Ian Marsden
Like an empty gasbag should? I guess he’s still ranting on the radio, but I haven’t heard from him in years, and apparently he hasn’t mellowed or acquired the wisdom of age yet. He’s still one of those people who is responsible for some of the worst science denialism, like this:
The first thing to notice about Greta Thunberg is that she’s 16 years old. She claims she has Ansperger’s type — Ausperger’s — or autism — Asperger’s — some kind of problem in that area.
And so she is made the Person of the Year by Time magazine, which is what? A political news magazine. Greta Thunberg has been introduced into the political arena by the worldwide left, including the Democrat Party. They have made her a political figure. They do this on purpose.
So she’s out tweeting and politicizing, and she is free to lie and say whatever she wants to say about climate change and who’s responsible for it. And nobody is permitted to question her, you see, because she has — what did they call it? She is in the autism spectrum, so you can’t disagree, you can’t question, because she’s not well.
So. Much. Wrong.
Yes, Time Magazine’s person of the year is popular fluff chosen to sell magazines. It doesn’t mean much, except that it throws a certain kind of person into a tizzy. There is no “worldwide left”, it’s very disorganized, and the Democratic Party is a centrist political party at best, not at all aligned with the Left. Time Magazine is right-centrist outlet that is not controlled by the Left, nor does it lean Left by any sensible meaning of the word.
Greta Thunberg has achieved notoriety because she ably represents a scientific consensus, and is angry and vocal about the way the Old Guard has wrecked the environment and set us on a path to environmental catastrophe. This shouldn’t be an exclusively Leftist awareness; the only reason it has a political dimension is because the Right, including decrepit gasbags like Limbaugh, have made a refusal to recognize the consequences of our technological/industrial/capitalist society. Reality ought to be apolitical. Our process for dealing with reality is most definitely a political concern. But the Right is simply refusing to deal, denying the observable phenomena looming on the horizon and sweeping in fast.
Thunberg is autistic. That is simply a different way of thinking, and to label it as a “problem” or “not well” is disgraceful. She has made her autism a strength and has used her personality to present her ideas forcefully to the world community, and has constantly demonstrated her effectiveness as an advocate. Never has she hidden behind her nature to refuse to answer questions or to disallow any questioning. However, flatly declaring her ill to avoid addressing the problems she presents is not questioning her — if you want to criticize her, go ahead, discuss the evidence against global climate change.
Limbaugh can’t, because there isn’t any, and also because he’s an ignorant coward who’d rather label someone with a syndrome so he doesn’t have to face his shortcomings.
You know things are getting bad when RushBo crawls out from whatever slime pit he’s been hiding in for the last couple decades and returns to the national stage. It’s almost like 1998 all over again. Rush is attacking a teenager and denying climate change.
Rush Limbaugh is not above attacking children.
https://youtu.be/DtUlEfuM-xU
https://youtu.be/b8Zx5dnOTP4
That show was the forerunner of Fox News for what Ailes us.
Until I saw a reference to him about six months ago, I thought Rush Limbaugh was dead. Pity.
BTW, outside the USA, I think the Democrats would be considered a Right Wing party.
As the British joke goes: “The Republican Party is like our Tory Party; the Democratic Party is like…..um….our Tory Party”
Over here in Europe, the US Democratic party could not survive as one party. FPTP keeps them “united” against the far right, represented by the Republicans. In a PR system, they would pretty quickly split into different parties on very different parts of the political spectrum.
And talking about spectrums: Hey, Rush, from yet another Aspie: You’re high on my list of potential B-Ark passengers. But no need for interstellar distances; Mars would do.
I’ve known several people with Asperger’s Syndrome. They’re all highly functional and successful, nothing noticeably wrong with them. They mostly tend to hyper focus on what they’re involved with, not a bad thing.
TIL Rush Limbaugh is still alive.
Sorry, Limbaugh is still around along with the sick industry that he spawned and which has since metastasized to asocial media.
It may shock you to learn that some of us old-timers still twiddle the dials on our AM/FM radios and watch over-the-air broadcast TeeVee.
Classy act, that Limbaugh. When someone has a condition that makes him look bad for launching vitriolic personal attacks, he attacks her for having the condition that makes him look bad for launching vitriolic personal attacks.
