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Kate Fall's avatar

I can't even figure out how people had the time to write so many thinkpieces on how awful the left is. It's like the American press is more offended by stupid college students than by Hamas itself.

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Mary's avatar

Thank you! I wrote a similar comment earlier this week and got immediately shot down for it. I bruise easily, so I deleted it. Glad I’m not alone in this observation.

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Peter T's avatar

However, there's a "good" angle on this phenom: it shows the left has antibodies.

A recurring theme in the Bulwark community is the asymmetry we currently see in politics. The right does something idiotic and it's "yawn, Trumpers gonna Trump". A (small) segment of the left does something idiotic and it's Big News. It's annoying, frustrating, etc. Totally get that.

I was thinking these bad Hamas takes were Defund The Police 2.0. Let the antibodies at 'em! It's good that folks like AOC are clarifying their position. It's good that folks are denouncing and leaving the DSA.

This is how we avoid ending up like the GOP.

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Double-A's avatar

Very good essay in Drezner's World the other day... "A Brief Note Regarding the Public Musings of College Students: For the love of God, stop paying attention." https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/a-brief-note-regarding-the-public

'Unsurprisingly, it took less than 48 hours for some of these students to realize that they might have said something stupid and reconsider their words. I suspect that weeks or months from now, more of these students might recognize that their initial rhetoric might have been… oh, let’s use the word “problematic.” And that is okay. Because college students are supposed to be this stupid. It is the only way they’ll learn.'

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knowltok's avatar

Much has been written about the DSA, so I decided to look up how much influence they have.

I counted (twice) zero members of congress.

I checked on the various caucuses in congress and found zero hits for the word 'socialist' (Did you know there was a Bourbon Caucus? Somehow only two members!)

I looked at the last presidential election and didn't find them. In fact, of all minor parties below the top 4, there were only 650K (0.41%) total votes in 2020, and that's for all of the parties below that top 4.

So I have to wonder about the continued focus on the DSA.

To me the headline is more: "Wackadoos boldly proclaim positions that statistically zero people support."

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Travis's avatar

Old and tired: blaming the whole democratic party for the "Defund the Police" slogan rather than a handful of hard left nobodies being pumped up online by social media algorithms

New hotness: blaming the whole democratic party for the minimizing of Hamas' heinousness rather than a handful of hard left nobodies being pumped up online by social media algorithms

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NLTownie's avatar

Succinct analysis.

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TomD's avatar

And "Abolish ICE"

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Terry Mc Kenna's avatar

I think of my Congresswoman, Mikie Sherrill - former military, accomplished, reasonable. If Dems are the left - then the left does not act as charged. If not the left then the left is powerless. The Congressman one district north of mine if Josh Gottheimer - a conservative Dem. Yet the lazy press continues to tar Dems as if.

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Eva Seifert's avatar

Took the words out of my mouth. And to add to it, we have TFF*G, a candidate for the presidency, advocating in so many words, killing generals, immigrants, political enemies even of his "party", overturning the Constitution, loving people like Putin, and his millions of followers loving his words, and it's barely a footnote in the news.

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Scheidler's avatar

Charlie, come on, newsletter piece number two and three are about these terrible, horrible people's response. Not institutional Dems or the institutional left, but a vile subset of ignorant people. And in this morning's newsletter, the utter nonsense the FUTURE NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT is NUMBER FOUR?

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Kate Fall's avatar

Even though I don't drink, I kind of want to hang out with the Bourbon Caucus. They seem most likely to have their fingers on the pulse of average Americans.

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JF's avatar

I might prefer the Cannabis Caucus, if it existed. Pretty chill.

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KN in NC's avatar

I drink but I don't like bourbon. I'd still join you.

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Oct 13, 2023
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knowltok's avatar

Thanks for the correction. I missed it because they aren't a political party (apparently).

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NLTownie's avatar

AOC has denounced the DSP and their position on Hamas.

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TomD's avatar

I think they're a political organization and a caucus within the Democratic Party.

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Colleen Kochivar-Baker's avatar

Great question. How is it that stupid college students have become the more offensive issue than what Hamas actually did?

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R Mercer's avatar

Stupid college students generate more clicks. They are the (media) gift that keeps on giving.

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Peter T's avatar

If it weren't for dumbasses on the left stepping on rakes, what would Conservative Inc. do all day?

It's not like there's anything positive to say about the GOP/right at the moment. No constructive proposals for...anything.

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Oct 13, 2023
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knowltok's avatar

Why?

1.) 30% of Harvard's admissions are preferred legacy students. Harvard has 23K students. That's thousands of kids born on second or third who may never have had to deal with adversity. What part of the process of getting to Harvard for them would you point to as generating better morals?

2.) Ted Cruz.

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Kate Fall's avatar

Yes, good point. But are we extrapolating all students from the actions of a few?

It's part of a bigger conversation about the morals coming out of our top universities. "Greed is good" was the main lesson when I went to college, and I'm glad the world has expanded, but it still seems like we can't look to our institutes of higher learning for clarity on this or really any issue of the day.

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NLTownie's avatar

That sounds a lot like what my parents said about my generation... but we were into peace, love and groovy, not baby-killing terrorists.

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MProvenza's avatar

I just saw a video at UCLA with hundreds of protesters calling for a new intefada and chanting from the river to the sea. I didn't see any counter protest so it may not be all or even a majority, but it was more than a few.

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Arun's avatar

If this is the yardstick, one can always find a few fools to broad brush a whole community, no matter what.

What official actions and policies have they got the Left to adopt?

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Mark W. Bantz's avatar

Lit’s a big country!

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