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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#243226: May 22nd 2018 at 8:12:57 PM

Only if we let it. Serious researchers still use it that way.
Too late to stop it I think.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#243227: May 22nd 2018 at 8:13:34 PM

It's a word that became a dogwhistle a long time ago.

Disgusted, but not surprised
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#243228: May 22nd 2018 at 8:33:34 PM

When someone talks, in a political context, about the need for someone to stick it to the elites, they are almost never referring to the actual "one percent."

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#243229: May 22nd 2018 at 8:33:59 PM

[up] The real "elites" are the Mercers, the Kotchs, and the Putin's, who believe their money and influence makes them above the law.

Something I was thinking about lately.

We already know that Russia, Cambrige Analytica, and God knows who else, used Hybrid Warfare tactics (Information Warfare, hacking, funneling money through domestic entities/shell companies based in the US to illegally fund campaigns, etc), to try to influence the US election.

The million dollar question however, and the one that we will never have an absolutely definitive answer to, is, was it effective? Did they actually manage to sway the election in Trump's favor?

So I want to get your opinions. Do you think this was enough to sway the election?

edited 22nd May '18 8:35:57 PM by megaeliz

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#243230: May 22nd 2018 at 8:37:17 PM

There's the weird element of American culture.

Elliot from Mr. Robot is a conspiracy theorist who believes the government is overstepping itself, murdering people, misusing technology, and subverting democracy.

He's correct in his universe and a Leftist would very likely agree with him about our world.

Alex Jones believes the same but his government is Jews, homosexuals, and liberals.

So both sides with The Illuminati but who composes them is different.

edited 22nd May '18 8:38:17 PM by CharlesPhipps

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#243231: May 22nd 2018 at 8:47:15 PM

[up][up] Don't forget the decades of GOP propaganda demonizing HRC. Wyldchyld brought it up a while back that it's similar to the Brexit vote. The Leavers had been preparing for decades before the actual referendum.

And as she said, it's a testament to the resilience of the electorate that the votes were as close as they were.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#243232: May 22nd 2018 at 8:58:43 PM

[up][up]Yeah, that's part of why I'm not overly fond of America's obsession with opposing the establishment. It's something every side of politics invokes to make themselves seem good.

Leviticus 19:34
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#243233: May 22nd 2018 at 9:00:29 PM

Though what's really ironic is that the Illuminati IRL were classical liberals.

Leviticus 19:34
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#243234: May 22nd 2018 at 9:22:43 PM

Well, if it's any consolation, and speaking only for myself, Trump's win and time in office have soured me on anti-establishment candidates.

I always valued competence and ability anyway, but it drives the point home when we have a President whose tweets, when made by others, are dumbed down so people believe they were actually written by the President of the United States of America.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#243235: May 22nd 2018 at 10:02:57 PM

So I'm hearing House Majority Leader Jonathan Shell (R-KT) just got primaried by a Travis Brenda, a teacher.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#243236: May 22nd 2018 at 10:03:57 PM

I've heard that too, but didn't look into it.

http://time.com/5288058/kentucky-republican-primary-travisb-brenda/

Here's the first story I came across on it

edited 22nd May '18 10:05:45 PM by sgamer82

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#243237: May 23rd 2018 at 12:47:22 AM

If he's so adamant about supporting public education, why the hell is he running as a Republican? Especially considering the current Secretary of Education?

Disgusted, but not surprised
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#243238: May 23rd 2018 at 12:54:31 AM

This is a local election and primarying someone because you disagree with their education policy (Shell co-authored a bill that moved all future teachers into a hybrid pension system. Lawmakers passed it on one of the last days of the legislative session, hurrying it through. It was never available for the public to read before the vote.) is a logical decision.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#243239: May 23rd 2018 at 12:57:35 AM

It's just kind of funny since this administration is one of the least friendly to public education I've seen in a while.

Disgusted, but not surprised
RJ-19-CLOVIS-93 from New Zealand (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#243240: May 23rd 2018 at 2:04:34 AM

I've been researching the different presidents and vice presidents. I'm wondering...is any American here descended from a US President or US Vice President? Just wondering, since some of them lived a long time ago and had a lot of kids(looking at you John Tyler) there'd probably be a few tropers who are

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#243241: May 23rd 2018 at 2:12:18 AM

As an Asian-American born to immigrants, I'd be more likely to be descended from Genghis Khan or something.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#243242: May 23rd 2018 at 3:47:59 AM

The conservative rejection of "the elite" is based in Anti-Intellectualism, not anti-wealth. Expertise is rejected in favor of "plain common sense," and anyone who thinks they have a knowledge-based plan is acting like they know better than you. In an aggressively democratic society like the US, the voters aren't cool with being told that they don't know as much as the people with degrees in this stuff, and conservative media is excellent at giving them validation in this view. So is Donald Trump, for that matter.

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#243243: May 23rd 2018 at 3:56:44 AM

Yeah. To liberals, the definition that was posted applies (which means essentially plutocrats, on both ends of the bribes). To "conservatives", "the elite" is intellectuals, because the plutocrats say it is. And their flock eats it up.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#243244: May 23rd 2018 at 4:01:37 AM

To quote Socrates after he was in an argument:

I am wiser than this man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing; whereas I, as I do not know anything, so I do not fancy I do. In this trifling particular, then, I appear to be wiser than he, because I do not fancy I know what I do not know.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#243245: May 23rd 2018 at 4:09:16 AM

And to some people, namely the kind of people who marched in Charlottesville, "elite" is just a dogwhistle for "Jewish people". Much like "globalist".

Disgusted, but not surprised
ElSquibbonator Since: Oct, 2014
#243246: May 23rd 2018 at 5:30:31 AM

Apparently, the odds of a Democratic victory in this year's midterms just got narrower. Is this a temporary lapse, or something we should be afraid of?

edited 23rd May '18 5:31:06 AM by ElSquibbonator

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#243247: May 23rd 2018 at 5:35:49 AM

It might just be because, with midterms actually approaching now, campaigns are getting into higher gear and the GOP base is starting to respond.

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#243248: May 23rd 2018 at 5:48:51 AM

I dont care who uses the term as a dogwhistle, or how many sheeple follow them. I refuse to allow the GOP to dictate how I think and speak.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#243249: May 23rd 2018 at 5:56:06 AM

The damage is already done, though. If you build a platform around being "against the elites," the crowd the party attracts would be anti-Semites, anti-intellectuals, isolationists, conspiracy theorists, and maybe like one or two genuine social democrats.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
KazuyaProta Shin Megami Tensei IV from A Industrial Farm Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Shin Megami Tensei IV
#243250: May 23rd 2018 at 6:03:04 AM

You really can't build a campaign that is based in excusively fight-the-other even if you used the right other.

Watch me destroying my country

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