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Thread: McCarthyism?

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    McCarthyism?

    Like the mafia and the Lost Cause of the South, I once thought that McCarthyism was a thing of the past, relegated to history.

    Silly me.

    When I moved to Rhode Island, I saw first-hand how the mafia was very much alive and well and active.

    When I was in college in Georgia and observing politics since, I've seen that the Lost Cause is still held by many as something to be resurrected. When the South changed sides and went Republican under Reagan, I observed the beginning of the end of the Republican party that had been the party of my parents and family.



    So is McCarthyism also still around?

    The primary targets of McCarthyist persecution were government employees, prominent figures in the entertainment industry, academics, left-wing politicians, and labor union activists.
    That's still happening. And which group is it who is calling for mass arrests without trials and executions of people for pedo networks? And which national political group is it who is supporting those unfounded claims?


    Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive and questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations and beliefs were often exaggerated.
    I see familiar patterns now. Anitfa suddenly being cast as a powerful, organized entity. BLM being mis-characterized in very extreme ways with focus on looters and crime and blatant ignorance of the vast numbers of peaceful demonstrators. Sadly, many Americans have just fallen for the lies and the carefully curated footage of violence, without looking at the big picture.


    David D. Cole has written that the Patriot Act "in effect resurrects the philosophy of McCarthyism, simply substituting 'terrorist' for 'communist'". He wrote in The Nation and for the Harvard Civil Right-Civil Liberties review
    Conservative writer Ann Coulter devotes much of her book Treason to drawing parallels between past opposition to McCarthy and McCarthyism and the policies and beliefs of modern-day liberals, arguing that the former hindered the anti-communist cause and the latter hinder the War on Terrorism.
    Well, Coulter didn't have any trouble using the word treason for a whole group of folks, the liberals.

    The Soviet Union was found to have engaged in substantial espionage activities in the United States during the 1940s. The Communist Party USA also was substantially funded and its policies controlled by the Soviet Union, and accusations existed that CPUSA members were often recruited as spies.

    In the view of some contemporary commentators, these revelations stand as at least a partial vindication of McCarthyism.
    Which begs the question, where has the Russian money been going over the last couple of decades?

    Into the National Rifle Association.

    Into the coffers of Republican representatives.

    Into the coffers of the Republican National Committee.

    And over the last several decades, into the New York real estate laundromat of President number 45.


    Since the time of McCarthy, the word McCarthyism has entered American speech as a general term for a variety of practices: aggressively questioning a person's patriotism, making poorly supported accusations, using accusations of disloyalty to pressure a person to adhere to conformist politics or to discredit an opponent, subverting civil and political rights in the name of national security, and the use of demagoguery are all often referred to as McCarthyism.
    Ah. A nice catch-all. Too bad. The meaning is diluted and accusations become vapid.

    The 1952 Arthur Miller play The Crucible used the Salem witch trials as a metaphor for McCarthyism, suggesting that the process of McCarthyism-style persecution can occur at any time or place. The play focused on the fact that once accused, a person had little chance of exoneration, given the irrational and circular reasoning of both the courts and the public. Miller later wrote: "The more I read into the Salem panic, the more it touched off corresponding images of common experiences in the fifties."[170]
    I've been called extreme, accused of using cultural marxism and more. It's nigh impossible to disprove a negative, especially when confronted with circular reasoning.

    It has been posited on this forum that TYT is engaging in McCarthyism due to their coverage of Russia and Trump.

    As the old saying goes, truth is the daughter of time. Time has shown that there was/is, in fact, ample evidence of Russian interference in current American affairs over a wide swath of arenas including elections.

    There is ample evidence which is now coming out of Trump's ties and financial dependence on Russian money and his long-term desires to build over there.

    There is, of course, his deference on the world stage to Putin in direct ignorance of his own intelligence officials. There are his meetings with no records and no translators present which his own staff only learned of after they were reported in Russian media.

    His own staff had to learn of the meetings from the Russian press. They weren't exactly overjoyed at these activities. They were, in fact, deeply concerned.

    And there is the highly questionable travel of several elected Republicans to Russia who just won't say what they were doing or who they met with.

    If I go by a campfire and find a graham cracker crumb, a smear of marshmallow and I smell chocolate, I don't have to see s'mores to know they were made.

    And most importantly, there's the firing of Comey and the disbanding of the Russian investigations.

    When a guy who is under suspicion is the one who disbands the investigation, he has no credibility whatsoever.

    But his words do give credence to the accusations, as when he directly asked Russia to hack emails. He literally asked for their help in an election in front of the nation. That doesn't make it A-OK. It really doesn't.

    Again, the only reason indictments weren't delivered was DOJ policy, as explicitly stated by Mueller. Again, Barr lied to the American people. He blatantly lied.


    Was TYT engaging in McCarthyism? No case for that yet.

