Wingnut reasoning 101: The bald-assed, 180-degree projection trick
“Liberalth are thilly and dethpicable.”
Well now, where to begin? To recap this fruitful week in Sadly! history, we’d been dutifully whooping at the spelling and grammar at the right-wing evangelical PeoplePolitical site, with their Marie Jon’ (that’s how she spells it) correcting the blunders with new blunders as fast as we could spot them — until finally, something snapped in Marie’s brain, and she posted comments here accusing us of threatening her and her family’s physical safety, including a warning from the ‘MG Law Firm, New York,’ whose IP address was, puzzlingly, the same as Marie’s, in California. (As many know, while S,N!’s operation is indeed transglobal, we are headquartered in a country that we prefer to keep confidential, but whose secret code-name is ‘Deutschland.’)
And so we went around for a few days (meaning, I did) annoying friends and family by answering questions like, “Hey Gav, are you going to eat this last piece of chicken?” by barking, “I will not tolerate this threat against my personal safety.”
What made it funny — at least the first six dozen times — is that in real life, when someone makes shocking accusations like that (and we’ve all experienced this, at least in grade school), reasonable people will assume that since there’s a whole lot of smoke, there must be at least a little bit of fire. “Surely,” a reasonable adult will think, “They must have done something to make Kid X think they were threatening to strangle his puppy if he didn’t show them his wee-wee. Nobody would make up a story like that out of thin air.”
But of course, anyone who follows American politics with a clear head knows that the GOP and its fans are constantly making up accusations out of thin air, setting off tactical smear-bombs and ‘working the refs’ by simply out-and-out, bare-assedly lying about having been victimized and persecuted, knowing that some percent of the charges will stick. The genius of this tactic, as I’m reminded presently, is that an accusation can be made in moments, in a sentence, while disentangling it can take minutes and paragraphs, sapiency and an audience able (and willing) to follow the threads of discourse to a reasoned conclusion. In American political life today (as on the grade-school playground), the whooping-ass liars have an advantage in that it’s often simply too much trouble to figure out the truth — and the US media is structurally handicapped against calling flaming, howling, pants-on-fire liars, ‘liars,’ so there you go.
My respect for Marie was augmented today by the professional way she followed through with this technique. It suggests real GOP star potential. In response to our threats against her spelling and grammar’s personal safety, there appeared a mysterious site called ‘Sadly Yes,’ whose only link on the Internet was on PeoplePolitical’s front page. You can see it from there, or by scrolling down the main page a bit and hitting a link. You’ll want to experience this saga in its bizarre twists and loops, through entries and comments and field-trips off-site.
Sadly, Yes used images and comments hosted on our server, so we hacked it a couple of times putting up funny pictures and ads for other left-blogs until they figured out how we were doing it — while they kept furiously redoing the page with even better, more dog-fuckingly offensive entries, etc., etc. Then Greg H., our friend of magnanimous laurels and hearts, busted Marie here for plagiarizing her latest column from a Seventh-Day Adventist radio sermon. Like, she stole the whole damn, copyrighted thing, changed some lines and words here and there, and published it as her own work.
While we were sitiing here blinking, an angry, you’re-a-bunch-of-faggots guy from PeoplePolitical popped up in comments disavowing any responsibility of Marie’s for the parody site — she seems to have some weird operation going at PeoplePolitical in which other people design the pages and do all the work while she lounges around on a divan, hatin’ liberals and reading Brio, the magazine for spunky-funky young Christians. And then more plagiarism came to light, and you have to go look for yourself because the plot as it unreels is too entertaining not to enjoy in pure form. But here’s the mark of true GOP professionalism: When you’re spotted doing something wrong, turn it around and accuse the other person of exactly what you were doing. Marie appears again:
Sadly No has a Geek that does not display a picture of himself and hides behind a Web bog that he stole from the Hannity blog.
And again:
STOLE FROM HANNITY! You are shameless and not original at best!
http://hannity.com/forum/
Following the link brings you to a web forum with thousands upon thousands of entries, so it’s theoretically possible that Sadly, No! was somehow ‘stolen’ from something in there. But of course it wasn’t (Sean Hannity?!) — and since proving it wasn’t would take hundreds of man-hours and could lead to endless, recursive arguments over semantics and minutely-parsed interpretations of this-and-that point in this-and-that posting (see how it works?), all it would take to cast a smarmy pall on S,N!’s already justifiably low reputation, if for some reason anyone wanted to, would be to get the standard-issue set of GOP screamers repeating STOLEN FROM SEAN HANNITY! STOLEN FRON SEAN HANNITY! over and over and over for a few days, as we panickfully sifted through the data trying to clear our name, and Marie sunned herself on the deck sipping a virgin colada.
