Its easy for someone who doesn't deal with Trumplings daily to criticize the way you handled the lady. Hell, EVERY SINGLE TIME I've myself attempted to have a conversation with Trumplings I had to shut it down. I've NEVER met folk as obtuse, obstinate, mulish, recalcitrant, resistant, immune to ideas other than theirs, inflexible, mendacious, pettyfogging, disagreeable, temperamental, adversarial, irritable, irritating, quick to anger, uncivil, ungracious and unable to change their minds as Trumplings. Even the religiou$ fanatics I've had the misfortune to talk with were easier to deal with than the average Trumpling I've talked with.
That said, this lady was the "best behaved" & most "polite" (amazing) Trumpling I've ever heard. Someone who miraculously hasn't ever spoken to a Trumpling may say perhaps Michelangelo was a bit too short patienced dealing with her. I myself won't venture a 2nd guess. Michelangelo talks to Trumplings daily. The man is amazing. I wouldn't last 1hr doing his job & I bet 99.99% of normal people couldn't handle talking to Trumplings daily. Dealing constantly with Trumplings is a thankless task that would lead most doing the task to jump off a cliff or wish Trumplings to jump off a cliff.
Michelangelo, let me start out by saying I am an avid listener of your show, and my very Catholic almost 90 year old mother always asks me to tune into it whenever we are in the car. Did you get animated? Probably so. Should we all try to listen to each other even if we disagree? Absolutely. But what I see as the problem with this listener's approach is that she seemed to be trying to obfuscate. This is what the extreme right has learned to do so well. They use word salad, to lull us into accepting their hate speech. They also love to use straw man arguments to surreptitiously push their lies and hate and they need to be called on it.
I think Twitter has done much more harm than good to our public debate. But the bottom line, it is a private company and they can choose to run it any way they want to (within legal boundaries). And I and your listener have the right not to follow it. What she cannot ask us to do is condone abhorrent right wing behavior. No, I do not think revenge porn should be in the public sphere, and if she 'maybe' wants to see dick pix, she should just rent a porn and not expect that Twitter cater to her every fetish.
Hi Mike, I just cannot see how you are able to have a discussion with these folks and stay so calm.. You deserve all the accolades, at 71 I just don’t have your patience... you are the bomb and I’m so proud to call you a fellow traveler and friend... Fred
This brings me to an interesting issue; I have just read Anand Giridharadas new book, "The Persuaders". One idea that came up was from an activist with experience in deprogramming cult members. This person's claim was that if you appear to be critiquing the cultists information source rather than the person themselves, it will work better. If it is pointed out that they have been duped, that they are not unintelligent, it will register and help to change their minds. I'm not sure, especially since so many MAGA people do not trust the more truthful sources. Any thoughts?
It will be hard to deprogram MAGA because truth isn't truth to them. They only believe in their "truth". Since hate is behind much of the MAGA cult, a tactic used by former neo-Nazi Christian Picciolini has been to expose them to someone they hate, or to confront them with the consequences of their hate. He had one guy meet Heather Heyer's mother and it had some impact on him. But deprogramming is not a one-and-done thing. It needs to be a sustained effort over time, something that MAGA will not commit to. They know they are "right". As we saw from the Jan. 6th hearings, only a couple of people testified that they were reformed MAGAs.
So true, Sakina. And Daily Kos reported, just yesterday, that a couple and their 26 year-old home schooled daughter all killed themselves because without Trump in office, apparently, as MAGA evangelicals, they thought the End might be here.
And how about the couple on TV tonight who were planning to shut down Baltimore?... For being a majority Black city that Trump had great distaste for? Yeah, and from Florida, natch. The man was previously in prison for bomb making, and I guess the Florida prisons also don't work, because he went right back to planning his own personal insurrection with this woman - and the plan was to take out EVERY electrical transmission station feeding Baltimore. How anyone who was previously convicted for bomb-making could think he wouldn't be watched and/or wired is beyond me, but hey, Florida and Texas, stuck on Stupid.
