If, as the old saying goes, idle hands are the devil's workshop, then idle time and an internet connection are how you fill out the job application.
Having always had great appreciation for those who monitor wingnuttery so the rest of us don't have to, these folks have risen even more in my esteem since I found myself falling thru a YouTube rabbit hole recently and checking out some of the nonsense that passes for discourse out there. The good news is that now I know that if I accidentally
swallowed poison, or anything else that harmful, I can count on some of
these conservative, right-wing clips on YouTube to provoke enough nausea
to propel the poison out. But what a price to pay.
I am happy to report that (with one exception) a combined hour's worth of watching the likes of Alex Jones or Tomi Lahren or Dennis Miller or Ben Shapiro spew their nonsense did not at any point in time lead me to think “Hmm. Not a bad idea. I should look into that.” The lone exception being that Miller and I agree that this country is too divided and polarized to keep operating with its citizenry as one people. But conservative douchebag that he is, he was coy about how to do it, and avoided bringing up the largest elephant in the room today: that most of the red states would likely starve without blue state money.
Surprisingly, even in their element, amongst their own people, where one would assume they would let their hair down and speak freely, without having to couch their responses in a certain way in order to appear more palatable and reasonable to new converts, it’s very easy to see through their shtick and how they get across their heavily flawed ideas. I don't care enough to address the hot mess that is Lahren aka Blowhard Barbie, but Jones and Shapiro have a similar approach—at different intensity levels, tho: Jones like a madman off his meds and Shapiro like the annoying little teacher’s pet despised by all, who thinks he's righteous but is actually worse than the schoolyard bullies—which is reminiscent of the endless Trump barrage of lies and scandals. In other words, they spew so much continuous garbage you could get sucked in if you tend to be swayed by false premises and straw men. Miller, on the other hand, carries himself pretty much like the hep cat who is not as cool or smart as he thinks he is and these days is indistinguishable from his old colleague Dana Carvey’s scathing impressions of him back in their SNL days.
I could go on for days, but their
positions are essentially the intellectual equivalent of rank Swiss cheese. So who's got time for that noise? Also, I must stop before I get deep into breaking down Dave Rubin, a vacuous wingnut talking head who consorts and defends homophobes who openly make their distaste for homosexuality known to Rubin, which he's fine with (I've witnessed it), despite being gay himself. But hey, I get people gotta make a living. And as long as there are
wealthy right wing corporate donors you are willing to prostrate yourself before
in order to get some of that blood money, their like will reproduce like the pestilence they are. Anyway...
Stay safe.
Wash those hands.
