I think it needs to be established here is that when I and others call this regime and its supporters 'stupid' this is not a reference to any kind of innate intelligence libs have more of. it is that the modern conservative moment is openly, proudly incurious and ignorant about how *anything* works - ThreadSky

merovingians.bsky.social • 2 days ago

I think it needs to be established here is that when I and others call this regime and its supporters 'stupid' this is not a reference to any kind of innate intelligence libs have more of. it is that the modern conservative moment is openly, proudly incurious and ignorant about how *anything* works

Reposted from the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist)

okay but have you considered that instead of being because they have a sophisticated and foolproof plan to nullify the midterms these people are wildly stupid and sky high on their own supply?

Comments

baptistelerak.bsky.social•2 days ago

As conservative culture has become more and more insular, the type of knowledge valued in those spaces has become increasingly orthogonal to what matters to perform one's job and function with the rest of society.

baptistelerak.bsky.social•2 days ago

Indeed I'm sure many of those psycho Republicans staffers have encyclopedic knowledge of like, Warhammer 40k or the National Focus tree of vanilla HOI4 and a number of its mods. On the other hand, I wouldn't bet on more than more than a handful of them knowing what "appropriation" means.

baptistelerak.bsky.social•2 days ago

Because yes, knowing the basics of their jobs has less value in their social circles than knowing all three major variants of the Mark X Tacticus armor (Omnis, Gravis and Phobos) or being able to recite the name of every single Space Marine legion, in order, from memory.

merovingians.bsky.social•2 days ago

this isn't stupidity like the Bush administration was stupid, where they were evil and came to bad conclusions but nonetheless knew what was real and what was entirely imaginary. the modern conservartive movement exists in a parallel reality from the real one.

merovingians.bsky.social•2 days ago

these guys think they won in 2024 because people agreed with what they believe, when all evidence says they won because of anti-incumbent backlash and bad media environments.

springtick.bsky.social•2 days ago

Trump winning the popular vote by a small amount has broken a lot of people's brains from all over the political spectrum

merovingians.bsky.social•2 days ago

ironically I think a bunch of you not being on twitter anymore has led you to forget what these people are *like*

merovingians.bsky.social•2 days ago

this does not make them as less dangerous in terms of things *within* their power but it mean they think a lot of things *are* within their control that categorically are not

merovingians.bsky.social•2 days ago

yes https://bsky.app/profile/baewest.bsky.social/post/3ln4ahxgkvs2y

merovingians.bsky.social•2 days ago

how https://bsky.app/profile/jxxmxx.bsky.social/post/3ln4cnjkko22w

lizamazel.bsky.social•1 day ago

tbh i think the bigger, more fundamental problem, not just with BS libs/wev but -everyone-, is that when people believe fully in their own power and behave that way, especially when they already do have SOME power, other people too often just defer to them.

contextneeded.bsky.social•2 days ago

Bluesky is more unhinged than Twitter was, might be more unhinged than X is and X is significantly more unhinged than Twitter was. Everyone addicted to their socials is getting progressively more detached from reality.

ohschiesse.bsky.social•2 days ago

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2501:_Average_Familiarity

lizamazel.bsky.social•1 day ago

well but do remember: the anon staffer *coughRovecough* who had that memorable line about the "reality based community'" (derogatory)

incidentally i love it for Rove that he virulently loathes Trumpism & can't do anything about it

love it so much

hellscapenavigator.bsky.social•2 days ago

the worst excesses of the Bush administration was them getting themselves into a groupthink delusion (see: WMD). The Trump people are only the groupthink delusions, there's no one even remotely capable of or wiling to engage with external reality.

merovingians.bsky.social•2 days ago

oops! all scheming viziers!

hellscapenavigator.bsky.social•2 days ago

an entire administration occurring at owl creek bridge

andrewtheblueskier.bsky.social•2 days ago

Putting it another way there are simply much less liars here anymore, much more true believers are left and they cannibalize anyone who knows the wrong thing, even a liar trying to fit in

andrewtheblueskier.bsky.social•2 days ago

This isn't a group of evil liars who cunningly change the real world, this is a group of epistemic wanderers who say and think whatever the heck and their belief can accept everything

koalagaming08.bsky.social•2 days ago

Republicans want less schools and more lead pipes to produce more Republican voters

jxxmxx.bsky.social•2 days ago

Are you familiar with the concept of epistemic closure and the related debate circa 2010 summed up here:

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/19/858812/-The-Epistemic-Closing-of-the-Conservative-Mind-

jxxmxx.bsky.social•2 days ago

"The ability of an authoritarian movement to build a powerful false narrative--and then persuade millions of followers not only to believe it but actively defend it against encroaching reality, even in a more-or-less free society--was clearly demonstrated in Weimar Germany during the 1920s and ’30s"

jxxmxx.bsky.social•2 days ago

I would propose we have been in this environment of epistemic closure before in the US South before/during the Civil War and AGAIN in the Jim Crow South and AGAIN in the Carceral State. And by propose I mean share what people before me/around me who have experienced or live in the consequences.

jxxmxx.bsky.social•2 days ago

There will be no elections in an environment of white supremacist epistemic closure. There will be performances. There will be coerced decorum. But you cannot have "elections" when you erase the ability of any part of an electorate to vote, to work, to be recognized, or to exist.

baewest.bsky.social•2 days ago

It is somehow both a feature and a bug

mongrel.bsky.social•2 days ago

They are people who believe the road is wherever they point the car.

districtofkatya.bsky.social•2 days ago

I am incredibly scared of everything going on and have been expecting it for at least 10-15 years, but I also believe if there is any group that consistently and wildly overestimates their own support and innate competence: it's this brand of conservative if not all conservatives.

lizamazel.bsky.social•1 day ago

i really don't want to call them "conservatives" tbh. they're really not in any sense of the word. they're radical reactionaries; more, they're a pathology poorly draped in the semblance of a political party.

they're cancer, basically.

abyssaldragon.bsky.social•1 day ago

Fascists are conservatives who no longer care about appearing reasonable to anyone outside their party. All conservatism is based on hatred but fascism is based on hatred and *nothing else*.

lizamazel.bsky.social•1 day ago

idk.

conservatives care about preserving the existing order, which generally speaking includes themselves being in a comfortable place in it.

it does tend to lead to "the ones who walk away from Omelas" scenarios in the end, but that doesn't actually mean all conservatives are just masking

lizamazel.bsky.social•1 day ago

there is such a thing as certain core ethics or even, that word that Musk hates, empathy.

almost everyone turns it off selectively (yes, even you and you and me and you)

this admin is a walking pathology that doesn't have any at all.

none.

abyssaldragon.bsky.social•1 day ago

“Preserving the existing order” is an excuse. What they’re preserving is *hierarchy* against those that recognize the inherent cruelty of hierarchy. This stretches back to Edmund Burke, father of modern conservatism, who thought the peasants were disgusting and needed to be civilized by the state.

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