Comments | ed_rex: My schadenfreude, where is at?

ed_rex

My schadenfreude, where is at?

Oct 21, 2015 01:01

First (and second) thoughts on the election of Trudeau II

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neo-conservative, steven harper, elxn42, islam, justin trudeau, politics

Comments 16

abomvubuso October 21 2015, 05:53:26 UTC

Well, at least he has emotional intelligence of some sort. Whatever that's supposed to mean.

Don't knock it! ed_rex October 21 2015, 15:45:01 UTC

I think I know what you mean by the italics, but being likeable is an important political asset. Just ask Bill Clinton or the shade of Ronald Reagan. They both committed war crimes and inflicted massive damage on their own supporters and were thanked for it.

Re: Don't knock it! abomvubuso October 21 2015, 16:39:39 UTC

Here's what I mean by the words in italics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V5ckcTSYu8

Re: Don't knock it! ed_rex October 22 2015, 07:07:41 UTC

That was a very good bit, but I stand by my words. Nerds (like me, if I'm being honest) are too quick to dismiss the value of such things as "emotional intelligence". We human beings are animals and being able to read and/or communicate emotionally is a bloody important skill. Just think of the dogs you've known; not a one would you want running your country, but I bet some of them could read the moods of a stranger better than you could!

Thread 6

sabotabby October 21 2015, 11:57:44 UTC

Thank you. I feel very isolated right now; everyone is celebrating and I'm like, "NOOOO BUT HE'S THE SAME why don't you see that he's the same?"

Yup ed_rex October 21 2015, 15:46:16 UTC

My facebook wall is starting to nauseate me, I have to say. If Trudeau actually legalizes pot, the love-in might continue for a year.

Re: Yup sabotabby October 21 2015, 21:16:00 UTC

If I see one more shirtless picture of him, I'll hurl. That tattoo is the whitest thing I've ever seen.

I hope he legalizes pot. I'll fucking need it to cope.

Re: Yup ed_rex October 25 2015, 21:30:33 UTC

You've probably already seen it (you might have been the first I saw post it on FB, but in case not, I hope you haven't eaten anything too recently).

( ... )

Thread 6

silverflight8 October 21 2015, 18:59:12 UTC

Meh. Devil you know vs the devil you don't - but we know the devil before him, and for all the people who keep telling me it'll be the same, it's not and we don't want the devil we knew; there are things that Harper did that he chose to do and didn't have to (those remarks about the niqab, starting with the most recent things). Will Trudeau fulfill every promise? No. I don't think any leader has. But it's a sight better than we had before. I think that's worth celebrating.

If Trudeau the Younger is indeed a devil... dewline October 21 2015, 23:55:12 UTC

Then we've known this one in various ways since he was in diapers. He hasn't exactly been able to hide, even when he wanted to. And that may give us advantages that we didn't have with Harper.

Re: If Trudeau the Younger is indeed a devil... ed_rex October 22 2015, 07:20:37 UTC

It's a pretty thought. But the man as the backing of Bay Street (not to mention Brunei) and it's going to take one fuck of a lot of lobbying on the part of the common citizenry to hold him to his promises (such as they are).

The populations of mideval Europe knew their kings and queens from the swaddling clothes, but that didn't make their adult versions any less the absolute tyrants they were.

One-eyed sight better, yes ... ed_rex October 22 2015, 07:17:48 UTC

I'm not sure whether you read my longer, linked piece, or not.

In any case, in the longer piece, I came to your conclusion - to an extent. That Trudeau is going to put race and religion baiting in the closet is undeniably a Good Thing.

But beyond that, very little will change. The big picture won't much change. Trudeau is mostly a figurehead, a standard-bearer for the (proverbial, but also literal) One Percent. If you expect him to roll back C-51, or to back away from the TPP, or even to cancel the bloody anti-"Barbaric cultural practices" Act, I fear you haven't read enough history.

The Liberal Party's litany of lies goes back much further than Chretien's promise to kill the GST, or its slashing of funding for social programs even as it claimed to be improving them. I'm (just barely, 'cause I was a really geeky kid that way) old enough to remember Trudeau I campaigning against Robert Stanfield's Progressive Conservative Party's proposed "wage and price controls" in the mid-1970s ( ... )