Fucking idiots...depressing as hell.

A lot of misplaced anger there.

>> ^vaporlock:

A lot of misplaced anger there.


They should put that anger into reading and changing their channel.

yeah, but i have it from good sources that he doesnt love america....

Socrates was right, this is why democracy doesn't work.

When logical evidence and argument cannot sway peoples opinions, which are all to be weighed equally, regardless of brain power.

Ya'all no haow muuch tha naational deet is?

Do you know which party is mostly responsible for the national debt?

Where were all of these "patriots" when Bush was wrecking the country?

Where were all of these "patriots" when Bush was wrecking the country?

They were there cheerin him on.

When liberals don't like what conservatives say, the cons call us PC anti-speech zealots.

When conservatives don't like what liberals say, they say we hate America, and sometimes call us traitors.

To the conservative, freedom of speech only applies if you're bashing gays or minorities.

As an observer to the American state, living for most of my life in England and for the last several years in Australia, I am deeply confused about the sort of mass hysteria that seems to be endemic to the conservative collective.

Australian politics confuse the hell out of me, but England certainly has conservatives and politicians on the right - some sensible and others depraved - but the United Kingdom Independence Party and the British National Party are on the Goddamned fringe. BNP are oftentimes called fascists, UKIP are singled out for their purely nationalistic desire for European secession.

In the recent elections, the mid-right Conservative party formed a coalition with the leftist Liberal Democrats, with a good deal of compromise in both parties' manifestos and policies.

From what I've seen, this could never happen in modern America; genuine co-operation between differing parties, combining their efforts for the good of the nation. The "tea party" movement is an example of an American-conservative lunacy that has somehow spread itself through the country like a Goddamned plague. Why the vitriol? Why the pointless rage? Why the lies and deception, and why is it necessary for Republicans to act like the little bitch party? Here's a bill! Oh, the democrats like it? Fuck that bill! Democrats hate America!

Surely everyone who regards themself as a nationalist, as these people obviously do, should commit themselves to the benefit of the nation, not the inconvenience and demonization of the "other side".

Glenn Beck, among others, invokes Godwin's Law at every opportunity, drawing direct and deliberate comparisons between Obama and Hitler, the ruling administration and Nazi Germany, and then continue to accuse the government of propagandism, fascism and socialism.

The only faction I can see Goebbels patting on the back is Fox News and the Republican right. Facts and reality do not conform to your notion of what the world should be, regardless of how hard you try to warp the truth. Fuck Iran and fuck North Korea, the Republicans are the ones I'm REALLY scared of having nukes.

Seriously though, if I'm allowed one more paragraph, could someone explain why the conservatives and their groupies are so oftentimes retarded? Did the Civil War never end, with a psychological/social continuation of that greatest of rifts creeping its way into the modern day? Why are Liberals bad, why is the truth never enough, and exactly why are they so fanatical that America is the greatest country in the world?

@Gallowflak, those are questions that many of us on the left ask ourselves every day and I wish like hell I had an answer.

I think the biggest part of it is the media and how it forms peoples opinions from an early age.

I've noticed that Beck and O'Reilly (who are both pretty charismatic) air early in some parts of the country, about the time that kids would get out of school, go home, and turn on the television. I sincerely believe that they aim their discourse at young people, especially Beck.

No, kids aren't prone to sit there and watch the entire show, but as they're channel-surfing, they catch enough of the gist to be influenced, I think. Beck in particular actually uses a chalk board as he's spinning his preposterous lies.

Another thing is that conservatism, as a concept, is very simple and a lot of people are drawn to that because they are unable to deal with complexity. And they are unable to deal with complexity because most of them have been poorly educated.

Angry, uneducated mobs: It's how bad people take power over good countries.

- Iran: Islamic Revolution
- North Korea: Communist revolution
- Afghanistan: Taliban
- Germany: National Socialist German Workers' Party

All started in democratic or at least peaceful republics where a minority 'fringe element' rallied and protested.

They need to be less concerned about the current government, and more worried about a charismatic individual who sees the opportunity in focusing their anger.
If Sarah Palin wasn't stupid I'd be worried. But I'm watching who chooses to stand behind to direct her.

@Gallowflak -

I almost forgot: Rupert Fucking Murdoch.

"Mass hysteria"? I think not. For every freak tea-bagger there are ~10,000 Americans who are relaxed about their political stance. The people in this video are extreme.

I was waiting for her to flash her tits Jerry Springer style at the end.

Relax, everything will be fine. Do you have your towel?

That Wall Street Reform bill was a ringer eh?

I hate to be that guy, but I feel like I need a little comic relief after that:

Anyone else want to tea bag that cute little brunette tea bagger with the big gulp in the background?

Because some people can't see past the nation-state granfalloon.>> ^Gallowflak:
and exactly why are they so fanatical that America is the greatest country in the world?

