November 28, 2020

Crossing the Rectal Divide (Part I)

It's a recurring dream, and it refuses to go away. I have it every three or four weeks. In the dream, I'm dining alone in some fancy restaurant, and suddenly begin to beat on a plate with a soup spoon, while chanting, "Americans are degraded and debased!" As I get louder and louder, the waiter, who happens to be Indian, comes over to me.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you are disturbing the other customers. I actually agree with you: Americans are a sorry lot. But I have to ask you to keep it down, and not use a spoon." To which I reply: "The dregs of humanity!" This comes out as a shriek. "Can I offer you a bowl of cheddies?" he asks me.

"Why do you Indians always say 'cheddies'? It's cherries, for heaven's sake."

"Yes sir, I know," he replies. "We can't help it; it just comes out that way. Even Gandhi said 'cheddies'. 'Life is not a bowl of cheddies', he always used to say. Anyway, I think you'll find them veddy soothing."

Meanwhile, the owner of the place calls the local mental institution; the medics arrive in a white van, put me in a straight jacket, and cart me off to the Happy Valley Lunatic Asylum. I continue screaming; they put me in a rubber-lined room, so I can't hurt myself. The door opens, and the resident psychiatrist, Dr. Ludwig von Schmaltzkopf, comes in and sits down. I'm lying on the floor, exhausted.

"Mr. Lokshen Kugel," he says; "I agree with you: the country consists of 330 million putzes. 'Dolts' is too mild a word for them. But you cannot go around yelling this in upscale restaurants. The putzes will get annoyed. Do you understand me?"

"But who will tell them?" I counter.

"Not you, Mr. Kugel. Try writing a letter to the Times instead, OK?"

"But the Times consists of putzes," I reply. At this point I wake up, sweating and breathing heavily. My wife stirs in her sleep.

"Lokshen, honey," she says; "did you have your America dream again?" I nod.

"Lokshen, you can't go on being a one-man anti-asshole crusade. Time you went to see a shrink."

"They'll just give me pills," I tell her. "That won't solve anything."

"It might stop you from having this ridiculous dream," she suggests. "Why don't you just confine yourself to writing your study of Kim Kardashian's buttocks, Crossing the Rectal Divide?"

"I've hit a brick wall with that. I can't cross the divide, so to speak, until I actually examine Kim's anus, see what's going on in there. I wrote her, explaining the project, and asking if we could set up an appointment, but she never wrote back. Meanwhile, my dream is the only thing keeping me going, the only inspiration I have left."

"It's also making you ill," says Sophie. "Why not just fly to LA, and pay Kim a visit. Who knows? Maybe she'll drop her pants. Then you might solve the problem of Americans being assholes by examining an actual American asshole."

My eyebrows go up. "Who's crazy now?" I ask her.

"I'm just trying to get you to lighten up. It's either that or the loony bin, for real." She sighs. "You could also drop in on Meghan Markle, ask her why she thinks Americans are preoccupied with her and her stupid hats. I mean, beyond the fact that they are morons. Americans, I mean, not the hats," she adds.

"A hat can't be a moron," I tell her.

"No, but it can be moronic, which means that Meghan hat-worshippers are morons."

"Why would people worship a hat?" I ask.

"Oh, they think that if they wear a Meghan hat, the hat energy will rub off on them, and they'll be like British royalty. By the same token, if you publish your book and include photos of Kim's anus, you'll sell millions of copies. We'll be rich, and we can relocate to the French Riviera."

"But what if people start to fetishize me, chase me down the street hoping to tear off my T-shirt, or even my pants?"

"Lokshen, I think we may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves. For now, concentrate on your book, and have Dr. Flanksteak give you a pill." Always so helpful, my Sophie.

I booked a flight to LA, also bought a speculum, a flashlight, and a large tube of KY jelly. I'm going to get to the bottom of this, I told myself.

I knocked on the door of Kim's mansion. Kanye West opened it. "Hey dude, wassup?"

"I just want to say how sorry I am that you weren't elected president," I tell him, squelching the desire to add that he looked like a complete buffoon. This is an American idol? I thought to myself. No wonder the country is going down the drain.

"No sweat, amigo; el Señor Trump just made me his homie."

"Wow, that's great!" I reply. "Exactly what does that entail?"

"Oh, I just hafta tell everyone that Biden stole the election. No big deal. But why are you carrying a speculum, a flashlight, and a tube of KY?"

"I'm here to inspect your wife's anus," I tell him, smiling rather dementedly.

"Far out! Hey Kimmie, get that big booty of yours over here. There's some white boy here, wants to have a look at the Royal Asshole." She comes to the door.

"Kanye," she says, "once and for all: you're the Royal Asshole. Unless maybe it's Meghan Markle."

"Ms. Kardashian," I interject, "I'm honored. Could we repair to your bedroom?"

"'Repair'?" she exclaims. "Jesus, you white boys sure talk funny."

"True," I reply, "but then we voted for Trump, and Kanye is now his homie. So let me play that funky music."

"All right," she says; "let me drop my pants so we can get this over with. What are you looking for, anyway?"

"America," I tell her.

"Well, Kugel-face, you've definitely come to the right place. You won't hafta dig very deep, either."

(To be continued)

187 Comments:

Blogger Ajay Singh said...

Greetings from Los Angeles, Dr. Berman! I have always believed overseas Indians, myself included, are the worst advertisement for actual Indians—the ones Columbus came looking for. I for one have never heard any Indian utter "cheddies," but I can tell you that particular pronunciation would be *South* Indian, a completely different and arguably superior civilization to the North of the country, where cherries grow, and where I grew up.

On another note, though, have you read Giorgio Agamben, the Italian philosopher? He has lately been writing a series of Coronavirus commentaries, evidently earning the wrath of his fellow thinkers in the process. His latest piece, "When the House Burns," is longer and more poetic than the others (but also more difficult to grasp, at least for me), and I'd love to know what you think of it (translated from the Italian by an admirer of his):

https://architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk/2020/10/15/when-the-house-burns-giorgio-agamben-on-the-coronavirus-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR2f61tmRLZyWS2Q4MpfTZfoLFT1DPgTQ3coo1wi0qVxFcNUXemBGROu_u0

3:53 PM  
Blogger Xair said...

MB,

Not sure if you've read it, but I recently came across Ariel by Jose Enrique Rodo and can't help but think of him as the first Wafer. He really had a good grasp on what the United States was and what it would ultimately become. Incredible given that this was published in 1900. Anyway, here are some passages along with a link to the text:

"Once more ; the basic principle of your 'development, your motto for life, should be to maintain the integrity of your humanity. No one function should ever prevail over that final end". Pg40

On Americans and the United States:
ARIEL 107
"
The North American has not yet replaced the inspirning ideality of his past with any high unselfish conception of the future. He lives for the immediate reality of the present, and for this subordinates all his activities in the egoism of material well-being, albeit both individual and collective!. Of all his aggregation of the elements of wealth and power, one might say, what Bourget said of the intelligence of his character the Marquis Norbert, '*a mountain of wood to which they have not yet known how to set fire." The vital spark is lacking to throw up that flame of the ideal, resdess, life-giving, from that mountain of dead wood. Not even the selfishness of patriotism, for want of higher impulses, nor the pride of race, both of which transfigured and exalted in ancient days even the prosaic hardness of the life of Rome, can light a glimmer of ideality or beauty in a people where a cosmopolite confusion and the atomism of a badly understood democracy impede the formation of a veritable national conscience".

https://archive.org/stream/arielrod00roduoft?ref=ol#page/107/mode/1up






4:22 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

MB-

Jesus, I'm on the ground laughing my ass off!

Kim: "What are you looking for, anyway?"
Lokshen: "America."

I've completely pissed myself! This deserves a Nobel!

Miles

7:33 PM  
Anonymous Pete Christen said...

Dr. B: The rectal divide is the real divide, not the one between blue and red.
Wafers may want to check out the work of journalist/novelist Hari Kunzru. In a recent interview he was asked "What is the worst-case scenario for the future?"
His Waferish reply:
"The US becomes an autocracy, and devolves into a weak and fractious patchwork of jurisdictions run by more or less rapacious oligarchs who conduct a losing war with China, first cold then hot. Human rights become a quaint idea. The environment collapses, and the resulting massive migrations of people lead to vicious authoritarian regimes taking control in richer countries. Genocidal wars are fought over water. The Tibetan plateau is a global flashpoint. New pathogens emerge out of the melting permafrost, killing millions. Life becomes hellish for all but the very wealthy. For the masses, the future looks like an insect world of starvation or highly-surveilled shock work; for the few, a melancholy decadence conducted behind high walls. I always thought the shit would go down when I was young and strong. These days I’m just hoping I won’t spend my old age picking through the ruins of my city looking for expired canned food." (New York Review of Books, 19 Nov 2020, p. 33)

7:36 PM  
Anonymous Ziggy Zag said...

https://twitter.com/jonvoight/status/1331437400422158343

To add more to your dream, imagine going to LA and having
a sermon from this actor about God, Jesus, Trump, salvation,
and certain destruction of America when Biden becomes the
president.

8:06 PM  
Blogger comrade simba said...

Since kim's ass been been inspected by TGSWH can it now be unequivocally certified fit to be on the one dollar bill, or are there several frivolous lawsuits still to be dispenced with? Second, will you be contacting Mike Rowe, producer of "Dirty Jobs"?

10:20 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Capitalism on parade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73cjA1IcJw

11:38 PM  
Blogger Alogon said...

Hilarious dream-story, Dr. B. Looking forward to the next installment.

I came here wondering if I might actually be the first Wafer to mention the article about Prof. Turchin in The Atlantic. But no, you already cited it yourself. We might discuss it a little. Although gloom-and-doomers are now routine sharing your pessimism that there is no avoiding utter collapse is still unusual. In the photo on p. 61, he even looks like you somewhat. He relies on a database of historical evidence and a mathematical model to predict a dire decade for the U.S. due to concentrated wealth and unsustainable national debt. Nothing new here. But a third cause is a little more original: a surplus of well-educated (oops, make that college-degreed even from the Ivy League) folk who believe that they deserve to be among the elite but can't find their ticket thereto. So they become wildly dissident.

I'm a little skeptical over his methodology, which is inevitably subjective in pigeonholing historical observations as mathematical data. Probably he has read your trilogy approvingly and told himself, "if Berman wrote way before 9/11 that we're done, we're done, so I can't go wrong by saying so too."

6:27 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Greetings again all. Let’s look at some fresh new Karens here on Karen Sunday, Episode 19, that we encounter in our travels here in America. As former sportscaster Warner Wolf used to say, "Let's go to the videotape." LOL! Our gals certainly are funny and entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL6ZZ9cBwwk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2DWGC61qKk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPgJ7lsVzC4

8:31 AM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

Hmm MB, the suspense is killing me, who will be the first American you find in
Kim’s butthole?

Some irony on a Sunday - did you know the American Bison is the official National mammal for the US? Couldn’t agree more! I propose Crazy Horse for the fifty dollar bill and Sitting Bull on the hundred.

https://www.nps.gov/articles/bison-bellows-5-12-16.htm

Here’s an idea - after 49 yrs all debts are forgiven, every 50th year a clean slate, if that isn’t a plan for world domination I don’t know what is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical)

10:10 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Pete-

Similarly, the only movement worth paying attn to is the Bowel Movement. BLM, OWS, pussy hats, etc., all come and go, but the BM remains.

Jeff-

Hell, I'd be happy with a Pulitzer; which (imho) is decades overdue. I think it will happen when pigs fly over the White House in V-geese formation.

Xair-

Yes, I've read Ariel. Thank you.

Ajay-

Veddy good. As for wrath of fellow thinkers, I can't remember who it was, but one famous American writer once said something like, "I'm deeply hated, which tells me I'm on the rt track." I am following in his footsteps.

Note that Ziggy suggested a possible scenario for Part II. The one I had in mind was something along the lines of Alice in Wonderland, when she falls down the rabbit hole. I.e., Lokshen sticks his head up against Kim's anus, and it opens up and sucks him in. Down, down he goes, into the heart of America. If any of you have any other ideas, pls post them.

mb

1:08 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Quite good article on Americans' response to the American way of life:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/02/americas-opioid-epidemic.html

I watched this a couple of nights ago and it's surprisingly good. Not only for some great scenes of San Francisco circa 1978 but I think the plot and execution are superior to the original 1950s film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uv4-iJqLxQ

1:56 AM  
Anonymous Ziggy Zag said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exoDC4bSko
Go to 00:01:10 to become a patriotic educator.
A further course for your dream would be your new
occupation and vision once you return to USA. Do
think of talks you could give in your nightmare
that will truly make America great again.

