September 03, 2018

Getting Ready

Wafers-

At the end of the last thread, I posted a talk that Gaspadin Orlov gave in 2006:

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2006-12-04/closing-collapse-gap-ussr-was-better-prepared-collapse-us/

I can't imagine that he's wrong (in broad strokes, at least), so perhaps we need to discuss what we might do to prepare for the Great Collapse. You may remember I also posed a link from a guy who predicts Major Crunch during 2019-21, and then Wipeout beginning in 2026. Most Americans won't prepare, because (a) they believe America will go on forever, and (b) they have excrements in their heads. Wafers are not most Americans, so I'd like to hear some ideas on how to prepare for the End Game. Keep in mind, at all times, that we are the crème de la crème.

-mb

132 Comments:

Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: anyone wanna read this, and report back to the group?

https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/nic/GT-Full-Report.pdf

mb

10:27 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

MB-

I think this may be the poll you were referring to regarding a majority of Americans believing that the US is better off having a rich class, and that they would also like to be in that class:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/154619/Americans-Having-Rich-Class-Years-Ago.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=All%20Gallup%20Headlines%20-%20Economy

Miles

10:54 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

Many thanks, that's great.

mb

11:59 PM  
Anonymous Golf Pro said...

John Gray calling Michiko Kakutani an idiot here:

https://unherd.com/2018/09/the-rise-of-the-post-truth-liberals/?utm_source=UnHerd+Today&utm_campaign=33200087c9-May1_Subject-Test_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_79fd0df946-33200087c9-34688281

8:37 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Golf-

Gray is always spot-on. Regarding Kakukaka and his comment abt her lack of self-awareness, I'm reminded of Jonathan Franzen's remark that she was "the fucking stupidest person in New York." Beyond that, he does a gd job of skewering the progs in general. Check out essay #15 in AWTY, by comparison. I tried a couple of venues to get it published, and the truth is that progs just don't wanna believe that they may have had something to do w/getting Trumpi elected.

mb

9:00 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: I also need to add that from a declinist pt of view, the blindness of the progs is a very gd thing. After all, you can't fix anything if you haven't a clue as to the causes of the events that you yrself brought on. I've said repeatedly that it's hardly just Americans w/low IQs who are stupid, and we see the stupidity of the progs continue--indefinitely, I wd imagine. This will hopefully once again lead to a Trump election victory in 2020. But it's a gd object lesson for historians, witnessing the irrationality of millions of 'intelligent' people as a factor in political events. You'd think even a fraction of those people wd wake up, but no: just keep repeating the same mistake, you turkeys.

mb

9:16 AM  
Anonymous Tom Servo said...

Most Wafers will probably disagree with me but I don’t think the United States will collapse in the near future, at least not in the traditional sense of collapse. If I had to make a bet my own prediction is that instead of spectacular and sudden collapse the United States will experience a long, slow and very painful decline that will last many decades. The majority of the population will continue to see their quality of life decline while the elite retreat into gated communities. The country will end up looking like a cyberpunk dystopia where you have all sorts of high technology mixed with pervasive human misery.

That being said I will admit that some kind of shock could possibly push the country over the edge. Maybe a major war or a severe environmental or economic crisis could do it. But I suspect that we are looking at many decades of managed decline instead of collapse. Just my two cents on this subject.

9:56 AM  
Blogger Michael Burgess said...

Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:

Tyler Durden's article here demonstrates America's economic decline.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-03/american-dream-has-vanished-greatest-economy-ever

A lot of debt is due to the structure of suburbia (too much uncritical acceptance of 'suburbia') - you need a car (people feel entitled to have cars) to get to work, to the store, etc. and consumerism addiction along with slowly decreasing wage value can put one in debt-one barely notices it happening. I stayed in the city of Ithaca, got rid of my car in 1975 - especially after I helped get references for an article by Dr. David Pimentel which reported that a car even then costs $4000/yr. so I walked or rode my bike, everything is close by. Watching my parents' anxiety over debt made me allergic to debt and I have always rented a place to live. I still work at a manual job at Cornell so even at 69 and beyond, I will be able to do work which will be most likely manual in nature.

10:10 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Michael-

Give my regards to Davy, and esp. remember me to Teefee Crane.

Tom-

Cd be, but last nite I dreamt that the US collapsed on Michiko Kakutani's head. I mean, the entire country collapsed right onto her head. I tell you, it wasn't a pretty sight.

mb

10:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@Tom, I am also of the opinion that it'll be a death from a thousand cuts, rather than a sudden collapse. With that in mind, I think the gameplan for Wafers is pretty simple:

1. Move to a country with as few starbucks' as possible
2. Find a comfortable seat in your neighborhood café, preferably next to a Sexy Waferette
3. Order a glass of red wine, put on sunglasses and open a copy of any of our GSWH's books
4. Wait until neighboring Waferette, obviously acquainted with all of MB's works and intrigued by your reading, engages conversation on the impending collapse, Progs and Technodouchebaggery
5. Live happily with Waferette until the ship sinks

Orlov may not agree with my plan.


Kanye

10:58 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Kanye-

Then there's this, from the last thread:

https://m.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2016/03/22/Black-Swan-The-Spectre-of-war.pdf

But I do like the image of pairing off with some sexy Waferette. I see her sitting there w/o a cell phone, reading TMWQ, and laughing hysterically. Yrs ago Woody Allen wrote abt some fantasy he had, of sitting down on a bench in Central Park, next to some sexy woman in tall black boots, reading Sartre. I guess it never happened, but then in France she wdn't be rdg Paris Match, and oozing over Kim's buttocks (hopefully).

mb

11:31 AM  
Anonymous DioGenes said...

I'm having a good laugh at the new Colin Kaepernick hashtag .

So the turkeys are all going to go out and burn sneakers, buy sneakers, and throw sneakers at each other over a piece of advertising.

Meanwhile Nike gets rich, Colin stays in the news, and poor black and white people will stay oppressed while imagining they could be free if they just had more athletic skills.

This country is a giant pre-scripted episode of the Jerry Springer show. These people are *so* easy to manipulate!

12:40 PM  
Blogger Bill Hicks said...

I've always believed what others have said: collapse will happen slowly at first, then all at once. We've been in the "slowly at first" phase at least since the 1980s, if not earlier. As for exactly when the "then all at once" phase will happen, who knows? When Trump was elected I didn't think there was any way we'd make it to the end of his term without a catastrophic market crash that would make 2008 seem like a stroll in the park, but now I'm not so sure. Certainly for the tens of thousands now dying of opiate abuse, collapse is already here as it is for the millions of homeless. The novel The Mandibles that we've discussed here before is the best "collapse fiction" I've read--with Random Acts of Senseless Violence being another good one.

In the "news"--If you had "Nebraska" in your pool as the next state to be the location of the next major Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, go ahead and collect your prize. These horrors and their coverups are now pervasive enough that a Racketeering In Organized Crime (RICO) case could easily be made against the American Catholic church. Imagine all of the kid-raping priests going to prison along with the church leadership for protecting them. Let the remainder perform services in tents in the park.

1:19 PM  
Blogger alyosha said...

re handling collapse (btw I've read Orlov's "ReInventing Collapse", a book length treatment of the ideas in the link. This book also discusses five stages of collapse - aspects of the system that will fail, and their approximate order (given the Soviet example) such as: legal, political, economic, social (I only remember four). The five stages are themselves the subject of another book by Orlov I've yet to read. Beyond that, Orlov is a very entertaining writer.

Surviving the collapse of the SU (as he called it) is like falling out of a 4 story building. The collapse of the US will be like falling out of an 80 story building - the central theme of the article at the link.

There is one dilemma and one conundrum everyone must resolve: whether to physically remain in the US or go, and how to unplug from the US money system. Moving abroad won't help if your livelihood still depends on dollars. For most people, the collapse of the US won't be real until the money unmistakably loses most of its value. For most, this will be the point when everyone finally realizes that "it's over".

2:11 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Morris! Do you want to get your books translated to Russian? Kathy Sloan suggested that I should translate The Twilight to Russian, and John Steppling said 'yes', so I guess I am prepared to do this. I haven't read the trilogy. I just take an advice from intellectuals who are on the same page as myself. WhatsApp +7(929)6327767, sturneyturner@gmail.com

2:59 PM  
Anonymous Millennial Realist said...

@Michael Burgess -- Your description of car-centric suburbia (mostly an American phenomenon) is one of many reasons why I became a Wafer. Growing up in it, I always felt something was off and that it was completely unsustainable. The stress of car ownership -- both financial and emotional -- can't be underestimated. If you haven't had a chance to read Gaspadin Orlov's slideshow from 2006 (link in Dr. B's post), I encourage you to. It mentions how a collapse scenario for the US would be much worse than the USSR, mainly because of our high car dependency (aka reliance on oil), suburban sprawl (aka disconnection), lack of public housing, lack of strong families, for profit health care, etc. Also check out Kunstler's book "Geography of Nowhere" (the perfect title!).

@Dio -- I think it was George Carlin who said something along the lines that "real Americans" weren't just watching Jerry Springer, but they were actually on it.

