Rufuspetasumphobia
Here’s a sufferer from this malady:
Is anyone else made really uncomfortable these days by anyone wearing any kind of red baseball cap? Like, I see one and my heart does weird shit and then I finally realize it only says Titleist or whatever. Maybe don't wear red caps anymore, normal people?
— Rebecca Makkai (@rebeccamakkai) September 1, 2019
It’s easy to mock a tweet like that. But I’m going to take it seriously, for what it represents. Makkai is not alone; there are tons of people who believe—or want you to think they believe—that MAGA hats are signs of such bigotry and such evil that even red caps of any type and any message “trigger” them into fear and loathing.
Here’s another tweet from Makkai, later in the thread:
If you’re here to be contrary: an equivalent here would be western Hindus choosing not to use the swastika symbol in public despite it being sacred to their faith because it would offend/frighten people. The red hat has become a symbol of hate bc of how its wearers act.
— Rebecca Makkai (@rebeccamakkai) September 1, 2019
Makkai is symptomatic of a lot of recent trends, including (of course) the use of Twitter to drum up responses by expressing an emotional reaction or a political point of view—or, in this case, an emotional reaction to a political point of view. Makkai may be describing an extreme reaction to MAGA hats and by extension to any red cap, but she’s certainly not alone. And she seems quite proud of her reaction, as well.
That’s the most interesting thing about it. I looked Makkai up to find out who she is, and discovered that she’s a 41-year-old novelist and a mother of two. Somewhat older than what one might expect for such a reaction, which echoes the current generation of college students and their seeming fragility at the hint of the display of any political position they deem threatening.
When did it become a virtue to be so frightened of a political point of view held by half of Americans, and to label it as abnormal and actually hateful? It’s been building for decades, and it focuses mostly on the perception and careful cultivation by the press and the Democratic Party (especially its leftist wing, which has grown so large as to seem like the main body at this point) of the idea that the opponents are not mainstream but are vile haters who must be opposed with any and every tool possible.
In Makkai’s tweet, that idea is a given: MAGA-hat wearers are racist haters. They should strike fear and loathing into the heart of every “normal” person. So you normal people out there, who don’t want to give offense, think twice before you wear even a red cap that might trigger the likes of Makkai and other kind, good, loving people like her.
That this makes perfect sense to a lot of people is the result of major, decades-long effort. One of the clearest manifestations of this campaign—and it occurred long before Trump’s 2016 candidacy—was the labeling of the Tea Party as racist. This was successful and the perception persists to this day. It was also a subset of something candidate—and then President—Obama encouraged: the labeling of opposition to him as motivated by racism rather than being a mere political disagreement (a tactic I documented when I first heard him use it; see this, for example).
And it actually predated Obama, although he made it an almost kneejerk response for criticism of the right. The tactic has been remarkably successful, and Makkai seems convinced that its assertions are so obviously true they need no proving. The trajectory is clear, and it goes like this:
(1) People who wear MAGA hats are evil bigots.
(2) I am a sensitive person, one of the most sensitive around.
(3) MAGA hats trigger me, as they might you if you’re a kind, unbigoted, sensitive person as well.
(4) I am so very sensitive that even innocuous, non-MAGA red caps trigger me.
(5) So please don’t wear a red cap, in order to prove your own kindness, sensitivity, normalcy, and lack of bigotry.
Is Makkai sincere and is she really triggered by something as mild as a red cap at this point? Maybe. Some (not all) of the liberals I know seem to have a constant need to assert their Trump-hatred at regular intervals and inject anti-Trump remarks of various kinds into ordinary non-political conversations.
It’s a cliche to say we have become increasingly polarized in recent decades. But it’s crystal clear that we have, and that much of it has been promoted on the left as a tactic for winning elections. Fear is contagious, as well. Is the fear real, or is it fake and just a way to prove who’s the wokest of them all? I don’t know, and it hardly matters, because the poison is out there, eating away at the fabric of our society.
I have pointed out before that the leftists consider themselves to be intellectually and morally superior people. If you disagree with them, you are not just mistaken, you are a stupid evil person. Of course, this belief in their own superiority is just hubris, one of the seven deadly sins.
I would assume that she would like to sell copies- either digital or hard copy- of her books. She has just alienated half of the potential book-purchasing population.
These jerks are your people, Manju. Enjoy.
$6 gets you a plain, unadorned red hat on Amazon.
I think I’m feeling the need to trigger some people.
https://www.amazon.com/KANGORA-Baseball-Adjustable-Classic-6-Panel/dp/B07GC7CDRD/
Makkai: If you’re physically reacting to something that someone is wearing, you need therapy.
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” — George Orwell, written on the side of BBC HQ in London.
“careful cultivation by the press and the Democratic Party (especially its leftist wing, which has grown so large as to seem like the main body at this point)”
What to make of relatives like mine who are yellow dog democrats? They otherwise do not seem like evil people but does providing support in the form of votes for evil like the Democrat Party not make them evil?
I know Grisham’s law and all that but were the Germans who provided tacit support for the Nazis not complicit in their evil? Remember the character of the German judge in “Judgement at Nuremberg” played by Burt Lancaster who realized his role in the Nazis’ crimes.
Like you Neo (I think) I just ignore it and we talk about other things. They are not like the woman in your post–they know my views and also ignore them. But it is a sobering experience to see how evil can grow in an otherwise decent society.
I wish I knew what to do about it. “You cannot change by logic a point of view arrived at by emotion.” They are in the Democrat Party cares about me camp and getting them to even consider Trump would be a bridge way too far.
Neo ,
do you talk as well as you write? Id love to see you on shows like Tucker.
“Maga hats!? . . . Maga hats on in Chicago? Excuse me one second Mr. Smollett. Frank, come here for a second: Find out where Kanye West was last night.”
“Is Makkai sincere and is she really triggered…?”
