July 22, 2019

365

Well, Waferinos-

Here we are, with things getting progressively worse. Regarding Iran, I have written the Pentagon urging them to also nuke Toronto and Paris, but those yokels pay me no heed. Domestically, the rot is frustratingly slow; but it does deepen on a daily basis. On the American tendency to ram head up ass, I've been reading "American Hysteria," by Andrew Burt, and "American Panic," by Mark Stein. Jesus, we are so incredibly stupid. Burt has a final chapter on how to deal with the next bout of hysteria (which is upon us now, I suppose); yeah, that'll work. Perhaps his next book will be on phrenology.

-mb

18 Comments:

Blogger Sarasvati said...

Morris: as you say, there’s no underestimating American stupidity.

Cog: The first question that must be asked is “who funded the study?” Data can be picked and chosen, and as Benjamin Disraeli said there are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics.

Anyway, as I understand it, agencies of the Government that are supposed to protect us tend to accept safety information that the corporations supply. Gee, do ya think there might be some bias involved? Then you have something like 5G, which they’re rushing to roll out with no safety testing at all: https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/at-senate-commerce-hearing-blumenthal-raises-concerns-on-5g-wireless-technologys-potential-health-risks

The best bet is to do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

11:50 AM  
Anonymous Pete Christen said...

Last week America's tormented president had another meltdown (per Stephen Colbert: "the president pinched out a steaming pile of tweets"). Soon after the House of Reps voted to formally condemn him for the comments -- not because they are inaccurate and insane and clearly the product of a diseased mind, but because they are racist. Sigh. Bottom line: in a very short time Drumpf has been able to impose his twisted view of reality on millions of people. He now has the momentum to cause widespread destruction. Mentally diseased people work tirelessly to pull others into their reality. They are preternaturally persistent. Common to all is an ability to rush in, take control, intrude, and establish a momentum. Drumpf has succeeded spectacularly. He knows how to overwhelm, inundate, carpet bomb. Senators and Representatives who once criticized him now support him. They have been pulled into his psychopathic orbit. There is no way to shut him down now.
I am simultaneously distressed and relieved -- dismayed by Drumpf while relieved that the end of the toxic empire is in sight. Drumpf is a necessary variable in the equation of collapse. He is like those notorious Roman emperors -- Nero, Caligula, Commodus -- that collapsing empires vomit forth. Once an empire starts vomiting out psychopathic leaders, it is doomed.

12:35 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Krassner

Sad to report the death of your compleat true American patriot. He, along
with Lenny Bruce and Carlin, offered us what the mainstream media knew
to be forbidden truths. He must already be in the Wafers' pantheon.

1:44 PM  
Anonymous Cobb Patterson said...

"According to two people familiar with the encounter, Trump urged him to block asylum seekers from entering the United States. If McAleenan went to prison for doing so, Trump said, he would pardon him."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/magazine/immigration-department-of-homeland-security.html

Just wow.

2:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a sad world we're living in:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jul/22/why-childhood-sweethearts-no-longer-measure-up-and-six-other-ways-dating-has-changed

Kanye

3:12 PM  
Blogger Krakhed said...

These latest victims of fascism are gonna have a real fond memory of America if they never make it back States after they leave. I imagine most of them will realize later in life that they were lucky to escape the shithole before it swallowed them up.

https://thinkprogress.org/expedited-removal-expansion-undocumented-immigrants-642feca81d00/

3:35 PM  
Anonymous Birney Zouave said...

Dr. B-

This is interesting-

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/22/if-others-have-rifles-well-have-rifles-why-leftist-groups-are-taking-up-arms

4:43 PM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

WTF is wrong with people?

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-19/daffodil-hill-closed-by-overtourrism?_amp=true

So there's this beautiful field of flowers. And what do you do? Go trample all over it so you can get a photo just like every other idiot trampling next to you in the field.

This is the beauty of postcards, if anyone remembers those things. You had a record that you were there, it was a memento for friends, and you didn't have to waste time and film shooting a cliche, you could just relax and enjoy.

Now of course this kind of idiocy is not limited to America. Mt Everest, Venice, Machu Picchu (building an airport nearby so they can increase the tourist traffic).

What is going on? This frenzied tourism thing is afflicting people so severely. Do they know the end is near? That plane travel is on its last legs? The mass hysteria of Burt's book isn't limited to politics. Beanie babies, anyone? Black Friday at Walmart? For a country of 'rugged individualists, Americans sure are rabid lemmings.

6:53 PM  
Blogger Quercus said...

Wafers & Cog:

Regarding the posts just previous on the long-term medical effects of EMF, Wi-Fi, 5G etc., see the work of Martin L. Pall and a number of prominent European researchers. As might be expected, many of these researchers are poorly funded and just ignored or attacked by corporate interests.
https://peaceinspace.blogs.com/files/5g-emf-hazards--dr-martin-l.-pall--eu-emf2018-6-11us3.pdf

This blog site, Microwave News is also of interest. http://microwavenews.com

Although this DAA site has been documenting the stupidity and psychological effects of cell phone usage, there is also the physical damage (headaches, disruption of sleep, metabolic disorders, etc), which of course acts in a negative synergistic manner on social behaviour.
For some 20 years now, there have been reports of people getting brain tumours on the “cell phone side” of their heads, easily dismissed as “anecdotal evidence”, the putdown all “hard science” uses for anything that does not fit reductionist paradigms (especially when supported by industry).
If lawsuits for damage cause by cell phones ever reaches the courts, it would make the tobacco lawsuits look like a Sunday School Picnic. But who could give up their smart phones? They are now too deeply embedded in world culture.

