1
As I've always said, there's a lotta psy-ops in the Left's m.o.

2
The whole thing is rooted in collectivism.

Mobs, for lack of a better term, can be persuasive using bullying and out-casting the individuals who don't join their mob.

3
Take, for example, global warming. Clearly, they are trying to bully people into believing that humans and capitalism are destroying the planet.

4 Damn nice blogging today, Ace. 

5 I once said that there should be no government at all and rich people should pay no taxes. Obama says that rich people should pay a fair share and government should help people out when they need it. I was able to lie to enough people in 2010 to make them vote Republican. Me and my fat cat oil buddies that is, and the tonsil stealing doctors. Never forget the tonsil stealing doctors.

6 I have to admit something--I believe in this false consciousness. It is perpetuated by the Left to fool people into thinking that socialism is good for them.

Think of it--they can only succeed by hiding their true agenda and by masking its ill effects.

So I guess I'm an elitist, too, because I believe most squishy left leaners vote Democrat almost purely out of ignorance.

If they thought things through, they'd never support the things that they do. But they're incapable of properly thinking things through because they're ignorant of the facts, being programmed  as they are by years of left-wing propaganda via the media and public education.

7 Speaking of stupid shit.
 
Joos on the tit. 

Unbelievable.  Intelligent people letting others finance their "religious" studies and whining about not getting enough free shit.  Warning NY Times link.

http://tinyurl.com/44wwhmr

8 Also, the left is always guilty of what they accuse the right of.

They have a gnawing vague suspicion that they are being duped.

9 Damn nice blogging today, Ace. 

Posted by: rdbrewer

 

I think that it sucks.

10 This has a long history on the left as the go-to explanation for the public rejecting socialism. The earlier, more Marxist version of the idea was to claim the public had a "false consciousness" imposed on them by a manipulative capitalist media; the public, in this telling, were unwitting dupes, who didn't understand socialism was in their best interest because the corporate masters who control the debate fed them a steady diet of lies. Anything to keep the wealthy and powerful in their positions of wealth and power. Anything to keep the Common Man from realizing he could be his own King.

The irony is that False Consciousness exists: it's the mindset of the Left, in which Leftist theory and dogma gets pounded into young skulls full of mush until they believe that theory and dogma instead of their own eyes.  Hence Thomas Frank and 'What's the Matter with Kansas?" -- Frank sees the objective reality of Kansas, compares it against his theory/dogma-driven false consciousness, and decides that there must be something wrong with reality.

11
Democrats and Republicans share most of the same goals. The difference is that Democrats propose their goals as policy, whereas the Republicans prefer policies that are grounded in reality.

Everyone having all the heath care they need want is a goal, not a policy.

12 Damn nice blogging today, Ace. 

Posted by: rdbrewer

I think that it sucks.

Posted by: Jack "why is there a sword hanging over my head? Steuf at April 21, 2011 01:06 PM (6rX0K)

Know how we can tell this is a sockpuppet?

The real Jack Steuf would have said something like, "I think it reads like Ace's retarded kid wrote it.  Because he's retarded.  And he's Ace's kid, which makes him being retarded funny."

13 The entire left-wing strategy is founded upon making sure that most people are incapable of making an informed ideological choice.

Think of all the things that they hide.

The impact of taxation is one of the biggest. They do this through withholding, so that you don't realize how much comes out of your paycheck each year. And they do it with hidden taxes, surcharges and fees.

An honest debate about appropriate levels of taxation wouldn't involve such chicanery. But we've never had such a debate in my lifetime because most people are completely ignorant of how much money they are forced to surrender to government at all levels.

I'm ignorant myself. With all the hidden pass-through taxation, how could anyone be sure?

14 10 Damn nice blogging today, Ace. 

Posted by: rdbrewer

Mr Ace, please call the office.  You are below your quota of long winded posts and we need to talk to you about your check. 

Start writing more, or don't look for one Friday.

15 Preach it brother Ace!  I love it when you break down the commies.

16 The irony is that False Consciousness exists: it's the mindset of the Left

Projection, dude.  All the Left does is projection. Cries of "racist" and "homophobe"? Projection.