2:25 AM  
Anonymous D-Pressed said...

https://twitter.com/_SecondThought/status/1332746158947635202

2:29 AM  
Blogger Ajay Singh said...

Many thanks for your insight, Dr. Berman, regarding the hating heaped on Giorgio Agamben. Another wise friend recently advised that one ought always to err on the side of heresy, not least because "heretics are usually on to something, most often, the discomfiting truths that underline power-serving orthodoxies." She likened Agamben to "the last surviving wolf of a slaughtered pack"—an image that heightened my own grief for a 14-year-old dog I recently lost (on Veterans Day, no less)—"howling through a forest made up entirely of cell phone towers," reminding us of "the destruction of the natural world and the corruption of our own inner spaces, now mere receptors for capitalism."

2:42 AM  
Anonymous Katrina said...

Study links mindfulness and meditation to narcissism and “spiritual superiority”

https://www.psychnewsdaily.com/study-links-mindfulness-meditation-to-narcissism-and-spiritual-superiority/

7:21 AM  
Anonymous Samuel Andreyev said...

Samantharhill⁩ on Hannah Arendt on Loneliness and Totalitarianism - a fascinating ⁦aeon mag⁩ essay in case you missed it
https://aeon.co/amp/essays/for-hannah-arendt-totalitarianism-is-rooted-in-loneliness

9:54 AM  
Anonymous America the Hypocrite said...

I find it amazing how we in the US were killing all the indianszwe could but still putting their images on our coins of the time.

10:13 AM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

Ajay, Many many thanks for sharing Agamben's article. I read it once. Will have to go over it again.

'Receptors for capitalism' reminds me of a number of incidents while I was in the US. Bottomline of all those is that the consumer culture not only take you away from Nature, but also from your own animal self. You lose your intuition. Left without your gadgets, you are a pathetic, clueless creature.

I live in the North of India, right by the Ganga. Over the past couple of decades, capitalism guised as development is robbing us of the natural, it is robbing us of the sacred darkness of the night on the river bank that I so love and respect.

12:09 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

Dr. Berman,

What do you make of James Howard Kunstler these days? If you haven't read this awful piece by him, you might want to do so.

https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/strength-and-weakness/

Here, he praises Trump for one thing and one thing only: his "strength". Apparently, this is enough to garner his support. Kunstler used to be a progressive; nowadays, he seems to be a far-right authoritarian. He's right about the anti-male, anti-white woke virtue signaling being a cover for deep immorality, but he's reacted by becoming a fascist, as his support for Trump shows.

I know I've mentioned this issue a couple times already, but this is yet another American thinker who used to be smart, but has recently fallen into far-right extremism. Seriously, what the fuck is going on with these guys? I have no clue, and would like your analysis on this issue.

4:53 PM  
Anonymous Corey Epps said...

Salman Rushdie on what people often misunderstand about “Slaughterhouse-Five” and its refrain, “So it goes.”https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-kurt-vonneguts-slaughterhouse-five-tells-us-now

7:59 PM  
Blogger Himanshu said...

Dear Dr. Berman,

South Dakota Man Shot Dead After Argument Over Presidential Election
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ocean-eberlein-of-south-dakota-shot-dead-by-joshua-sharp-after-argument-over-presidential-election?via=twitter_page

Himanshu

9:01 PM  
Blogger took_the_red_pill said...

Time for another installment of More Signs of the End Times:

Oregon RN suspended for TikTok video mocking COVID precautions

"A hospital in Salem, Ore., announced over the weekend that it has suspended [oncology nurse Ashley Grames] after she posted a TikTok video that 'displayed cavalier disregard for [the pandemic] and her indifference towards [COVID-19 precautions] outside of work'...

"The viral TikTok video...showed a woman in scrubs and a stethoscope. She mouthed audio from a scene in the live-action version of Dr. Seuss’s 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' movie in which Cindy Lou Who learns who the Grinch is.

" 'When my co-workers find out I still travel, don't wear a mask when I'm out and let my kids have play dates,' the caption read".

Needless to say, Ms. Grames' employer was less than enthused; fellow nurses are calling for her firing, which is probably imminent. I guess people just can't resist documenting stupid acts on their smartphones...never understood it myself.

10:37 PM  
Anonymous Nullius in verba said...

Nike and Coca-Cola Lobby Against Xinjiang Forced Labor Bill

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/29/business/economy/nike-coca-cola-xinjiang-forced-labor-bill.html

Nike: "The effects of slavery are still present in America today."

Also Nike: *actively supporting modern slavery*

Rich People Things Department!

8:43 AM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Hola a los Waferes,

GSWH - I apologize for the slight in my last post on DAA blog. In good humor, I've adopted a supplemental handle. It is GDGS- Great Divide Great Seer. DGS being my name's initials, the Great Divide the place in which I reside. Though known as Gene, even Mean Gene, the mean part only applies when disrespect is shown. "Across the Rectal Divide" was a good farce

duckduckgo.com/?q=song+Across+the+Great+Divide+by+The+Band&ia=web

indy100.com/news/kanye-west-2020-election-vote-9724278

My point is this: "We're All bozos On This Bus". (Thanks to the Firesign Theatre for that).

Amerika and amerikans; we discuss it endlessly. It perplexes us here on the blogosphere. Yet here we are. A year ago I told a Trumpite friend that Trump would be impeached and convicted. I was correct and then not. For the entire time during which the Covid-19 pandemic has raged I predicted to one and all, especially my great Neverrumper friend Al, whom accurately predicted the 2016 general election, that Trump would lose in 2020. Al predicted otherwise. Win some, lose some. Roll those laughing bones!

9:25 AM  
Anonymous Erickson said...

On Obama’s mistaken understanding of 1932-33 and its fateful role in the “culmination of neoliberalism” as it played out in 2008-9. (Parallel story on confronting war.)

"Obama The Pretender"
https://theweek.com/articles/950908/obama-pretender

9:41 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Erickson-

I have said this b4: I'm an atheist, but if I can get a chance to bang Obama's head against Hillary's for 20 mins. on network TV, I'll believe in God. For a gd socialist film, check out "Going in Style."

Nadine-

I really don't know. Jim is a friend of many yrs, altho I've never read his blog. I guess the 2 of us went our separate ways, however: he is apparently bitter over the collapse of America; I think it's a gd thing, plus it has certain comic aspects, such as the mass worship of Kim's buttocks. Possibly: he's a patriot, and I'm not.

mb

10:46 AM  
Blogger CB said...

Looking forward to Part 2. The US has become a hopeless place. It seems almost every interaction I have with someone now, seemingly innocuous, reveals that they are, indeed, an a hole. I complimented a neighbor who was building his own fence . His response was , " well I work slow and charge a fortune. " So much for a simple "thank you." Obviously, I never asked for his services. These types of interactions happen daily. The rudeness is like a sting or a slap that I cannot get used to , even though I now remind myself that the US society is nasty as a rule, not an exception. I hide in my home or in nature for refuge. So is Mexico still better?

10:50 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

CB-

There is a shmuck who works at the Internet cafe I use in Mexico City. He's abt 20 yrs old, and very rude. A total asshole. This stands out because his behavior is completely exceptional down here.

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."--Cyril Connolly

mb

11:12 AM  
Anonymous Nann Milne said...

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/11/the-forgotten-thanksgiving.html

The Forgotten Thanksgiving

"America was founded by homicidal child traffickers." - Mark Ames

11:59 AM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Ha ha. Even the left sees collapse before recovery.

Failure is an option-

https://www.jacobinmag.com/issue/failure-is-an-option

2:37 PM  
Blogger Jamie said...

Hi Nadine,

I understand your frustration with progressives who seem right-wing. I am not very familiar with Kunstler so it would be disingenuous of me to offer any opinion on him. I know a bit more about Bret Weinstein. Along with people like Nicholas Christakis from Yale’s infamous Halloween Costume meltdown, I truly admired his stand against wokeness gone mad on college campuses.

Another avowed liberal who is also derided as a Trump apologist for calling out things like Russiagate and hypocrisy in the Democratic Party is Matt Taibbi. In his recent article, he takes the Clinton campaign of 2016 to task for destroying Bernie Saunders. It pretty much echoes a lot of what Dr B writes about Bill Clinton’s presidency. I think a lot of the issue is the huge chasm that is now overtaking the Democrats. Not sure if this is what you meant, but it might offer something helpful.

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/with-tanden-choice-democrats-stick?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxMzY1ODI4OCwicG9zdF9pZCI6MjEwMjg0ODQsIl8iOiJZVlBZViIsImlhdCI6MTYwNjg1NTQwMSwiZXhwIjoxNjA2ODU5MDAxLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMTA0MiIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.gt_sJzqk02JkEHTDjqctxt3qGBS7hIw1NybufaRI0vs

3:56 PM  
Anonymous Orca said...

I really like Dr. Berman's short stories, there is something about them that I really enjoy even through I can't put my finger on it.
Anyways, as I was reading this I was thinking of a Dante's Inferno scenario where the hero finds himself traveling through different realms depicting the different layers of america until he reaches the core and finds Kim Kardashian (inside of her own asshole), an Inception like Inferno.

5:03 PM  
Anonymous Azor said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5HOJISEXvA

I never saw this Derrida documentary before.

"The film from 2002, uses interviews shot by the filmmakers, footage of Derrida's lectures and speaking engagements, and personal footage of Derrida at home with his friends and family. In several scenes, Ziering Kofman also reads excerpts from Derrida's work or otherwise describes aspects of his life.

Derrida also focuses on Derrida's thesis that scholars tend to ignore important biographical information when discussing philosophers' lives. In one scene, Derrida comments that he would be most interested in hearing about famous philosophers' sex lives because this topic is seldom addressed in their writings. The filmmakers respond to many of these criticisms by probing Derrida on various aspects of his own personal life, though he usually refuses to answer directly questions about himself.

The film also follows Derrida during a trip to South Africa where he visits Nelson Mandela's former prison cell and discusses forgiveness with university students. Derrida states that his own childhood experiences with anti-Semitism have heightened his sensitivity to racial issues."

7:41 PM  
Anonymous D-Pressed said...

"Going in Style." 1979 or "Going in Style." 2017?

8:13 PM  
Blogger Himanshu said...

Dear Dr. Berman:
Orlov asks: Are Americans Rational?

http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2020/11/are-americans-rational.html#more

Or as Bageant asked more precisely almost 10 years ago: AMERICA:Y UR PEEPS B SO DUM?

http://www.coldtype.net/Assets.11/pdfs/0111.Joe.Culture.pdf

Himanshu

9:23 PM  
Anonymous Cel-Ray Tonic said...

Good article on the internet black hole:

https://theweek.com/articles/951759/parents-warned-internet-break-brains-broke-theirs-instead

"I am obliged to be on the internet all the time for my work, and I love it, but I hate it. More days than not I ignore my own best-laid plans to keep my brain as unbroken as I can. "

alas, just a "Hey look at what I just found out 2 years behind everyone else" story but relevant nonetheless.

9:53 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Nadine Bupkis - I'm not sure Jim Kunstler was ever Left. I don't know if it's possible still to dig them out but it appears he was an aspiring fiction writer, and had some short stories hidden here and there on his site. The one with the cat set aloft using many balloons was kind of funny, but overall kind of Meh. Then he wrote The Geography Of Nowhere and that's his real hit. I think he latched onto Peak Oil by chance, and Peak Oil is an idea much more popular among the Left than among the Right, 99% of whom believe in something called the "abiotic oil theory" (Earth has a creamy oil center!) so Kunstler was thought by some to be Left or Left-ish. I corresponded with him once. He's a very angry man.

Non-paywalled Dmitry Orlov article just out: http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2020/11/are-americans-rational.html#more

6:07 AM  
Anonymous Brian said...

Hi WAFers--

This article caught my eye this morning. Encouraged me to revisit Dr. Berman's _Neurotic Beauty_ (one of my favorite, along with _Wandering God_) as well as recall a range of other perspectives (e.g., Dr. Berman's thoughts on Powers' novel _Gain_).