We’d be like, “No wait, Marie’s the one who copied…” STOLEN FROM HANNITY! STOLEN FROM HANNITY! “No, but she…” STOLEN FROM HANNITY! “And then we…” HANNITY-BO-BANNITY! “-squeak-” BANANA-FANNA-FO-FANNITY!
“…no, it…” FEE-FI-MO-MANNITY, TANNITY, FANNI-TAN-RANNITY!
And of course after that, reasonably-engaged, mentally healthy adults, and also most journalists, would reasonably imagine that our calling plagiarism amounted to an ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ sort of deal. At best, ‘the truth’ would be seen as being ‘somewhere in the middle.’ That’s the Bald-assed, 180-degree Projection Trick, shown here in miniature HO-gauge. Does it work over and over and over again? Sadly…Yes!
Every ‘left wing Web bog’ should have a Marie, but few are so fortunate as to have one — and perhaps none has such a magnificent and singular Marie as ours. God bless her and all who sail upon her.
Whee! Let the mayhem continue! As long as, you know, it doesn’t involve…
…dog-fucking.
‘Cos we don’t condone that here. No, sir!
Not in a way that anybody can prove. [She doesn’t know where the real photos are, does she?] Oh, what a giveaway! But society is to blame!
OK, so has the publishing co. & author she stole all that from been notified? Are you going to at least threaten her with notifiying them, to see if she’ll go even batshit-crazier?
One terrible thing about the last several years, for me at least, has been this: I always thought Freud was more quack than anything else, and then here come the Busheviks (hey, that reminds me of the Primus song “Here Come the Bastards” – gotta go check that one out again) and all their brownshirted fans to make him look like a goddamn genius. Looks like I’m going to have to slog through his writings again with a newfound appreciation.
All these twisted freaks and their transparent psychological problems. This retarded harpy thinking she’s slick by accusing you guys of plagiarism, Hindrocket lamenting the hoi polloi’s inability to appreciate the artistic depth of Bush’s presidency, and on, and on. The projection, the repression, the immature wishful thinking; man, it’s just too much to believe sometimes.
Plagarize! That’s why the good Lord made your eyes! So plagarize, plagarize, plagarize… but always be sure to call it… research!
(Doubly funny because I just plagarized Tom Lehrer.)
I feel kind of sad for Marie, we should all be supportive while she struggles with her Meth addiction.
Just saw a great piece of writing; it starts out, “When in the course of human events…” Hmmm, Wonder if Marie wrote it?
I’m convinced that Marie, as well as all her goons, are a contracted webpage content-provider out of India. It’s all a front. I guess that means they’re not liable for the plagerism either.
OK, so has the publishing co. & author she stole all that from been notified? Are you going to at least threaten her with notifiying them, to see if she’ll go even batshit-crazier?
Well, the investigation continues, but as long as it’s wingnut-on-wingnut crime, it seems unsporting to interfere.
Although hypothetically, if we wanted to be really mean, we could tell them that if they don’t keep updating Sadly Yes, then we may be forced to take appropriate action.
“Sapiency”? As in Homo sapiens? Really, a coded Latin gay threat to Marie Jon”s personal safety! What will you think of next!
I stole hannity’s car keys
does that count?
I found another little slice of intellectual dishonesty.
(Marie: http://www.newsbull.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=25235)
(Some Crazy Guy: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Basics/prosperity_of_the_ungodly.htm)
Although in this case she only seems to have yanked the paragraph about Bill Gates, Ozzy, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole thing’s a frankenstein monster made of pieces of wignutty columns.
or better yet
be forced to take INappropriate action
you get the lube, I’ll get the talking goat and the tech # for the adventists’ web host.
Yes we should start developing our demands right now.
1) Frequent updating of Sadly, Yes (at least weekly)
2) A picture of Marie Jon’ in a wet T-shirt with the following logo- “Sadly, No – I visited their Filthy Bog and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”;
3) a lifetime supply of pudding (variety of flavors).
People like Marie make me so envious – and it’s not just the ‘Jon’ thing, either, although that’s pretty cool all by itself. Finding inner peace just by uttering meaningless righteous bullsht…sigh…. it must be divine..
