I feel valued » « Blinded by the Right

The arsenal of democracy and justice

While it does commit the sin of failing to label an axis, it’s still a good point.

I had to look it up, but it seems the cost of an incredibly effective weapon against white nationalists is only about $2.25. A bargain! I am disappointed by one thing, though.

McDonald’s also has strawberry and chocolate shakes, but everyone seems to have an unconscious bias favoring vanilla. Please, can we overcome white bias? Other places must sell shakes in other flavors, like blueberry and mint. I’d like to see a concerted effort to paint fascists all the colors of the rainbow.

I feel valued » « Blinded by the Right

Comments

  2. eleanor says

    It has been confirmed that at least one of the Carl Benjamin drenchings was almond-milk-based. Shame it wasn’t soy…

  3. Jeremy Shaffer says

    Or a peach-flavored milkshake, for the “freeze peach” warriors among them.

  4. Mrdead Inmypocket says

    The irony is that “Sargon” is enamored with historical figures. We used to pelt pernicious figures with rotten vegetables and eggs. Maybe we should consider getting back to our historical roots in some ways.

    I mean I can see the appeal, it’s gratifying to see the right melt under the weight of a frosty, sugary treat.

  5. says

    Carl of Swindon after being doused with a soy beverage: “I’m melting, I’m melting! Wait, no, it’s worse! I’m SJWing! I’m SJWing!”

  8. drst says

    I mean, pelting Sargon of all people with a chocolate soy milkshake seems like such an obvious goal scorer.

  12. blf says

    This Milkshake Spring isn’t political violence — it’s political theatre:

    […]
    What a lot of crying over a spilt milkshake. Since broadcaster and sometime politician Nigel Farage got covered in sticky banana and salted caramel in Newcastle on Monday, the air has been thick with condemnation.

    Normal campaigning is becoming impossible, tweeted the far-right leader, before pleading for “civilised democracy” — a new tune from a man who warned that unless he gets his precise flavour of Brexit he would don khaki, pick up a rifle and head for the frontlines. [… T]he professionally outraged have taken to social media and TV studio sofas, bemoaning the debasement of our politics and whatever else they can squeeze into their allotted two and a half minutes.

    Although no fan of lobbing objects at others, or indeed of high-sugar dairy products, I must confess that my greatest upset was not on behalf of the contemptible Farage but at the revelation that milkshakes now cost £5.25. Nor did I shed a single tear when the far-right Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, took repeated dousings after he publicly accused every single Muslim of getting away with the 7/7 [London tube] bombings. And when it was the turn of Carl Benjamin, whose most notable life achievement has been to joke about the MP Jess Phillips getting raped, I laughed. If this is Britain’s Milkshake Spring and these are its targets, then I can imagine worse.

    […] When, in the 1970 general election, the prime minister, Harold Wilson, took a raw egg to his suit, he quipped, “If the Tories get in, in five years no one will be able to afford to buy an egg.”

    Compare such sangfroid with the reaction of Robinson’s gang to the twentysomething Asian lad whose drink “slipped” out of his hand, or a rather soggy Farage blasting his phalanx of bodyguards for their complete failure. Then again, Wilson had lived through an actual world war, which would teach anyone a sense of perspective, while today’s extremists are simply plastic hardmen who hail any passing scrap after closing time in a market town as going to war.

    […]

    More importantly, the serried ranks of self-appointed grownups who tut that milk protesters are setting Britain on a (very) slippery slope to major violence get things precisely the wrong way round. We have had major violence very recently in our politics, and it has been authored by the far right. Never forget that during the EU referendum campaign of 2016 the Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death on a Yorkshire street by a man shouting Britain first. […] Days later, [Farge] basked in a poll victory that he claimed had been won without a single bullet being fired, even as the gunman […] was about to face a court.

    By contrast, chucking a milkshake is not political violence at all; it is political theatre, of a kind shared down the ages and across countries. Indeed, the best modern example comes from Bogotá. In 1995, Antanas Mockus became mayor of the Colombian capital, winning a landslide on his promise to root out corruption. [… He tackled] one of Bogotá’s most intractable problems, the chaos on its roads. Colombian tough guys paid no heed to red lights, while traffic policemen were figures of state authority it was a solemn duty to threaten. Result: jams, crashes, gridlock. Mockus’s answer was to hire 420 mime artists to stand at key junctions across the city. Jaywalkers were followed by clowns in facepaint, imitating them. Similar mockery was dished out to impatient drivers. And which machito wanted that? Within months, pedestrians obeying traffic signals jumped from 26% to 75%.

