Why I Focused On The Damage Report When Others Are Equal Or Worse

I've ragged on The Damage Report and John Iadarola pretty heavily, having criticized the show harshly on my ante-penultimate and penultimate posts whilst my last one severely criticized their parent channel, The young Turks, for falsely presenting info and asking for donations based on that false impression they willingly gave. However, and though I could be wrong, I think responsibility for that sleazy act lies entirely with a TYT individual, and I can live with calling it out without having to point a finger at anyone, but I see fairness in subtracting its ugly weight from my critiques of TDR and/or Iadarola, unless proven differently.  

Also, it's only fair that I should point out that, obviously, I do have a beef with TDR (and more so with TYT), but it's nothing that targets them specifically. I'm coming back to writing and active journalism after an absence of many years because 2020 triggered that deep need to externalize and voice all that's otherwise swelling into a ball within me. As mentioned in my first piece on TDR, it's not a channel I was familiar with, but it struck a chord in that it provides plenty of examples that perfectly typify a serious issue that's made all the more ridiculous by the absolute and complete lack of self-awareness exhibited by leftists who showcase, and in far worse ways, the very behaviour they vehemently associate with anyone that doesn't push their correct leftist agenda, and which they proudly reinforce as rightist monstrosities amongst themselves despite actuality and any and all proof to the contrary. 

There's a mania that's gotten hold of the left, and it's more than "Trump Derangement Syndrome," which I see as just a lame way to blame Trump for the consequences of the times on an instability that's shifted the Left harder Left. Google "Left gone crazy" or some such variance. You may not want to admit it, but out of all who are bathing in disinformation, the left is drowning.  You're all your worst enemies, reinforcing for one another gross generalizations shaped by Hollywood, and rammed to silliness by MSM, that have few real-life analogues. Your words betray this. It's a lengthy subject I want to explore through an ongoing series as the semiotics at play particularly interest me, and I won't go in more depth here, but if you don't believe me, would you believe the left-wing bastions that did write on this? Most take on an academic perspective, though The Atlantic covers it well with, "How the Left Lost Its Mind."

If you look at all the vids and montages and memes on the Internet, you'll see some vulgar hick-chick in sweatpants attacking some Latino with Kraft salad dressing at a Walmart, and some burly trucker fondling his Confederate flag as he shouts racial slurs… that type of stuff for the "Evil Right", but then, for the Left, prominent actors and business men and politicians on top of all the ‘normals’ foaming at the mouth with expletives and extremely hostile calls for violent actions to "terminate" the Right! Yikes.

And that's what now defines a major divide that the Left-Right dichotomy doesn't capture: A Loony Left (L-L) and those who fear it.

And, because you're probably thinking it: The Proud Boys are a gang with zero political affiliations other than their vote; they represent, what, maybe 0.012% of what you attribute to being 98% of all non-Democrats? We'll skip over white supremacists since that'd be like saying all Democrats are eco-terrorists that should be on the FBI and NSA watchlists, so let’s also avoid discussing Antifa, a portion of which is a paid political tool, thus, not really Antifa, anyway...

Why is it the left wants nothing more but to terminate the right while claiming to believe in democracy, when the right, which is more like a hodgepodge of non-neo-leftists, which now includes tons from the old Left who couldn't stand the craziness and/or the Establishment anymore, and who, along with the hardline traditional Right getting increasingly lost in there somewhere, prefer divorcing the L-L they now identify as a loony threat that’s dying to lynch them. Notice that those who headed Left are staunch anti-Trumpers who forged a right out of your left?  

Exactly. This Left-Right shit needs an Up n’ Down. Or new vocabulary. I kinda like “Loony-Left”. If you’re able to take a step back, you will, too.

As the Atlantic article indicates, there's no rhyme or reason to whom the Left sees as enemy, what it chooses to see as valid, and what they accept as proof, there's only anger and hate, which is insanely disproportionate given the reality you accept and defend versus what is and what’s plausible.

I kid you not, all that Trump hate you’re feeling, there’s maybe 10% to 15% that’s justified out of what’s been beaten into you by the MSM and Democratic spin doctors, along with all the left-created BS that spreads through social media like rectal cancer. And the L-L loves to hold on to these broad lies for dear life. MSM really did a job on you guys, so much so that you approach simply examining the non-MSM-approved narrative with all the trepidation and embarrassment of a teen buying their first box of condoms, these feelings being amplified by being in a town that prides itself on abstinence, where everyone preaches it in between breathing while doubters are branded unpatriotic scum worth tarring and feathering out of town. Meanwhile, behind closed doors, everyone is doing it anally to avoid pregnancy because no one is brave enough to buy condoms. And they’ve all been unconsciously trained to have a Pavlovian reaction that has them denigrating a whole segment of town folks the minute MSM mentions the words “conspiracy theory”, making it impossible to discuss many worrisome things and clearing a path towards open and honest and unnecessarily burdened purchases of condoms.

Biden signals a return to even greater control being applied through that loony loop of shame and getting fucked while your back is turned, and anyone who is opposed is just being a Nazi for not wanting to bend over before the Establishment slips it in, binding all even more tightly to the forces the very same Left claimed to despise a few years ago??? All so very loony!

