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As a fan of Oscar Wilde, I find the headline's suggestion that he shares some kind of allegiance with the likes of Jeff Sessions or Donald Trump Jr. unsavory.
by klenwell 9y ago
As a fan of Oscar Wilde, I find the headline's suggestion that he shares some kind of allegiance with the likes of Jeff Sessions or Donald Trump Jr. unsavory.
Here's the passage near the end of article that struggles to pardon the headline:
In the past, fears of an outside (Russian) agitator were often used to test the loyalty of people who had very little reason to feel loyal in the first place: the Irish in Great Britain, African Americans during the Red Scare. The present-day fears of Russian collusion have an altogether different tinge to them: they are associated with the powerful, not the powerless, a paradigmatic shift that has left many feeling confused as to what to believe.
Yeah, it's a stretch. Then again it was Wilde who wrote:
One of the chief causes that can be assigned for the curiously commonplace character of most of the literature of our age is undoubtedly the decay of Lying as an art, a science, and a social pleasure.
So maybe he'd have something to say in the defense of Donald Trump and his Russian collaborators.
- badcede 9y agoIt's all the same loony speculation and will age just as poorly.
- labster 9y agoIt's really unfair to the Russians to be grouped with such a poor liar as Donald Trump. His lies are all the same, and assuredly do not advance the art. If everything is always the worst or the best as in Trumpean narratives, there is no place for building to a climax, nor a proper denouement.
- topmonk 9y agoI believe that Trump lies in order to get the media to cover the topic he's talking about. He feeds them with some juicy factual error they can jump up and down on, along with some controversial topic they'd rather not cover. It works to a certain degree. It also sometimes backfires, "Violence on many sides" about Charlottesville was his attempt to get them to talk about Antifa, IMO, but was spun as he was defending white supremacy. The problem is that it's become so cliche that he lies, it's worn out its usefulness. It worked in the election, but now everyone is annoyed, including his supporters. It's hard to align yourself with someone who is beaten up so badly every day, regardless if he's hurting his opponents or not.
- sudhirj 9y agoWhy attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- _0ffh 9y agoOr maybe a combination of the two? I have met quite accomplished manipulators who seemed to work entirely from gut feeling and be entirely unaware of all the different techniques they were constantly using to get their own way.
- sirtaj 9y agoThis is ascribing to Trump a level of subtlety and diplomatic intelligence that has not been in evidence in any way to date. In order to believe he is capable of 4D chess, we have to first believe he can play 2D chess.
- NicoJuicy 9y agoWhy do you think Trump is that smart? The only success he had was: Trump Tower, renting out his name because of Trump Tower, a tv-show because of Trump Tower. He wouldn't be anything without his dad's money or a very lucky investment. He was in a helicopter and thought, hey. I want that big ass tower. I can buy it and he calls his dad.
- wolco 9y agoThe only success is Trump Tower? It is a sad and false meme. Are we forgetting that Trump became president without any support from his party. He crashed the party changed the playbook and won. If becoming president isn't a success what is?
- nkassis 9y agoThis is a simplistic and false as the narrative you are attacking.