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/business/japan-old-companies.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Business

O&D--

Brian

8:42 AM  
Anonymous WuduFugel said...

Ajay, have to say I'm not really impressed by the Ambavgen essay. There's some reasonable sentiment in it but its filled with the kind of mumbo-jumbo writing that plagues academia these days.

This whole mess requires a nuanced, balanced discussion, which the modern world seems incapable of anymore. The people I now hear calling wearing masks "fascist", are the same people who over the years would tell me that supporting public transit in the U.S. too much would be "communist". Its emotion-driven word salad.

I like to occasionally read the Japan Times. Look at Japan's covid response. Only a few thousand deaths in a heavily urbanized country of 125 million people. Why? Their "lockdowns" have been pretty mild compared to a country like Italy. To me the most relevant answer is that Japan is a very socially-conscious nation. By contrast, the U.S. is a whats-in-it-for-me nation. Take a wild guess at which kind of culture works better for disease response, regardless of severity. Political philosophers and pundits want to blame politicians or some shadowy Big Brother movement for big societal changes, which is understandable. But at a certain point you have to put some blame on the people themselves. Plato told us this 2,000 years ago, but we'd rather point the finger at Trump or Biden.

11:12 AM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

John Fignar, 36, arrested for fucking trees:

https://www.wfsb.com/news/man-arrested-for-creating-disturbance-in-backyard-assaulting-officers-in-naugatuck/article_5df8622e-29c1-11eb-86e2-33b5850d2c9d.html

I often while away the hours contemplating the brainlessness of Americans, and think to myself: "Do other civilizations have folks who randomly tree-fuck?" Over the course of this reflection, I managed to condense this thought into a one-line phrase: They didn't have a Reagan.

https://www.sho.com/the-reagans

Highly recommended viewing for Wafers.

Toodles, kidz...

Miles

11:17 AM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

Who remembers this JFK quote, probably not many...

“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.‘

or

‘Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

12:12 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

Next, Americans will be fucking venus flytraps. Ouch!

Wudu-

Do you realize how many Americans need Corrective Slapping?

Brian-

See my comment to Wudu.

Orca-

The real secret of America can be found in Kim's anus. I'm not sure I'm kidding.

Dan D-

Great artwork! BTW, for more on Gramsci, check out ch. 6 of "Genio."

To all Wafers-

Think abt who Americans are, actually are. Some (few) writers do notice this. In one novel, Gary Shteyngart has an Asian woman say, "Leave it to white people to take a country as beautiful as this one, and fuck it up." What *haven't* Americans fucked up? And ask yrself how an entire nation can have shit for brains.

mb

1:46 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: along these lines, apparently a lg # of Americans who are dying from covid, declare the whole thing is a hoax with their dying breath. I have occasionally said that when myth meets fact, myth always wins. But in this case, the level of American stupidity is thru the roof. Why did America collapse? Because the country is little more than a joke.

2:22 PM  
Blogger Ajay Singh said...

@Ordinary Indian: Many thanks for your acute observations regarding our planet's collective mental "receptors for capitalism." Your poetic refrain, "sacred darkness of the night," polarizes into a scary pun: "profane darkness of the right."

It's been a long time since India's rivers have been dying, especially the sacred ones. We must now hike up the Himalaya to the source of the Ganga to get a taste of its sacredness, but even that is threatened by the PLA these days. Dark times indeed. Take care.

3:27 PM  
Anonymous Ziggy Zag said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8VbAxkaDw&t=88s
A 3.5 min.-video that has serious implications for US
elite trying to make money in a country having half its
population being religious primitives. It could also
serve as more dream material for MB when he finds himself
in the dream being an evangelical. That Trumpites agree
that truth is only what makes you happy or allays anxiety,
think of how the corporations are wondering about the
shrinking source of potential technological talent in
a population with 70 million or more dolts ignorant in
matters scientific.

8:00 PM  
Anonymous B. Louis said...

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/10/al-qaeda-won/

Question for Dr. B and the rest of the WAFer clan.

Anyone else starting to get the sense that, with increasing perspective from the event itself, 9-11 might have been the point at which America truly got 'exposed' for what it really is?

To this day, it still makes my head spin that America undertook that obscene misadventure in Iraq. I really struggle to find equivalents in the historical record. The stupidity of it is just astounding from every angle.

Maybe I'm missing something, but how often have countries mistakenly attacked the wrong country?

8:53 PM  
Anonymous Damon said...

Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile | Vanity Fair
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/confessions-of-a-clintonworld-exile

Clinton's former right hand man spills the beans on trips to Epstein's island and other gross Clinton shit.

9:49 PM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Dr. Berman,
This here is absolutely laughable. It shows the utter unconscionable disregard of the American population regarding this virus. It also took some chutzpah throwing a massive party in a rented mansion!
And it goes to show the creativity as a result of hustling. Anything to make some bucks. Only here in the United States can an online company like Airbnb be created to take advantage of something like this while looking the other way. Ya gotta love it! LOL.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-eject-hundreds-long-island-house-party-n1249677

12:21 AM  
Anonymous Justine said...

"I love duck lips for selfies, because they accentuate my lips and cheekbones and because, like ducks, we have wings with which to soar yet are content to waddle." A new advice column from satirist Kim Kierkegaardashian


https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/ask-kim-kierkegaardashian-in-search-of-lost-before-times-selfies

8:06 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Joe-

Read my new bk, "Douche Bag Nation."

Louis-

I'm guessing the war was just an excuse for projecting US power into the Middle East, and staying there as a military presence. Besides, America loves war; the historical record is clear on that.

mb

10:32 AM  
Anonymous Anjin-san said...

Whenever I start to think America can't get any stupider, something always happens to prove me wrong.

Idiocracy reigns supreme.


https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpjk7/mysterious-monolith-update-racists-destroy-california-monolith-proclaim-christs-superiority-to-space-aliens

4:47 PM  
Anonymous Brennan said...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/please-extend-laurel-and-hardy-handshake-new-film-stan-ollie-180971130/

Enjoying this new biopic on Laurel & Hardy. A recommendation for this classy group.

6:24 PM  
Anonymous FerQ said...

To Prof. Berman-

In one of your posts you mentioned about an Asian woman who said "Leave it to white ppl to fuck a beautiful country up" well that is pure truth. Americans have fucked up everything basically. In particular, dating, love, relationships and everything related have been fucked up by the sick American culture and its damn capitalism. Anybody can go on youtube and look at numerous videos that talk about how dating and the search for a partner is hell and there are tons of horror stories. Some of the common phrases that are said in these videos are "become your best self", "got to have game", "be on your purpose" along with the typical American bullshit of positive thinking.
It seems to me that they want to present the same crap that American culture teaches, deny reality and become rich and that will solve your problems and that is their answer for dating and love. It is amazing how so many ppl continue to buy into American stupidity and still think life in the US is great when that hellhole is dysfunctional in all aspects of life.

6:49 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

From the mouth of the devil: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2020/05/19/3-reasons-unemployment-is-already-at-great-depression-levels/amp/

Interesting Peak Oil paradox: https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2020/12/03/as-we-exhaust-our-oil-it-will-get-cheaper-but-less-affordable/

All I got right now. More zombies, more things breaking down, lines for things that never had lines, "concierges" for routine things like a food market or FedEx, got a crazy-ass zombie camped up 30' from my front door, gotta carry multiple self-defense devices routinely, Oh for the life of vintage FerFal....

1:22 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Dr. Berman,
Here are some more good hearty laughs at American citizens taking umbrage that their “freedom” is being taken away because of the coronavirus measures. In this case, they’re angry because a watering hole is closed and they can’t have a few beers. This spectacle of stupidity took place in Staten Island. Dr. Berman, don’t you wish you were back here to witness and enjoy this comedy show? This has been part of the local news here the last day or two.
Look at some of these jokers. One of them is holding a copy of the Declaration of Independence; and of course he is wearing both a Don Trump hat and a Don Trump tee shirt. Various Don Trump flags are shown. God Bless Amercia was sung. And the Proud Boys showed up! LOL.
Oh and I forgot: They chanted their usual dumb slogan of “U.S.A! U.S.A! U.S.A!”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hundreds-protest-closing-staten-island-bar-refused-covid-19-measures-n1249873

https://nypost.com/2020/12/03/proud-boys-join-protest-at-si-bar-flouting-covid-19-rules/

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-staten-island-pub-rally-20201203-e4rcab6375alvorgkvrfahaemu-story.html

4:06 AM  
Anonymous Marty Reed said...

there is next to no news coverage of it here in the US, but 250 million (yes, I mean million) working class Indians went on strike last week.

centrist leaders (akin to a Biden administration) bent more toward corporatist interests than the interests of their people. so the people rose up and said “no” and ground capitalism to a halt.

the government had no choice but to meet with the workers and farmers and accept their demands.

https://www.workers.org/2020/12/52835/

5:56 AM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Four items for your consideration-

There is a new movie on the life of the singer Selena. Who has been dead for 25 years. A movie about Steve jobs was made within a few years of his death. Most people probably now "know" more about Pearl Harbor from a recent movie than from any reading or discussion.

Long ago I was fascinated to learn that those quaint signs in European tourist trap towns that show a hat for a hat maker, pig for a butcher, etc., were because most people couldn't read. This same thing was used in Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' book (and I assume was used in the TV show). For some time, at McDonalds the cash register has pictures of items, not words, for ringing up orders.

I'd been getting more and more uneasy with 'Fresh Air,' the NPR interview show, a well done version of The Johny Carson Show- hagiography/autobiography. One day the show was about a particular neurological/mental illness, I forget what it was. That is how it was introduced, and then we are introduced to an actor who played someone with the illness who proceeded to discuss how she learned to act as if she had the illness. No doctors, clinicians, science journalists were on the show.

And today in the The Guardian I am told about someone who be remembered as a real hero, the actor Chadwick Boseman. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/dec/04/he-will-be-remembered-as-a-hero-denzel-washington-and-viola-davis-on-chadwick-boseman

8:14 AM  
Anonymous Jane said...

"Marx says that revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps it is quite otherwise. Perhaps revolutions are an attempt by the passengers on this train – namely, the human race – to pull the emergency brake."

—Walter Benjamin

9:11 AM  
Anonymous al-Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

You're all in big trouble now.

Americans think Canadians can’t invade them. Think again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31XzZNOeDew

That the Washington Post thinks we'd care if Donzo doesn't leave, and that we'd take the trouble to remove him from office by force is bizarre.

9:58 AM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

When will this nation stop fighting each other, and begin to fight the goddamn virus?

It's strange to think that when historians look back to gauge this era and put the full picture together, they will conclude that we are currently in the midst of the most profound crises of American history. As bad as the Great Depression was while living thru it, I don't think one received a full picture, as well as the ramifications of the event, until historians began to dive into it. The vicious pandemic is killing us at an astounding rate: 14 million infected w/the virus and more that 276,000 dead. Today saw over 211,000 new cases and 2,852 deaths! Tomorrow will likely be worse... This pandemic has also crippled the US economy w/20 million Americans receiving some kind of dwindling jobless benefit. Meanwhile, Trumpo is ignoring the pandemic, spending his time golfing and fighting against the result of the election. This, in and of itself is w/o precedent. Talk about Dark Ages America. Sheesh!

Miles

3:13 PM  
Blogger Krakhed said...

The fart heard across Michigan

https://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-fart-on-camera-confirmed-by-michigan-state-representative-2020-12

There's a 4.5 hour video of the whole affair but it's from the dreaded Facebook.

https://m.facebook.com/fox17online/videos/1821258791400896/?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Fwatch%2F&_rdr

These guys sure know how to produce theater.

4:39 PM  
Blogger Himanshu said...

Dear Dr. Berman:

America’s Nightmare Covid Scenario is Coming True — All Over Again
Millions Ignored the Warnings — Now America Faces a Long, Brutal Covid Winter
https://eand.co/americas-nightmare-covid-scenario-is-coming-true-all-over-again-62e109f4d33
Excerpts: "So those millions of American Idiots did what they were always going to. Not listen to a word. Do whatever they damned well pleased. Hey, that’s freedom, after all. Don’t tread on me!! I have the right to be as ignorant, stupid, and selfish as I want to be!!"
"Take a moment to thank some of your fellow Americans — there are (really) no people more thoughtless, careless, and selfish in all the world than America’s idiots, people so foolish, cruel, deluded, ignorant, and oblivious they’ve made a pandemic explode over and over and over again now."