@Bill Hicks -- Going back to your gentrification response in a previous thread, here is a nice article about corrupt greedy city officials (in bed with big developers) vs. corrupt Mon & Pop slumlord. https://www.npr.org/2017/12/18/558625656/choosing-between-squalor-or-the-street-housing-without-government-aid. On one hand, "city code" can be a smoke screen for a creative way of "eminent domain." On the other hand, who's going to believe a slumlord? Regardless, the long-time, low income tenants always lose.

3:24 PM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

GSWH; y todos los Waferes;

The bestest blog on the planet! For this we are grateful. Morris, I chortled out loud with your reply to my last humble post during "Soon the Masses". A pardner in California used to say "the masses are asses". Question 1: In the classic trilogy TOAC, DAA, WAFthe case was argued and the verdict delivered: guilty as charged. My answer is: I deduce that most amerikans have doobedoobedoo in the cranial cavity. The ax cleaveth and revealeth the trutheth.

My answer to question 2: No.Just poetic license on my part. But the point remains the same: doobedoobedoo. usausausa!(almost looks like the word sausage -el mismo, que non?)

As an aside - I am re-reading "Moby Dick",a classic from which I note this quote:
"And those things that would have repelled others, they were the magnets that thus drew me. I'll try a pagan friend, thought I, since Christian kindness has proved but hollow courtesy."

Vaya con los ballenas!

3:36 PM  
Blogger jjarden said...

Human beings SUCK....


Nearly 90 elephants slaughtered near wildlife sanctuary in Africa, tusks taken by poachers


https://usat.ly/2Nhuzlo

3:45 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

mean-

Sometimes people tell me that they looked at another blog, and I just shake my head in disbelief. Why go elsewhere when you can get everything here?

Sergei-

Prekrasno! Otlichno! But b4 u start translating, I suggest lining up a Moscow publisher. Once done, I can put them in touch w/the lady who was my agent for the book, and she can do the deal. The contract can specify that you will be the translator. Let me know.

mb

3:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Declinist anthem by Kate Tempest, "Europe is Lost":

Europe is lost, America lost, London lost
...
And still nothing, will stop, nothing pauses
We have ambitions and friendships and courtships to think of
Divorces to drink off the thought of
The money, the money, the oil
The planet is shaking and spoiled
And life is a plaything
A garment to soil
The toil, the toil
I can't see an ending at all
Only the end
How is this something to cherish?
When the tribesmen are dead in their deserts
To make room for alien structures
Develop, develop
And kill what you find if it threatens you
No trace of love in the hunt for the bigger buck
Here in the land where nobody gives a fuck

https://youtu.be/QSVyyykaEOo

3:55 PM  
Anonymous Wudufugel said...

Russian Spy, thanks for the vid, I enjoyed it. Here's a favorite one of mine called "Sold" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZlJga2L6e0 . Sometimes I feel like one of the greatest victories of marketers has been to turn criticism of capitalism into a cliche. Like I think most people now when they hear the word "capitalist" expect it come out of the mouth of a 20 year old college kid wearing a Che Guevara shirt. How can any genuine criticism take place in this kind of environment? Its how people like Chomsky have been sidelined.

I have a theory that civilizational collapse is like building a ladder up a cliff (Progress goes ever higher right?). Once you get high enough off the ground you have to take the steps from the bottom to keep going up. You can move up and down to a certain degree, go too far down tho and you fall off and hit the ground, similar to Orlovs analogy I guess. We have some "wiggle room", but tipping points are possible. Overall I'm with Tom, collapse will most likely be slow and painful. I have respect for critics of America's empire and the insight they provide, but I think that some of them have too much of their identity wrapped in the notion of the apocalypse being right around the corner. Each year they prophesy its imminent arrival, and when it doesn't happen, they retreat a little further into their doomer persona.

7:23 PM  
Anonymous PussKillian said...

Couple starts a GozfundzMe to help a homeless man, and then embezzled the funds:

https://gizmodo.com/400-000-raised-for-homeless-man-on-gofundme-is-complet-1828809507

"They were only trying to help him by doling out the money slowly."

A BMW and several snazzy vacations later, its more like NoFundsForYou, but lots of FunForWe!!

8:08 PM  
Anonymous Happy Hour Hero said...

RE: Sudden Collapse vs Gradual Collapse

The schwerpunkt of our collapse is our empire abroad and the financing of it via the sale of USG debt overseas. We're no more than a war away from having a Suez Moment a la France and the UK. The moment we're not able to send marines and a carrier strike group to impose our will overseas, the jig is up.

Once the rest of the world stops buying USG securities and we're no longer able intimidate them to do so via military force, nobody's going to want our worthless currency, we'll no longer be able to run a gigantic balance of payments deficit, the economy will collapse, and we'll see first hand if the police state that our betters have created to keep their lives of privilege intact is worth its salt.

The US is replaceable Waferinos, very replaceable:

https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-exports-top-categories-challenges-opportunities-3306282

9:00 PM  
Anonymous Mike R. said...

The 220pg+ document is nothing that the exceptional usa can't handle. An action plan is all that is needed!

What we need to do and should do is to take to the streets just like Chris Hedges states. Don't lose hope! There will be an incredible proletariat uprising of sustained and meaningful change! Folks are waking up and they are hungry for living an intellectual and ontologically meaningful life with a govt that has their back from health care to education to long term care to employment rights!

Action plan: 1. We shall all put on our genitalia (pussy) hats, 2. make cardboard signs of peace/love/tolerance, & 3. use "social" media to distribute silly polly pics filled w/ we must, we should statements. Then we will 4. scream slogans repetitively.

These actions will cause the corporations, CEOs, and pollies to wake up and enact real change!

12:50 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Mike-

This is the 1st gd news I've heard in a long time. Yr action plan is no-nonsense and hard-hitting, in touch w/reality. Change is in the air!

mb

1:37 AM  
Blogger Zarathustra said...

The presentation by Orlov is very good... and full of humor. But as he himself says, the precise time when and manner in which collapse will happen is very difficult to predict. I agree that the Soviet Union was much better prepared for the collapse itself, but I think the US is much better prepared to "prevent" it (meaning to delay it or slow it down), since the brainwashing of the population is far better in the US than it ever was in the Soviet Union (300 years to perfect the technique as opposed to just 70). So I tend to agree with Tom that it's probably going to be something gradual and, when the tipping point comes, I believe it will be some sort of military disaster (the Suez moment Dr Berman has discussed but quite violent, possibly).

And just because, an image is worth a thousand words.

3:49 AM  
Blogger Yossi said...

Can someone tell me when Dmitry Orlov became Gaspadin?

4:42 AM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Here I attempt to post here again; it seems from some reading that mentioning Dmitry Orlov has not made me any, or at least many, enemies here.

As I've intimated in another (attempted) post, since the Orange One was installed, I've been on the wrong side of the blogs I used to visit. So it's been a long time since I've even attempted to post on a blog like this.

I got as far as the title page of that government .pdf, it's titled "The Paradox Of Progress" or some goddamn thing; they mean to say it's astonishing! Astonishing I tell you, that after X many years of capitalism, the very definition of a wealth pump from the masses to the few, things are worse? The title tells me that's exactly what they're thinking.

With perhaps the added fillip of suggesting that if we all go out and buy Copyrighted Protest Signs(tm) and Tie-Dyed Shirts(tm) and go march around, while sipping on a cold Pepsi(tm) of course, all will be well.

I am unfamiliar with this blog, not even being sure what a "wafer" might be. Has the idea of "escaping the Anglosphere" been floated here?

5:55 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Yossi-

It's just an honorific, equivalent to Mr. or Sir. Did you expect me to say Tovarishch?

mb

6:02 AM  
Anonymous BrotherMaynard said...

So how best to prepare for the Endgame?

Rather than focus on food shortages, medicine shortages, riots, civil unrest, I'd say the best preparation is mental...attitude: realize you are not what your consume. This will be tough, damn near impossible for most Americans: proof: https://nyti.ms/2PyUQci. - $30,000 on pool part cabanas in 3 days, etc.

My advice: live well below your means, save, get exercise (not at some fancy gym's spinning class) don't eat junk food/fast food, avoid silly 'status' goods, drive an old reliable car, or take pubic transportation or walk, turn off the radio and tee tee, reveal in the classics or great literature, classical music, practice the virtue of humility (opposite: pride, vain, boastful) and be grateful for what you have. i.e. NMI

Since someone mentioned Meister Eckhart, here he is referenced in the film Jacob's Ladder (1990): "Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of the earth, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you, he said. They're freeing your soul. So the way he sees it, if you're frightened of dying and... and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth. It's just a matter of how you look at it, that's all. So don't worry, okay?"
I'm guessing most Americans would rather pick hell; after all, what else is there besides hustlin'? He who dies with the most toys wins, right?

BrotherMaynard


7:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually the most honorific/polite way to address someone in Russian is to use a patronym. i.e. Kanye Vladimirovich. No one uses Gaspadin or Tovarisch in practice.

This makes me wonder. Can you imagine the reaction of feminist progs had something like this existed in the English language? All hell would have broken loose. Pussy hats marching on the streets demanding the abolition of patronyms in favour of "matronyms" or "mixedonyms". In France this is actually becoming a reality with "écriture inclusive" increasingly being used by teachers and progs all around.

