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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31616 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 16, 2023

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That would have seemed outlandish to me too before the 2020 elections. Then I seem to recall it being the height of stupidity to talk about shit you know is happening and is subverting the democratic process but don't have evidence for. It was beyond stupid, it was poor gamesmanship and pathetic and made you look sad and stupid and like a tantrum throwing child.

Those are the options here. There was no path to the future for Nixon which didn't result in disgrace and forever being tied to corruption, the only choice was did he want to do it while making an enemy of real power, or come out relatively unharmed?

  1. "Nixon resigned in disgrace after trying and failing to cover up his link to a burglary at the DNC headquarters."

  2. "Nixon was the victim of a palace coup for [insert reasons]. He agreed to not publicize evidence of this coup, agreed not to provide evidence of his innocence regarding his involvement with the Watergate break-in, agreed to resign in disgrace with a forever burnt reputation, etc etc because he assumed that the press would not believe anything he had to say. He further agreed to keep quiet for the next 20 years of his life and he did not confide his knowledge to anyone to publish after his death."

Do you believe the second is the more plausible explanation of the two? If so, why?

Is my opinion not clear? You're so hyper focused on getting everyone to use the language you prefer that you are missing the answers they are giving. It actually feels like you are trying to put people in boxes so you can dismiss their opinion without attempting to understand it.

Is my opinion not clear?

No. I read your post I'm responding to multiple times and didn't really understand it (e.g. "it being the height of stupidity to talk about shit you know is happening and is subverting the democratic process"). Hence why I asked clarifying questions instead of just respond with "what?"

Ok, although I don't see how the question you asked clarifies the bit you don't understand. I do not believe the second is the more plausible of the two, I would be very surprised if anyone did since the first one has been the prevailing opinion of the zeitgeist for 30 years and is also the more parsimonious explanation. Nevertheless the second explanation is more plausible to me today than it used to be.

Ok I appreciate you responding. The purpose of my question was to figure out in which camp you were in because I genuinely couldn't tell from your post. With that out of the way, I still remain confused as to what the 2020 election had to do with anything.

I am in the 'never mind ideology, at all times suspect people who hide in the shadows and refuse to be held accountable' camp. But every year we lose the big race to the rich kids' camp up river.

Before the 2020 election, I thought "If a president came out and said something shocking but plausible, there'd be a lot of bitching, but it would be looked into thoroughly before any action was taken because he's the president and whatever you think of who is holding it, the office deserves respect." I thought - naively (I should have realised from Eisenhower's farewell address really) - that if anyone had a chance to combat the deep state/mic/cia it would be the president. Then we had the most secure election in history. Then I learned US elections have always been Whose Line Is It Anyway?, where the rules are made up and the points don't matter.

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