That's all we should do when they accuse us of anything: Accuse them back of projection. There's no defense on their end.

17 I'd like to comment on the post, but I didn't understand it.

18 ""Liberalism is based upon lies and delusion and driven by envy and feelings of inadequacy.""

That is sooo on the mark.

19 Marxism is only in the best interest of the party elite.

20 Frank sees the objective reality of Kansas, compares it against his theory/dogma-driven false consciousness, and decides that there must be something wrong with reality.

Wait, that's science, right? Come up with a hypothesis, test it against data, if they don't match, the data must be wrong!

21 But it is more apt to call it neofeudalism.

22 18 I'd like to comment on the post, but I didn't understand it.

Don't worry, smile and nod, no one understands half the shit Ace writes.

23 I don't understand this post.

24 either

25 Ace, you really do put out great, incisive commentary everyday...it's very impressive...

26

Obama is the perfect synthesis of dogmatism, incompetence and self-confidence.  He's impervious to experience.  You'll never convince a guy like him that he's wrong about anything.

27 Is Ace saying we should go to church, buy a gun and have 10 kids?

28 Did I mention I get the runs every time I think of obama?

29 The left relies on solely subjective thought where they know that through the media, fear and intimidation, they can mold this thought to their liking, which is why college students, union workers, nature lovers, et al, are cobbled together like an unintelligent blob. Once you are able to get them to look objectively at things, like the Blaze video comparing grades to taxes, they lose.

30 Is Ace saying we should go to church, buy a gun and have 10 kids?

Don't be silly.  Buy guns for the 10 kids, too.  Fire support works best en masse...

31

I'm a contrarian by nature. So let's flip this over.

Is ignorance the only reason to disagree with conservatism?

Well?

32 Is Ace saying we should go to church, buy a gun and have 10 kids? Posted by: Dr Spank at April 21, 2011 01:16 PM (GC5/b) Well I'm Jewish, but I don't mind going to Church every once and a while. And I do like guns, but I'm gonna just stick with the 2 kids I have

33 The key is the amount of discretionary income available to consumers.

I like Monty's "DOOM!" posts, but he's posting material waaaaaaaaaay over the heads of 98% of the voters who will cast ballots in the 2012 primaries  and the 2012 general election.

What is influential is the personal federal, state, and local assault on consumers' wallets - inflationary policies that destroy private pension funds,  Roth  accounts, paycheck shrinkage, and consumer loan availability.  Add to that the energy/environmental regulatory regimes in place that are choking private-sector job growth.

Monty and the other posters should finish their posts with at least a paragraph devoted to "and what this means to you  and your family when ..." .   because talk about the QE1, that's great for an AEI lunchroom bull session but out in the real world  $5 a gallon for gas means people have to choose between a pack of cigarettes and purchasing enough fuel to get to work.  And they aren't happy about that.

34 32 Damn sock

35 >>The entire left-wing strategy is founded upon making sure that most people are incapable of making an informed ideological choice. Yep. The whole Medicare/Medicaid/SS strategy is based on this tactic. Any mention of changing any of those "entitlements" (even the language is Orwellian lefty) gets demagogued by the left as trying to kill granny and poor people. They would rather play the short political game of winning votes with lies than telling the truth and fixing the problem. In short, they are willing to let people suffer in the long run for institutional power. They refuse to honestly debate taxes and the reflexibility built into an income tax and changing rates. Better to score cheap political points by demonizing the right. The debt ceiling is the same thing. The left doesn't care about the debt ceiling. We are going to blow through it no matter what happens but the left just wants to treat this as a political football while our economy is reaching a dangerous tipping point. The whole thing is going to come crashing down soon. The lets see how the ignorant people love their lefty betters.

36 That's why there is true equality in my system. There are no airy philosophical arguments to hide behind, no ivory tower intellectuals to pronounce who is wise and who are fools. There are no false choices. There are only two options: 1. Take my hand and swear your eternal loyalty, or 2. Perish in The Great Burning. Everything in my system is tangible. It's truth hits you like... well, like a jackboot. The kind of truth that really sticks to your ribs... like a jackboot.