Kanye

8:11 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Kanye-

But I wasn't addressing Orlov; I was referring to him (and rather ironically, in fact). Shd one still use the patronymic in that case? Or is " Orlovskomu" the better terminology?

alex-

Welcome to the blog. We have no beef with Gaspadin or Tovarishch Orlov here, and as for Trumpi, we find him ghastly, but also are happy with that. He is a Hegelian "world historical individual," w/a certain task to perform--like Napoleon, let's say. Only in Trumpo's case, it's to dismantle the US, and end the empire once and for all. What declinist, what Wafer, could object? "Go, Trumpi!" is our battle cry.

And oh, be sure to always, always, capitalize Wafer, inasmuch as we are the crème de la crème, and this blog represents the most evolved consciousness existing in the universe. The name derives from the acronym for my book "Why America Failed"--WAF. Hence, Wafer. (NMI, BTW, stands for New Monastic Individual--see my Twilight bk.) As for visiting other blogs: big mistake. We've got it all.

mb

9:34 AM  
Anonymous Pete Christen said...

MB and Wafers: Here's a nice, tight essay relevant to our discussion.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/05/if-you-dont-hate-the-government-youre-not-paying-attention/

10:02 AM  
Anonymous Mike Kelly said...

Hi Dr. Berman,

I greatly enjoyed the Orlov talk you posted. I thought the best piece of advice he gave was to ignore our politicians. The more we ignore them the faster they go away. They are mostly irrelevant anyway. As a local elected official, I hope I am able to say that we local politicians are an exception. We deal with practical things like water, electricity, sewers and other things essential to life. Whenever I think about my little city, I think like a Wafer. Will we have water during and after the collapse? Electricity? Will our sewers still work? Will our people have access to food? Will we still be able to support a library and performing arts spaces? I want to say yes to all of the above, but only if we know what's coming. My progressive colleagues and friends still cling to the notion that if they wish hard enough and wear enough pussy hats that the middle class dream will last forever. Man, are they in for a surprise!

12:11 PM  
Blogger Bill Hicks said...

The "exceptional" nation: No charges filed against man seen dragging unconscious passenger off Long Beach Metro train. Can't let some other schlub's medical emergency make me late for work--I'm an important guy.

California Crew Clearing Homeless Camp Kills Sleeping Woman With Heavy Machinery. "Four months ago, state officials rejected a union grievance filed by workers who object to clearing homeless encampments." It's worth noting that this happened under the wise and benevolent "leadership" of liberal icon Jerry Brown.

Man erects electrified fence to keep bus stop kids off his lawn.

Man accused of sexually assaulting dying beaver lying on road. Talk about "hard up"--possibly a MGTOW.

This is why the Dumbocrats should stop making the composition of the Supreme Court an election issue--nobody cares: Supremely Forgettable--52% of Americans Cannot Name a Single Supreme Court Justice.

1:22 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

The Nazis had starvation rooms, we have jail cells where we allow a completely gruesome manner of death to proceed without medical intervention when the hospital is two minutes away because someone didn't pay their traffic tickets - stories like these just jump off the page for me and I doubt it's an isolated incident.

Hair Trump 'works' on Labor Day, what a thumb in the nose to all the working ppl he so wants to help - and it goes unnoticed what a fuckin' worthless holiday, they should just call it end of summer celebration.

As for collapse, history might be a somewhat better guide but it's like predicting when the big earthquake is coming. We know we live on a huge economic fault line but when (not if) it happens is anyone's guess, there does appear to b increased seismic activity.

Series recommendation - Ozark on Netflix, pretty good account of life in dystopian USA!

Get over it progs, the Supreme Court is gone baby gone - shlda thought about that when you coronated botoxface.

1:41 PM  
Anonymous George Carlin said...

Not sure if this article has been posted before... World will not mourn the decline of US Hegemony ... and Americans wonder why people all over the World hate them...

"By telling and sickening contrast, Obama had just offered a full apology and fired a White House official because that official had scared New Yorkers with an ill-advised Air Force One photo-shoot flyover of Manhattan that reminded people of 9/11. The disparity was extraordinary: Frightening New Yorkers led to a full presidential apology and the discharge of a White House staffer. Killing more than 100 Afghan civilians did not require any apology."

"That Trump murders with less sophistication, outward moral restraint and credible claim to embody enlightened Western values and multilateral commitment than Obama did is perhaps preferable to some degree. It is better for empire to be exposed in its full and ugly nakedness, to speed its overdue demise."

1:57 PM  
Blogger librarian@play said...

Carl Cederström, business professor at Stockholm University and Wafer:

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/9/4/17759590/happiness-fantasy-capitalism-culture-carl-cederstrom

2:08 PM  
Anonymous JUS said...

Enjoyed the Orlov writings posted here and the article of the rise of post-truth liberalism.
I'm pretty astounded at what is going on in this country. The entire Colin Kaepernick hoopla about taking a knee is beyond ridiculous. And now Nike is going to profit on him taking the knee while they give him his own clothing and shoe line. Amazing how corporations co-opt movements and how people are all ready to go out and buy a new pair of Nikes to support them. What is another human rights movement if you can't profit from it. Meanwhile the workers (mostly women) in third world countries making the shoes make pennies an hour. So much for the #MeToo movement. Where's my pussy hat?!!!

And now this:
The new directive handed down from the Directorate of the Intersectional on what white artists should make and how they should make their work to address their roll as the oppressor and their white privilege. And what is more astounding is how many artists today who are working in academia buy into this nonsense. Is it me or has academia become a big part of the problem? https://lithub.com/white-artists-need-to-start-addressing-white-supremacy-in-their-work/

2:36 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

JUS-

I'll give it 2u straight: some time ago, the country lost its center, and so did nearly all of its citizens. All of this nutso behavior u.r. describing is an unconscious effort to make up for that loss. It will not work, and in fact will make things worse. From a declinist pt of view, all of this is gd. Also check out data provided by Bill: this has become a typical week in America.

Bill-

We need a new expression for "I'll be damned!" I suggest: "Well fuck me a beaver!"

mb

3:59 PM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

todos los Waferes,

Bro Maynard - right on advice bro, i.e. in paragraph two of your post above. I do admit my car is four years old. But I bought it "used" with no regrets. NMI is the only option for those of us not ready to bail outta amerika yet. I would suggest that we do include (old) R&R, soul, jazz, R&B, and any "good music" as Ray and the Duke put it!

Hermano Mauricio - Indeed. I just wring my hands and slowly walk away...I follow no other blogs before thee.

Collapse of Empire Dept: (the big one and the coal one; being two sides of the same coin)
Casper Star Tribune 9/3/2018 trib.com. Headline story; "Peabody lets go of uneconomical coal". The final paragraph sums it up. "Everyone knows it's only a matter of time before a Wyoming coal mine closes," he said. "Without any public announcement, Peabody has given back coal that they leased and paid for years ago, because they can't sell it today for a profit."

Ain't that good news! I love it!

4:39 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

mean-

1. I am the Great Seer of the Western Hemisphere (GSWH), who took you out of the land of bondage, i.e. blindness to what was going on.
2. Thou shalt have no other Seers before me.
3. Honor thy father, mother, and moi.
4. Don't kill or commit adultery or do any shitty stuff.
5. Don't covet thy neighbor's ass.
6. Always capitalize Wafer.
7. Vilify trollfoons, call them awful names.
8. Something else, I forget.

mb

5:27 PM  
Anonymous Birney Zouave said...

Hi Dr. B:

That was a great article from George C! Sad to say, 99% of my relatives would hate it, and if any pastors in my area passed out copies of it for Sunday school discussion, they'd be fired in a "New York minute," to quote the late ex-Philadelphia Eagles coach, Buddy Ryan.

5:29 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

George-

Gd article. I suspect even our allies will be happy (relieved) when we finally get off the world stage. Jesus, the horror we have visited on the rest of the world.

mb

5:37 PM  
Anonymous DioGenes said...

@al-Q

You asked about "virtue singaling" recently- the Nike thing is a prime example. This exploitative corporation wakes up one morning and decides it wants to promote the struggle against a system from which it profits very handsomely. It's just a new net speak term for obvious moral superficiality.

I'd like to encourage Wafers to commit crimes of conspicuous aloofness to surrounding turkeys. For instance, if you want to read Greek, study Hegel, or enjoy geometry, do so at a local sports bar, Buffalo Wild Wings, or Walmart McDonalds cafe. Act perplexed if you get perplexed looks. Ignoring nonsense is sometimes more revolutionary than combatting it.

6:05 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Hola GSWH and Wafers,

I propose a Wafer Eucharist (WE) made up of pastrami and Cel-Ray Tonic. This Holy sacrament will be observed internationally, of course, and recognized as being decidedly significant to living a Wafer life.

Miles of Ockham

6:17 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dio-

Might get yr head handed 2u on a platter.

Birn-

Prepare them for the article by telling them that they are a collection of turkeys; also, buffoons. That they are pathetic, and don't know dick abt anything at all. Once they accept that, hand out Xerox copies. Be sure to let us know how it works out. :-)

mb

6:19 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

2 very impt rules on this blog, besides that of length-limit:
1. Post only once every 24 hrs
2. Spell Hegel correctly.
Thank you.

mb

6:48 PM  
Anonymous Millennial Realist said...