Himanshu

5:02 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

America's COVID cases aren't spiking exponentially anymore, but they continue on a steady upward trend.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

I suspect some Americans have decided to wear masks at long last, but it seems their efforts are too little, too late. America's now approaching 300,000 COVID deaths, but according to a recent survey, 58% of Americans (!!!) aren't EVER willing to get vaccinated, even when they've waited to be sure the vaccines are safe.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200806/only-42-percent-would-get-vaccinated-against-covid

Because these people will *never* pull their heads out of their asses, we're looking at a permanent health crisis and millions of dead Americans, especially in Republican states where people have completely descended into self-delusion. It's utterly pathetic that America will be destroyed by a plague that could have easily been brought under control, as it was in countries like Japan and the Philippines.

6:40 PM  
Anonymous Ziggy Zag said...

https://www.google.com/search?q=gabriel+rockhill&rlz=1CAHKDC_enCA922&oq=&aqs=chrome.3.35i39i362l3j69i59i450...3.4253923j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Yet another troublemaker not to be known by the precious
youth of America. As is if we need more WAFers!! Amazing
that YouTube dares to have such persons connected to the
old days of The Frankfurt School; enter his name to see
a 30-minute chat.

8:05 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Himan-

2 things I've said repeatedly:
1. America has the highest Buffoon Index (BI) in the world.
2. This is the major reason the country is collapsing.

Krak-

Honestly, I'm in favor of farting. Lots of it. Hot, noxious fumes. Yea!

Jeff-

Well, that wd require an intelligent population.

Jane-

Check out ch. 6 of "Genio," on Gramsci.

Marty-

In yr wildest dreams, can you ever imagine such a thing happening in the US? Ask yrself why not (hint: hasta do with extreme spinal weakness).

Joe-

I heard the Proud Boys were changing their name to the Limp Dicks.

alex-

What's yr best ball park estimate of how many Americans need to be slapped?

Fer-

See my question to alex.

Brennan-

I adore them. Esp. "Let Me Have It," the one abt moving a piano up several flights of stairs, and "Sons of the Desert."

Anjin-

Neat, from a declinist pt of view. We need many more such events.

mb

8:18 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Check it out:

https://www.amazon.com/Break-Up-Secession-Division-Imperfect/dp/0316510602/ref=msx_wsirn_v1_2/146-4250356-7620167?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0316510602&pd_rd_r=a3284496-bcb9-4960-b1be-28aadf6cc8d7&pd_rd_w=tcYtn&pd_rd_wg=T5QG2&pf_rd_p=77bfbfb0-a9eb-4e71-8d50-7ac5425f6fa1&pf_rd_r=EANSRW17S1C9G5J0Y0N6&psc=1&refRID=EANSRW17S1C9G5J0Y0N6

7:46 AM  
Blogger Xair said...

WAFERS,

This is the kind of crap that passes for revolutionary change that will save us all. My god is this country fucked!!!

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/capitalism-will-collapse-on-itself-without-empathy-love-scott-galloway-120642769.html

1:40 PM  
Anonymous B. Louis said...

I'm hard-pressed to find another movie scene that captures the essence of the foul American spirit more than this one:

https://youtu.be/yg0yDvEqfw4

2:00 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

@Dan I agree if it ain't in a movie it didn't happen nevertheless here are a couple for people to ponder as we circle the drain.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120633/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195685/

anyone interested in a deeper dive check this out

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/useful-idiots-erin-brokovich-water-crisis-taibbi-1099089/

2:44 PM  
Blogger Marc L Bernstein said...

Yanis Varoufakis comments on the election of Joe Biden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYsbYKl_5tU

I have friends and family who were happy when it was clear that Biden had won. I was slightly relieved but not happy. I have told friends and family that my stomach could not handle voting for Joe Biden.

Anyway, Varoufakis regards Biden's "narrow" (relatively speaking, compared to a landslide) victory as the worst possible outcome. I'm not optimistic at all about the future of the USA.

This country will collapse, but when and how? Will it split up into a few smaller nations, determined by a combination of geography and common values? I can envision a split into 5 pieces, but this is just a fanciful notion - (1) the West coast (2) the Midwest (3) the Great Lakes states (4) New England (5) the Deep South.

2:47 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Heart-warming stuff:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-04/two-dead-in-lancaster

Marc-

Secession is likely, imo, but it might take 20 yrs to play out.

Louis-

I got a "video unavailable" message. But anyway, time to refresh yr post-it:

I LIVE AMONG DEGRADED BUFFOONS (wh/is abs. true)

Xair-

He's not entirely wrong, but he wd benefit from a good slapping. A bit of urine on his shoes might also help.

mb

3:16 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: Who cd give a shit abt stuff like this?:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/opinion/obama-marriage.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

3:21 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps2: You don't say! dept.:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-transition-ethics-conflicts/2020/12/04/a36d783a-34b1-11eb-a997-1f4c53d2a747_story.html

3:25 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps3: Oh well, this changes everything:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/dec/05/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-first-woman-moon-nasa-elon-musk-spacex-dynetics

When exactly did we turn into a country of horses' asses?

6:11 PM  
Anonymous Sunny said...

Wall Street traders could be second in line for a COVID-19 vaccine after healthcare workers and nursing home residents.

A trade group told me they asked the CDC to treat financial workers as "essential," per DHS guidelines
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-and-finance-workers-could-get-covid-vaccines-before-most-americans-11607119149

7:35 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sunny-

I'm thinking that when you walk across Wall St. to the banks, you have crossed the real Rectal Divide.

mb

8:27 PM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Hola a los Waferes,

GSWH - We became a country of horse's behinds not long after the Beatles went their separate ways in 1970. See the above linked Rolling Stone article. The frosting was applied to the cake when Ronnie the Popular ascended to the White house in 1980. It's been mostly downhill since then. With some great personal interludes and some personal regrets thrown in for good measure. And a whole lotta human tragedy. Just my opinion. O & D!

GDGS aka mean.

8:32 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

gene-

Look at it this way. With Reagan, we had a horse's ass in the W.H., who became increasingly senile; then came Bush Sr., essentially an empty douche bag (caricatured by Doonesbury as a feather, you might remember). Clinton was an adolescent; Bush Jr., a moron. Then a fancy boy who lacked any moral center, but gave nice speeches; and finally, a 7-yr-old child, emotionally speaking. All of these psych profiles are different aspects of the American public, altho I suspect that 'child' captures it best. What does it mean that a child was running the country for the last 4 yrs (and is now having a tantrum), only to be replaced by a grandfather?

mb

10:12 PM  
Blogger k_pgh said...

The Paranoid Style –

“A Wyoming Department of Health official involved in the state's response to the coronavirus questioned the legitimacy of the pandemic and described a forthcoming vaccine as a biological weapon at a recent event. The ‘so-called pandemic’ and efforts to develop a vaccine are plots by Russia and China to spread communism worldwide, department readiness and countermeasures manager Igor Shepherd said.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wyoming-health-official-says-so-called-pandemic-communist-plot-n1250096

10:47 PM  
Anonymous Kevin said...

The one about moving the piano: The Music Box.

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

11:16 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Kev-

Many thanks. A classic film.

k-

"Stupidity excites me"--Gore Vidal

As the US continues to go down the drain, I feel sad that we have failed to embrace Tulsism as our national philosophy, for it is the only thing that can save us. True, no one can say exactly what Tulsism is, but then we have the workout tape plus the one of her singing John Lennon's "Imagine." Gd enuf for me!

mb

12:30 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

O surely not! dept.:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/05/neera-tanden-biden-omb-cap/

1:01 AM  
Blogger vsoguy said...

Dear Dr. Berman,

Regarding Jeff "creepy-as-heck" Bezos and his moon landing:

Launching a billion dollar tin can destined to be space junk, carrying the first woman to walk on the moon. Now that's progress. Except we'll need to be sending a transgender midget who identifies as a donkey for the next moonwalk, or at least appoint 'it' to Biden's cabinet. Either way, that's what progress is all about. Or maybe it's all just decadence in disguise at the end of empire?

Perhaps we should just send Tulsi to the moon..and beyond. Galactic ambassador of the USA, queen of the newly created "Space Farce", spreading American values into the cold vacuum of deep space...where they belong

1:42 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Note to Drew-

Generally, we try to concentrate on the collapse of the American empire on this blog. We do, however, make exceptions for discussions of Jewish delicatessen, so feel free to venture into that area. As for Tolstoy etc., check out the essay "My Russia" in AWTY.

vso-

Every American has an Inner Tulsi within them. Until we all embrace our Inner Tulsi, there is no hope for us. Of course, if Bezos sent her to the moon, that wd also be gd.

mb

9:33 AM  
Blogger Himanshu said...

Dear Dr. Berman,

Well, this might change some minds re masks and "it is just the flu":
"Despite being a trivial matter for patients in intensive care units (ICUs), erectile dysfunction (ED) is a likely consequence of COVID-19 for survivors"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7355084/?fbclid=IwAR0lHRC4A3PRzFmb1_3OYP4V04L9HM9wInZtS0LXRt9uAd4ES8BwYlceJKM

Will the Bubba's listen? What might the Bubbots do?

Himanshu

10:00 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Himan-

The bubbots, at least, have their dildos to rely on. As for the bubbim: they were always impotent. All those guns were for show. Just look at the Limp Boys. Trumpi told them to "stand by," and they did fuck-all. But yr rt, they're probably wearing masks now.

mb

10:26 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Here are some fresh new Karens doing their things. The laughter just keeps coming from our crazy fairer sex here in the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAWzDVewu5U

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ah15yhVJHw

10:35 AM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Ah, Neera Tanden. Very fitting. Basically a Clinton surrogate agreeing with Uncle Joe Biden that Soical Security needs to be cut.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/05/neera-tanden-biden-omb-cap/

The only person more indicative of the collapse of the Liberals into a pile of snarky right-wingers would be Rahm Emanuel.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/naacp-biden-rahm-emanuel-rumors

Or Eric Garcetti as director Housing and Urban Development. the man who has overseen an explosion of homelessness in Los Angeles and an explosion of attacks and inaction on the problems. With a mandate to build 10,000 units of housing, he has achieved... wait for it... 448!!!

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/this-month-with-the-mayor/2020/02/07/mayor-eric-garcetti-talks-homelessness--hhh-funded-housing--asking-for-federal-assistance--and-homeless-sweeps

There is one very real way in which Donald Trump will be viewed fondly. He was the only honest President the US has had in decades. A grifter, liar, sexual predator, psychopath and narcissist, he didn't hide behind any notions of public service or noble causes. He went in it for himself and stayed true to the American Way.

12:24 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dan D-

Thanks. Watch length. 20% less in future wd be gd.

Joe-

Call me crazy, I love 'em. The bubbot are what makes America great. Altho I suspect they are not getting enuf Vitamin P.

mb

3:09 PM  
Blogger Marc L Bernstein said...

Is this the worst country in the world? Is the covid-19 crisis going to destroy this country? How many stupid people can you fit inside a single nation? How confused can the people of a nation get?

Jimmy Dore blames the oligarchy/plutocracy and powerful corporate forces. I blame them too, but so many people are misinformed, confused, poorly educated, exploited and way beyond ordinary frustration. "This is how you get a Donald Trump" says Jimmy Dore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aOLuf-qlko

5:06 PM  
Anonymous MunichSpaten said...

Talks in these past two threads have been about feudalism, capitalism, communism, and here W.Street Banks. With private banking clubs subsidized by tax shakedowns and rackets for compound interest boondoggles, race wars, etc., the old familiar labels seem tired. When the institutions are owned and subverted "free market" or "neo-liberalism" means not what's being implied obviously.

"Reparations" but for whom? Germany has paid around 80 billion "though hard to quantify" for WWII to one country. Look at the state of Germany today after the fire bombings and rapes. I have a friend from the Bosnian war. He used to say that the world is too harsh. The daily 24/7 "anti-white" narratives make my head want to explode. An Art of War tactic is to never brawl unless you've already one. I lost years ago born into these false narrative Hegelian disinformation dialectics against consciousness, born into this - as Bukowski said.

6:29 PM  
Anonymous Pete Christen said...