37 Posted by: Dr Spank at April 21, 2011 01:16 PM (GC5/b) If any reasonably good looking 'ette is interested in helping out the cause, I am available and am very verile, verily.

38 >>>I have to admit something--I believe in this false consciousness. It is perpetuated by the Left to fool people into thinking that socialism is good for them. Heh, well I noticed as I was writing it that I keep speaking of the unenlightened squoosh decision-avoiding not-so-much-centrist-as-apathetic type voter. But I do have polling on my side. Every single time the question is polled -- asking to see how informed the public is, the ratings are always the same -- the partisans on both sides are much more informed than the self-identifying "middle." And the right always beats the left. Not by a huge amount, but we always win on the informational stuff.

39 Why do they keep falling for the "false issues" like God, Guns, and Gays> (As the left has it.)

Not sure if you've noticed, but there's plenty of people on the right who think those are false issues. They're the people who say they want an "inclusive" Republican party and the only way to be inclusive, at least in their eyes, is to boot out all the bitter clingers who think God and guns matter.

40 Prominent liberals conclude that the "public" is stupid because of all the shit they manage to get away with on the public dime.

41 And the right always beats the left. Not by a huge amount, but we always win on the informational stuff.

Interesting.  I guess 'informed' means different things to each camp.  The Left knows doctrine, the Right knows practical truth, and the Middle just knows when Idol comes on.

42 >>>Not sure if you've noticed, but there's plenty of people on the right who think those are false issues. They're the people who say they want an "inclusive" Republican party and the only way to be inclusive, at least in their eyes, is to boot out all the bitter clingers who think God and guns matter. Well I personally don't want to boot anyone out. But frankly, if you're asking for respect for your position that these things matter crucially, please respect in turn my position that they are of lesser importance. You can't have respect if you're not willing to grant it in turn.

43 In defense of the left, most people are pretty stupid and ignorant.  Usually willfully so.  It's really hard to study people, history, politics, mass media, entertainment, fashion, or almost anything else and not conclude that taken as a whole, people do stupid things, believe stupid things, and refuse to see the light.  Or, maybe more accurately, seeing the light, the reject it because they love the dark too much...

44 Thanks, Big O, RD, and Mark in Spokane.

45 Ace, shouldn't we start figuring out ways to splinter factions of sheep from their leftist shepards? I think most private sector union members should be ripe for the picking. They usually love God, guns and country and with the right message of you can have your unions, but you cannot force someone to join and oh yeah look at your leaders, they are marxist. I think that they would leave the left in droves, but how do past the left pandering of the stupid schmucks? They aren't, but they are treated like it and like an elephant that can easily break the rope when they grow up, they are trained to believe that they can't.

46 In defense of the left, most people are pretty stupid and ignorant.  Usually willfully so.

It's this last part that is so frustrating.

I know so many smart people who just refuse to engage in these issues.

Ace is right. Liberalism is the default ideology for lazy thinkers and cowards. There is this huge mass of people in the middle who just don't want to put any thought into anything. They don't want to prioritize or make hard choices when it comes to public policy, which is baffling to me personally because this is just part of life.

Isn't it?

But no, they simply hide their heads in the sand when it comes to things like the federal debt that threatens to ruin a 200 plus year republic--the greatest in the known history of mankind.

So they take the default position that yes, the government should take care of everyone. Yes, no one should go hungry. Yes, everyone should have a college education. Yes, public dollars should support art, abortion, health care, jobs programs, research, etc, etc, etc...

See? No hard choices. No meanness.

And when the bill comes due, they again avoid the hard choice, opting instead for the magical, personally pain-free "solution" of taxing the rich and ending government fraud and waste.

If you tell them it won't work--if you put the actual numbers in front of them PROVING that the only way out is reducing spending--they'll change the subject ... or turn away ... anything to avoid engaging in the truth.

It makes them uncomfortable.

So they convince themselves that YOU are the one with the problem. You are a nutjob, a pessimist, an alarmist.

It'll all work out, they tell themselves. It always has. Smart people who know of such things .... who are COMFORTABLE with such things ... will find a solution.

