Wafers-
Well, here we are again. Not much to report, although I've been enjoying the dialogue we've been having. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, let me give you the Big Schedule once again:
1. Oct. 27, I'm giving a lecture at Thomas More College outside of Cincinnati. I don't know if they are planning to record it; if so, I'll post an audio link on this blog.
2. Oct. 28, I touch down at LaGuardia. Riots expected. "I'm fainting with anticipation," says Marge Schwanzmeister of Queens. "I might actually pee in my pants." Go Marge!
3. Oct. 29, at 1 p.m., the 4th or 5th NY Wafer Summit Meeting will take place at an undisclosed location. Excitement mounts. I look forward to seeing you all at this earth-shattering event. We shall toast Lorenzo Riggins.
4. Oct. 30-Nov. 1: I'll be strolling around NY, with a Secret Service detail nearby to protect me, in case fans go completely out of control.
5. Nov. 2: Return to Mexico, a gracious and loving place.
Keep the faith, amigos-
-mb
I just hope the secret service can protect you from the groupies that will be throwing their hotel keys at you. Have you consulted with Wayne Newton for advice.
ReplyDeleteF-
ReplyDeleteNo, but I *have* been having some talks w/Wayne Knight.
mb
Perhaps you should ask De Blasio to assign a military squad for your protection Dr. Berman. Of course, that may do more harm than good considering how retarded the American military is.
ReplyDeleteHow Absurd...No 31 year old has the life experience and most importantly, the WISDOM to be the President of a country.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-election/austria-shifts-to-right-as-conservative-star-seals-election-win-idUSKBN1CJ0T8
As anti-intellectual hoards abound throughout the land I reflect on how fortunate you are in going to the city of light.
ReplyDeleteI send you my wishes for further enlightenment in the center of our
civilization with its benevolent rule and rational governance,(which is evident
throughout the empire for all to see).
Looking forward to your continued insight into our current cultural evolution.
Que Viva Amigo
this looks brilliant, new Monty Python film about Stalin's murders
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/14/in-russia-nobodys-laughing-at-armando-iannucci-death-of-stalin
The poet Richard Wilbur has died :-/
ReplyDeleteWell someone finally figured it out, but it took USA Today eight paragraphs to tell the reader that Social Media and the stress that comes from it wears its users out. And stress from other causes just piles the exhaustion on.
ReplyDeleteWhy we're exhausted: Stress and social media are taking their toll
Also in the news a two-star general stationed in Italy got canned for sex-texting an enlisted man's wife.
Army sacks general for sexy texts to wife of a sergeant
And what will be the news from New York City when our Morris arrives in New York City? I can see it now:
"Young women scream themselves into orgasms as fan riots break out at LaGuardia upon famed cultural critic Morris Berman's arrival."
And I found out from the last post that there's another Turk in these here parts.
Turkey-
ReplyDeleteLove that headline!
mb
They got us by the short and curlies. Everything’s a hustle.
ReplyDeleteJohn Oliver (HBO’S Last Week Tonight) continues to do excellent long form pieces on his show. Sunday night’s dealt with the Equifax mishegas.
https://youtu.be/mPjgRKW_Jmk
WB MB,
ReplyDeleteTip of the iceberg maybe? Where do people think all that high powered fentanyl and elephant tranquilizer comes from? Follow the money to the villain of your choosing, my bet is on Uncle Sam. Good thing the journalist Gary Webb (IMDB: Kill the Messenger) isn't around to report on it.
https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-whistleblower/
Wafers,
ReplyDeleteOne of the best articles I've read regarding the damage technology is doing to us is the following article:
ur minds can be hijacked': the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia
Google, Twitter and Facebook workers who helped make technology so addictive are disconnecting themselves from the internet. Paul Lewis reports on the Silicon Valley refuseniks alarmed by a race for human attention
by Paul Lewis in San Francisco
Marianne
Mar-
ReplyDeleteAlso check out David Eggers, "The Circle."
mb
Has this guy been following me around w/a notepad, or what?:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/10/16/2-or-3-things-i-know-about-late-stage-capitalism
Sounds like declinism to me: this from Todd Gitlin, today:
ReplyDelete"The killer opened fire for a few minutes but the wounded, if they survive, remain wounded, their families and friends suffer their injuries, the trauma goes on. The factories shut down, people take to drugs and drink, and the recently unemployed get worse — less secure, less meaningful — jobs. The poor lose health insurance and then get sick and cannot afford treatment. Homes get seized for nonpayment of impossible loans, neighborhoods crumble, community networks break down. Wildfires burn, and ruins smolder, and the lost are found — or not — but a community expires. The hurricane moves on and the rubble remains, the power is off at the hospital, the medicines run out. The bombs fall, the wedding party was blown up, and the survivors tell stories about what happened and talk about what to do next....
"One rupture of order follows another. Don’t expect order to be restored. All systems failed. That is the story."
That is the story, muchachos; comprenden?
mb
MB,
ReplyDeleteI am always impressed by your lightly dark sense of humor. A refreshing surprise coming from such an eminent scholar. Real quick wanted to ask you for your thoughts on modern satire, namely the John Oliver type. Or the new guy Trevor Noah. Oliver's program seems to be a step up from Jon Stewert, almost more WAFer friendly, less Prog frinedly.
Or is he more of the same?
Are there True Jonathan Swift's out there? Ted Rall?
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/06/history-brits-better-satire
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-marche-left-fake-news-problem-comedy-20170106-story.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/04/late-night-comedy/475485/
Apology for such a random question. I just dig your jokes. So you stand as Today's Jonathan Swift, to my mind :)
Cost of a plate of rice and beans (priced locally and adjusted for purchasing power) in:
ReplyDeleteNY $1.20
Guatemala $8.27
Nepal $27.77
Haiti $72.65
S. Sudan $321.70
(World Food Program)
Just in from CNN:
ReplyDeleteEydie Koeniginschtuppen, head of the Morris Berman Fan Club (MBFC), is recommending that all fans of Morris Berman begin camping out at LaGuardia Airport in anticipation of Berman's arrival in NYC -- scheduled for October 28. Koeniginschtuppen predicts mass chaos, as legions of Berman's female fans plan to strip naked; run wild on the tarmac; swarm the aircraft; and sexually cannibalize Berman. Any security detail provided by the city, Eydie warns, will be brutally repulsed. "Look, we mean to have MB, and there's just no other way around it."
And now back to our regularly scheduled program...
Neil-
ReplyDeleteWell, that's quite a compliment. I shd say that for me, humor is not just icing on the cake. Rather, it's a metaphysic. It's basic to the whole Waferian enterprise. I agree w/Jerry Seinfeld, that the crucial issue is whether something is funny or not. That's why both he and I are repulsed by political correctness: a grimmer bunch of people you'll never meet. Ditto, would-be revolutionaries. Over-serious people are not to be trusted, and if they ever get into power, there is typically hell to pay.
The thing abt a well-done joke is that at the punch line, you suddenly see reality for what it is. The key to the thing is paradox, or a sudden shift in perception. E.g., What is an American Jewish princess' favorite wine? Answer (in a high nasal voice): "I wanna go to *Miami*!" We shift suddenly from wine to whine, exposing the spoiled, kvetchy nature of American Jewish princesses. What does an American Jewish princess make for dinner? Answer: reservations. Etc.
