Donald Trump Jr. "Triggered" by Right Flank

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Tiassa, Nov 11, 2019.

  1. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    What was that word? Oh, right, "triggered".

    The fiasco pointed to a factional rift on the Trump-supporting conservative right that has been growing rapidly in recent weeks, particularly among "zoomers" – student-age activists. On one side are one of the sponsors of Trump Jr's book tour, Turning Point USA, a campus conservative group with a track record of bringing provocative rightwing speakers to liberal universities.

    On the other side are far-right activists – often referred to as white supremacists and neo-Nazis, although many of them reject such labels – who believe in slamming the door on all immigrants, not just those who cross the border without documents, and who want an end to America's military and diplomatic engagement with the wider world.

    A number of the loudest voices at Sunday's event were supporters of Nick Fuentes, a 21-year-old activist with a podcast called America First that has taken particular aim at Turning Point USA and its 25-year-old founder, Charlie Kirk. In a number of his own recent campus appearances, Kirk has faced questions accusing him of being more interested in supporting Israel than in putting America first. He has responded by calling his detractors conspiracists and racists.

    On Sunday, Kirk appeared alongside Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle but said nothing.

    Two Fuentes supporters, delighted with the outcome of Trump Jr's appearance, later told the Guardian the pro-Trump movement was being infected with "fake conservatism" and that the president himself was at the mercy of a cabal of deep state operatives who wouldn't let him do many of the things he campaigned on.

    The pair, who called themselves Joe and Orion Miles, said: "It was an absolute disaster for them. We wanted to ask questions about immigration and about Christianity, but they didn't want to face those questions."

    Also, if Trump Jr was expecting "triggered" leftwingers to clamour for his silence, he did not get it. No more than 35 protesters showed up and, despite making a lot of noise with drums and whistles and shouts of "Trump-Pence Out Now!", resisted taunts and insults from provocateurs in Make America Great Again hats from across a line of metal barriers.


    (Gumbel↱)

    Additionally, and, true, it might seem somehow obscure, but it has to do with professional quality: Yes, we all know there's a subtitle, but you put your own face on the book, and then your name, and then the giant, block-capped word, "TRIGGERED".

    That was not top-tier planning.

    I am not a fan of the way people use the word, "triggered". Indeed, I think back to George Carlin exploiting veterans for laughs, because it turns out shellshock ... er, excuse me, turns out combat fatigue ... isn't the only form of post-traumatic stress disorder, and that's how dumb people needed to be to laugh at the joke. Even still, it isn't, wasn't, and never will be veterans the word, "triggered", intends to mock.

    Nonetheless, it's one thing for a rightist to get "triggered" in Berkeley, but from the right flank? That takes some special lack of talent.

    Of course, what do we expect from a spoiled brat of wealth and privilege who, gets so "triggered" by the idea of wealth and privilege he envies Hunter Biden?

    Despite the bluster of the Trump brand, and its spectacular ability to draw ratings, it seems the son of a game show host just isn't ready for prime time.
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    Notes:

    Gumbel, Andrew. "Donald Trump Jr walks out of Triggered book launch after heckling - from supporters". The Guardian. 10 November 2019. TheGuardian.com. 11 November 2019. http://bit.ly/36RfxKa
     
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  3. pjdude1219 The biscuit has risen Valued Senior Member

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    um tiassia i'd hardly consider carlin was exploiting veterans with that bit. having met the man it wasn't really in his nature. also the fact you know he served in the military for 3 years. you clearly missed the point of the skit. considering he ends that part with the line and i quote
     
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  5. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    I also remember the bit he ended with the line about the poor fuckers in the fun house.

    The PTSD bit was mocking language, yet the language reflected the advancing understanding and ability to treat traumatic stress disorders.

    I suppose you can argue he wasn't mocking the veterans or the silly words for their disorders. We could say he was mocking everyone else, which isn't really any better, but that analysis discounts the inclusion of combat fatigue, which, y'know, the setup isn't wrong inasmuch as combat fatigue is more vague a term than shellshock.

    Fuckall, dude, it was just another joke mocking social sciences and denouncing political correctness. They were a dime a dozen, in the day; the only thing that makes this one stand out, really, is that it was Carlin.

    And, please, remember this: Comedy is cruelty.

    Like, just for instance, do you remember Cease Fire, the Vietnam vet film starring Don Johnson, and the tough late scene with him bawling off the war in the arms of other recovering veterans? Isn't that the fade to black? Still: Right when he breaks, start doing the shellshock-combat fatigue-PTSD bit.

    Also, just because: Go find Steel's lecture on Freud; the bit about the War and shellshock validating psychotherapy° is hilarious. And it doesn't mock the veterans; it mocks Freud. Comedy is cruelty:

    "I bet if we were still calling the condition shell shock some of those vietnam veterans would have got the help they needed."

    Why is that even a laugh line?

    No, really: Comedy is cruelty, e.g., 「Oh, those poor veterans aren't getting the care they need! Isn't that hilarious?」 And back then, sure, of course it was.

    Seriously, people want to laugh at "political correctness"? And the social sciences lending to mental health care and psychiatric wellness? Of course they do! Mental illness is funny, haven't you heard? And traumatized veterans not getting the care they need? We can always blame the audience; I admit, some part of comedy in the '80s and '90s really failed on that count, but that only highlights the point. George Carlin worked offensive humor; it's part of his brand. Trying to absolve the offense only assails his legacy. Carlin's a few years older than #OKboomer, but the spirit's there (just like Douthat's a year too old to lump in with the millennials he panders to, but, yes, is far more Why than X; it's a cusp thing, like with horoscopes). And unlike the response to #OKboomer, I just don't think Carlin would be so offended by the idea that he is offensive. And he was smart enough to know there would be only so much don't-be-triggered bullshit he could give the critique before anyone could say the same back to him. The audience, over the years? Well, right, overestimating the audience, or, at the very least, presuming for the sake of convenience despite the evidence of presupposing to the other—they're comedians, do we really expect them to make sense, this way?—seems rather widespread. More directly, at some point every comedian will say, of their own excesses, that they thought people were smarter than all that.

    (What are the chances, for instance, that Maher, at the end of what should have been a brilliant career, backed into a corner by his stubborn refusal to let a dying trope rest, will finally answer his left-side critics lamenting the flaming wreckage of the routine by reminding that he is a comedian and demanding to know what the hell ever made any moron ever think to take him seriously. Note: He's already gone there, indirectly, in feuding with Limbaugh and Palin. It would be a terrible disappointment, in a way, but also perfectly apropos a joke reader who long ago forgot why he was funny.)
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    Notes:

    ° Try this link, which should jump straight to the bit: [click here]
     
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