Allright, whos the funny man who gave the camera to mr. fox?

Nationalism is slowly dying. People who are still clinging to it seem to see it as the end of the world. Well, it is the end of "a" world, I suppose...an era, perhaps.

america is so fucked.

The only unifying element the Teabaggers seem to have is anger. They have no clear message, no unified agenda...just anger. As individuals they don't even seem to know why they're angry. That's why they're so easily influenced by the Becks and O'Reillys, because those people can provide them an outlet for all that fear and disappointment life has left them holding.

It's the gu'mint
It's the socialist/fascist/communist lib'rals
Gum'mints comin' to tik 'ur guuuuuns...

Whatever resonates for each individual becomes the focus of their anger within the Teabagger movement. Then they get used by the leaders of that movement as pawns for their corporate agenda. The Teabag elite don't care about what really effects the lives of the people they've conned into their movement. The members are just headcount to validate their astro-turf agenda.

If I had to make a prediction I'd say you're going to witness a power struggle within the movement very soon. Individuals are going to start a tug-of-war to get control of the movement to set the agenda. However, it's unlikely the movement can survive with an actual platform because that would force the pawns to focus their anger on causes they may not support. The Teabag movement only survives if it's amorphus and ill defined. A collective of angry individuals too cowardly to face the real source of their anger.

Please fast forward your explanations for why conservatism is "a failure" to Greece, c/o of the European Bailout for Statist buffoons.

This socialism crap doesn't work.

It's evidential every night on the news, reflected in the numbers even the illegitimate regime in power can't hide.

November can't get here fast enough.

As an outsider looking in... like... wow.

Um.

It's a over a decade since I last lived in the US, but I had no idea that there was this level of crazy going on. I mean, every country has its extremes, who don't let facts get in the way of a good argument, but these people don't even make good arguments. I *still* don't get this tea party thing. It ain't the tea party movement of american history, anyhow.

For example, I had to re-read quantumushroom's comment to make sure I'd read it right. "Statist buffoons?" "Socialism crap?" Dude, you live in the least balanced, least socialist country in the world. You need some social justice. Australia, NZ, Austria, Germany, Norway, most of Asia, and even Canada have more social justice policies than the USA, and get on just fine, thankyou very much. Frankly, you guys need some balance.

I speak for the world when we look in, see shit like this, and say: "What the hell is wrong with you people?"

You hear the same thing from us Canadians all the time.

We just shake our heads in wonder when Americans are completely losing their minds about getting government provided health care when every industrialized nation has it and it is undeniably cheaper and better for the average person. Further, the person chosen (by vote) as the greatest Canadian ever was Tommy Douglas, the creator of Canada's universal health care system. Yet Americans freak out about it.

The same goes for many other hot topics and I have two theories for why we outsiders find things so messed up (which are a little more precise than just "religion" which is a huge part).

Firstly the US is, overall, more conservative than every other western nation. In Canada, our two most powerful political parties are, rather imaginatively, called the Liberals and the Conservatives. The funny thing is, our Conservative party (which should be analogous to the Republicans) has been shown to be more liberal than the Democrats. Our Liberal party is somewhat more liberal than the Conservatives, but the difference between the two is less than the difference between the Democrats and Republicans. This plays a huge role in American politics which makes it difficult for outsiders to understand why things are happening.

That is why, in America, Republicans will rage about abortion and Democrats will debate about it , while in Canada the Liberals made it into law easily and the Conservatives bitched a little but let it slide. The same goes for gay marriage: Republicans throw a fit, Democrats debate (with some for, some against) while Liberals passed easily and Conservatives bitched a little but let it go. This conservativism of the two American parties can be confusing to outsiders who assume one is conservative and the other is liberal.

The other theory I have is McCarthyism. I fully believe that the fear of communism has been forcefully imprinted on the public consciousness. As we know, some wariness of communism is/was warranted. Unfortunately the American people were forced to fear communism to such an extent that it has become ingrained into the American people. This extends to anything even remotely resembling socialism.

Unfortunately while being taught to fear socialism/communism the American people as a whole were never given any true knowledge or understanding of that which they feared (as they would then stop being afraid, as it is with all fears). This means that most Americans will lash out, attack and revile any (new) socialist idea even though their law enforcement, schools, fire departments and many other government departments and organizations are socialist in nature. Ironically enough, the lack of complete socialization of the education system means many schools are underfunded and the fear of socialism continues unchecked.

These together make the American people as a whole seem neurotic at best and completely irrational and insane at other times to us outsiders. Fortunately, participating in VideoSift has proven to me that there are many Americans who break this mold and are amazing, smart, caring, happy individuals who have no interest in killing abortion doctors, who understand that America isn't always #1 in every category and who have intelligent, positive political opinions. I just hope they spread their views to their fellow Americans.