Wafers have a keen sense of humor. The collapse of an entire civilization is not, as I have often said, a pretty thing; but there is a droll side to the process nonetheless. When Latreasa Goodman calls 911 because there are no Chicken McNuggets, and then goes on TV and actually defends what she did as appropriate; when Freddie Wadsworth fucks a goat; when feminist students at UCSB emerge from classes on women's history and eagerly sign some guy's petition protesting "women's suffrage" (thinking suffrage = suffering)--man, you know it's all over; and yet, all of this is hysterically funny. Wafers know there is no changing this; so they wink at it--as did Jonathan Swift. Trumpi in the White House may be an utter disaster, but it is also, without exception, the silliest event in American history.
But sorry for such a long-winded answer to a simple question. I fear I don't follow John Oliver or the others, partly because I don't own a TV.
mb
An Anne Frank-themed Halloween costume has been pulled from at least one retailer after receiving criticism.
ReplyDeleteHalloweenCostumes.com previously had a listing for an "Anne Frank costume for girls,” featuring a green beret, a blue dress and a brown satchel. Yellow star of David optional.
usa! usa!
Turkey-Buster - I just realized I stole your name. So I'm changing my name from turkerino to Student of WAFerism.
ReplyDeleteDr Berman - I was reading through your old posts and noticed you mentioned an economist named Douglas down, so I started reading his book, capitalism and its economics, and I gotta say it's excellent. His book reminded me a lot of Michael Hudson. But I think Michael Hudson makes a little bit of a stronger case that the current position of the economics departments is intentional. He mentions that he worked in wall street and everyone there was very well versed with marxist theories which is contrary to what many economic departments teach. BTW, if anyone is interested in economics, I recommend you read real from real economists like Michael Hudson and not youtube scam artists like Peter Schiff, I mention it because I read someone mentioning Peter Schiff in a previous blog. Ron Paul is another person to not listen to when it comes to economics.
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteRemind me to wear a hockey cup; there's only so much sex I can take in a single day. In related news, apparently hundreds of women have begun weeping uncontrollably at the thought of my arrival, and have had to be put on a Haldol drip. "He's more than just a hero!" cried Sadie Schwanzfresser, before they took her off to Bellevue. Word has it that she's now knitting me a sweater.
mb
Welcome back and hope to see you in NYC! If the place is Kosher look forward to chowing down, if not, tea or water and will be delightful either way!
ReplyDeleteI think you will really, really like John Gray's review of O'Gormans latest book..
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2017/10/forgetfulness-dangers-modern-culture-wages-war-its-own-past
Neil--Trevor Noah is a Grade A douchebag, and is about as funny as a broken wheelchair. John Oliver is a bit better, but like the insufferable Bill Maher has drunk too much of the liberal Kool Aid. MUCH funnier and much more talented is British television comedian Charlie Brooker, who not only does great political humor, but is the creative genius behind the highly frightening techno-future series Black Mirror.
ReplyDeleteAmong today's top stories--Florida makes thousands of residents stand in line for 10 hours in the hot sun waiting for food assistance in the wake of hurricane Irma.
And, unsurprisingly, even Trump thinks Pence is a lunatic:
"When the conversation turned to gay rights, Trump motioned toward Pence and joked, 'Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!'”
What do all of you think about China announcing it will conduct oil purchases and sales in gold-backed Chinese currency?
ReplyDeleteI think that the collapse of a civilization provides a mixture of absurdity, terror and humor.
ReplyDelete"What do all of you think about China announcing it will conduct oil purchases and sales in gold-backed Chinese currency?"
I think it is part of the process which will ultimately result in the end of the Petrodollar. IMO, there will eventually be a shock similar to that which occurred when Bretton Woods was ended.
BH-
ReplyDeleteHandwriting on the wall, amigo; handwriting on the wall.
COS-
Very gd essay, thanks. Re: NY: could u write me at mauricio@morrisberman.com? It's probably some odd oversight on my part, but I don't seem to have you on my list, and wd like to correct the error.
Student-
I'm getting dizzy w/all these name chgs. But in any case, it shd be spelled Waferism, thank you. We use block capitals only for T-shirts. E.g.:
WAFER OR DOUCHE BAG? THE CHOICE IS YOURS!
mb
Re Humor - Kurt Vonnegut once said laughing in dark times is the soul seeking some relief. That was in reference to someone letting out a laugh as they surveyed the horror of firebombed Dresden.
ReplyDeleteNow on to Anti-Intellectualism. Interesting article though I think it should have included all of America in the title. http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/10/12/trumps-war-on-knowledge/
This looks like one to add on the Wafer movie watchlist:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/j5gw7d/the-florida-project-is-a-film-about-childhood-adventure-and-the-hidden-homeless
Gutted I am missing the Wafer Summit 2017. I hear CNN International intends to broadcast the event live so European Wafers get a piece of the action though.
Kanye
Kanye-
ReplyDeleteYeah, it may prove to be the most impt event of the 21C, so far. One Wafer is planning to bring a video of "Designated Survivor," Season 2 Episode 1 (wh/I'm not able to screen in Mexico), wh/features a discussion of or reference to "The Berman Trilogy." Then we shall move on to a review of the state of the world, the crucial importance of Trumpo, the coming implosion of the US, the pathos of the progs, and so on. Word has it that all the major news outlets will be there to record the event. Millions have written in, begging to know the venue, but as the event is open only to active blog participants, I can only say that it will be held at a pie restaurant. I thought we might need a lot of pie to get thru the day, so I chose a restaurant devoted entirely to pie.
mb
https://www.salon.com/2017/09/09/a-tale-of-two-leaders-of-the-left-new-books-by-bernie-sanders-and-hillary-clinton-emphasize-their-differences/
ReplyDeletego to bed Bernie
The word on the street in upstate New York is that there will be massive traffic jams on the New York Thruway on October 29 as throngs of people try to make their way into the city for Bermanfest. The Thruway will be closed south of Poughkeepsie as people will abandon their vehicles and decide to march to NYC. Arlo Guthrie will mount a nearby stage and declare: "The New York State Thruway is closed, man!"
ReplyDeleteWafers,
ReplyDeleteA book recommendation: The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s by Piers Brendon.
It provides an interesting lens or, if you prefer a not-so "distant mirror " to our times.
If had a hazy idea of this period. I am amazed by the similarity in propaganda slogans, newspaper articles and political party shenanigans.
Very quotable, very well written. Love the line when a bloviating politician is accused of "intellectual halitosis."
Mike-
ReplyDeleteI also heard that some folks are planning to parachute in. Once they figure out which pie restaurant we're meeting at, there's gonna be hell to pay!
Kurt-
Not clear how Hillary is a "leader of the left." What she is, is a Botox-filled turkey on the corporate payroll. As for Bernie...nice guy, poor shmuck, still has hopes for the US. Thinks this is the smartest generation of young people, who can't even read. Disneyland rules!
mb
“In the depths of my heart I can’t help being convinced that my dear fellow-men, with a few exceptions, are worthless.”
ReplyDeleteSigmund Freud, Letters of Sigmund Freud, 1873-1939
Hi all!
ReplyDeleteWell now that Turkerino has taken the nickname Turk, I'd like for you guys to call me Buster!
Americans doing what Americans do... this time in Bedford, Mass.: A Vietnam Vet dies at the Bedford VA Center as a nurse's aide plays video games on her computer! She was supposed to checked on hourly hourly but didn't check on him the whole night that he died.
I'm almost finished reading Kurt Andersen's Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire and my first reaction is that of being appalled. My second reaction is dreading what nonsense may come down the pike... I'm in two of the constituency groups (poor, LGBT) that are dependent on the Liberal-Left actually obtaining and keeping power, growing a pair, and getting things done for the benefit of the whole nation, not just the superrich and the right-winged crazies.