You know, without Marie Jon’, we wouldn’t be having nearly this much fun. I think we should send her a present. Or at least some e-cards or something.
This post and accompanying thread is the best yet, so clearly all you guys needed was a perfect foil to make your already sparkling wit into something dazzling in its otherworldly brilliance.
Seriously, we owe her. The least we could do is send her some kind of lead-lined hat so the voices in her head don’t have to shout to drown out the voices of the assorted mythological beings who tell her what to do.
He. You said Douche-land. Heh.
Marie Jon’ (every time I see that I think of ‘D’oh!’-funny, that) is the trolliest troll EVER. What an honor to have a parody site like Sadly, Yes! (which still should be ‘Happily, Yes!’) to keep us filthy, dispicable, unpatriotic and Jeebus-hatin’ lefty liberals in our places. Our Marie certainly has shown us the error of our ways. As she so rightly points out, there’s no spirit here in this bog other than contempt for God and the USA! There’s nothing a fundy evangelical likes better than a bunch of sheeple, so: Bog dwellers of Sadly, No!-let’s fall in line and DRINK THE FUCKING KOOL-AID!!!!! (Thank you, God, for Marie Jon’-she truly is the gift that keeps on giving…)
The weird thing is, the wackier she gets, the more attractive I find her.
She’s attractive in a “Play Misty For Me” kind of way….
Actually, Marie Jon’ is kinda hot (I wrote MJ first, but that’s such accepted shorthand fpr Michael Jackson that it looked really scary), and you know that when repressed prissy girls let go, there’s nothing kinkier, so…
Anyway, congratulations on one of the most fun trolls I have ever seen.
Pudding! Pudding!
Nice capture on the “Screw Ball” Gavin, I know you’ve wanted that for a long time.
I am not sure if I am interested in looks of Gavin and his collegues (forgive me, Gavin) but didn’t Marie Jon’ promise a picture of herself in a “hot pink bikini”?
What puzzles me, however, is that Marie has a writing style suggesting early teen years, and a temperament consistent with the style, and web expertise consistent with the style and temperament, and yet she has some adults working for her. (I am comparing her with another friend of Sadly No!, Amber Pavlik.) Is she a teen-age heiress?
I recommend teasing her until she sees the light and becomes a Scaife of the left, starting with a shockingly generous donation to Sadly, No!
Hey that Steve Beren guy on the PP (You said PP. Heh) site looks like V. Lenin. Are they ripping off photos too?
Looks like Marie Jon’ has pulled down the offending article. Of course it’s still available on her website:
http://peoplepolitical.org/html/marie2.html
Huh, what article? Nope never heard of it.
Whenever I visit Marie’s site I like to vote in her Polls. As of this morning the Poll was 60%+ NO and now it’s 80%+ YES. Funny that.
Hey cool, you can order a People Political thong.
Looks like Marie Jon’ has pulled down the offending article.
On a sheer, random hunch, I thought it might be a good idea to grab some copies of things last night, just in case the Internet burped and erased the ones there, as so ofen happens. Otherwise she might be like, “There was never any such column or parody site! They’re making things up!” and we’d be smacking our foreheads.
Have you figured out the Hannity thing yet? I totally don’t get it.
Is it just me, or does looking at Marie Jon’s picture bring the phrase “Pick Flick!” to mind?
I too accidentally saved screen captures of her editorials. Not sure why or how that happened but now if something terrible was to happen to either one of us Marie Jon”s genius will be perserved for posterity. Thank goodness! Jesus works in mysterious ways. Of course there’s always Google cache too.
PS, I DEMAND A “SADLY, NO!” THONG! – There is no spirit here in this thong other than sheer contempt for God and the USA! Just about sums her up right there, yessir.
Haha… A Sadly, No! thong! It’s like having a snarking chastity belt:
“I brought you flowers, mowed the lawn, cleaned my beard trimmings out of the sink, and tattled to evangelicals about Marie Jon’ – Am I gonna get any tonight?”
*points to crotch, camera pans down: >*
Well, there’s sadly no thong. That’s *almost* a Sadly, No! thong.
Jeff Seb is in charge of Sadly-related program activities, but he gay-adopted a baby not long ago, and has been really busy. I’ll ask about merch at our next all-staff gay tea dance — I think he might have plans for some already.
Thank you in some wired abstract way for paying so much attention to People Political of which I play a very small role. We have excellent writers.
The Conference office will be praying for you misguided assumptions. The only thing you think you exposed was your own silliness.
