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A case study in propaganda

Published on 56 Comments on A case study in propaganda

I went down a little rabbit hole this afternoon, so I'm going to drag you all down with me. You're welcome. It started with this:

Democrat authoritarians! I knew it was clickbait, but I clicked anyway. To Hemingway's credit her article was full of links, so I started clicking to find out what it was based on. Here's what I discovered.

Last year J.D. Vance bought a house in the liberal enclave of Del Ray, a neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia. According to Hemingway, this led to a campaign of hate and authoritarian tactics designed to intimidate Vance and his children. The story is full of filler, but when you plow through it this campaign turns out to have consisted of three things:

  • Several residents have posted mildly disparaging comments about Vance on Twitter.
  • A local activist, "along with their knitting community," put up some knitted protest signs near Vance's home. See picture for an example.
  • Last week, when the Secret Service asked to shut down a tiny park next to Vance's house, residents were sad. A local newspaper described what they did about it:
    .
    On Saturday afternoon, neighbors gathered for an impromptu celebratory wake for the park. Decorations left over from a Bachelorette party were hung from trees, neighbors brought hot dogs and donuts to share, and the park was filled with Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan music.
    .
    ....Several attendees wore shirts or buttons supporting Vice President Kamala Harris and the yards near Vance’s home featured multiple signs supporting Harris including one labeled “Cat People for Harris Walz” — a reference to Vance’s comments about Democrats being childless cat ladies.
    .
    ....“It’s no surprise that Del Ray would come out in the most optimistic and celebratory way,” said Sandy Marks, a co-host of local politics podcast Liberally Social and chair of the Alexandria Democratic Committee. “It’s sad to lose the park, but it’s good to keep it safe for JD Vance’s kids. We look forward to getting the park back.”

Like me, you are welcome to read the story, click the links, and decide for yourself if I'm describing things fairly. I am. When you take out both the incendiary language—the knitted signs are likened to the KKK's burning crosses—and the irrelevant filler—in 2017 a guy from Illinois shot a bunch of Republicans at a baseball practice held in Del Ray—there's nothing left. In fact, the folks in Del Ray seem remarkably mild and easygoing about having Vance as a neighbor.

But that's the Federalist for you. I wonder how long it will take Hemingway's interpretation to enter the canon of Republican grievance?

56 thoughts on “A case study in propaganda”

  1. KenSchulz

    Well, yeah, being admonished to respect the rights of others is exactly like being threatened with lynching. And finding that your neighbors support a candidate from the other party — well, you might as well face deportation to Stalin’s or Putin’s gulags.
    And thanks for reading Mollie Hemingway so I don’t have to.

    1. kkseattle

      JD Vance also owns a home in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in Ohio—across from a coffee shop that flies a pride flag.

      It’s almost as if he misses San Francisco and his billionaire sugar daddy Peter Thiel.

      I guess living among hillbillies and right-wingers isn’t all that he makes it out to be.

  2. D_Ohrk_E1

    Mollie is upset that conservatives don't have safe spaces. That's my read of the situation. Such snow flakes. 😉

  3. different_name

    Can you believe those heathens? Someone knitted at him.

    Something must be done about these out-of-control liberals.

    2. zic

      Actually, that's crochet, and the practice of displaying it (and knitted pieces, too) in public spaces is called 'yarn bombing.'

      Maybe that's what frightened him? Maybe he's afraid some of that acrylic yarn will explode, like on Mission Impossible?

      But most important: "knitted at him." Thank you for that phrase. This is one textile artist just dyeing to use it.

  4. pjcamp1905

    Look, I grew up among people like this. They thought then, as Vance does now, that the First Amendment entitles them to shout at you any nasty, degrading, racist thing that entered mind but if you make the most anodyne comment in reply you were trampling their rights.

  8. kenalovell

    Hemingway and Davis made the unpardonable mistake of supporting Cruz back in 2016. They didn't realise their horrifying error until quite late in the primary. They seem to have spent the subsequent eight years in a determined project to reassure The Donald that they are truly sorry and he has no greater supporters on the planet than the crew at The Federalist.

    So it's been gratifying to see that miserable site's traffic crashing over recent years.

  9. bad Jim

    Didn't anyone click the link? Other knitted signs wrapped around a utility pole were really quite aggressive: rainbow hearts and a transgender flag. Unbearable!

    1. Josef

      They might be, but they'll never admit it. Trump has near total control over the GOP. To speak ill of dear leader will bring upon thee a plague.(ie primaried out of an election).

    3. bbleh

      On the contrary! Most of them are anger junkies -- they REALLY ENJOY being angry, and they seek out opportunities -- even absurd ones -- to be angry, and to share thier anger with their angry friends. It's just ANOTHER way they Belong to the In-group and exclude and demonize the Others.

      On top of that is the paranoia that is endemic to the Right -- see Hofstadter, "the Paranoid Style..." -- although I think some of that is also just a way to Belong. The Others, you see, aren't just different; they're out to get us!

