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The Rise of American Schizo-Politics - The far-Left generates violence; the far-Right fulminates conspiracy.
City Journal ^ | 12 Nov, 2025 | Christopher F. Rufo

Posted on 11/12/2025 8:51:54 AM PST by MtnClimber

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1 posted on 11/12/2025 8:51:54 AM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

I agree that a small part of the population, on both sides, may be beyond reach.


2 posted on 11/12/2025 8:52:05 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

“build credible, mainstream institutions capable of commanding attention in the digital sphere”

Credible and mainstream are contradictory terms for most young people.

Those days are over.


3 posted on 11/12/2025 8:55:26 AM PST by cgbg ("The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.")
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To: MtnClimber
in which both sides’ fringes have developed a web of political narratives, conspiracies, and counter-conspiracies.

The "both sides" arguments miss the mark. Do some on the right engage in false narratives and conspiracies? Yes. But no more than they historically have. The real story is the radical authoritarian push by the Left over the past decade. The Right's reaction to it may not always have been as pristine as the National Review types may want it to be, but its a reaction to the Left's insanity. If a murderer breaks into your house and you shoot at him, "both sides" aren't engaging in bad conduct.

4 posted on 11/12/2025 8:58:47 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: MtnClimber
"the far Right"

Question: What exactly is the "far Right"?

Answer: whatever the Left says it is.

The Left thinks the far Right is Patriots who love America and freedom...their constitutionally-ensured freedom from unconstitutional federal gov't.

5 posted on 11/12/2025 9:00:40 AM PST by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: Jim W N

That answer has been the only answer since Stalin invented the term.


6 posted on 11/12/2025 9:02:13 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is goings to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: MtnClimber
The problem of right-wing conspiracism also presents a significant challenge.

Yeah, especially since so much of it turns out to be true.

7 posted on 11/12/2025 9:02:48 AM PST by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

“If a murderer breaks into your house and you shoot at him, “both sides” aren’t engaging in bad conduct.”

...unless you use racial or ethnic bad words or misgender them.

Lol.


8 posted on 11/12/2025 9:03:26 AM PST by cgbg ("The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.")
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To: MtnClimber

So many conspiracy theories turned out to be true that people no longer trust the official version of things. If you’re older, you may connect to the world through books and lived experience, so you won’t automatically accept what you see on the internet. If you’re young, you’re less likely to have that background, so you’re more likely to be at the mercy of what you can find on the internet.


9 posted on 11/12/2025 9:04:35 AM PST by x
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To: Texas Eagle

Check out the Board of Directors who control the policy of this publication:

https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/manhattan-institute-for-policy-research/

I see Bill Kristol for starters...

They even got money from Bill Gates!


10 posted on 11/12/2025 9:07:47 AM PST by cgbg ("The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.")
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To: MtnClimber

Bkmk


11 posted on 11/12/2025 9:08:25 AM PST by sauropod
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To: MtnClimber
Sad state of affairs. However it is extraordinary to see the far left and far right unite in hatred of all things Israel (and all things Jew). What insanity could make rational conservatives fall for obvious and demonstrably false lies? It could be Satan. However it may also be God’s judgment on our nation…

2 Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
12 posted on 11/12/2025 9:10:55 AM PST by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: MtnClimber

The point of the article is that conspiracy is as bad as violence.


13 posted on 11/12/2025 9:11:03 AM PST by webheart (Notice how I said all of that without any hyphens, and only complete words? )
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To: x

It is getting harder and harder to sort out legitimate conspiracy facts from erroneous conspiracy theories.

There is no fair or reliable “referee”.

How do we deal with this?


My first approach is to separate out things when can be verified from things which cannot.

Example: One poster here talked about his father who believed that the IRS no longer existed.

That we can test with a drive to a local IRS office. We can go in the door, talk to people who are there—confirm it still exists.

So—that conspiracy claim can safely be discarded.


Then there are conspiracy theories which have the opposite issue—they are non-falsifiable for all practical purposes.

When David Icke says the Queen of England is a reptilian alien we could not prove either the positive or the negative. Debating about it is hopeless and ultimately a waste of time.

Generally it is a good idea to give non falsifiable conspiracy theories a wide berth.


That leaves the interesting conspiracy theories—where evidence is there to look at—pro and con—and new evidence might become available to help settle the issues.

Those are the ones that are worth discussing—calmly with no name calling.


14 posted on 11/12/2025 9:14:32 AM PST by cgbg ("The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.")
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To: MtnClimber

If only, if only, the populace had the precise god-like objectivity that this man possesses.

However, can anyone explain that a 30.06 slug can penetrate someone’s neck but not exit, captured by one little vertebrate?


15 posted on 11/12/2025 9:15:04 AM PST by odawg
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To: MtnClimber

Whatever Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens are doing is not right wing or conservative. They are trying to make a buck or two by being flamboyant. They are capitalizing on previous popularity to become notorious because they are lost in a sea of intelligent people who are commanding the conservative media space. There are only 24 hours in a day and only so many podcasters to watch. It’s a doggy dog world. Money is measured by clicks and they and others like them need clicks to be relevant.


16 posted on 11/12/2025 9:18:32 AM PST by webheart (Notice how I said all of that without any hyphens, and only complete words? )
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To: MtnClimber
Author of the article is FOS.

The "conspiracy" lie has been successfully used for about a century. The Left paints the conservatives as paranoid for pointing them out.

True conspiracies are all over the place:

Commies in Hollywood since forever.

Trump's Piss-gate with the Russian prostitutes.

The rest of the Russian dossier.

Stealing the 2020 and the Biden installation.

The Covid manufacture, deployment, and associated psyops and other acts to ruin the economy and Trump's first term.

Jan 6 et seq.

Kennedy.

Trump's first assassination attempt.

Maybe Trump's second assassination attempt.

Kirk's assassination.

Hunter's laptop with the 51 lying co-conspirators putting their names on a letter and a magazine cover (pretty brazen if you ask me but it shows how much they rely on the tried-and-true 'conspiracy' op).

Lawfare against Trump which is about 50 more conspiracies.

And on and on.

Then some clown like the author throws in some whataboutism that refutes NONE of the actual conspiracies the Rat Commies have been doing to the good guys since WW1.

And their bogus conclusion: "See, both sides are delusional."

My message to the author is nice try a$$face but we are hip to all of your Rat ops.

17 posted on 11/12/2025 9:31:02 AM PST by caddie (Going forward we all need to become Trump, and also Captain Obvious, and Charlie Kirk too. )
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
The left *runs* on conspiracy theories, so up yours Rufo!

18 posted on 11/12/2025 9:36:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
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To: MtnClimber
The Rise of American Schizo-Politics - The far-Left generates violence; the far-Right fulminates exposes conspiracy.
19 posted on 11/12/2025 9:58:14 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Show me a RAT, I'll show you a felon.)
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To: MtnClimber
Those on the Right should...

1) Arm themselves and practice.
2) Report each and every communist whackjob.

20 posted on 11/12/2025 10:10:10 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Show me a RAT, I'll show you a felon.)
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