WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2026
But first, the rage of Vance: We applaud the news judgment on display in this morning's New York Times.
The report in question appears online, but also in print editions. Yesterday afternoon, we briefly cited this inexcusable, dangerous incident:
Vance Calls El-Sayed ‘Evil’ in No-Holds-Barred Michigan Speech
Vice President JD Vance called Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee and an outspoken critic of Israel, “very, very evil” at a campaign rally near Detroit on Monday and accused him of heightening racial and religious divisions.
“I realize that there’s something about Abdul El-Sayed that is very, very evil and on the rise in the United States of America today,” Mr. Vance said at the event at a warehouse in Sterling Heights hosted by MAGA Inc., President Trump’s super PAC.
Mr. Vance was in Michigan campaigning for former Representative Mike Rogers, Dr. El-Sayed’s Republican opponent in one of the nation’s most hotly contested Senate races this fall. The vice president’s remarks appeared aimed at stoking tensions between Dr. El-Sayed and Michigan’s Jewish community, which the Democrat has been attempting to allay since winning his party’s bitter primary against a pro-Israel opponent in early August.
As you can see, that New York Times headline is actually wrong. Vance didn't call El-Sayed "evil." He went with very, very evil!
(For the Times report, click here.)
“Very, very evil!” With that, you see the (modulated) rage of Vance, utilized in service to some very, very bad judgment.
Dear friends, listen up:
Especially at a time like this, "evil" is a dangerous word when stapled onto a person. Even on Fox News Channel shows, it's very rare to hear that word directly attached to a person.
Why would Vance behave this way? For one possible answer, consider the abusive upbringing Vance describes in his best-selling book from 2016, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.
The "family in crisis" in that book is the family within which Vance was raised. The family he was forced to navigate as a child was deeply, profoundly disordered.
He described his life as a child, and then as a teen, within a family so deeply disordered that the moral exemplar of the family—Vance's maternal grandmother—is best remembered for deliberately setting her husband on fire, with lighter fluid deliberately added, while he tried to sleep off an episode of (once again) having drunk too much.
This is the world in which Vance was forced to grow up! Years back, we said we found it hard to believe that a child subjected to the astounding disorder described in that book could avoid being badly affected.
"And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen...?" The cheerful young man who discussed that book in 2016 turned into the grasping office-seeker in 2024 who spread a story he knew to be false about Haitians eating the dogs and cats of unsuspecting Springfield, Ohio.
It was an astonishing break with the simplest forms of decency. And yesterday, there he stood, in Michigan, displaying extremely bad judgment.
Could yesterday's description of El-Sayed be called the rage of Vance? He tends to speak in modulated tones. You can teach it flat or round.
That said, it's much as Michelle Goldberg recently described:
Expressions of "a florid, aggressive contempt" are now "a constant in our politics." We agree with Goldberg on this additional point:
The bulk of this florid, destructive rage currently comes from the right.
Currently comes from the right! It's the rage of Trump and the rage of Cheung and the rage of those employed beneath them. Or as Peter Wehner describes it in the Atlantic, it's the critter his headline calls "The Wrath of MAGA."
Strikingly, when Jon Ossoff floated an insinuation, that rage (that "wrath") exploded:
The Wrath of MAGA
[...]
The White House tore into Ossoff...
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Ossoff is “a miserable person who hates this country.” He also referred to Ossoff as “Jon Jerkoff” and as “the biggest cuck loser in politics.”
The White House spokesperson Davis Ingle referred to him as a “cringeworthy feminine theater kid” and a “lightweight loser.”
When the CNN reporter Kristen Holmes asked about Ossoff’s comments, the White House Official Rapid Response X account responded by saying, “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question. They will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive.”
The reference to Holmes' two young children was especially astonishing. That astounding assault from an anonymous White House team moved well beyond previous boundaries.
As we noted yesterday, Wehner omitted the fury which Trump himself directed at Kristen Holmes. But "the Rage Machine was in full operation," Wehner correctly said.
(For the record: Peter Wehner, age 61, was a speechwriter for the three previous Republican presidents. He isn't a liberal squish.)
As is frequently the norm within the Red Rage, sexual insult and attempts at gender insult spewed from the troops in the White House. Ossoff was denounced as "a cuck." His name was changed to "Jerkoff." Inevitably, he was mocked as a feminine kid.