Turkey-
ReplyDeleteGd luck w/that. As for yr name: why not Turkey Sandwich?
mb
Very good essay on Balfour Declaration and a century of Arab-Jewish conflict:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/oct/17/centenary-britains-calamitous-promise-balfour-declaration-israel-palestine
MB, Wafers-
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of turkey sandwiches, I wonder how cube is doing? Has he discarded turkey for pastrami? Chopped liver?
Meanwhile, more news from the Malabar Front:
1. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/congressional-candidate-believes-she-was-visited-by-aliens.html
2. http://ktla.com/2017/10/16/mom-charged-with-murder-after-allegedly-putting-kids-in-oven-turning-it-on/
Wafer joke:
God is in heaven, perusing a very long list of problems facing the US in the editorial pages of the NY Times:
Destructive hurricanes and fires
Weekly massacres
Opiod addiction
Bankruptcy
Possible nuclear war w/NK
Trumpi said this
Trumpi did that
And general douchebaggery
God says, "Well, I guess I'm gonna hafta go down there to straighten some stuff out, just as soon as I figure out how to exist.
Miles
Would you, at some point, consider a speaking engagement at Brigham Young University? Please let me know. I would be happy to arrange it.
ReplyDeleteCharles W. Nuckolls, Ph.D. (University of Chicago)
Professor
Department of Anthropology
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
Charles-
ReplyDeleteIt would be my pleasure (I actually taught for a semester at Weber State in 1997). Please write me at mauricio@morrisberman.com and let's see if we can't work something out.
Jeff-
And then he adds: "Wish I could be a Wafer."
mb
Hopefully De Blasio will order a giant blimp with Dr. Berman's face on it to fly over the city!
ReplyDeleteGig-
ReplyDeleteHe offered, actually, but I told him I prefer sky writing: NEW YORK WELCOMES THE GSWH. Neat, eh?
mb
Here is yet another example of the utter moral bankruptcy of American liberals in the form of a long article detailing the 10-year battle by black female service members to get the military to allow them to wear dreadlocks in uniform. Somehow, I doubt all those butchered and brutalized Iraqis, Afghanis, Libyans, Syrians and others who have been crushed under the bootheel of the American military really give a flying fuck what hairstyle the killers were wearing:
ReplyDeleteFor Dreadlocked Servicewomen, the Fight for Acceptance Is Both a Military and Civilian Battle
Meanwhile, on the conservative side of ledger, in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre a Georgia gubernatorial candidate is giving away free bump stocks to protest the possibility than they might be outlawed.
Also, newest cheerleader chant in Utah: "Fuck N*****s." (This happened at Weber High School, BTW).
T-B: My only affinity for what passes for the left in the US was that they previously kept the reactionaries in check. They don't hold any real values, but they at least put up the pretense of having them, which I now see goes a long way towards determining how the rabble behaves. Now that they've proven once again how craven they are, it feels as though there really is nothing to stop the country's rapid descent into disintegration. Here's a good piece on the demise of the millennial left:
ReplyDeletehttps://platypus1917.org/2017/10/01/millennial-left-dead/
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxxxlutsKuI
Bill-
ReplyDeleteI hope you've saved yr posts, over the years. I'm guessing they wd make for an interesting bk, wh/you might call "Profiles in Courage." Honestly, what more evidence do we need that we are irrevocably fucked? These news stories are the stuff of the most extreme form of satire. I wd expect to find a story about the military's concern with hairstyles (e.g.) in something like "The Onion," or in a novel by Kurt Vonnegut. But no--real people are doing this. As a nation, we have become literally absurd.
mb
Vince-
ReplyDeleteYikes!
mb
Have you guys taken notice of the new pick up artist phenomenon happening in western countries? There is a pick up artist named rsdnation that was in the news not too long ago for advocating sexual harassment, I watched some of their videos and one of the "instructors" told the students to scream "I don't give a fuck" in front of a crow of people as a sort of liberation. It's like Dr Berman said in twilight, the Freudian ego is disappearing.
ReplyDeleteIn UC Berkeley pick up artists are everywhere. One girl told me(not very pretty) she gets approached 2-5 times a day, well it's what they say. I guess it's a new phenomenon of men that can't get women. You can visit the subreddit "theredpill" to find out what these sexually frustrated snowflakes are discussing
Student-
ReplyDeleteI guess one way of interpreting the Trumpo victory, as well as many other phenomena, wd be to say that the Superego had shaken its disapproving finger so long at everyone that the Id finally rose up and said, "Kiss my ass!" So we went from all-Superego to all-Id; both being paths to destruction.
mb
Wafers, MB,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you're following what's happening in the UK, but watching the mess that is Brexit unfold gives me a vicious kind of pleasure. It's really like watching a slow death by a thousand cuts. I really hope the country heads toward the "no-deal" scenario, that the pound drops below the euro and that karma comes back to bite "Great" Britain's ass.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/no-deal-brexit-how-effect-daily-life-uk-european-union-britain-a8006256.html
Kanye
http://www.neatorama.com/halloween/2017/10/18/maybe-an-anne-frank-halloween-costume-isnt-the-best-idea/
ReplyDeletewaka waka waka !
https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21730246-left-needs-more-democratic-icon-time-bury-che-guevara-good?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/timetoburycheguevaraforgood
ReplyDeleteEh, he was a Hegelian Individual of History, but he was largely a romanticized hero, no?
Aaron-
ReplyDeleteLargely or partly, I'm not sure; but what I *am* sure of is The Economist's political bias. You might want to look at other analyses of Che, to get a more balanced picture.
mb
Came across this quote on the web today.... it seemed Waferish to me:
ReplyDelete“Have you met America? That's the country that needs "lives matter" movements because of its prevailing culture of utter indifference to human welfare, but which trips over itself in its eagerness to wage war in defence of the petrodollar.”
Lobo
Lobo-
ReplyDeleteStating the obvious, but what the heck; it can't be said enuf, really. Long time ago, I suggested replacing "In God We Trust" on legal tender with "What's in It for Me?", which seems much more on the mark. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out the correct adjective: Waferish, Waferian, Waferesque...?
mb
To: Bess re Stalin
ReplyDeleteStalin’s millions of victims “deserve a film that treats their history with greater discretion and understanding”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/18/death-of-stalin-russian-roulette-with-truth-armando-iannucci?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
I'm seeing a screening this week's Sunday afternoon!
Aaron and Morris Berman,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nybooks.com/articles/1997/07/17/goodbye-to-all-that/
A surprising review by C Hitchens [of all people!] on a couple of objective and fair texts on the Che. Final thought-The man, not the myth, was no hypocrite.
Here's an old, though prescient discussion. Gets very interesting around 18:45 -
ReplyDeletehttps://soundcloud.com/studsterkel-radio-archive/2008127-3-1a?in=studsterkel-radio-archive/sets/hunter-s-thompson
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteHere are some news items you might have missed during the blog hiatus:
Evergreen College settled out of court with Professor Brett Weinstein and his spouse Heather Heying for $500,000 on September 15. Weinstein and Heying resigned their positions with the college on the same day. Classes resumed at Evergreen on September 25.
http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article173710596.html
Meanwhile, Ventura County north of Los Angeles has prepared a “nuclear readiness campaign” in the form of a 243-page plan in case North Korean nukes begin raining from the skies. The plan includes such details as washing one’s hair with shampoo since conditioners may cause radioactive particles to bind to hair, and the need to dig trenches to accommodate “temporary storage of corpses.”
