...you cannot believe the people in the audience actually exist, well, yes, they do, they are real, and they are uber-extreme:
This is the audience for all those nasty speeches. That is a Minute of Hate, prolonged to four days.
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« Compare and Contrast, Part 3 | Main | Talk on cognitive and motivational differences between liberals and conservatives »
If you are watching the RNC Convention and....
Category: Politics
Posted on: September 4, 2008 10:00 PM, by Coturnix
Find more posts in: 
Politics
Comments
Those are some wacked out wackaloons! Extreme? That's the nice way to put it. Loosely connected to objective reality would be closer.
Posted by: DM | September 4, 2008 11:27 PM
Anybody else really really scared by the inanity and ignorance of a crowd of people yelling "Drill Baby Drill?"...
just wondering
Posted by: Dave | September 4, 2008 11:31 PM
I dunno. The hate I can't believe is right here on scienceblogs.com. PZ Myers is hosting a 'Palin Open Thread', on which several poster have taken the opportunity to post violent rape fantasies about the Republican vice presidential candidate.
Most of the more obnoxious comments have been up for over a day. I invite you especially to look at comment number 16.
"And I I wouldn't just take Palin in the stall. I'd tie her hands to the toilet seat, and wrap TP around her eyes as a blindfold"
I guess rape is OK as long as the victim is a pro-life woman? PZ has seen the comments, and has said, basically, 'tut-tut-tut!'.
And where are the feminists on scienceblogs.com. Hey Zuska? Hey Sciencewoman?
Y'know, the hypocrisy in this joint is just nauseating.
Posted by: Gerard Harbison | September 4, 2008 11:31 PM
Scienceblogs is 72 bloggers independent from each other. I was disgusted by some of the comments there and PZ was as well so he admonished his own commenters sharply in the next post. All I posted here are Obama's words that "family is off-limits" and instructive videos. For feminist angle, go to Shakesville, Pandagon, Feministe, etc.
Posted by: Coturnix | September 4, 2008 11:42 PM
Well, if he admonished them, I guess that's OK.
How long would a comment about lynching Barack Obama last? Microseconds? Well, that would be too long. But a pleasant little discussion about raping a Republican woman can sit for a day, with an occasional note of mild disapproval.
"Please, guys, a little less 'macho sexism!'"
Posted by: Gerard Harbison | September 4, 2008 11:54 PM
Question: why should I care what is happening in the comments of PZ's blog? Is he my brother or something?
Posted by: Coturnix | September 4, 2008 11:56 PM
Gerard, if you observe the comment threads throughout PZ's blog history, you will note that there are a number of very disturbing things written in them. Very, very rarely will Myers go so far as to write a blog post admonishing his commenters.
And here's a little thought for you: that's a blog comment, how do you defend an entire political party built on hate? And that's not hyperbole, that's a conclusion based on the evidence presented during this convention.
Posted by: Damien | September 4, 2008 11:59 PM
Hate on a blog comment? Heavens! Are you new to the Internets? The Internets, let me show you them...
Your right Gerald, we shouldn't bother ourselves talking about the hate and fearmongering broadcasted on national television in an effort to garner votes for the presidency. That's NOTHING compared to the comment of an anonymous poster on the internet. Think of the INFLUENCE that poster has! We should ACTUALLY be worried about hate on a blog that 99.99% of Americans have never heard of, in a post that 99.999999999% (estimated) of Americans will never see. Yeah, that's it. Priorities.
But it's good for you, really, because if there wasn't any hate here, what would you use to skirt the point of Bora's post?
Posted by: jake | September 5, 2008 12:04 AM
I dunno Bora, You conjecture hate about something you saw on TV (a conjecture I don't share, by the way), but you don't seem to be at all disturbed by hate on the site on which you yourself post. That seems a little odd.
Scienceblogs isn't like blogspot.com. It's not a site where anyone can sign up. It's a closed community. Y'all reference each other frequently. What is it you call each other -- sciblings, is that it?
If you're looking to clean up the trash, I suggest you start with you own back yard.
Posted by: Gerard Harbison | September 5, 2008 12:22 AM
I do not post on Pharyngula. That is not my blog. You obviously have no idea what Scienceblogs.com is and how it is organized.
If you care to check out the graphs in this post, the PDF in the post right above, the series of videos I have been posting today (and heck, my entire Politics and Ideology categories) - hate is palpable - and it is all coming from conservatives, for understandable reason: hate and fear are their core values.
Posted by: Coturnix | September 5, 2008 12:26 AM
"hate and fear are their core values."
But for the left they are only peripheral values. Kidding!
People on both left and right do it - the passions of ideological disagreement has the effect of disinhibiting ugly and visceral impulses that are usually self-censored. Hence rhetoric and imagery indicative of violent rage, misogyny, and racism surfaces in some individuals.
Posted by: Colugo | September 5, 2008 12:55 AM
Colugo, I strongly disagree with your characterization of hate on the Republican side being the same as the hate of the Left. The Left in this country has a hatred for the things which have injured this country's reputation and standing in the world. And this hate can slide over to those people who support those things. Things like torture, denialism, energy dependence, economic feudalism, etc. I disagree with hating those people who support those things; they are sad little creatures, usually petty and petulant, who fear everything that they don't know. And, frankly, that is largely the domain of the Republican party at this point.
