July 12, 2016

"So now we have a situation in which Team Clinton has scared citizens into thinking the threat to their lives is mostly domestic, coming from Trump, Trump supporters, and anyone who looks like them."

"People who are scared will act. And we see those actions now in terms of violence against police, violence against Trump supporters, and death threats to bloggers such as me. And we already have one attempted Trump assassination."

Writes Scott Adams.

ADDED, after reading a few of the comments: How should a smart person read Adams? You shouldn't take the statements at face value. He's talking about the art of persuasion, so he's performing the art even as he talks about it. You need to get to the next level and see what he's trying to persuade you to think. It might be something as simple as: He's the master of persuasion. If you want to train yourself, look at this cute video of Adams supposedly hypnotizing his dog Snickers. Think one more step forward and you'll see that Adams is also persuading you of his power to hypnotize the dog. Overtly, Adams is saying that the dog believes the food coming from his hand is better than the same food when it's sitting in the dish, because the dog could just eat all the food it wants right out of the dish, but nevertheless waits for him to pick up the food and feed it from the hand. If you believed that, you were tricked, however. Adams told you what you should believe, but if you believed it, you were failing to develop alternate theories of why the dog waited for the food, such as the dog's enjoyment of hand-feeding. Maybe the dog was the master persuader, intent on causing his man to pick up food and hand it to him and pleased to see it happen one more time. I'm not eating out of that bowl. You pick it up and hand it to me.

And now, you commenters, have caused me to hand feed you again.

75 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I do not judge Scott Adams to be a credible source of information, not even about Scott Adams.

Curious George said...

"And we already have one attempted Trump assassination."

We did? How'd I miss that?

Anonymous said...

Ye gods! Adams is brilliant! So we are seeing racial unrest because Hillary has been scaring the pants off of black people? Couldn't have had anything at all to do with black men being killed by police under questionable circumstances.

Tommy Duncan said...

Adams has the ability to step back form events and provide perspective. This is a useful example.

Meanwhile, Eric the Fruit Bat is solely focused on the government supplied mangoes, and is oblivious to the mango grove.

rhhardin said...

No number of dead is too many for Democrats if it means they'll be office.

Republicans aren't willing to kill people for that.

Anonymous said...

"So far, Trump has showed a willingness to annihilate any professional politician that gets in the way. And he’s annihilated professional reporters and news organizations that got in his way. And he’s tough on non-citizens. But Trump hasn’t tried to turn American citizens against each other."

Really? I recall yells emanating from Trumps large mouth calling to his rally goers encouraging violence toward the protestors. Offers to pay the rally goers' legal fees if they beat up the protestor. What alternate reality does Adams reside in? No wonder he has lost speaking gigs and money, he is an idiot.

Bob Boyd said...

"How'd I miss that?"

That's what the shooter said.

Unknown said...

Actually, I believe there has been two attempts to assassinate Trump already.

One was in Vegas, I believe, where a man showed up with the incredibly ...... brilliant idea to swipe a gun from a police officer and shoot Trump. Thankfully, Trump's security was more on the ball than the courthouse security in Michigan. Still, the man had flown to Vegas intending to kill Trump.

That one was hushed up because violence is supposedly a feature of the right, even though all the political violence this year has been started by Democrats.

I think there was another attempt, but I cannot remember the details.

--Vance

MadisonMan said...

Maybe a press reporter will ask Hillary about this during her Press Conference.

If she ever has one.

Fernandinande said...

A Billary supporter wrote:

Using the two Pilates exercises, I illuminate how perceived kinesthetic understandings of race in the body may be normalized and privileged

rehajm said...

an abrasive agent to rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; to fan latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expressions.

Thanks Uncle Saul!

Humperdink said...

Adams: "But Trump hasn’t tried to turn American citizens against each other. Clinton has, and successfully so."

Hilda has a taken a cue from the Divider-in-Chief. Worked for him, so she figures it will work for her. I doubt it.

Her "white people gotta change" comment will not help her.

Brando said...

"But Trump hasn’t tried to turn American citizens against each other."

Perhaps this qualifies as "Trumpster Derangement Syndrome". Whether you think Trump has been justified in encouraging beatings at his rallies, or his attacks on his own fellow Republicans to say nothing of the Democrats, the idea that he "hasn't tried to turn American citizens against each other" is truly deranged.