According to Pen America, Texas has more banned books (750) now than any other state in the nation. But what the news ISN'T telling us is that they are also banning books that depict whites in a negative light, such as The History of the Klu Klux Klan (banned by several school districts.)
How could anybody not be restless with these people? Kudos for staying calm as long as you did, Michelangelo! She sounded like a Karen Upgrade, who could stay icily calm while she was babbling BS.
Wait, the evangelicals who killed themselves aren't afraid of going to hell?! I thought that suicide was the only unforgiveable sin, while murdering your own child could be forgiven. These folks are nuts! I saw the news of the thwarted Baltimore terrorist attack here on local news in Maryland. I'm glad they were caught, thanks to the FBI! It just goes to show you that this white supremacist behavior is learned and that it's not just old white men and women who have drunk the Kool-Aid. We won't be lucky enough to see enough of them die anytime soon by (a) suicide or (b) COVID and other preventable diseases, or (c) gun violence. News is that MANY of the monied elite want their dear leader -- I mean "useful idiot" -- to die, only to be replaced by DeSatan or someone else.
Sakina, it also shows that the Florida prison system is just a giant holding faciliity, since it didn't change the bomb-making guy one bit, and may even have incited him to go BIG and try and take out a majority Black city. Sigh....if only Florida and Texas would secede already!
And isn't it just Catholics who will go to Hell if they commit suicide? Not being religious, I have no sense of the fine points of whose "in" or "out"!
Hey Lorie, you got me thinking on that last point about suicide and hell. My family is Baptist and I seem to remember admonitions about suicide, but I could be wrong! It would be great to see if these red states could survive without the support of blue states.
Yeah, I don't think they can survive, Sakina. Evidence has long pointed to Blue States giving more in taxes, and Red States receiving more in (federal) taxes. Plus they'd all have some kind of mini-civil war, the way they're going! We'd probably have to intervene just to save the public when DeSatan starts jailing and beheading the trans population, and sending the black population back to Africa, and the Puerto Ricans back to their "shit-hole" country! :-) DeSantis is such a, as they used to say in the Black South, peckerwood, a honky, and a sheet-wearer!
They can be smart, on occasion, but Michelangelo you are always one step ahead of where they're trying to go. She's a whiner, just like the orange monster. Clearly she is on the white nation side and she showed that when she said "African" toward the end of the call...fantastic.
I thought you handled that call just fine, Michelangelo. I remember screaming at my phone, "what is she even talking about" during Andrea's call and I think her whole purpose was to just try and deflect, just like they do online all the time.
She had no point so I could see why you would have been completely frustrated with her. You asked very pointed questions and she refused to answer any of them and continued to deflect and distract. Right from the jump when you asked about Nick Fuentes, her response was something like "I don't see that". OMG - REALLY??!? You don't see how Fuentes spreads hate and promotes white supremacy? WOW, lady - you need to wake up.
Michelangelo; many times I have tried to have a conversation with these who are infected and MAGA CULTISTS. Trying to be patient with them is impossible. You have a great show and many's the time you have gone out of your way to be polite and patient while these people spout nonsense. I am sick and tired of trying to be nice to people who suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I heard this live, talk about word salad. She was all over the place, incomprehensible. You’d ask if rain was wet and she’d want to talk about possums. I just couldn’t! Lol. You handled as well as you could with an incoherent blatherer
I think you nailed it in that she was unsure what her point was. I am not sure she made comments that rose to the level of dropping F bombs but I do not do your job and cannot fully appreciate the frustrations that crop up either.