      And lastly it's a way of covering up for the MUCH worse transgressions by the Felon, his Mini-Me, and themselves. They routinely do and say truly hateful, aggressive things. Stories like this provide a convenient excuse for them (after a good deal of exaggeration).

      So I'll say no, they're not embarrassed. If they were prone to embarrassment, they'd have a lot more, and worse, to be embarrassed about.

  11. Josef

    Hate is now a value in the Republican party. So naturally calling them out on it is seen as harassment. Everyone associated with Trump now are so much worse than in the previous elections. The pretense of being respectable is gone. The few controls on his worst impulses are non existent. It will get much worse. That's not even taking into account if he wins.

  12. QuakerInBasement

    "I wonder how long it will take Hemingway's interpretation to enter the canon of Republican grievance?"

    Oh, the usual. They'll bat it around for a few days, double down, and then deflect. It'll disappear for 3-6 weeks and then reappear presented as irrefutable fact.

  13. German Chocolate Betty

    Ummmm…first off, guys, the pictured sign is crocheted (worked with a hook), not knitted (worked with two or more needles).

    That being said, if JP Mandel feels attacked by these First Amendment expressions about preserving rights and dignities, he’s really fallen deeply into the cesspool of crazy Fat Elvis.

    My guess is that his family is going to be the only one not invited to the block bbq this year.

    My hope is that he has permanently ruined any chances he had at higher office, and that he’ll be heading down the same road to ridicule and irrelevance as Sarah Palin.

  14. cephalopod

    In the linked article, all the signs are made with crochet. Of course they are, because knitting us actually not good for yarn bombing!!! Knitting creates a stretchy fabric, while crochet is much more rigid. If you tried to yarn bomb with knitting, your "signs" would quickly stretch, sag, and likely fall down. Knitting is perfect for socks. Crochet is great for yarn bombing.
    Given how tediously pedantic gun humpers are about gun terminology, it's only right to be the same about fiber arts.

  16. Cycledoc

    Sounds like a wonderful community. In 2020 there was a march in our small very conservative very very churchy town of Lynden, Washington. It was led by a young woman, a high school senior, who had been adopted from Ethiopia by a local couple. She was in high school here and like many of us reacted in horror to the killing in Minnesota of George Floyd. So she organized a March here called a March for Black Lives avoiding the Black Lives Matter name to try and cool tempers. A film documentary of this march (entitled “Lynden”) has now been released.

    The film highlighted the opposition that lined the route of the peaceful march. Given the loudly proclaimed christian values of this largely Trump supporting small community, it was sad to see the failure of the religious community to provide appropriate leadership. School kids were met along the way by several hundred flag waving, gun toting, bible quoting folks who somehow felt that the march was a threat to them and their lives (my interpretation of their motivation). Churches along the march route had guys with guns on their front steps “protecting” against sidewalk marchers armed with baby carriages and signs.

    My point here being that Vance has wonderful neighbors and he should listen more and criticize less but of course that’s not what he does.

  17. Jerry O'Brien

    The story really is, J.D. bought a house next to a park and now he gets the park for himself for free, right? Unless he's paying a fair amount in compensation. If he is, I wouldn't begrudge him his security needs.

  18. middleoftheroaddem

    Yes, certainty someone will say I am a troll, but here goes.

    I think protest at a politician's (judge, clerk etc) home and making politician's residents public is a horrible thing. As we witnessed with the home invasion of the Pelosi residence, there are plenty of violent, perhaps mentally ill, people. Exposing a politician, or their family, to physical threat does not make America a better place.

    Note, I do not like JD Vance, but admit finding his book to be an interesting read

    1. Crissa

      The home invasion of the Pelosi's wasn't political.

      If he can't stand a few signs supporting human rights around the neighborhood, who is being the authoritarian?

      1. middleoftheroaddem

        Crissa - similar to the guy who shot Trump, the motivation of the Pelosi assaulter are confusing.

        Further, no matter the rational for the Pelosi assault, broadly disclosing a public figure's home address is dangerous. Of note, executives of public companies, generally, go to great length to keep their home address hidden, for a reason.

        I think its rational for a public figure to change their behavior based on the, potential, physical risk to their family. Do we want our politicians to vote based on, OMG if I vote for this someone might kill my kids....

        1. bbleh

          Lol reductio ad absurdum. "A guy who knew Pelosi's address broke in and tried to kill her husband, and some other people who knew Vance's address and live nearby put up a few handmade protest signs in the neighborhood, so both sides are equally at fault."

          Oh and also, "sometimes other people know the home addresses of national-level public figures, which in one of the above cases was very bad indeed, and in other hypothetical cases might be bad, so really it's society's fault and watchagonnado?"

          No and no. Really really no.

          In one ACTUAL case, a DEMOCRATIC politician's home was invaded and her husband brutally attacked. In another case, some signs were put up in a neighborhood where a REPUBLICAN politician lives, and neighborhood residents expressed displeasure at having their park closed to them, and REPUBLICANS reacted like they had been personally and viciously attacked.

