Chapo Trap House and the rise of the dirtbag left

interesting to see New Republic article about CTH filtering through my feed -- people my age (mid-40s) who are super-lefty, queer, long-time activists, are like "have you ever heard of this thing?" And I think if I weren't on ILX I probably wouldn't have heard of it either (though I do see things on Twitter which, thanks to this feed, I know to be "dirtbag style" if not literally Chapo.)

That was my point about "slacker no-goodnik" Gen Xers. They were attacked similarly, but eventually fell into line.

― El Tuomasbot (milo z)

for this "slacker no-goodnik gen x-er" translate "fell into line" as "figured out how to cope with crippling mental illness". not all of my friends were so fortunate.

Sessions is easily one of the most evil people alive so it's going to be funny to see The Resistance defend his honor when he's shitcanned

— Will 🐋 Menaker (@willmenaker) July 25, 2017

post it and be legends man

Sessions is easily one of the most evig people alive, so the important thing here is clearly that some libruls look forlish.

I'm more on these guys side than not; no idea what the hell happened to me in here. I'm probably just going to check out of politics.

*more

That woman did not accept Felix' apology, btw. Seems he lied about her having blocked him to get out of apologizing directly to her.

This guy called it a few minutes before..

Viral shitpost, prediction: "lmao libs freakin' love Jeff Sessions now."

— Charles Davis (@charliearchy) July 25, 2017

the New Comey

lol can you imagine

That woman did not accept Felix' apology, btw. Seems he lied about her having blocked him to get out of apologizing directly to her.

She also requested that she be compensated directly

(as in "oh it's nice that you made a donation but it's me you slighted")

lol u think she wanted that patreon lucre?

the actual tweet (there's a whole thread for more context, also contains the block denial Fred mentioned)

So while I'm glad to see Felix feels obliged to donate to an org, how about also making a donation to me, the human being he harmed?

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 24, 2017

Yeah, the harassment he caused hurt her financially, and he wasn't even going to let her decide the charity?

it hurt her financially?

(i don't know about any harassment beyond that screenshot linked upthread, genuinely curious)

read the thread

The financial-pain argument seems a little tenuous to me. I can't imagine she didn't get an uptick in donations from (rightly!) offended sympathizers to at the very least offset the added labor.

"Has his mockery of me created more work for me in the form of documenting abuse, reporting, and moderation at my site? Yes it has."

how does this hurt her financially? Felix's tweet is indefensible, and he absolutely should've apologized to her directly, but I don't understand how she was hurt financially.

People REALLY can't get over how much money they're making!

I'm not that surprised he apparently shirked from direct engagement tbh, he seems extremely uncomfortable dealing with people directly and unironically (not a defense, just an observation)

As a fellow freelancer, having to take time out due to shit like this is definitely a financial hit.

Menaker's tweet above is pretty bad, an example of "you just have to figure out who's good and who's bad, and if something bad happens to someone who's bad, that's good" politics that I think of these guys as mostly above?

I mean, people who are worried about this are saying "what do we gain, besides Sessions Sadface, if one evil racist is replaced by another at DoJ, plus Trump establishes and Congress meekly accepts that any attempt to hold him or his family to account will be quashed by the full power of the state?" It's pretty dumb to equate that with "defending the honor of Jeff Sessions."

(and btw I'm not even wholly on board with the viewpoint in the first quote above, just saying -- be better.)

I also don't see how Comey and Sessions are analogous - Comey was heralded by liberals because he got fired just trying to do his job (and of course they hated him when he did the same with Hillary). Sessions is just an evil little elf fuck that decided to save his own ass and recuse himself and will probably get fired over it. No nobility or honor there...

I really don't think Will's tweets merit this level of scrutiny

an example of "you just have to figure out who's good and who's bad, and if something bad happens to someone who's bad, that's good" politics that I think of these guys as mostly above?

why would you think they're above this? this is like 90% of their tweets/worldview

xp I'm not talking about Will's tweet exclusively - seen the same sentiment in many other places.

also flopson is OTM, that's one of the things I really can't stand about CTH. prematurely dancing on the grave of John McCain the night the world finds out he has brain cancer - I found all that really distasteful and disgusting. i'm not a McCain fan, but this is absolutely par for the course for them - Will routinely says he hopes people get stomach cancer, get hit by a bus, etc etc etc... one tweet that REALLY rubbed me the wrong way was when he retweeted a pic of someone's gross bare feet up on an airplane armrest, and Will said "I'd rather be on United 93."