(On Fox, the rage of Gutfeld routinely traffics in sexual / gender insult. It sometimes seems to be the only language he and his panelists know.)
Eventually, Wehner tried to explain where this "Wrath of MAGA" comes from. We'd say he took a halting first step. Here's how his effort began:
WEHNER: So why did MAGA world respond as it did? One explanation is psychological. In 2016, Trump found a constituency already primed for grievance, and taught it to want more. His supporters have kept themselves in a state of frenzy ever since. They need to be perpetually outraged, aggrieved, and insulted. MAGA world has become addicted to the feeling. It delivers a jolt of adrenaline, it provides a feeling of social belonging, and it gives people a sharpened sense of purpose. They see themselves as warriors in a drama of their own construction. They view their opponents—Democrats, progressives, critics of Trump—as personifications of evil. Inflicting pain on their enemies feels good, really good, and it feels just.
Trump is aware of all of this. It’s why, during the 2024 campaign, he spoke directly to his supporters, saying, “I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”
What explains the current profusion of red rage / fury / wrath? In that passage, Wehner starts to try to explain.
He takes a halting first step. Presumably, the president's rage might spring from one source, the rage of (some of) his supporters from another.
Not all of the president's supporters are locked in a state of red rage. Obviously, not all his supporters view Democrats as "personifications of evil."
But Wehner, the former Republican speechwriter, says that Trump "found a constituency already primed for grievance" back when he first went to the White House.
What might explain that incipient rage? What might explain the president's rage?
What explains "the wrath of MAGA?" In the course of the next two days, we'll flirt with some explanations.
Tomorrow: Sources of (deeply destructive) rage
If I was a chaise lounge, I'd stop letting that piece of shit JD Vance have sexual relations with me, when he talks this kind of idiocy.
ReplyDeleteThere's lipstick on a pig, but Vance is more eyeliner on a cockroach.
DeleteA media criticism blog would be asking what good is it for society for the media to be quoting pieces of shit, like JD Vance.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, it's the job of Right-wing vanity blogs to repeat Vance's bullshit in order to support fascism.
Exactly.
DeleteOne of the first things Vance will do if he becomes President, is replace Natalie Harp with a rocking chair.
ReplyDeleteTrump has demonstrated that a presidential candidate doesn't need a real wife in order to get elected. His Slovenian rent-a-wife (Tiedrich's phrase) was enough of an election puppet/stand-in and everyone believed she was never given a speaking role because of her accent, not because of her ongoing victimization by the Epstein crowd. Now no one misses her because she has never been present.
DeleteSo, JD can keep his own wife and kids out of sight while he lets someone like Erica Kirk follow him around in adoration and JD pretends to be as tough as Patel and Hegseth.
Don't be fooled. If JD becomes president, he will have Peter Thiel dictating the important stuff, Stephen Miller keeping the country white while JD pursues his own hobby. It won't be unnecessary renovation (destruction) of historical monuments so he can put his name all over them. JD will probably write another book about a nonexistent place, or maybe buy a train set. And of course, JD knows exactly how to invest and pump and dump, because he learned that stuff working for Thiel.
The only chance Vance has at becoming president is if, while Vance is VP, Trump dies.
DeleteEven in that case, it'll be begrudgingly.
Even his own people can't stand hm.
As a Son of the Mayflower Vances filthy SE Indian polluted children make me sick. That fucking guy is a traitor to our movement
DeleteLimpieza de sangre, blood purity.
DeleteStarted in 15th century Catholic Spain, gave birth to racism.
To your point, it is foundational to contemporary Republicans.
Tom Sullivan at Digby's Hullabaloo blog today discusses the eliminationist rhetoric adopted by Trump, Vance and the right.
ReplyDeleteIn The Nerd Reich, a new book by Gil Duran, the "accelerationist movement" pushed by tech billionaires such as Elon Musk and Peter Thiel hopes to eliminate democracy. In the process, people whose jobs wil be eliminated are considered expendable, collateral damage.
On his podcast, Duran says:
"Last month, I warned that Donald Trump was adopting the dangerous strategy laid out in a 2024 book called Unhumans. The extremist book calls on MAGA voters to view Democrats and liberals as demonic creatures unworthy of life.
Today, Trump made it official. In a post on social media, he gave a full-throated endorsement of “Unhumans” and urged his followers to buy it.
