Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Arrogance and Delusion
What do you do with citizens in this country who are unable to grasp reality, but believe they know more than everyone else? What do you do when those people believe the rest of us are a threat to them, to their power, and to the Country? You call them out, over and over again. Two foolish and absurd statements that were made most recently were by Katie Couric and Representative Steve Cohen.
Katie Couric began her career in television and is still seen in guest appearances, such as on the Bill Maher show. She calls herself a journalist and is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. On Bill Maher’s show, she responded to a question from Maher on the state of the country and wondered how all of us who had supported Trump could be “de-programmed,” having been brainwashed by the Trump charisma.
Then there is Congressman Steve Cohen, who is very concerned about the National Guard which has been called in for security and protection for the Inauguration. He has pointed out that generally members of the military are conservative and must have supported Donald Trump, so it makes sense to be concerned about the Guard’s patriotism and commitment to protecting people at the inauguration. An effort is being made to vet the 25,000 Guardsmen, just in case.
It might be helpful to point out that Cohen has never worked outside of politics, and you might have guessed that he was never in the military.
Finally, we have all those people who either supported Trump or served in his administration. The House and Senate members who still support Trump are being called out. At least ten CEOs of major companies are threatening to stop funding Republicans who supported Trump. And there are stories of ordinary people who were “caught” posting conservative ideas on Twitter or Facebook and have been fired. They clearly endanger the country as well. I suspect these efforts against conservatives will not stop with the politicians. As Ms. Couric says, we have all been brainwashed.
The Left’s inability or unwillingness to get any kind of balanced perspective on the world makes any of us who don’t see the world through their prism a serious danger.
How will they rescue us and help us see the light?
Published in Culture
I think it’ll go something like this:
And these are “people in the mainstream of American thought”. The gulf between (formerly) Liberals and Conservatives is now a chasm that grows wider each day.
It used to be that we could rely on an educated public to avoid this type of conflict. The 60s were a tumultuous period but we still had something resembling an educational system that addressed the importance ot “seeing both sides” of an argument.
Now students are being radicalized in college and, even, high schools that it is perfectly acceptable to shout down an opponent if they are not on the “moral” side of an issue. (Guess who defines “moral”?)
Decades ago the ever-perky Ms. Couric would have been rightly accused of McCarthyism. Now, she’s mainstream. And, it’s getting worse on a daily basis. Who will be the next media/government figure to call for “deprogrammng”?
There is no tomorrow. We are in a battle today.
I expect the term “de-programming’ to be part of the anti-Conservative lexicon. Watch for it. Thanks, CA.
I’m going to have to skip the Jeopardy episodes Couric is hosting. I can’t believe they would even think about giving her that opportunity.
And I don’t need to be rescued, thank you very much, Ms. Couric. (except from the libs plans to destroy our country)
I’m with you on all counts, @blondie. If it wasn’t so hilarious, I’d be furious. I take that back–I am furious! Although she’s hardly worth the effort.
Susan, I like your post. I have one concern, about the highlighted sentence below:
I think that it is perfectly permissible for someone to decide to stop contributing to a certain group of political candidates. I find this to be in a different category than firing people for their political views.
As a counter-example, I am not inclined to contribute to any Republican who supported impeachment. In my case, I rarely make political donations anyway, but I think that would be perfectly reasonable for me to decide to withhold political donations from a politician who did something with which I disagree.
I think that the most stirring moment of Ms. Couric’s career was when she had her colonoscopy broadcast live on TV. It appears to me that she’s talking out of that area of her anatomy now…
You are correct. They are entitled to do so.
That’s funny. I somehow caught that episode, too. A really moving experience . . .
[I can’t believe I said that ….]
And we are entitled to call them out for their behavior as well.
At some point, someone needs to be an adult and stop making every single thing that happens about politics. I am not big donator to politicians, it have never gotten ME anything so why bother. I have volunteered for them and made calls and block walked, but I am not inclined to support any GOP politician right now, and perhaps not ever. That will depend on if, and its a big if, they actually work to reform the election system to get rid of the fraud vectors the Dems put into place. Since even the ones that I respect like Rep Crenshaw and Sen Cotton don’t seem inclined to lead on that front, I am not inclined to give them any assistance.
