Welcome to Grappy's Soap Box - a platform for insightful commentary on politics, media, free speech, climate change, and more, focusing on Australia, the USA, and global perspectives.
Showing posts with label Democratic Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Democratic Party. Show all posts
Earlier this week, I was speculating about Bill Maher's allegiance to the Democrats following his Trump dinner (see Maher telling it straight).
Obviously, I was either prophetic or already too late, as I came across this video where he claims he was "never a Democrat". Go figure. He certainly sounded like one for a very long time. Admittedly, many people who claimed to be Democrats a decade ago do not recognise what has become of the party. I often reflect on how organisations and individuals can transform gradually into something so unrelated to their former selves. They seem to have intense and passionate views both before and after their transformation, yet these views are now the opposite. If you think I am talking only about Democrats, you would be wrong. I find Tucker Carlson has undergone a significant transformation from his Fox News days into a bloviating isolationist. And don't get me started on Candace Owens. But I digress....
Liberal comedian Bill Maher has been a favourite of the Democrats for many years. His caustic humour can tear apart many Republican policies, and when targeting an individual, it is at its best. After all poking fun at your enemies is a powerful weapon. How can anyone respect a politician who has been totally ridiculed? Indeed, for many years, Donald Trump has been the target of Maher's barbed humour. But not all is well in Liberal land. Maher is an old-fashioned liberal of the type that has been dying out with the capture of the Democrats by Wokism. So Maher has transgressed on occasions, pointing his barbs at Woke extremists. It was tolerated, firstly because he is always funny, but more so, because it was balanced by at least as many strikes on the Republicans, and of course, Trump.
Then Trump did the unexpected! He extended an invitation to Bill Maher to the White House for a dinner with a group of commentators and naysayers. Maher, true to his independent spirit, accepted the invitation. His summary of the evening revealed that Trump had made an impression on him, not completely, but significantly.
Judge it from this piece that Maher presented after the dinner.
Subsequently, Maher's stance has shifted. He appears to have softened towards Trump, a change he attributes to his own consistency. However, his increasing criticism of the Woke extremists suggests a more complex evolution.
Again, here is a sample.
The Democratic party's shift to the left has led many traditional liberals to reconsider their allegiance. The list of defectors is long, stretching back decades and including names like Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Dave Rubin, Alan Dershowitz, and Joe Rogan. Could Bill Maher be the next to leave the Democrats?
It has oft been said that "history is written by the victors", that the truth lies somewhere beneath the distortions inflicted on it by one-eyed victors.
No doubt there are many cases that support this view. With widespread "Fake News" and "alternate facts" distortions of 'truth' are all too real. This was brought home to me when I viewed the most recent, excellent, short video from the Prager U. The video titled "The inconvenient truth about the Republican Party" highlights some, now most "inconvenient" and one could genuinely say 'alternate' facts, about the role of the Republican party in American history;
The inconvenient truth that the Republican party was responsible for freeing the slaves, and that it was the Republican party that has been the driving force in achieving civil rights for African Americans as well as equal rights for women. Now perhaps I am living in a cocoon, but had I been asked, prior to seeing this video, about the relative roles of the two parties in achieving civil rights for 'African Americans' and for womens' suffrage, I would have given more credit to the Democrats than the Republicans. So this video was indeed an eyeopener. Have a look at it for yourself.
Unfortunately this is not the first time my 'recollections' were at odds with reality.
The role of the democratic party in the defeat of the Americans and South Vietnamese in the Vietnam war (see The truth about the Vietnam War), and also its role in providing the 'template' for the laws of the Nazi regime (What the Nazis learned from American Progressives), are further examples of such distortions that I have learned relatively recently.
Why is this so? It is understandably very much in the interest of the Democratic party to spread beneficial re-interpretations of their subversive history. However where are the checks and balances? Where are our academics and media to correct such 're-interpretations'?
Alas, nowhere! Indeed by their silence they are complicit. The fabric of truth is being distorted by our 'last bastions' willingly spreading falsehoods to the unwary.
Our partisan media goes 'all in' on any any issue that supports its cause but totally ignores any fact that does not support it. It drums up emotions and fosters conflict.
More than ever our society needs trustworthy, incorruptible truthsayers. We need to have a new set of journalists to shoulder the burden. The current mob are not worthy.