“‘Unhumans’ is a fantastic book — Get your copy today!” wrote the president of the United States, invoking his fake panic over imaginary “communists”
"Duran continues, “Now that Trump has admitted what he’s up to, perhaps it’s time for Beltway journalists to do their job and tell people what the president is planning. Unhumans is a quick read.”
Know what else the mainstream media mostly isn’t telling you? About the tech billionaire plan to destroy American democracy. Fortunately—or unfortunately—that’s what my book is all about.
These megalomaniacs and their fellow travelers sound like the villain in movies, [Chris] Hayes notes. And they are so far down their own rabbit holes that they can’t hear how they sound."
This is an alternative interpretation about why right wingers are using eliminationist rhetoric against the left. It has nothing to do with populist rage, Somerby favorite explanation, but is about pushing tech AI progress as quickly as possible, to the benefit of silicon valley dictators who will run the country to their own benefit.
JD Vance is Peter Thiel's protege, "recommended" to Trump as his running mate. Whether he calls Democrats evil or Communist, the goal is to get rid of the opposition, not to engage in a democratic process involving the exchange of ideas. "Unhumans" is not about winning debates but about getting rid of people who stand in these guys' way. And Trump is one of them. It is why he doesn't care whether people want data centers in their cities or not, or what such centers will do to damage the environnent, increase global warming, and skyrocket energy prices while depleting water availability in areas already experiencing drought. None of that matters. These guys are billionaires and they want what they want, and they want it now. Like Trump.
When you hear the word "Communist" aimed at a Democrat, what they are doing is pinning a target on your back. And this isn't about elections for them. It is about winning an existential race to implement technology that will set aside our democracy. Believe this, or don't, but don't be confused by Somerby's explanation that some people are just very very made. That isn't what is going on.
https://digbysblog.net/2026/09/02/accelerationists-uber-alles/
Deletevery very mad (not made, typo)
Delete...the goal is to get rid of the opposition, not to engage in a democratic process involving the exchange of ideas....
DeleteThere is no question about this. They do not believe in "democracy". Just ask them.
We must pity Trump if we want to win.
DeleteWhat if we just want Trump to leave?
Delete11:28, Well, he's building an underground bunker, with gold trimmings so good luck getting him out
DeleteA few years ago Digby was on The Majority Report and talked briefly with Sam Seder about how sad it is what happened to TDH and Bob Somerby and his weird right wing shift. They shrugged their shoulders in confusion.
DeleteDuran is an interesting journalist, it is always good when he is on TMR.
Meanwhile, the right has propagandized millions of MAGA faithful to believe incredible nonsense about what is happening in our country. Digby collects some examples here: https://digbysblog.net/2026/08/29/do-your-research/
ReplyDeleteKerry Burgess (one of the examples, on X) notes:
"You see, this is where having private health care gets you. In any other country these people would be getting the help and care that they need. In the US they're just walking around untreated..."
These are the pawns in Trump's game, which is about power and wealth, not helping any of his MAGA followers.
Digby says:
"Ok. Maybe you don’t want to waste your time with this stuff. But if you are curious about your fellow Americans- you know, the ones everyone says you must not insult or disrespect- this is a place to start. Yes, they are people who go to Trump rallies and consider themselves true-blue MAGA followers; you might want to check it out. There are tens of millions of them, and this MAGA identity has been at the center of our politics for more than a decade now.
Just remember, you are not allowed to think less of them. That’s why everyone hates you."
That last bit was aimed at people like Somerby, who keep claiming that the reason MAGA is so crazy and why the right is so filled with RAGE is because of us blues. Or refusal to work on the billionaire crazy farm may be why we irritate the tech bros implementing their plans, but we need to stay in touch with a quickly changing reality, not be taken in by the propaganda coming from the right wing noise machine, even when it is Somerby spreading it and telling us WE are the problem because (mumble mumble) it goes back to ancient Troy and we humans aren't built to govern ourselves. And yes, Somerby is being paid to write this stuff, because there is no other benefit to him by doing so, unless he too is one of the batshit minions.
We need to quit running angry candidates like Ossoff, who likes to slime pitiable souls like Natalie Harp, and prickly Muslim candidates like El-Sayed, who performatively and smugly gets in the gutter with Trump. Sigh.