Sadly Yes has had enough time to do whatever! They also will make their departure from out Website link. People Political has work to do.” What does darkness have to do with light.” We are the LIGHT. Try to behave now, hear?
MARANATHA
Love In Him.
Marie
Oh, sweet baby Jesus with a bottle of Scotch….
Look:
youR youR youR youR youR youR youR youR
You = second person singular/plural pronoun.
Your = second person POSSESSIVE pronoun.
Please, lady, get it right before my poor noggin explodes. Immigrants don’t mangle English as badly as you do.
“Looks like Marie Jon’ has pulled down the offending article.”
Would that be the PeoplePolitical thong?
{bah dum! “G’night everybody! You’ve been great!)
Well, as Yosef once said, “Q: What’s the difference between a wingnut and a soccer ball? A: A soccer ball goes away when you kick it.”
We’ll leave the light on for ya, M.J.
I don’t suppose pointing Marie toward that recent study that shows praying for people, or at the weather, or for anything, really, has absolutely NO effect whatsoever. But then, facts and evidence tend not to effect people like her. *sigh*
It’s also astounding how she could be caught totally, red-handed at plagiarizing a column, and could then yank the column from her site, and THEN turn around and be like, “The Conference office will be praying for you misguided assumptions. The only thing you think you exposed was your own silliness.”
No explanation, no reference to the demonstrable facts, just a total alternate reality created when the ordinary, real one got uncomfortable.
“The only thing you think you exposed was your own silliness.”
Um, I do not think that sentence means what she thinks it means.
Hey, isn’t this the second time MJ has said she’ll have nothing more to do with you? What a flirt. I think she secretly likes having her pigtails pulled.
In fact, what with the PP thong (?designed to fit juniors. It fits snug, sizes run small?) advertised as something that you can ?? share a surprise message with someone special ?later.? and their ready ability to rustle up unsavoury photos and links, I?m starting to suspect PP may be a front for something else ? perhaps a Christian Porn and Adult Matchingmaking Network.
?We pray and we?ll get done.?
What I think we’re learning about Marie is that she’ll say one thing one minute, and then something totally different another minute, with no awareness that people are supposed to have, you know, a consistency to their statements and actions.
So yeah, she’s liable to come back like nothing happened. Best troll EVAH!!1!!!111!!!!!!!
What does MARANATHA mean?
What is a ‘wired’, abstract way?
Who is making a departure from out Website link with Sadly, Yes, and what is an ‘out Website link’?
This could go on forever; in her comment above alone there must be at least 6-7 sentence-slaying mistakes. I tell you, this gal is not of this world. Or at least not a native english speaker.
I think I’m in love with Marie Jon’. I’m going to give Judson Cox a call and get his mom’s dating service to hook us up.
I’m also madly, passionately in love with Marie Jon’; however, realize that Marie Jon’ is just an abstraction. She doesn’t really exist.
She’s a wingnut-bot diabolically designed by…well, someone…she’s too perfect to exist in this world. She may be part of the whole assfull ‘o secrets scheme in some way, or, as I posited earlier, a group of contracted website content-providers from India (I still think that explanation makes the most sense). Her real name is probably Vidyacharan Patel, and (s)he’s one mistake away from being back on the AOL helpline, so please cut him/her some slack.
If she is real, I’m leaving my wife.
This always happens…I fall in love with some wingnut who looks like Daphne Zuniga, then Yosef decides he wants her and I’m left out in the cold. It’s not right, I say. It’s just not right.
So, Marie practices the rhythm method. Just when things are getting good, she goes and pulls Sadly Yes. (At least I think that’s what she said.)
Isn’t she wonderful!? ENCORE! ENCORE!!
BTW, have you used your Sadly Yes link lately? Now they have that oh, so scary “Files Deleted” prank on it.
Where *is* Senator “Man on Dog” Santorum, when you need him?
Actually, Marie Jon’ is kinda hot (I wrote MJ first, but that’s such accepted shorthand fpr Michael Jackson that it looked really scary), and you know that when repressed prissy girls let go, there’s nothing kinkier, so…And *I* get mocked for wanting to give Judson Cox and The Virgin Ben the Best Blowjobs They’ll Ever Get?!?!Crazy effing heterosexuals.
Regarding Piotr’s post at 7:04 pm on August 1, that really is a picture of me. Any resemblance to Lenin is purely a coincidence.
Steve Beren
http://www.steveberen.com