Dr. B and Wafers: This is good, an article by Tom Engelhardt, "The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Empire; Or What It Means to Fall on a Failing Planet" from 1 December 2020.

https://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176780/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_age_of_opacity/#more

7:47 PM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Hola a los Waferes,

@ GSWH - thanks for the reply; to the point, accurate, realistic, honest. With Mr. Ed we were spared the horse's behind and got a few good chuckles instead. The child will soon be relegated to his sandbox. He'll never hold office again. His lawyer will likely succumb to the virus. Serves him right for trying to imitate a horse's ass.

@ k pgh I'm surrounded by these buffoons. With the pandemic kicking the living horse doo doo out of them and the winter settling in, I rarely see any of the cowboys. Social distancing is easy. I have work to do, books to read, instruments to play, food to cook, a dog to walk me.

Isn't social distancing Waferism 101?

9:12 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Note to Ziggy-

I won't be posting you for a while, because you keep violating the 24-hr rule. Take a vacation from the blog, and come back to us on July 1st of next year. In the meantime, contemplate your sins, and make a vow to follow the rules. Otherwise, you will be cast into utter darkness, expunged for all time--a fate worse than death, really.

Pete-

Thanks for the ref. You know, given fact that the US has very little in the way of socialized medicine or a tradition of substantial cooperation of any sort, covid is managing to polish the country off (wh/wd have happened anyway, just a bit slower). Americans are very stupid, and need to be punished vigorously. The problem is that 'punishment' applies only when people understand what they've done, and Americans haven't a clue. Geez, all they did was hustle, rt? All they did was oppose socialism and hate the life of the mind. What cd be wrong w/that? And so karma deals its fatal blow to a nation of dipshits. Apparently many Americans dying of covid believe the whole thing was a socialist plot, even as they go under. Does it get much dumber than that? I wd suggest severe beatings and then being thrown on a dung heap, but that actually seems to be happening already. Meanwhile, I will be writing the Mint to chg the logo on legal tender to A NATION OF DIPSHITS. (A lot more accurate than "In God We Trust," no?)

Munich-

You wander into rather cryptic territory in your 2nd para; hard to decipher. In addition, we are big on evidence here (links, articles), not just the broadcasting of opinions; which anyone can do, really.

Marc-

That mystical, idealized entity, "The American People," need to be vigorously blamed; they wanted the snow job. In fact, they loved it, and 74 million of them voted for Trumpi's alternative universe. This is mostly consensual sex, not rape, metaphorically speaking. See my reply to Pete.

mb

9:31 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

mb - my ballpark estimate of how many 'muricans need to be slapped is about 300 million.

Munich Spaten - This isn't really a place where we do white nationalism or cry in our beer about the poor widdle white males being oppressed etc.

10:40 PM  
Anonymous al-Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

Krystal and Saagar showed an interesting graph from PEW research that illustrates the breakdown of government supporters vs. those opposed to the governments in various countries, and how they view the respective responses to COVID. People in most countries aren't terribly divided along partisan line in their thoughts on the response, except in the USA, and to a lesser degree, France and Spain.

Wafers wouldn't find these stats surprising, I don't suppose, but it's nevertheless remarkable how political ideology informs the reaction to a disease in the US.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smqxx8hfUh4

10:45 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Zig-

While I agree that I am increasingly senile, I urge you not to shoot yrself in the foot. We'll see you again on July 1st, during which time you will have developed a sincere determination not to violate the time rule, and to be very, very contrite. Keep in mind that expungement is worse than death itself.

mb

1:09 AM  
Anonymous Ari said...

“Like the Atlantic slave trade, forced labour in China can seem too convenient to challenge. It’s one thing to go on a Black Lives Matter demo, another to tear up your phone contract.”


⁦Sticking up for the Uighurs by throwing away your iPhone!



Slavery will never be history as long as we turn a blind eye to China
https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/05/slavery-will-never-be-history-turn-blind-eye-to-china

6:19 AM  
Anonymous James Allen said...

When did individuals become consumers? And does language shape behavior more than is generally recognized? This article suggests it does. And offers some ideas on the negative outcomes for the society.

https://grist.org/climate/people-didnt-used-to-be-consumers-what-happened/

10:35 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Dr. Berman & Wafers,
Here is a very interesting article about the sudden, rampant, omnipresent food shortages in “the greatest country in the world”. How could this be? After all, as conservatives like to say, “We’re #1,” and we live right here in the “U.S.A! U.S.A.! U.S.A!”
The months ahead indeed should be very interesting here in “the land of the free” should this food shortage continue and numerically expand. Of course, in this country where capitalistic competition is the name of the game, the “invisible hand” of the market will make sure everything is honky dory. A “community ethos” will set in, yes? Like the Japanese sharing that cup of ramen during Fukushima, we’ll do the same, right?
https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-hunger-coronavirus-pandemic-4c7f1705c6d8ef5bac241e6cc8e331bb
But perhaps like the movie below, this also may play out, especially at the 3:09 mark. And it’s all the more interesting because it takes place in the winter with the Christmas holiday approaching.
“Ask them when people who have never known hunger start to go hungry. Do you know something? They won’t want us to ask them. They’ll just want us to get it for them.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZNnDiDSUiI

12:49 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

vso,

You said it. American "progressives" if you can call them that, are out to lunch. Why else would they think sending a woman to the moon would make things better here on Earth?

Ari,

Yep, China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs as we speak, but woke progressives never talk about this. Unless white males caused a problem, they refuse to acknowledge its existence, let alone fix it. This is why the woke movement is eerily silent on climate change, which the whole world (and not just white men) is responsible for. Ditto for the humanitarian disaster that is North Korea, and Narendra Modi's fascistic "Hindu nationalism". It doesn't get any dumber than this.

6:01 PM  
Anonymous Schmucko said...

A correction, Great Seer:

"then came Bush Sr., essentially an empty douche bag (caricatured by Doonesbury as a feather, you might remember)."

Bush Sr. was caricatured as invisible, which was even more fitting. It was his VP Quayle who was caricatured as a feather. Because of the quail bird.

https://www.gocomics.com/blog/1742/45-years-of-doonesbury-a-letter-from-garry-trudeau

6:51 PM  
Anonymous Anjin-san said...

A Wafer commentary from Krystal Ball on The Hill about what really killed tech billionaire Tony Hsieh

https://youtu.be/IwyqAvFbAdY

Final comment "I think its emblematic of how sick our country is."

Also this weekend I came across this Lewis Mumford talk from 1972 on Authoritarian and Democratic Technics.

https://youtu.be/VqRuEhHKVXY

It's amazing how prescient he was. He would be horrified at the dystopian inhumanity of today. Maybe Tony Hsieh would still be alive if he had heeded Mumford's warnings.

6:55 PM  
Blogger Himanshu said...

Dear Dr. Berman,

Chris Hedges doesn't call for a revolution by the masses in this column but rather says that a total shit show lies ahead for the US:

https://www.mintpressnews.com/chris-hedges-the-collective-suicide-of-the-liberal-class/273442/?fbclid=IwAR1yUwBJWIeG60hbV6wXGrA2BRBjHbiqMO8xn9RIb1bHwjpt9jP-A3Nks9c#.X854KtV-AdI.facebook

"The blame lies not only with the goons and racists on the right, the corporatists who pillage the country and the corrupt ruling elite that does their bidding, but a feckless liberal class that found standing up for its beliefs too costly. The liberals will pay for their timidity and cowardice, but so will we."

Himanshu

7:03 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Munich-

Take a tip from Alex; this really ain't yr blog. Plenty out there supporting yr views, so maybe that's where you need to make yr contribution. Gd luck.

Himan-

Hedges' problem (1 among many) is that he keeps recycling old stuff--e.g., death of the liberal class--because he has abs. 0 new to say. Of course, what he doesn't say is that the American people in general bear a heavy responsibility for this shit show, because that wd be politically incorrect. It also undercuts the 'manufactured consent' argument, which he believes in quite strongly. Finally, if you really believe that total disaster lies ahead (has he really given up on his revolution?), and keep writing Farewell to America, then why r.u. sticking around? Farewell is farewell; it's not, "Oh and one more thing..." Leaving the country wd be walking yr talk; staying at this pt is pretty hollow (aka lack of cojones).

Schmucko-

Thanks for the correction. This was so long ago, that I apparently got the two mixed up.

Nadine-

Woman on moon: in the US, there is no upper limit to douchebaggery. What a joke we are.

mb

9:11 PM  
Anonymous B. Louis said...

Create an online dashboard to keep track of Covid numbers?

That gets you a visit by armed goons in Florida at the behest of the governor.

https://amp.tallahassee.com/story/news/2020/12/07/agents-raid-home-fired-florida-data-scientist-who-built-covid-19-dashboard-rebekah-jones/6482817002/

We've seen some horrible shit this year, but this one really took my breath away. Guns pointed at children.

My family and friends now know about my plans to move to Scandinavia with my wife and daughter. They're absolutely aghast at the idea that I would want to leave the "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave".

For the life of me, I can't imagine why ANYONE would WANT to remain in this shithole one minute longer than absolutely necessary.

9:20 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Louis-

Actually, it's called brainwashing. The US is very gd at it. Very few Americans see thru it, and most don't want to.

Munich-

Jesus, what a sad human being you are. Trashy, too. You can keep writing in (very likely, as I suspect there is v. little going on in yr life), but know that I'll be deleting it unread. I often wonder, in the case of folks like yrself, how in the world they got to be such assholes. I suspect yr parents did you a lot of damage, eh? "Damaged people damage people." *You*, amigo, trying to make the rest of the world as sick, as poisoned, as yourself. Yuck!

mb

10:38 PM  
Anonymous Dr. Shithouse said...

Wafer Louis, some reasons 'why' us-ians remain in the world's premier shit hole is sometimes a contentious discussion. Some believe what other choice do they have? They're stuck, they cannot leave because of funds, family/"friends" proximities, they cannot just 'pick up and go,' or, they 'have' to hustle and be greedy because of lack of a health care system, employment insecurity, expensive/rip off schooling, tons of bills etc...and are 'prisoners' in a fucked up system that are hog tied and forced to be hucksters, you cannot blame them.......

Rather than entertain this mainly farcical 'rape' analogy (Berman), most americans want what the us is offering. It's consensual sex. They vote with their feet by gleefully, and voluntarily participate in the shit show. The immigrants and native borns all want what the us is offering and that is what Mr. Delusional Hedges cannot nor will not ontologically understand.

Most us-ians believe the us is the most bestest, amazingest place on God's green Earth. Just get rid of Trumpio, Obshitforbrains, et al. and everything will be happy in happy valley, & we can save "democracy" and destroy socialism/communism....The us was not only excellent at brain washing (Eddie Bernays, Operation Paperclip), but housed a mentally disabled populace completely detached from reality.

As you may know, Sigmund Freud picked up on the US' vibe when he visited briefly--calling the us a huge mistake and gave specific examples of the boorish, brash, and backwards us "culture."

Good luck on the move, we're the fuck outta the septic tank soon.

1:11 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dr. Shit-

Actually, Freud's phrase was 'gigantic mistake', altho I can't recall what that was in German (riesig, probably).

mb

3:41 AM  
Blogger alex carter said...

mb - Found "My Russia" and wow what a read. Lots of very interesting food for thought in there. Americans try so hard to be "whitebread" it's amazing.

Dr. Shithouse - I agree. The best thing to do in the US is find some way to work very little, consume and participate as little as possible. And yes there's a firehose of propaganda about how great the US is, Land of Crappertunity and all that. A lot of us *are* stuck. Countries will take you in as a healthy 20-something; much less so in your late 50s with the odd health problem going on.

4:14 AM  
Blogger vsoguy said...

Nadine,

Yes, exactly. And it's not just sending a woman into space that gets these fools so excited. Shortly after the start of the pandemic during a team zoom meeting at work, one of my highly-prog coworkers said that SpaceX docking with the space station was a "glimmer of hope"

How is launching things into space hopeful? These idiots still believe that humanity is going to colonize the entire galaxy, even though we're doing a piss-poor job of inhabiting this planet. So why are things going to be better in space? At least there's oxygen here.

It seems to me that people confuse technological progress with social progress, but the two are unrelated. After all, Rome had some great technology, but that didn't stop the culture from careening into the dark ages.