47 Of course the public is stupid, they reckon. What other explanation could there be?

Well, aren't they at least half correct in this notion? Half of the country keeps falling for their pap, after all.

48 >>But no, they simply hide their heads in the sand when it comes to things like the federal debt that threatens to ruin a 200 plus year republic--the greatest in the known history of mankind. I think that's part of the problem. American people by and large do at some level believe that this is the greatest country on the planet. Obviously, some of us more than others but I think all believe not just in the inherent goodness but also that no matter what, things will always work out. They always have for most of the population. There aren't many Greatest Generation types left. Those that are, the older part of our society, tend to be conservative unsurprisingly. They lived in a time when America was in the balance and sacrificed to keep it and improve it. But the majority of the population today has never lived in a time of real hardship and have been increasingly coddled by a government that has become increasingly involved in every aspect of their lives. I saw a statistic the other day that fully 59% of the population is getting some sort of government payout; SS, medicare, medicaid, VA benefits, etc.. We have become a dependent society. When a majority of the population is dependent on the government for their existence you have crossed a very significant rubicon. How you get those people to understand that their government is lying to them and taking them to the brink without them finding out through a meltdown is beyond me. Unfortunately for all of us, we are about to find out if the cold slap of reality wakes them from their stupor.

49 Well said Warden. People default to liberal and progressive because it is easy and sexy. And that would be fine, but their other default is the collective instead of the individual. I would have no problem with liberals getting together to help the poor on their own (like churches do) but they want everyone to pitch in via government bureaucracy and regulation, because they can look at themselves and say they have done some good, even though they wouldn't know a soup kitchen if the ladel smacked them alongside the head.

50 In defense of the left, most people are pretty stupid and ignorant.  Usually willfully so.

Now that's a falsehood of  a false consciousness.

Americans are busy living American lives.  They've got kids to raise, a job, social activities (church, school events, local volunteer duties), perhaps a part-time on the side ( I know people that have a full-time job and two part-time jobs), and they have little time available to immerse themselves on the whys and therefors behind the great issues of the day.   A lot of salaried folks are buckling under the demands by their employers to spend more time on the job.

The vast majority of Americans are very interested in the world around them but their interests may not necessarily include politics and political leaders.  That doesn't make them stupid, but it does make them vulnerable to a slick sales pitch come election time.

51 Just like the Soviets, who viewed every person who was critical of their wonderful system as "crazy" and sent them to psychiatric hospitals.  This continued until the wonderful system collapsed upon itself like the pile of useless Marxist crap that it was.  Hey, lefties....  try visualizing that new experience in your superior minds.

52 I would have no problem with liberals getting together to help the poor on their own (like churches do) but they want everyone to pitch in via government bureaucracy and regulation,

Yeah.

If I support something then I  ... support it.

If a lefty supports something he tries to force YOU to support it. Then he calls you a fascist, totalitarian.

And when you lobby to cut the program that you don't support, yet he demanded that you fund, he screams that you're forcing your values on society.

53 Whatever.  You're just writing this stupidity because you're ignorant.

54 read Dave Hickey's "The Invisible Dragon." An art critic and liberal, he ridicules the art establishment's reaction to the Mapplethorpe controversy and spends three pages praising Senator Helms for "acknowledging the proposition of the images and simply rejecting them". He makes the argument that the institutional arts are arrogant, condescending, and detrimental to society for refusing to acknowledge legitimate rejection and outrage. Hickey, btw, has been called a conservative shill for doing so. Like Saturn eating his children, liberals will easily eat their own (like they will with David Mamet) when they open their mouth and speak rationally (at which point I guess they stop being liberal). You cannot deviate from the script of liberalism.

55 That's one of the finest posts you've ever written, Ace.  Puts leftist condescenscion all together and wraps it with a bow.

56 You know what? Fuck 'em. I can support myself, I know my own mind, and I don't need any of these leftie fuckwits telling me they know what's best for me because I'm just too damn ignorant to do it myself. I'll fly my Gadsden, vote for smaller government, and laugh when my classmates turn 30 and can't do shit with their resume full of environmental activism.

