WatchThere is a consistent pattern on AM radio and online forums of blaming "the liberals" for pretty much everything, even contradictory things, and never giving them credit for doing anything right.
Hate for "liberals" goes right back to elementary school. It's actually the exact same hate that the kids in the back of the class, who didn't understand the material, got bad grades, and couldn't spell, had for the kids in the front of the class, who did understand the material, got good grades, and could spell. Teacher smiled at those kids in the front, but didn't smile at the kids in the back.
It's also the story of Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel for being better loved by God, making a better sacrifice, yada yada. And it's the story of Joseph being thrown into the well, then sold into slavery by his brothers, because his father Jacob loved him best.
I'm trying to say that this hate for "the liberals" is old. Very very old. It's not actually about liberals at all. It's about feeling left behind, unwanted, inferior.
It's at the forefront of politics now because middle and lower-middle class white men, who used to be assured of at least not being on the bottom, now find themselves unemployed, as the 0.1% ships their jobs to China. And maybe they're foreclosed on now too (again by the 0.1%), bankrupted by ridiculous medical bills (again by the 0.1%). Then they look upward, and to top it all off, the president is black.
The kids who were in the front of the class, who could spell, and who the teacher smiled at, those kids are doing pretty well. Their jobs weren't outsourced.
And so the frustrated white middle-American male says lots of angry and not-quite-coherent things on the radio and on forums, like this:
Obama still sucks ass...
From http://patrick.net/forum/?p=1210015
You want to be sympathetic to them because you know about their frustrations, but they make themselves so ugly and unlikable that it's just not possible.
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Patrick says
I agree with most of what you wrote except this. I believe that true liberals would still feel sympathetic. We fight for a fairer world for them too, even if they kick and scream and say ugly things about us. Turn the other cheek and all that.
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I heard Obama wasn't even born in the U.S.
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‘The Obama Experiment’ Causes Economics Professor to Fail Entire Class
Posted on 12/26/2011 by Liberty Pulse with 24 comments
This anecdote taken from facebook gives an analogy of economics through redistribution, enjoy…
‘The Obama Experiment’ Causes Economics Professor to Fail Entire Class
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for dollars – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little..
The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, ALL FAILED
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and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. It could not be any simpler than that.Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you’ll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
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Word to the wise... Pull yourself up by the bootsrap..
How the fuck else did this screaming Liberal become a Billionair..
Oh well... Live and Learn...
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Every time someone refers to Obama as a socialist, anything else they say is invalidated.
It's almost always the same people who refer to taxes as slavery and tries to equate public schools with the nazis.
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Fascists desperately need a scapegoat, and our American fascists have decided to pick liberals as the root of all evil.
It's stupid, it's childish, it makes America the laughing stock of the world, but Republicans are slow learners.
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thomas.wong1986 says
Total bullshit. Please describe a single act by Obama or the Democrats that gives money directly to unemployed people OTHER than the same unemployment insurance that has been extended by every single president including both Bushes and Reagan.
There is no experiment, in fact we're still living under the economic policies and tax policies of George Bush. Obama hasn't managed to change any of them.
thomas.wong1986 says
Wow, you have the nerve to talk about math yet when someone asks you where the money comes from to increase CEO pay by 300%, you pretend it grew on a tree.
thomas.wong1986 says
The definition of capitalist is someone who gains wealth by not working for it. That's what the "capital" means because it's the capital that does the work instead of the owner.
You advocate exactly the opposite of what you pretend to advocate. You cheer capitalists (people who don't work because they own stuff) and you attack actual WORKERS who are too poor to even pay income tax on their 40-hour weeks.
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thomas.wong1986 says
This isn't Obama's plan, this is a liar and a bunch of gullible fools who can't even figure out what Obama actually did during the last three years.
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iwog says
I thought it was an interesting link i received... good to see it ruffled some feathers...
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iwog says
So what was the "Change you can believe in"?