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-one-county-is-ready-for-a-nuclear-explosion/ar-AAsydOt?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp
Jack-
ReplyDeleteThanks for update. I'm sorry Weinstein didn't get the full amount he sued for. The statement of Evg, that they admit no liability and that everything they did was rt, is absurd, esp. in view of a 500K payout. These jokers learned nothing at all.
mb
I wonder what the Wafer opinion is on Paul Craig Roberts? He seems to see too many conspiracy theories in my judgment. Not sure if this is an inappropriate topic for the blog. If not, I also think rampant conspiracy theories are a side effect of a society in decline. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteKashe, you old Varnishke, you-
ReplyDeleteIf yr referring to 9/11 as an inside job, I decided a long time ago, for reasons I listed in some detail, that it was not a useful topic for this blog. I won't review those reasons again, but do want to say that one of them was that it struck me as a discussion w/o end, and I didn't want it to overwhelm the general discussion abt the decline of the American empire. (After extensive discussion of the Civil War and WAF ch. 4, I decided the same thing abt that.) However, what other conspiracies does PCR discuss? I haven't read his blog, so I have no idea.
mb
Morris Berman writes: >humor is not just icing on the cake. Rather, it's a metaphysic. It's basic to the whole Waferian enterprise.
ReplyDeleteI so agree. This is part of why I have often admired Milo Yiannopoulos,
although his adulation of Trump and America are way over the
top. He could never be mistaken for a Wafer in general, but
has the same metaphysic when it comes to the importance of humor
and satire.
Then, too, Milo is often in tandem with Camille Paglia, whom I would propose
as an honorary Wafer. See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88_3AhU0-B0
particularly the last ten minutes. She laments the condition of
American education, how public schools have given her students
"Zero"; protests the hi-tech gimmickry in museums, which only
distracts visitors from what they are supposedly there to see,
but without which they would be utterly clueless; and eviscerates
Hillary. When asked whether she finds anything to be optimistic
about, she is hard put to name anything.
Hi MB,
ReplyDeleteTo tell you the truth, I don't like Turkey Sandwich either. I just don't like Turkey as a nickname especially since we're calling the mass of 'Murkins turkeys! Reuben Sandwich would be good, though.
Kanye, re Brexit don't worry. No deal it will be, surely as the day follows the night. As they say, Karma is a bitch. The British empire killed, adding it all up, many more millions than the Nazis. They never paid or atoned for it. Even more, the overwhelming majority of English people think that the empire was wonderful and the natives are grateful. Well, now the bill is due.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vox.com/2017/10/13/16431502/america-democracy-decline-liberalism||
ReplyDelete20 of America's top political scientists gathered to discuss our democracy. They're scared.
“If current trends continue for another 20 or 30 years, democracy will be toast.”
Turkey-
ReplyDeleteWell, wd u consider Side of Chopped Liver?
mb
Kashe-
ReplyDeleteCdn't post it (24-hr rule).
Black-
Talk abt turkeys. Democracy has been toast for some time now. I hafta keep saying it: in the US, even the smart people are stupid.
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB, Wafers-
Personally, my #1 recommendation is to follow only *one* blog: DARK AGES AMERICA. For it is the preeminent blog; the unsurpassed blog; the unrivaled and matchless blog. All other blogs are, well, simply gutless and awful. They are w/o passion, beauty, and truth. They are disappointingly bad...like a cat's turd. It is not an exaggeration to say that all other blogs are inherently rotten, miserable, and morally insidious. Wet dental floss sitting inside my bathroom wastebasket is more exciting than looking at any other blog.
Pence, Schmence dept.:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/23/the-danger-of-president-pence
This American life dept.:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/nyregion/nxivm-women-branded-albany.html
Miles
ReplyDeleteLife in amrika is one grand bunga-bunga party where hustlers of varying pedigrees go to practice their skills. Everyone enjoys the party while the music is playing and the wine is on the house. It is only when the feeble hustler is outwitted by a seasoned one that the party suddenly ends and indignations are hurled at the predators. Thereafter even victimhood is to make money of. I have no sympathy for Harvey Weinstein and neither for the willing participants of the party who are now feigning victims. It'll be like Melania crying foul on Trump.
For chrissake we elected a pu**y grabber "Harvey" as our President thanks to the gleeful votes from a substantial number of colored, poor and women -the so-called disadvantaged of the unjust system. Have we conveniently forgotten Megan Kelly's attempts to rehabilitate the P.G?
https://youtu.be/MKC1v1VMcXM?t=153
Meet Ambra, a classic reveler at a bunga night.
Here's another hustler/victim who also happens to like our P.G. After the Clinton encounter she went straight to the Penthouse to cashout on her fame.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTaQiMzS9WE
"When a young woman partners with an otherwise uninteresting rich man, she can sincerely believe that she's attracted to some specific body part, say, his nose, neck or knee." -Nassim Taleb
Camille Paglia has some kind word for the postmodern feminists
Bill, Those fine ladies from Utah were just having a bunga time.
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteI tell you, sometimes I hear of people going to other blogs, and I weep. Why? I ask myself; why? Here you have the Numero Uno of all blogs, the one-stop-shop that includes everything, and you waste yr time on other blogs? Whaaa?
As for this women's group: I think the branding and abuse might be OK if they all wore pussy hats. It's clear that female empowerment is going to shake the entire foundations of the capitalist world.
mb
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteAn important factor in the collapse of a society is the increasing rate of mental castration of the population at large.
1. 20% of American adults use at least one psychiatric drug.
2. 7% of the population is addicted to prescription drugs.
3. In 2011, anti-psychotic drugs generated $18 billion for Big Pharma; antidepressants generated $11 billion, and ADHD meds generated $8 billion. One can guess that the figures for 2016 are even higher.
4. Antidepressant use nearly quadrupled between 1998 and 2008. Again, what wd this be, extended to 2016?
mb
I think the problem with Paul Craig Roberts and similar folks is that they give the power-elites way too much credit. PCR and others are correct in pointing out that you should never believe the official narratives, corporate media or the government. They are also correct in pointing out that power-elites have pulled off many conspiracies.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the power-elites are not nigh-omnipotent like most conspiracy people think they are. They are simply extreme reflections of the general American population.
Dr. B & All:
ReplyDeleteWent to the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD encore performance tonight of Mozart's "Die Zauberfloete." I thought I was going to have the whole theater to myself in our little city of 25,000, but another couple came in 10 minutes before curtain.
The other films in the multiplex seem to have been well-attended; "Happy Death Day," "American Assassin," etc.
As far as Americans being cruel to each other the corp management system imposes and enables so much of that creating such harsh feedback loops and you can't complain to HR which used to be human relations not a resource extension to management or instantly you're "risk averse to management" disposable particularly the middle-aged and millennials.
ReplyDeleteAnother scenario is the quantitative vs qualitative find the perceived least productive person which is the micro-management agenda - which encourages protectionism and closed cliques and anti-cooperation because the sociopathic game imposed from above is make management look good or the people above you. This was nearly always my experience in IT and academia but I think this corp state tyranny is everywhere - setting people up for failure and abuse.
The state is really in your ass on every level even when conforming - management decisions beyond your control can totally brutalize your life at anytime as everyone knows like the state or corp state - e.g. outsourcing, off-shoring, foreign replacements. The irony is this is cast off as meritocracy or competition or efficiency yet the end result is crap and mediocrity like the NY Times, companies, schools, et al institutions, polit-bureaus.
If you didn't make it or became unemployable "disposable" you just weren't good enough and got what that deserves. MB was right a harsh culture (systems) creates harsh people.
Won't SOMEBODY think of the children?
ReplyDeleteMississippi elementary school elects to change name from Confederate president to war criminal president: Mississippi School Votes to Rename Jefferson Davis Elementary After Obama
Health insurance company informs 9-month old child that he is too expensive to keep alive.