57 30 -- If we can ever get back to people helping people and communities helping communities, that is a basis for how we became a great nation, we can rise up again to an unparalleled level of greatness. But instead we are the country of the faceless government check. Nobody knows where the money came from, they just know they want it to keep coming. It has no soul, no heartbeat, no compassion, no dignity, no face. Nobody takes it personally and that is the problem.

58

6 I have to admit something--I believe in this false consciousness. It is perpetuated by the Left to fool people into thinking that socialism is good for them.

Think of it--they can only succeed by hiding their true agenda and by masking its ill effects.

----

Ya think?

59

"...a different set of rational, justifiable priorities and assumptions in their world view..."

OK, this is a nice rant, but you give the Left way too much respect. You suggest that they have a "rational, justifiable" set of priorites. At the risk of being inadvertantly nasty, that kind of smacks of their multi-culturalism, which asserts that all cultures are equal.

The fact is that so-called "progressives" like to bill collectivism as somehow newer and more advanced - and as such, it is something that "intelligent" people should readily adopt.

But it's not "new" at all - a collectivist form of government that would make Joe Stalin green with envy is described in the Bible. The Pilgrims starved under collectivism, and became famously "thankful" after dropping it for a capitalist system. Marx didn't invent the stuff - he just formalized the philosophy.

Beyond that, collectivism has a profoundly poor record, having caused unspeakable poverty and tyranny whereever it has been employed. Even the watered-down versions cause disaster, it just takes longer (Greece, Spain, etc.).

An "intelligent" person applying "rational, justifiable" priorities would wish no such system upon a society. Well, at least not a well-meaning one.

I keep thinking back to the cases I've heard of where some lefty college kids get together to debate this stuff, and some poor slob draws the short straw and ends up having to try to defend capitalism. Then that person - having actually gone through the arguments with some care - realizes that he's been on the wrong side.

It's like religion - people don't sign on for rational reasons, but psychological ones. Seems like if they were exposed as just a bunch of spoiled brats who were simply jealous that some corporate CEO makes more than they do, and that they were pushing something that is - to put it bluntly - stupid and evil, that there would be fewer "useful idiots" to deal with.

60 Note the normative assumption always packed into these claims: That the conservative brain is "too small" as compared to the liberal brain, defined as normative; the conservative measure represents a deviation away from the assumed norm while the liberal trait is privileged as the norm, or if not the norm, then the ideal.

Based on my own observations over 42 years:

engineers and scientists (not pseudo-scientists).....mostly conservative

philosophy, psych, sociology, literature types....almost 100% liberal

more liberals don't understand how to apply math to real life situations than conservatives.  Word problems are like kryptonite to them.

liberals read a lot more books than conservatives and they assume this makes them smarter.  It makes you well read, not smarter.  They will also assume anything they read is a solid fact just because somebody wrote it down.

Liberals insist that their college degree proves their intelligence.  I say it depends on what you  major in.

61 Well I personally don't want to boot anyone out. But frankly, if you're asking for respect for your position that these things matter crucially, please respect in turn my position that they are of lesser importance.

I don't have a problem with your position, i'm not a social issues voter either. I just don't see how we can expand a party by alienating a huge segment of it, not that you personally are doing that, but there are quite a few on the right who are and it looks like they're using the handy excuses of inclusion and expansion to mask the fact that they just don't like the so-cons.

62 >>>t there are quite a few on the right who are and it looks like they're using the handy excuses of inclusion and expansion to mask the fact that they just don't like the so-cons. I think I'd disagree in terms of numbers. I think some people think that, but not a huge number. I wouldn't say "quite a few." The rest of it people who disagree, and who are united by broad agreement on *some* things under a political banner, jockeying for position and priority of issues.

63 I think most of the people you're talking about are less RINOs at this stage so much as ex-RINOs. They have self-purged.

64 Excellent post, Ace. EXCELLENT.

65
Ah, well, a part of your brain is too small and won't let you sample "new experiences."

Or perhaps, I experienced the "new experience" the first time it came around, and now that they're peddling v2.0 (or v3.0/4.0/5.5/etc) and I recognize its the same old crap with a shiny new brand.