          There is not even the REMOTEST parallel between the two, irrespective of whether -- as is pretty much inevitable in our information-saturated society -- people eventually learn where national-level politicians live.

        2. Josef

          Your false equivalency does nothing to address the problem of violence towards any politician. One man was nearly killed, the other is being forced to encounter messages condemning his politics of hate and division. They are not equivalent in any sense of the word.

          1. aldoushickman

            This. I am in full agreement that it would be a bad thing if a crazy person broke into JD Vance's house and hit him (or his spouse) with a hammer.

            This "issue" has no bearing on whether or not people in Vance's neighborhood engaging in 1st amendment protected speech is somehow harrassment. As Jerry O'Brien above notes, the real story here is that the government on behalf of Vance stole a public park from the public. This is America, and goddamn right the public ought to be able to voice their anger over what their government is doing, ffs.

            I do not care if it makes Vance unhappy. He doesn't have to be a senator, he doesn't have to run for Veep, and he certainly doesn't have to steal parks. Maybe seeing that the voting public is unhappy will get him to work on some sort of a solution.

  19. Jim Carey

    Some humans are fully human, and then conflicting opinions are dilemmas that with enough time, energy, and attention, will be resolved. To a narcissist, a conflicting opinion is a threat that needs to be neutralized right now. The Trump-Vance campaign is pro-narcissist.

    J. D. Vance's neighborhood only appears to be hate free to people who are not narcissists.

  20. Bluto_Blutarski

    If hating everyone is core to your identity, then clearly the message that "hate has no place here" feels like a message of hatred directed at you personally.

  21. Atticus

    None of this is over-the-top harassment but it does seem pretty immature and unneighborly. Andrew Warren lives in my neighborhood which is mostly Republican. Even though most people I know agree with him being removed, no one is putting up signs attacking him, purposely wearing DeSantis shirts around him or other things that are obviously antagonistic. That’s just petty. I’ve had a beer with Andrew several times and my good friends (who are big DeSantis fans) have co-coached their daughters’ flag football team with him.. You don’t need to bring politics into every aspect of life. It makes you unlikeable.

        1. Josef

          Pretty immature and unneighborly? Have you met Trump? Have you seen any of his rallies? Have you met any of his supporters or listened to them speak? I have. He and they epitomize the words immature and unneighborly. What these people have done pales in comparison. They let their feelings about Vance be known in the most benign ways possible. In all honesty, to call it harassment is a stretch.

          1. Atticus

            Many of them are. Trump certainly is. But me friends I mentioned in my comment are Trump supporters and it sounds like they are much more classy and neighborly then these people in Vance’s neighborhood.

            1. bbleh

              Indeed it is a mark of classiness and neighborliness not to express oneself, even when it comes to views, policies, actions and words as truly despicable as those of the Felon and his Mini-Me.

              Fortunately, we have none of those awful Brownshirts MAGAts in our nice neigborhood, and really many of us don't especially admire the Austrian Corporal serial fraudster and sexual batterer, but in the end it's important that the trains run on time we cut taxes and get the Jewish immigrant problem under control!

        2. ColBatGuano

          "It’s a matter of class and maturity"

          Republicans should try those sometime.

          "it sounds like they are much more classy and neighborly"

          You mean like when they are calling school board members pedofiles?

            2. Josef

              Nobody said liberals cant be classless or immature. "But me friends I mentioned in my comment are Trump supporters and it sounds like they are much more classy and neighborly then these people in Vance’s neighborhood." So your friends are classy and neighborly? What a coincidence. Its odd you would use Andrew Warren as an example of how nice Republicans are. If he hadn't been removed would they have been as polite as you claim they've been? Its easy to be polite to a person you don't see as a threat any more.

              1. bbleh

                And fer sherr those darn libruls have done stuff like January 6! Classy! Also Charlottesville, and, oh yeah taking a shot at a presidential candidate! Libruls have done LOTS of stuff like that! Like, um ... LOTS of things!

                And we all know the stuff Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have said that's JUST like the kind of stuff the Felon says! Why, there are, uh, MANY such things! And then there's all the Democrat members of Congress like MTG and Matt Gaetz! SO crude, really! They say ... all KINDS of things. That I can't recall right now ...

    2. jdubs

      I appreciate this stupid guy. I respect his stance that expressing an opinion he doesnt like is immature, petty and low class.

      When he expresses his displeasure, we are all lucky to have been graced by his presence and should thank him for his brilliant opinions. His stone casting here is not petty or low class, it is BRILLIANT!.

      But your opinions, which he looks down on, are merely proof that you are of a lower order and you should not be polluting his rarified air with unsightly garbage like your thoughta and opinions.

      Disagreeing with his view that you are well beneath him is just another sign of how uncivilized you truly are.

      This is the core belief of the fragile, snowflake, true Trumper. Maintaining class structure is key. The womens, the commoners, the coloureds all need to understand their place.

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