Aside from that and the risible notion that Adams is afraid for his security (so afraid that he says he's only pretending to support Hillary, right on his blog), there's actually a worthwhile point in his post. A lot of the cause of police violence disproportionately affecting black men probably has to do with targeting high crime areas and the instinctive reactions blacks will have towards police. It's well worth considering rather than assuming cops are just prejudiced.

Anonymous said...

I think Adams does make a point, though indirectly. I think that there are a number of voters. Union Democrats, for one, and Hispanics whose primary tongue is English for another, who may openly speak favorably about Hill, but will pull the lever for Donald.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

And now, you commenters, have caused me to hand feel you again.

Somewhere, Freud is smiling...

traditionalguy said...

The GOP Bushies are just as active as Hillary is at spreading the Trump is dangerous meme all over TV. He is dangerous in spreading the truth about Globalist conspiracy programs.

I suspect several Lone nut cases with military training backgrounds are gearing up now to get to Trump and shut him up.

David said...

"And now, you commenters, have caused me to hand feel you again."

There are some commenters who have been hoping for that deep deep in their hearts. But you are teasing, aren't you?

Humperdink said...

"The GOP Bushies are just as active as Hillary is at spreading the Trump is dangerous meme all over TV."

GOP voters were smart enough kiss-off the Bushes. The D's with Clinton? Not so much.

As an aside, am I the one amused by the label "Team Clinton"? Reminds me Al Capone walking around the dinner table shouting "team" with a baseball bat in his hands in the movie "The Untouchables".

lgv said...

Great analogy to the dog. It explains why I don't read anything Scott Adams writes anymore. Whenever he posits something, I always immediately think he's wrong. After reading further, I am still never able to buy into his argument. I keep thinking, "That dog won't hunt" as they say in the south.

I thought it was just me, but this explains things much better.

David said...

"So we are seeing racial unrest because Hillary has been scaring the pants off of black people? Couldn't have had anything at all to do with black men being killed by police under questionable circumstances."

Obviously true that it has"something" to do with it, but then why aren't whites (killed in far greater number by the cops) not all fired up too?

The day after the Minneapolis shooting a two year old black child was killed by another black person in a drive by shooting. Another child was injured along with some adults. Heard anything about that? Where is the outrage?

The point is that race mongering is badly distorting the debate and making it impossible to define the problem accurately. You can't solve a problem when you are unwilling to define properly.

Anonymous said...

Eh, I think many commenters here see through what Adams is trying to do with every single layer of his sloppy layered cake and reject it. His powers of persuasion are in his mind only. Sorry but I will pass on the hand feeding of Adams' sloppy cake, now hand feeling is another thing altogether.

Anonymous said...

And Hillary's powers of persuasion are no better than Trump's or Adams'. She's not persuading anyone to wreak havoc upon cops or others because she gave a bland speech or portrays Trump in a bad light. Trump is so blatantly horrible it takes no persuasion to be exceedingly evident.

bagoh20 said...

And it's the commenters who have trained the host to wake up and do tricks for them every single day without fail year after year. Who's a good girl? That's our girl.

And we don't even have to clean up after her. Now that's a well trained pet.

mezzrow said...

Woof!

Left Bank of the Charles said...

When Scott Adams says at the end of his video that dogs are stupid, what I think he really means is that people are stupid, that we'd rather get the handout than eat from the bowl of food in front of us.

Trump, of course, is offering the biggest handout of all, that he will make American great again. And a wall that Mexico will pay for to boot.

Brando said...

" think Adams does make a point, though indirectly. I think that there are a number of voters. Union Democrats, for one, and Hispanics whose primary tongue is English for another, who may openly speak favorably about Hill, but will pull the lever for Donald."

If so, the polling is missing it--Trump doesn't seem to do any better with anonymous polling vs. live phone polling, and he totals in the primaries were at about (or slightly below) where he was polling.

The bigger issue is how many people really can't stand either of them, and will vote for one out of default, or go third party, or stay home, and probably at this stage aren't even sure what they're going to do. This election is a crap sandwich.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Playing mind games is a sign of a flawed character and masked insecurities.

M Jordan said...

Adams' is worth reading despite all the legerdemain. Because he has a point of view -- emotional persuasion -- he sees things others miss. I used to tell the high school tennis players I coached, Any strategy is better than no strategy.

But I fault Adams in that he takes a mere one-third of the Aristotelian persuasion model -- pathos -- and elevates it to the only persuasive tactic. He says, flatly, facts don't matter, logic doesn't matter. Logic -- Aristotle's logos -- does matter. So does ethos, the character of the persuader. Trump is pretty good at pathos, pretty good at ethos (he does have an impressive resume of buildings), but weak on logos. He needs to step it up in that area now that it's down to him and Hillary.

mockturtle said...

