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Thursday open thread: Oh, come on!


As H.L. Mencken said: "No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby." This, with the passage of time, became the more famous aphoristic: "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

The January 6th Select Committee is, in quite quick fashion, uncovering the many tendrils of the conspiracy behind the insurrection. The Biden-Harris Administration has, in a few short months, passed over $3 trillion in stimulus and infrastructure. Two-hundred million Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID. But the above graphic is what is exciting certain purviews of the Twitter left, egged on by foreign state actors. As I tweeted:
The other night, I was also a bit incensed on this same topic:
Now. I have about $30,000 in student loans. And I'm not whining. Why? Well, firstly, I took these loans out in full realization and acceptance that I would have to pay them back. And these loans helped me acquire a career I love. But, secondly, I have refinanced these loans with private lenders to decrease the monthly payments. They're no longer federal loans. So, if by some miracle people like Ashley got their way, I and millions of others would be shit out of luck. But, mostly, as I indicated in both tweets, we're trying to prevent a fascist takeover of this Republic! Your student loans and their forgiveness do not matter. It is the most infantile of desires. You took out these loans. No one put a gun to your head to take them out. And now you want a mulligan. No. That's not the way the world works.

Again, I have to remind myself that Twitter is not real life. If so, we'd have President Sanders and Prime Minister Corbyn. But Twitter can aggravate a tense situation. Twitter can contribute to apathy and malaise. Twitter can disinform. When I see organizations like the ACLU aver that President Joe Biden campaigned on eliminating all student debt, which he most certainly did not, you can see the effect a narrative like this has. People might not believe Ashley. But they might believe the vaunted ACLU.

Many white so-called "progressives" would gladly welcome authoritarianism if it mean that their economic lives were bettered. It is the horseshoe theory in all its fetid glory. They have #BLM on their profiles, but would willingly sacrifice Black and other people of color for their own comfort. They have #loveislove on their profiles, but would send LGBTQIA+ people to the gallows in exchange for debt relief. These people are not allies. They never have been. They never will be.

Grow up. You made a choice when you took those loans. I have no choice but to pay mine. Debt abolition won't save me, and millions like me. Are we less deserving because we planned ahead? Meanwhile, the right is plotting to injure those you claim to support, but in your childishness you're increasing their chances of seizing power. The idea that the Left can't be racist was laid to rest when former president Barack Obama took office. Now the idea that the Left will fight tooth and nail to prevent fascism has been revealed to be yet another lie. They are petulant children who don't like to be told "no". It's our job to make sure that their destructive tendencies don't set us back yet again.
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