In local news, the Australian “left” “opposition” has decided to respond to the reemergence of global fascism by issuing a call for compulsory loyalty oaths in schools.
On the day before Invasion Day.
“Vote blue no matter who”. “Any Dem will do”. Etc.
That was never anything more than a tactic to preemptively neutralise working class power, by attempting to delegitimise the refusal to support corrupt/racist/imperialist democrats. It was never going to extend to the left.
The angle not mentioned in this video: there is a defensible argument that, even if the Rosenbergs had given nuclear secrets to the Soviets, this was not actually a bad thing.
The existence of Soviet nukes was the major factor preventing the USA from launching a genocidal attack against China during the Korean war. Without them, it is likely that WWIII would have started in the 1950’s. The USA was threatening a “pre-emptive” nuclear attack on the USSR from almost the moment that WWII ended.
The only thing worse than a world with two nuclear-armed empires is a world with only one.
Speaking of which…there’s a NYT article from the late 1940’s in which a US politician advocates a nuclear attack on the (as-yet not nuclear armed) USSR. But I can’t find it at the moment…
Any idea who it was, @mindysan33?
This thread:
(read on, it’s more critical of Sanders than the first post suggests)
…was retweeted by Nina Turner.
Unclear if this is reflective of an internal debate within the Sanders camp, or if its just PR damage control.
I don’t actually, but am not surprised someone did.
Less from the original thread, but more from the comments on it, there is a shit load of excusing misogyny, racism, Islamophobia, transphobia, etc that Rogan peddles on a pretty regular basis. I see no reason to work with people who are more than willing to throw me and my very real concerns about my legal rights to make decisions about my actual PHYSICAL SELF under the bus for some sort of false solidarity. If Rogan doesn’t think that my rights being trampled on are of concern, he can fuck right off. We don’t need him and his ilk of “progressives” because he’s not a progressive. He’s a right winger looking to colonize the left by adopting some of their ideas, but not the ones that include my rights to control my own body. These are just as critical as workers rights, as wealth redistribution, as health care, because if I am not allowed to make decisions, then all of that is literally meaningless to me and it will be to white men, too. If they can come for the rights of the rest of us, then everyone in society is vulnerable.
“Venezuelan-led”.
Yup, lotsa white dudes showing their arses on this one. Which might possibly include me.
Basic Wandertake:
-
Rogan is a dick.
-
Rogan is nevertheless not as much of a dick as most of the political elite. Associating with Rogan is bad; associating with Kissinger/Manchin/Biden/etc is worse. Rogan is not responsible for mass incarceration, medical bankruptcies, the Hyde Amendment or the destruction of Iraq.
-
It is not possible to win a US election without the support of some voters who are misogynistic/racist/homophobic/etc, due to the simple fact that the majority of Americans are somewhat misogynistic/racist/homophobic/etc.
-
There is a meaningful difference between attempting to appeal to these voters by partially indulging their misogyny/racism/homophobia/etc (ie the conventional centrist approach) versus attempting to attract their votes via representing their legitimate concerns about other issues (healthcare, economic justice, war, etc).
-
Bernie’s choice to go on Rogan was questionable but defensible; leaving that obnoxious-but-largely-apolitical audience as a free zone for fascist recruitment is dangerous, and the exclusion of the left from conventional corporate media creates a need to utilise whatever media channels are available. OTOH, addressing that audience provides valid reasons for objection amongst the targets of Rogan’s bigotries. If it were my call, I probably wouldn’t have gone on Rogan.
-
The Bernie campaign’s choice to actively promote the Rogan endorsement was a significant tactical error. “Rogan is a dick but we’re willing to exploit his platform for the greater good” is defensibly okay, “implicitly endorsing Rogan as a significant voice by touting his endorsement” is not.
“Learned sophisticates”.
