It trolls for thee

When I first saw this now notorious piece of video, at Echidne's, the question seemed to be whether the guy who disrupts the meeting was a leftist provocateur doing a little bit of indoor street theater; some could not believe there were conservatives in our country who would openly say that black slaves should have been grateful to their masters for their cushy, well-fed lives. Of course there's Allen West, who pretty much does say that.

But what struck me, starting with the little smirk he was wearing at the end of the clip, was that he was in particular a troll; that what he really wanted was not to spread any particular opinion, but just to see people unhappy. I mean even in this little crowd of people that presumably share some of his "legitimate" beliefs, like government is Too Big, and taxes are Too High, and people always call you a racist when you're totally not, his instinct is to give them pain.

And then mistermix of Balloon Juice used the same expression about Mr. Greenwald: called him a troll, I mean.

Is there a big difference b/w Portman switching on gay marriage b/c of his son & Obama because of his gay friends? abcnews.go.com/Politics/trans…
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 16, 2013

Because yes, there is a big difference if you like, in that Portman doesn't voluntarily know anybody who's gay while Obama freely makes friends with gay people, and because Obama didn't switch anyhow but "evolved" from supporting same-sex marriage in 1996 through a period of not admitting to supporting it  (standard average political dishonesty) to supporting it again in 2012, and because he did it at a scary moment before the election when nobody could say what effect it would have while Portman is doing it in a clearly changed environment long before his next campaign needs to start.

But mostly because how is this conversation about Obama anyway? It becomes about Obama because that's what Greenwald wants to use it for, in the hope of giving somebody a sad.

By LuckyCatXD at Deviant Art.