Limbaugh’s ageing along with his fan-base. He’s gonna be another of those Jerry Falwell/Oral Roberts assholes spitting hatred even as they’re being lowered into the grave. Just nail that lid down tight and maybe put some garlic around it. I’m just saying.
Depending on how you live your life (in particular, what “knowing” someone means in your life), you may also have known several unsuccessful and/or low-functioning people with Asperger’s Syndrome, without having knowledge that the last fact. Or, the group of unsuccessful and/or low functioning people that you know may just be very small, in which case it probably wouldn’t be wise to draw any conclusions at all about whatever factors they may have in common (e.g., if you only know one unsuccessful person, then whether or not that person has Asperger’s syndrome is pretty weak evidence of anything about the links between unsucess and either the presence or the absence of the syndrome).
So, Limbaugh says that Time only picks the person of the year that is leftist, so Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and both President Bush types and Charles Lindbergh were all leftists.
Got him.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2019712,00.html
So, we know he’s back on drugs again.
And such a quality complainer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh#Drug_policy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh#Prescription_drug_addiction
He’s also the tool that started the claim that all mass shooters are false flag leftists.
But, to borrow a page from his book, but actually provide evidence, he returned from the Dominican Republic with a suitcase full of Viagra in 2006. One wonders what other drugs he’s successfully smuggled in…
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rush-limbaugh-detained-with-viagra/
@1:
As you will recall from his 2006 “Dominican Republic stag party with mislabeled Viagra” scandal, Limbaugh is apparently fond of attacking teenagers in a number of senses.
If Limbaugh represents “normal” thinking, I want off right now. Thunberg, whatever her exact situation, has empathy and eloquence. Her views are also backed by evidence. Who cares what label anyone wants to attach to her?
wzrd1 @11: By Limbaugh’s standards, all of them probably were way too liberal.
wzrd1 @ 11
It probably never occurs to most rank-and-file conservatives that any of these people were PotY. Even if they did, the utter audacity of anyone acknowledging Ms. Thunberg and her politics is so beyond the pale, they’re too outraged to consider anything else. Limbaugh is counting on them not knowing and never checking.
wzrd1@11 How did you miss the 1938 Man of the Year?
2016 Time Person of the Year goes to:
https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/
And 2001:
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2020227_2020306,00.html
We never heard the end of that one. Despise Biden but he nails this: “There’s only three things [Giuliani] mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb and 9/11.”
Rush Limpbum IS dead. That is simply one more blindingly obvious fact that he and his rotting zombie horde refuse to accept.
@jkrideau; I am afraid to say that our Tory Party is no longer like the Tory Party; it was always mostly loathsome but is now mutating into something much more like the Italian Lega or Fidesz in Hungary.
I felt sorry of Al Franken ,he had to listen to rush fatberg to get material for his book rush fatberg is a big fat idiot .
For that reason alone he deserves another chance at public office.
@leerudolph, # 10:
“Depending on how you live your life (in particular, what “knowing” someone means in your life), you may also have known several unsuccessful and/or low-functioning people with Asperger’s Syndrome, without having knowledge that the last fact. Or, the group of unsuccessful and/or low functioning people that you know may just be very small, in which case it probably wouldn’t be wise to draw any conclusions at all about whatever factors they may have in common (e.g., if you only know one unsuccessful person, then whether or not that person has Asperger’s syndrome is pretty weak evidence of anything about the links between unsucess and either the presence or the absence of the syndrome).”
I don’t get your point. My point was just that people with Asperger’s aren’t much different from people who don’t have Asperger’s. Also, it’s wrong to make fun of them for that. BTW, the only people I know of who have Asperger’s are people who’ve told me they have it. I can’t tell just by looking at someone.
Didn’t he flee Florida the last time a hurricane hit it?
Aspies got rolled fully into autism spectrum in last DSM revision. I’ve met people on far end of autism and that condition is often a rough thing for them and caregivers. Aspies are a milder case and in some ways often gifted. I’ve never been tested, but given I’m more task oriented vs. interpersonal I could have Aspie traits. But who doesn’t? It’s a spectrum. Friends used to derisively call me a book of facts. I can be callous and perturbed by idle chit-chat. Yet I’m far more messy than ordered. And not really into trains or collection pastimes. My developmentally disabled paternal uncle collected sports cards. Quirks. I have them too.
