“Politics isn’t a game”

Written By: - Date published: 6:25 am, January 16th, 2018 - 27 comments
Categories: International, us politics - Tags: , ,

Someone wrote something in the Herald about why Tr*mp’s first year wasn’t that bad. Branko Marcetic tweeted a thread saying nope and explaining why:

27 comments on ““Politics isn’t a game” ”

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  1. Grey Area 1
    16 January 2018 at 6:59 am

    The “Someone” was Heather du Plessis-Allen. Anything she writes is generally easily debunked as it is so weak to start with.

  2. North 2
    16 January 2018 at 7:16 am

    Most of Plastic-Allan’s stuff comes over like it was perfunctorily dashed out and emailed off between 6,00 and 6.45 pm of an early Saturday evening. With a night of ‘fabulous’ cafe society arse-licking ahead. Facile. Just facile. An earnest, moderately informed fifth former could probably do as ‘well’.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      16 January 2018 at 10:57 am

      An earnest, moderately informed fifth former could probably do as ‘well’.

      Would do quite significantly better as they’d tell the truth rather than lie for their own benefit.

  3. Obtrectator 3
    16 January 2018 at 9:40 am

    Sorry, but I get lost in trying to sort out what are:

    (a) extracts from the article being commented on,
    (b) the actual comments by the Standard author,
    (c) peoples’ replies to those comments, and
    (d) the author’s responses to those replies

    So many things appear twice.

    So many things appear twice.

    Any chance this material could be presented in a less confusing way?

    • weka 3.1
      16 January 2018 at 10:37 am

      Not really, sorry. Twitter doesn’t allow one to quote tweets singly without stripping out the quoted content within the tweet, which would mean I’d have to do 3x the amount of work to get the post legible (e.g. I’d have to pull out each individual quote or image within each tweet and find a way to post it separately and still in order. I did try and then gave up).

      The first two sentences were me. The rest are all tweets by Branco. What device and OS and browser are you on? It should at least be easy to see the outline of each double or single tweet. Maybe try a different device or browser.

      btw, Branco wrote the piece at The Spinoff linked in the last tweet. It’s basically a rewrite of his twitter thread, so you could just read that instead (that’s why it’s linked).

      • Obtrectator 3.1.1
        16 January 2018 at 6:47 pm

        Not to worry, weka. Just thought it might be worth enquiring. The item does read a lot better on Joe90’s link (comment 3.2 below) – thanks, Joe!

  4. esoteric pineapples 4
    16 January 2018 at 9:42 am

    It’s a shame that instead of enjoying his Sunday he had to spend his time responding to a troll column

  5. adam 5
    16 January 2018 at 1:03 pm

    Odd, in the context of liberalism I would have thought an apt description of politics is just that – it’s a game.

    • weka 5.1
      16 January 2018 at 3:48 pm

      I suppose that’s the problem of being fixated on Liberalism.

      • adam 5.1.1
        16 January 2018 at 9:10 pm

        It’s the world you live in.

        • weka 5.1.1.1
          17 January 2018 at 11:45 am

          Well it’s obviously the world *you live in, so carry on treating politics as a game. I’ve got better things to do with my time.

          • adam 5.1.1.1.1
            18 January 2018 at 2:26 am

            Why are you taking my statements personally, and in turn making assumptions? Common theme by people lately.

            My point is simple, if we live in a world dominated by liberal capitalism, then the only game in town is where the majority of people lose. If you play by the rules as they stand, you’re playing their game, and realistically, you’re losing.

            • weka 5.1.1.1.1.1
              18 January 2018 at 1:34 pm

              When you said “it’s the world you live in”, I took that to mean you were talking about me (which is how most people would take that phrase in this context). So of course I am going to push back against someone trying to define my reality.

              I live in a world much bigger than the one dominated by liberal capitalism. It’s not the only game in town despite the huge damage it is doing. I don’t play but its rules except where I have to and where it suits the larger agenda. That’s not me taking anything personally, it’s me pointing out that there are other ways to understand the world.

              • adam …
                18 January 2018 at 7:44 pm

                You can understand it any way you like weka, but reality is dominated by liberal capitalism. And just by saying “I think different”, don’t change reality.

                • weka …
                  18 January 2018 at 7:48 pm

                  that’s you asserting your own “I think different”. What interests me more is why you think that you are right and I am wrong, or why your belief is the most important.

                  • adam …
                    18 January 2018 at 8:00 pm

                    I’m not right. It’s not a game I play.

                    I’m just pointing out, that society is dominated by an ideology.

                    One I know you don’t like either, but it does not stop it being dominate.

                    • weka …
                      18 January 2018 at 10:04 pm

                      Lots of ideologies in the dominant culture. I think Liberalism is a late comer myself. But that’s not the only world I live in.

    • Carolyn_Nth 5.2
      17 January 2018 at 7:57 am

      How so?

      In standard definitions of liberalism, I do not see that as a key feature.

      Is it as much to do with capitalism as liberalism?

      • adam 5.2.1
        17 January 2018 at 10:34 am

        I may be making a mistake here, but capitalism and liberalism are at this point welded together.

      • Bill 5.2.2
        17 January 2018 at 12:31 pm

        Capitalism and liberalism* rose hand in hand, each excusing and enabling the other. It isn’t for no reason that the term “liberal capitalism” is used to describe the political economy that sits opposite state capitalism (ie – command economy).

        *Liberalism was only one expression of liberatory thought. It has no exclusive claim to “good” and is inexorably wedded to a quite heinous economic idea – ie, capitalism.

  6. Jackel 6
    17 January 2018 at 7:28 am

    Capitalism, a successful failure, its most apt mascot his most self loved the Don.

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