Omg I was listening to your podcast with Andrea. Love that you were not having it with the crazy talk. Love it and love what you are doing. Your clarity is amazing. You’re redirecting the conversations of people who are brain washed. I’m voting for you for Saint hood. I could not take the madness God bless
Its easy for someone who doesn't deal with Trumplings daily to criticize the way you handled the lady. Hell, EVERY SINGLE TIME I've myself attempted to have a conversation with Trumplings I had to shut it down. I've NEVER met folk as obtuse, obstinate, mulish, recalcitrant, resistant, immune to ideas other than theirs, inflexible, mendacious, pettyfogging, disagreeable, temperamental, adversarial, irritable, irritating, quick to anger, uncivil, ungracious and unable to change their minds as Trumplings. Even the religiou$ fanatics I've had the misfortune to talk with were easier to deal with than the average Trumpling I've talked with.
That said, this lady was the "best behaved" & most "polite" (amazing) Trumpling I've ever heard. Someone who miraculously hasn't ever spoken to a Trumpling may say perhaps Michelangelo was a bit too short patienced dealing with her. I myself won't venture a 2nd guess. Michelangelo talks to Trumplings daily. The man is amazing. I wouldn't last 1hr doing his job & I bet 99.99% of normal people couldn't handle talking to Trumplings daily. Dealing constantly with Trumplings is a thankless task that would lead most doing the task to jump off a cliff or wish Trumplings to jump off a cliff.
David; I just had to copy your post. Thanks
Michelangelo, let me start out by saying I am an avid listener of your show, and my very Catholic almost 90 year old mother always asks me to tune into it whenever we are in the car. Did you get animated? Probably so. Should we all try to listen to each other even if we disagree? Absolutely. But what I see as the problem with this listener's approach is that she seemed to be trying to obfuscate. This is what the extreme right has learned to do so well. They use word salad, to lull us into accepting their hate speech. They also love to use straw man arguments to surreptitiously push their lies and hate and they need to be called on it.
I think Twitter has done much more harm than good to our public debate. But the bottom line, it is a private company and they can choose to run it any way they want to (within legal boundaries). And I and your listener have the right not to follow it. What she cannot ask us to do is condone abhorrent right wing behavior. No, I do not think revenge porn should be in the public sphere, and if she 'maybe' wants to see dick pix, she should just rent a porn and not expect that Twitter cater to her every fetish.
She gave me a headache! Good on you, Michelangelo, for trying to keep the focus on the real issues.
Hi Mike, I just cannot see how you are able to have a discussion with these folks and stay so calm.. You deserve all the accolades, at 71 I just don’t have your patience... you are the bomb and I’m so proud to call you a fellow traveler and friend... Fred
This brings me to an interesting issue; I have just read Anand Giridharadas new book, "The Persuaders". One idea that came up was from an activist with experience in deprogramming cult members. This person's claim was that if you appear to be critiquing the cultists information source rather than the person themselves, it will work better. If it is pointed out that they have been duped, that they are not unintelligent, it will register and help to change their minds. I'm not sure, especially since so many MAGA people do not trust the more truthful sources. Any thoughts?
It will be hard to deprogram MAGA because truth isn't truth to them. They only believe in their "truth". Since hate is behind much of the MAGA cult, a tactic used by former neo-Nazi Christian Picciolini has been to expose them to someone they hate, or to confront them with the consequences of their hate. He had one guy meet Heather Heyer's mother and it had some impact on him. But deprogramming is not a one-and-done thing. It needs to be a sustained effort over time, something that MAGA will not commit to. They know they are "right". As we saw from the Jan. 6th hearings, only a couple of people testified that they were reformed MAGAs.
So true, Sakina. And Daily Kos reported, just yesterday, that a couple and their 26 year-old home schooled daughter all killed themselves because without Trump in office, apparently, as MAGA evangelicals, they thought the End might be here.
And how about the couple on TV tonight who were planning to shut down Baltimore?... For being a majority Black city that Trump had great distaste for? Yeah, and from Florida, natch. The man was previously in prison for bomb making, and I guess the Florida prisons also don't work, because he went right back to planning his own personal insurrection with this woman - and the plan was to take out EVERY electrical transmission station feeding Baltimore. How anyone who was previously convicted for bomb-making could think he wouldn't be watched and/or wired is beyond me, but hey, Florida and Texas, stuck on Stupid.
