Dumbest Thing I've Ever Heard: 7/26/2023
Fifth Place: Elon Musk
Remember Elon's rather confusing move to change Twitter to "X"? Well Mediaite reports today that "There Is a ‘100 Percent Chance’ Twitter Will Be Sued Over New X Branding, According to Trademark Expert." You see, it turns out that nine thundered different companies use the "X" on their brand in some form or another, including both Microsoft and Meta. Meaning Elon not only decided to change one of the most highly recognizable logos on the internet to something present on my keyboard, but he also did so in such a way where he could get sued because it turns out everyone else had that same idea.
You know, there's a lot of speculation that Elon bought Twitter specifically to run it into the ground, I'm not going to say I believe it--some rich people are just crazy (Google Marville sometime if you want evidence of that)--but I see why so many people believe it.
Fourth Place: Ben Shapiro
I talked about Greg Gutfeld yesterday, whose comments have been condemned by other staff at Fox News, a Holocaust survivor, and the White House since yesterday's post. However, one person was perfectly willing to defend what Greg said, Ben Shapiro:
No one said there was anything good about slavery or the Holocaust. They said that resilient human beings sometimes are capable of making the best of their horrific situations. Which, of course, is true. That, of course, is true. That's the story of the heroism of the slaves making the best of one of the world's worst situations in human history. Same thing with Holocaust survivors. Like, trying to survive, trying to cultivate a skill set while undergoing the worst horrors a human being can imagine. But, of course, they have to lie. They have to lie.
Here's the problem: That's not what Gutfeld said. He didn't say that human beings used their already existing cleverness to survive this situation (although that would still be offensive due to the implication that those who died were somehow just less intelligent than those who did not) but that this gave them the chance to learn new skills which helped them in life.
And by the way Ben, you yourself say you have family members who died in the Holocaust. Are you telling me they just weren't clever enough and that's why they died? In that case, fuck you.
Third Place: Matteo Cina
Media Matters gave Ben Shapiro sometimes new to defend tomorrow with their reporting today "Fox News staffer: 'It is hard to talk about the Holocaust and rising anti semitism without discussing Jewish presence in banking.'" Specifically, the article takes aim at things the assistant for Fox News Digital and former writer for Texas Governor Greg Abbot has previously written on TikTok.
This is just nonsense: Antisemitism in Europe in the twentieth century had nothing to do with the amount of Jews who controlled the banks or whatever, it had to do with the longstanding tradition of that same bigotry which existed in Europe since its inception, largely due to the belief that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. The fact is, what this man said could only be seen as apologetics for antisemitism and it should be condemned by everybody who sees it.
Second Place: Glenn Beck
I think this headline from The Daily Beast sums up this situation perfectly: "Glenn Beck Demands Target, a Store He's Actively Boycotting, Sell His Book."
First Place: Ron DeSantis
Remember that ad a member of a DeSantis campaign retweeted with the fascist symbol on screen? It turns out a member of the DeSantis campaign also made the ad in the first place, said person being Nate Hochman who is also a contributor to National Review and a fellow at the Claremont Institute.
I talked yesterday about how DeSantis seems to be using the same platform as other second place religious right zealots, but I want to point out that he is the only person running a campaign with this problem. No other campaign--from either side of the isle--has had this many issues with fascists entering and spreading their views on the same level Ron has. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was beaten up by the media--rightfully so--for one antisemitic comment, but DeSantis's constant fascist problem is seemingly being ignored. This is, hands down, the friendliest Presidential campaign to fascists I've ever seen, and I think that anybody has ever seen if you look at post-World War Two American history and exclude openly fascist parties. Trent Lott was forced out of his role of Senate Majority Leader for praising his segregationist friend Strom Thurmond just two decades ago, now we have people running for President using openly fascist symbols and nobody seems to notice.
Ron DeSantis, you've done the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