Educate us ! You said Obama moved to the right, infact, i think you said he like Reagan now.. not the candidate you wanted as president ?
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iwog says
Hey Iwog, don't you own a bunch of rental units? ;-)
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To the OP,
It seems to me a "Liberal" is just another poorly-defined far-right boogeyman. One could just as easily use the term "black lesbians from outer space" for the same effect.
Usually when I hear someone on the far-right bitching about "liberals", they don't even know what they are bitching about. It's nowhere near as well-defined as your description above.
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thomas.wong1986 says
Wong, redistribution is going from the bottom to the top, not the other way around. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2908
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So the professor in this class uses a reducto ad absurbum argument to show why pure socialism is not the best for the group. The experiment was not neccesary because the conclusion was already known.
Nevermind his commentary on Obama instituting "socialism."
What, I wonder, would have the result been if he experimented in using the current economic system in the US to prove anything? Say for example, that he made the exam so difficult that only 1% of the class would get an A, 9% B, 20% C, 30% D, and 40% F. What would that experiment prove?
Say the exam was the SAT. Say the SAT ability of the class was a close representation of the total SAT taking population. So an A required 1560 or better. B required 1330. C required 1140. D required 960.
Only on a rare occasion does studying significantly improve SAT scores, especially the higher the score. No amount of studying is getting a normal 1200 to the 1560 level.
The experiment would prove that those with an innate ability for SAT testing would be the benefactors, while the majority are failing or getting a D regardless of the amount of effort they had. It would also show that average scores would not be very great, as the majority of low scorers would put no effort into improving at all - it would seem hopeless.
The point is, I don't think I have seen anyone on patrick.net ever argue for pure socialism as used in this professors experiment. The arguments largely surround the current US economic system and how to improve upon that. The argument has been made that current economic troubles are caused by wealth disparity. That is, the poor are too much of a overall drag on the economy because there are too many of them and their opportunities for improvement are few. The idea is to decrease the number of poor and provide them more opportunities to prosper. We have a mature economy so it really is a zero sum game. So in order to decrease the number of poor some wealth needs to be siphoned from somewhere.
To use the SAT example, we say the average score woudl be higher if the payoff was better throughout the distribution. That is, say an A was 1400. B 1200, C 1000, D 800. We say on the average the class would study harder and achieve a higher score if they knew their chance of getting a C or better was higher. They would have hope.
That's really all liberals ask for. More hope.
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Patrick says
Well we sure could use just one fucking thing they've got right.
believe me, I'll take it if you got it. Obama care, they just dropped the bomb this week, that the cost was grossly under estimated.
The Liberals are under fire because the shallowly transparent manner they've been conducting them selves. Decisions have been made, based on if it could be called a Liberal win, regardless how shitty the idea or how far away from the original intent the legislation drifts from the primary objective. Then they love to just cram and pass bad legislation, so they can turn around and bitch about the Republicans and blame them. Come on Patrick give me something to work with, there's not a GREAT liberal person in the whole of Washington. YET there's not motherfucker in Washington, that is not beneath hijacking a great Liberal's name from eras gone past, and pin them on them selve, or Obama, even before he did dick all in office. "First 100 days" anyone? Yeah, let me leave it at that. If you want to know why "The Liberals" have lost their allure and mojo as the "Party of the people" consider the propaganda campaign, the Left ran for Obama's first 100 days in office. In that fantasy fest moment, Obama achieved more in the Liberals wildest dreams, than Obama has mange to do in the entire three years and some odd months, he's been in office.
There's never been a disingenuous cocksucker in the oval office, in the History of America, and the Liberals have never been more self serving and useless.
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thomas.wong1986 says
It isn't surprising that someone like you would find that interesting, since you seem to have lost the ability to think for yourself.
That is a chain email that is over 15 years old. It has NOTHING to do with Obama; it is simply nonsense propaganda that is resurrected by the right and people like Mr. Wong lap it up without question.
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2011/12/myth-of-the-socialist-classroom-experiment/
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TPB says
Aren't most politicians disingenuous cocksuckers?
