I. Kosniks think they are smarter than other people.
It was proto-liberal John Stuart Mill, of course, who first said that the Tories were "the stupid party," and it remains an article of faith for Kosniks that stupidity -- other people's stupidity -- explains a great deal. A few examples of Kosnik thinking on this subject:
There should be a testKosniks think the Republicans are stupid -- which rather begs the question of why the Republicans have been beating the pants off "their" party for a century and a half. And they also think the public is stupid, to fall for the intellectually insulting hokum the Republicans dish out -- and this begs another question: what can you expect of democracy, if the public is stupid?
to prove that you are not an idiot, and until that point you should be assumed to be one.One aspect of the test needs to include a complete education in science, specifically biology.
Obviously, this idiot would fail the test.
ridiculous to you, perhaps,
and to other typically small minded and ignorant Americans . . .Sadly, it's the loons at those other
sites you mention, as well as a good chunk of the American public at large, that needs this information the most.
The next comment responds to a post critical of the Senate Democrats' timidity about the Patriot Act:
maybe if you write enough "democrats suck" diaries the glorious third party revolution really will happen. <obligatory eyes rolling smilie here>The reference to "third parties" comes out of nowhere; in the post it responds to, nothing was said about third parties. But there are no flies on this Kosnik. She knows what the original poster is really up to. He may try his best to conceal his true agenda, but she is too smart for him.
And "eyes rolling" is good, isn't it? No need to explain why third parties are a bad or impossible idea. Smart people understand that already.
To be continued...
Comments (4)
Smart and/or thoroughly schooled people are often the easiest sell. They know what they know and there's no telling them otherwise. All you have to do is say something that has the look and feel of what they know, that pushes the schooled-in buttons and they dutifully salivate for Howard Dean's fundraising bat. They know adults come to terms with a bad situation and make the best of it they can. The extended and gratuitously intimate cavity searches their receive for this level of maturity are a bit upsetting, at times, but there's a price to pay for everything. They're as easy to sucker as the ex-urban and suburban people whose every social need can be handled at the megachurch and megamall.
It's remarkable that victims of of cons often defend their bilker. Right after the beautiful loser, John Kerry, folded his sailboard and trotted off the beach -- still holding 17 million dollars of their money -- all these emails about how the Democrats, but never their supporters, were suffering from abused spouse syndrome started circulating. They wanted to help those poor millionaire charlatans get out of the household from hell. I lost some friends by telling the senders that they had the black eyes, not the Dems, who were doing just fine thank you very much. After a while, playing would-be rescuer gets old. There's no one as suspicious of aid as someone who's going back for another beating.
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | February 16, 2006 9:07 AM
Posted on February 16, 2006 09:07
J.Alva's first sentence would go a long way toward explaining the clear reluctance of the Demo-Progs to aggressively recruit non-voters. I have brought this issue up time and again with hardcore Dems, only to be greeted with silence. Greens and other small parties at least have the excuse of tiny networks and tinier cash bases. What excuse does the DP have ?
Alas, I have met enough non-voters in person to know that not all of them are idiots. Hell, sometimes I think that they're smarter than I am. Smarter than the Kosians, certainly...
Posted by alsis39.5 | February 16, 2006 11:25 AM
Posted on February 16, 2006 11:25
One of the excuses that I've heard from an individual who was also a DLC apologist (probably a redundant phrase) is that they're worried about attracting:
"The wrong kind of voter"
The right kind, of course, would be the type that already agrees with what they're selling-namely sanctimony and disguised loathing for the poor because that's what the Republicans are offering, and the same viciously interventionistic foreign policy.
I think perhaps part of their problem is that they sort of loathe having to represent people that they don't see as part of the mainstream. It's hard to try and pretend you care about someone you really hate.
Posted by Doublehelix | February 16, 2006 3:02 PM
Posted on February 16, 2006 15:02
Well, I wasted several hours of my life yesterday on another liberal blog trying to figure out why so many libs are still placing their trust in Dean to lead them out of the wilderness. This morning, I woke up to the expected responses: "Just leave already," and "Nader was a disaster," etc. At least I escaped some of the more feverish insults of yore such as "You're just a spoiled adolescent who doesn't pay her own bills" or "You people are worse than Franco's fighters in Spain !"
I guess the wind has really gone out of the liberals' sails big time for me to have gotten such a comparitively tepid volley of put-downs. Ah, it's not like the glory days of 2000 when these partisans still had some real fire in 'em.
My Grandmother used to warn me about how dirty spitting into the wind makes a person feel, but I didn't listen...
Posted by alsis39.5 | February 17, 2006 1:49 PM
Posted on February 17, 2006 13:49