DeleteNice to see how well readers here are understanding Somerby's message. But I think we need to be angrier, pricklier, not less smug. I like AOC's ladylike anger and her avoidance of toxic men on dating apps.
DeleteI'll bet Somerby wishes Jimmy Carter were running again. He was the world's nicest candidate!
Al Gore’s loss was purely media driven. All other democratic losses are because the candidates and liberals suck.
DeleteGore squeaked out a narrow win - he was a fairly uncharismatic candidate offering little more than the same neoliberal nonsense we got from Clinton, but the Supreme Court handed the presidency to Bush, let's not memory hole that Republicans have been corrupt for a really long time. Trump's likely future coup attempt will be nothing new.
DeleteIf Dems want to win, they will need woke candidates like AOC, Ossoff, and El-Sayed who aggressively attack Republicans and their loony notions, while fighting for progressive policies that are very popular among the electorate. (Ossoff was not insinuating what Somerby is insinuating he meant.)
If Dems listen to the advice offered by people like Somerby, they will go back to losing.
Yes 11:01 we need to get rid of the guy who flipped a perennial red Senate seat and is doing very well in this cycles polls. Go eat a bag of dicks asshole troll.
DeleteI believe 11:01 was merely regurgitating Somerby’s advice for liberals.
DeleteAOC would be a fine president.
DeleteWhy does Somerby never consider whether the president's rage is performative? It is the toddler's tantrum to get whatever he wants. It is an intimidation tactic with the side benefit of making him feel 10 ft tall and covered with hair (while others see him as an out-of-control rage monster). He throws food at the wall, for fuck's sake! No adult does that out of mental illness because the mentally ill tend to feel scared (anxious) and meltdown out of frustration, not instrumentally.
ReplyDeleteObviously, Somerby is unqualified to diagnose the president about any behavior because he not only has no training but has most likely never read a psychology book (based on his ignorance and misuse of language here at his blog). Men who stomp around yelling at the less powerful (often women and children) are not mentally ill but bullies, as Trump is. When bullies are rewarded, they continue to be bullies. Other nations understand that, so they are standing up to Trump.
The question for Americans is "how can we do the same and stand up to Trump and his cronies?" Ossof and El-Sayed understand that too -- in order to appeal to voters they must show some spine without appearing to be mean like Trump. I think they are doing a good job of accomplishing that. Hillary did a good job of standing up to Trump during her campaign. It is most likely why she won the popular vote by so big a margin, even while Trump/Russia cheated and won the electoral college. Biden stood up to Trump, so the right created its "Biden is too old" campaign, bought some media to push its deep fakes and shills like Somerby, to push Biden off his own ticket. That was a big mistake, most people now recognize (not Somerby though).
Pity and compassion, not performative, but genuine, are required of us. Trump deserves it.
DeleteSee 11:02
Delete"Required of us" are the operative words. But is forced compassion performative or not? Our Dear Leaders won't bother thinking about that as long as we obey promptly and with proper deference to all righties in red hats.
DeleteTrump and the Republicans are hell bent on destroying our country, yet Somerby keeps whistling his same dumb right wing tune, without a genuine or sincere care in the world.
Delete"What explains "the wrath of MAGA?" In the course of the next two days, we'll flirt with some explanations."
ReplyDeleteI find it odd that the wrath on the left is never examined by the media or Somerby. What has kept the left's rage as bottled up as it obviously is? Is it because there are too many targets to know which to address? Is it because lefties have channeled our rage into effective opposition to Trump, building a real resistance with tangible accomplishments thwarting Trump? Has our rage gone into building the coming electoral blue wave?
Perhaps we are all just too nice. Maybe you have to grow up rural, punching cows, to direct rage toward anyone. Noem suggests that a life of puppy-shooting is needed to be a real right wing SOB. Or maybe we on the left try to deal with our frustrations in effective ways, guided by research on what promotes happiness and wellbeing?
For example, AI says:
"Colorado is a primary hub for The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, which has driven localized and nationwide kindness programs for decades, while newer state and community-level initiatives—such as the Word of Thanks weekly campaign and Manitou Springs' "Infectious Generosity" project—have been operating for roughly two to six years. Data and community feedback indicate that these campaigns are highly effective. They have successfully raised millions for local needs, boosted engagement in schools, and significantly increased measurable acts of community service." And that stuff leads to increases in personal happiness, offsetting the awfulness of Trump's terms.
