Everyday Erinyes #99

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage.  These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that.  Even though there are many more which I can’t include.  As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

I think I may be close to breaking the code as to how people who are obviously racist can say things like “I’m absolutely not racist in the very least,” and appear to believe it.

It’s kind of like the Dunning-Kruger effect.  They don’t really understand what “racist” means, but they know it’s something bad.  So they think, “I’m a good person, so I can’t possibly be racist, because then I’d be a bad person.”

Case in point:  Joe Briggs, candidate for City Council in Suwanee, Georgia.  Technically his tweets have been “anti-semitic” rather that “racist,” but that doesn’t differentiate the sentiments, only the target group.  Most people who are the one are also the other.  Probably misogynist, too.  Here are some:

[A]t least the Nazis assimilated and contributed to US society.

Zionists in Israel far worse than anything described in Mein Kampf. Get over it.

[G]et the Jews out of the White House and out of POTUS’ ear.

I particularly note the statement that Nazis have “assimilated and contributed to US society” and its implication that Jews have not.  Mr. Briggs, Jews have assimilated so well into US society that you probably have no idea how mant contributions they have made because you don’t recognize the contributrs as Jews.  Nazis, on the other hand, have mostly contributed bigotry and hate.  Well, of course, no one is useless.  They can always serve as horrible examples.  But I’m sure that’s not what Mr. Briggs had in mind.

Mr. Briggs thinks that his political opponents are “digging up dirt on him to distract from their own failures.”  Well, distractions are not unknown in politics.  But in this case, the “dirt” that they are “digging up” is absolutely real.

Megaera, maybe you can do some explaining to him.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut – oh, by the way, if you are eating right now, or just finished eating, or about to eat, you may want to skip this section until later.  Seriously.  Now, where was I?  Oh, yes, in Connecticut.  At the University of Hartford.  Where there was a – well, let’s say a failure to communicate.  Between roommates.

One of the young ladies (need I say the white one?) complained of her roommate “posting Snapchat videos of [her] sleeping and making fun of [her]snoring.”  Oh, yeah, that’s TOTALLY a reason to stick her toothbrush up your – ahem.

She also “spit … in her coconut oil, put … moldy clam dip in her lotions, rubb[ed] used tampons on her backpack, … and so much more….”  all in order to get the woman she called “Jamaican Barbie” to move out of the room.

The victim. whose name BTW is Jasmine, was really only aware of the perp turning off the lights when she left and Jasmine was still in the room.  This did make her feel unwelcome.  She had no idea the perp was doing all this until it got bragged about on Instagram.  She had had “extreme throat pain” but did not, and does not, know what might have caused it.  (Personally I think it might have been the spit, which clearly must have contained snake venom.)

The perp has been arraigned on charges of breach of peace and criminal mischief, and, if the West Hartford police get their way, a charge of intimidation based on bigotry or bias.  She was also ordered to stay away from the college campus (reasonable, since she’s been expelled.)

Tisiphone, this does sound like one for you.

Now, from the “bad news is good news” department, a seasoned legal journalist who also happens to be a personal friend of James Comey has posted a thread on Twitter explaining why Trump’s delusional demands for the DOJ to investigate Hillary Clinton actually represent a tribute to the independence and integrity of our justice system.  This journalist is named Benjamin Wittes, and here are a couple of excerpts from his Twitter feed:

It’s strong enough that he can fulminate all he wants about investigating Clinton and still Mueller does his job, and the FBI does its job, and the men and women of the DOJ do their jobs, and none of their jobs, as our democratic polity has determined them, is to fulfill his undemocratic ambitions to loose investigators on people he doesn’t like….

And

It’s a stunning statement of presidential constraint: A president actually saying that he aspires to corrupt interference with law enforcement and can’t pull it off.  Let it warm your heart.  It certainly warms mine.

Alecto, it’s been so since the Constitution was adopted.  Keep it so.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.