What, adorable ND a "bad dude" ? I wouldn't go that far, I do believe in freedom of political expression. Mind you, I think he's a bit of a gullible dupe, and some of his opinions that I think he falsely believes to be factually correct are abhorrent or just plain stupid.
His claim that Feminism is a cult, I believe is clearly factually incorrect and risible, as well as being offensive to both men and women. One wonders why he takes such a hostile line towards Feminism, is it fear ? Is adorable ND afraid of women capable of independent thoughts, and/or did he have some psychologically scarring experiences with strong women in his formative years ?

men and women are already equal in society Major

We already went through this where ND admitted the numbers didn't look equal to him but then immediately reverted to his old position. This guy is an idiot and we should all stop wasting our time.

K, didn't say anything like that DO.

I can't imagine the insane political diatribes you subject your poor students to

So equal, how many Women have been president of your Union? An Irish-American and a Black American both got there first; far more progress.

What about numbers of women sitting in congress? Anything close to equal??
What about the highest paying jobs in the country? Even just public jobs?

Men hold a majority of positions in all the high status, influence positions within American society. No inequality there at all...

Trumpism is a cult controlled by cultural Nazis.

But what about cultural Trumpism?

Trumpural Cultism

Cultural Marxism is a conspiracy theory invented in the 90s by American conservatives. They use it to attack all the progressive movements trying to improve America; the theory claims that feminism, environmentalism, social democracy, anti-racism, and anyone who doesn't meet the theorist's conservative values, is part of some crazy conspiracy to undermine american values.

In order, feminism seeks to prevent discrimination based on gender, environmentalism to protect the environment we live in from being destroyed, social democracy seeks to protect the poor, and anti-racism groups seek to protect racial minorities.

If American values are based on 'all men are created equal', then only feminism really contradicts American values, but i believe most Americans would be happy to amend that as meaning 'all people are created equal'.

These progressive movements have their roots in the enlightenment, the French revolution and the American revolution. These ideas and philosophies (of preventing discrimination against women, the poor/lower classes and racial minorities) came together in europe in 1848 in sporadic uprisings an rebellions across the continent. All of which were suppressed.

Marx then wrote about having the workers of the world come together - and he meant industrial workers, no under-educated agricultural workers, infact he explicitly said Socialism wouldn't work in Russia. Various communist groups failed to take hold in Europe, and their ideas were co-opted by democratic groups, ones which eventually united with women demanding the right to vote, with labour unions dedicated to improving working conditions for the poor/working class (slavery was abolished much sooner than in the US).

Social Democrats and Democratic Socialists both deviated greatly from Marx and continue to be a part of western culture. These ideals are not at all antithetical to USAian values. They believe in our shared humanity and our shared environment, they believe in Human Rights (as promoted by noted American Eleanor Roosevelt, you may have heard of her). Feminism as a movement has gone deep into inclusion, by studying academically the intersection of different oppressive forces, how being a poor black woman may be a different experience from being a poor trans woman, for example. And so, to my knowledge, is the only philosophy which seeks to unite all oppressed groups in the language they use to oppose their oppression.

There 90s conservative reactionaries coming up with a new conspiracy theory to brand all their opponents as 'enemies of true American culture' are very much responsible for the partisanship and division within American.

I know of no-one, outside of this webforum, who seriously subscribes to this lunatic conspiracy. Who believes the equality for women, for indegnous peoples, and for racial minorities is in any way contrary to American values; the same goes for people believing that polluting our environment is anti-American (though there are more who would debate whether Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant, they still believe we should protect our shared environment).

Tinfoil lunacy, at its best.

I would never bring politics on the job. Unlike most of you, I presume, I don't live and breath politics. I just talk about it in my free time!

men and women are both equal under the law. There are more women in some jobs then men and vice versa. All that matters is that we are all equal under the law.

Hey ND, I appreciate the response earlier. Thank you for that. Now if we are all to be treated equally under the law, how do you feel about all the recent sexual assault scandals coming out now? And how the victims are being treated differently. Just in the Senate, Al Franken, if I'm not mistaken, has accepted wrongdoing, but Conyers hasn't. And both are trying to stay in office. But look in the private sector, and everyone is immediately fired after they are accused.

@ND: "All that matters is that we are all equal under the law."

Why?

ND doesnt need reasons, he just states his opinion like it's divinely revealed.

The legal system is mostly available to those wealthy enough to pay for a lawyer, so equality in how people are treated is vital beyond what the law says.

But believe it, there were reactionary conservatives like you opposed to making women equal under the law (or giving them the right to vote in the first place); so i feel confident that your tired arguments will lose out to proactive progressive eventually.

This latest move to listen to victims of sexual assault, and men in high status positions actually being held to account is just one more step forward.

No response i see, tax cut has now been rushed through, and public america will suffer as wealth inequality increases. More people pay less tax, corporations prey on those people, lower taxes means they can afford to pay workers less, more profits for the 1% - who are also paying less tax but accumulating their wealth.

