Care in naming

[dukkha]

So, I'm assuming everyone is at least vaguely aware of the Teabagger movement in the USA and the somewhat unsavoury sexual connotations that the term denotes. Well... welcome the new comic book hero of the movement: Microman. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images ... 55&s=books)

This is all going to turn out to be an elaborate performance art piece, isn't it?

[Mitra]

I thought it was the Tea Party movement.....??
to suggest similarities in ideal to the Boston Tea party??

or am i missing the point by not paying attn?

[Karjalan]

I thought it was the Tea Party movement.....??
to suggest similarities in ideal to the Boston Tea party??

or am i missing the point by not paying attn?

They call themselves the Tea Party movement, people refer to them as the Teabaggers, as a derogatory term that they more or less deserve. Bunch of people who oppose government regulations, then get angry that the government lets the oil spill happen. They get angry at raised taxes and hate Obama... even though he lowered most of their taxes...
It's a bunch of middle-upperclass white people who are pissed off, for some reason, and they are more or less supported by Fox News.

[Mitra]

It's a bunch of middle-upperclass white people who are pissed off, for some reason, and they are more or less supported by Fox News.

say no more

[Cartollomew]

A nice rundown on the Tea Party (from a very specific point of view):
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/dr ... 0Party.pdf

It's not too long, either.

One of my favourite freshly coined phrases:
You know how a movement organised by its own community in a spontaneous fashion is often called called "grassroots"?

I present to you... astroturfing!

On topic:

[dukkha]

It's called the Tea Party movement now, but when they started out they actually referred to themselves (not the movement) as teabaggers, because they carried teabag around (as a reference to the whole Boston Tea Party thing). Then, eventually, someone pointed out the hilarity of the name and they started taking offense.

[Karjalan]

It's a bunch of middle-upperclass white people who are pissed off, for some reason, and they are more or less supported by Fox News.

say no more

Haha sorry it was brief, subjective and blunt... I had just got home from work all tired and was about to nap.

It's called the Tea Party movement now, but when they started out they actually referred to themselves (not the movement) as teabaggers, because they carried teabag around (as a reference to the whole Boston Tea Party thing). Then, eventually, someone pointed out the hilarity of the name and they started taking offense.

I didn't realise they called themselves it first, but I did know they found the term offensive.

[Karjalan]

Firstly...

led by influential Republicans such as former House Majority Leader Dick Armey

Hahaha... Childish humour ftw.

Secondly, they go around calling everything Obama does Socialism, despite most of it being quite the opposite. He's supposed to be the leader of the "left" main party, but he's still pretty right of the middle.

"About ten people showed up on short notice to decry government waste and “Obama‟s socialism,” but it was a start. Rakovich was then interviewed on Fox."

Funny that they didn't show up when Bush turned a massive surplus (from Clinton) into one of the biggest deficits America has had.

Thirdly, I also like how Fox was happy to criticise protests about the Iraq war, and calling people "un-American" for going against their president at a time of war, some Fox news personalities going as far as to say "they should be executed for treason". Yet now Obama, still running Bush's same two illegal wars, is getting heat from the Tea Party movement and Fox is supporting them, showing up at rallies, then doing their objective "fair and balanced" reporting on them.

The section on Authoritarian Followers in carts link I found pretty interesting. I recall it from my brief forays into Psychology. The 10 Bullet points make for good reading (halfwayish down)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPHzNfutWwQ

It's a brief throw together of some of the issues with fox. Some clips from interviews on fox and how they work. It's biased against it I suppose, as it's intent is to show that it's dodgy and is more or less the Republican Parties lab dog. It does make some good points though. There is a homogeneous relationship between Fox, The Republican Party and the Tea Party movement.