I’ve pondered this phenomenon a lot over the years. I think at least a part of the syndrome is similar to kids telling each other ghost stories, working themselves into a state of terror where any noise can make them scream. There’s a definite element of pleasure in it, the pleasure of playing with fear while knowing that you’re actually perfectly safe. And yet if you keep at that continually you can work probably work yourself into a genuinely disturbed state.
“Is Makkai sincere and is she really triggered by something as mild as a red cap at this point? Maybe.”
A liar or a borderline hysterical person, with an emphasis on the former, I’d say.
“Once a bear is hooked on garbage, there’s no cure.”
Which baseball team is going to be the first to change their uniform colors, colors they’ve had for over a century in some cases, in order to eliminate what is now a new racist symbol?
The Cincinnati Reds would be an ironic choice, given that one of the reasons you see a lot of Cincinnati Reds hats floating around in cities all across the country is that they have become part of “colors” of the Bloods street gang: https://gothamist.com/news/bloods-flood-queens-court-in-cincinnati-reds-caps
A well-known affiliation with a street gang hasn’t caused the Reds to ever rethink their ballcaps (nor should it), yet will they bow to the pressure of the left now and scrap their all-red ballcaps for being “racist”?
“Maga hats!? . . . Maga hats on in Chicago? Excuse me one second Mr. Smollett. Frank, come here for a second: Find out where Kanye West was last night.” — sdferr
That’s from the Dave Chapelle’s new comic routine. The funniest part for me was the fact that Chapelle repeatedly pronounced Jussie Smollett, “Juicy Smollé.”
This example of insane reaction and condemnation shows you why the poles were so wrong in 2016 and why they are so wrong now. Trump supporters stay covert — otherwise some fine, superior, inclusive SOB might take a swing at them in the street or try to get them fired from their job.
I know that I am careful not to have any pro-Trump clothing on when I walk around, and I do not have a pro-Trump bumper sticker on my car. I see lots of crazy liberal bumper stickers, but no conservative ones. Who wants to be keyed by some POS.
How many of you respond to polling phone calls? I’ll bet that the infamous Manju is the only one.
She’s triggered where it’s safe to be triggered, when she’s knows she’s surrounded by others who feel the same way. Otherwise, I doubt it.
Has anyone noticed that if you wistfully express a hope for more politeness and civility in today’s society like there was some decades ago (for those of us over 65), that you get pinned with wanting to bring back everything from those days. Basically, you’re thinking like a white supremacist.
I have resisted so far in buying a MAGA hat. But I think I will have to buy one.
Aye, those Reds . . . not even Marge Schott made ’em rethink their caps, so . . .
I’m thinking folks should start a “mail in” campaign.
Fill her blessed mailbox with red hats.
Edward on September 3, 2019 at 3:15 pm said:
How many of you respond to polling phone calls?
—-
If I happen to accidentally pick up and set one off, I absolutely answer and proceed to throw my support to the Democrat (or the worst Democrat if there are several choices). I figure one of the purposes of these polling calls in addition to actual polling is to “out” conservatives and put their names on a list to be used to hurt them later or to use as an “avoid” list for ballot harvesting. The pollers are probably smart enough to realize that a “none of the above” or refusal to answer is now equivalent to admitting that one is a trump supporter, so I make sure to tell them that I’m unequivocally voting D.
Phobias have evolved… Nay, progressed, as projected conditions. Ole!
the leftists consider themselves to be intellectually and morally superior people.
Twilight and Pro-Choice… Not all, but in principle. Let us bray to mortal gods.
Remember in middle school that gaggle of giggly girls who went around speaking Pig Latin? Well, they grew up and invented Twitter. The rest of us are waiting for the English language version.
Generally, I see it as part of the ever-more-extreme social preening that leftists engage in, ever more frequently, to prove to themselves and each other they are true members of the club. They have to establish their bona fides with each other with incessant parroting of The Right Things To Say Today and one good way is by somehow getting in an anti-Trump reference, with extra points if you can tie in other lefty concerns (climate change, racism, any resistance at all to the LGBT monster, etc). It’s a social exchange, like a club handshake.
Thanks to the snowflake generation, which needs constant validation and affirmation of every breath, it’s gone from being just a part of social interaction (like a greeting or farewell) to being the entire purpose of social interaction for some people. We all know people who were normal 10 years ago but who, today, literally tweet or post all day long nothing but leftist memes – a constant obsession which looks like a specific effort to impress their friends, acquaintances and anyone else who comes along of how Good they are.
Now, it’s not good enough simply to share every lefty meme that comes their way. Everyone’s doing that and has been doing that for years. It’s old news. Now, to really prove to all of your lefty friends that you’re really, really Good, one technique is to project that they are so perfected, so sensitive, so pure and so good, that they are harmed by even the suggestion of us troglodyte conservatives (eg, a plain red hat). Yes, they are pretending to be victims of the fact that you and I exist, and proudly wallowing in it. It’s sick and creepy,
That said, I am greatly concerned about logical extensions of this behavior. I don’t see how it isn’t coming that harming conservatives will become not just acceptable but praiseworthy and eventually, de rigeur if you want to be a member of the club.
“Is Makkai sincere and is she really triggered by something as mild as a red cap at this point? Maybe.”
A liar or a borderline hysterical person,
I think this not sincerity but a knee jerk sort of in-crowd reaction. I doubt any thought occurred.
Also, how many are old enough to remember when Cincinnati changed the team name from “Reds” to “Redlegs?” In the 1950s. Same phenomenon.
You will pry my Phillies cap from my cold dead hands. FWIW, I checked yesterday’s videos from several MLB teams that favor red caps, and you can see plenty of Reds, Cardinals, Nationals, and Angels as well as Phillies fans wearing red baseball caps in the stands.
Makkai is a sad and pathetic excuse for a supposedly educated human being. Perhaps someone should offer to take her to a home game for one of the aforementioned teams and see whether she has either a panic attack or a flat-out psychotic break.