I'm hoping Dr. Berman will explore these mysteries in part 2 - "Into the abyss"

4:21 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

vso-

Re: going into space: old Zen proverb: Wherever you go, there you are! We will take Americanism w/us, wherever we go, and destroy accordingly. As for Part II: perhaps "The Anus of the World."

alex-

As for whitebread Americans, most of them are already there: completely bland. Empty, uninteresting, lives filled w/the slogans of a dominant culture that is monodimensional. No one hasta take my word for it: in a cafe, in a bar, on a train, wherever: just try talking to an American abt anything substantive, see what you get back.

mb

5:32 AM  
Blogger Systems Crash Go said...

For those interested in the Farmer Protests in India, here is a talk by one of the foremost journalists (yes, an actual journalist who has actually covered the plight of the farmer in detail for decades) on how the Government of India has thrown the small farmers to the wolves i.e. the Corporations. Basically the laws take away the bargaining power of the small guy and destroy the free market for selling farm produce regardless of the rhetoric that says otherwise. MNCs like Nestle and Coca Cola are salivating at the chance, not to speak of Monsanto. Its ironic that capitalism's most vociferous supporters don't see the contradiction - there is no free market anymore, its basically Monopoly corporate feudalism.

https://www.newsclick.in/farm-bills-will-benefit-big-corporates-not-farmers-p-sainath

6:26 AM  
Anonymous Johann said...

Here's a super-scary -- but highly speculative and hopefully completely wrong -- theory of how technological totalitarianism might win the 21st century.


I can easily see the US going down this path

https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/the-super-scary-theory-of-the-21st

9:06 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Johann-

Yes, a definite possibility. For an alternate view, that involves the breakdown of the ethernet and the end of cell phones and related tech, check out Gary Shteyngart, "Super Sad True Love Story."

mb

9:41 AM  
Anonymous Nazca said...

MB + Johann:

HBO has been putting together a *SSBTLS* series w/ Ben Stiller. I think it's on hold right now due to pandemic but I've been looking forward to it!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Sad_True_Love_Story

Johann: Nice essay, sounds like "The Rise Of The Computer State" by David Burnham
https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Computer-State-David-Burnham/dp/0394514378

10:31 AM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

@Systems, Thanks for your post. Although this blog is primarily focussed on the collapse of the US empire, but things of this magnitude do have global ramifications. And let me tell you, while Pepsi, Nestle et al. are salivating, the biggest beneficiaries of these laws will be two business houses in India: the Ambanis and the Adanis.

The protests have been huge. The govt tried to stop the farmers, largely from the northern states, from reaching Delhi by using water cannons, tear gas, and (read it twice) digging trenches in the roads, but failed. Now they are engaged in talks with the farmers whose clear demand is to repeal the laws. After these 5-6 years, many ppl have finally started seeing the aggressive pro-corporate agenda of the govt. BTW, there was a general strike all over the country today. I believe it generated some enthusiasm.

I was about to post the following question to Wafers: What do we expect from the Biden admin? Side with the corporates as before albeit with a mask of inclusiveness and diversity? And ignore the democratic mass movements? Will there be any real change from the Trump years, except for an end to the daily spectacle?

11:59 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Indian-

Did I post this already?:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/07/biden-diversity-top-political-jobs-illusion-change-america

Duh! is my response to this. How often have I said the same? Meanwhile, there is only 1 effective movement in the US, and that's the Bowel Movement. All else is theater.

mb

ps: I'm proud of the Indian protesters. Can you imagine such a thing happening in the US--I mean genuine protest, not fluff?

12:52 PM  
Blogger Brian said...

The sweet sound of the state of the nation!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqXtiQ20BLw


...Soon after this hearing, he checks into the hospital sick with COVID-19.

1:13 PM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Greetings again Dr. Berman & Wafers,
Check out this story below about the actions of some of our “pious” United States military members. Occurrences like these are commonplace in the armed forces.
But Americans still will have those “Support the troops” stickers on the back of cars. Fake patriotic conservatives still will have those “Land of the free because of the brave” bumper stickers on the back of their cars and pickup trucks. Military members will continue to get discounts and other perks; because after all, they’re “defending freedom”. And the American public will continue to adore and elevate them to the ranking of dieties.
What a joke the United States really is.
https://apnews.com/article/texas-sexual-assault-army-86c09bd3d40a7d6cc062beabb6012357

1:15 PM  
Anonymous C. James Philly said...

SCOOP: In a complaint unsealed on Friday, two security officials working on President Trump’s BORDER WALL said that contractors were illegally smuggling in armed Mexican guards to protect construction sites.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/us/politics/border-wall-mexico.html

Yep. Sounds about right....

1:16 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Film rec:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_Enemies_(2019_film)

Brian, Joe-

Hot farts and degraded buffoons! What a way to wrap up the American expt.

mb

4:06 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: Like MLK, I too have a dream: the entire country shows up on the Smithsonian Mall, and in unison everyone shouts, "This country is a shit pile, and *we* are a shit pile." Now *that* wd be progress, maybe even redemption.

4:11 PM  
Anonymous al-Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

Thanks for that "consumers" article, Jas. It covers a lot of things I spend time muddling over. Just a few weeks ago I told someone, "We're not consumers, we're citizens."

As for English being the language of capitalism, I've pondered that too, in that English is so acquisitive - taking words from other languages - that it's form seems somehow an expression of capitalism. It isn't for nothing that England (a nation of shopkeepers) and the USA have been home to history's most rapacious capitalists.

Here's a tune about "The consumer" for your pleasure and edification.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnJ2HcKpIO4

5:59 PM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

@Indian and @Systems- thank you for the attention to what is happening in India. Amazing.

An article by a woman who grew up in Turkey and knows a thing or two about coups. Along with the inept Trump, it is the Republican Party's acceptance that has her very worried.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/this-must-be-your-first/ar-BB1bGJXf

The Texas Attorney General is trying to show Trump that he deserves to be pardoned for the multiple indictments and accusations of bribes and abuse. He is taking four other states' elections to the Supreme Court. I bet he gets his pardon. Such a stand-up bunch of people in this country

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/08/texas-lawsuit-donald-trump-election-georgia-michigan-pennsylvania-wisconsin
https://progresstexas.org/blog/texas%E2%80%99-indicted-attorney-general-under-investigation-again-here-are-7-reasons-he-shouldn%E2%80%99t-be

6:59 PM  
Anonymous Andalusian Musiscian said...

"Americans think Canadians can’t invade them. Think again."

Hey al-Qa'bong,

What? Canadians invading America? Why would we do this????? We have better things to do anyways :)

7:45 PM  
Blogger Marc L Bernstein said...

One of my facebook friends, a retired former physics professor and political radical, posted the following remark :

"It's not just an oligarchy! It's a KLEPTOCRACY as well, with laws allowing politicians & the rich to pillage the nation's wealth!"

Here's my first comment in response:

It's worse than that. The typical US adult citizen is apathetic, poorly educated, ignorant, misinformed, drugged, addicted to electronic forms of entertainment, stupefied, corrupted, debased and terrified of the wrong groups and people. Many are also hateful, enraged and militant and an increasing number are out of work. Except for that, we have a wonderful collection of serenely enlightened individuals here.

8:05 PM  
Anonymous Alphonsus Cabonicus said...

Hello Wafers:

Well, Andalusian, "22 Minutes" is satirical, after all. Besides, we're defined by our northerness. "Mon pays, c'est la neige" and all that. Moving south would ruin our identity.

Never mind, though; I spelled "its" wrong in my last post. I'm having seizures over here, and dang the 24-hour rule.

8:08 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

"Where Alph, the sacred river ran..." What was yr last post?

Marc-

I won't be happy until the American people are weaponized, moronized, digitalized, monetized, and thoroughly buffoonized.

mb

8:51 PM  
Anonymous Non-Swashbuckler said...

Hello. I thought the blog I peruse would be amused about the following.

Currently I'm doing a contract through a contractor to help downsize the IT infrastructure of a well known financial institution which my contractor is subcontracting (sadly all true). So I have to pretend I work for the subcontractor when onsite. The paperwork, bureaucracy, compliance, random emails from three different companies, etc. If a Wafer could find the time to apply a swift shovel to the head the Gods may have mercy on my soul. Otherwise hope everyone is coping with all that's going on. Anyway, happy holidays from Dilbert clown world hell . . .

11:06 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

mb - exactly my point. My mom's side of the family would admit they're Lithuanian, but not that they're Lithuanian Tatars and really rather brown. I think my mom took care to stay out of the sun to stay pale, and the oldest of us was a bookworm but when the rest of us came along, well, we liked to play out in the sun. So there was my dad this pure white WASP with this passel of brown kids surrounding him. Must have gotten him a lot of side-eyes in Orange County, California. I'm thinking now this was a huge factor in my family's move to Hawaii in '68.

Yet, even in Hawaii our friends and associates were whites, and they're about the worst people to be found there. Competitive, family means nothing, always looking for something to complain about, as I'll say again, Iks who drive cars.

1:52 AM  
Anonymous Rockwell N. Role said...

Patriotic suicide bombers?
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/arizona-gop-asks-supporters-theyre-193406143.html

4:21 AM  
Anonymous Leonard said...

New txt coming out from Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, MB recommended her great "Indigenous People's History of the United States" which was fantastic:

Not "a Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion

https://www.amazon.com/Not-Nation-Immigrants-Colonialism-Supremacy/dp/0807036293

8:14 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Rocky-

O dem bubbas! I love 'em. The Karens, too. True patriots, who realize that Biden is a communist tool, and are willing to lay down their lives to save the Republic. This is exactly the stuff that has made America great.

mb

8:18 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Re: the Gen. Austin apptment:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/politics/lloyd-austin-pentagon-military-contractors.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

But hey, he's black, so this apptment must be a gd thing, no? Surely identity politics is more impt than this trivial issue of the military-industrial complex...

mb

8:30 AM  
Blogger vsoguy said...

Dr. Berman,

I personally would prefer that General Austin be black and transgender. Being black just isn't enough.

For example, I need brain surgery, but all the top neurosurgeons in my area are heterosexual white males. I prefer someone who is a minority with gender obscurities even if they don't have the same qualifications. Heck, its only my brain.

11:11 AM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

A quick update from here. Talks between the farmers and the government have collapsed because the farmers refused to accept the proposed amendments to the laws and stuck to their demand of complete repeal of the three laws. They have decided to intensify their movement and block all roads to Delhi by occupying the them through peaceful means. They have also called for economic boycott of the Ambanis and Adanis. For those who may not have noticed, botox face Hillary came here and danced in Amabani's son's wedding party. So you know what we are talking about.

Obviously, very very big money is involved. And the struggle will be long and difficult.

12:02 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

vso-

I too was disappted by Biden's choice here. Cdn't he find a black guy who was also gay, blind, and in a wheelchair, while also having close connections w/major arms manufacturers? Is that too fucking much to ask, fer chrissakes?

mb

12:41 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

Dr. Berman,

And while we're at it, let's make sure our next president is mentally disabled, cause that would be REAL diversity! Oh wait...he already is...

Anyway, I had to cut ties with a woke progressive friend of mine a while back. It all started when he made a post praising the racial "diversity" within the upper echelons of the military-industrial complex. When I dared say something negative about the military, he flew into a rage. He thundered about how all our soldiers are brave, loving, noble, well-meaning heroes who happen to be doing bad things for reasons totally beyond their control. Because he never posted anything negative about our wars, I suspect he thinks it's ok to commit genocide as long as the military is *racially diverse* and promotes *female empowerment*.

This is as far left as politics gets in the great old US of A. Scratch a woke American progressive, get a psychopathic imperialist. There's a reason why Sanders and Gabbard are very, very pro-war and pro-torture: their progressive constituents are too.

2:00 PM  
Anonymous MarshallG said...

O. Indian wasn't it the GATT round late 90's that got the GMO farming desecration moving in India - having already decimated N. America including Mexico with NAFTA? I do know that here farmers are forced out after a bad year eventually taking predatory loans to cover the losses of their thin margins and will sometimes commit suicide via their own equipment for insurance and family while still losing their family farms etc.

There is an elite group of people managing against autonomy of any kind. If you take the Indian IT scam subsidized and kept out of the news on purpose and propagandized in the news through Gates and others that "they're the best developers" (which the opposite) is often true etc. The way Indians ethnocentrically and nepotistically push out domestic IT workers across the West is also protected in the globalized courts. Though there have been many lawsuits there have been no domestic victories I know of. So that's one thing about the Indian farm tragedy where people are suiciding from GMO fertilizers etc. Indian farming problems although not being related to subsidized immigration like with Indian IT but are related to the immigration of corps with globalization agendas that are consistent between industries in destroying the autonomy of nation states and the ethnic manifest destinies within those states.

