Friday, March 08, 2013

Think Fast, An Angry Hungry Mob of Urban Warfare Gangsters . . .


Honest bunnies have to admit that it is impossible to figure out the dysfunction of denial, however, we often get a taste of it at Easter dinner, after the chocolate eggs have been delivered and consumed, when Uncle Lew begins to hold forth over the creamed carrots.  The scams that our nearest and dearest fall for are scary, they are meant to be scary, scary separates the marks from their money.  Rick Perlstein called it the long con and was eerily accurate (as you shall see and hear to your cost if you dare start the video below )
The strategic alliance of snake-oil vendors and conservative true believers points up evidence of another successful long march, of tactics designed to corral fleeceable multitudes all in one place—and the formation of a cast of mind that makes it hard for either them or us to discern where the ideological con ended and the money con began.  .
But the New Right’s business model was dishonest in more than its revenue structure. Its very message—the alarmist vision of White Protestant Civilization Besieged that propelled fundraising pitch after fundraising pitch—was confabulatory too. 
There is more, and anybunny who has not read Perlstein in the Baffler, go do so now.

As Perlstein, Eli is also on a couple of remailing lists that are, shall we say curiously right wing, probably owning to the Rabett making comments here and there.  While they are ostensibly political lists, they have nothing against selling space to the grifters, a great example of which is below.  Start it if you dare, but think about it as a Uncle Lew test.   Eli also advises strongly turning the speakers down to zero before inserting head into vice, but if and when the bunnies do so, reflect on Christopher Monckton, Anthony Watts, the Pielkes and the others selling their oilfields in the placenta.

How to deal with your denialist Uncle?  Ask him how much he spends on right wing bling.
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20 comments:

Jason said...

Well, at least there's testable predictions. No more Rice Krispies.

Rattus Norvegicus said...

We're going to turn into Greece, Greece I tell you. Then zombies will infest the streets. And we will all be buried in FEMA plastic coffins after we are killed by drug crazed mobs!

Sadly, this mindset is sadly prevalent in a certain (conservative) segment of the American public. Don't ask me why...

Sou said...

Do you mean that video is for real? I thought it was a send up, along the lines of Sacha Baron Cohen's new character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w833cAs9EN0

BTW the video started playing all by itself as soon as I reached your page.

Steve Bloom said...

Great post, but the autoplay is impolite. Substitute a screenshot with link if you can't kill that, please.

Greg said...

You gotta wonder, if the US dollar is about to become worthless, why does this guy want 39 of them from me?

Hank Roberts said...

> autoplay

If you have Javascript on by default, something much worse than this will eventually autoplay with your computer. https://www.google.com/search?q=turn+java+off

Then you get a little icon and you can right click to unleash it and let it run.

Or not.

EliRabett said...

Fixed and so to bed

dhogaza said...

Hank, JavaScript and Java are unrelated other than name. It is the auto-loading and running of Java applets, not JavaScript, that you should be disabling until Oracle manages to plug the hole that have been found recently. Your search, at least, queries Java (correct!) not JavaScript.

NetScape caused endless confusion that refuses to die when they decided to rename "LiveScript" to be "JavaScript" eons ago.

willard said...

I resent his lack of faith in prayer.

I blame Obama.

Hank Roberts said...

Javascript ...
... turn+java+off

Apt correction, thank you.

Java and Javascript are different; some sites do require Javascript. https://www.google.com/search?q=turn+javascript+off

Anonymous said...

That video provides so many moments of mirth, I also thought it must be a send-up of preppers. Nice catch by Greg--I wonder how Mr. Survival gets PayPal to convert orders into gold bullion?

A couple of highlights of hilarity:
@1:24 "The information I'm about to share is EXTREMELY time sensitive." Followed by 18 minutes of blah, blah, buy my home study course.
@6:52, "(totally real, by the way...)" Reminds me of the Python sketch where Graham Chapman walks up to the peasant farmer and says, "He's right, you know that?"
@7:11 "I'm not one to brag." No, not at all.

Pretty boring stuff, otherwise, but kinda makes me hope the gubmint starts rounding them up soon, so they're not disappointed.

Taylor B

dhogaza said...

"Java and Javascript are different; some sites do require Javascript. https://www.google.com/search?q=turn+javascript+off"


Many, many sites require Javascript, and the trend is growing. A lot of sites coming out due to this round of SF start-up mania (I happen to work for one of them) simply won't work with JS.

So turning it off is fine if you don't depend on any site with a heavily interactive UI (such as google docs).

Fortunately, JS's security model is much more robust than Java's, Personally I have Java turned off (actually Apple has done it automatically for me and everyone else), JS turned on. I work for a security start-up and that's what we have our employees do.

Regardless, auto-start videos are gross, glad Eli fixed that :)

Neven said...

1.20: "Prepare to learn that this Rabett hole goes a lot further than you think it does."

bill said...

People, people: Firefox + NoScript = no videos (or any of their more-dubious relatives) running themselves automatically, impolitely, and quite possibly dangerously!

Can it really be true that there are folks browsing in the wilds of the global intertubes sans this most basic of protections?

A small, ironic ad - add 'AdBlockPlus' to your list of 'add-ons' and never see a commercial again. Seriously.

Anonymous said...

That was one long, boring commercial - couldn't make the end of the world interesting...

Anonymous said...

Anonymouse sez:
Haha it is funny because the denialists and survivalists think global climate collapse means more for them (after about 2 years?)! I am going to bed.

dhogaza said...

"Can it really be true that there are folks browsing in the wilds of the global intertubes sans this most basic of protections?"

Well, yes, very large numbers of software engineering professionals like myself. Many modern online tools require it, for better or worse.

The recaptcha widget you see when you post here, for instance, is chock-full of JavaScript. I've not tried it with JavaScript disabled, but at minimum you'll lose functionality.


JS is not Java.

Here is what the security experts at Sophos have to say. They know more than you do:

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/01/16/java-is-not-javascript-tell-your-friends/

bill said...

One might wonder how I was able to post if I wasn't able to activate the appropriate javascript!

But I remain, as ever, 'umble, and consider myself chastised...

dhogaza said...

"losing functionality" is not the same as "losing all functionality".

There are increasing numbers of sites where you'll essentially lose the ability to use the site if you disable JS. That's because industry's pretty confident that security holes have been plugged. It's much easier for JS than for Java or that incarnation of the devil known as ActiveX.

I pointed you and others to Sophos, who are recognized security experts.

I work in the field myself, but I don't expect that to carry weight with you, because you don't know me from Adam or some random Russian mafia site hacker. But it's true, it is who I am.

If the sites you peruse work fine w/o JS, certainly, disable it. Unfortunately this isn't likely to be true relatively soon in the future. Personally, I don't like the trend, but not for security reasons.

Anyway, this is a huge diversion. Disabling JS isn't (as far as we know today) going to make your browsing more secure. If you mistakenly disable JS instead of Java, you are at risk of being hosed. So be sure, at least, to disable Java.

If you really mistrust the modern infrastructure, use Lynx. Seriously. It may be the only tool you feel comfortable with.

Former Skeptic said...

LOL. One should read this interview with Watts after viewing the video.