Someone asked for a Twitter Thread on the same day someone else claimed not to understand Threads. Most Twitter Threads consist of three or four tweets. This is the longest one I've posted; since I find it easier to follow the "subtweets" or "quote-retweets" some Twits prefer and others loathe, I don't expect to do another blog-post-as-Twitter-Thread...but who knows what I might do if provoked. Twitter has been very provoking lately. I'll admit I'm subjecting myself to provocation after having invited Beck, Ingraham, Limbaugh, my elected officials of both parties, and the whole Republican Party to observe. It was just a casual remark tossed out to boost a Tweep's signal; in fewer than 48 hours it's grown into something I think really might work like Dan's Bake Sale.
After reading the Twitter Thread below, you might reasonably ask why I don't just set up the GoFundMe myself and send links to all my "conservative" Tweeps. One reason: GoFundMe pages work best when set up by people who can afford to put digital money in the pot. I cannot afford to play with digital money, though I can pledge a little real money by U.S. postal money order. Another reason: GoFundMe pages work best when set up, if by third parties, as it might be because the person to be helped is undergoing surgery, at least in the same State and preferably the same city.
Namely: Is that ethical element that's missing from Monbiot's analysis *also* what makes the difference between respectful, informative political debate and "polarized," hateful fights about politics on ? For example: JK was abt the only person who saw my tweets in real time today. (I've been posting horrible, hate-evoking tweets about conservatives putting money where mouths are & helping injured Uber driver pay for surgery.)
So we argued whether politicians are drifting leftward or rightward. Several of you wd say leftward. You've shared checklists based on UN #Agenda21 and/or old Communist Party platform. Using that definition, definitely leftward. But JK shared material, some unfortunately inaccessible, documenting how it's possible to say they're drifting rightward...Note that this claim defines "rightward" as something different from anything conservative Tweeps currently support.
I usually read only news items at , so reading the Monbiot political op-ed was an eye-opener. It's clear that the British/Canadian Left author & audience are speaking a different dialect of English from the US Right. I find this *very* interesting. The U-Penn Language Log, or *maybe* , would be better prepared to analyze the dialectal variations than I am--but it would be an interesting analysis to follow. Both sides need to understand these things. Meanwhile...I started this exchange by picking on JK's e-friend's appeal for emergency funds. JK replied w harsh judgments on people I respect/ed. Then, instead of flaming, flagging, or blocking, both of us *backed off* & tried communicating.
I'm tempted to say this is a middle-aged female thing, but it's not; it was actually what I liked about the boy I liked in high school. It's a learned skill. So why is facilitating "polarized" hostility rather than the skill of discussion? Or, how could my mother & aunt, my husband & I, Carville & Matalin, etc., like & respect each other while usually cancelling each other's votes whenever voting for the same candidates? Such ppl say: "Similar ends; believe different means work."
People who talk about the similar ends tend to be "socially liberal" types whose similar goals include individual freedom, equal civil rights, equal pay, cold wars or none at all, good will and reasonable hopes of prosperity for all.
"Polarizers" tend to deny having similar ends, yet they do tend to achieve similar goals when they can--hostility, aggression, alarm & despondency, demands for more #censorship & surveillance, collapse of national economy if these reach natl levels. As documented in "Liberal Fascism," Hitler & Stalin had a lot in common w each other &, well, *bullies* generally--most definitely including #cyberbullies like those demanding shadowbans on calls to help a crime victim. Those "fascist" qualities we all hate & dread can appear on either Left or Right...wherever the ethical element is missing. David Duke & Louis Farrakhan used to exchange Xmas gifts (admittedly!) in honor of how each hater boosted other's following.
Article? Hey, this idea could become a book. I could not write that book this year; respectfully hesitate to ask whether or could. I cd write it *next* year. I'd be grateful for contributions from all sides. Will I write it? As my lawyer says when giving gd free advice, "That will take Research, & Research will take Money." Yet it's possible that this new wave of #cyberbullying may generate enough publicity that I may be the 1 to write that book.
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