Andrew Parker

Thanks! It's totally clear that both "is old" and "has a Nazi tattoo" are part of what determines your support for a candidate.

Do all candidates have "flaws" comparable to having a Nazi tattoo?

In your assessment, is "being old" more, or less, of a flaw than "having a Nazi tattoo"?

I think you're describing how most viewers experience their own moral and ethical codes.

The problem is more in how media teaches us to view other people being unempathetic. We learn that if a character is an unempathetic jackass he's probably a genius, which when applied to the real world...

There’s an entire era of shows that treated sociopathy as a sign of intellect, and we are in some ways living the result of a society being convinced that if someone doesn’t give a shit about how their actions affect others it’s probably because they’re a genius too smart for our silly empathy.

I’m saying he has a Nazi tattoo and there is more evidence, and more reliable evidence, for him knowing what it was long beforehand rather than learning about it suddenly during the campaign.

Whether he’s a 4chan edgelord, a Wheraboo, a Nazi, or just an asshole doesn’t change that.

Perhaps I misunderstood, when you said “I’m not basing my support for candidates on their body art” I thought you meant it wasn’t a factor at all.

Did you mean that it *is* a factor you take into account?

I’m just asking questions, Reid.

You won’t base your support for candidates for what they choose to put on their bodies, but will base it on their body involuntarily aging?

Knowing what Nazi symbols are is more suspicious than putting one on your body?

There really does seem to be this idea that if you really catch someone who did something bad they have to admit it. Like it’s a magical compulsion.

That’s not how humans work. He’s not going to go “oh, you found out about my Nazi tattoo, well played, I’ll admit I knew what it was and drop out”

Why do you take him at his word? Is it that uncommon in your view for politicians to lie?

Do you give any credence to the statements (and his own Reddit posts in threads about the totenkopf) from former staff and acquaintances that he did know?

It turns out that if you spend too much time seasoning without cooking, you can wind up with rot.

Just so I can understand:

“Old” for you is more disqualifying than “Nazi tattoo”?

If the analysis of Operation Hannibal I found is accurate (and fuck if I know but this number sounds right) a U-boat could transport maybe 30 survivors.

How would U-boats rescuing survivors even *work*?

1. Submarines don’t have extra space

2. U-boats mostly operated away from German surface vessels because Germany didn’t have enough surface vessels, or fuel, and are slower and less stealthy than a U-boat

So who’s supposedly rescuing survivors?

Between this and Ryan Grim, Drop Site has a weird number of reporters trying to rehab Nazi shit as not really that bad by just straight up lying.

There’s something gross as hell about how defenders of Platner consistently try to frame it as an issue of a “dumb tattoo” rather than what it is.

If you don’t define a war aim no one can say you didn’t meet it.

People so used to America as the exclusive aggressor that “America pulls out” returns everything to the status quo ante.

To the surprise of no decent human beings, it turns out that "I'm just asking about whether these special circumstances justify discriminating against and dehumanizing this minority group" is just a foot-in-the-door for bigotry writ large.

I'm not sure I can come up with a less effective dunk on Trump than "I define America first this way, and what Trump is doing isn't very America first."

For his supporters "America first" is much more about tone and vibe than specific policy actions.

For the rest of us, we don't want it at all.

I suppose a 20 watt tea light candle does, in the most technical sense, illuminate. And even something as small as shedding light on the rambling and incoherent beliefs of one person is therefore "illuminating."

I am consistently both impressed and dismayed by the ability of evangelicals to look at every prior prediction of "this is what fulfills this prophecy, the end times are here" being wrong and say "no, but this time it'll happen"

"When we declare we've won they've essentially surrendered" is an... interesting way to try to avoid the embarrassment of the "mission accomplished" banner.

Actually, no, it sounds like a new category of gear Blizzard announces as even better than legendary gear in a desperate bid to get players to buy the new expansion because they can get even better bestest gear now.

Crimean War, maybe?

I honestly don't know if that makes it better or worse...

Well, I suppose if you're starting an ill-fated decades-long war in the Middle East you'd want people with experience in starting an ill-fated and decades-long war in the Middle East.

What the fuck are "exquisite class" weapons and why does it sound like someone talking about the sweet gear they got off of Onyxia?

I’d also say there’s a different standard between someone saying “I’ve read a lot of books about this” and “I’ve studied this.”

Though, yeah, even without the evidence Platner knew what the symbol was, the onus is on the dude getting the tattoo to double-check “is this a Nazi thing”

Lord grant me the unearned confidence to believe that me failing to learn something after years of study proves no one knows it rather than that I sucked at studying.