I was reading a book about Papua New Guinea a couple of weeks ago. The author has written a series of novels and I have devoured them. He resembles WEB Griffin in his mastery of technical terms and good dialogue. They are mostly about historical periods but one series is about New Guinea in world war 2.
The author spent ten years as a policeman in New Guinea. He has tales about the tribes in New Guinea who were cannibals and attacked other tribes, the victims of which attacks, they ate. The tribes each had a different language and that made any communication difficult. The war required white men to go into the interior and , hopefully, not be eaten. The police developed a sort of pigeon language that multiple tribes could use.
The reason for this long story is that we are in this situation with Democrats. They don’t use the same language and will attack us as the first reaction to contact. I don’t know if we can develop a sort of Esperanto that all can understand.
If only a crowd of red hats could drive Makkaists from America.
“He has tales about the tribes in New Guinea who were cannibals and attacked other tribes, the victims of which attacks, they ate.”
Your author probably mentions the Fore people of Papua New Guinea, who were endocannibals– that is, they ate deceased members of their own tribe as part of their funerary customs. The eventual result was kuru, a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) in the same family of prion diseases as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Perhaps the Democrats will start devouring one another; blue-on-blue squabbles are a common topic over at Instapundit and similar blogs. FWIW, a common symptom of kuru is “uncontrolled and sporadic laughter,” a common trait of Dem operatives on Twitter.
“It’s easy to mock a tweet like that. But I’m going to take it seriously, for what it represents.”
Yes, I think we do need to take this kind of “nonsense” (for lack of a better word) seriously because it leads to all sorts of other nasty stuff.
In the past what might have been a stupid comment made to like-minded friends, today gets tweeted for everyone to see. And they will often try to outdo each other with their “anger.”
Most recently, Debra Messing tweeted that she would like to get a list of names of the people who are giving money to Trump’s fundraising – “so the whole world knows who they are.” And then what? Debra Messing wants to shun people who don’t think like her.
Just ask Spike Lee what his stupid tweet did! Chased innocent folks out of their own home due to death threats.
And even this one little tweet – about how a red hat causes her to become “uncomfortable.” So, now she calls on “normal” people to not wear red hats? Will that open the way for anyone who doesn’t act or dress “right” to be attacked?
Ask anyone who lives in the projects where gangbangers rule how wearing the wrong colors can get you killed. Is that what this woman is asking for?
However, I will admit, I know the feeling that she describes – I felt a similar “sick to my stomach” feeling wherever I saw a Volvo with Obama, and then later, Hillary bumper stickers. But, I didn’t go around telling others to shun them or do them harm!
“Neo ,
do you talk as well as you write? Id love to see you on shows like Tucker.”
Avi, Neo did a bunch of podcasts way back when with Dr. Sanity. In fact that’s how I found her. Not sure if those podcast are still available. I’m sure she can tell you or link to them.
Actually I just found the link to those podcasts:
https://www.blogtalkradio.com/sanitysquad
Oh, to market a red baseball cap that reads “FEEL THE BERN”…
I have only two red caps. neither of which has MAGA on them; One has a B-17 and the other has the a Gangrene Gulch (Alaska) Park Ranger patch.
Howsomever, if I were to get anywhere this woman lives, I’d be happy to wear them. She’s quite the piece of work, she is.
Could anyone outside of an asylum really be that fearful and cowardly?
Somebody actually that weak, would be ashamed of it.
Somehow, we are being bludgeoned to death with their weakness and sensitivity.
And let’s not forget about the red Phrygian caps, which were adopted during the French Revolution as a symbol of liberty. Some of the French aristocrats made sure to wear them prominently in order to keep their own heads during the Reign of Terror; this was not always successful. Marianne (the French version of Uncle Sam) still has her red cap.
Such a red cap is in use today in the United States as well, depicted on various state flags and federal government seals, as it is such an iconic symbol, dating back to ancient Rome.
NewYorkCentral on September 3, 2019 at 1:52 pm said:
$6 gets you a plain, unadorned red hat on Amazon.
I think I’m feeling the need to trigger some people.
Hey, the cap can be personalized. I wonder how the poor sheltered novelist would feel if a bunch of people had the hats stenciled with “MAKKAI” instead of MAGA?
In Venezuela, Chavez and his Socialist movement so completely co-opted the color red, that it became a social faux pas to wear anything red. To a certain extent, we saw the wearers of red as a threat. I know it sounds a little ridiculous. It even sounds that way to me as I am recounting it. But, at the time, it was real.
Today, the true believers and their worn red tee shirts are a pathetic remnant who inspire nothing more than scorn or even pity. Unfortunately, the dictatorship and police state those true believers voted into existence remains and oppresses and starves Opposition and Chavistas alike.
To PA Cat-
To learn more about the disease you mentioned, read -Deadly Feasts by Richard Rhodes.
The dishonest nature of this fear reminds me of a relative of mine, my sister’s daughter, who lamented just before the 2016 election that she would be “locked up in a camp if Trump were elected.” You see, she is a lesbian, and the meme going around the gay community at the time was that Trump was not only anti-gay, but vehemently so. To the extent that he would take extra legal action against gays.
When she said this I was dumbfounded. It was the first I had ever heard that Trump was anti-gay and that his presidency — if he were elected — would result in concentration camps for gay people. It made me realize there are memes out there with wide currency among certain groups, but that are completely unknown to the general public.
I keep wanting to write and ask her how she’s enjoying her stint in a concentration
camp, but she would probably ignore me or claim she never said such a stupid thing.
But the more important lesson for the rest of us is what I alluded to two paragraphs back: we do not have a clue what is being passed around among the members of certain tribes, things that are clearly designed to turn an entire tribe against Trump or his supporters.
The Democratic candidates this year are not even bothering to posit a platform: they are merely anti-Trump. That is a scary thing to realize. I am not pretending my tribe doesn’t have its own areas of blindness, but I don’t think ours are as widespread, as tailored to specific groups, of as much of a doomsday quality as what the Dems have.
