Thursday, August 25, 2016

Wading in the Breitbart Fever Swamp

Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories. ~ Sun Tsu
I've always sought out rightwing opinions in an effort to know my political enemies. For years that meant reading Bill Buckley's National Review. More recently I've added the Redstate website.

But with the rise of Donald Trump these have become unreliable places to find opposing thoughts. Just today, a Redstate front page writer wrote in praise Rachel Maddow's evisceration of Trump's campaign manager. A year ago that would have earned the writer a swift banning. Finding so many conservatives swimming in my pond I had to reach deeper into the swamp to find Trump's True Believers.

Hence, last Spring I began reading Breitbart. It is a disgusting, disease ridden place. You've all seen the most hate-filled headlines like "Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy" and "Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew." No links, if you want to read that shit you'll have to Google it yourself. Worst than the headlines and stories are the comments.

Just today, Breitbart commenters were calling US Olympic soccer goalie Hope Solo a "mudshark" a KKK term for a woman who commits miscegenation. They routinely call African-Americans "animals" or "monkeys" and attack women as a "small boobed whores." Dissenting commenters will be denounced as "Jew liars" destined for "the ovens."

But their love for all things Trump is almost undying. Almost, because there is a rumble of rebellion in the ranks over Trump's hinting at not forcibly rounding up and deporting tens of millions of non-whites. Although most are comforted by the belief that Trump is lying about compassion and that he will be swift and ruthless once elected.

Trump loves them too, as witness his hiring of Breitbart head Steve Bannon to be the Trump campaign CEO and his bringing noted British racist Nigel Farage over for a joint rally in Mississippi.

Breitbart is a rancid place but it is a necessary study to know the threats we face.

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