Deciding Something is a Hate Crime

[Wahoo Redux]

Professor: why you're linking that I don't know. Horrible incident. A Black man pummels an Asian woman while saying racist slurs. There again though they had  a history together, so who knows exactly, everything that contributed to the violence. It might be different from a pure 'hate crime' wherein someone attacked or threatens strangers because of their obvious or assumed group membership. I'm not getting how that fits in to our discussion.

Republicans 'sectarian?' I don't see it. If you take republican voters' positions on crime, immigration, gun ownership rights, gender and race questions, how college ought to be paid for, inflation, economy, foreign policy, free market capitalism, they're mainstream, not sectarian or fringe. On abortion it's true most Americans believe there should be some rights to access to legal abortion, that doesn't mean they think the Supreme Court is a bunch of partisan lunatics like the democrats say. Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not like the way the things decided. It's up to the states now. She should be cancelled by the left now.
That wider America is more aligned with republicans than with democrats today only becomes apparent when you look at what people actually believe in the USA. Not when you go by what Americans should believe as decreed by the most visible and outspoken among the media, Hollywood, pro sports, late night TV, entertainment culture, academia.

Well, my friend, I am not a professor. 

It would be pointless to debate this point (no play on words) but if we had the popular vote instead of the Electoral College there would be a landslide of voters aligned with the Democrats; this is why the Repubs adamantly oppose an amendment.

Republicans may be American mainstream individuals and basically moral people. 

But I always refer to the Jan. 6th insurgency as the perfect synecdoche of the party as a whole, including the support the insurgents are receiving.

Other examples might be "the Biden crime family" while the last Republican president is actually under investigation for so many charges from both his time as president and before that I have lost track.  A certain percentage of the population simply ignores, denies, or deflects these realities rather than examine them (very much as people do when deflecting onto George Floyd rather than actually discussing the racism of their own party).

Not to mention the charges against Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner (and no, Hilary did not sell plutonium to the Rooskies and Zuckerberg is not a government agent in disguise----those are conservative media confabulations; you have no room to talk about media manipulation).

But there is no point in talking about those things.  For all your rhetoric, my friend, your mind is very closed and you are a wee bit zealous.  I hope you are getting the help.

[mahagonny]

Exactly. It's kind of surprising how little people learned from Trump. To that kind of person, their ego is the flame and attention is oxygen. They don't care that you hate them (or maybe even enjoy it*), but they are ecstatic that you can't stop talking about them.

Since you pivot to Trump somewhat out of the blue, you prompt me quote this: 'Sometimes a man can be judged favorably by the kinds of people who oppose him.' - Bill Clinton

*my italic

It's like the 2 year old who throws a tantrum in the store; bigger audience, bigger potential reward. Or the 4 year old saying "poop" when company comes over. If pre-schoolers get it, adults (and especially highly educated ones) should be able to grasp it, but unfortunately they don't.

Huh. I dunno. A person who's been elected POTUS has the attention of the public due to the importance of the job.
I would think they have the same rights to ego, and the temptation to enjoy it, as anyone. but they don't have a choice about whether or not to be the center of attention. I doubt if it's that different where you live.

Specifically, about Trump, he couldn't have been more different from a sneaky hate crime or trollish stunt perpetrator. He stood out in the open and said 'the political establishment and the media are our, our enemy.' He put the target on his own back.
Sometimes certains folks will resort to calling someone a troll, egomaniac, or attention seeker because they're worried that that person is saying something that is true that they don't want heard.
But as for your indentifying a possible motive for a childish person hanging a noose around the neck of a statue, and maybe without any political thing in mind, but just for the fun of generating the reaction, I agree that could be what happened in Virginia.

Well, my friend, I am not a professor. 

I hope you are getting the help.

I'll thank you to cool it with the cheap shots then, friend.

[Wahoo Redux]

Not a cheap shot, my friend Mahag.  I would never cheap shot you.  I think there may be some issues you want to deal with.  I only wish you the best.

[kaysixteen]

Do you really think that most Americans line up with GOP rather than Dem viewpoints on most significant issues?   Some of those you mentioned, perhaps, but certainly not all, such as gun control.  And in any case, you know full well that any given Voter X's opinions can be shown to be more or less what you want 'em to be, if you frame the poll questions correctly.   But the fact that the GOP is running to retake the congressional majorities this year whilst more or less openly telling the voters nothing about what they would do, what their plan/ platform for governance would be, if restored to that majority, says a great deal in and of itself.   And when GOP candidates, at least those outside hard-red districts, those candidates who actually have to campaign against serious Demo opposition, start to talk about their views, try to differentiate themselves from their Demo opponents (these would be places where resorting to strident MAGA-style culture war appeals would be losers for said candidates), these GOPers generally speak in vague platitudes, such as that espoused by Alan Fung, a semi-MAGAish Repub candidate for an open House seat in RI (Fung has previously been mayor of a decent sized city there, and twice an unsuccessful GOP governor nominee-- he pointedly did not seek a third try at that job this year).   Fung pledges, as many similar GOP candidates nationwide have this year, to fight to eliminate 'wasteful spending'.   Now where exactly is the caucus or cheering section for 'wasteful spending'-- who thinks it is a good idea?  But no one seems to ask such candidates to define things in the federal budget that they think qualify *as wasteful spending*, because, well, generally one of the following things would be revealed in any such clarification answers: 1) they do not really have any specifics about what things which they would want to eliminate (just using 'wasteful spending' as a buzzword), 2) they would list things to be eliminated that *they know* most Americans would not want to have eliminated.   Methinks, further, that on many other issues the GOPers use such vague platitudes to sub for serious commentary on, in order to obfuscate their true thinking, were they to clarify and expound upon what they really think of these issues, they would find, ahem, lots of 'nein danke' responses from all but MAGA hardliners.

[mahagonny]

Well, it should be easy to campaign against wasteful spending without offering specifics these days, since Joe Biden eeked out a win yet took it as a mandate to pull another FDR 'New Deal' type agenda, and now inflation is the worst in 40 years. I agree the republicans don't show a lot of inspiring, specific platform lately, but to my mind, they're the only hope we've got. Unless one wants the nihilism the democrats are selling.
I have watched Joe Biden try to be president for some 35 years and during that time I can't recall anyone who stood out in the open and said 'he will be a great president' and sound like they mean it. And now we know why. He's a professional career politician, in all the worst aspects of what that means.

Not a cheap shot, my friend Mahag.  I would never cheap shot you.  I think there may be some issues you want to deal with.  I only wish you the best.

I have that same type of concern for you, colleague.