According to Pen America, Texas has more banned books (750) now than any other state in the nation. But what the news ISN'T telling us is that they are also banning books that depict whites in a negative light, such as The History of the Klu Klux Klan (banned by several school districts.)
How could anybody not be restless with these people? Kudos for staying calm as long as you did, Michelangelo! She sounded like a Karen Upgrade, who could stay icily calm while she was babbling BS.
Wait, the evangelicals who killed themselves aren't afraid of going to hell?! I thought that suicide was the only unforgiveable sin, while murdering your own child could be forgiven. These folks are nuts! I saw the news of the thwarted Baltimore terrorist attack here on local news in Maryland. I'm glad they were caught, thanks to the FBI! It just goes to show you that this white supremacist behavior is learned and that it's not just old white men and women who have drunk the Kool-Aid. We won't be lucky enough to see enough of them die anytime soon by (a) suicide or (b) COVID and other preventable diseases, or (c) gun violence. News is that MANY of the monied elite want their dear leader -- I mean "useful idiot" -- to die, only to be replaced by DeSatan or someone else.
Sakina, it also shows that the Florida prison system is just a giant holding faciliity, since it didn't change the bomb-making guy one bit, and may even have incited him to go BIG and try and take out a majority Black city. Sigh....if only Florida and Texas would secede already!
And isn't it just Catholics who will go to Hell if they commit suicide? Not being religious, I have no sense of the fine points of whose "in" or "out"!
Hey Lorie, you got me thinking on that last point about suicide and hell. My family is Baptist and I seem to remember admonitions about suicide, but I could be wrong! It would be great to see if these red states could survive without the support of blue states.
Yeah, I don't think they can survive, Sakina. Evidence has long pointed to Blue States giving more in taxes, and Red States receiving more in (federal) taxes. Plus they'd all have some kind of mini-civil war, the way they're going! We'd probably have to intervene just to save the public when DeSatan starts jailing and beheading the trans population, and sending the black population back to Africa, and the Puerto Ricans back to their "shit-hole" country! :-) DeSantis is such a, as they used to say in the Black South, peckerwood, a honky, and a sheet-wearer!
I believe that you are right. It is indeed discouraging!
They can be smart, on occasion, but Michelangelo you are always one step ahead of where they're trying to go. She's a whiner, just like the orange monster. Clearly she is on the white nation side and she showed that when she said "African" toward the end of the call...fantastic.
I'd totally missed that "African" part, had to listen to it again. OMG
You were right when you said that you have no idea why she called. I don't know what her point was either. Arguing just for the sake of arguing.
I thought you handled that call just fine, Michelangelo. I remember screaming at my phone, "what is she even talking about" during Andrea's call and I think her whole purpose was to just try and deflect, just like they do online all the time.
She had no point so I could see why you would have been completely frustrated with her. You asked very pointed questions and she refused to answer any of them and continued to deflect and distract. Right from the jump when you asked about Nick Fuentes, her response was something like "I don't see that". OMG - REALLY??!? You don't see how Fuentes spreads hate and promotes white supremacy? WOW, lady - you need to wake up.
Michelangelo; many times I have tried to have a conversation with these who are infected and MAGA CULTISTS. Trying to be patient with them is impossible. You have a great show and many's the time you have gone out of your way to be polite and patient while these people spout nonsense. I am sick and tired of trying to be nice to people who suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I heard this live, talk about word salad. She was all over the place, incomprehensible. You’d ask if rain was wet and she’d want to talk about possums. I just couldn’t! Lol. You handled as well as you could with an incoherent blatherer
I think you nailed it in that she was unsure what her point was. I am not sure she made comments that rose to the level of dropping F bombs but I do not do your job and cannot fully appreciate the frustrations that crop up either.
Omg I was listening to your podcast with Andrea. Love that you were not having it with the crazy talk. Love it and love what you are doing. Your clarity is amazing. You’re redirecting the conversations of people who are brain washed. I’m voting for you for Saint hood. I could not take the madness God bless