Makkai sounds downright delusional. But she is not alone. It’s where we are these days, and I, like Neo, think Obama and his administration had a lot to do with bringing this about.
If you are scared by a hat then that’s on you, not the hat wearer. You know who was truly evil? Che Guevara. When I see someone in a t-shirt with Che on it I’m not scared. I just think: this person, wearing this shit, is an ignorant virtue signaling nitwit.
Makkai is either trying to pump up her social score – to sell more books I suppoe – or an ignorant virtue signaling nitwit.
How about she’s lying like a rug? She knows better but knows she speaks Words of Power and these require us to obey. They’re manipulative.
Recall the Sbux case a couple of months ago where a customer told a staff member that the presence of uniformed policemen made him afraid. The cops were asked to leave.
Shamans could wish their words had such power.
Kuru was limited, as I recall, to women as they were the ones who prepared the dead and, as a reward, got to eat the brain. For a while there was some confusion because the women would sometimes give some brain to a favored child.
I don’t people do buy this logic. I was a Never Trumper because I just really dislike him. Then the Dems started to really go nutty with the Russia stuff, the racism, and the fascism. I just don’t buy that. Tweets like this hurt them. If it weren’t for Tweets like this, I’d probably still be a Never Trumper.
Tweets like this make just make people like me think we’re in a real culture war. I was listening to an article in the Atlantic about the difficulties of black families face creating intergenerational wealth. I thought it was interesting. Then the last sentence is: There is no such thing as an individual. Which basically just made me think, rubbish. Complete rubbish.
Instead of making me think about things like redlining, she made me think of Hayek and Thatcher and the need to just screw our courage to the sticking place and stick with the party we can trust — even if our leader is a nasty little troll.
Rufuspetasumphobia
I did a search on that word and got 5 blogs that linked to Neo’s post!
Does it have a real definiton?
She has swallowed the Left’s ‘kool-aid’ and has cast her fate with them. May God have mercy on her soul.
LYNN HARGROVE on September 3, 2019 at 3:29 pm said:
I have resisted so far in buying a MAGA hat. But I think I will have to buy one.
Karl Lembke on September 3, 2019 at 5:14 pm said:
Oh, to market a red baseball cap that reads “FEEL THE BERN”…
* * *
Karl – most large towns have shops that make hats and shirts to order.
Make one for yourself and a few friends.
And then make some blue MAGA hats, and maybe yellow, pink, orange, green…
BTW, anybody here remember that RED was the color beloved by Communists, until the MSM pulled a switch-up in one of the US elections and assigned it to the Republicans, because Democrats were trending so far left even then that people were beginning to make the connection.
Who’s gonna tell Ms. Snowflake about the *blue* MAGA hats that are already available from the
Who’s gonna tell Ms. Snowflake about the *blue* MAGA hats that are already available from the Trump campaign?
Is Makkai sincere and is she really triggered by something as mild as a red cap at this point? –neo
I hear it as revival tent testimony.
Makkai has some stray feelings on the topic and amplifies them (1) to strengthen her position as a leader in the group, (2) to inspire further testimony from others and (3) to crack over fence-sitters to conversion.
BTW, anybody here remember that RED was the color beloved by Communists, until the MSM pulled a switch-up in one of the US elections and assigned it to the Republicans, because Democrats were trending so far left even then that people were beginning to make the connection.
AesopFan: Yes! I’m still annoyed with that sleight-of-hand.
Ray on September 3, 2019 at 1:06 pm said:
Neo
Double Lives – Stephen Koch
and
As early as the 1920?s, Münzenberg and his people recognized that the principal countermyth to the Soviet Revolution was “the idea of America” (emphasis in original). Thus, sensational events like the Sacco-Vanzetti case or the trial of the Scottsboro boys were seized upon not with a view toward establishing the innocence of the accused, but
decades long is right Neo…
fascinating stuff if you know the past enough
“We Are Neither Visionaries Nor Utopian Dreamers”.
Red Terror in the past meant one thing.
Fear of a MAGA hat is another form of Red Terror? heh
YOU may not know this history or the people.. but the people your discussing do!!!!
the article conveniently leaves out the comiterm, the pact, and gives willi a makeover…
Counteract racism and turn the tide on rightwing populists
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/27/counteract-racism-and-turn-the-tide-on-rightwing-populists
Letters
Mon 27 May 2019 13.10 EDT
Last modified on Mon 27 May 2019 14.18 EDT
John Green
Author of a forthcoming biography of Willi Münzenberg
Keith Flett
they know the history… and they know that these notions were instilled…
which is one of many reasons why they look down onthe public that doesnt know…
the fear of maga and triggering has to do with emotional appeals to a unheeding power you cant actually contact or address… god government…
I think I will have to dig into the closet and find one of my newer un-faded bright red Mount Gay sailing caps. Same red as a MAGA, but with the Mount Gay rum logo on it, and the name of a regatta. I normally wear one of the older ones, dating from the mid-80’s or early 90’s.
I hope that will trigger someone. (Not likely in Toronto, but you never know…)
(Mount Gay hats are not for sale: given out at sailing regatta’s only, so if you see one, it’s being worn by a sailor.)
I do machine embroidery. I just ordered some red caps that I’m going to embroider with:
Triggered?
&
Made You
Look Again
F on September 3, 2019 at 6:32 pm said:
The dishonest nature of this fear reminds me of a relative of mine, my sister’s daughter, who lamented just before the 2016 election that she would be “locked up in a camp if Trump were elected.” You see, she is a lesbian, and the meme going around the gay community at the time was that Trump was not only anti-gay, but vehemently so. To the extent that he would take extra legal action against gays.
* * *
Get her a rainbow MAGA hat.
Makkai’s reaction to any red hat reminds me of the complaint made at the Democratic Socialist Party convention, where the guy (?) implores people to not chatter and whisper around him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5gL9Dr_EWY
I think I will have to dig into the closet and find one of my newer un-faded bright red Mount Gay sailing caps.
