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In the ongoing meme war between conservatives and liberals, Twitter has become a frequent battleground. But the dismantling of a Confederate statue by a group of protesters on Monday in Durham, North Carolina, has kicked off a back and forth thats become all too familiar of late: a tweet full of conservative outrage being immediately hijacked by bemused liberals and progressives who then transform it into an expression of sheer absurdity.

In this instance, the catalyst was a tweet by actor James Woods, who saw the toppling of a racist statue as tantamount to the toppling of democracy itself:

Its mix of exaggerated patriotism and hand-wringing, along with the oddly hashtagged #liberals, made Woodss tweet prime joke fodder. And many of the responses quickly entered the realm of absurdity:

Such a response quickly became so routine that some people didnt even bother to paste the whole text of the meme:

The ever-expanding collection of statues thatve been referenced in the meme is truly, delightfully bizarre, with works ranging from the weird to the much weirder to the perverse to the hideous to the provocative to the completely WTF. If nothing else, the meme is a fun reminder of how versatile art can be.

But it also has a lot in common with other recent Twitter memes, like the Future that liberals want meme or the nothing but respect for MY president meme. Both of those earlier memes also originated from a single tweet that went viral more for its exaggerated outrage than for people supportively retweeting its contents.

And both of them, like this new statue meme, generated reactions in a specific format: the copying and pasting of the original text alongside immediately ridiculous and over-the-top images meant to reflect that exaggerated outrage.

There are plenty of Twitter memes that function around recontextualizing quotes for example, the progressive "she persisted" meme. But the theme that characterizes this particular meme trend seems to be the equating of conservative outrage with complete and utter absurdity. The more sober the original tweet is, the more hilariously unlikely its corresponding memeification is likely to be.

The future that liberals want meme might as well have been a template for this structure: You start with sincere outrage with the future that liberals want, it was a dismissive quip about a photo of a drag queen sitting next to a woman in a niqab on the New York subway and end up with dramatically manufactured outrage over, for example, an apple holding a sea trident. Thats exactly what were seeing with the statue meme, where Woodss suggestion that the removal of Confederate statues throughout the US will inevitably lead to the destruction of a famous memorial honoring Marines has spawned absurd celebrations of all the ridiculous statues, monuments, marketing gimmicks, art installations, and temporary structures that maybe need a good dismantling.

Given that the current political climate seems to make joking about sincerely held views the order of the day, dont expect the trend to fade anytime soon.

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Before the #liberals is the latest entry in Twitter's evolving absurdist meme trend - Vox

Szilrd Nmeth, a prominent parliamentarian affiliated with Hungarys ruling Fidesz party, knows who is to blame for the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia during a rally by neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan. In keeping with the politics of the Hungarian regime, Mr. Nmeth points the finger at liberal fascists, who bear full responsibility for the fatal events in this Virginia college town.

He wrote on Facebook:

Liberal fascism leads to this. It is to the detriment of the quiet, peaceful and normal majority when the possessed people of the far left, the ultra-liberal and the far right cooperate or at times battle with each other.

Mr. Nmeth then went on to commend President Donald Trumps initial statements, in which he relativized the overt racial hatred of the of neo-Nazis, who no longer even bothered to hide their identity out of any sense of shame. They spewed racial hatred on the streets of this town and confidently identified with this, not worrying about professional or personal repercussions. Once again, the presidents understanding of the situation is remarkably precise and one can only agree with his position, gushed Mr. Nmeth.

Szilrd Nmeth

Of course, after two days, Mr. Trump was pressured into unequivocally condemning the neo-Nazis. Most in the Republican party would not have found it so difficult to condemn neo-Nazism as the American president and his Hungarian supporters seem to have. In Hungary, condemning Nazism and racism will often turn you into an anti-Hungarian traitor, but not in the U.S., where there are still a handful of elderly veterans who fought in Europe during World War II. For instance, Republican Orrin Hatch from Utah had this to say:

We should call evil by its name. My brother didnt give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home

He then added about the mainly young men who marched in Charlottesville with tiki torches that are more commonly and more innocuously used in the backyards of American households duringsummer barbecues:

Their tiki torches may be fueled by citronella but their ideas are fueled by hate, & have no place in civil society.

Its unfortunate to note that in contrast to the Republican party, where one will still find dissenting voices on any number of issues (including health care, immigration or an issue such as this), Fidesz is comprised only of yes men who nod and vote as demanded of them by the Prime Ministers office. They are fully servile, always unthinking and at most express any misgivings in private. What should give some solace to those who worry about the state of liberal democracy in the U.S. is that dissenting voices in the party currently in power are still heard and there are still many with a sense of civic courage. And what should concern those who have long spoken out about Hungarys descent into authoritarian rule is that there are still so many in the West who are sufficiently blind and ill informed to see in Hungarys current government a partner in dialogue.

Originally posted here:
Charlottesville A Hungarian government politician blames the liberals - Hungarian Free Press

Washington Times

Liberals faulted for the 'stinging' failure of identity politics Washington Times Arriving Tuesday: The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics by Mark Lilla, a Columbia University humanities professor and, yes, a liberal Democrat. The 160-page book is a tough-minded, and stinging look at the failure of American ...

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Liberals faulted for the 'stinging' failure of identity politics - Washington Times

Catherine Rampell, Washington Post Writers Group

Photo: Mayra Beltran /Houston Chronicle

Liberals should look to all tools to help the poor

Extracting more money from evil, exploitative capitalists has become a rallying cry for much of the grass-roots left. In the meantime, though, its largely ignoring other important policies for lifting Americans out of poverty.

