JULY 2023 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

1. Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Leave it to right wing media and fellow travelers to scream about what they see as a flaunting of American patriotism. This time they took issue when the U.S. women’s national soccer team stood silently when the national anthem was played at the World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand. They didn’t take a knee, they didn’t raise a fist in protest, they didn’t grimace, and they didn’t shout. They stood silently and what you might call respectfully, if you weren’t dedicated to being outraged. “The most shameful conduct.” “An insult to every American.” “An attack on our country, our flag, and those who fought and died for our nation.”

Nikki Haley, looking for traction in the Republican presidential primary, tweeted reproachfully about it. Many commentators took Haley’s approach, lecturing these women at the pinnacle of their sport, women who waged and won a years-long fight for equal pay, as if they were insufficiently grateful children.

But many who’ve served in the military noted that in that setting, they were taught to stand silently—just like the soccer players did. “I guess Marines are unpatriotic when we don’t sing the anthem,” Ron Filipkowski tweeted. Nobody calls out the marines.

The degree to which this outrage is completely fake cannot possibly be overemphasized. This is a lesson that the goalposts will always move if Fox News is determined to attack you. The mere presence of Megan Rapinoe on that team means there must be an offense to be found and yelled about, because Rapinoe did kneel, starting in 2016. Rapinoe wrote about that decision:

“I can understand if you think that I’m disrespecting the flag by kneeling, but it is because of my utmost respect for the flag and the promise it represents that I have chosen to demonstrate in this way. When I take a knee, I am facing the flag with my full body, staring straight into the heart of our country’s ultimate symbol of freedom — because I believe it is my responsibility, just as it is yours, to ensure that freedom is afforded to everyone in this country.”

That kind of nuance can never be allowed, and even years later, with Rapinoe standing during the anthem, right-wing media were determined to find something to be angry about. Because the right-wing media always needs something to be angry about.

It’s exhausting living in a country and a time when a huge sector of media and politicians and would-be influencers are always trying to build power and keep their base mobilized by pushing rage.

From Fox News to Donald Trump to Ted Cruz to Marjorie Taylor Greene to Ben Shapiro to Dinesh D’Souza, the business model is to find reasons for the Republican base to be angry and scared at all times. And we know how scary successful women are—especially when they’re LGBTQ+ and/or outspoken. So, the members of the USWNT should go about their business (winning soccer games), and ignore this so-called scandal completely. Because if it wasn’t this, it would have been something else.

JUNE 2023 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

1. New Twitter Owner Elon Musk. Musk is once again using his site to boost neo-Nazi conspiracy theories, and if there's anything surprising about that it's only that Musk is saying the neo-Nazi things himself rather than just making approving replies when one of the white supremacists he ordered to be un-banned from the site pipes up with those theories themselves.

Yep, it’s the neo-Nazi “George Soros” conspiracy theory, the one that at this point is lodged deeply in the brains of Fox News Republicans, House Republicans, creepy online fascists, and the insurrectionist right in general after making its way from antisemitic hate groups quite a few years back.

This month Musk tweeted that "Soros reminds me of Magneto." This exchange happened:

Musk: Soros reminds me of Magneto

Brian Krassenstein: Fun fact: Maagneto’s experience during the Holocaust as a survivor shaped his perspective as well as his depth of empathy. Soros, also a Holocaust survivor, gets attacked nonstop for his good intentions which some Americans think are bad merely because they disagree with this…

Musk: You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.

"Soros hates humanity" is a level of vitriol not commonly seen except in white supremacist circles. Not to mention that “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization" is a direct lift from neo-Nazi conspiracy claims. These claims theorize Soros is secretly orchestrating the arrival of asylum seekers who are not white at our borders and at the borders of "white" European nations. They claim this is happening while he is undermining Europe through his charitable support for groups that promote free elections during a time when multiple European democracies have been backsliding into authoritarian-minded oppression.

You might also know this antisemitic theory by its broader rebranded name. What antisemitic hate groups once called a "Jewish" effort to secretly control world governments is now called a “globalist” effort to secretly control world governments, one that just coincidentally is asserted to be an effort by politically influential Jews.

Soros is a Holocaust survivor who would later go on to become a billionaire. He does not spend all hours of his day shitposting on internet forums as his main means of human contact, unlike some other billionaires we might know. Soros has dedicated nearly two-thirds of his accumulated wealth over the years to anti-fascist causes, focusing on free speech, free elections, human rights, and opposition to authoritarian tactics and retaliations.

A Jewish Holocaust survivor donating to anti-fascist causes is more than enough for neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups to come up with ever-wilder conspiracy theories about how the Jewish man is secretly "controlling" world governments and migration patterns.

You might think Musk himself may be a bit unnerved by violent groups spreading conspiracies about politically active billionaires, but Musk is not a bright man. Musk is, as we have seen repeatedly, politically invested only in causes that revolve around his own business interests and fortune.

From opposition to pandemic safety measures affecting his factories that would quickly morph into anti-vaccine conspiracy peddling to his primary method of business, i.e., finding and sucking up any government subsidies he can get his hands on, Musk's semi-libertarian political stances mainly consist of ideas that will allow himself and his allies to skirt regulations that cost him money.

So why is Musk now bellowing that fellow billionaire Soros "wants to erode the very fabric of civilization" and "hates humanity"? We'll give you one guess and—oh, yep, you guessed right. Musk's rant comes just days after Soros' fund reported in a new SEC filing that they had dumped all of his remaining Tesla stock.

Sure, buddy. It's depressing that you turned one of the more promising microblogging sites into a pay-to-play troll farm, but at least we all get to watch you decompress in real time when faced with the collapse of your fortune. At least now we know who supposed super genius Elon Musk really is: just an everyday, garden-variety shit-posting troll.

2. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Yes, it’s come to this. The irony of all ironies. The Republican Party, and its amoral sycophants like DeSantis, have become so wedded to lying about reality that on June 10 presidential candidate DeSantis circulated fake images of rival candidate Donald Trump embracing right-wing nemesis Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The Republican Party does have an ideology. It’s creating false pictures of what’s really going on in the country. With new AI technologies, brace yourself for the coming campaign. Will we see a video of Trump having sex with Hilary Clinton? How about DeSantis blowing George Soros?

GOP faithful are going to find it hard to know what to believe.

3. Arizona Defeated Governor Candidate Kari Lake. Just when you hoped she would just disappear… SHE’S BACK! In Georgia at the Republican state convention, Trump sycophant, Kari Lake, highlighted the fact that many Trump supporters owned guns.

“I have a message tonight for Marrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden—and the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one is for you, Lake said. “If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have to go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the N.R.A.”

The crowd, of course, cheered.

Ms. Lake added: “That’s not a threat, that’s a public service announcement.”

Instigating violence is what Trumpers do these days. “An eye for an eye,” Arizona Republican Andy Biggs posted on Twitter.

On Pete Santilli’s talk show the conservative provocateur declared if he were commandant of the Marine Corps, he would order “every single Marine to grab President Biden, “throw him in freakin’ zip ties in the back of a freakin’ pickup truck,” and “ “get him out of the White House.”

It’s one thing to pad the pockets of the richest Americans, erode fundamental human rights, gut social safety nets, ban books and muzzle teachers, but to incite violence. What’s next, executing Democrats? Is there no end to their ignominy?

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And the June IGGY winner is:

With DeSantis and Lake being previous winners, and despite DeSantis being the most evil of the three (and maybe in America), I have to go with Elon Musk as the June IGGY recipient.