>> ^Ajkiwi:

As an outsider looking in... like... wow.
...
Australia, NZ, Austria, Germany, Norway, most of Asia, and even Canada have more social justice policies than the USA, and get on just fine, thankyou very much.
...
I speak for the world when we look in, see shit like this, and say: "What the hell is wrong with you people?"

Wow, that guy is pretty brave to wander around in a huge pile of completely blind and stupid people.

I am German and Ive never understood why there is so much hate. I really never understood the arguments of them because there simply arent any. Then one day I asked my friend about it and if he knows whats going on. I was extremely shocked when he told me how many lies are spewed out and believed by such people just because they still think that even the slightest and tiniest part of socialism is pure evil.
Seriously, so much ignorance scares the shit out of me. Ive never thought people can be that dumb...

I really wish the whole "can't hit a woman" mentality would just die already. When a woman like that is clearly trying to pick a fight, but then says shit like "what are you going to do?" which is where she is clearly trying to shield herself behind the "can't hit a girl" mentality. Nothing would please me more than for someone to go over and punch her right in her face and knock her on her ass.

Equality swings both ways. If it had been a guy provoking the fight and he fought back, no one would have thought anything of it.

I sometimes hate living in east Tennessee, because sadly, this is very true of the south in general, too many Republicans. The other problem though, is that the Democrats in this area aren't much better. The two party system is really showing its age. It's bad when you go to vote and all you can do is try to decide which is the lesser of two evils, or the occasional nut job independent that decides to run on the unicorn farts for freedom stance...

The Tea Party thing is simple. At the top of a bunch of very rich republicans who proclaim they are not part of the Republican Party (even though they often share offices) that simply do not want their taxes raised. They like the fact that their tax rate was lower than someone who makes about 150k a year, even if such tax cuts for the rich is largely what drove up the national debt. So they have a few loud talkers (beck, etc) who scare the right-wing, largely uneducated, masses into buying overpriced gold and being spoon-fed lies about the democratic party.

Throw in a good spoonful of racism and you have the T-Party. A bunch of uneducated people who have been fear-mongered to the point that they are willing to believe anything told them by a number of very rich sons-a-bitches who don't like having their tax rate increased. It's that simple.

I mean come on.. $14 trillion is our debt? Were do you think he heard that number. These people don't have a leg to stand on because half their arguments were more serious issues during the Bush administration.

I actually know someone like this. She watches Glenn Beck like he is her savior and if you even mention anything political around her you best be prepared for a shouting match. Her 'facts' are completely frivolous and she is deaf, dumb and blind when it comes to any actual fact or argument that goes against her very hardcore political beliefs.


Frankly another issue is that they are in the media so much these days (you practically cant go a day without a report on them, even on the lefty channels) that you'd think they were everywhere. With 'polls' showing something like 65% of people 'agree' with them you'd think they were a HUGE movement in this country. But the fact is less than 10% of Americans are actively a part of the Tea Party.

Bill Maher was right. The Tea Party isn't a movement. It's a cult.

>> ^Skeeve:

You hear the same thing from us Canadians all the time.
We just shake our heads in wonder when Americans are completely losing their minds about getting government provided health care when every industrialized nation has it and it is undeniably cheaper and better for the average person. Further, the person chosen (by vote) as the greatest Canadian ever was Tommy Douglas, the creator of Canada's universal health care system. Yet Americans freak out about it.



It's simple. For some reason America has to be different than the rest of the world(and some think, superior.) Even if different means worse.


I see the right-wing look down on people who don't answer 'Don't you believe in American exceptionalism?' with an absolute yes. I like to answer 'No.. I don't think America is exceptional. I think we 'used' to be. But we've fallen so far into dogma and backwards thinking that the rest of the civilized world has literally left us in their dust!'

>> ^Aniatario:

Socrates was right, this is why democracy doesn't work.
When logical evidence and argument cannot sway peoples opinions, which are all to be weighed equally, regardless of brain power.


I never knew socrates said this, but i've always said the same thing. I think democracy is the lesser of all evils to take you so far, but you reach a point where you can't go any further with it.

But don't ask me for a solution. And in that respect, i suppose it's the best option we have.

Will you socialists in your wonderful EURO-utopias do us here in the poor USA a favor? ADVERTISE!!!

Advertise via intertubes, radio, TV, smoke signals and skywriting around the clock informing all the wannabe progressive Statists and obama stash-check hopefuls SUFFERING here in the evil terrible USA how AWESOME it is, living in countries where everything is FREE!!!

Our suffering masses, FORCED to DRINK BP's OIL, don't want to hear how socialism is the envy of property and property rights, and they sure as hell don't want to be told they have to WORK for anything.

The USA rebuilt Europe (and Japan), so don't you think it's the least you can do??? ADVERTISE!!! Send boats! Offer free plane tickets! Get these oppressed suffering ENTITLED obamadrones to your golden shores and we'll throw Obama himself in for free!

LOUD NOISES