I have a closet full. I still recall that the only Trump sticker I saw in Los Angeles in 2016 was on a Tesla. Garlic and vampires.
In the People’s Republic of Puget Sound this sort of thing has been common for a long time. In 2008 we posted a McCain/Palin sign in our yard. The HOA demanded we take it down because it “triggered” some of the neighbors. After consulting a lawyer, I dared the HOA to sue me. Of course they didn’t, but it was plain we were now “those Republicans” in a neighborhood of mostly leftists. Put a McCain/Palin sign on your car and you could bank on it getting keyed within a week. These people are easily offended and care not about the harm they can do to you. It has only gotten worse since Trump’s election.
How do they claim the moral high ground? The aver that they care about people. Ha, they favor abortion, euthanasia, confiscatory taxes, crippling regulation, open borders, and letting homeless, addicted/mentally ill people live on the streets of our cities. If that is caring about people, it’s a mighty strange way to show it. IMO, they care less about actual human beings than they do about power. Their caring about people claim is phony. Their high regard for their morality is phony. They are hypocrites of the worst kind.
I find these far left useful idiots, runere.ning dog lackeys, both tedious and dangerous. Don’t tread on me, I got “a 38 special on a 45 frame” and I got dead aim. They want us dead, let them start it and we’ll finish it. Idiots. 150 million plus gun owners, who can out shoot LEOs and all but the very, very best military marksmen. What if 10% resist? We got your lackeys out numbered Assuming the military are going to abrogate their oath, are they going to bomb the village, town, or metropolis to save the same? I doubt that.
Do not be afraid, reload.
Keep pushing, one day you will meet a shove that will put you on your ass.
steve walsh
If you are scared by a hat then that’s on you, not the hat wearer. You know who was truly evil? Che Guevara. When I see someone in a t-shirt with Che on it I’m not scared. I just think: this person, wearing this shit, is an ignorant virtue signaling nitwit.
I have a Che T-shirt, to which I added the following: “Si sos hincha de Che, sos hincha de pelotudo sin cerebro.”
Translated from Argie-speak, that would be: “If you are a fan of Che, you are a fan of a brainless asshole.”
This is why we can’t have nice things. Like representative government.
Gerard,
Once a bear is hooked on garbage…
Thread Winner!
I was in America for two months, and got both a red MAGA cap and a new camo Trump 2020 cap. I didn’t think I’d be afraid to wear either.
I chose to never wear the red cap, not wanting the possible hassle to disturb my vacation. I often did wear the camo Trump cap, but also sometimes didn’t.
It’s terrible that there is no fear of wearing a Che tee, but the violent Dems, all too often not prosecuted by the police, feel they are allowed to physically hurt those wearing red caps they find disagreeable.
Mentally disturbed Rebecca is trying to virtue signal to her friends, as well as create a new cultural norm.
She should be laughed at and the famous who support and echo her should be mocked inessentially.
She’s a fake. But this “phobia” gives her the rank of victim, which, if they’re being honest, is something they all desperately desire.
Status with no real harm.
Like so many academics these days, status with no real value.
I’m inclined to believe her statements about her sensibilities. However, she needs to reflect on the benefits to the Left of her position:
If you are a GOOD person, of course you won’t want to wear a color that might ‘trigger’ my fears.
What also happens if people follow her plea?
They lose a potent public identification with others whose politics are similar. Lest you think that unimportant, remember the meaning of the Orange Revolution, which bypassed attempts to silence it, with simple use of a color.
If a person can silence opponents by appealing to their compassion, they have won.
It’s a religion. Hence the magic words of “racist” and “bigot” and “white supremacy”. They are akin to ancient cries of “witch” and “heretic” and “magician”. We are within The Body and you are without, and you must be made to join The Body. (Basing real life on Star Trek episodes is really not a good idea.)
It is a religion. A Calvinist creed. They don’t even have to do things. As long as they believe, as long as they say the right things they get a pass, like Prince Harry.
I’m struck by the sheer immaturity of the original statement. Makkai acknowledges that she sees a great many red caps that are NOT the famous MAGA caps she despises… but she’s triggered by then anyway, and that, somehow, is our problem, not hers.
She then asks, and then demands, that everyone stop wearing red caps entirely. She doesn’t even pretend that this is for her AND all the silent masses who think like her; no, this is All About Her.
It’s like someone afraid of heights, who demands that we tear down skyscrapers.
I’m not sure how one describes an adult who expects the world to change, just to accommodate her own mistaken fears. But I don’t think the word ‘maturity’ applies.
On of my co-workers wore the pink pussycat hat to work for a couple of weeks after President Trump was elected. I didn’t like it, but it was her head and her hat. I knew her well enough to know that I would have gotten an earful if I had worn a Trump pin much less a hat.
Tolerance is a two way street, Ms Makkai.
What about Red Hat Linux?
JJ, good for you for sticking to your guns on the yard sign! But I’m sorry to hear about the social cost.
I had a huge Impeach Obama sign on my car for a while. (Magnetic bumper sticker, you can get them in a very large size.) It was fascinating driving around with that, because when I live in New England, I’m right on the edge of a few different demographics. In my town, it’s mostly Democrats but people are polite and nobody ever said anything. In Cambridge, Mass (about a half hour to my south) I got some dirty looks; if I had parked on the street someone would have keyed the car or taken off the sign. But when I drove to Nashua, New Hampshire (about a half hour to the north), I got lots of honks and thumbs up. Rather amusing, I thought.
On the topic at hand. One thing that makes me sad about this is that I have read this gal’s novels, and they are good.
I think Mac makes a good point, it starts as a frisson of enjoyable fake fear and then it becomes a real emotion. The pattern is very similar to ghost stories, but there are some obvious unfortunate differences.
I also agree with the social-preening analysis. A lot of the culture war thing seems to be fueled by the need for belonging, as many have observed.
