stupid', and I was an 'idiot' for thinking such a piece was of merit. When I asked them to articulate their disagreement, they largely resorted to name-calling or otherwise standard establishment narratives.
(This was not a surprise - i've been met with these retorts a number of times whenever i drop in a comment that challenges establishment narratives).

I'd post samples of their output here but the comments platform (disqus) is unruly.

In any event, these members are quite proud and sure of their learned take on current events (some here would argue the same of me, funnily enough, though i question my positions on a weekly basis, despite whatever i may impress otherwise; it's not uncommon for me to preface my viewpoints with 'disclaimers', both in person and here).

The responses to Jack's article represent a trend line among many that consider themselves 'smarter' than the dumb, ignorant Trump voter, who (according to them) are all either racist or fully influenced by Russia bots. There is no other reason to have voted for Trump, in their (conditioned) view.

(Amateur, crude Anthropology is my side hobby: my primary subjects are modern day Americans i encounter out there in the wild, or increasingly, in the virtual space).

This mindset is part of the reason Trump -- despite everything we've observed and experienced, particularly in 2020 -- has a legit shot at another 4 years.



.

[§ê¢rꆧ]

Coincidence! I shared a link to your Counterpunch author's page on Thursday and was pleasantly surprised to find you had just posted your newest article, Jack. Chiming in with kudos to compliment your Conspiracy Panic.

Yeah, Joe, he is. Seems like it's getting better all the time!

My coincidence too! And sentiment!

Fuck yeah, CONSPIRACY PANIC

[Joe Hillshoist]

.

Humorous (or perhaps tragic, but predictable - a classic comedy) side-note. I shared a link and excerpt of Jack's latest Counterpunch article on a sports blog i visit on occasion (as a lowly Jets fan - one of numerous activities I undertake to distract my attention away from the criminality on display every day), since a number of the blog members consider themselves 'leftists' (and yet, largely subscribe to all the standard MSNBC tropes); I was curious to observe their take.

In short, they dismissed the article/author -- and the messenger -- as, among other gems, 'moronic' and 'stupid', and I was an 'idiot' for thinking such a piece was of merit. When I asked them to articulate their disagreement, they largely resorted to name-calling or otherwise standard establishment narratives.
(This was not a surprise - i've been met with these retorts a number of times whenever i drop in a comment that challenges establishment narratives).

I'd post samples of their output here but the comments platform (disqus) is unruly.

In any event, these members are quite proud and sure of their learned take on current events (some here would argue the same of me, funnily enough, though i question my positions on a weekly basis, despite whatever i may impress otherwise; it's not uncommon for me to preface my viewpoints with 'disclaimers', both in person and here).

The responses to Jack's article represent a trend line among many that consider themselves 'smarter' than the dumb, ignorant Trump voter, who (according to them) are all either racist or fully influenced by Russia bots. There is no other reason to have voted for Trump, in their (conditioned) view.

(Amateur, crude Anthropology is my side hobby: my primary subjects are modern day Americans i encounter out there in the wild, or increasingly, in the virtual space).

This mindset is part of the reason Trump -- despite everything we've observed and experienced, particularly in 2020 -- has a legit shot at another 4 years.



.

I did something similar on my footy teams discussion board.

Only one person has responded so far. They loved it. I don't think anyone else knows how to rake it.

[Elvis]

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020
Conspiracy Panic
by NICHOLAS LEVIS
https://www.counterpunch.org

Terrific piece, hits all the right notes. I have to share it cautiously with some friends who will mildly freak out at the lines about "Russiagate conspiracy theory"; there's some trouble letting go of the great importance invested in that narrative. They don't see the parallels with the well-known examples such as Iraq/WMD etc. I mentioned to one friend the 6-7 year ramp-up of Putin hate which became definitely evident areound 2014; he hadn't noticed anything unusual, but accepted that certain magazine covers were over-the-top scaremongering. Hopefully this article will help, but some hostility to the reality will be unavoidable.

[Spiro C. Thiery]

Almost perfect. The only thing wrong with it is I didn't write it.

[Harvey]

I'm in agreement with everyone else. Even before Jack was holding forth against Jerky and AD not too long ago, which he did calmly and brilliantly, he's been on fire and the writing has been first class. If anything, one or two articles try to play to the audience a bit, if I remember rightly, which is fair enough, but the work itself is better than that. I do hope you are submitting your articles far and wide, Jack. If not, you certainly should be.

[stickdog99]

Only a committable conspiracy theorist would ever claim that any rich and powerful Americans would ever do anything untoward in their own interests.

And only a committable conspiracy theorist would ever deny that any non-Americans definitely did whatever any anonymous US intelligence source claims they did, even if such actions were not in their own interests.

[JackRiddler]

.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't like the thrust of what they say to do (as opposed to sitting on ass). It's not the first thing that comes to mind as effective to me, either.

Still about 98 percent correct description of what QAnon has always been, I believe.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SoJI_KNV0Q

[Elvis]

^^^ Priceless!

[stickdog99]

.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't like the thrust of what they say to do (as opposed to sitting on ass). It's not the first thing that comes to mind as effective to me, either.

Still about 98 percent correct description of what QAnon has always been, I believe.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SoJI_KNV0Q

Yep. And Russiagate is BlueAnon.

[liminalOyster]

Amazing video (despite all necessary caveats) and nice call stickdog99, BlueAnon is a very useful addition to the vernacular.

I'm not big on the dramatic farewell posts around here since the poster always come back but I'm out of here for awhile and decided to hijack Jack's thread for a minute to chirp out a note of fondness for almost all y'all, most of whom are active on this thread and including Jack, Elvis, Stickdog, Bel Sav, Sonic and many more.

I'm out of sync here right now, albeit in a very friendly and respectful way. Whereas it seems Assad/Putin was a big dividing line a few years back, COVID has become that way for me here. I just have experienced in a way that is bigger and more unwieldy than all the old paranoid epistemological tools RI has given me are able to help me with and am finding it somewhere between unhelpful and prone to discord to start the convos I want to have.

So, a super fond and friendly see y'all in 2021 unless I get too impulsive and can't keep myself away. Stay safe, have fun and never forget to ground yourself in joy.

[stickdog99]

Bye, liminalOyster!

Weird but I am not even sure if I agree or disagree with you on anything COVID-19 related, perhaps because I have such mixed feelings about it myself.

Looking on the bright side, consumption is down. So at least there's that.

Best wishes!