USA is becoming less equal while your public services crumble, and health care begins to collapse, and the national debt spirals out of contril.

So you can call it great, because everyone has a chance of becoming an Oligarch in the new US of A, but once all the Oligarch positions are full you'll be stuck with their leftovers. Good luck with that, and the rising Fascists angry at the fact that life sucks in the ole US but blaming skin colour for some reason...

I'll try to respond to this tomorrow, thanks for reminding me.

frankly massive swaths drug decriminalization needs to become a bipartisan issue soon, and in many ways we need to simplify our legal code

@JY, i can entirely get onboard with that. Stigma associated with drug use tends to isolate people, and isolation is known to be a huge contributor to addiction (of all kinds, not just drug addiction). And simplifying a legal code is of huge benefit to all people, making access to justice easier and cheaper, unfortunately is something lawyers will resist; but the simpler your legal system, the easier it is for someone to defend themselves... so the more equal your society becomes.

So Orathaic, to respond to you. The tax cuts benefit everyone. Everyone will get some kind of a tax cut unless you are ultra rich. It actually is anti-ultra rich.

As for the rest of your point, debunked baloney.

When do the tax cuts for the middle class lapse?

And when do the corporate tax cuts lapse?

ND you could also respond to me if you feel like it.

Ehhh, idk ND. I don't see the taxes staying the same or being raised for the rich here. And I do envision quite a few people who are not rich being worse off based on the deductions being eliminated.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonynitti/2017/11/10/senate-releases-its-tax-bill-how-does-it-compare-to-current-law-and-the-house-proposal/#3012bf564425

@orathaic - I believe under the Senate Bill, everything in this package lapses January 1, 2026

"Cultural Marxism is a conspiracy theory invented in the 90s by American conservatives. They use it to attack all the progressive movements trying to improve America; the theory claims that feminism, environmentalism, social democracy, anti-racism, and anyone who doesn't meet the theorist's conservative values, is part of some crazy conspiracy to undermine american values."

um... no. going all the way back to the Frankfurt school there has been a marxist element in academia... I mean he was a big philosopher/historian, of course many are going to be influenced by him. I mean there's a white nationalist element for some academics... those things just exist. but saying cultural marxism doesn't exist is an entirely stupid claim. Hell there are rallies on British streets with nutheads running around with communist flags. These people exist.


furthermore, it's not an attack on feminism, as much as it is on bad science. I still can't believe how many people don't understand what the "77 cents on a dollar" statistic actually means.

for environmentalism, that's not as connected to cultural marxism, most people who attack the idea of a green conspiracy believe in a new world order pathway, not communists infecting the youth. there is some overlap I guess.

social democracy... is quasi socialist. Sorry but it is. It's based around the framework of capitalist systems... then creates income redistribution schemes and creates welfare state systems. the only difference between that and a truly collectivist system, is the truly collectivist system wouldn't need a tax per se, and the "capitalist framework" would be publicly controlled. It's kind of like Obamacare. It's not single payer, but it requires you buy insurance from a heavily regulated and government controlled market. it creates a proxy then pretends to be heavily separated from collectivist thought. As an economic reality, you're wrong.

and for your last "anti-racism" I laugh. I fucking laugh. Most of the debate nowadays is more isolationist and free speech centered, but it always has to be the conservatives are just racist. I'm not going to deny that white supremacy exists, but quite literally, when fliers were posted around schools a few months back SIMPLY READING: "It's Okay to be white" people went nuts about how that was racist. This argument is one that constantly gets boiled down to yelling matches, but for this specific scenario: saying that "cultural marxism" exists =/= saying anti-racism is bad.

especially ever since the new definition of racism became power+prejudice, effectively making racism a purely white quality.


https://twitter.com/nytopinion/status/912469539283177472?lang=en

when shit like THIS gets published in the NYT, supposedly one of the world's most prestigious news outlets... not real my ass

@JamesYanik: Do you agree with ND that global warming is a plot invented by the Soviet Union to damage America, which is why Earth Day is on Lenin's birthday?

Also, James, no-one is saying that Marxism does not exist. What we are saying that the idea, touted by the alt-right and neo-Nazis, that there is a huge Jewish-Communist plot to infiltrate every area of cultural life in the West, is nonsense.

"Marxism" =/= "Cultural Marxism"

@jamiet

no I don't agree with ND, but that doesn't justify @orathatic spewing generalized bullshit either.

furthermore, cultural marxism is not some jewish communist politics to infiltrate our cultural life, cultural marxism is actually the idea that there has been a large presence of marxist ideals in our academia for several decades, that have seeped into entertainment media and politics that also have indoctrinated students into a much more left wing bias.

it's not a "conspiracy" per se, that connotes intense organization and planning. this is just something that has happened