That doesn't mean we have nothing to be mad about, which seems to be Somerby assumption. The right has real grievances but the concerns of we on the left are chopped liver.
There is also a phenomenon called "compassion fatigue" which arises when caregivers become burnt out and are unable to keep caring for someone with an intractable condition. This has happened between the left and right, in my opinion. I have reached the point where I no longer care about the angst on the right. It is too bad that they are suffering but they did this to themselves, and us too, and now they want to blame us? Not in this lifetime.
Fuck these evil fucks. One brief look at what El-Sayed has done to help humanity over his career would make it readily apparent that he is a mensch, not evil. What the fuck is wrong with these sick fucks?
DeleteThey want to make him into a mini-Fauci in the eyes of Republican voters.
DeleteIslamophobia is a defining feature and indeed a party platform of the GOP.
DeleteThe idea that Muhammad spoke for God is pretty dumb.
DeleteIs it dumber than the idea that Jesus Christ WAS God?
DeleteGod is a figment of dim-witted imaginations.
DeleteIn the USA, God is also a convenient excuse to support fascism.
Don't forget the Holy Ghost, cause then it totally makes sense.
DeleteJews, Christians, and Muslims all worship the same god.
DeleteThis comes as a shock to many American Christians.
Muslims even believe in Jesus, which Jews do not, so if anything Christians should feel more fellowship with Muslims than Jews.
One of the defining characteristics of Republicans is ignorance, often willful ignorance. In your face yeah what are you going to do about it ignorance.
But also, religions do not persist without indoctrination, because they are silly myths, designed to control the masses. When that indoctrination is perpetrated on youth, it is a form of abuse, one that causes the kind of unresolved trauma that then births right wingers.
Holy Ghost is a solid 70s funk song from the Bar-Kays:
https://youtu.be/ewowpT9JfcQ?si=X5QZ4r4ZEWDYliyP
Jesus was a rebel against the Roman Empire, which was the Western civilization of its day.
DeleteDidn't he say render unto Caesar what is Caesar's?
DeleteThe Jewish-Christian-Islamic God is vain and vindictive, one of the nastiest characters of world mythology.
DeleteJesus is a myth, and in the story he was a Jewish reformer rebelling against the state of Judaism at that time.
Delete5:09 is correct.
Maybe the explanation for the wrath of MAGA is that the right isn't very good at being socially appropriate. Tiedrich describes JD Vance's recent comments about 9/11:
ReplyDelete"it’s stunning how United States Vice President Couchfuck McGee can never have a normal human response to anything.
“we’re about to celebrate the 25th year [of 9/11].”
granted, the furniture molester corrects himself — but why is ‘celebrate’ where is brain goes first? who does that?
how does this guy always manage to turn every public appearance into a minefield of awkwardness?
‘so, how long have you been celebrating 9/11? HA HA, THAT’S GREAT.’
hey, do you know who actually did celebrate on 9/11?
of course you do. while the rest of us were freaking out over the smoking pile of rubble where the Twin Towers used to be, Little Donny Fuckface was phoning into TV stations to brag about how he now had the tallest building in lower Manhattan." [yes, he really did that]
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/milo-is-still-sad-jd-vance-is-still
If these people do not have any type of normal human reactions to anything, why wouldn't their rage also be over the top and weird?
And why is Somerby insisting that we must care so very very very much about a group of people who still sell "fuck your feelings" t-shirts? And where was Somerby when they first started doing that?
I wouldn't want to rub it in and hurt any right-winger's ever so important feelings, but Donald Trump is a big fat loser, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. He is going down in history as the WORST president ever. His clothes don't fit, he cheats at golf, and none of his kids like him. How's that for compassion, Somerby, you asshole?
Spot on.
DeleteMAGA people embody everything i reject about myself: stupidity, cruelty, vulgarity, a lack of empathy. etc.
DeleteThis are qualities that I possess but prefer not to acknowledge. So I am quick to recognize and focus on them when I see them in other groups.
In addition to preferring not to acknowledge such traits, I suspect that you try to curb the cruelty, stupidity, etc. and be your better self. Someone sensitive to those traits would try to remedy them in one's self. Not everyone does that.