Wait, did you mean to say, "there's never been a more disingenuous cocksucker in the oval office than Obama"?
Total Pathetic Bullshit.
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Nomograph says
It's true because we believe it.
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wthrfrk80 says
Yes I do. I'm a capitalist and to some extent I gain wealth without working for it however I do plenty of work also.
I'm not anti-capitalism, I just think people should be honest when they talk about who's working and who's not.
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wthrfrk80 says
Yes, it's complete bullshit. No facts presented by TPB, not even an attempt at presenting some fact about Obama that could be argued about. Just name calling and hate.
But if you're feeling the same hate as TPB, then he makes perfect sense and has presented impeccably reasoned arguments, simply by calling Obama a "disingenuous cocksucker". People start from their desired conclusion and accept or reject arguments not on their merit, but on how well they agree with that desired conclusion. In this case, there's not even any argument, just a conclusion.
TPB probably isn't stupid, he just looks that way because the hate lobe in his brain is preventing him from thinking carefully. It's this throbbing white-hot mass in his brain. The question is why. What's the real reason for his inarticulate hate?
I'm pretty sure it's fear that his own position in society is slipping, embarassment, and especially the very American self-blame that is the joy and treasure of the 0.1%:
Anyone else have more insight into why the AM radio crowd is all hate and no specific reason?
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Patrick says
I can't come up with a better one.
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Nomograph says
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You wonder why the AM radio crowd is suspicious of Obama and the "liberals"?
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/03/obama-energy-chief-recants-statement-about-high-gas-prices/1#.T2CzsBES31s
So Obama appoints this guy Chu who said in 2008:
"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."
But now that they are in charge and high energy prices are tanking them, suddenly cheap gas prices are a priority and this stooge has changed his mind.
This is one of many reasons to dislike Obama. It isn't that hard to figure out. If one is concerned about gasoline prices, why would you ever appoint this ass clown? Obama isn't helping himself with this, Van Jones, Sebelius, the Chief Tax Evader, etc. The right is not full of angels either but step back a bit and think about it - the people dubbed "bitter clingers" have a reason to dislike him and isn't just because of his skin color but what he says and what he does. While the hatred is overblown the reasons haven't been manufactured by a right wing conspiracy - frequently they come out of his own mouth. Before you whack me with insults, I am just pointing out the "insight into why the AM radio crowd is all hate". Again, it really isn't that hard to figure out.
Vote Iwog 2012
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Patrick says
Well technically there's nothing to actually blame Obama for, because as We all know. It's all the Republicans fault. What song do you want me to sing for you? Do you want me deliver a sermon for the Conservative Choir, or the Liberal Choir. Plenty people here have said what they don't like about Obama, and the other Liberals in Washington, as well as all of the Republicans. It's the Libs on this board that REFUSE to leave it at face value. And immediately go into attack defense mode to the Liberal "Doctrine" and Obama as a whole.
We can't even have independent discourse in this country because the Left wont allow criticism on Obama or their maligned objectives.
Then if that doesn't fly, you'll just say "Rush Limbaugh said something like that, or it sound similar to what they are saying on Fox News, so I must be a right winger, talking Right talking points.
So you see, while you folks can spin facts and blame others for your parties mistakes, you can't take me on a wild Liberal blame shuttle ride.
I'm one guy, what do you care, if I stand on my head in Time square and call Obama a lying jack ass, for reason I'll reserve only for those that know what I'm talking about?
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EightBall says
Don't validate their parking, they are just being aloof. They know damn well what Obama has done, and NOT done.
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TPB says
You're representative of millions, actually. All those people know what you're talking about, because they already agree with you. You don't even have to speak. Just hold up a picture of Obama as an evil clown, or a Nazi.
But there's no explicit reasoning there, just hate. I want to know the real reasons why, not the pseudo-reasons like gas prices, which went up 250% during the Bush presidency.
