About a week ago, I went out to dinner with my mother and sister. My sister seemed to behave herself until the end of the meal, when my mom mentioned an interview she saw on CNN with former Microsoft CTO, Nathan Myhrvold. The interview discussed geoengineering, particularly the release of sulfur into the Earth’s stratosphere, as a measure in fighting global warming.
The mention of the term “global warming” must have flipped a switch in her teabagging brain, because she instantly blurted out, “You’ll never be able to solve global warming completely” (she has, in a previous encounter, mentioned that she doesn’t believe global warming is caused by CO2). Never mind the fact that geoengineering, as a solution to climate change, can be heralded in opposition to carbon-reducing legislation, or that global warming activists don’t particularly like Myhrvold and his “geoengineering-only approach”. My sister had already made the transformation to teabagger. It was now time for her to parrot the demagogic talking points of the right wing’s ideology (I wonder if teabaggers talk to each other in demagoguery, trying to out fear-monger each other).
Next, my mom mentioned that Myhrvold’s company, Intellectual Ventures, functions essentially as a firm of venture capitalists for inventors. Uh oh! Did someone say capitalist? We all know how much teabaggers love capitalism, and the teabagger sitting across from me was no different. She erupted with, “I’m sick of everybody saying these bad things about capitalism! If actors like Brad Pitt hate capitalism so much, why don’t they give away the $20 million they make on their movies!” (actually, she probably said it in ALL CAPS). I had to calm her down and explain that my mom wasn’t condescending capitalism, and “venture capitalist” is a term for an early investor in young companies.
As an aside, and maybe this is a topic for its own post, I hate how the right sees everything in black and white. Either you love capitalism, or you’re an evil socialist. You can only subscribe to one ideology.
Anyways, without any further provocation, my sister was ready to complete the teabagger circle and talk about how evil George Soros is. This topic could only be argued in hyperbolic demagoguery. “George Soros is evil. He’s betting against the US dollar. He’s trying to collapse the American economy.” Betting against the US dollar? Isn’t that what Glenn Beck’s doing when he tells people to put their money in gold?
My Sister Is A Teabagger: Ideology and Demagoguery
About a week ago, I went out to dinner with my mother and sister. My sister seemed to behave herself until the end of the meal, when my mom mentioned an interview she saw on CNN with former Microsoft CTO, Nathan Myhrvold. The interview discussed geoengineering, particularly the release of sulfur into the Earth’s stratosphere, as a measure in fighting global warming.
The mention of the term “global warming” must have flipped a switch in her teabagging brain, because she instantly blurted out, “You’ll never be able to solve global warming completely” (she has, in a previous encounter, mentioned that she doesn’t believe global warming is caused by CO2). Never mind the fact that geoengineering, as a solution to climate change, can be heralded in opposition to carbon-reducing legislation, or that global warming activists don’t particularly like Myhrvold and his “geoengineering-only approach”. My sister had already made the transformation to teabagger. It was now time for her to parrot the demagogic talking points of the right wing’s ideology (I wonder if teabaggers talk to each other in demagoguery, trying to out fear-monger each other).
Next, my mom mentioned that Myhrvold’s company, Intellectual Ventures, functions essentially as a firm of venture capitalists for inventors. Uh oh! Did someone say capitalist? We all know how much teabaggers love capitalism, and the teabagger sitting across from me was no different. She erupted with, “I’m sick of everybody saying these bad things about capitalism! If actors like Brad Pitt hate capitalism so much, why don’t they give away the $20 million they make on their movies!” (actually, she probably said it in ALL CAPS). I had to calm her down and explain that my mom wasn’t condescending capitalism, and “venture capitalist” is a term for an early investor in young companies.
As an aside, and maybe this is a topic for its own post, I hate how the right sees everything in black and white. Either you love capitalism, or you’re an evil socialist. You can only subscribe to one ideology.
Anyways, without any further provocation, my sister was ready to complete the teabagger circle and talk about how evil George Soros is. This topic could only be argued in hyperbolic demagoguery. “George Soros is evil. He’s betting against the US dollar. He’s trying to collapse the American economy.” Betting against the US dollar? Isn’t that what Glenn Beck’s doing when he tells people to put their money in gold?
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