Once again, a pretty low-key day around our house yesterday.
I spent the morning reading a long article in The New Yorker about Larry Gagosian. This is a good example of how The New Yorker gets me interested in things that I would otherwise gloss over completely. I always like a good painting but I know nothing about the world of art dealing, which is certainly not my world. I've seen Gagosian's name in magazines and newspapers for years but he isn't someone whose career I have followed. But darned if that article wasn't very interesting!
All it takes is a good writer, really. As we say in the world of journalism, there are no boring stories -- only boring reporters.
I also caught up with my daily dose of right-wing media. You know that crazy woman who was charged with threatening the Trump judge in DC? Well, the right-wing media -- at least the site I read, which shall remain nameless -- have decided that she is a government agent. Or possibly "antifa."
This is how the right-wingers respond when one of their number does something so egregiously embarrassing and wrong that they can't justify it. They disavow that person completely and switch them into the "deep state" column. They've also done this with a white supremacist organization called the Patriot Front, which they insist is actually composed of FBI agents.
And it's what they've done with George W. Bush. The Iraq war was such a shambles that they have decided that Bush, Dick Cheney and their cohort are not true Republicans or conservatives at all. They are actually members of the "uniparty" -- the Democrat and mainstream Republican alliance that allegedly controls the country on behalf of the globalist puppetmasters. In other words, because the right-wingers can't defend Iraq (despite the fact that it was a campaign created by the right), they basically blame it on the DEMOCRATS! And Democrats were voices in opposition to the Iraq war at the time (although admittedly some in Congress ultimately voted for it). Certainly no one I knew in my largely Democratic circles was in favor of it.
This denialism is equal parts fascinating and infuriating. It's like telling your little brother he's wrong only to have him respond, like Pee-Wee Herman, "I know you are but what am I?"
The Trumpian populists are right to be critical of the power structure -- the bankers, the corporations, the CEOs, the "Rich Men North of Richmond" (although many of them are actually south of Richmond -- in Palm Beach, for example). What's frustrating is the populists have equated all those people with Democrats. As has often been pointed out, Donald Trump is a prime example of a wealthy guy whose sympathies hardly lie with the working man -- and yet they've hitched their wagon to him. It's upside-down world.
Anyway, all my friends say to me of my right-wing media indulgence, "How can you stand to read that drivel?" But I think it's valuable to know what the opposition is thinking and how they argue their case. So every day I dip into right-wing news and survey the scene. As long as I read it with a gimlet eye and keep in mind that none of it is actually true, it can be quite illuminating.
Olga didn't even want a walk! I took her up to the high street and back, and that was about it. She was content to lie around the garden while I read. Sometimes we need a day of rest, particularly when we're 80 in dog years.
Can you see how huge the burdock behind her has grown? The leaves are as big as she is!
(Top photo: A fly on verbena in our garden.)
21 comments:
I'm glad that YOU"RE reading the right-wing media stuff and bringing it back here to us so that I don't have to do it!
A couple of times a week, I read some articles from the right-wing media. I usually get so upset and discouraged that my day is ruined. For me, it's like watching a train wreck.
It is incredible how truth can become so twisted that it begins to look like a lie. Something is rotten in the heart of America and it has got so bad, how can it ever be excised?
While I'm a big believer on reading those with opposing views to learn how and why they believe what they do, I tend to read opinions from those who lean more moderate in their beliefs. I find them a bit more rational than those who lean further to the extremities and are out "in the weeds" as the saying goes.
This new "it's not fair" "the election was stolen" GOP is like a bunch of spoiled children who do nothing wrong because everything, no matter who does it, is someone else's fault.
If it were the British press, they'd have written thousands of articles blaming it on Meghan by now.
I'm glad you're doing your due diligence because I just don't think I could handle it. My blood pressure, I mean. Oof.
Olga and I are of the same mind these days - that looks like pure bliss!
Right wing media is fascinating, isn't it? How they spin things is incredulous. And since I live in Richmond, I am perplexed with that song as there are many people south of Richmond who are also rich and part of the elite.
I liked what Boud said.
I'm so behind in my New Yorkers that it's insane. My table on the back porch is covered with them. But I can't give 'em up! Like you said- you can read an article about something you thought you had no interest in, only to find that WHOA! It's fascinating! Good journalism indeed.
As to the right-wing conspirators- for the life of me I can't figure out why this is happening. It's like there's been a semi-universal losing of minds.
A dose of right-wing media would make me crazier than I already am. Just seeing the headlines of their utter insanity is enough. I love that you can manage all that BS and still stay sane. It's good to be able to read it and get a real idea of how dangerous and nuts they have become.
Olga looks so happy there and that burdock has gotten very big!