But for the most part, I take this tweet at face value. This person probably does believe that Trump is evil, and that people wearing MAGA hats are racists who hate gays, etc., because that is what she has been told for years and years, lately about Trump, and before that about Republicans in general.
Leftist have a lot of crazy ideas about Republicans, and they finally have someone, in Trump, who seems to prove that they are right. They LOVE that. It feels like validation of a cherished belief.
In my experience, people on the Left are incredibly misinformed. They just don’t have good sources of information, they still think the mainstream media is giving them roughly the facts. I have quite a few leftist friends, and I am always astonished at what they don’t know.
I used to just get really mad about all this, but now I have a very different attitude. Maybe it’s because I’m getting so old, but I feel a strong desire to reach out to people and find some common ground. I don’t understand politics; the more I learn about it the more I hate it. And I don’t really understand people, either, but I observe people a lot and think about human behavior a lot and I just think we need to love each other more and pay more attention to what might be going on in each other’s heads and try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not demonize people or imagine the worst.
Correction, *where* I live in New England, obviously. No edit button today!
“@Cappy
What about Red Hat Linux?That is a fedora.
“…eating away at the fabric of our society” is a feature, not a bug, for our leftist/progressive brethren and sistern.
With the fear, anxiety, hatred and lunacy that is so prevalent among leftists, one must wonder if these people have the fortitude and brains to govern the rest of us who are stronger and more resilient?
Who wants to be led by weaklings?
If she’s triggered by the color red what happens when she sees a red light while driving? Does she have a meltdown until the light turns green?
Shouldn’t that be kokkinokapelophobia? Most phobia names are based upon Greek (e.g., agoraphobia, acrophobia, necrophobia, etc.), not Latin.
In any event, there should be a word for this anxiety disorder!
Buy your next MAGA hat in Blue. https://shop.donaldjtrump.com/products/maga-mesh-hat-navy?variant=44599094278¤cy=USD&utm_medium=ad&utm_source=dp_googleshopping&utm_campaign=20190729_na_headware_djt_tmagacmerch_ocpmypur_bh_audience0001_na_na_us_b_18-99_gsdn_all_na_lp0004_shop_conversion_na_na_na_na&utm_content=sto&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImsnvq7m35AIVBNbACh1BTwaFEAQYASABEgIA7vD_BwE
. . . there should be a word for this anxiety disorder!
A there is!
The word for this anxiety disorder is “optional”. So formally “optional anxiety disorder” or “bogus anxiety disorder” in the alternative.
JJ said “They are hypocrites of the worst kind.”
There is an old saying that hypocrites are people that lie to themselves. Naturally, they believe their lies.
Uh oh, Santa wears a red cap! 😀
“Uh oh, Santa wears a red cap!”
That reminds me, so do members of the College of Cardinals (not to be confused with fans of a certain NL Central team). The red hat as a symbol of the cardinal’s rank goes back to the pontificate of Innocent IV in 1246, when the color symbolized the cardinal’s willingness to die for the faith. Contemporary cardinals have the choice of a red zucchetto (a close-fitting skullcap resembling a yarmulke) or a red biretta (a square cap with four ridges or peaks). Makkai had better avoid Rome during a papal election or she might be triggered by all those red-hatted ecclesiastics.
I don’t think they are sincere. This is a like basketball and soccer players flopping on the ground to draw a foul. They are flaunting these anxieties as a positional good. They feel it’s necessary in order to social climb. As this guy says, political ideology is as thin as the makeup applied on an actor heading to the set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0uW4l2Wkg
Fortunately, the returns on these goods are getting smaller and smaller. The View of all shows turned against Debra Messing for demanding to out conservatives in Hollywood.
Oh, and by the way my child is allergic to peanuts, so NO OTHER CHILDREN may bring peanut butter and jelly , or ANYTHING with peanuts, to school!!!!!!
Are these hyper-sensitive hysterics attempting to obscure the worthlessness of their terribly expensive degrees?
All of these extreme reactions to innocuous, supposedly “triggering” events, it seems to me are—inadvertently, or very deliberately— going to create an atmosphere in which violence will eventually be justified and directed against those who “trigger” them, or against whatever group they might supposedly might be a part of, or represent.
CBI:
I believe you are mostly correct, but sometimes Latin is used—for example, claustrophobia is from the Latin laustrum which means “a shut in place”, combined with the Greek phobia. Some other phobia names are Latin and some are Greek (see this).
I think in the case of red cap phobia the Latin falls more trippingly off the tongue. But neither Latin nor Greek is my forte.
Bloods may have something to say…
From what I can tell, the red hat hysteria is not exactly an act. It seems the pink hats have worked themselves into a mental condition about red hats.
I must disagree that it’s the same thing as a child with a severe peanut allergy, though the intensity is similar. But, some children can really die from the slightest exposure to peanuts. Progressives, on the other hand, are really acting like nuts.
I said:
Roy Nathanson soon after said:
It occurred to me sometime after that, that, although researchers have indeed ascribed mental and emotional illness issues to “liberals” at higher rates than normal others, and even asserted that liberal women are objectively less good looking and less sexually dimorphic than conservative women … that that may not be the whole of it.
Along with that, though it may be causally linked, is the leftist view of existence (“anthropology” may be too narrow a word, and “metaphysics” too broad).
For example: one of the things I have been berated by liberals over, is my “failure” to appreciate “the human condition”.
And by that they seem to mean what they take to be an acceptance of the ultimately pessimistic and futile nature of being alive; a condition wherein the only solace to be found is in the commiseration of the collective and the rectification work of the highest levels of social authority: in making the unfairness of social and biological life [inherent inequality] more “fair” through re-distributive and handicapping processes; and making the tragedy of existence itself more tolerable through rendering orgasmic and other distractions less fraught with consequences.
Now, it may be that this “philosophico-critical” view of life, or maybe “weltanschauung”, is primarily the result of effed up and resentful people making a philosophy out of their personal misery; but it doesn’t take much imagination to project that the spread of this stance to formerly marginally competent cases is likely enough given the right social conditions and the attribution of an aura of sophistication and knowingness to those holding this tragic, nihilistic ultimately, view of life.