And yet these same Republicans still favor lowering corporate tax rates, keep writing in loopholes and generally do Wall Streets’ bidding. Makes me scratch my head.
I understand your point, @dbroussa. The politicians I support are a tiny group. I’ll start with Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Great point, @hangon. Corporations pulling their funding now may tell politicians that they are representing us, not the big corporations. But probably not.
They are, but we are equally entitled to question their justifications for doing so.They’ve had plenty of opportunity over the course of Trump’s term to “make a statement.” But, now, when the pressure is on from the left, they cave, or make noises about doing so. I credit anyone who makes an informed choice about contributions; I question those who do so because of the way the wind is blowing.
In a way, this isn’t even about Trump, @hoyacon. It’s about the people who supported him. Yes, I’d like to know their reasons for withdrawing, but even if they don’t ‘fess up, the timing tells me it’s about their association with Trump and probably has little to do with their performance in the legislature. Of course, I could be wrong . . .
I doubt that you are. My point is that Trump has been a controversial figure throughout, with congressional votes cast throughout, and the ability to withhold contributions throughout for anyone seen supporting Trump–actively or tacitly. But doing that carried the potential for a downside . . . Trump’s still in office, as are Republicans in his corner. But now, let’s just put our finger in the wind. It’s legal, it’s their right, and it’s hypocritical.
A question to be answered before the one you pose above. Exactly how was this supposed brainwashing accomplished?
I think my Jeopardy watching days are over. They have had Ken Jennings guest hosting and he made some pretty nasty Trump tweets as well. I never really liked Trebek either but I enjoyed the game so watched occasionally.
Oh, Bob, we were all mesmerized by Trump’s flamboyance, by his racist comments (because we’re all racists, dontcha know), his love of Putin, his narcissism–well, he was irresistible! So we fell in line, one by one, and just followed the person in front of us–you know, like a bunch of donkeys. Or maybe elephants.
Sorry for the sarcasm. You were probably asking a rhetorical question.
So back to Couric and Cohen.
Unwillingness drives the inability. I regard it as pretty much a truism that the left can “avoid” conservative thought but conservatives can’t avoid liberal thought because . . .it’s everywhere.
“We” see documentaries, movies, tv shows, can’t really avoid mass news media, and are exposed to the NYT/WaPo line of thought even if we don’t read those publications. It’s near ubiquitous.
The Couric and Cohens of the world live a bubblicious existence where they reside and socialize with those who think similarly, and take as their informations sources everything mentioned above. Fox, in its more successful days, existed to be mocked. The conservative voices we take for granted are easily segregated. The general sense is a whole lot of people holding their hands over their ears and going “NAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.”
Boy, we really, really want to move to Florida but we keep looking around the house trying to figure out what we’re willing to give up in order to make a move. I have quite a large pottery and dishware collection and Mr AZ has two full gun safes (soon to be three). Most of the furniture we could dump and buy new but moving is hard work!
Not only that, but the propaganda is also becoming more subtle. Commercials are run with same sex couples as a norm. Childlessness is celebrated. Almost every mainstream belief has been turned on its head by someone, somewhere. And we’ve stopped noticing, in many cases.
It sure is! I think it will come down, when you’re desperate enough, to prioritizing those items truly important to you. It may not be keeping everything or getting rid of everything, but just holding on to favorite things.
There is only one way and it’s been used rather effectively: forced re-education.
I agree that liberal views pop-up pretty much everywhere. I avoid that encounter most of the time. I probably miss out on quite a bit of entertainment that I could enjoy but I like life anyway. I replied to your comment seeking more on why you regard the views liberals hold and espouse as derived from a legitimate thought process. Couric has made a reference to brainwashed but liberal views seem to have skipped that process and gone straight to implant or something like Borg assimilation.
Ms. Couric thinks that she is smart enough to live my life for me. I wouldn’t let Katie Couric walk my dog. The dog shouldn’t be called on to be the brains of the outfit.
See! I can be entertained by a conservative.
Right. Not my idea of a good time.
Xi is cackling.
Ah, that part came before the televised procedure.