9-year-old girl crushed to death when 325 pound cousin sits on her as punishment.
Deceased 5-year-old's headstone repossessed by monument company in billing dispute.
vast-
ReplyDeleteSince I'm not a strict believer in the Weismann barrier (soma vs. germ plasm), and think Lamarck was partly correct, I suspect that the meme of cruelty goes back a long ways in American history and ultimately seeped into our DNA. Over time, it got reinforced, became more vicious. By now, the factor of nature vs. nurture is a moot pt. When you spend time outside the US, you begin to realize how profoundly nasty Americans are, both personally and institutionally. A sadder way of life, I can't imagine.
mb
On Europe-as-Byzantium:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nationalreview.com/article/452477/paris-statement-hope-europes-renewal
I wonder what the Wafer opinion is on Paul Craig Roberts? He seems to see too many conspiracy theories in my judgment. Not sure if this is an inappropriate topic for the blog. If not, I also think rampant conspiracy theories are a side effect of a society in decline. Thoughts?
ReplyDelete-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While a bit hyperbolic, Paul Craig Roberts was a government insider, and I've never seen him suggest the ruling classes are ominpotent or all-controlling (as another person suggested).
I also don't agree with the last part of your post. Much of what we are fed in media land is, by design, binary in nature. The term conspiracy theorist is handy for shutting down debate over contentious and complex issues, and for shaming a critical thinker or a curious individual; I think it is rather this use of the term that fits with a society that is swirling the drain.
Trans-
ReplyDeleteYr message is a bit confusing. If you are quoting someone else, you need to indicate that. I take it, it is Gigalax, and when you refer to "your post," it's his you mean. Yes? Thank you.
mb
New AI breakthrough: in the space of a few days, starting tabula rasa, #AI blows away 3,000 yrs of human Go wisdom:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.technologyreview.com/s/609141/alphago-zero-shows-machines-can-become-superhuman-without-any-help/
The Civil Rights movement would be proud. Go progs!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/10/19/female-male-non-binary-california-legally-recognizes-third-gender-identification-documents/779188001/
Miles:
ReplyDeleteI heard the author of that Mike Pence piece on the radio last night, he is one f-ed up dude who fails at just about everything he does, but gets bailed out by the Koch's.
Today is the anniversary of the 1953 publishing of Fahrenheit 451:
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/ray-bradbury-reveals-the-true-meaning-of-fahrenheit-451.html
Kanye-
ReplyDeleteI heard there was a movement afoot to make cantaloupe the 4th gender, but someone may have been pulling my leg.
mb
Teacher pummeled by student...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/pittsburgh-teacher-beaten-cellphone-dispute-school/
Kanye, MB, could you elaborate? On the non-binary piece. What an interesting dilemma
ReplyDeleteMB,
ReplyDeleteActually I still prefer Reuben Sandwich. Thanks.
Meanwhile: Classic Trumpi, the Orange Crassus is exactly where he needs to be and doing what he has to do. And he can't control himself. Trump Starts Fight With Soldier's Grieving Widow and Trump Suggests He Recorded Call to Soldier's Widow Eye yi yi!
Student,
You didn't have to change your name on my account, but thank you!
Vincent, I know exactly how you feel. Thanks for the links!
jj-
ReplyDeleteWell, that teacher obviously got what she deserved. 1st of all, having a no-cell phone policy in schl is ridiculous: how else are students supposed to learn? And then, taking it away from a student? I tell ya, I go around w/a fone in my left hand and a .357 Magnum in my rt. If anyone tries to take my fone, they're gonna be chewing on steel in short order. And let me add that the student involved was 9 yrs old--old enuf to be fully weaponized--and if she had been carrying an AK-47, the whole thing wd have been resolved quite quickly. Why in the world wasn't she packing heat?
Turkey-
Dill Pickle is also gd, no?
Ives-
Kanye will hafta answer for himself, but as for me, I just don't see why we need to limit the # of genders at all. The notion of having several hundred genders strikes me as being a very attractive one. In addition, it's where we need to put our energy, politically speaking (along w/hairstyles in the military).
mb
MB, allow me to break the 24-hour rule too to answer Ives. Ives you see, I think progs didn't go far enough in their fight for freedom. They should have just abolished genders altogether. "Male" and "Female", "he" and "she", is so cliché after all. I would imagine that "Wafer" has been gender neutral for a while. As always, we're way ahead of the progs.
ReplyDeleteKanye
Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry just became available on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteWafers might enjoy it.
Many of the reviews are harsh, but I’m not sure if that means much.
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/look-and-see-a-portrait-of-wendell-berry-2017
For example, take the quibble over dandelions, which only serves to make the reviewer seem a bit dim.
I just finished reading chapter 3 of twilight and I have to ask what sort of magic do you know to be able to predict the future?
ReplyDeleteIn Berkeley there is now over 2000 students in their introduction to computer science class to the point that professors tell the students to not bother going to class and watch the online lectures instead. Berkeley tries not water down it's STEM courses but I do ask myself if this is the best American public universities have to offer? I mean what's the point of going if you can't even get help when you're stuck? Alt U is no longer the future but the present IMO. Oh and of course American universities are filled with foreign students because they pay more because of commercialization IMO, makes me wonder what's gonna happen when they go back home...
Student-
ReplyDeleteI have a special wizard hat, made of aluminum foil, that picks up rays of information from planets such as Volgon 7, and funnels them into my tender brain. Alt U. was the canary in the coal mine; or rather, the turkey. I saw the turkeys there in the 90s, and I knew it in my gut: in a few short years, American 'education' will be largely turkified. (That place still exists, BTW, going strong.)
mb
I’m not a religious person, but when I think of Martin Luther as a professor back in the 1500s challenging the Church and the consequences he was facing, I feel he was courageous. When I see what goes on at universities in the United States, I wonder why not just give all the turkeys a PhD in self-righteousness and self-importance. You could save everyone’s time and the student’s the debt. As Bernie said they’re the smartest generation ever.
ReplyDeleteFran-
ReplyDeleteHere's the problem: Bernie has the rhetoric, but I have the data. Check out the New England Journal of Medicine, issue of 22 June 2017. Random biopsies were performed on the brains of 10,097 American university students, and in each case excrementum was found inside their heads. I then called a friend of mine, a prominent neurologist at Mt. Sinai, and asked him if it is possible to think clearly if you have excrementum in your head. He said he thought it was unlikely. So there you have it: America's future.
mb
Hola MB, Wafers-
ReplyDeleteIt's official: we are a nation of morons. Everybody wants George W. Bush back as president! But seriously, tho, how bad does Trumpo have to be when the first Down syndrome president smacks you around intellectually? I fucking can't do this much longer...
Miles
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteBeyond our utter moronism is the problem of total apathy: Americans don't give a shit abt anything whatsoever. This also has been scientifically established. This leaves me confused, because Trumpi says we are going to be great again, and Chris Hedges says we are going to make a revolution or perform civil disobedience or whatever. Chomsky says we will go beyond this to a socialist future; Michael Moore regales me about resistance and left-wing populism. The list of optimists is quite long, in fact. But if the American people have poop in their heads, and don't care about anything (except making $, I guess), then how is all this wonderful stuff going to happen? Am I missing something?
mb
COS
ReplyDelete- I read this review and immediately ordered the book.
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2017/10/forgetfulness-dangers-modern-culture-wages-war-its-own-past
Many thank you's!