2:14 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Marshall-

Links? Evidence? Why shd we believe you?

Nadine-

Clearly what we need is female empowered genocide (FEG; Condi Rice, for example). Tulsi is of course the pits, altho I can't help feeling that the US cd be saved if it embraced Tulsism. Not sure of exactly what that is, however. Meanwhile, the present president is an emotional child, so we cannot be accused of anti-ageism. Honestly, I love America. Is there another country on the planet which consists of morons, top to bottom?

mb

3:52 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

I need yr input. Is there any chance a law cd be passed making it illegal to be Elon Musk, and what are yr feelings abt this? Same, for Melania? And where does urine fit into this picture?

mb

4:48 PM  
Anonymous Dr. Shithouse said...

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article247694565.html

What happened to all those (not so) "proud boyz," impotent boys, or what not. Trumpinio will be gone soon and they didn't do shit. what the fuck did they do other than shut on megaphones 'usa, usa,' and walk proud with ill fitting flag t-shirts with beer bellies screaming their love for the us empire. Some (bowel) movement. Is that another example of american cowardice? Strut around 'big and tough' filled with sound and fury, yet all hat and no cattle....

Like a dipshit bragging abt how big his johnson is, then you see him in the shower and it's a 2" chubby. Sounds like the us.

5:15 PM  
Anonymous al-Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

Not to sound negative or anything, but any progs who praise diversity in Biden's cabinet cannot be said to be anything other than stunned.

Many of them likely feel warm and fuzzy evoking the name of Martin Luther King at every opportunity. You know Dr. King, the guy who said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Do any of these identity-politics schmendricks think twice about praising bloodthirsty war criminals and the vassals of arms manufacturers on the grounds of their race and gender?

5:28 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

al-

Time to set up a think tank in DC, "Center for Diverse Thugs."

Dr. Shit-

Let's reverse Teddy Roosevelt: "Speak loudly and carry a limp dick."

mb

5:44 PM  
Blogger Krakhed said...

That's of the few hypothetical movements which could gain massive support in America. Make it illegal to be from South Africa and named Elon Musk. Punishment is perpetual urination upon their shoes. Any American that wishes to can present Elon with a proposition of shoe urination and it will be illegal for Elon to decline any urination requests. His feet will always smell of urine, and the universe will be right once and for all. Melania would be a good spokesperson for this movement. Her and Trumpi are regulars with golden showers.

https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/donald-trump-pee-tape.html

Now the problem begins if he tires of the USA and leaves for another country. Hard to see that movement carrying over globally.

6:39 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Andalus-

Cdn't run it; you exceeded the half-pg limit. Be very careful abt length in future. Otherwise, you will be expunged, and that's not something you wanna have happen 2u. If it does, you will regret it for the rest of yr life. You will cry large tears every day, believe me.

mb



7:49 PM  
Anonymous Jakub Busch said...

“To engage with the world phenomenologically, Merleau-Ponty suggested, we must embrace being a perpetual beginner: coming back again and again to what we perceive before us, remaining open to the adventures of experience.”

https://aeon.co/amp/essays/the-phenomenology-of-merleau-ponty-and-embodiment-in-the-world

Good piece on Merleau-Ponty makes for good supplemental material for MB's "CTOS" book.

Hubert Dreyfus, a philosopher who I think was a great thinker, considered Merleau-Ponty a much more serious and critical philosopher than Sartre. http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people5/Dreyfus/dreyfus-con5.html

8:11 PM  
Blogger Himanshu said...

Dear Dr. Berman,

Zizek: There will be no return to normality after Covid. We are entering a post-human era & will have to invent a new way of life
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/508940-normality-covid-pandemic-return/
In his opposition to wearing protective masks, Giorgio Agamben refers to French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas and his claim that the face “speaks to me and thereby invites me to a relation incommensurate with a power exercised.” The face is the part of another’s body through which the abyss of the Other’s imponderable Otherness transpires.Agamben’s obvious conclusion is that, by rendering the face invisible, the protective mask renders invisible the invisible abyss itself which is echoed by a human face. Really? There is a clear Freudian answer to this claim: Freud knew well why, in an analytical session – when it gets serious, i.e. after the so-called preliminary encounters – the patient and the analyst are not confronting each other face to face. The face is at its most basic a lie, the ultimate mask, and the analyst only accedes to the abyss of the Other by NOT seeing its face.Accepting the challenge of post-humanity is our only hope. Instead of dreaming about a ‘return to (old) normality’ we should engage in a difficult and painful process of constructing a new normality. This construction is not a medical or economic problem, it is a profoundly political one: we are compelled to invent a new form of our entire social life."
One thing is unlikely: The invention of a new social life in the US.
Himanshu

8:20 PM  
Blogger Mike Kelly said...

Only an idiot would call a massive explosion a success:

https://www-dallasnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.dallasnews.com/business/technology/2020/12/09/watch-spacex-is-going-to-try-its-rocket-launch-shortly-from-south-texas/?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&outputType=amp&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%3D%3D#aoh=16075678620665&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dallasnews.com%2Fbusiness%2Ftechnology%2F2020%2F12%2F09%2Fwatch-spacex-is-going-to-try-its-rocket-launch-shortly-from-south-texas%2F

9:42 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Himan-

Zizek is probably correct, tho it's a future I don't relish. Similar to that earlier post on a radical techno-future. Possible, but a very weird, Matrix-like scenario. We may be heading for a new kind of (non)humanity. Breakdown a la Shteyngart is much more preferable, imo. As for the US inventing a new social life: clueless idiots don't invent a new social life. Rather, they have it (whatever it is) thrust upon them, whether as techno-future or Shteyngart or anything else. Ours is not a populace capable of thinking in terms of creative response; they are 0 more than robots. Recall my earlier post, "Project X," where Americans begin to identify themselves as idiots. What are the chances? But what I say 2u, and also to Jakob Busch (following Merleau-Ponty): there is no real life outside of an embodied one. Elon Musk's desire to escape the earth reflects his desire--a very common one--to escape the life of the body. What he offers as solution, is actually pathology. Most Americans, it seems to me, hate their bodies, or are largely unaware of them.

mb

9:50 PM  
Anonymous Glans Butterworth, III said...

It would be very nice to see Elon Mollusk launch himself into space with his "centi -billions"; complete with raining perchlorate from the rocket's engines on the tax and debt slaves. The cheering, the flatulence, the glee, oh, so, so proud to see a multi-billionaire do this for the sheeple! Someday, with hard work, grit, and determination, maybe you too can become another Mollusk!

How exciting to worship money hoarding scum bags who's only goal was $ accumulation.

10:26 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Mike, Glans-

Actually, I paint a sympathetic portrait of him in "The Heart of the Matter," the story called "Moonies"--but this for the purposes of smooth fiction. In reality, he wd seem to be the ultimate techno-buffoon. I'm assuming most Americans worship him, or think he's the hottest thing since canned tuna. (This is even true of that fictionalized group, "The Big Bang Theory"; Musk makes an appearance, as himself, in one episode.) But maybe he'll put Melania (and Tulsi, Hillary, and Megan) on a spaceship to Mars; in which case, we will all owe him a lot.

mb

11:32 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Unknown-

Sorry, I don't post Unknowns. You need a real handle to participate. May I suggest Hans Scheisskopf?

vso-

Cdn't run it. Pls make sure to post no more frequently than once every 24 hrs. If you violate this rule, I will expunge you. Believe me, this is not something you want to happen.

mb

5:19 AM  
Anonymous Gregory said...

John Gray on Covid-19
https://www.newstatesman.com/international/places/2020/12/year-great-humbling

7:25 AM  
Anonymous Richie Cardoza said...

"During the 2019 Iraq pro-democracy protests, copies of Pinker’s 'Enlightenment Now' in Arabic were handed out by protesters.

Last week, a Baghdad publishing house requested to print hard copies of Sam Harris's 'Waking Up.'"

"Enlightenment Literature As Foreign Aid"
https://quillette.com/2020/12/04/enlightenment-literature-as-foreign-aid/

For some reason I just lost my appetite for breakfast.....

8:16 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Richie-

Does arrogance attain greater heights than this?

mb

8:56 AM  
Anonymous Maeve Rudolph said...

Richie - Goodness how stupid!

Greg - "The virus has shown that human supremacy was always a dangerous illusion. It is time to adjust to a more modest place in the life of the planet." Well said, and for this blog, "USA supremacy" could be added to that.

my contribution:
"Brexit: was it worth it?
Once a fervent Eurosceptic, I came to believe that leaving would be a terrible blunder"

https://unherd.com/2020/12/brexit-was-it-worth-it/

This is really honest & unsparing: how painful it can to be change one's mind, how people being right can make you really dislike them, how knowing a lot about something can just ratchet up confirmation bias. A lot for the USA to learn from our older brothers and sisters from across the pond.

Good not just for Brexit...

10:09 AM  
Blogger Brian said...

Jakub,

Glad to see someone is still interested in phenomenology. I myself put so much effort into reading Merleau Ponty and the like as a way to help me reclaim that original embodied experience which has been ripped apart by Descartes… and now by screens, smart screens, screens you can wear on your wrist, screens you can put over your face, stick up your ass etc…

Another phenomenologist who is deeply inspired by Merleau Ponty and that I’m currently reading is Eugene Gendlin (if you ever heard of him). He builds off of Merleau Ponty and probably is the best writer out of all of the phenomenologists I've read. He has helped me to feel more embodied than even Merleau Ponty with his emphasis on ‘embodiment is before thinking/perception’, and his philosophy around the ‘experience of the implicit’.

http://previous.focusing.org/primacy.html

10:19 AM  
Anonymous Flabster said...

Dr. Berman,

We really need to continue to degrade the buffoon known as Elon. The former ruling class of South Africa (white, Doesn’t really matter whether English or Afrikaner) were tools of the first degree. I have had the direct displeasure of knowing some of them. Think of a race of super bubbim, larger and more violent than our native strain!

The issue that is now vexing me is this: there is no path to reasonable economic security in the USA that doesn’t involve some sort homage to douche baggery of the Kim and Elon sort. A willingness to do really crummy things to others is required to join the ranks of the financially nonfucked.

Being a wafer, it’s an easy choice to remain less than wealthy, and not be a hustler. It’s the notion that I am expected to do so. Americans literally look down on people who are decent enough to fuck over others.

1:58 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

Dr. Berman,

Actually, yes, yes it does. I once saw an article in the New York Times praising America's "cultural legacy" in Iraq. This glorious legacy included several McDonald's that had opened in Baghdad, a new American-style bowling alley opening in Baghdad, and Christian missionaries doing their best to convert all those awful Muslim heathens. No mention was made of America's real legacy in Iraq: more than 1 million dead innocent civilians, tens of thousands tortured, millions homeless, and a country in shambles. And this was around 2010! It's surely much worse now, when something like 80% of the American populace, now unknowingly infected with postmodern bullshit, thinks it can make things come true simply by saying or believing they are true. Examples of this include: the law of attraction/power of positive thinking, which Oprah and many self-help gurus have been peddling for decades; Trump and his supporters declaring all inconvenient truths to be "fake news"; and woke progressives saying that 2 + 2 can equal whatever they claim it does because reality is entirely subjective. America is truly fucked.

3:44 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

Bad Santa dept.:

Prince Carter, 45, arrested for exposing himself to juvenile while working as a mall Santa Claus:

https://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-br-milford-mall-santa-sex-assault-arrest-20201208-gyiyn4ph3na2xn4ju3fgdhkh4u-story.html

Shampoo Sham dept.:

Jeffrey Trent, 46, caused a disturbance at a hair salon when he was told that there was no product that would cure his baldness:

https://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-br-milford-mall-santa-sex-assault-arrest-20201208-gyiyn4ph3na2xn4ju3fgdhkh4u-story.html

Miles

4:08 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Flab-

1. Always, always, capitalize Wafer.
2. Your last sentence: just the opposite is true.

Jeff-

We still need the link on Jeffrey Trent. I'm wondering if there is a product that cd render him less stupid and ugly:

https://www.wtvq.com/2020/12/03/bald-man-arrested-after-incident-at-anderson-county-hair-salon/

Nadine-

If there were ever a perfect candidate for slapping and urine, it's Oprah. Check out Janice Peck, Nicole Aschoff. Meanwhile, we need to round up all the PoMo's and ship them out to some remote South Sea island.

mb

4:23 PM  
Anonymous ThomG said...