It’s a view in which the only standard of good and acceptable is what is found in an ever changing, essentially mindless, buzzing cloud of acceptance and emotional validation. The consequences of this, of course, we see before us.
Liberals/the Left have been droning on forever about the sin of “othering” someone, marking him as someone outside the “tribe,” as “not on of us,” and that is exactly what those on the Left are doing here, with a lot of historical examples to show us just what can happen to individuals, or even to whole peoples who are “othered.”
The depth to which this attitude I spoke of a moment ago has taken root, is exemplified to my mind, by an offhand comment by a feminist, referring to “the tyranny of biology”.
I suppose you could as easily read too little into that comment, and take it as jocular, as easily as you could read into it too much, by taking it as a case of Gnosticism, or extreme and garbled Neoplatonism.
But in the context it meant that having periods and being at risk for pregnancy; essentially the biological definition of a properly developed female, were examples of a natural injustice which inconvenienced a being which wished to use itself in order to achieve an agenda independent of its biology, and which it somehow developed and assumed (in a reflexive application of one of their own terms) as privileged. And not only subjectively privileged and indifferently tolerated by others, but socially privileged and collectively validated. Or else.
Because … “tolerance is not enough” quoth “The One”
Snow on Pine on September 4, 2019 at 2:32 pm said:
Well try granting them their premise … that we are indeed other and morally alien, and antithetical to one and another, and that there is no way in which social compatibility, or indeed moral reciprocity and exist between such antipathetic forces … and see how they like that.
They don’t quite know what to do unless they are Antifa types who are predisposed to acting out their violent impulses.
See, because in granting their premise, you may be “othered” but you are also simultaneously freed of any moral obligation of duty of human fellowship toward them as well.
This, they seem to find disquieting to the extent that they do not have the upper hand physically; then, they start jabbering on about “us” and a common humanity once again.
A good example of this curious tactic of theirs has been seen in and in relation to South America, where murderous Reds were kidnapping and slaying citizens; and had basically declared war on the entire moral project of civilization to that time, and not just on the troubled Latin American manifestation of it.
Yet, when they are caught, beaten, and dumped into a shark infested ocean by people they have othered and would kill if they had the power, their former comrades and parents and other sympathizers strike a pose as if we are all of the sudden members of the same moral community once again.
You cannot have it both ways my lefty “friends”. Laws of Excluded Middle, Non-Contradiction, and all that.
Ah, I’d forgotten about that. The Greek would have been kleistophobia: not much difference. Anyway, I do think that an English pronunciation of KOH-ki-no-KAP-pel-o-PHO-bi-a is easier, but that requires shifting the Greek accent around a bit. But both work fine. 🙂
Thanks again.
DNW:
But “the tyranny of biology” is also a mere statement of fact. I’m not saying that the person you’re describing was using it that way, but it can be used that way.
For example, the facts you’re talking about—that women are the only ones to have periods and to bear children—are both an inconvenience, a possible grave danger (particularly in earlier times), an enormous responsibility, a great joy, and a great privilege, depending on circumstances. Men don’t share that particular “tyranny of biology”, which can be (depending on circumstances) a relief for a man or a regret for a man. Another male fact of biological life (until recently, anyway) is that they could never be sure of the paternity of a child they were required to support. And it’s still part of the tyranny of biology for males that they tend to die earlier.
To me, the “tyranny of biology” merely means that biology exerts certain limits. Whether or not a person wants to push against those limits or even try to knock them down is another topic.
Everybody who can be “triggered” by something completely innocent in itself is a neurotic who needs therapy, of worse, a psychopath or nut case. Universe exists not to make you happy or comfortable. If you believe in such nonsense, this is your parents fault: may be, they should have spanked or slap you more hard when you began to throw temper tantrums.
When did it become a virtue to be so frightened and you can stop the sentence right there.
The same time as it became a virtue to be a victim, to be a weepy non-serious person who can’t speak in declarative sentences (see, e.g. Christine Blasey Ford), to be a person with an “external locus of control” (to use the Psychologese).
This seems to mostly be an issue among women on the left. I blame 3rd-wave feminism (or are we on 4th now?). I’m with Camille Paglia on this: grow the f*** up.
Just means certain limits? Such as make definitions and identies possible in the first place? Then why call it “tyranny”? Are they just trying to be funny?
And what are these materialists (in essence if not acknowledgement) other than their bodies – including the brain? Were they little souls that floated around in a heavenly carousel until descending at random into a “body” which they now inhabit constrained, like some military recruit thrown a set of ill fitting fatigues?
You on the other hand are, as I read it, referring in the main to frailties, or just the nature of the beast which is experienced subjectively as a limitation.
But they are their limitation, and they have no identity outside of the definition, though they may qualitatively transcend the limits in some sense. Transcend it very much though and it, the ostensible subject, becomes another thing …
So where is that subject?
My point is that the phrase ” “tyranny” of biology” is intellectually dishonest … especially as used by people who are presumably on the basis of their ideology, nothing but it … i.e., their biology. Which goes for most progressives.
They should call it the oppression the the progressive self; and perhaps seek remedies proper to the more accurate framing.
DNW:
I think I made it clear that it is only sometimes experienced as a limitation or a frailty. Sometimes it is a real plus.
To me—not necessarily to them, but to me—the word “tyranny” simply means that we cannot wish it away. It is something imposed by our biological natures. We—men and women—are not exactly equal in all respects.
Oh, my goodness, I feel the need to buy a Chick-fil-A hat: bright screaming red plus bonus lefty freak-outs. Of course the silly lefties already freaked out when a CfA store showed up inside Seattle city limits ….
Guess I need to look up the words tyrant and tyranny again and see what I might have missed.
In any event, I was referring to “them” and to their vision of intrinsic limits and what it meant (if they were forced into logical consistency) for an understanding of the identity and the supposition framework of the thing or being which asserts it is being tyrannized by … what it is.