Quercus

7:37 PM  
Anonymous Anjin-san said...

And the technology beat goes on...

https://www.inc.com/john-brandon/youll-never-guess-how-much-microsoft-is-giving-elon-musk-to-build-skynet.html

7:39 PM  
Anonymous Dion said...

David Epstein
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

“So much crucial and revelatory information about performance, success, and education.” —Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet

I'm on the section that studies Leonardo. A Wafer recommendation.

7:40 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

The American Way being impoverishing people for health care goes 'way back to the Pilgrims, it's about 2/3rds of the way in on this, but it's all a great documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybyj7uMSCq8

I've been doing a ton of reading/watching about homelessness in Hawaii since likely I'd start out being homeless if I moved there in a year, and one thing struck me: A chuukese (Micronesian) lady saying it's hard because back in Chuuk (Truk) there is no homelessness. I guess it just never occurred to the Chuukese to not care for members of their community at least to the extent of a safe roof to sleep under.

1:14 AM  
Anonymous Megan said...

Dr. Berman,

You often comment jokingly on your lack of influence. This may be true in terms of the number of books sold, name recognition, etc. But the only thing that counts is that you GOT IT. There are very few academics or popular writers whose central thesis is that America is a hopelessly failed state, and that there is no hope of fixing it.(Are there any for that matter?) I mean, that's kind of amazing, really, how few people even see this, when it's so glaringly obvious to our small but merry band here. So there has to be some real satisfaction in knowing that you're right and that history is going to vindicate you.

On a related subject, some guy just came up to a neighboring workplace and pulled a gun on an employee. He pointed it right at his head, and pulled the trigger, but the gun stuck and they got it off of him. So that's literally the only reason the worker is still alive. This is reliable information for what it's worth. Jesus, though, this country is just utterly off the rails. It should be obvious to everyone, but it takes moral (ontological) courage to see and acknowledge it, and that is a quality sorely lacking these days.

On a more upbeat note, this Orthodox monk from Mt. Athos is pretty sharp, and sounds remarkably like a Wafer. Some great stuff in this lecture, which is spot on in its analysis of American life (Skip the first 8 minutes or so to avoid a long intro): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXXcnKZL1i0

3:26 AM  
Anonymous trying to stay sane said...

This is a follow up to my request for reading suggestions. Will respond to most recent essay later. For now. thanks to all who shared their favorite books on decline. I look forward to reading those with which I am unfamiliar.

For others looking for good reads, try these. (Though dated, their insights continue to be relevant to what we are writing about on this blog.)
"The Image" by Daniel Boorstin. A vision of America as inundated by its own illusions and "pseudo-events".

"The Rule of Empires" by Timothy Parsons. "Those who built them, those who endured them, and why they always fall." From the point of view of the "little people".

For how hyper-capitalism keeps the poor poor for the benefit of capitalists, anything by Barbara Ehrenreich.

"Rogue Economics" by Loretta Napoleani. "A fascinating view of how terribly wrong things have gone"

"When Corporations Rule the World" by David Korten. Searing indictment of an unjust international economic order. How global corporations dominate people and their governments.

"One Market Under God"by Thomas Frank. "Extreme Capitalism, Market Populism, and the End of Economic Democracy".



6:41 AM  
Anonymous Tom Servo said...

Suicide rates are soaring among African-American teenagers. From the article: “Suicide deaths among black females aged 13 to 19 rose 182% between 2001 and 2017, while the rate among black teen males rose 60% during that same period.”

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20190626/suicide-rates-soaring-among-black-teens

Suicide rates are also increasing for Native Americans. Since 1999 suicide rates have increased 139% and 71% for Native American women and men respectively.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/21/suicide-rate-native-american-indian-women-men-since-1999/1524007001/

6:42 AM  
Anonymous Greenfield said...

Dostoevsky’s Extremely Thoughtful Critique of the Left

https://merionwest.com/2019/07/15/dostoevsky-extremely-thoughtful-critique-of-the-left/

9:07 AM  
Anonymous Northern Johnny said...

Hi Dr. B and all:

Had to share this one from yesterday's Guardian (UK):

‘If others have rifles, we’ll have rifles’: why US leftist groups are taking up arms," Guardian July 22, 2019:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/22/if-others-have-rifles-well-have-rifles-why-leftist-groups-are-taking-up-arms

Blurb: "Armed antifascists groups say they want to protect events from malicious and potentially armed groups – an increasingly common phenomenon"

Wish I had time to write more about this arming the Left phenomenon, but too much on my plate at the moment. No such talk of Leftist carrying firearms in Canada, but there is talk within certain radical anarchist Left factions about rejecting police protection in favour of defending themselves physically from Rightist attacks. A version of this issue is currently dividing the City of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, where I used to live. Here is one of many articles: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/pride-hamilton-protest-1.5178037

For at least two years now, I should add,'Canadian culture' has becoming increasingly indistinguishable from 'American culture.' In my view, the last pretensions of being different or more civil or whatever began collapsing shortly after Trump became President of the USA. Deep down, most Canadians take their social and political signals from the USA and in particular from whoever happens to be President.

-Northern Johnny

9:20 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Megan-

Just call me Cassandra!

mb

10:37 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home