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A really good "code smell" for political bullshit is when a person or idea is simultaneously an ineffectual loser and a grave, powerful, insidious force. Close
by martythemaniak 6y ago
A really good "code smell" for political bullshit is when a person or idea is simultaneously an ineffectual loser and a grave, powerful, insidious force. Closely related to the notion that the leader is simultaneously both a powerful winner and a powerless victim.
"cancel culture" here is both powerful and dangerous enough to bring down Western civilization, yet so laughably weak it cannot even pretend to solve real problems.
- coldtea 6y ago>A really good "code smell" for political bullshit is when a person or idea is simultaneously an ineffectual loser and a grave, powerful, insidious force. I've read that somewhere. By the same "heuristic" anti-Trump talk is "political bullshit", because he is said to be simultanously a buffon/ineffectual loser and a very powerful insidious force. But of course such heuristics are themselves usually selectively applied to opinions which those applying them already agree are "political bullshit".
- lucretian 6y agothis is an obviously bad analogy. trump is clearly a moron, and also holds the most powerful position in the world. those are not contradictory in any way.
- FeepingCreature 6y agoThe part that usually completes this idea is that the person or idea only has power because people give it to them. So the person in itself is not powerful but they are given power.
- heymijo 6y agoI first heard this idea articulated in Umberto Eco's article on Ur-Fascism or Eternal Fascism [0,1]. First link is the abridged list. The second is a full feature article. From Point #8 "by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak" [0] http://interglacial.com/pub/text/Umberto_Eco_-_Eternal_Fascism.html http://interglacial.com/pub/text/Umberto_Eco_-_Eternal_Fasci... [1] https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/
- martythemaniak 6y agoI started reading that article, it's good, thanks.
- AbrahamParangi 6y agoRespectfully I think the Umberto Eco line is a surface observation. Any strength misdirected is simultaneously “too strong” and “too weak”.