Hi,
I thought it was important we all have a place to chat today — a place that’s safe and sane.
So — see you in the comments as things unfold. Let’s all be civil and respectful as per usual, even as things will inevitably get quite wild and gross because… America.
I’ll be headed to Huntington Beach in Orange County tonight — that’s where the Trump supporters and alt-right/nazi types live. I’ll be recording some audio and will report back.
Let this be your Dark Tourist: Season 2.
I woke up feeling annoyed that we’re at a place where Donald Trump has a very good chance of being President again.
The media has played a role in this, I suppose. Back in September I wrote about how it’s presented Trump to America — and to the world — as sane:
The country has fallen into a collective coma as to how utterly deranged this man is.
Putting it another way, the problem with America is that it’s become addicted to treating Donald Trump like a normal person.
While last night’s moderators did an excellent job of some live-fact checking (“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born” said the ABC’s Linsey Davis), there is still this base level charade of having to say, “Thank you candidate Trump” after he vomits out a bunch of clearly deranged shit.
It’s like someone in a waistcoat saying, “Yes, good point” to a baboon flinging faeces at the wall in a zoo enclosure.
Last week, the Columbia Journalism Review also had words on this:
Mark Jacob, a former metro editor of the Chicago Tribune who left the field in frustration, vents his despair in tweets: “The New York Times keeps tiptoeing up to calling Trump a fascist. If the Times went ahead and stated that obvious fact, they’d recover some of the credibility they’ve lost in recent years.… It’s amazing to me that news people keep doing the same job day after day with a sense of detachment and calm, as if they somehow don’t know that HOLY CRAP—A FASCIST MADMAN IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AND JUST MIGHT WIN.”
Of course the fascist madman is doing just fine, enabled by a super-troupe of horrific mega-rich dimwits who have huge platforms — people like Logan Paul, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.
It’s like a who’s-who of your worst dinner party guests.
The Navy Seal who shot Osama bin Laden also decided to express his love of Donald Trump this week by indicating he wanted to have sexual relations with some young men, saying “If there was no social media, you would be my concubines.”
That seemed like an objectively weird statement from Navy Seal Robert J O’Neill — but in these circles, an obsession with medieval times is not unusual. I’m reminded of a really old Webworm where we discussed New Zealand alt-right group “Wargus Christi”:
The group described itself as “A martial-monastic Christian brotherhood of swole saints, meat monks and beef bishops."They promoted a medieval style Christianity, with a heavy emphasis on crusader imagery. They encouraged members to regularly work out at the gym, which was frequently described as “the temple of iron”, a phrase popularised by Marcus Follin, better known as “The Golden One”, a Swedish white nationalist YouTuber.
The group also forbade masturbation. This may seem odd to the unfamiliar, but it’s a surprisingly common practice among far-right groups, including notably the “Proud Boys” in the US. The practice is based on a thoroughly debunked theory that semen retention is linked to an increase in testosterone and male virility. A more extreme version of this far-right anti-masturbation philosophy has been promoted by former KKK leader David Duke, who has propagated the conspiracy theory that Jews dominate the adult entertainment industry and use pornography as a way to control white men.
In short — it’s been a freak-show recently… and today’s the main act.
Before we get stuck into things in the comments, I wanted to mention that today’s Flightless Bird episode looks at some of the major conspiracy theories of this US election. Rob and I riff on the Webworm piece I wrote a few weeks back. I’m really happy how this episode turned out.
And to anyone who’s grabbed a Flightless Bird t-shirt already — they’ve started shipping! As I type they’re flinging their way to New Zealand, Japan, the UK, across the US, and Iceland. We have two designs, both created by friend of the show, kiwi Charlie Thomas.
Finally, if you need a lil’ slightly grim smile, The Onion took a look at swing voters in this election. Sorry, a swing voter.
Okay — see you in the comments.
Stay safe out there.
David.