DNW:
Yes, you did miss a definition. The word “tyranny” has a political meaning, but that’s not the only meaning. The “tyranny of biology” is not political (although it can be used by politicians or political pundits).
I am writing this comment on my phone and can’t do a link, but Merriam-Webster’s third defition is the one: “a rigorous condition imposed by some outside agency or force.” The example given is “the tyranny of the clock.” It is in that sense that I am using the word.
With a shout-out to sdferr, Rebecca Makkai, as paraphrased by Sparky Anderson, re: scary caps.
Oopsa! The above “Rebecca Makkai” link is NSFW.
“Sparky Anderson…”
Heh, or maybe even Earl Weaver.
Red… orange… too close to call.
I really, REALLY like the red ball cap that says on it, in white embroidered letters, “Made You Look”
Heh.
O no he di’nt. O yass he deed.
[and . . . RIP M.F. 46]
Here is a story that perhaps parallels Neo’s piece. Alphabet Corp. (Google) has internal message boards that it encourages employees to create and use. But to the shock of management, the amount of time and vitriol invested in these boards has sufficiently impacted the productivity of their workers that they felt compelled to issue the following message to them:
Yes, we actually expect you to do your work in between your political posturings on our message boards. Don’t insult your coworkers, unless they’re conservatives, in which case it is OK and helps us locate those folks we need to fire.
Isn’t interesting that a large number of people working in a group-thinking, near mono-culture, still get irate and exercised over the likely small deviations in opinion. Maybe this is partly a function of the ability of the squeaky wheels to manipulate HR and get people like Mr. Damore fired?
Linked on Instapundit this morning!
About that othering thing the Left does so well —
https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/hollywood-othering-red-states/
Is Makkai on some kind of Deep Left Journolist?
More posts “on topic” via Instapundit’s links.
http://thedeclination.com/leftist-orthodoxy-hate-the-sinner-and-the-sin/
Well, the legal system isn’t supposed to be voted on, but that is changing.
There’s one GOP sinner who ain’t evuh gonna be forgiven.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/texas_judge_officially_admonished_for_draping_courtroom_door_in_black_protesting_confirmation_of_justice_kavanaugh_.html
The “declination” post quotes heavily from an article in The Atlantic about Joe Rogan, and why he is so popular, although the purpose of the writer is to convince you that Rogan is really one of the toxic males who may not be evil himself, but is just too forgiving of people who are (main case in point was Alex Jones).
The poster did not use this excerpt, which I think probably reflects Makkai’s viewpoint, and that of the Leftist audience to whom The Atlantic directs its wares these days.
Remember the media giants complaining about right-wingers digging through old writings to find something with which to “smear” their journalists?
It’s something they would never do, of course!
https://victorygirlsblog.com/media-continues-targeted-social-media-tattling/
“If Ben Penn is too stupid to know what sarcasm is,” he has a career waiting at Snopes fact-checking the Babylon Bee.
mishu on September 4, 2019 at 1:06 pm said:
I don’t think they are sincere.
* * *
That was a great video on how Leftists ideas spread through the country, and how they can be chalenged. Coincidentally, he mentions the potential damage Joe Rogan can do to the progressive cause if he continues to move (slowly) to the right (5:00). I have no idea what the spider-webs are like, but the Atlantic writer may have been clued in to that very danger, hence his back-handed wrist-slap (Joe claims to be a leftist sort of person, he mentions early in his article).
In re The View, Goldberg is one of the few people who can see down the road at what happens when the Left “normalizes” their anti-social activities (see above on trawling for career-ending public comments).
https://pjmedia.com/video/video-the-view-panel-condemns-debra-messings-call-to-publicly-shame-trump-donors/
Closing the loop, the Atlantic writer’s complaint about Rogan primarily concerns his interview with Alex Jones, whose claim that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax (since retracted) led some of his followers to harass the families of some of the victims.
I forgot to link it above.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/08/my-joe-rogan-experience/594802/
You can’t make this stuff up.
Everybody’s obviously got the right to not be offended by anything!
Victory Girls said this: “Never admit to anything, give vague apologies, ignore the media until they get distracted by something else. It’s a pity that the DOL and Leif Olson couldn’t follow this formula long enough for Ben Penn to be exposed as a giant tool.”
Today the DOL repented their knee-jerk abdication of control to the Left.
Kinda reminds me of the Covington case, and the racism hoaxes.
When are people going to think first and act later, IF action is even warranted, which it very often is not.
https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2019/09/04/labor-department-reinstate-leif-olson-false-allegation-anti-semitism/
Whoopi was right on about that blacklisting business that Messer was proposing.
https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2019/09/04/insane-leftists-begin-blacklist-pittsburgh-shut-trump-supporters-businesses/
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/the_power_of_the_red_hat.html
Somebody above mentioned how shockingly uninformed liberals are. I’ve certainly found that to be true. I have a number of highly successful, mostly retired, MD’s in my group of friends who are very liberal and despite being intelligent, are almost willfully ignorant. They exclusively rely on CNN, MSNBC, and especially the NYT for information. Emotion seems to be the basis for most of their positions–they CHOOSE to believe something in the face of all empirical evidence to the contrary.
Simple examples include believing that wind and solar can just be hooked up to batteries to store the energy they create for times when the wind/sun isn’t sufficient to generate energy. No such battery technology exists, nor is it going to exist.
Most claim to know nothing about the actual coup attempt staged by Obama’s justice, FBI and intelligence apparatus.
They actually believe we can discard fossil fuel entirely in 10 years or less, and that if we don’t, the world will be devastated.
They actually believe Hilary Clinton is not corrupt.
I could go on, but you get the picture. Despite our diametrically opposed points of view, we remain good friends. Discussing politics is off the agenda. We even hug as we greet or say goodbye to each other after lunches together, and they never say anything when they bump against my concealed carry weapon.
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