I'm just wondering why the obsession with Scott Adams.

John Bragg said...

Curious George:

There was an attempt to at least rush the stage in Cincinnati. (Correction: Dayton) Googling for that, I found a British 20 year old who tried to take a cop's gun and shoot Trump. Scrolled down for mostly-credible source....

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/21/michael-sandford-trump-rally-assassination-las-vegas

Plus the rally in Chicago that was shut down by anti-Trump rioters, and the San Jose rally that was attacked by anti-Trump rioters.

One side of the American political divide has a fringe that tends to believe the SDS, the Weathermen, the Black Panthers and the '60s rioters etc kinda sorta had a point about, like racism and the system, man. The other side has a fringe that tends to believe the Klan kinda sort had a point. Different traditions of what understandable political violence looks like. LEftist psychos fantasize about LARPing Les Miz (Watts remake). Rightist psychos fantasize about LARPing Birth of a Nation (Turner Diaries remake).

Jim said...

mockturtle,
He called the Trump nomination (presumed) when smart people like Nate Silver were saying it was impossible.
How's that?

jr565 said...

Yup, the dems have villified white people. There is this insidious white racism that never seems to manifest itself except on the fringe, yet if you listen to dems everyone voting for Trump is a white KKK member.
And all the cops are racist and are just shooting black people for being black. They are tyring to start a race war. Only it will be blacks that do, if it happens.

Anonymous said...

Off topic, Sanders is at this moment endorsing Clinton. I think his powers of persuasion are far greater than either Trump or Clinton.

Lyle Sanford, RMT said...

err . . . ,um. . . , "hand feel" or "hand feed"?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Off topic, Sanders is at this moment endorsing Clinton. I think his powers of persuasion are far greater than either Trump or Clinton."

Hilarious. He just flushed his "powers of persuasion" down the toilet.

Anonymous said...

Sanders had great success recently in persuading the DNC to adopt some of his issues onto the platform. How has Trump influenced the RNC's platform?

Brando said...

Maybe Adams and his "master persuaders" covered this, but how do they account for those who are won over by master persuaders vs. those who are not? Trump (and Clinton, I suppose) have each won over a lot of people, but apparently each has turned off even more people. Are the people they turned off not persuadable, or is there some way they (we) can be persuaded that hasn't been tried?

I likened it to some kind of dog whistle--the supporters are hearing something that the rest of us simply are not. But then, Obama did the same when he came on the scene (I remember a friend telling me his sister was crying after seeing an Obama speech on TV, and I wondered "what the hell was she seeing and why don't I see it?").

Rusty said...

"The day after the Minneapolis shooting a two year old black child was killed by another black person in a drive by shooting. Another child was injured along with some adults. Heard anything about that? Where is the outrage?"

I Chicago that's called; "Tuesday". Barely past the middle of the year and Chicago homicides and injuries by gunfire have reached triple digits. This despite having some of the most draconian gun laws in the country. Now ant guesses as to what party has reigned over the Windy City for the past, oh, 75 years.

Anonymous said...

Blogger Unknown said...
Sanders had great success recently in persuading the DNC to adopt some of his issues onto the platform. How has Trump influenced the RNC's platform?

7/12/16, 10:50 AM
--------------------------------------------------

No one cares about party platforms except the hopelessly deluded.

Quaestor said...

And now, you commenters, have caused me to hand feel you again.

Gee, ma'am, what can we do to get felt with some other Althouse part?

Curious George said...

"Unknown said...
Off topic, Sanders is at this moment endorsing Clinton. I think his powers of persuasion are far greater than either Trump or Clinton."

Telling people that if they vote for you they will get a bunch of free shit isn't persuasion. It's pandering.

William said...

Why does this slippery slope I'm always hearing about lead to Hitler. Doesn't it sometimes lead to Robespierre, Lenin, or Chavez? Why doesn't the left ever feel a need a restrain their speech.

GRW3 said...

Frankly, most conservatives and Republicans have acted in a racist manner but not in the normal sense. No Bull Conners (democrat) no KKK (democrats). No it's the sin of omission. Faced with the high prospects of being called racists for speaking the truth of the Democrat based enslavement of minorities we just say nothing. "Law and Order" just means keep that crap out of my neighborhood.