Should journalists investigate this or add to it, like cheerleaders rooting for their team?   

There’s absolutely no reason anyone should react with that level of bile towards President Trump if one could stomach what’s been in the White House for at least the past 40 years. The main difference: Trump actually wants to please Jane and Joe America, and his transparency re governmental actions disrupts all and disturbs the leftists, and it’s been weaponised against him rather than appreciated, but between his Manhattan-Real-Estate back-alley sort of politics that doesn’t quite jive with people’s usual expectation of polished BS dressed up for diplomacy but mostly to hide the real politics playing out, I see far more evil in all the admins that preceded his, which includes Biden.   

Again, don’t jump to extremes! I’m not talking about the Left’s refusal to buy into batshit stuff, a prime example being QAnon, but do know that QAnon supporters are a tiny flock of the non-L.L. (plus, I’ve also got every reason to believe, as I express in a piece that’s not yet online, that QAnon was part of a leftist PsyOps). No, I’m talking about basic stuff on which you base so much unhealthy hate and all subsequent reactions and decisions.

Yet, all you have to do is look beyond the funnelled & filtered picture painted by MSM and their soundbites.

I included the already “classic” kids-in-cages as one of many examples of clear lies being cyclically rammed back into people’s minds and psyche, since it’s mentioned in the first video below. The blurb is from an Associated Press Fact Check, so it’s fair to say that THEY KNOW their own pictures better than the Left. Clicking anywhere on the blurb will take you to the original.

And consider how Machiavellian it was of Michelle Obama to turn this against Trump when all he did was pretty much maintain, with lower numbers, what her husband and Biden put in place. And every single President since Reagan got to the White House, and are on record with, “build a wall” as a political promise, by the way.
 

So, having said all that, and before l lay off this channel (for a while, at least), I wanted to briefly highlight  two videos, drawing attention to simple aspects that readily establish TYT Network as an ideological propaganda outfit whose hosts dare adopt such a condescending and judgy attitude (it’s made all the more obvious when they try to hide it)  when they themselves are just as guilty of shoddy reporting, peddling false info, and seem to place fanning hate as their numero uno priority.  The Loony Left.

I DO NOT however, unless something were to demonstrate otherwise, believe them to be nefarious individuals (I’m not so sure about whomever thought the TYT donation scam was a good idea, why I took the time to specify that I abstract that offence out of this critique), and I employ “propaganda outfit” to identify the outcome of such an informational approach, not its intent, as it operates in ways more akin to cheerleaders talking trash against the other team, and for their team’s fans, than with actual reporting. Their feelings of superiority and their arrogance derives out of the leftist ideology, not personal flaws, is my impression.

Having delved into negatives, and before returning to them, allow me to say that I find TDR's main host, John Iadarola, along with Francesca Fiorentini, who is the host of Newsbroke on AJ+ and of The Bitchuation Room podcast (both shows that I'm not familiar with) to be quite competent as hosts, possessing a level of ease and comfort that's both engaging and familiar and comforting... which is what makes it so infuriating to have to watch and listen to these two pass judgement from their bubble, clearly clueless, as discussed above, re the following:

1. The Left and Right division, ditto for Republican and Democrat, are but formalisms that still mean something within the Establishment, but very little to far too many who are outside of it and its mindset;

2. The important shift that has occurred, and the social and personality profiles that now make up the fragments that loosely identify with one of the two traditional divisions—but only for voting purposes—and how these have very little affinity with the life-long, die-hard party supporters which presently define the extremes but only in relatively small numbers.    

3. The lexical and semantic divergence taking root around key political terms and concepts and how the MSM contributes towards this, forging antagonism between individuals who—if not caught up in constant put downs towards those they qualify as enemies as they waste so much senseless energy on each other rather than properly targeting this angst at politicians—would otherwise realise just how surprisingly similar everyone's demands are, and how ridiculous all this hatred amongst citizens really is;   

4. The hate that the Left applauds and is directly responsible for maintaining and proliferating (look at your comments, TDR; your content does all to encourage, and to open up, hate against your, and your viewers', neighbours based on stereotyped and oft very erroneous or exaggerated views and/or facts);

5. The disturbingly two-tiered-in-two-separate-worlds system of logic and justice that the L-L applies in any of their political assessments, and a disconcerting and pathological willingness to shrug off, or a refusal to acknowledge, far worse deeds or damning evidence should it bring any semblance of positive to the Right;

6. The very real role you play in creating and disseminating Fake News.

With that, now here’s the first video; all those points can be seen here:

The title alone, “Trump Wants Marshall Law…” qualifies the vid as Fake News since it makes a clear statement of facts based on a fabricated assumption which can’t be backed by direct evidence. They allude to this at some point, explaining it with, ‘well, if there’s talk about it, it must mean Trump wants it.’

Loony.

But this here, folks, is a perfect example of one type of Fake News. How many people bought the title as fact and are walking this earth pumped and primed, convinced that the Left must be prepared for violence by being violent first to protect themselves from the Tyrant Nazi Trump? Look at the comments, and look me in the eye and tell me you think I’m full of shit.    