Menaker's tweet above is pretty bad, an example of "you just have to figure out who's good and who's bad, and if something bad happens to someone who's bad, that's good" politics that I think of these guys as mostly above?

I think it's clear that the kind of Leftist or Marxist thinking they traffic in is appealing in direct proportion to the kind of stark moral clarity it offers. (I think that clarity is illusory and possibly dangerous but that's not an argument i want to have on the internet today.) But that's the move, again and again: reframe "liberal" functional/technocratic positions in terms of morality, good vs evil, etc. The whole point of that kind of discourse is to offer an escape from that economic functionalism into a absolutist moral space that allows you to critique it.

This is probably idiosyncratic but the core distinction I'd make between liberalism and neo-liberalism is that the latter also works in moralist terms. The market is "good," or at least determines the good.

John McCain deserves a painful, miserable death. The willingness to traffic in saying that as public figures is a core Chapo appeal to me - no pretending that you can be a good person while doing horrible things out of some bullshit respect for American institutions.

The world needs more "Masters of War" and "Tramp The Dirt Down."

The financial-pain argument seems a little tenuous to me. I can't imagine she didn't get an uptick in donations from (rightly!) offended sympathizers to at the very least offset the added labor.

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Tuesday, July 25, 2017 1:23 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dude you are the biggest captain save-a-chapo

Sadly, not even close.

I'm fine with stark moral clarity and calling bad people bad! What bugs me is the idea that an outcome is good if it makes a bad person suffer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPwuulUQpxw

I like Matt a lot of times but this is just indefensibly poisonous garbage. You'd think Dems voted for the GOP's bill if you were immersed in the CTH bubble.

No More Democrats

— Matt Christman (@cushbomb) July 25, 2017

For context, the previous Tweet:

People whose chief concern right now is the respectful treatment of those working to condemn millions to early death are not your allies

— Matt Christman (@cushbomb) July 25, 2017

It's sometimes seems funny to respond "FUCK YOU YOU LEPROUS SON OF A WHORE!" to twitter prolapse cases but I'm against slut-leper-shaming.

http://i.imgur.com/9wPpE2a.png

I like when Chapo clowns on people like this. The "Rebel Alliance"? What the fuck is wrong with these people?

Star Wars, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones ... so, the current people in government and politics right now who are supposedly the main force against Trump, and allies of the left, are a bunch of soft-handed, virginal, cosplaying dorks.

anyone who could get through either of the recent premium episodes (the tabletop ones) are greater Chapo stans than I

I like when Chapo clowns on people like this. The "Rebel Alliance"? What the fuck is wrong with these people?

Star Wars, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones ... so, the current people in government and politics right now who are supposedly the main force against Trump, and allies of the left, are a bunch of soft-handed, virginal, cosplaying dorks.

fixed

Seems like being "left" and "Democrat" involves a prerequisite to have your balls chopped off. No surprise there considering corporations control the Democratic party right now. And they really don't care if the Trumpers bash all your heads in for being liberal, or gay, or black. It achieves their goals, but in a roundabout way.

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/9/16/1442401101730/05248533-d1d0-4bcd-bb39-01ab7c7eb672-bestSizeAvailable.jpeg?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=1e802aad6a954f82d93ca2c2c0e7f939

I am certain all of the female Democrats were very surprised when they found out about this prereq.

guys, in the world of politics having a Star Wars quote in your bio constitutes being hip to pop culture. It's the left-wing version of quoting Princess Bride lines.

xp Replace it with a gender neutral idiom. Our language hasn't really updated to the progress made in the past few decades.

gtfo with any politics where your goal is to "have balls" or to avoid being a "soft virgin" or a "cuck" or whatever

the rose in that guy's bio is confusing to me