If You Follow The Bouncing Ball...

Guess who would’ve been first in line to filibuster against the voting rights act, and the civil rights act. Yes, Ted Cruz! https://t.co/ZljiJED3P8

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) May 22, 2023

This starts with Ted Cruz criticizing the NAACP for issuing a "travel advisory" against Florida for DeSantis' recent actions as governor, and the legislation he's pushed through into law.  The response by Kevin Kruse is correct; but that's not the one Cruz has to respond it, as it turns out.

Now, frankly, Norm Ornstein walks up and punches that tar baby; predictable results ensue:

Nonsense. That shameful filibuster was led by Democrats—your party.

My party—the Republicans—proudly voted for the Civil Rights Act in much higher percentages than the racist Dems. https://t.co/MgPZZFTlak

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 23, 2023

Ornstein changed the subject, and Cruz gladly ran with it. Now we're talking about the Civil Rights Act, and ignoring that it was the work of first JFK, and then LBJ getting it passed virtually at the funeral of JFK. (And not even noticing that Cruz votes like the southern Democrats of 60 years ago).

You’re a seditionist. Full stop. https://t.co/qCsB0kk07L

— Reed Galen (@reedgalen) May 23, 2023

Which is a nice ad hominem, if you're into that sort of thing, but not really advancing the argument, is it?

Ted Cruz is a dick. Full stop. https://t.co/XM6flGwFcZ

— Jeff Timmer (@jefftimmer) May 23, 2023

No argument with that, but...is this an argument anymore?

There are two kinds of people in the world: Ted Cruz and people who hate Ted Cruz. https://t.co/0J7D0dIlu3

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 23, 2023

Which is really just a variation on then Sen. Al Franken's (and aren't we still glad we purged that guy from the Senate! It's SO much better now! Right, ladies?) observation that nobody in the Senate liked Ted Cruz, including Al Franken.

This "argument" brings me around to this observation, which I caught last night but could never turn into a blog post, until now:

Tell me about it https://t.co/BtXGYLfcIR

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 23, 2023

Probably because most “arguments” on the internet rest on either appeals to authority (“facts” are only “facts” when their interpretation is pre-determined by common narrative. You know, like in journalism.) or appeals to ignorance (two conditions that often appear alike).

It’s not a considered set of reasoning establishing a proposition. It’s just the automatic gain saying of what is put forward. Pretty much on the level of: “DID NOT!” “DID TOO!”

So, yeah, the playground. What hath got wrought is technology bringing us all closer and closer to the playground.  Given the above, what else do you call it?

I wonder if the total biological compute is a useful metric here?