Dr. Ben is the Kwisatz Haderach of the Tribe That Rubs Shit In Its Hair

[phantom power]

First, a quick refresher on your favorite cult and mine, the Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair:

Longtime readers know that "The Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair" is my shorthand for inbred Conservative meatsticks who have wallowed in wingnut Hate Radio racist dung and Fox News Liberal Conspiracy claptrap for so long that is has become the quotidian argot of their wretched lives....

...there are many professionals in our Great American Media who seem baffled by the fact that Dr. Ben Spacey continues the float dirigibly above every other Republican candidate except Donald Trump. I, in turn, am baffled by their bafflement, because in so very many ways, Dr. Ben is the Kwisatz Haderach of the Tribe That Rubs Shit In Its Hair.

The prophet and savior for whom they have waited for so long.

Mental Ben is a doctor who rejects science. A black man who drops wildly inappropriate Nazi and slavery references as casually and frequently as Trump drop the word "Yoooge". A leading Republican candidate for President of the United States who cannot tell you how the deficit works. Or the debt. Or the difference between them. He cannot tell you how foreign policy works, or who the players are in the various interlocking quagmires into which we have waded up to our knees. He doesn't understand how our government works, how a bill becomes a law, or how the enactment and enforcement of that law gets paid for.

But he can recite -- chapter, verse and footnote, passionately and verbatim -- every single debunked, ALL CAPS fucked-in-the-head wingnut/birther conspiracy theory your Crazy Uncle Liberty ever forwarded along to you on the email machine

Mental Ben whines like a diaper baby and lashes out when reporters ask him basic questions about the only extant documentary evidence of his life and thoughts -- his own biography, written by him, which is sitting in large piles right next him because he is currently on a time-out from his campaign for president so that he can hawk copies of that book.

In other words, Mental Ben is the perfect cask-strength distillation of every animating characteristic of the Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair. And the rest of the Republican field is not far behind and racing like mad to catch up.

http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2015/11/sunday-morning-comin-down_9.html

[Siwsan]

1. I might have to 'borrow' the Dr. Ben Spacey and Mental Ben names.

My take on this guy is he's been lauded for so many years, and he has developed zero ability to handle criticism. He's reached a point where his ego overshadows any talents he has left.

And, I could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing a single endorsement or words of support from any of his colleagues or patients. He definitely made a positive change to some of his patients - you have to give him that. So why the crickets from those in his professional past?

There has to be a significant reason why this guy left medicine behind, and an incredibly young age. I am truly beginning to think that his mental status may have been part of that reason.

[phantom power]

2. That, and/or he realized there are easier ways to make money:

Confabulation is basically baked into the DNA of certain flavors of religion.

Hammering messy real world experiences into trite fables about sin and redemption is standard operating procedure in conservative Christian circles. So is the exaggeration. Tales of your behavior before you were saved are embellished for maximum drama. What’s important is not the literal truth, but reinforcing fundamentalist notions that the world outside of the Jesus bubble is a depraved hellhole.

...

This is all why Carson is starting to get angry with the press, as well. Most people who write “inspiring” tales of sin and redemption to be used in Christian instruction don’t expect journalists to go sniffing around to find out if any of that is true. So he probably does feel unfairly singled out.

More to the point, this singling out is a real threat to his brand. Carson has positioned himself to be a role model whose life story is chock full of little tidbits and fables than can be repackaged and sold over and over again to adoring Christian audiences. But if his stories become, like Christine O’Donnell’s witchcraft nonsense, an embarrassing symbol of the Christian right’s loose attitude towards truth, then much of his audience will decamp and move on to other authors and speakers who have tales of sin and redemption that haven’t been exposed as exaggerations by CNN.

Previous questions about Carson’s policies and beliefs regarding the Nazis or the pyramids might hurt his presidential aspirations, but this latest round of questions about his biography? That might undermine book sales. (And speaking opportunities and other marketing opportunities.) That cannot be borne, which is why, for the first time, Carson is getting defensive about his separation from reality.

http://www.salon.com/2015/11/09/ben_carson_is_about_to_crack_he_thinks_his_biography_is_the_bible_immune_to_fact_checking/

[Siwsan]

15. He could have gone into consulting and made a fortune

Even as a guest instructor, the money would have been really good. But he completely turned his back on medicine. My job was credentialing physicians and, believe me, it's very rare for someone in that particular specialty group to just walk away, unless something happened, either to him, or by him.

[ryan_cats]

3. What

What is the term that applies to people who corrupt Frank Herbert's work?

Longtime readers know that "The Tribe That Rubs Shit In Their Hair" is my shorthand for inbred Conservative meatsticks who have wallowed in wingnut Hate Radio racist

If we use the above brilliant sentence structure and imagery as a guide to the writer's idea of deep thoughts and prose, I'm not sure conservatives are too worried.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. 'Sentence structure' will look strange if you cut it off halfway

Driftglass is a well-known, and indeed award-winning, blogger.

[ryan_cats]

8. Yes

Yes, no doubt the writer of this award winning swill is the Shakespeare of our time.

Is this the thread to complain about the dumbing down of society?

No points for mentioning Edward de Vere although extra points for Piter De Vries.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Frankly (heh), no, a thread that includes Frank Herbert is not the thread to complain

about the dumbing down of society. You can look at the quality of the Dune novels as they went on to see that he dumbed down over the years. He's no Shakespeare himself.

[ryan_cats]

14. They

They went off a cliff after Chapterhouse Dune. It's almost like Frank died and his son claimed to find notes in a safety deposit box to continue the story.

It would have helped if Frank had read his previous books before writing the sequels.

Was Beyond the Valley of the Dolls worthy of the original even if it had an award winning director and script writer?

[phantom power]

6. "Corrupt Frank Herbert's work?"

He was a middling-good science fiction author, not The One True Biblical Prophet.

[MuseRider]

4. Dr. Ben (The Blade) Carson

lol.

I liked this

I now have a new thing to read

How I missed this I will never know. Thanks!

[hifiguy]

7. I think of them as the Gumbys

or the participants on "Spot The Looney"



Not quote as bright, but the same subspecies.

[phantom power]

9. LOL, "The tribe that rubs bricks in its hair"

[hifiguy]

11. Documentary re-enactment of an actual Carson consultation.

Is that patient supposed to be Santorum or maybe Rand Paul?

[Fumesucker]

10. More like Jim Jones than Paul Atreides

Recall that the prime characteristic of the Kwisatz Haderach was the ability to see future events, Carson not only can't see the future he doesn't even know anything about the past and very little about the present.

[phantom power]

12. How can he not know these things? Because he is their Kwisatz Haderach!

[hifiguy]

16. Is that "Imperial Grand Poobah" in the original language?