DeleteAgree. MAGA celebrate those negative qualities, whereas you work to diminish those qualities.
DeleteAgree. We are the self-aware people. They are the hateful people.
DeleteTiedrich puts it best. People in government custody deserve humane treatment. Unless, the one in custody is a political opponent. Then, they deserve the inhumane treatment and the inhumane treatment is something to relish and enjoy.
DeleteThe rage comes from the top down, modeled by Trump and his cabinet. Tiedrich eloquently notes:
ReplyDelete"folks, that smug, haughty bastard Soybean Scott Bessent is hella mad right now. he’s furious as fuck over the fact that our nation’s press keeps asking Iran for their side of the story.
“everyone in this audience and every news outlet should be ashamed for taking a lying regime at face value.”
holy shit, my irony detector just started making shrieking noises.
‘taking a lying regime at face value’ is pretty much the job description of the White House press corps these days. they’re expected to sit quietly and dutifully transcribe the fibs and fabrications that seep from Dear Leader’s rancid anus-mouth.
heaven forfend should one of them have the temerity to question any of Donny’s kingly pronouncements — especially if the questioner is a woman.
but there’s one thing I need to know: why is the Secretary of the Treasury giving updates on the state of the don’t-you-dare-call-it-a-war on Iran? shouldn’t that be the job of someone at the Pentagon? what happened, did Piss-Drunk Pete pass out under a pile of empty vodka bottles again?
did they need to press Soybean Scott into service at the last minute? that’s the only logical reason for it.
none of this makes one lick of sense. Donny’s entire cabinet is made up of dumbfucks who have no qualifications for the jobs they’ve been given — and then they’re sent out to freelance on shit they know even less about.
...why is Couchfuck McGee even allowed out in public?
it’s all so eternally fucking dumb."
Agree.
DeleteWehner makes some completely obvious remarks about how the right has mobilized MAGA rage and Somerby praises his perspicacity? Somerby tends to do this when someone says something he agrees with. But lately he has also been promoting Atlantic and Mediaite inanities. Today he says:
ReplyDelete"(For the record: Peter Wehner, age 61, was a speechwriter for the three previous Republican presidents. He isn't a liberal squish.)"
What liberal calls another liberal a "liberal squish"? It is a derogatory term for a moderate. How does that have anything to do with identifying right wing rage? It strikes me as a gratuitous insult aimed at liberals, double inappropriate if Wehner is a Republican former speechwriter.
If you call Democrats and liberals enough names, some will start to stick, especially these off-hand slurs that Somerby puts in his essays supposedly about other topics. Do liberal squishes go around complaining about Republican rage? Does it take a Republican to notice Republican misbehavior? I don't see why any of this is true.
If a liberal wrote about this, it would be labeled smug and arrogant. Hence, only non-liberals are allowed to say it.
DeleteOne take away from today’s post: pity JD Vance. He had such a dysfunctional upbringing. All he is is vice President of the United States.
ReplyDeleteHas Somerby ever looked into the life histories of any number of liberals who also had difficult childhoods? Why didn’t it turn them into lying assholes like Vance?
We must pity JD Vance if we want to win.
DeleteWe must take Somerby’s word for it, because he is wiser than most of us, when he says that a difficult childhood turns you into a lying corrupt right winger.
DeleteSomerby's view that early childhood experiences shape personality, temperament and contribute to mental illness, have been thoroughly explored and found to not be determinative in the way Somerby thinks.
DeleteIf someone were genuinely interested in how Trump's early years contributed to his adult problems, here is some basic reading:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11883976/
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/04/often-we-are-what-we-were/
DeleteKagan said he’d always been curious about the mind and “the persistence of beliefs that are not in accord with experience,” and recalled arguing at a young age with his mother, who believed in inborn traits of personality.
“During the 1940s and ’50s, many citizens and social scientists believed that the main, if not the only, cause of the problems that plague our species were childhood experiences,” said Kagan. “This belief was an heir of Freudian ideas and the confidence of behaviorists, who were demonstrating the power of experience to shape animal behavior. It followed that anyone who discovered the specific experiences that led to a mental illness, crime, or school failure would be a hero doing God’s work. Who would not entertain the idea of becoming a child psychologist, given this Zeitgeist?”
However, as Kagan's work demonstrated, personality results from an interaction between inborn temperament, early experiences, and later life support.