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/stealing-to-survive-more-americans-are-shoplifting-food-as-aid-runs-out-in-the-pandemic/

Another story for the collapse file.

6:51 PM  
Blogger anderszornpalette said...

Hi WAFers. Been away for a minute but thought I’d drop by and check in. Seems like Covid-19 has been more of an accelerant than Trump.

Another anecdotal example of our deterioration as a society here in the U.S. - https://youtu.be/2KRs7GafuG0

Cheers,
Anders


6:59 PM  
Anonymous Abdel said...

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

"Le Tout Nouveau Testament", or, "The Brand New Testament (God exists, he lives in Belgium) "

Film recommendation for the blog, here's a great review from the philospher Massimo Pigliucci:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/41243695

7:17 PM  
Blogger Arthur V. said...

Good evening, Dr. Berman & Wafers:

Rush Limbaugh is a jackass. On that I think we can all agree. However, to my mind it's hard to argue with his latest rage.

alternet.org/2020/12/rush-limbaugh/

What was interesting was the comment section wherein a number os posters said the country will never breakup, we are all Americans, we can heal. . .blah, blah, blah. They stated no plan for this awakening, and it got me to thinking. How can this country stay together when over 70 million people reject the most basics about biology and medicine? Has any nation ever survived when so many people are just plain stupid?

What the 'new' America will look like I haven't a clue. But that it will happen is beyond qeustion.

7:44 PM  
Anonymous Rockwell N. Role said...

Briefly, the BBC had a report that Mexico has lost 2,000
medical workers from CV-19 and fully half were physicians.
This is very high compared to other countries. Have you
heard anything about this?

This 2-minute video is dated but still vital if one wants
to unmask a Wafer or discover that Biden is, in fact, a
raving crypto-Maoist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQVXHlMvOoU

7:56 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Rock-

Here's how to not have access to this blog:
1. Insult the Wafers.
2. With no references to respectable analyses, engage in conspiracy theories, or claim Biden is a commie (a guy who appoints economic advisers from Goldman Sachs).
Ordinarily I wd just delete you, but I wanted the Wafers to get a feeling for the nut jobs in our midst (altho yr hardly the 1st). I will delete you in future, w/o rdg your posts, so perhaps you'd be better off contributing to other blogs, ones that can appreciate yr cutting-edge insights.

Arthur-

Well, he got the Pres. Medal of Honor, so clearly he must be a great thinker. As for secession: I've been saying it for yrs, of course, but now it's becoming increasingly obvious as a likely future path. Even a broken clock like Rush is going to be correct 2x/day. As for the role of mass stupidity in the American future...well, I've been harping on that for yrs now as well (w/no one listening).

Thom-

I guess it's that or starve. What a great country we live in.

Robbinson-

See reply I made to Rocks-in-Head, above. And who the fuck is Dr. S? Anyway, note that you provide not a shred of evidence for yr kooky views--nothing. Amigo, this is definitely not yr blog, and I will not be reading anything you send in. Good luck.

mb

9:32 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Messi-

I don't read hate mail, but don't let that stop you. Most clowns like yrself write in, because there's not much else going on in their lives, and because they are human failures. Check out yr eyes in the mirror, amigo: rather empty, no? How did you wind up in such a sad life? Think abt it, maybe. :-(

mb

10:27 PM  
Anonymous Bren Isbell said...

America’s Three Richest People Are Now Positioned To Pay Zero State Income Tax

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/12/09/americas-three-richest-people-are-now-positioned-to-pay-zero-state-income-tax/?sh=59b9b6987b63

And then there's the centibillionaire phenomenon:

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/there-are-now-a-record-5-centibillionaires-after-global-stock-surge

https://www.dailyeasternnews.com/2020/12/10/column-centibillionaires-highlight-wealth-gap-in-america/

6:11 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Bren-

Americans joyfully embraced the Dream, wh/is just another version of Every Man For Himself. They wanted this applied to every walk of life. Now the results of that application to the health care 'system' are plain to see: they are dying in droves. Response? Many of them believe it's a hoax, a communist plot--even as they go to their graves.

mb

9:19 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

The bubbim and bubbot in action!:

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/media/2020/12/11/trump-supporters-georgia-misinformation-osullivan-ebof-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/business-media/

I can't help myself; I love 'em!

mb

10:24 AM  
Anonymous Orca said...

America making the lives of some americans miserable, nothing new I guess

https://knpr.org/knpr/2020-12/north-las-vegas-homeless-camp-was-bulldozed-now-what

On another note, I found this introductory online course on the Freudian and Lacanian unconcious, I've been following it for a couple of weeks now and I think some of you Wafers would like it

https://cadelllast.com/about/freudian-unconscious-course/

11:45 AM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

@Marshall... there are several aspects in your comment, I do not have details of all of them. Here is my response based on what I know. To my knowledge, the only crop where GM seeds have been allowed in India is cotton (Bt cotton, Monsanto). There are many articles on the results, you may just do a google search. There was a push for introducing GM brinjal (eggplant) abt a decade or so ago. There was push from the corporations and the technocracy. The then agriculture minister, Jairam Ramesh, in a shining example of a functioning democracy, held wide ranging consultations across the country, and finally decided against it. The present laws, however, go far beyond just the farming sector. It has major implications for democracy, rule of law and separation of executive and judicial powers in a liberal democracy, and therefore, will have global consequences. This article, by no less that P Sainth, briefly outlines that: https://thewire.in/rights/farm-laws-legal-rights-constitution

"The repeal of those laws does no more than take us back to where we were – which was never a good place. To an awful agrarian crisis. But it would halt these new add-ons to agrarian misery or slow them down. And yes, unlike the ‘mainstream media’ they [the farmers] see the importance of these laws in dismantling the citizen’s right to legal recourse and in eroding our rights. And even if they may not see or articulate it that way – theirs is also a defence of the basic structure of the Constitution and of democracy itself."

11:58 AM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

MB-

Many thanks for providing the link for Jeffrey Trent. Meanwhile here's another American Douche Bag (ADB), Alton Ashby:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/10/florida-man-best-buy-covid/

In addition, I'm extremely disturbed by the postings of what appear to be the ravings of rabid antisemites who have discovered this blog. The ancient prejudice against the Jews has never went away, of course, but it really seems to be surging right now. It seemed that for decades after WW II, antisemitism was consigned to the fringes, but this is sadly no longer the case. These bigots seem to be more brazen, essentially flourishing in a climate that has made antisemitism far more permissible and dangerous. The only thing that I can make out is the old ideological pattern at work once again: that the world is perceived to be in pretty bad shape, and it must be the result of the Jews. How dumb is that? It would be much better if these fuckers would go back to beating their meat and leave us the hell alone.

Miles

3:23 PM  
Anonymous Dr. Shithouse said...

Dr. Berman, preaching to choir, don't let those US-ian "haters" get to you. They're americans, hence, mentally disabled. Got back from a nature walk. Saw a few us-ians with face shields, goggles, masks as they walked by themselves in nature....also saw a few us clowns screaming at each other --one apparently went <6ft into "their" space...another was pinned up against a tree, eyes darting, and turning their head away as they wore goggles, face mask/shield, and gloves--- as if this would prevent Tom Hanks disease from afflicted them on a nature walk.....you cannot fix fucking stupid. Americans were so, so, fucking stupid. It still boggles our minds to see this shit--and would bet that these imbeciles have "university" degrees, and read "news" papers and think they're "intelligent."

Interestingly, they have no problem eating shit, living in shit, being obsessed with techno shit, and worshipping money hoarders.

4:05 PM  
Anonymous Cel-Ray Tonic said...

Heard a radio interview with Schmiden's Defense Sec pick Lloyd Austin this morning. Here is why I can't listen to the news anymore ... the host asked earnestly "There are 12,000 pilots in the military (or air force I can't remember exactly), yet only 2% (or whatever) are women of color, how do you explain that?"

Huh? Instead of asking why we friggin need 12,000 pilots at all, a question that should be asked, she went for the pretend prog who gives a shit question to score woke points. Bill Hicks (the WAFer) would have blown his top at that one!

Sorry I can't find a link to the interview.

Speaking of which, 335 people who need to be slapped: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/08/politics/defense-bill-house-vote-trump-veto-threat/index.html

5:32 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

MB and Wafers,

I read some frightening statistics in a John Gray article someone mentioned here. As in America, half of the French populace says it will refuse to get vaccinated. In Germany, nearly a third of the populace says it will refuse to get vaccinated. I suspect Spain, Italy and Britain have a similar percentage of people unwilling to get vaccinated.

I can't help but wonder if this is because Western Europe has become infected with the American Dream. I suspect it has, given how materialistic and hyper-individualistic Western Europe has become over the last few decades. We could be looking at the collapse of America *and* Western Europe due to a virus that could have been stopped with simple vaccinations. The West may be living on borrowed time.

Apparently, nature has but one penalty for nations that embrace the American Dream: spiritual death, followed by social and cultural death, followed by physical death. I think this principle should be considered a law of physics. Thoughts?

5:34 PM  
Anonymous TT Mancuso said...

The Roman model really does fit America like a glove sometimes -

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/ancient-roman-feasting-history/index.html

'Lying down and vomiting between courses: This is how Ancient Romans would feast'

5:35 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Nadine-

For what it's worth, my doctor told me to wait on vaccination. We don't know the side effects (he said; and they are now starting to surface), or the effectiveness; and we don't have any longitudinal studies of the anti-covid vaccine. Myself, I'm gonna wait and see; but that's just me.

mb

6:04 PM  
Anonymous Mike R. said...

usa, usa!

https://www.ibtimes.com/anne-frank-memorial-idaho-vandalized-swastika-stickers-3100085

6:52 PM  
Anonymous Donie said...

For a film that really shows the raw oligopolistic and plutocratic nature of the US, I just saw Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" 2-Disc uncut edition for the 1st time. I had only seen the final cut when it was originally released in the cinema in the late 90s.

It has everything: ominous and unmitigated threats of violence, debaucheries of the uber rich, everyone's having sex with everyone (except no one's with the people that they're suppose to be having sex with), cultish quasi religiosity, and all the Americans portrayed are just lost souls justing cling on by attempting to fool and swindle one another.

https://www.amazon.com/Eyes-Wide-Unrated-Two-Disc-Special/dp/B000UJ48U4

7:08 PM  
Anonymous River Daniels said...

Nadine + MB -

That's the problem. They need at least 75% populace participation in vaccinations in a country to achieve herd immunity. Most people are either phobic categorically and others will just say that they don't want to worry about it themselves.

7:39 PM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

I will bring up an issue that has been slowly grating on my nerves more and more. This urine thing. Maybe I do not understand the method of application? I think of men standing a short distance away, aiming and firing... well, wetting away. So half the human race is at a distinct disadvantage here. Women will need to stand very close to the shoes, putting themselves at risk of physical harm. And although I haven't researched this topic and have no references, I would guess that in general women do not think of urination as a potential weapon in the way that men do?

Here in dairy country, there is a practice of collecting cow manure, urine and all, in huge tanks. This slurry is then spread on fields using a large tanker truck with hoses and such. Given the staggering number of USians who will need to be soaked in feces of some form, and given that this soaking should be available to all genders, I propose that manure spreaders or smaller versions spraying cow manure be an acceptable treatment. For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbg4DCbfujc

On vaccines, the percent of Blacks and Hispanics who plan to get vaccinated is very small.
https://health.wusf.usf.edu/npr-health/2020-12-10/many-hispanic-and-black-people-say-they-are-skeptical-about-covid-19-vaccine
Any idea why? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study

8:23 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dan D-

Thank you for raising this impt issue. Ever sensitive to issues of gender, identity, and political correctness (see "The Heart of the Matter," story called "The Wire Cage Experiment"), I have thought deep and hard over the issue of female Wafers, or Waferettes, in joining the troops in yellow fluid attacks on folks who deserve it, such as Steven Pinker. My suggestion is that they prepare their urine beforehand, rather than pee on Pinker or whomever on the spot. I.e., bring plastic bags filled w/their urine to the scheduled event, and while Wafers use their organs to hose down Prof. Pinker, or Obama, or Hillary, the Waferettes fling these bags at the agreed-upon targets. Neat, eh?

mb

9:00 PM  

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