Add this to the Wafer archives - Local Turkey outta control: https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Truck-Reportedly-Intentionally-Crashes-Into-Fox-4-Studios-in-Dallas-492482871.html

"At about 6:15 a.m., a man, identified by police as Michael Fry, crashed his pickup into the downtown Dallas TV station multiple times before he jumped out of the truck and began yelling, police said.

Fry then grabbed a bag out of the truck and placed it near the building, police said, which prompted a bomb squad investigation."

^^ The mugshot is priceless! If batshit crazy had a photo, that would be it.

7:26 PM  
Blogger jjarden said...

This guy was so hard up that he just had to go BALLZ DEEP on a BEAVER!!!


https://usat.ly/2PF89YK

9:59 PM  
Anonymous Artemus Gordon said...

Going back to divorce: I'll never forget my dad coming in one Sunday morning and telling us that he can't live with my mom anymore. Then he left. A month before I graduated high school. Needless to say it totally destroyed my launch into adulthood. My mom couldn't handle it emotionally so I lived at home helping out (fixing her damned car on a constant basis. Oh how I hated that thing!) and taking care of her and my younger brother until I was 25. When I had my own divorce from a sexless, childless marriage about 11 years later, I luckily had the money to go to counseling. LOTS of resentment to deal with there!

Still, I fared better than my brother who was 13 at the time dad left. It scarred him for the rest of his life which ended prematurely at the age of 44 due to a rupture. At least it wasn't drugs, alcohol or suicide, which he never did. On the other hand, my older sister fared really well, but then she always had that whole ruthless "I'm getting my share of the pie and more" attitude of the typical American.

Currently, I am an older parent (57) of a twelve year old. My wife and I have a fantastic relationship. Still, I would do anything in my power to spare my son that shitty experience. Not trying to whine. Just adding adding my own two cents to Bill's and George's comments on the subject. This country is filled with broken people who see it all as normal. Sorry for the length.

10:39 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Fanni-

Just a bit too long. We have a half-page-max rule on this blog. Compress abt 25% and re-send. Thanks.

mb

11:06 PM  
Anonymous Derek said...

Note to Alex:

Can you elaborate on "leaving the Anglosphere"?
I'm intrigued...quick hypothesis knocking around my head that could be related to this idea: in most languages, one addresses an elder in a different way than addressing a younger person, in order to show respect ("vous" and "tu" in French and "Lei" and "tu" in Italian, for example). In English, we don't have this. Could this be related to the American obsession with youth and its disdain for the elderly? In other cultures where there is more respect for the knowledge elders can have, is this reflected in the language, produced by the language, both?

Also worth noting that respect can be shown in English by asking someone a question but referring to him/her in the third person, although this has always struck me as more British and is certainly rather archaic now.

11:27 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

Let me clarify something. This is sacred space. You can't be calling us names and expect to participate in this discussion. If you can't clean up yr act tout de suite, you need to find a different blog. I trust we understand each other. Even the slightest hint of disrespect, the faintest whisper, and yr history. Up 2u.

mb

11:53 PM  
Anonymous Megan C. said...

I'm really excited (and also a bit scared) over this anonymous op ed that has come out regarding Trump. A few months ago I mentioned the book, "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump". It was written by a group of psychiatrists who believe that he is a real and present danger to America and the world.

Anyhow, the concept that really stuck out to me (and which I've mentioned here before) is "hypomania". According to the authors, Trump's personality disorder (which is hard to pin down, but certainly shows elements of things like "NPD") will become most volatile and dangerous when the hypomania sets in. Well, I think this op ed, might be the thing that does that. He's already been growing increasingly paranoid and erratic, and I'm thinking (as an amateur observer, of course) that this might be what really kicks it in full tilt. Just think, two more years of utter paranoia and blind lashing out--this could really be a lot of fun!

2:19 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Megan-

God (i.e., History) willing, it'll be 6 more yrs. Keep yr fingers crossed.

mb

3:40 AM  
Anonymous Tom Servo said...

I thought this was an interesting study. Deaths of despair may have fueled Trump's victory.

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-09-05/deaths-of-despair-may-have-helped-fuel-trumps-victory-study

This might seem like a "no duh" study but it is good to have some evidence to throw at progs when they claim that Trump's victory was only due to racism and sexism and had nothing to do with the declining quality of life for many Americans and the fact that the supposedly worker-friendly Democrats didn't seem to care. They were too busy worrying about transgender bathrooms I guess.

4:01 AM  
Anonymous Fannimaz said...

what do you make of this development: "To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic. That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.

Sources
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lodestar-mike-pence-anonymous-new-york-times_us_5b905dd5e4b0511db3dec1e1

9:12 AM  
Anonymous Francois said...

Bill Hicks, would you please start emailing all your links to Chris Hedges. He needs revolutionaries for his revolt. Bestiality is about as revolting as it gets. Thank you for your links, they often make me laugh.

9:20 AM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Tom Servo-
Good article, thanks. Gives data and a hard edge to the Chris Arnade interview I posted recently where he says, "...I always kind of glibly say that wherever I went to find drugs, I found hope leaving. And where I found hope leaving I saw Trump entering, if it was a white community. Drugs don’t just go into a place because people are lazy; drugs go into a place because drugs work and help. They’re a get-meaning-quick scheme. So is fascism, so is populism..."
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/05/the-view-from-the-back-row
An article by Glenn Greenwald written the day after Trump's election win. I reread it every 6 months or so and see how things have played out just as he feared over the last two years. And his hopes, of course, were, well, hopeless-
https://theintercept.com/2016/11/09/democrats-trump-and-the-ongoing-dangerous-refusal-to-learn-the-lesson-of-brexit/
As he ends- "[More populist junk or not]...will be determined by whether their crucial lessons are learned — truly internalized — or ignored in favor of self-exonerating campaigns to blame everyone else."
No one here will be surprised which side is winning that battle.

9:33 AM  
Anonymous BrotherMaynard said...

@meangenekaz - one thing I forgot to add is: stay out of debt, no student loans, cut up your credit cards, pay off your mortgage if you can. I had over $150K in student loans when I graduated in 2005. After 8 years of not missing a payment, I still owed $120k; it all went to interest. I paid $3K a month for years until they were paid off: no dining out, vacations, etc. It was worth it. What a relief!

The reason I was able to leave is that I had nothing tying me down here. Debt is bondage. Bankruptcy laws in the USA are creditor friendly. You can't discharge credit card debt or student loans in bankruptcy. It is virtual slavery. Of course, this is done on purpose. We ain't the land of the free, everybody must pay!

@Dio - why not bring the excellent book "Why America Failed" to your local sports bar? I'm sure you'll have an eye opening (or head splitting) discussion.

BrotherMaynard

9:54 AM  
Anonymous Jon Kay said...

Fannimaz, thanks for the links. More on it follows - notice the description - sounds like they are describing members of alqaida: "The White House is in “total meltdown” following the publication of an anonymous op-ed in The New York Times on Wednesday"

The opinion piece has prompted a wave of chaotic responses from various aides on Capitol Hill. A former official told Politico it was now “open season on the president,” and the Post reported that texts were being shared saying the “sleeper cells have awoken.”"

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-white-house-nyt-op-ed_us_5b9080dee4b0511db3ded849

10:47 AM  
Anonymous al-Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

Thanks Dio. I used to frequent a major Canadian prog site, but gave it up after a few years because I was fed up with people who prided themselves on their ability to become offended at my posts. It was as if they thought it a badge of honour to be able to find something offensive in others' comments. At the time the term "virtue signalling" didn't exist, but it describes this behaviour. I've also heard it called "fake outrage."

I was just wondering about the origin of the term. Those who I've heard use it are invariably the same type who use "snowflakes," which I assume started with some media type like Bill O'Reilly.

Re-reading that Paul Street article posted by George C brought to mind something I've been thinking since 2003. Some people in the USA like to think of their empire as the New Rome (Brits as far back as John Dryden thought the same).

They're wrong - you're Mongols.

10:48 AM  
Blogger alyosha said...

re the anonymous op-ed from someone in the White House - I like what Rachel Maddow said about it: it's somebody pulling the fire alarm. (and yes, she's as prog as they come).

whatever diagnosis can be applied from the DSM-5, anyone who could see through Trump as he emerged on the national stage, could tell that nothing will get in the way of this man's massive ego. As he is cornered, expect the rage, the outbursts, the going-off-the-rails to get even worse. He is going to have his grandiose world and nothing will get in his way.

Trump is a destroyer - everything he touches turns to crap. As Dr B has pointed out, that's why he's president. I fear for myself facing a destroyer, and for everyone else who will get hurt. I say this, not unaware of all of those our country has hurt, not unaware of Trump's mission to end this.

11:10 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alyosha-

Personally, I think it'll be a lotta fun, watching Trumpi go completely batshit.

mb

11:16 AM  
Anonymous Pete Christen said...

MB and Wafers: This article relates to the Paul Street essay ("The World Will Not Mourn the Decline of US Hegemony"):
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176461/tomgram%3A_dilip_hiro%2C_trumping_trump/
When a ship is sinking, it makes sense to head for the life boats.

11:17 AM  
Anonymous Tea Time said...