    Is McCarthyism alive and well here in the world? Looks like it exists in many arenas. And so people need to fight it in many arenas.

    quoted material from Wikipedia
    Last edited by Dreamtimer, 2nd August 2021 at 15:13.

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    Senior Member Fred Steeves's Avatar
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    The often repeated mantra of "Trump, republicans, Russia" says it all, nails it every time. No need for the curious observer/researcher to look any further as to the sources of trouble inside the U.S.
    The unexamined life is not worth living.

    Socrates

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    Senior Member Emil El Zapato's Avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Fred Steeves View Post
    The often repeated mantra of "Trump, republicans, Russia" says it all, nails it every time. No need for the curious observer/researcher to look any further as to the sources of trouble inside the U.S.
    The thing is Fred, is that it is manifestly true ... One can never repeat the truth often enough given the social climate in which we live ... not being hostile ... just trying to give you something to think about and perhaps accept.
    “El revolucionario: te meteré la bota en el culo"

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    Dot connectors look for patterns. There is a blaring, glaring pattern here.

    So don't get distracted by a woman's pretty legs, this stuff is way more important.
















































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    Senior Member donk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Fred Steeves View Post
    The often repeated mantra of "Trump, republicans, Russia" says it all, nails it every time. No need for the curious observer/researcher to look any further as to the sources of trouble inside the U.S.
    It’s the psychotic capitalism, that is the problem. Most D’s are almost as bad as the R’s in doing everything they can to maintain the current status quo.

    McCarthyism is just the most obvious expression/tool of propagating the message that a government that puts life, human or otherwise, in front “owner” profit is evil. It’s so dumb how many fall for it and revere these assholes that push that shit
    What is the purpose of your presence?

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    Senior Member Fred Steeves's Avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by donk View Post
    It’s the psychotic capitalism, that is the problem. Most D’s are almost as bad as the R’s in doing everything they can to maintain the current status quo.

    McCarthyism is just the most obvious expression/tool of propagating the message that a government that puts life, human or otherwise, in front “owner” profit is evil. It’s so dumb how many fall for it and revere these assholes that push that shit
    Good points Phil, and I agree the donkeys are just a little bit better than the elephants. From a strictly U.S. citizenry anyway. Now if you're a foreigner in a land that has drawn Uncle Sam's attention, however, you're pretty much fucked no matter who is at the helm. Love bombs, sanctions, our coups are headed their way no matter what. All in the name of democracy.

    But this is strictly about tribalism here, with us turning on anyone who is not on our team, or even worse, who dares criticize the wrong team. The lines have been drawn. Right wing media is indeed still at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the culture war for instance, tarring anyone not in lockstep as being deep state boot lickers, Marxist and such, but left wing media is not far behind, tarring anyone not in lockstep as Putin puppets, in the pockets of brutal dictators, etc. We're ripping each other to shreds whether it comes from those willfully ignoring that their lord and savior Captain Chaos has blood on his hands for going after Assange after using him to get elected, or those going after other fine journalists for demonstrating that people like Putin or Assad, are not the holy terrors they reportedly are.

    It just makes me frustrated and sad, as I see no end to this mutual death spiral with no winners in the end, only losers all around.
    Last edited by Fred Steeves, 8th August 2021 at 02:30.
    The unexamined life is not worth living.

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    Senior Member donk's Avatar
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    Yeah it’s real bad, I hate my mother-in-law. She has loved her tribe her whole life, proudly showing me her old pic in her getup when she wore her Nixon pin. Her constantly needing to tell me last summer how terrible it is antifa and BLM burned Portland and Seattle completely to the ground, now it’s immigrants destroying our country and giving us covid.

    The Fox News parroting is not made me hate her though, it’s the self-absorbed authoritarian emotional abuse of her daughter, which is perfectly in line with Republican values.

    I hate hating, it’s been a long damn time, but she’s so much more annoying than handful of other individuals I’ve hated…being around someone that pumps Fox News 24/7 is the worst.

    The D tribe is in trouble, they never really had a huge fan base…I feel that as many people that vote D as lesser of two evils as there is fans of the party (i hope). They don’t want the power they now have, they want their true role of foil to the R party they love to enable.

    I am so pissed off they crushed Nina Turner. Fuck you Clyburn.

    And Biden, Harris, Obama, Pelosi, Scumer, Coons-Carper-and-every other Delaware D, Cinema, Manchin…you can all lick my entire putrid stinking literal asshole
    Last edited by donk, 9th August 2021 at 00:22.
    What is the purpose of your presence?

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    When I was growing up we had a maltese named Checkers. I didn't really know until I was older that my parents had given our dog the same name as Nixon's dog.

    When Nixon resigned, that was the first time I ever saw my Dad cry. He was really saddened to see his President be corrupt. He wanted to believe in the higher values and standing of America.

    He did always carry those values in his work. He always made sure the people who worked for him had decent wages/salaries and benefits. He was successful without taking from others. He believed in working together for a better future.

    He never lost that drive, in spite of the terrible disappointments of American leadership.

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