I think the real reason is your falling economic position, which according to the American self-blame game means you are lazy and stupid.
Since you know you're not lazy and stupid, well, it must be someone else's fault, right? Must be the fault of those kids you hated in school! They were always dicks, right?
Actually, it is someone else's fault. Where did all your money actually go? Who has it now?
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Patrick says
The reason I don't like Obama is that he said he'd get us out of these wars quickly, and he didn't. He said he'd make a change from Bush (Who by the way sucks MAJOR MAJOR ass). Instead, he has continued to bail out the banks and try to prop up home prices so bad investors don't lose equity just like Bush did.
Losers should fail, and winners should win. Not the other way around. It's harsh, and destructive to the already destroyed economy, but it's what needs to be done to wipe out the BS and start building a new foundation of prosperity.
That is why Obama sucks to me, along with many other ass sucker presidents along the way.
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Patrick says
Where's the millions of white people holding a Clown or Natzi picture?
And then there's that argument, that anyone against Obama is only prejiduce. Which is a new reason minorities shouldn't be president actually. If you can't have reasons to dislike him, with out "Race" being the reason for opposition. Then that group shouldn't be in politics then. There's no room for 1950's or 1960's politics. The 50's federal cracker era is gone, and is never coming back. Not for the religious right, and not to validate the Liberal left, to rail against in Civil disobedience. If that's all the Liberals have is that kind of rhetoric and march, then they certainly do more to diminish the accomplishments of mid 1900's. Over 60 years ago we sorted all of this shit out. You White Libs are more racist than anyone in America, less you be irrelevant.
Most blacks I know, have a more positive outlook about their future, and the understanding that their future is either in their hands or the collective business government collective that is brewing. But no black person I know is persecuted by as many white people as you patneters would have them be. You can't be their Proxy disenfranchisee.
Typical then it falls back on Bush's fault and all that.
Geesh, a rotten turnip with a rat's bite, and a goat turd stain. I just lowered my standards a little.
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nw888 says
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TPB says
A new reason? Is that in addition to existing reasons you have?
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Right on.
You can't argue the virtues of a capitalist economy in "Creative Destruction" when the overly risky strategists crash and burn and then get a taxpayer bailout.
The "Everybody Else was Doing it" excuse fails because if they are just doing what Everybody Else is Doing, why are they being paid so much for being "Creative"?
The solution to "Too Big to Fail" is anti-trust. That way, even if several companies fail in a crucial industry, there are still surviving, healthy companies to pick up the slack.
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Patrick says
It's because the liberals are pretty much responsible for everything that's wrong with the US. I can't think of anything that liberals have done right in my lifetime, except for requiring health insurance to cover birth control. Other than that, they have been 100% wrong on everything.
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thunderlips11 says
Amen to that. TBTF = Too Big to Exist. The bigger banks get, the more they can play the "bail us out or the economy will crash" card.
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Another fine example of liberals crippling the economy:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2012/03/thursday-poolmageddon-trial-lawyers/367846
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nw888 says
Those are good reasons! But they're not TPB's reasons, even if he now claims they are.
nw888 says
What if the winners cheated? Should they still win?
What if you actually work harder and do pretty well? Should you pay a higher tax rate (35%) than people who do no work but rake in millions or billions from unearned income (15%)?
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Patrick says
Do I really need to claim a good reason, I told you pick any of my posts you've deleted from even before he was elected to now. Every prediction I made, every doubt I had about him and his administration, every news story they spun as a positive truth I alone spoke out against as lies, have come back to prove me right. But every word of what I wrote you deleted. I only hope that you had the decency to read it first. You were only paid to delete my messages not "Not read them".
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Pretty sure I never deleted anything by you.
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Well you have, and to say or to pretend I'm just coming out of blue with an Objection to Obama is an insult to all that is decent and good. I expect that out of Iwog, but not you. I've been here a while I didn't just ride in on the Bearmarket express you know?
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All his reasons were contained in the imaginary deleted posts.