MB--"Americans don't give a shit abt anything whatsoever"--to which should be added: "unless it affects them directly." James Brady, for example, was a conventional conservative asshole until getting his ass shot off awakened him to the need for gun control. Likewise, ol' Ronnie's Alzheimer's was the reason Nancy defied antiabortion morons in supporting stem cell research. Unfortunately, being typical Americans none of their newfound empathy ever translated to other issues in which they didn't have a personal stake.
ReplyDeleteThe outrage over Trump's "he knew what he was signing up for" comment actually highlights this phenomenon. I guarantee you that same attitude is held by most of those who haven't served themselves but are now condemning him, even if they would never openly admit it. When was the last time any of them ever did anything substantial to help out "the troops" other than maybe stick a stupid yellow ribbon magnet on their cars? The only people who really care about "the troops" are those who have served themselves or have family members serving. It's pathetic.
(As a personal aside, I did serve for 7 years, and I tell people that not only do they not have to thank me, but I now regret that I was ever that stupid.)
Note to Geo?-
ReplyDeleteYour message got lost. I think you may have sent it to some older post, I'm not sure. Might want to try again, but send it to this post. Thanks. No one reads the older stuff.
mb
I've been attending a conference for the last few days in Las Vegas, and walk along the strip each morning to the conference center. Amongst the mindless sensory assault of Las Vegas Boulevard, I see everywhere "#VegasStrong" flashing in the lights of the marquees, plastered on posters and billboards, reminding passersby of the recent tragedy (as well as the slogan #BostonStrong that came out of the Boston marathon bombings). This inane signification of 'spirit' and 'strength' reduces the shooting and its total senselessness and preventability to another trending 'thought' on social media.
ReplyDeleteInstead of a reasoned, decent, and functioning polis coming together to enact change (perhaps by striking, demonstrating, organizing for gun law legislation), all effort for change is reduced to a slogan flashing at the masses of tourists that trundle all day, all night, through this moronic inferno. On their way to feed their retirement savings into slot machines, if they wish to show their "Vegas Strength", perhaps they could drop a few pennies into a hat to assist the victims of the families? Money'll do the trick. America...a Las Vegas of the Soul.
Baskets-
ReplyDeleteThank you for your on-site report. I think Las Vegas may be the quintessentially American city--wasteful and stupid. The response to tragedy with slogans is fairly poignant. What cd be more meaningless?
mb
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-41689158/actress-tippi-hedren-talks-about-being-sexually-harassed-by-alfred-hitchcock?ocid=socialflow_twitter
ReplyDeleteOy vey, from Hitchcock to David Blain. I guess they're all sex offenders!
http://www.ajc.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/magician-david-blaine-accused-rape-former-model-natasha-prince-report-says/UL88V9Ylo2UMWIvzYrUXiL/
It all seems like it is going to end terribly. The New Gender Feminist syllogism(!): Some men are vile predators, therefore all men are. GREAT perspectives:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/metoo-sexual-harassment-men.html
From 2 years ago, still timely
"We need to stop prosecuting bad behavior as rape."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/20/feminists-want-us-to-define-these-ugly-sexual-encounters-as-rape-dont-let-them/
Hmm intriguing; after WWII, Hong Kong's per capita income was one third of that in Britain. Today, it's over 30 percent higher.
ReplyDeletehttp://humanprogress.org/blog/free-markets-make-the-world-a-better-place
Now, demographically, given wealth of HK's big families, better to use median vs avg. UK median household income is > HK's. Wealth gap also at record highs. So it's probably a harder swallow than headline suggests, but interesting communism v. capitalism stats, none the less.
Man builds brand on how evil rich, white men are. Lives in perpetual fear of his own shadow.
ReplyDeletehttp://thehill.com/homenews/senate/356295-sanders-to-visit-puerto-rico-instead-of-womens-convention
the guy owns 3 homes, has that big $$$ book deal. Move on Mr Sanders
Signed,
A Bermie Bro
I think the 3rd gender should be "turkey" because it is the most accurate gender assignment for Americans!
ReplyDeleteWAFERS Bill Hicks and Baskets--americans do not care about anybody or anything unless it directly financially affects them.
ReplyDeleteThey're mentally castrated (Dr. Berman) by antipsychotics and endless hamstering in some corporate or institutional sht hole. Ontologically and intellectually, they're dead.
It's status quo hustling--I gut mine Jack, F you and foam finger waving of greatness. What happened to others,etc...was 'seen' as backwards, quaint, or sad--and then pass the salt, sports talk, or phone diddling.
Terry-
ReplyDeleteChina, including HK, strikes me as being pretty capitalist.
Jessica-
Maybe the answer is to lock up all men, w/o exception.
mb
Can I be a 'ditto' head here, is it permissable? Seems sometines I'm engulffed by apathy, I encounter it everday in myriad of ways, no need to look any further than my own shelled "community." More to the point I grew up in Colorado Springs, the Salt Lake city for the religious facsits, and warmongers. Within my family I see cruelty and dedication from my USAF grad broinlaw, he graduated back in the day the Air Force Academy indoctrinated their cadets with religious right bull shit. Their family is covered when it all goes to shit so fuck y'all. On the other side I find black apathy no introspection zip zero. It's hard for me to imagine going through life Never giving a shit about anything other than mine not yours. But there it is. As far as troops, why is seeking mental health care a career killer. Kinda says it all.
ReplyDeleteWhy Japanese people keep working themselves to death...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/karoshi-japan-deaths-persist-japanese-overwork/
MB,
ReplyDeleteHmmm... turkey sandwich, side of chopped liver, and a dill pickle. Sounds like a a nice jewish deli special plate! I guess a reuben sandwich is not kosher! Because of the corned beef and swiss cheese.
Mike R.,
You sure hit the nail on the head!
Gigalax and all,
On third genders, I think such should be reserved for actual hermaphrodites! Turkey, on the other hand, is not a gender, but a species: boobus americanus.
Vincent in Auvers,
Well the real Left in the US has always been microscopic. The real innovation is, that what passed for the Left, the Democratic Party, has gone whole hog into identity politics.
Gunnar-
ReplyDeleteTake heart, become an NMI. Spiritually speaking, there is no status more exalted.
mb
All - I am happy to set the PRC discussion aside. As noted, this is a far better blog to follow.
ReplyDeleteI am in the middle of reading Michael Herr's book Dispatches. After Vietnam and Watergate I am confounded that a huge segment of the U.S. population did not turn in a significant way against our subsequent horrors and scandals (Gulf War, Iraq War, Afghanistan). Instead, it seems that people simply pretend those events never happened or that somehow we are now on moral high ground, that our more recent warmongering is justified.
And the beat goes on........ even senior citizens are getting the treatment from Mr. Friendly
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theroot.com/86-year-old-man-who-suffers-from-dementia-remains-in-i-1819721564
90's Japan had a cruel under-belly of repression and emptiness for me though different than the US. However, at the same corp time I could also experience and appreciate the legacy of the Edo period and overall rich cultural heritage. In Japan and I think Asia they say something about how, "The reed that sticks out gets broken by the wind". What wind? Did values of excellence and conformity together make Japan vulnerable to the US corp annexation cabal post WWII or was corporatisation going to happen anyway? Historically post agriculture - do cultural positives ever outweigh negs?
ReplyDeleteIn Defying Hitler which claimed that the Germans were controlled through their cultural work ethic, broken down or entrained in camps from imposed meaningless tasks (of course dissent was hammered). But it's almost similar into duping someone into sweeping around an Ashram for years in order to receive enlightenment or community or whatever dangled cultural carrot. Regardless, sociopaths get off on controlling people etc.