That Michael Flynn went on Greg Kelly and explained his views of Trump’s options and pointed out that the popular notion re Marshall Law is flawed and passing that as a declaration of intent from Trump...

Loony.

That Michael Flynn is all gun-ho is, maybe, ‘cause he’s exactly that, a gun-ho ex-military who’s been trained to approach problems in a gun-ho manner, and he’s pissed off for what they did to him and eager to be loyal to Trump for seeing him through the crap, BUT it does NOT confirm any of Trump's thoughts or "wants"! And, yeah, yeah, yeah… Flynn perjured himself, he's a crazy conspiracy fetishist with mommy issues, obviously, I mean, you know, Trump! But are you familiar with all the facts and the situation the Obama criminals had put him in? Amazes me how that’s never weighed against all the deep a-holes that veritably lied, real nasty lies, too, to Congress, the Courts, and to all the American people, and who got a pat on the back if not a big bonus cheque. But Flynn is the crazy criminal, not a highly-experienced Intelligence officer who’s aware of some dirty laundry; no parallel should be drawn with Snowden… because: Trump!

Loony.  

By the way, the legality of it all points to the Insurrection Act as the logical option, not Marshall Law.

And why must it always be about generating hate against an entity? That’s the whole Establishment machine and MSM’s formula… that ain’t “independent” in the least!

What’s wrong with a headline like, “There's Talk of Marshall Law in the Air,” or similar. The arrogant certainty adopted based on the craziest of logic is just… loony!

Is this done as a ra-ra cheerleading chant where all that matters is putting down the other team, psyche them out, so to speak, and true information is for uncool nerds who just don’t understand how “the game is played”? Does it stem out of a desire to be irresponsible, or the inability to see how this, and all those who emulate this “style” of so-called journalism, once amplified through the Internet, is greatly responsible for much hate as well as for why info outlets are now portals to alternate universes, and why no one can adequately substantiate a single reality all can attest to being what was lived.

Yet, the Left is condescending in its assertion that it knows the exact truth, while all sustains an opinion that they’re the most clueless of all. What’s that called? Dunning–Kruger effect?  

Not having grasped the real divisions involved, which implies not understanding their politics, is also why, in his alarmist, fear-mongering take on the matter on TDR’s The Young Turks parent channel, albeit with the slightly better title, "Trump is Considering Martial Law," the first thing Cenk Uygur does is express confusion as he states, "Right-wingers standing up to Trump, that's a twist, and [mumbling] right-wingers being called out as not sufficiently right-wingers [shakes head], unbelievable, unbelievable."

Well, exactly! Kinda sad that this aspect seems too abstract or obscure for many to grasp, sadder still when journalists/reporters are playing the stupid party game whilst convinced they're acting like journalists/reporters. 

Point 1, above, has been clear to some of us for quite some time, and it's been rather frustrating to have to deal with those with their heads up their 'bubbles', obstinately holding on to modes that aren't currently relevant yet remain as the means on which the majority depend on to serve up their identity and single out the people they're meant to hate, why I mostly find myself on the defensive with almost everyone, as the Left automatically assume I'm a Fascist Nazi (so tired of hearing/reading that ignorant oxymoron) the instant I don’t join in to shit on Trump, and the old Right thinks I'm a Leftist shill who's secretly trying to piss on their parade. 

Damn, whatever happened to that whole spectrum along with all those worlds of possibility that used to lie in between???  At least the term "centrist" has regained some awareness, but have you never bothered to ask why, from one person to another, the definition one ascribes to each has become hyper-personal, centred around the self, not policies, so that, currently, ten different people will give you ten different answers with odd left-of-Right or Right-of-centre-left types of categories making a strong sudden showing?

As journalists, shouldn't one be sensitive to such things? Has the two-party mentality been so well inculcated in generations that seeing beyond its confines requires some tying down and a cattle prod?

More to be said on that video, but, armed with those six points I provided, make it a game, and see how many you can spot, and lemme know.

Lastly, this second video:

This one is titled, "Republican Insults Americans After Half-Ass Relief Package," and, while claiming that Republicans are delighting in using up the last minutes of stimulus negotiations to "slip in just a few more insults to the people" with glee, Sen. John Thune is the Republican that's the subject in their title phrase.

Just this to say: I’m still waiting for the insult, which we’re told to wait for, it's coming after the interview, which fades out to credits... there's never a return to the main headline topic??? WTF, indeed!
This renders a sensible piece into an entirely false one with a misleading headline that promotes a hate it never even substantiates in any way whatsoever, yet it did generate a lot of hate and bigoted blanket statements in the comments section (and beyond), as many confirmed their hate given just how sickening an insult that was. No one seems to have noticed that the meat was missing from the steak they'd been told was coming.

Now that is really, really loony!

Clearly, Iadarola and Fiorentini aren't morons, and I do get the feeling that they aim to be professional news folk, so what’s really at play? Examining that is my main focus, not just ragging on YouTube folks.

Dang it! I swear this was gonna be just two quick paragraphs! How do I manage to do that, each time???