What we should do is demand that the administration start doing something about the hell holes like the south side of Chicago. Instead of dispatching the Attorney General to worry about bathrooms in North Carolina, how about sending her to Chicago to do something about the "one every fourteen hours" conveyor to the Cook County Morgue?

rhhardin said...

Food is sweeter from the hand. Hence persuasion.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


"Sanders had great success recently in persuading the DNC to adopt some of his issues onto the platform"

So a bunch of shit that there is not the slightest possibility of Hillary delivering? Well done, Bernie!

damikesc said...

Off topic, Sanders is at this moment endorsing Clinton. I think his powers of persuasion are far greater than either Trump or Clinton.

No, his followers are just dumber.

Was anybody remotely shocked by this? Honestly? The man who did all he could to not win is endorsing Hillary. The WWE puts on less choreographed stuff than this.

I Chicago that's called; "Tuesday". Barely past the middle of the year and Chicago homicides and injuries by gunfire have reached triple digits. This despite having some of the most draconian gun laws in the country. Now ant guesses as to what party has reigned over the Windy City for the past, oh, 75 years.

A Mafioso powered the handgun bill into effect.

Rusty said...

What is this going to do the Bernie supporters who saw him as the only honest and principled candidate in the running?
This certainly isn't a principled move on his part.

LCpl Predator said...

I posted a link to this site a several days ago. The YTD shootings in Chicago was at 2070. Look where it is now.

http://heyjackass.com/

IL is broke. Who's paying for the treatment for all the wounded?

Paddy O said...

"Why does this slippery slope I'm always hearing about lead to Hitler."

With the road to becoming Tsar blocked, Bernie Sanders is now on his way to becoming Rasputin, giving some life to Hillary's hemophilic campaign.

mikee said...

"Why does this slippery slope I'm always hearing about lead to Hitler?"

Using Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il or Un, a Castro, Mao, Stalin, or even Chavez leads to unpleasant comparisons with current policies and programs favored by leftists.

Rusty said...

LCpl Predator said...
I posted a link to this site a several days ago. The YTD shootings in Chicago was at 2070. Look where it is now.

http://heyjackass.com/

IL is broke. Who's paying for the treatment for all the wounded?


Judging from my property tax bill, I am.

Rusty said...

LCpl Predator said...
I posted a link to this site a several days ago. The YTD shootings in Chicago was at 2070. Look where it is now.


2129

Will said...

Every election there is one monkey out of the millions banging on keyboards that gets the first sentence of a Shakespeare sonnet correct.. And the media inflates them...

Last election it was Nate Silver. This time it is Scott Adams…

Pundits who want great Influence should take a cue from Hillary's cattle futures broker, Predict the sun will rise in both the east and the west and put the losing trade in the drawer and give the winner to Hillary. That's how you turn $1000 into $100,000. Our "fact checking" is so debased who is gonna know the difference?

mockturtle said...

Why does this slippery slope I'm always hearing about lead to Hitler. Doesn't it sometimes lead to Robespierre, Lenin, or Chavez? Why doesn't the left ever feel a need a restrain their speech.

Because the left rightly assumes that their followers have heard of Hitler.

Clyde said...

"Hand feel"? Who do you think you are, Joe Biden?

Ann Althouse said...

Oops

Fixed

Bilwick said...

Of course statism is NEVER a threat to anyone!

Gahrie said...

Faced with the high prospects of being called racists for speaking the truth of the Democrat based enslavement of minorities we just say nothing.

I have finally reached this point with many of my Black friends......they are no longer willing to look at the facts, but instead are reacting emotionally and ignorantly to the voices of hatred and division. So, I have stopped talking to them about it.

Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of Black children continue to be aborted, thousands of Black youth continue to be shot down in our streets and imprisoned in our jails, inner city schools continue to fail to educate our Black youth, and their democratic masters continue to ignore their plight even as they depend on their vote.

My only solace is that all of this will go away for the next three years after the election is over. (at least if Hillary wins)

Gahrie said...

But I fault Adams in that he takes a mere one-third of the Aristotelian persuasion model -- pathos -- and elevates it to the only persuasive tactic. He says, flatly, facts don't matter, logic doesn't matter.

Which is precisely why Althouse likes him so much. (One might say is obsessed with him)

Michael K said...

The other attempted assassination of Trump was at Dayton by a radical with politically connected (Democrat) parents,

Authorities in Ohio have identified the man arrested and charged with rushing the stage at a Donald Trump campaign rally.

Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer says Thomas Dimassimo of Fairborn, Ohio, has been charged with inducing panic and disorderly conduct.


He is a white member of "Black Lives Matter."

He was also interviewed by CNN, which asked his opinion of Trump.

His parents, of course, are well connected Democrats sort of like Bill Ayres of the current era.

Mayor Kasim Reed announced today that Faye DiMassimo will serve as the new General Manager for the $250 million Renew Atlanta infrastructure bond program. In this new role, DiMassimo will oversee the design, construction and completion of more than two hundred transportation and municipal facility projects, including construction of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Natatorium in the Historic Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. The Renew Atlanta infrastructure bond program was approved by more than eight in ten voters in a special election held on March 17, 2015.

DiMassimo has served as the Director of the Cobb County Department of Transportation for nearly six years, where she has overseen a $36 million operating budget with more than 160 staff. DiMassimo brings a strong track record of execution, expert technical knowledge and proven leadership skills to the City of Atlanta. (link)


It always seems to be the children of rich and connected Democrats who do this sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

Hi abnormal commenters. It is I, here to entertain you again!

Jon Ericson said...

Hi there normal commenters, someone is impersonating me.
Poor form.

Anonymous said...

Go away, I was here first.

Jon Ericson said...

Just click on my pic.
for the real me.

Anonymous said...

No one cares.

Jon Ericson said...

So which "Unkown" are you?

Quaestor said...

Oops

I liked it unfixed.

🎵See me. FEEEEEEEEL me. Touch me. Heal me.

Jon Ericson said...

What are you some kind of comedian?
(pretty good, too!)

Anonymous said...

@Rusty: Judging from my property tax bill, I am.

You really don't have too many more years to sell your house and get the hell out of Illinois. The way government employee pensions are going there, it will soon be cheaper to hand over the keys to your house than to pay the property taxes on it.

TBlakely said...

Remember that many on the left have been convinced by the media and their 'leaders' that Trump is the literal re-incarnation of Hitler. Given that kind of build up expect more assassination attempts by the true believers. I'm sure the left will be 'shocked' and 'dismayed' if one succeeds but it will give them more ammunition to call for gun control.

Achilles said...

Skookum John said...

"You really don't have too many more years to sell your house and get the hell out of Illinois. The way government employee pensions are going there, it will soon be cheaper to hand over the keys to your house than to pay the property taxes on it."

You could sell your IL house and buy a city block in Detroit! Wait what was the goal again?

We bought some houses in Jackson, MS. We are selling them now. When we were buying them we were advised to check for empty lots next to the houses and make sure they weren't added to the sale. Apparently some sellers will try to slip them in when you aren't looking.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

TBlakely said...
"Remember that many on the left have been convinced by the media and their 'leaders' that Trump is the literal re-incarnation of Hitler. Given that kind of build up expect more assassination attempts by the true believers." Yup. The progressives on my street have already mentioned it laughingly in polite conversation. They smile and say, He'll probably get shot by someone from his own party... I tell them, No, it'll be a progressive, socialist, communist, or democrat party member. It always is.

"I'm sure the left will be 'shocked' and 'dismayed' if one succeeds but it will give them more ammunition to call for gun control." Exactly. Democrat party win-win...

Lewis Wetzel said...

Skookum John wrote:The way government employee pensions are going there, it will soon be cheaper to hand over the keys to your house than to pay the property taxes on it.
It will be interesting to see how this is managed. State and city governments are legally obligated to pay for state employee retirement. They aren't legally obligated to fix the roads, pick up your trash, provide your high school with an athletic department, etc. It has always seemed to me that these long-term pension obligations are not compatible with democracy. You are, essentially, allowing the voters of 1985 to control the state or city or county budget in 2015.

Inkling said...

Quote: "Overtly, Adams is saying that the dog believes the food coming from his hand is better than the same food when it's sitting in the dish, because the dog could just eat all the food it wants right out of the dish, but nevertheless waits for him to pick up the food and feed it from the hand.

You've come up with a brilliant illustration of the deception that liberals practice on the public. They convict voters that food coming from their hands, meaning a government in their hands, is better than food in the dish, meaning what people earn for themselves.

SDN said...

"If so, the polling is missing it--Trump doesn't seem to do any better with anonymous polling vs. live phone polling,"

Brando, if you think those "anonymous" polls don't keep a record of every number they call, and who it's registered to, and the responses, available for data mining, you're dumber than a sack of hammers. People with the example of Brandon Eich in front of them know better.