That American caste based class warfare outside of inheritance is built mostly around empty credentialing which demands absolute obedience seems similar. K. Fitts has mentioned the core skill of the elite is managing people. Graeber points out the five pointless types of bureaucratic jobs. I like to think all the suffering is just manifestations and symptoms of sociopathy - the evolved virus mind controlling through any pathologically destructive method.
@Turkey Buster
ReplyDeleteThe Democratic party jumped onto Identity politics because they correctly realized that it shatters whatever cohesion the Left can barely manage. The other issue is the American Left, like all Americans, is filled with groups with varying goals. Once one group achieves their goals they generally leave the fold and join the ranks of their new friends. The Unions were a great example of this. They did not fight to get benefits for all workers but to get benefits for themselves.
As for the debate on the third gender. The real reason it is an eye-rolling issue is it accomplishes NOTHING, however, can you imagine the police APBs? Comedy gold! This society is so narcissistic that it makes sense they would be celebrating putting a third gender on a license while their nation is going down the shitter.
Went to Books A Million today and sad to say there were no titles by our Great Seer. The freaky chick with shitty ink and face metal and a fone glued to her ear at the cash register had no idea who Morris Berman is. Oh, dreadful last days...
ReplyDeletecomrade-
ReplyDeleteThe day my stuff is available in major bkstores, pigs will be flying around the sky, belting out the Star Spangled Banner. And the chances that that chick could read bks containing words of more than 2 syllables are very small.
mb
Wafers and Dr Berman,
ReplyDeleteEveryday there is a raft of stories about how Russia interfered with US elections. Whether true or not the stories they trot out in support are simply mind bogglingly dumb. I mean how foolish do you have to be to believe that a couple of hundred thousand spent on ad campaigns on Faceborg can sway an entire election? As compared to the millions spent by the political parties and candidates? I mean come on... I’ve put together marketing campaigns on social media and I can attest a few 100 thousand gets you nowhere....
Here’s another story - these sad sots were “tricked” into working for Russia: https://www.buzzfeed.com/rosalindadams/these-americans-were-tricked-into-working-for-russia-they?utm_term=.rk4P4K3kV#.ydG1DKGXm
Is this some kind of emotional projection or guilt transference? Something like “we can’t admit even a smidgen of responsibility for how our country is, so we’ll blame it on any handy scapegoat?” Is this built into American culture? I really don’t get this at all. Please enlighten me!
Ciao
Lobo
@ Nesim
ReplyDeleteThe real comedy gold rush will be when the third gender makes it on to the U.S. passport. Then the turkeys can say how progressive they are while they swallow their anti-depressants, pop opioids, check their Instagram accounts and tweet.
Pastami and Coleslaw said:
ReplyDelete>Today is the anniversary of the 1953 publishing of Fahrenheit 451:
>http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/ray-bradbury-reveals-the-true-meaning-of-fahrenheit-451.html
Someone observed that in the two great dystopian novels of the 20th century, the powers-that-be had two different approaches to books: in _1984_ they destroyed them, whereas in _Brave New World_ they just arranged so that no one would be interested in reading them.
Bradbury foresaw that Huxley would be the more accurate prognosticator for America.
On the latest witch hunt against men:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/the-twittermob-just-went-from-irritating-to-dangerous-kriss-myers-weinstein/20444#.Wer7ORNL-Rs
Progs used to make me laugh, but my sense of humour is unfortunately slowly turning into disgust. While some abusers *need* to be exposed and condemned, by the way things are going, men will be expelled from school and lose their job merely for staring at women. Who would have thought modern-day McCarthyism would look like this?
Kanye
Dr. B-
ReplyDeleteRacism alive and well in the "north," too-
http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/jenice_armstrong/cheltenham-h-s-tries-to-heal-after-racial-incident-at-quakertown-game-jenice-armstrong-20171018.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/coatesville-high-school-protest-racism-carved-pumpkins-20171020.html
Lobotomized,
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Pokemon Go! McCarthyism 2.0 is a smokescreen to cover for Podesta Group's lobbying to remove sancitons on the Kremlin and the Clinton Foundation's involvement in the Uranium 1 deal.
This week we also found out that the man investigating Trumpo was himself involved in Uranium 1 (Mueller), hand delivering samples to the Ruskies.
I have never been so entertained by US politics.
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteThe mass hysteria over Harvey Weinstein has now materialized into a classic case of what Freud called displacement-- in place of anxieties and fears about our coming national crack-up, the real or imagined *war* on women, and the collapse of the American Dream, it's a whole lot simpler and easier to vent on and on about Weinstein and conspiracies against women. This scenario could get a whole lot worse, moving from Weinstein as conspiratorial evil-puppet master to fears of Jewish influence, right down to full-blown anti-Semiticism. In a way, I think this is what Woody Allen was talking about indirectly. If there's one thing that unites Americans, it's the belief that the place is beset by imaginary satanic conspiracies and paranoia. This stuff is deeply embedded in our DNA, it seems to me.
http://forward.com/news/384669/anti-semitic-alt-right-pounces-on-harvey-weinstein-scandal-to-bolster-consp/
Miles
From Pentagon to Pussy Hats
ReplyDeleteToday marks the 50th anniversary of the March on the Pentagon. The Guardian article says this event highlighted an existing division within the country; I suspect the division—or divisions—existed long before. And I’m not sure that the march—100,000 people or not—was a central element in the eventual withdrawal from Vietnam. I’m more comfortable suggesting that there’s no similar enthusiasm or support for any “cause” today, BLM perhaps excepted, that would mobilize a tenth that number.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/21/1967-vietnam-war-protest-american-division?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Jas-
ReplyDeleteI was on that march, as it turns out. I doubt it was any kind of watershed. We w/drew from VN because the Vietnamese kicked our ass.
Jeff-
As all Wafers know, given the oppty to ram their heads up their asses, the American people will do it w/gusto.
mb
MB,
ReplyDeleteWell I'm thinking about "Dill Pickle."
Well yesterday General Kelly showed his true colors, doubling down on what Trump said, letting his freak flag fly with racism and sexism. And this progressive-liberal columnist is beside himself! He says he doesn't know what to do and frankly I don't have any suggestions to offer him.
Nesim,
Well I for one find identity politics to be suicidal for the Dems. Of course, the GOP is not immune to identity politics, either. Note the demands of the Christian Right and now, the alt-right. Their demands are identity politics. And as far as various groups leaving the fold of the Left once their demands are met, you are right. This would be happening now with the LGBT contingent, even though non-discrimination laws have not been enacted nationwide, if it weren't for the Christian Right in the GOP and the colossal stupidity of the Dems.
Turkey Pickle-
ReplyDeletePls be sure to allow 24 hrs to elapse b4 posting another time. Thank you.
mb
Hail Kim Jong-un, the sun king, the child god. Intimately acknowledged with the unfathomable fragility of human existence, having probably survived several attempts on his life and perhaps having had to order the assassination of a few relatives.
ReplyDeleteAs Trump, he's beyond good and evil, but while the American clown is not conscious of his own fate as an instrument of destiny, Kim knows. He's not mad. He's no fool. Since he threatened to send a "gift package" to the US, I haven't been able to stop laughing, as a pupil that suddenly reaches enlightenment from his Zen master slapping him in the face as an answer to a question about the ultimate meaning of life.
Kim is not interested in diplomacy until he has a rocket that can deliver a nuclear warhead to California. He's not mad. He's no fool. He speaks to the Americans with the only language they understand: violence. Hail Kim Jong-un, the sun king, the child god.
I do not think America ever had a genuine Left. People who are considered "far left" in America (e.g. Bernie Sanders) simply want to keep capitalism going by pacifying the working class. Of course someone like Sanders is still much better than the fascist capitalists who make up America.