It is not fair to compare the two kinds of hate, because if you watch and listen to the convention, to the speeches, it becomes fairly obvious that the Republican party is in the grips of a hate fest. Hatred for gays, women and minorities; even if they don't say it explicitly, there are enough dog whistles being blown that every bitch from here to Nantucket hears them (pun intended). And I don't judge merely based on the convention, the actions of the party speak even louder than their words, and all their actions say "we hate you."
Compare that to an anonymous comment on a relatively small-time blog. Is there no difference to your mind?
If not, I pity you.
Posted by: Damien | September 5, 2008 1:57 AM
The RNC delegates really do confuse me. I have a very hard time 'putting myself in their shoes' mentally, which is something I think I'm pretty good at.
Anyway, I really do think most of the GOP faithful are authoritarians at this point. They always had more than the Dems, but the last decade has really seen a power shift in the Repub party putting authoritarian leaders/exploiters in charge.
I found Bob Altemeyer's online book "The Authoritarians" to be quite interesting / eye opening.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
Altemeyer is an empirical sociologist who has studied authoritarianism for decades.
This PIPA report from Oct '04 is still quite relevant and not a little disturbing:
The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brunitedstatescanadara/87.php?nid=&id=&pnt=87&lb=brusc
Hopefully this election won't be another triumph of ignorance (and propaganda) over reality.
Posted by: travc | September 5, 2008 2:25 AM
Gerard Harbison:
Quiet_Desperation's infamous comment (which he appologized for) was posted on September 3, 2008 11:16 PM. PZ's objection was posted on September 3, 2008 11:24 PM.
8 minutes later.
Posted by: llewelly | September 5, 2008 3:00 AM
Where was there any "hate" in John McCain's speech tonight? Please be specific.
Posted by: Neuro-conservative | September 5, 2008 4:18 AM
McCain's speech was quite different from the vast majority. Rudy, Lieberman, Thompson, Palin, and even Bush all spewed the mockery and hate pretty liberally.
Josh Marshall made a comment on the McCain video which I think applies to McCain's speech too.
"That was a pretty powerful video. But they left off the part about how that guy died ... what, six years ago?"
Posted by: travc | September 5, 2008 5:44 AM
BTW: The stupid BDSM "sex fantasy" comments on the Pharyngula open thread were, well stupid, juvenile, and in very poor taste. However, they were not about rape.
Posted by: travc | September 5, 2008 5:50 AM
Wonder where Harbie got that rape idea travc? Shows where his 'massive NMR probe' mind goes...
Posted by: mrtlinslt | September 5, 2008 6:03 AM
If this is about who most closely aligns with voter preferences, then neither party can claim the position - the Dems are very nearly as far away from the norm on the one side as the Repubs are to the other, if you consider "All Voters" to be the norm. This kind of survey cuts both ways and we're foolish to ignore what it actually shows.
Which of the "extremists" are right if any, however, is another issue. It really needs to be tied to what is practical and needed, not what those driven solely by emotions "feel" is essential.
Posted by: Ian | September 5, 2008 7:11 AM
I second the recommendation for Bob Altemeyer's book "The Authoritarians". It explains the Republican mindset a little too well. Pretty scary stuff, but an essential read.
Posted by: MH | September 5, 2008 7:37 AM
I'm still trying to figure out what all that USA! USA! shit was all about. Do they think they are running against Canadians or something? They were, after all, right up there by them in Minnesota.
Posted by: Science Avenger | September 5, 2008 11:08 AM
Now, through osmosis, they all have foreign policy credentials to be President.
Posted by: Coturnix | September 5, 2008 11:12 AM
I'm not sure how you do your comments, but I gather that you don't spend every minute of the day checking and monitoring comments. Depending on your schedule, or PZs, you may post something and not check on it for hours (or more) - so a lot can happen in that time. I haven't seen any rape fantasy posts (nor do i care to), but they should be saved for posterity (if only to expose the writer as an ass). I haven't seen that thing here, but trying to paint Bora (or anybody) with a broad brush is wrong.
For some real good clips, watch the daily show (especially Samantha Bee's bit on Palin and her daughter. There's some primo grade hypocrisy and idiocy there (it is what they were going for, but some of the people...)
Posted by: Badger3k | September 5, 2008 11:58 AM
I'm still trying to figure out what all that USA! USA! shit was all about.
The teevee kept cutting to the DFH protest guy in the cheap seats when this happened. I think every time he unfurled a new banner the knuckledraggers started chanting. McCain called off the yipping dogs at one point so he could continue his speech.
Posted by: DrugMonkey | September 5, 2008 12:04 PM
Where was there any "hate" in John McCain's speech tonight? Please be specific.
Not much, Neuro-con. Actually that was an incredibly antiRepublican speech and it really provided the convincing evidence that McCain really wanted Lieberman. All that "american is the only association I care about" shit was conceptualized for the Lieberman-as-VP scenario I bet.
The fact that the uber-extreme delegates that McCain was actually bashing with his antiWashington rhetoric and country-over-party chest beating kept cheering tells us a couple of things. They are either complete idiots with no listening comprehension whatsoever or they know full well that no matter what McCain thinks he's going to do, the Repub machine will quickly drag him into line.
Posted by: DrugMonkey | September 5, 2008 12:13 PM
extreme - no kidding. But very informative. thanks for posting.
Posted by: The Urban Scientist | September 5, 2008 12:16 PM