No, the thought that I might be smarter and more experienced than they believe couldn't ever seep into their tiny pea brains...

Say...is that more of that "projection"??

66 28 Is Ace saying we should go to church, buy a gun and have 10 kids?

Hmmm...are there any single moronettes who'd like to get into that lifestyle?

Note to self: arm the kids. And at some point, obtain a SAW, as a group of 12 is pretty much a squad...

67

#62 - "liberals read a lot more books than conservatives and they assume this makes them smarter." Lem, I read more than anyone else I personally know, and I'm more conservative than anyone else I personally know, and I have noticed this same thing, liberals assume they are smarter and more well read than conservatives.  This usually makes for easy work of them in debates, as they are not used to being challenged in any real logical way, and are unfamiliar with logical arguments against their world view.  They'll generally quickly retreat into silence, or a "I'm entitled to my opinion" BS, or will resort to ad hominem attacks.  Since this is boring, I usually don't say anything except when I'm either feeling ornery or sporting (fallacy hunting amount liberals can be quite fun, but since they so rarely engage in logic it is exhausting to continually get them back on point).

68 engineers and scientists (not pseudo-scientists).....mostly conservative // philosophy, psych, sociology, literature types....almost 100% liberal

I think that used to be true, but it's not anymore.

As science and engineering have become more dependent on the state—and satisfying it has grown its share of their occupational survival strategy—so have the minds of scientists and engineers. I don't think I've met a conservative one under the age of fifty or so.

I can think of a couple self-described libertarians (who were really harder-core Democrats than most Democrats are, but consciously knew that being a Democrat is retarded, so they lied to themselves about it), and one Mitt-type RINO who was such a Wonkette-type bitch I thought he was a lefty.

Your second type divides, but not very strongly, based on how they make their livings. If the government or a state-dependent institution funds or employs them, they're default-lefties, because it's the only way to be safe. If they're free, there's a 50/50 chance they'll be in the "miscellaneous other" category.

For example, last week's "Bret Easton Ellis hates Glee because it's a fag" story wouldn't have happened if he were a professor/writer like most, rather than a writer. He's free, so he's not a toe-the-line PC pussy, even if he winds up pulling the "D" knob every time he votes (which he probably does, if he votes...which he probably doesn't).

69 Of course the public is stupid, they reckon. What other explanation could there be? The only other possible explanation is that they have a different set of rational, justifiable priorities and assumptions in their world view, but if we accept that as a possibility, we must also credit their view as equally worthy of the dignity of respect, and we're certainly not going to do that, so the premise fails because the conclusion is impossible.

This is one of the finest paragraphs you've ever written.

-Brennan

70

All is not what it seems to be in the merry old land of Oz .. and this ain't Kansas.

Dorothy was trying to get back home ... Obama has no home, only Green sunglasses. Wear them, or else.

The Left looks, thinks, and acts like a fairytale.

71 Do you need to convert your audio files to other audio formats on Mac/Mac os x system? Audio Converter for Mac provides you an ideal solution to solve that problem. Audio Converter for Mac Being a popular Mac Audio Converter, Audio Converter for Mac supports convert files between audio and audio

72 First of all, be completely sure of what you want, for instance the brand and style that you'd preferred.Visit a few retail store to survey on the price. This might be a bit hard because new models will be displayed every now and then. You might get confused on what you want once seeing the new models. Ask the opticians for the price and catalogue if possible.Once you have compared the prices from the retail stores and found the best offer offered, head back to that particular shop. Let the optician know which type of ray ban sunglasses that you would like to purchase.

73 For a back-to-basics look, black wayfarers fit into any woman's or man's wardrobe. If you want to play around with color, frames and lenses cover the entire spectrum from turquoise, red, and pink to neon and gold.As a fashion item, aviators, often associated with 1980s film Top Gun, were part of the line of Ray Ban sunglasses over the years.

74  President John F. Kennedy wore a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarer II L1725s with mock tortoiseshell frames. Though the L1725 and the classic Wayfarer 2140 were not as popular during the 1970s, they came roaring back to prominence when Tom Cruise wore them in the hit movie Risky Business in 1983.