Thanks for reading that shite- you're right- good to know.I do not have the disposition for it so again I thank you!
Olga looks perfectly happy, great little piece of paradise garden for her.
I had drinks with friends yesterday afternoon and we were trying to analyze what is wrong with people who believe so much with no proof and nothing to back it up. It's a mystery.
It looks like you had a beautiful weekend. We had a gray one but the temps were lots lower so I got out for a much needed walk.
it's just absurd the stuff they believe and say. and I'm pretty sure all those rich people the bankers, corporations, the CEOs are all republicans and yet the people that vote for them vote for them not because they have policies that help, because republicans don't have any such policies, but because republicans tell them they are victims which they already think so that just reinforces beliefs they already have. yeah, I'm a victim, this guy gets me. I'm downtrodden because of all those other people who are different than me. that's all they care about, that and making it OK to be your worst self in public.
You're right that we have to know what the parties are doing. You certainly know how the right operates. I wish many more people could understand what are lies and what is truth. Our politicians make this difficult as the blur things for their own benefit.
It seems that facts don't matter to some people. If something is said often enough that fits their underlying sympathies they believe it. And if you can't counter the argument, discredit the person. I sometimes dip into the d.m. to sample this link of bile, but that sounds mild in comparison to your sources.
I try to stay relatively informed, but it's difficult since I can't stomach either side - left OR right. The divisive rhetoric frustrates and disheartens me.
Olga is giving you the side eye. She's probably still sore from the cat chase! Did she put her Kong there herself?
Do you remember how upset Don Quixote got when people tried to tell him that he was tilting at windmills and not at the giants? It's kind of like that, isn't it. On his death bed, he did see the errors of his ways. These nutjobs are breeding their replacements. It's horrifying to me. I cannot stomach their drivel. You are a far better person than I am, Steve.
I often wonder if they actually believe anything they're saying, or if they're just bloviating for the base. Today on Fox, they're blaming Biden's border policies for "letting Hurricane Hilary in."
I have Fox News articles on my phone and read them occasionally but as several other commenters have noted, I end up upset and depressed. And terrified that so many people believe the lies!
I don't read political news of any kind. I just don't understand it, my mind won't take it in. These days it's all in-fighting and back-stabbing anyway, instead of governing the people and looking after the country with infastucture and maintenance and health/education etc.
Elizabeth: Ha! I find it weirdly entertaining, though I could never stand to listen to it on the radio or watch it on TV. Reading allows me to maintain control.
Mitchell: It IS a train wreck, that's for sure.
YP: It's happening everywhere, though, not just in America. The lead-up to the Brexit vote was rife with disinformation and right-wing bloviating!
Ed: Yeah, and the moderate viewpoints are probably more meaningful because more people hold them. But the fringey ones are SO entertaining.
Bob: They are the epitome of blaming others, right down to accusing their opponents of unjustly blaming them! They turn every criticism around on their critics.
Boud: True! And that's the same problem, really. Disinformation -- and racism. (In the case of American right-wingers, much of it stems from lingering racist resentment of Obama.)
Bug: She is very happy on her bed on the lawn!
Michael: Well, it's a dog-whistle to the Confederacy, isn't it? It's all about those damn Yankees.
Ms Moon: Well, the extreme voices get amplified because they're "more interesting" (as I admitted to Ed above). I'm as guilty of it as anyone. The difference is I don't BELIEVE any of it.
Robin: It's all about being able to laugh at it! And at the end of the day, that's all you can do. (Aside from voting.)
Linda Sue: She does love the garden. I can't imagine her life without it. I wish there was a way to leave it accessible for her when we go to work. (Without leaving the back door standing open!)
Sharon: I've read a lot about that. The psychology is interesting -- they like belonging to a group, they like believing they have the REAL information (insider knowledge). Conspiracy thinking is weirdly appealing to our human brains.
Ellen: Yeah, conservatives DEFINITELY love to play the victim card. They think the world is changing and they've been shut out, rather than adapting to play along with the changes.
Red: I think some people are predisposed to believe the lies. They think everyone is conspiring against them so they disbelieve everything conventional.
Tasker: The DM is another example of a publication that can be entertaining, as long as you don't BELIEVE any of it!
Kelly: Well, it's true. Extremism on both sides is exhausting. I feel pretty moderate myself but in truth I'm probably more liberal than most.
Debby: YES! That's such an interesting way to frame it. And just think, Cervantes was picking up on that psychology of denial even 500 years ago!
Allison: Yeah, there's definitely some of that, too -- just getting people pumped up.
Margaret: But it's good you read them just to see the (terrifying) diversity of opinion!
River: It's been a long (and correct) criticism of the media that reporters focus too much on drama and conflict and not enough on policies and issues that affect people's lives. The drama always makes a better story, sadly!
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