    This traffic-buster relied on humour and context — just as the milkshake protests do. Britain today is infested with violent thugs and gutter politicians, who pretend that just because they can put on a suit they are legit. And just as in Bogotá, the normal checks and balances of our democracy are not working. […]

    So in comes the milkshake, to reduce men of pomp to figures of ridicule. For once, the news-satire shows won’t feature Farage as a guest of honour but as a butt of humour. The milkshake […] reminds everyone that these grotesques aren’t “normal”; that they are purveyors of hate and guzzlers of largesse from the transnational rich. For all its flaws and inadequacies, the Milkshake Spring is a reminder of what actual politics from below look like, even while the media play along with the idea that ex-BNP convicts and men who laugh about rape are somehow in line with “real people”.

    Even if [Farage’s] Brexit party romps home in Thursday’s polls, the final sound ringing in Farage’s ears won’t be applause and cheers. It will be the screeching laughter of the boy following him as he squelched his way out of Newcastle city centre and back to a taxi. […]

  13. says

    Strawberry is fine for all -those gay-hating white extremists but really to absolutely make your point, chocolate is the go. Not coffee though its too good to waste. For the ultimate put down of these morons though you need to go nuclear and use a thick shake.

  14. KG says

    Overt racism has shown a sharp rise in the UK since the Brexit referendum in 2016. Not one of the scumbags subjected to a “milkshaking” has, to my knowledge, expressed the slightest concern about this. Of course we’ve had plenty of “you-should-refute-bad-ideas-not-throw-milkshakes whining from “centrist” commentators and freeze peachers as this trend in political theatre has taken off. Rape threats (Benjamin), antisemitic dog whistles (Farage), and multiple acts for violence (Yaxley-Lennon) are not “bad ideas”. They are deliberate assaults on rational argument and real freedom of speech.

  15. gijoel says

    Slightly off topic

    Mockus’s answer was to hire 420 mime artists to stand at key junctions across the city.Jaywalkers were followed by clowns in facepaint, imitating them. Similar mockery was dished out to impatient drivers.

    This is genius.

  16. DanDare says

    We had the various eggings in Australia leading up to the last disastrous election. It leaves me in turmoil.
    Its assault.
    But its harmless.
    But it might escelate.
    But its effective.
    But its not an argument.
    But finally people know there is an argument.
    But it can be used by the bad guys.
    But we are getting to the point where we must do something about the bad guys.

  17. dianne says

    Right wingers use guns, knives, and cars to attack the people they disagree with and that’s excused by the right wing as “lone wolves” and “freedom”. Leftists occasionally throw a milkshake and it’s like they nuked Republican/UKIP/AfD/Whatever HQ.

  18. davidc1 says

    Our nigel was too chicken to get off his campaign bus today ,there were around three people armed with
    milkshakes waiting for him .

  19. KG says

    But its not an argument. – DanDare@16

    Of course it’s not an argument – that’s a large part of the point. It’s political theatre – see blf’s link and extracts @12. Its targets are people whose appeal is not any “arguments” they might present, but relies on their lies, bigotry, shamelessness, and more or less open espousal of violence.

  20. says

    News – “Violent clashes after Tommy Robinson rally in Salford”:

    Police have made arrests after anti-racism campaigners were pelted with bricks and eggs following a Tommy Robinson campaign rally in Salford.

    Three anti-racism activists suffered bruising and cuts after they were hit by rocks.

    Trouble flared when objects were thrown at a group of about 50 counter-protesters who were being escorted away from the event by police.

    The Guardian saw a boy and a man being arrested as about 30 police officers struggled to contain the disorder.

    Nahella Ashraf, the chair of Stand Up to Racism in Manchester, said bricks were thrown at their campaigners by youngsters as they were being led away.

    Eggs and sticks were also thrown at police officers.

    The trouble flared shortly after Robinson’s final campaign rally ahead of the European parliamentary elections on Thursday.

    The anti-racism activists were briefly held in a car park by police before they were escorted away down a housing estate in Lower Broughton, when they were pelted with objects.

    Nahella Ashraf, chair of Stand Up to Racism in Manchester, said: “As activists left the sutr rally we were attacked by a large group of Tommy Robinson supporters throwing, eggs, bricks and bottles.

    They were clearly racist thugs looking for a fight. This is what he represents.

    “Violence, racism and hate follow Robinson wherever he goes. Some of his supporters made the seig heil gesture.

    This shows the nazi nature of his supporters. Tommy Robinson is a fascist and has no place in mainstream politics.

    We urge everyone to use their vote to ensure he does not get elected as an MEP.”

    I’m not sure how this is a “clash,” unless something was left out.