Nick Turse on his piece: 'I'm only vaguely aware of the current incarnation of Tucker Carlson. If I saw a profile of him anywhere but @CJR you couldn't pay me to read it. But I rolled the dice. The subject might be terrible, but the piece is an absolute triumph'

https://www.cjr.org/the_profile/tucker-carlson.php

1:35 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

Progs continue to underestimate Trump by repeating like a mantra 'he has to please his base' or he is 'beating the drum to keep his 'base' energized.' All well and good until one remembers his base is an 89% approval of voting republicans.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=id6IzEFX&id=204C908E5A7B9ED04195EBD8A1CA768B7FDB0481&thid=OIP.id6IzEFXsCjgt4PeYf-hjwHaE8&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fi0.gmx.at%2fimage%2f276%2f32777276%2cpd%3d2%2frodrigo-alves.jpg&exph=1280&expw=1920&q=rodrigo+alves&simid=608010089984493836&selectedIndex=73&ajaxhist=0

Anybody ever seen this guy? He calls himself human Ken doll, god whadda face.

2:58 PM  
Anonymous Mike R. said...

Wonder if the NYT ("All the "news" that fits our views/keep the prof classes fat and happy") would publish an Op-Ed re: Why Trump is Excellent? That would likely not fit their narrative?

Wafer Pete---"When a ship is sinking, it makes sense to head for the life boats." Spot on.

However, usa-ers were brain damaged. Even IF usa-ers believe that the us is really sinking, they likely believe all that's needed is an uprising, an Op-Ed in a propaganda rag, resistance, or taking to the streets and chant slogans/scream at a polly/sign petitions/twattering.

These amazing us resistance actions would definitely stop the ship taking any more water, and would certainly turn itself around towards greatness!

3:30 PM  
Blogger Marc L Bernstein said...

What a shame that the USA is going to collapse, when there are so many wise and intelligent citizens around, such as Jason Helms :

http://www.usatoday-go.com/2018/09/06/bartlesville-man-accidentally-burns-home-down-after-lighting-nike-shoes-on-fire-in-protest-of-nikes-colin-kaepernick-ad/

" Officer Don Greenstein encourages people, “Don’t burn your Nike gear, just send them over to me”. "

This article isn't from "The Onion". It's just a typical event in a day in the USA.

3:31 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Marc-

What a horse's ass. And America has so many of them. Move over Lorenzo Riggins, here comes Jason Helms!

mb

3:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@MB, if you expand on your previous reply to @mean above in a book, you'll knock Chopra's 7 Spiritual Laws of Success off Amazon's bestsellers in Spirituality once and for all. I am ready to start a crowdfunding campaign in France to help you with marketing funds.

Re: Colin Kaepernick (what a name!). Nike has some smart assholes working for them.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/06/colin-kaepernick-nike-activism-capitalism-nfl

Kanye

3:45 PM  
Anonymous Sami said...

Marc,

your article is actually telling:
http://www.usatoday-go.com/2018/09/06/bartlesville-man-accidentally-burns-home-down-after-lighting-nike-shoes-on-fire-in-protest-of-nikes-colin-kaepernick-ad/

Here is what the ad says:
“Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything… Just do it”.

1. the man bought the shoes

2. he sacrificed everything

Thereby following the ad

3:59 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sami-

3. He was a douche bag.

mb

4:25 PM  
Anonymous Happy Hour Hero said...


RE: Can somebody please read this and get back to the group?

"It is not clear that economic ideologies, such as socialism and neoliberalism, which had dominated much of the 20th Century until challenged by the collapse of communism and the 2008 financial crisis, will remain relevant in a world in which both low-growth and high levels of inequality dominate political agendas. Other forms of political thought remain viable alternatives —in particular, nationalism, political liberalism, and religiously-based political thought."

Pg. 192

"Exclusionary Ideas and Identities in Democracies Threaten Liberalism. Without a return to secure and more-evenly-distributed living standards, economic and social pressures are likely to fuel nativism and populism in the West, risking a narrowing of political communities and exclusionary policies. A weakening of the rule of law, political tolerance, and political freedoms in the United States and Western Europe—the traditional strongholds of democracy—could delegitimize democratic ideas around the world."

Pg. 194

This report was written for the top 10%, the courtiers of the 1%ers who run the show, and I will give them this; they know the US is chock full of turkeys who will embrace populism/nativism rather than socialism/communism. 1/2 page limit, more to come tomorrow.

4:47 PM  
Blogger Bill Hicks said...

@Francios--Hedges obviously wouldn't get the point. When I walk around in my liberal, professional class enclave, about half the people are smug, entitled, clueless twits who drive luxury SUVs, live in McMansions and struggle to clutch on to their dumbfones while trying to wrestle their groceries into the car instead of placing it in their pockets (the other day I saw a woman carrying bags in both hands with her phone tucked into he rather ample cleavage--if they do cause cancer, breast cancer is definitely in her future). Another quarter are the kind of fat, waddling freaks with NRA and God Bless 'Murica stickers slapped on their giant pick'em up trucks. Go out to the exurbs or rural America and those numbers are probably reversed.

The point is it ought to be obvious to any intelligent observer that the overwhelming majority of his/her fellow citizens are clowns whose only real grievance is that they want the hideously corrupt system to work better for THEM. That's why they--liberal as well as conservative--keep voting for authoritarian demagogues (Trump) or neoliberal snake oil salesmen (Obama). If Hedges can't see this on his own he's either completely bind or hopelessly deluded.

Good post from Simply Justice today from a writer who is no Trump fan on how the NYT "Resistance" Op-ed writer is completely full of shit and has no respect for democracy: Publius, The Snitch

4:56 PM  
Anonymous Neel said...

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-ancient-rome-insults-politics-knew.amp

Cato addresses the Senate as though he were living in Plato's Republic rather than in the shithole of Romulus.
—Cicero

5:59 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Neel-

I wonder what the Latin for 'shithole' is. Meanwhile, the question that keeps hovering over all this is How long is Cataline going to abuse our patience? To what lengths will his unbridled boldness go?

mb

6:02 PM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Brother Maynard y todos los Waferes -

Once again - right on! Yes, I have no bananas, mortgage, student loan debt; two credit cards infrequently used. No internet, amazon, fecesbook, twitter, no snapchat, no shit, Sherlock, check!

I have: lots of good fortune, music recordings, and things with strings to pluck, what the fuck! At midnight, if I wanna, check!

Lest I forget something we left out of our discussion - get a dog. Mine's a keeper!(right on, Kurt Vonnegut)

The final MUST HAVE - the only blog needed, check! And Senor Mauricio, GSWH - BATSHIT, the perfect topping! Let the games begin! Wafers rule!

6:21 PM  
Blogger Zarathustra said...

Bill, exactly my thoughts about the anonymous op-ed writer. When I read it on the New York Trash I couldn't stop laughing. It is such a cheesy infomercial for the deep state that it wouldn't have been out of place in the Home Shopping Channel. And this is what passes for "resistance" in the US. When one of these "brave" officials tries to blow up Trump's bunker with a suitcase bomb then wake me up.

6:23 PM  
Anonymous Puss Killian said...

Bill, thank you, thank you for posting Publius, The Snitch! Very valid points.

Funniest quote: "we elected Darth Cheeto to be the president". lol

It's only a matter of time until Anon is outed. Some data scientist will use machine learning to compare writing styles, and s/he will be outed. Gawd, what a mess this will turn into.

On the question of collapse of the US? In my mind it already has. Is there a specific definition of the term "collapse" in history, philosophy, anthropology, etc? A watershed moment situates collapse in time? Just wondering.

Puss

7:03 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB & Wafers of the World,

Leave it here dept.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TGHDiItuNk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P7Giwo-f6g

Miles

7:17 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Puss-

Collapse is what follows a Suez Moment. We had an internal S.M. on 8 Nov. 2016, after which, thanks to Trumpi, the country began to seriously unravel. We are now waiting for an external S.M.; e.g., Isis attacks Miami. There has to be some major public foreign politics debacle that the US can't do anything about, revealing its weakness to the entire world. At that point, Wafers might step in, and take over the govt. Our 1st act of business: shut down every single institution in the country, including mom-and-pop stores. 2nd act: Lorenzo Riggins and Shaneka Torres replace the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 3rd act: millions of pastrami sandwiches distributed to the masses, just to make sure they don't revolt against their corporate masters or engage in any other type of Hedgean activity. 4th act: removal of Botox from Hillary's face. (It will be painful, but she's a trooper.)

mean-

I wd love to have a dog, a Samoyed in particular, but as I travel so much, I can barely keep my plants alive. Samoyeds are so handsome. When I walk along the street and someone has a Samoyed on a leash, I usually point to it and say to the owner, "Guapo!", which means handsome. (It is also Mexican slang for blowjob, but normally the owner doesn't think that's what I'm suggesting, esp. since gringos are not supposed to know words like that. For those of you who are interested, the unslang term for blowjob is "mamada.")

mb

7:35 PM  
Blogger Jack Lattemann said...

MB,

Latin for shithole is cacas foraminis.

With Trumpi, every day is an entertaining one in the cacas foraminus that is the Civitatum Foederatarum.

Happy to be of service from Cascadia.

