Tucker Carlson and Assange

[NoXion]

Was just thinking, it is incredible that Russia has become the darling of the American right.

Highest divorce rate in Europe. Higher homicide rate than the US and highest in Europe by a significant margin. Highest rates of drug related deaths in Europe and high alcoholism. Highest rate of HIV in Europe. Rate of abortion is slightly lower than the US but only slightly. Church attendance higher than some of western Europe but relatively low and much lower than the US.

It falls short on pretty much everything you'd expect them to care about. So is it just the authoritarian leadership they are attracted? And the fact they don't like gays?

What it seems like is a tendency to project US domestic politics onto the world and so Putin is "anti-woke" and on their side. It is incredibly reductive.

Carlson's appearance in Spain at right wing rallies against the Socialist Workers Party forming a coalition with a Catalan Independence Party was an interesting example of this too. He believed he was in a fight against "socialist tyranny." But the Socialist Workers Party are moderates who have governed Spain most of its history as a democracy and the protests were primarily against Catalan nationalism, of which Carlson knows or cares nothing.

The phenomenon reminds me of a American right winger I once met in Belfast who was working for the DUP in some capacity - presumably seeing them as pro-life culture war allies - who went on a long and animated rant to me about how disappointed he was that were more interested in getting one up on the Irish, of which he himself had no interest in.

Those are facts. The American right aren't motivated at all by facts. They're motivated entirely by feelings. Rage, fear, jealousy, the desire to hurt "the right people". They may say things like "facts don't care about your feelings", but the actual meaning of such phrases is more like "right-wing feelings don't care about 'your' facts".

All that truly matters to them is power and the enforcement of hierarchy. That's why they seem so contradictory, and why their ideas about "freedom" seem to be so selective. They will say whatever they feel in that moment will reinforce right-wing power and maintain their preferred hierarchy. They cannot believe that anyone would sincerely pursue equality, so any calls for such must therefore be some kind of deception, a cover story to hide the desire to tear down their hierarchy and replace it with another one. That's why they're so scared of being "replaced", why they constantly argue that it's actually racist to try solving racism.

The American right are in love with Putin's Russia because they feel that it's a place where the right hierarchies are being upheld.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Those are facts. The American right aren't motivated at all by facts. They're motivated entirely by feelings. Rage, fear, jealousy, the desire to hurt "the right people". They may say things like "facts don't care about your feelings", but the actual meaning of such phrases is more like "right-wing feelings don't care about 'your' facts".

All that truly matters to them is power and the enforcement of hierarchy. That's why they seem so contradictory, and why their ideas about "freedom" seem to be so selective. They will say whatever they feel in that moment will reinforce right-wing power and maintain their preferred hierarchy. They cannot believe that anyone would sincerely pursue equality, so any calls for such must therefore be some kind of deception, a cover story to hide the desire to tear down their hierarchy and replace it with another one. That's why they're so scared of being "replaced", why they constantly argue that it's actually racist to try solving racism.

The American right are in love with Putin's Russia because they feel that it's a place where the right hierarchies are being upheld.

I don't know if regional setting will keep this from playing, but it shows exactly what you're talking about. Its a segment on Jimmy Kimmel called "Debate and Switch." It asks Trump supporters what they think of a "Biden quote", only it's really a Trump quote. Then, they say "oh, I'm sorry, that was really a Trump quote. What do you think?



The intellectual dishonesty is strong with them.