In a recent column, I urged progressives to more seriously grapple with the cumulative effects of policies that make workers more expensive to hire. More than doubling the federal minimum wage to $15, for example, would risk pricing a lot of people out of work. Especially in low-cost-of-living areas such as Mississippi, where half of all jobs pay less than $14.22.

In other words, well-intended, feel-good policies can sometimes backfire, hurting the people youre trying to help.

This humble suggestion generated a lot (like, a lot) of hate mail, along with a good follow-up question: What, then, should progressives who want to help the working poor devote their energy to?

Regarding the minimum wage, there are useful tools available to help set pay according to local costs of living. MITs Living Wage Calculator is used by some public officials and companies to determine reasonable wage floors.

More important, lots of the other anti-poverty tools deserve more love from the left in particular what might be called post-tax policies.

Pre-tax policies such as the minimum wage, overtime and fringe-benefit requirements help increase workers paychecks, with employers (and sometimes workers themselves) generally footing the bill.

Post-tax policies, by contrast, involve redistribution of income and wealth through the tax code and social safety net. Think: the earned-income tax credit (EITC), food stamps, housing vouchers, health insurance subsidies. They are about boosting living standards on the back-end, with the taxpayers paying. Relative to other rich countries, the United States relies very little on these post-tax tools.

If you look at Americas income inequality before taxes and transfers, its not great but its still about on par with France, Germany and Finland. If you look at income distribution after taking into account tax and transfer payments, we suddenly become the second-most-unequal developed economy in the world, behind Mexico.

There have been quiet efforts to expand some of these post-tax anti-poverty policies. This year alone, EITCs have been added or expanded in six states, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. But all these changes were done legislatively, rather than through well-advertised ballot initiatives. They get much less press coverage and popular organizing relative to, say, the Fight for 15.

At a conference last fall, I asked Jason Furman, then chair of President Barack Obamas Council of Economic Advisers, about the countrys reliance on pre-tax vs. post-tax measures to help boost economic security. He said he favored using both kinds of tools (as do I). But he also noted a remarkable disparity in progressive enthusiasm for the two approaches, especially relative to payoffs.

During Obamas tenure, the White House oversaw an expansion of overtime protections that was expected to put an extra $1.2 billion into workers pockets. It also helped pass tax-code changes that put an additional $28 billion in the pockets of low- and moderate-income families. Guess which inspired more attaboys?

Whatever the reason, the dearth of excitement for these post-tax policies is a strategic mistake. Programs such as the EITC and food stamps, if well-designed, complement the minimum wage. They can do things that the minimum wage cant, such as grow more generous for larger families. Critically, they also dont raise the cost of employees, which means the well-heeled business lobby is less likely to fight them.

Post-tax policies can distort labor markets too, of course especially if they result in benefit cliffs that discourage people from working more. Thats where smart design comes into play.

But every policy has limitations, which is why those on the left would do well to consider every tool at their disposal. Bleeding hearts are often helped by hard heads.

crampell@washpost.com

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Liberals should look to all tools to help the poor - San Antonio ... - mySanAntonio.com

Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenWarren asks where bank CEOs stand on customers' ability to join class action suits Labor Department seeks delay of Obama investment adviser rule Obama donors not committing to Biden MORE (D-Mass.)on Saturday pushed her party toward the left.

The potential2020 presidential candidatedeclared in a speech that progressive liberals not only can restore the Democratic Party from its disorderlystate, but that they currently control its direction, The New York Times reported.

If were going to be the people who lead the Democratic Party back from the wilderness and lead our country out of this dark time, then we cant waste energy arguing about whose issue matters more or who in our alliance should be voted off the island, Warren told the crowd at the annualNetroots Nation meeting, which was reportedly received with applause.

We are not a wing of todays Democratic Party. We are the heart and soul of todays Democratic Party, she added.

TheDemocratic Partyisnt going back to the days of welfare reform and the crime bill, Warren said. It is not going to happen.

While Warrendid not explicitly name former President Bill ClintonBill ClintonPenalties assessed by EPA decline under Trump, study finds Bill and Hillary Clinton to take questions at joint Dallas appearance Monica Lewinsky responds to Scaramucci calling New Yorker reporter 'the Linda Tripp of 2017' MORE, she went after the measures passed in his administration that the left wing of the party largely despises, reassuring the crowd not to fear a shift back toward the middle, as Clinton had done in the 1990s.

Warren supported and stumped for Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonJudge orders new search for Hillary Clinton's Benghazi emails Chance the Rapper: 'I have a bigger voice than Donald Trump' Bill and Hillary Clinton to take questions at joint Dallas appearance MORE as the Democratic nominee in the 2016 presidential campaign. However, she was one of the last Senate Democrats to announce their endorsement during the bruising primary process she waited until June.

Warren's speech at the conference, which is viewed as a testing ground for prospective presidential candidates, further fuelsbuzz that Warren plans to run for president in 2020.

The Times reported that the Massachusetts lawmaker madelittle attempt to dismiss the bid speculation.

Her speech comes amid divides within the Democratic Party. Warren alsourged the liberal crowd not to push others out of the party's movement.

She made similar comments during a recent interparty dispute over whether Democrats can disagree on their stance onabortion.

"I am strongly pro-choice. I am strongly pro-choice, and I will fight," Warren told The Huffington Post. "But that's not how everyone in the party feels."

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Warren: Liberals will 'lead the Democratic Party back from the wilderness' - The Hill