I used to want to explain my nerdiness in terms of Asperger’s, but I think I miss autism spectrum on significant grounds. Taking something like this as a guide I am hit or miss.
Let’s see. I am usually introverted and not great with eye contact. I have unusual, obsessive hobbies and would blurt stuff out about them at inappropriate times if I didn’t know better. I can be tactlessly honest (but well into middle age I have learned the gentle art of shutting up). I can come across as cold and flippant. A lot of the time I just find that nobody cares about something I care deeply about (cellular automata theory) and I really don’t care about what they care about (sports for instance) and it’s a pain in the ass to pretend so I usually don’t.
On the other hand, I have good facial recognition and memory. I tend to think in terms of what I believe other people are thinking (Sally Anne test) though I don’t trust my judgment the way extroverts do. I usually understand jokes, though I often find one thing a lot funnier than most people and vice versa.
I’m just, eh, eccentric, a weirdo, whatever. But it appears to require a different explanation.
I have had close friends who definitely seem more on the Asperger side of nerdiness, but I get along with them because we share a lot of interests. I think there is a package of traits that has not been fully teased apart, and people are very quick to shoehorn certain kinds of behavior into Asperger’s for lack of anything better.
There’s a tendency toward identifying with symptoms but in https://autismcitizen.org/autism-a-learners-guide/common-traits/
“ Gives spontaneous comments which seem to have no connection to the current conversation.
Makes honest, but inappropriate observations.
Seems unable to understand another’s feelings.
Prefers to be alone, aloft or overly-friendly.
Difficulty maintaining friendships.
Talks excessively about one or two topics (dinosaurs, movies, etc.).
Minimal acknowledgement of others.
Cursing when angry (some have Tourette Syndrome and repeat ‘bad’ words uncontrollably).
Obsessions with objects, ideas or desires.
Unusual spelling habits, such as using the European spelling of some words like ‘behaviour’ or individual spellings like ‘attourney.’
Quotes movies or video games.
Perfectionism in certain areas.
Difficulty attending to some tasks.
Gross motor skills are developmentally behind peers (riding a bike, skating, running).
Extreme fear (phobia) for no apparent reason.
Verbal outbursts.
Difficulty waiting for their turn (such as in a line).
Exceptionally high skills in some areas and very low in others.
Frequent gas (flatulence, burping)”
I guess I am not entirely symptomatic but the above apply.
Rushbaugh is a bad actor, and I would say that we could just write him off except for the fact that like all odious right-wing media personalities, he has a following that acts on what he says. Less so that Ben Shapiro or Stephen Chowder these days, but still.
There’s something that bothers me about about discussion of Greta Thunberg that’s difficult to articulate. Thunberg herself has been pretty clear that her activism is not about her, it’s about young people working together to get those in power to act on the obvious environmental crisis that’s going on. Yet the media is doing what they do and making a spectacle out of her face, speeches, and interactions with people, and in so doing giving the right an avatar to focus their aggression on. All the while, the planet’s biosphere is still headed off of a cliff.
Ishikiri, the scummy media always attacks the messenger who says what they don’t want to hear.
Lofty@27–
Too true. If Christ himself were to return tomorrow, perform a thousand miracles on live tv, and announce THOU SHALT NOT BURN COAL, the right wing christian reactionaries would invent a conspiracy theory to dismiss him as a false flag operation.
@Lofty, #27:
Reactionary elements of the media like Fox News are attacking her, but most of the media seems to be fawning over her and lifting her up as some sort inspirational icon, like with the Time Person of the Year. I like Thunberg and applaud her activism, but even she would tell people not to pay attention to her but to the impending environmental catastrophe and the people in power who are precipitating it.
I’m basking in the fact that this is the 30th post in an string vaguely related to climate change and we haven’t had a sighting yet of the Gerrard bot attacking the ebil greenies.
It was rather amazing to watch all those presumably adult men having vitriolic temper-tantrums like psychotic 6 year olds.
To every non-idiot watching it just shows they couldn’t think about anything at all to say about the actual issue.
And were to stupid to just keep their mouths shut, at least that wouldn’t have been so revealing.