Vance did accurately note that Trump is America's Hitler. Pretty good observation considering his upbringing.
DeleteSomerby's common take (mistake) is that certain specific traits (violence, conflict etc) are bred in the bone, and this take is inaccurate. Sometimes he says environment shapes people, and this is closer to being accurate. But Somerby does not care about reality, he only cares about whatever may serve his agenda.
DeleteHumans do seem to have some broad innate traits, traits that likely defined our societies for most of our existence, the prime one being egalitarianism.
Kagan did not claim that a baby arrives with a miniature adult personality. He made a narrow claim that a minority of infants have biologically influenced differences in reactivity to novelty, which probabilistically bias later inhibition or boldness.
But this needs even further qualification, Kagan found that most high reactive infants did not become uniformly shy adults, and environment altered the trajectory.
So no Kagan did not establish any innate temperament.
Researchers can not mind read, they can only infer. Then people come in with agendas and twist the research into their preferred narrative.
Further, there is often an ideological asymmetry in which selfish motivation is treated as hardheaded biological reality while generous motivation requires extraordinary proof.
In reality, behaviorists should not be handwaved away, they really were in the ballpark. Their key insight endures: to understand what someone does, examine their learning history, present circumstances and consequences, not merely an alleged trait inside them.
Humans are not blank slates, they do have broad innate traits, but it is also a mistake to observe behavioral regularity and then invent an internal trait to explain it.
A person is not located at one fixed point on a personality spectrum. The person has a range of possible responses, and where they appear on that spectrum changes with context, experience, development and their interpretation of the situation. Apparent personality stability is a recurring pattern, not an immutable substance.
Well said. Agree. Now we need Somerby to read what you've written.
DeleteWhat is the point of becoming a billionaire if you spend your life mired in red rage?
ReplyDeleteThey still have to give some tiny portion in taxes that goes to some undeserving piece of filth.
DeleteIt's better than being a not-billionaire mired in red rage.
DeleteBeyond that, the GOP has, for decades, simply used rage-baiting to pander to the masses, while they in turn use the power they get to advance their own agenda. The same is happening now. If you notice, what they are aiming for is a rigid, authoritarian system *with themselves entrenched at the top*. Russia is more or less their model, although they expect more control than the oligarchs there have now relative to that wielded by Putin.
There are plenty of Americans -- look, for example, at the perpetually sneering trolls here -- who are perfectly fine with that system as long as they are given people to victimize. They don't care about policy. They don't care about outcomes. They care about the system itself. That's why they are loyal to Trump even as he makes their lives measurably worse. So you have a basic deal: the oligarchs get the money and the power, and in return, their supporters get a hierarchy in which they, themselves, while nowhere near the top, are definitely not on the bottom.
Nobody is a better example of this deal in action than Vance. His book, pseudo-tome of bullshit that it is, shows that he clearly understands how the system works. Now that he has joined the oligarch class, he's playing the role of the oligarch, whereas once he played the role of being a member of the masses. His "rage," like his prior hillbillyism, is performative, and he's getting well paid for the act.
Agree.
DeleteIt seems so obvious. When faced with an authoritarian leader with the entire state apparatus at his control, the right answer is to have pity and compassion for that leader.
ReplyDeleteVance called someone in the other party "evil". OMG!!! Where's my couch? I'm about to faint!
ReplyDeleteYou must be quite familiar with your fighting couch, because you head for it whenever someone calls Netanyahu a warmonger.
Delete…fainting…
DeleteDavid, you do realize that republicans spread the idea that ALL democrats are evil.
DeleteTrump is evil.
DeleteDavid isn’t evil, but he is deplorable.
DeleteDavid is fucking as evil as they come.
DeleteThe Left tried to make Hitler out to be a fascist, too, just because they disagreed with how he was dealing with the Jewish problem.
DeleteNot funny
DeleteSarcasm, not humor.
DeleteFascists are fascists. Whether someone is amused or not, the point is well taken; the last thing we need are mealy-mouthed equivocators.
DeleteOne notable thing about Hillbilly Elegy, aside from being a work of fiction that Somerby has apparently fallen for, is that it is incredibly poorly written and a bore to read.
ReplyDeleteAnd that aligns well with Vance's personality, a guy that constantly lies, and yet that still doesn't save him from being an utter bore of a person.