8:38 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jack-

Many thanks. Ya never know when you'll need a phrase like that. Here I was thinking cloaca maxima, but c.f. is a lot more specific.

mb

8:45 PM  
Blogger jjarden said...

America’s Never-Ending Culture War...


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/opinion/sunday/chicago-protests-1968-culture-war.html

11:12 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Ya gotta love it dept.:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2018/09/06/sleeping-student-wouldnt-wake-up-class-so-an-officer-pulled-out-her-taser/?utm_term=.8c3ba719da7b

Can anyone tell me why the officer didn't just shoot the student? Tasering = restraint = weakness, imo. A strong, responsible officer wd have just gunned her down, saying, "Take that!"

Meanwhile, this guy doesn't understand that History chose this simpleton for a reason, one that is eminently worthwhile:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-are-a-superpower-run-by-a-simpleton/2018/09/06/a39c8980-b205-11e8-9a6a-565d92a3585d_story.html?utm_term=.2f7a44057b4a

I've said this b4, but I am going to once again encourage all Wafers to view 98% of what's going on in the US as theater. If it's inside the beltway, it's laughable. If outside, tragic. But very little of what is happening in the US today is real in the sense of what that word usta mean.

Jesus, isn't this fun?

mb

1:00 AM  
Blogger k_pgh said...

Miles –

This is not my beautiful stapler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWhsuqFj8kU

1:04 AM  
Anonymous Jason said...

Dear Wafers,

In the spirit of decline, President Trump announced September to be National Preparedness Month:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-proclamation-national-preparedness-month-2018/

4:57 AM  
Blogger Sarasvati said...

We recently spent an afternoon with some longtime friends. To say they hate Trump would be an understatement, but I wouldn’t say they’re progs. Anyway, Steve is a retired forensic psychologist and mentioned that Trump is bipolar. I looked at him and said, “gee, I thought he had narcissistic personality disorder.” Steve said, “that too.“ For a Declinist it doesn’t get much better than this!

9:43 AM  
Anonymous DioGenes said...

So apparently the cool new thing for tech CEOs to do is to talk bullshit physics while smoking pot on a lame podcast.

https://www.space.com/41749-elon-musk-living-in-simulation-rogan-podcast.html

Never mind that this hypothesis is terrible, and is just as arbitrary as creationism... Science needs to be *cool*, man!

This kind of thinking is really going back to the way science was done before Galileo, when you would just throw an anthropomorphic gestalt on whatever was happening in the world and call it a day. We are obsessed with tech simulation, so that must be what all of reality is!

Oh well. Serves the scientific community right for failing to have any grasp of wider issues. Now all their disciplined empiricism will be subject to Joe Rogan style speculation.

9:56 AM  
Anonymous BrotherMaynard said...

Re; Suez Moment
The USA is set to run multi-trillion dollar deficits forever...eventually some lenders will deduce that the USA has no way to pay it back. Once the USA can't borrow, it will have to either raise taxes (a lot) or cut spending ( a lot)- probably both. Since we will never raise taxes or cut military spending, I'm guessing social security, SSI, disability, medicare, food stamps, public housing will get decimated. And that will be the end. Trumpi & Co being the beginning of the end. Mass starvation, million of homeless, social unrest, a dystopian society. The 1% will hire guards, police, prisons and that will be OK for a while. But you can't have a society in which a few people have all the money and everyone else has none. In this way, parasites always kill their host.

No appeals to Adam Smith's 'enlightened self interest", I never saw that in the USA at all. The hustling nature of the USA has no limits or internal self correction mechanism; it will kill itself in time.

I've always been amused by Bezos and Musk's fascination with space travel, literally: the world is not enough...

BrotherMaynard

10:28 AM  
Anonymous Puss Killian said...

Wafers:

"As Americans our view of the relative safety of the world is skewed. We don’t often acknowledge this, but the US can be a dangerous place. Statistically, this is a fact. We have a high gun homicide rate (#16 in the world), high gun violence rate (#9 in the world), and a high rape rate (#11 in the world). 1 in 6 American women have been raped. The world feels scary because we generalize from our experience living in the US. This is not normal. It’s really high. It’s something we should definitely be talking about and it’s not because women need to take more precautions, it’s that we need to change as a culture. So while America doesn’t have the highest murder rate in the world (the list of the top twenty is here, you might be surprised at how many Caribbean vacation spots are on there like Jamaica, St. Kitts and the Virgin Islands) — but by comparison women are safer in many parts of the world than in the United States."


https://www.almostfearless.com/the-women-traveling-solo-question/


No surprise that someone who travels the world actually knows what actually needs to change (not that it will). Apologies for the female slant, but I thought the stats were "interesting".

3:35 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

Another day, another beautiful American face...

http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=BDIGeneric&aid=C98EA5B0842DBB9405BBF071E1DA7651077B1B5B&tid=9D50EECC02F54D40886689ED8D3B3609&url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.bbc.com%2fnews%2fworld-us-canada-45450562&c=17766838834258054645&mkt=en-us

3:46 PM  
Blogger C. J. Timmins said...

Hi All - As it turns out the house burning down was indeed a fabricated story: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/house-fire-nike-shoes-burn/

But don't lose faith: https://www.wbaltv.com/article/intoxicated-man-accidentally-sets-fire-to-home-trying-to-bake-cookies-answers-door-naked/23010678

The twitter account "Florida Man" is a treasure trove: https://twitter.com/_FloridaMan

Florida may indeed be the apotheosis of the American tragedy AND comedy: strip malls galore, gated retirement communities as far as the eyes can see, Disney World, regular hurricanes, Spring break debauchery, and an underlying sense of entitlement to it all. They can f*cking have it!

3:57 PM  
Anonymous Birney Zouave said...

Dr. B-

Onward and downward- "Military hardware company swamped with orders for bulletproof schoolbags as US school term starts"

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/masada-armour-bulletproof-school-bags-demand-mass-shooting-parkland-high-schools-a8520276.html

4:16 PM  
Anonymous Emily said...

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/04/trust-in-the-military-exceeds-trust-in-other-institutions-in-western-europe-and-u-s/

Trust in the military exceeds trust in other institutions in Western Europe and the U.S.

5:22 PM  
Blogger Bill Hicks said...

Just this past weekend, some new neighbors who just moved in had a house warming party. Not knowing anyone, they left flyers for everyone in the immediate vicinity inviting all of us to join them. As it turned out, my wife and I were the only ones who bothered to show up. I could tell they were probably hurt by that, but didn't show it outwardly. Fortunately, they had invited a number of their own friends so it wasn't awkward. Everyone was at least pleasant to talk to (the husband is a school teacher and the wife works for non-profit, so there were no hustling douchebags present), but I just kept thinking to myself how typically American it was that a few others couldn't have at least dropped by for a bit just to introduce themselves.

In the "news," Jonathan Turley is on the case: Insured patient had $109,000 Medical Bill Reduced to $332 After Media Coverage. Who says the outrage machine isn't good for anything?

A 47-Year-Old Alleged Adult Charged in Florida for Giving His Girlfriend a Wet Willy. The question here is not whether he is a MGTOW, but why in hell any woman would date such a douchebag in the first place.

Man Throws Ax At Train--Train Wins. "The conductor saw the man fall and stopped the train out of fear that he had hit the man. The man however took off and was later found by police blocks away with a head wound."

5:26 PM  
Anonymous JoAnna K said...


Mexico's natural wonders are under threat. Can a poet save them?
Mexico’s environmental marvels are on borrowed time, but poet Homero Aridjis is fighting to change that

" .... After the death of his friend Octavio Paz, Aridjis, now 78, became Mexico’s most important poet .... López Obrador will assume the presidency amid 'an environmental disaster”, says Aridjis. “One of contaminated seas, lakes and rivers, terrible deforestation which has worsened of late, threats to – and trafficking in – fauna … and in the capital, monstrous pollution. None of the candidates expressed any interest in these problems of vast importance.' ...."

Can you imagine such a figure even EXISTING in these United States?!

5:33 PM  
Anonymous Megan C. said...

In spite of the latest Trump fiasco, mass shooting, and in general watching our Republic come apart at the seams, I've honestly spent the past three days thinking almost exclusively about Richard Delp and the sexual assault he perpetrated on that poor dying beaver. (Thanks Bill Hicks, for making us aware of that one!)

Really, are these not clear signs and portents of The End? There is something deeply wrong with this society, and these kinds of unthinkably aberrant behaviors are becoming the norm. I would guess that Bill has to spend about five minutes a days digging this stuff up--it is that prevalent.

At the very least, I think Richard Delp deserves a permanent place of honor in the Wafer hierarchy, right beside Shaneka Torres and Lorenzo Riggins. We must not forget him. (Perhaps he could be the Secretary of State in the coming administration?)

5:49 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Megan-

Hedgehogs are next. I'm sure of it.

Puss-

No need to apologize.

Sar-

Check out TMWQ; there's a scene where Hillary goes totally batshit. Now maybe Trumpi will do it for real, including rolling around on the floor and foaming at the mouth. Whee!

mb

6:11 PM  
Anonymous Happy Hour Hero said...

RE: ps: anyone wanna read this, and report back to the group?

