The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
mike says:
I miss UofI Urbana sometimes. Let me google a quote….ok here:
"The Chief is a respected and honored tradition," said Nick Klitzing, external vice-president of Students for Chief Illiniwek. "The Chief embodies qualities such as dignity, respect, honor, bravery, courage, and the students have spoken. This is what they say."
Good times. Those images from the advertisements speak to the dignity and honor of Negro servants as well.
Erik says:
Be careful there Mike. I don't know if the Chief is relavent at all to the situation. The pro-chief arguement all along has been that it is not racist. The notion being that as a symbol he is revered and respected. He is honored and not a subject of fun making or degredation.
The fact is that in the last year a number of native americans from around the country have written editorials expressing this opinion. The bulk of those who are under the impression that something needs to change are upperclass white kids from chicago, and some fellow calling himself the "white apache" or something like that.
The truth is that the Chief might be offensive to some people, but it is not because of what he is. It is a result of what he is made out to be by those who want to get rid of him.
It would be my assumption that the majority of people who would like to see him retired probably only have one opinion. That is of a man dancing at football games. A dance, mind you, that was actually taught to him by native americans. This one bit of imagery (a bit of imagery most of them have probably not even witnessed themselves) hardly goes to the heart of what the chief is.
In fairness, I suppose if his dance offends people perhaps it would be best to stop it. However, removing the Chief as the symbol of University of Illinois is just absurd.
mike says:
To use Jared's argument, if he was "The Dancing UofI Priest" we wouldn't be having this discussion. Even if he respected the Catholics by performing an actual mass during halftime. And even if said mass was taught to him by actual Catholic priests.
I bring it up only because circa 1920-40s the Chief was exactly the type of racial caricature seem in these ads. It's completely different now in presentation, agreed.
Ed says:
"We feel that Chief Illiniwek is a solemn and fitting tribute to the people we killed to get the land on which this University sits."
Dave says:
Ever considered you boys could just be too liberal for that little bit if land there?
kat in the uk says:
in prejudicial news from the uk, it has recently been confirmed that students from oxford really are elitist twats who are incapable of understanding why they can't have their way. however, i did learn that to say that something is "pants" is to say that it is nasty.