Anyone can play

Newsweek establishes a winning formula:
Trump’s rhetoric differs from that of Nazi Germany’s, most notably because he has never advocated genocide. But Trump’s talk about Christmas coexists with re-emerging white identity politics. . . .
This has broad usefulness.  [INSERT A]'s rhetoric differs from that of [INSERT B], most notably because he has never advocated [INSERT C]. But [INSERT A]’s talk about [INSERT D] coexists with re-emerging [INSERT E] politics.
  • INSERT A
    1. Nancy Pelosi
    2. Rosie O'Donnell
    3. George Soros
    4. Paul Krugman

  • INSERT B
    1. the Khmer Rouge
    2. the New York Times
    3. the Southern Poverty Law Center
    4. the Man-Boy Love Association

  • INSERT C
    1. income inequality
    2. diversity
    3. cultural appropriation
    4. spelling reform

  • INSERT D
    1. child pornography
    2. mandatory sensitivity training for bakers
    3. forcible gender reassignment
    4. book burning

  • INSERT E
    1. "woke"
    2. New New Left
    3. deficit-hawk
    4. intellectual malfeasance

6 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Well put. It's so esy to say that A sounds so much like B, who is a known evil person.

If you squint hard enough, anything looks like anything.

I admit that I'm not fond of an aggressive tone to "Merry Christmas," however.

E Hines said...

I admit that I'm not fond of an aggressive tone to "Merry Christmas," however.

I don't see it as any different, or any worse, than the knee jerk "thank you for your service," or "Hi, howarya."

I also don't mind making a point of saying it to a Liberal or a Freedom from Religion Foundation person.

Eric Hines

jaed said...

The thing that tells me the most about how far Newsweek has fallen, honestly, is the redundancy in the first clause. When you can't even afford hire headline writers who know better than to say "differs from that of X's", you've hit bottom.

(Shaking head sadly....)

Texan99 said...

Newsweek's redundant use of "that of" with the possessive coexists with talk about intersectional appropriation.

E Hines said...

Newsweek's redundant use of "that of" with the possessive coexists with talk about intersectional appropriation.

Even more so from Newsweek's use of "that of" with the contraction for "X is."

Eric Hines

Tom said...

Well, everything happening today "coexists with re-emerging white identity politics".

So, Christina Maza's own article differs from the rhetoric of Nazi Germany, most notably because she doesn't call for genocide, but it coexists with re-emerging white identity politics ...

No, really, that is the most notable difference, though there are a million others.

Also: But critics counter that Trump is promoting a version of the holidays that excludes members of other religions, and that his crusade to bring back Christmas is part of a larger attempt by the president to define America as a country for white Christians alone.

So, black, Asian, Native American, Arabic, etc., Christians don't say "Merry Christmas"? Really?

More to the point, does Maza advocate for a more religiously inclusive Ramadan?

Christmas actually has the name "Christ" in it. It is explicitly a Christian holiday. I have no problem with people of other faiths having their own religious celebrations, or atheists and agnostics celebrating Festivus, or whatever. But Christmas is not a religiously inclusive holiday. This kind of attack seems anti-Christian.