Reply To: Idiot of the Year

[Just Iron]

Thanks for Edit tip Deerey.
Re Joe Biden leading the most influential nation. What I was trying to say was that whilst I understand the nominations from the UK scene … or even as far as Moscow .. it was the consequences of accumulated ‘idiocy’ by the US President that did and does the most damage. Of all people the world needs a balanced and wise US President.
Re the ‘deplorable few’ it is my words immediately afterwards ( ref to tens of millions) that is the crux of my argument. And it’s my main disconnect with Sidey. There is indeed a substantial number of Republicans ..maybe tens or even hundreds of thousands … with deplorable attitudes and behaviour because it’s a massive demographic and huge electorate so that even the band on the margins is pretty hefty. But there are tens of millions of Conservative Americans who don’t storm buildings or engage in wild conspiracy theories or accuse the opposition of being Paedos. Who knows whether this extreme element are greater in number than or a significant percentage more than their counterparts on the left … thinking Antifa/BLM et al … who looted and burned their way through largely poor neighbourhoods in the Summer of 2019. You have drawn your conclusion Sidey in alleging that these elements now dominate Republicanism in a way that their counterparts don’t on the Democrat side. I don’t see it. My fear is that the definition of a ’Deplorable’ having no place is civilised society is not just being applied to those described above on the right but is actually starting to umbrella generally over those holding socially ‘conservative’ values … many of which I share. (Let’s see how it pans out for me later when I answer some of Gurney’s probing about my own views)
Sidey .. a lot of what I’ve addressed to Deerey obviously responds also to some of your points. I would just add a couple of more things. It’s a relief to me that you’re not keen on ‘the Squad’…hopefully not the 2019 looters and rioters also. Seems to me that they were also ‘Deplorable’ ..though I’ve not heard it said. (‘Who said protests have to be peaceful?’ ‘They are not going to stop ..and nor should they!’ etc etc)
Again your assertion that one side has mainstreamed its ‘Deplorability’ whilst the other hasn’t is where the cookie crumbles for me and makes me concerned that it is not just extreme, crazed and criminal behaviour that attracts the label … but certain values and views that clash with a progressive worldview. This is where, I suspect, that my old friend Gurney wants to ‘out me.’

More on that later.