"Disenfranchisement, repression, and humiliation can drive people to seek power and control through violence. Some level of alienation, arising from disconnection from the sociocultural mainstream, inability to participate in the political process, coping with diminished opportunity for marriage, or inability to attain one’s perceived “deserved” economic benefits and status from society will remain consistent sources of grievance-driven violence."

pg. 224


The spooks know the US is full of violent turkeys and know that eventually they will lash out violently as the empire collapses.

RE: Suez Moment

Syria - U.S. Reveals Underpants Plan For Indefinite Occupation

"Syria and its allies Russia and Iran should proceed with their plans to cleanse Idleb of terrorist. The U.S. is bluffing. It has no realistic means to prevent the operation. Any U.S. attack on Syrian and Russian forces involved in it would likely escalate into a conflict between nuclear powers. That is a risk the U.S. military is unwilling to take. It knows that the forces it planted into Syria are vulnerable to attacks."

It appears that the US is fast approaching a Suez moment in Syria, and may have already gone full Suez in the South China Sea where China has been able to fortify various reefs and islands with impunity despite US protestations.

8:13 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Happy-

Thank you. Watch length.

mb

8:32 PM  
Anonymous Foolbert said...

Really - pending collapse? It doesn't get much worse than it already is. Implosion of the dollar? It's already worthless. Barbarian ignorance? Are we actually waiting for it...? "Collapse" will simply mean acknowledging the fantasy that currently propels things forward. And waiting for some kind of dramatic end is far too melodramatic for our times. This is a mediocre culture (at best). You'll get (at best) a mediocre end. Let's not get too Alex Jones about this.

9:55 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Fool-

Rest assured, it *will* get much worse than it already is; you can't imagine. Food and water riots, martial law, mass migrations, the police gunning people down--it ain't gonna be pretty. Check out Lionel Shriver's novel "The Mandibles," for a likely description of what lies ahead.

As for dramatic end: we've discussed this numerous times on this blog. Of course, there are other scenarios besides the Roman Empire model, altho I suspect that is the most likely. In other words, things will get progressively worse on a daily basis, but in addition there will be 'nodes'--points of punctuation that accelerate the decline--such as 9/11 or the crash of 2008. There are certainly more crashes in our future (a # of economists have predicted this), and they will be worse than 2008. Sure, we cd have a mediocre end, but I have a feeling that there's a bit o' drama in the American future.

And if there's bang, and whimper (possible scenarios), there's also my favorite: jokes. Men are fucking beavers and vans. Women are gunning down McDonald's for lack of bacon on cheeseburgers. And The Donald is about to go abs. nutso, completely batshit. All of this is great entertainment, amigo, esp. when viewed from afar. What will it mean, when Lorenzo Riggins is secretary of state? There is so much to enjoy.

mb

10:20 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Mr. Berman - Don't worry I'll keep it prim and proper around here!

Derek - What I meant by the almost-unbelievable concept of "leaving the Anglosphere" is the concept of doing just that. Leaving the parts of the world where English is the language or one of the dominant languages.

What this amounts to is, in leaving the English-dominated part of globe, you also leave the part of is where Calvinism/Capitalism are the culture. The idea that people aren't really poor because they're temporarily embarrassed millionaires, the idea that if you ARE poor it's because you're "sinful", etc. The radical individualism in the Anglosphere, and the ingrained lack of empathy are actually kind of unusual as human cultures go.

You normally only see parents viewing their kids as burdens to cast themselves free of as soon as legally possible, the idea that it's perfectly OK to have old people living in the street, the idea that a person is worth exactly how much money they have, are not really very normal. You really only see this level of social dysfunction in populations that have endured repeated, catastrophic, dislocations or wars.

It's been noted that homelessness is really high in "Anglo-Saxon" countries. You can look it up. When you base your entire culture on "Fuck you, I've got mine" this is what you get.

So the idea is if you can get away from that, you might get to live in a society that doesn't suck quite so much. The price is high - you must literally escape the Anglosphere so you must learn another language.

8:23 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

Atta boy; I knew you cd do it. Pls note that learning a second language is fun.

mb

9:46 AM  
Anonymous Puss Killian said...

Wafers:

Here is an article that, to me, spells it out exactly as it is.

Global Alliance for Evil -The Saker

Everything (and I mean *everything*) is a con in this country. There are so many examples to choose from. Here's just one:

The Student Loan Con

Listing current cons would fill an encyclopedia. This is why I believe we have already collapsed, although I do understand the need for a Suez Moment to situate this ongoing collapse trajectory into the historical timeline. My bet for this is Syria.

My biggest fear is that we've exported this model all over the world (coming to a country near you!) and by the time I'm ready, there will be nowhere to go, no escape.

10:59 AM  
Anonymous BrotherMaynard said...

In keeping with this country's hustling DNA, it appears that the political conservative movement has degenerated into nothing more than an affinity fraud mechanism to sell modern-day snake oil (nutritional supplements) to angry old white men (aka make your old white penis great again!)
Alex Jones:
https://nyti.ms/2Np87qx
Are direct marketing scams destroying the republic? The answer appears to be yes:
https://nyti.ms/2MIXeQb

However, my favorite part of the whole Trumpi phenom so far is the Christian evangelicals. I always knew they were full of shit of course. But that they are utterly devoid of any morals, principles, or scruples has been a pleasant surprise. Even I thought they had some basic Christian principles deep deep down: it turns out that they don't! (Aside from white supremacy, obviously.) Can't wait when they find out Jesus wasn't white! Oh, the look on their faces!!!

BrotherMaynard
P.S. Where is Bill 'Book of Virtues" Bennett in all of this? Will he save our republic?

11:05 AM  
Anonymous Lucas said...

https://www.mintpressnews.com/tony-blair-saudi-arabia-millions/248915/

Today Tony Blair lectures us about “socially liberal, progressive politics”

Yesterday he confirmed he received up to $12m from Saudi Arabia - which beheads people and is responsible for the slaughter of thousands in Yemen.

The gall .... is breathtaking ....

11:19 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Bro-

According to the Apocrypha, Jesus ran a deli in downtown Jerusalem, and was in process of opening branch restaurants in Nazareth and Bethlehem. When he asked God, "Why have you forsaken me?", he was talking abt the fact that the 3 delis failed to turn a profit/prophet. (Little known biblical facts)

mb

1:07 PM  
Anonymous al-Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

Amen, Brother Maynard (how's yer holy hand grenade?). On that prog blog I mentioned earlier, one Easter I posted a link that I captioned "Palestinian anarchist tortured to death." The link was to a story about the crucifixion. Nobody was amused.

By the way, had this sort of thing happened in a Warsaw Pact country, the outrage among US evangelicals would have been deafening:

Israel bans Ahed Tamimi from travelling abroad
https://www.middleeasteye.net/Israel-travel-ban-Palestinian-campaigner-Ahed-Tamimi

1:25 PM  
Blogger alyosha said...

@Brother Maynard - evangelicals may be your particular axe to grind; IMO it's not that they're "devoid of morals, principles", it's that they're naive and immature. There are levels of spiritual maturity, and the tribalism of evangelicals is a baby rung in that progression.

I spent a lot of time in heartland evangelical subculture. In some ways they have the innocence and purity of children and a genuine love of God, but they're dumb as rocks in so many other ways, and can easily be led around by sophisticated PR campaigns. One of my favorite MB quotes (I've forgotten where I read it) is that they have the political sophistication of a five year old.

Heartland America feels under seige by coastal educated elites, and that's the wedge that's exploited to manipulate them. A conman like Trump can wave a bible in the air, declaring it's his favorite book, even though he doesn't know John from Job, and he's got them hooked. It's emblematic of the desperation and poverty of the Heartland, whose economic base was sold off to China and beyond.

This kind of manipulation has happened before. I like reading Mike Lofgren - he's a 30 year veteran GOP operative who left the cult. He's written about how conservative elites in France, before WW2, cultivated the social cons of that time, same as what happened in the USA, decades later:

https://truthout.org/articles/mike-lofgren-how-democracies-die/

1:32 PM  
Blogger Ricardo said...

I live in Vancouver, Canada and have a pleasant south-west view from my little apartment.

At “The End”, I hope to be out on my balcony with a glass of Cote du Rhone as the Puget Sound Trident Base in Washington State takes numerous H-bomb hits. l like to think that I may have a few moments to take in the pyrotechnics on the horizon before the shock waves and radiation clouds roll in.

Call me a romantic, but I prefer that America go out with a bang rather than a whimper.

2:06 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Ric-

I believe that Claret is the preferred wine for H-bomb attacks.

mb

2:16 PM  
Blogger Zarathustra said...

Ricardo, Dr Berman maybe the utmost authority in the universe when it comes to deli meats, but I'm not impressed with his wine recommendation. I suggest a Ribera del Duero gran reserva, you can't go wrong with a Vega Sicilia. And don't forget the music, what is a beautiful mushroom cloud without an appropriate soundtrack? For example, Deep Night by Rudy Vallee or, if you're into classical, the Adagietto of Mahler's Symphony No. 5.

P.S. I don't want to be the competition to Bill Hicks, but this seems like a new level of awesomeness by America's finest in their quest to serve and protect: Dallas Cop Mistakenly Enters Apartment, Kills Botham Shem Jean.

2:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The billionaire set see the on-rushing collapse, and are having giant underground bunkers built in Texas and shipped to New Zealand for burial. These they expect to provide the ultimate in luxury bolt-holes when the excrement hits the oscillator. They've got their $70 million Gulfstream G550s fueled up on Nevada runways, ready to go.

As for the less privileged turkeys and douchebags left behind to waddle angrily through the ruins in search of food, gas, and ammo before they starve to death? The thinking of the ultra-wealthy can be summed up as:

"Après nous, le déluge!"

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/07/billionaires-plan-escape-from-apocalypse/

3:45 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Zar-

Check out the bk "Wine, Atomic Bombs, and You," by Francois de Merde. Claret, he says; only claret. He also has some gd ideas for canapés, BTW.

mb

5:14 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Go to cnn.com. Check out the nonsense that passes for 'news' in this country. God, what a collection of crap headlines. How deep can the American head go into the American rump?

mb

5:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nike figured it all out Wafers:

https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/08/colin-kaepernick-nike-ad-sales-up

6:07 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

Every month I visit the co-op (consortium of local churches) food pantry to make ends meet. They require (more and more lately) personal identification, income/living arrangement etc, their office is connected with brand new pc's, it's very professional not much different from a typical social srvs office. Yesterday on the way back I was at transit cntr, since my eye surgery I've noticed when I turn my head to the right or left I get some double vision. So while I waited for the bus I was testing vision turning head right/left. Soon I noticed the security guard take a position near the building I could tell he was watching me (everything is a target). I must have looked suspicious (do anything in public slight off you will be noticed.) Walking home it occurred to me the infrastructure for the security state is already in place, it just requires staffing (and fuck the Stasi Americans made spying fun) Kill food stamps turn it over to charity let them tell you what you can eat. In a city of 110,000 43% have Medicaid, prob same amount on some gov't assistance, median income 38 grand (statewide 65) when I walk by the call center the employees line up to go inside it already looks like a soup line/paid in scrip to use @ company store.(1/2 pg will finish tomorrow)

MB bet you can't wait to get to the new Starbucks in Italy :)

6:20 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Gunnar-

And it's such *bad* coffee, too; very bitter. Real Italian coffee, on the other hand, is sublime. Two times I threw caution to the winds: on Piazza Navona, at Tre Scalini, I actually paid 9 euros for a cappuccino. It was sex in the form of coffee. I nearly swooned. But then cap. in Roma is mostly around 4-5 euros, and in Naples, 1.5. All fabulous.

mb

6:26 PM  
Blogger Bill Hicks said...

@Megan C--actually, it's usually takes about 10-15 minutes, but I try to find stories with a unique detail we haven't seen before. :)

Here is an excellent takedown of modern professional-class feminists: On Rebecca Solnit’s Shocking Superficiality. "In Solnit’s world, the hurt feelings of a privileged woman are given precedence over war crimes, and that is a clear sign and she doesn’t actually want to change anything. She and her followers have few qualms with the material violence and degregations begot but this horrible system. They just want their place in this system to be made a bit more comfortable, they want others to assure themselves of their own righteousness, and they want to ban anything that might trigger a pang of compunction. That’s it. That’s all they do."

Speaking of which, why isn't Nikki Haley a feminist icon? A country where an immigrant Sikh girl can become a neocon ambassador. "...she is trying to out-Trump Trump. DJT is a remarkably ignorant man concerning the geo-politics of just about everything in the ME. He appears to have once seen the film, 'Exodus' and to have decided on the basis of Paul Newman's performance as Begin that the situation was and is quite simple - Israel good! Everyone else bad! Nikki's depth of knowledge appears to be just about the same."

7:36 PM  
Anonymous George Carlin said...

C. J. Timmins -- The "FloridaMan" twitter handle truly is a treasure trove... its sometimes hard to believe if the stories are real :) .. sharing some of the amazing Amrikan characters from Florida ..

Priests were caught performing oral sex on each other in a car parked along Ocean drive, what a coincidence, the ages of the priests were 30+39 = 69 !!

Florida man shot at woman's home after she wrote bad restaurant review.

This couple got a free striptease along with the dinner and they didn't like it. What heartless couple, no compassion for a man offering free entertainment.

Naked man on bicycle stuns I-95 traffic. Why is this stunning ? Do Turkeys sometimes feel Amrika is normal ?

Bill Hicks -- Follow "FloridaMan" if you are on twitter. Weekly shit news compilation will be much easier.

8:23 PM  
Blogger Frederick Froth said...

Four prophetic books on the nature and purpose of right wing evangelical politics.

American Fascists by Chris Hedges
Kingdom Come by Michelle Goldberg
American Theocracy Kevin Phillips

Between Jesus and The Market: The EMOTIONS That Matter in Right-Wing America by Linda Kintz This is an earlier (1997) book - quite scary

Michelle Goldberg recently wrote an essay pointing out the orange haired golem is the Trojan Horse for the "religious" right.

8:30 PM  
Anonymous Wudufugel said...

Alyosha, you're spot on about the south, where I've lived off and on for many years. Yeah there are angry liberal-hating types who would vote for Hitler if he ran as a republican, but mostly what you find are people who are economically depressed, have little education, and see the world though some simple formulas - God is good, guns are good, "socialism" is bad, abortion is bad, and so on. They'll come together and help those in need in times of crisis, but in terms of historical / political / scientific literacy, they're hopelessly ignorant and naive (like children, as you suggest) and easy to manipulate.

Re: "getting ready". Maybe I'm off the mark here but I feel like this is going to be as much psychological as it will be doing things like stockpiling ammo & food. Even tho tbh I'm thinking about buying some dehydrated food bins and keeping them in my basement. But that aside, look at how many people can't go five minutes w/o looking at a cell phone. How are they going to react if the cell towers go down? Or think about all the people giving up on the "American Dream" of a single-family home and small lawn with 2 cars. What if economic conditions means more and more people have to start living together again and - the horror - share cars! An economic breakdown may be accompanied by a psychological one, we'll see.

8:40 PM  
Anonymous FerQ said...

@Bill- American Evangelicals tend to be really messed up in the head. I remember in the 90s there was a pastor that had issues with the Teletubbies, an innocent show for little children.
Those ppl really need to get a life.

11:18 PM  
Anonymous Happy Hour Hero said...

Gunnar: Excellent observations on the police state infrastructure and on future charities dictating how their beneficiaries live.

Wudufugel: You're on point with the psychological breakdown following the economic one. I predict lots of scapegoating and see it already in the labor Facebook group I follow. According to them, if illegal immigration ended tomorrow things would be peachy.

The whole America-as-Faustian-bargain concept is beyond their grasp.

Lastly, if you all need a good laugh check out Jeffrey St. Clair's latest column. Hilarious!

Roaming Charges: "I am not Spartacus!!!"

P.S. Floridaman Twitter feed is da bomb!


12:53 AM  
Blogger Vaquero Supreme said...

In preparation for the End Game read these two books and have them within arm's reach at all times:
The Reenchantment of the World
Coming to Our Senses


This is not to kiss your derriere, Dr. Berman. I do find the discussions in these books quite intriguing and compelling; a guide to readjusting our distorted woldviews.

1:35 PM  
Blogger Sarasvati said...

I’m always torn as to how much people are responsible for their stupidity, especially considering how dumbed down and brainwashed we are. I think I once talked about the difference between nescience (the information is simply not available) and ignorance (the information is available, but you choose to ignore it).

While evangelicals may appear to be kind and have a genuine love of god, they choose to be ignorant. – how else to explain their inversion of the teachings of Christ into things like the prosperity gospel. Come on, you don’t have to be a genius to know what Jesus thought about moneychangers and the rich. And since the evangelical mind-set tends to harshly judge those who fall outside their belief system (many expect to be raptured and are delighted to know that the “sinners” will suffer), they’re often inclined to accept and excuse truly evil, egregious behavior (I include Catholics here vis-à-vis the Church) without question. So it would appear that some responsibility for what’s gone wrong has to be assigned to them: Nescience is one thing, ignorance is something else entirely. Naiveté, immaturity, even brainwashing might be an explanation, but are they an excuse?

1:35 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Vaq-

Well, inasmuch as I am the GSWH, some degree of ass-kissing is not entirely out of place. You also might want to read the 3d vol. in the series, "Wandering God." As far as what's on yr night table: SSIG is not a bad choice.

Sar-

A case can probably be made for beating these people w/in an inch of their lives, and then throwing them on a dung heap. Although I concede that that might be a tad impolite.

Both of you guys: be sure to send messages to latest post. No one reads the older stuff. Thanks

mb

2:42 PM  
Anonymous DioGenes said...

I am not a huge fan of Freud, but he's maybe the most relevant author on American politics.

Like Dr. B says about Hedges, the progs are largely neurotics who compensate for the regular failure of their worldview by meaningless activism and sloganeering. I mean, tell me Freud would not have had a lot to say about the p***y hat movement!

The right wing also has major Freudian-type issues revolving around the need for a father figure in a world where authority has collapsed. (Christopher Lasch also made this point.) They defend the bumbling old father (Reagan, Bush, Trump) out of their own castration anxiety.

Yeah... there's not much more to it than that. Choosing between and archetypical Mommy and Daddy in the 2016 election was enough to make me realize how trapped Americans are in their own psycho-pathologies.

11:38 AM  

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