ReplyDeleteBoth liberals and conservatives support authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Their justifications are simply different. The conservative justification is Christian fundamentalism, and the liberal one is political correctness.
Dill Pickle--considering that General Kelly retired from being one the senior most officers in an organization that is the biggest source of death, destruction and human misery on the planet, being sexist and racist is the LEAST of his problems. As for the Daily Kos, a bigger collection of smug, condescending liberal douchebags would be hard to find, it being a website whose founding editor is a little punk who has probably never done a day of physical labor in his life, yet said after the election that coal miners deserved to lose their health care just because a majority of them were so at wit's end with a Democratic Party that has abandoned working people that they voted for Trump.
ReplyDeleteToday's America in Decline headlines:
Police: Dad sold heroin in Pennsylvania hospital maternity ward
Substitute teacher duct tapes mouths of 10 students
Faces of America Dept: Police say Iowa man killed his mother with guitar
Bill-
ReplyDeleteCheck out the face of Garret Selters: this *is* America's future, no doubt abt it. However, unclear why he brained his mother w/a guitar. E.g., maybe she took away his cell phone. As for the duct-taper: we have had much debate in the US regarding corporal punishment in schls. But why not capital punishment? If the students were annoying enuf, perhaps shooting them wd be the best way to go. On the other hand, under the Berman Plan, they too wd have been armed. In which case...another dose of This American Life.
Gig-
Totalitarianism, I doubt. Altho what happened to the gal who laughed during a speech by Jeff Sessions? Did she go to jail? That wd indeed be very Sovietish.
Zara-
I think both Iran and N. Korea learned the lesson of Iraq pretty well: If you *don't* have WMD's, the US will wipe you off the map. If you do, you might have a chance at self-preservation. No, haircut aside, Kim certainly knows what he's doing. Trumpi, I'm guessing, has no clue. He's purely emotion and stream-of-consciousness, unlikely partners for a coherent foreign policy. But then Obama was an empty douche bag, and had no coherent f.p. either. As in the late Roman Empire, starting w/Bush Jr., our leaders are buffoons and morons; altho Reagan and Bush Sr. wd also qualify, imo. Just think how different it all wd be if we had Lorenzo Riggins in the W.H., w/Brittany Carulli as his V.P., and Shaneka Torres as Secy of State. (Hey, a man can dream.)
mb
ReplyDeletehttps://www.truthdig.com/cartoons/the-soldier/
The liberal S.O.B who delivered us the racist Scumbag is now preaching virtues...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2017/oct/20/barack-obama-calls-for-unity-as-he-returns-to-campaign-trail-in-virginia-video
Yeah baby, change has definitely come to amerika!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aBmbUkkIGc
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last high priest." -EDWARD ABBEY
I was reading an article on Amazonian mythology and long story short, there was a passage about a time when women refused to have sex with men so the men had to find a way to get them to.
ReplyDeleteIt made me think of America. I believe the male/female dynamic is breaking down and I'm not sure there is any solution to it. Maybe it's a combination of Disney movies, feminism and porn, idk. But I'd like to know your opinion, what do you think it's gonna happen down the line, say 10-30 years ahead, when there is a massive number of lonely men and women who never got to experience love? Mass suicide and rape?
These look interesting:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/Gaza-Inquest-into-Its-Martyrdom/dp/0520295714/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508633347&sr=1-1&keywords=gaza+finkelstein
https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Reflections-Obsession-Francesco-Duina/dp/069114706X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508633724&sr=1-1&keywords=duina+winning
mb
Student-
ReplyDeleteJapan may be the 'model' here, and it's not a happy one. I touch on this a bit in my Japan bk, but for a fuller portrait, try googling "Japanese sexual behavior today" and you'll see what I mean.
mb
re: interesting book on the American obsession with winning
ReplyDelete«
in your winning you found shame
and there are drums
beyond the mountain
indian drums
that you can’t hear
there are drums
beyond the mountain
and they’re getting mighty near
»
Peter LaFarge – Drums
@Transatlantic,
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed, it does seem to me that politics in the US has gone way beyond parody into surreal land.... next, straight up insanity.
Here is what the art history buffs say about Surrealism:
“Surrealism: a movement which aimed to fuse the conscious with the unconscious to create a 'super-reality'. A parallel art movement to Surrealism was Magic Realism, whose paintings are anchored in everyday reality, but with overtones of fantasy.”
Well we have fusing of conscious and unconscious, not so sure about the “super-reality”, perhaps more of a “sub-reality”... the fantasy part of magic realism seems pretty spot on. What about politics today is not fantastical?
Lobo
Nailing the progs dept.:
ReplyDeletehttp://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/21/opinions/richard-spencer-liberal-protestors-mcwhorter-opinion/index.html
Also check out McWhorter's bk "Losing the Race."
mb
How the mainland U.S. has abused and exploited Puerto Rico from the day it became a U.S. territory a century ago:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thenation.com/article/after-a-century-of-american-citizenship-puerto-ricans-have-little-to-show-for-it/
2 scholars in anthropology challenge Pinker's claims about prehistory, history of violence
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sciencenews.org/article/scientists-battle-over-whether-violence-has-declined-over-time
Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature was a huge Hobbesian treatise. Fantastically entertaining, but mistaken in its conclusions.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/05/06/ursula-k-le-guin-freedom-oppression-storytelling/
ReplyDeleteYesterday was Ursula Le Guin's 88th time around our Orb of Light
Share your favorite Le Guin text, WAFers!
Hoo boy!
ReplyDeleteCliffside, NJ English teacher steps in it big-time! "Military men and women are not fighting for your right to speak Spanish, they're fighting for your right to speak American." And the mostly Latino class walks out!
Whatever happened to goo old-fashioned "You're not supposed to speak out of turn in class!"?
But at least she tacitly admitted that the native language of the United States is no longer English. Any self-respecting Brit should tell you that. ;^)
Trump says with tax reform we can make it morning in America again...
ReplyDeleteYes, like the early morning hours when the Titanic Sunk.
https://usat.ly/2zuna7I
Why women in particular feel so entitled to throw more babies at the over-population environmental and inherited poor living arrangements crisis has amazed me since childhood. Selfishness? Cultural pressure? Bio-logical machines?
ReplyDeleteLarge mammals were rare in nature until oil plus technology. The US isn't a net oil producer no matter what the matrix claims.
Resources aren't there to collectively triage what came before - boom and busted - even if humanity or all humans could psychologically address reality collectively. So hyper-competition for resources is unavoidable which insures pathological psychotic feedback loops resulting in totalitarian corp states subverting free enterprise and more tehcno-narcissistic "progress".
I've understood these problems intuitively (that things weren't going to work out) on my own since childhood. How humans became so good at denial and schizophrenia particularly post-agriculture has always amazed me - that people are even willing to destroy the soil to maximize pathologies. What awful schools and futile environments for children the last decades.
"Totalitarianism, I doubt. Altho what happened to the gal who laughed during a speech by Jeff Sessions? Did she go to jail? That wd indeed be very Sovietish."
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of a corporate-capitalist totalitarianism and not the Soviet flavor. Totalitarianism is ultimately about the micromanagement of people's lives. In that sense, America is more totalitarian than the Soviet Union was in some ways.
Dr Berman, at the risk of embarrassing myself I'm going to ask you smth that I can't help but wonder. As I was reading, "Coming to Our Senses" and you said things like magic and alchemy might have been real, I couldn't help but wonder whether there is religions underground even today that use magic or maybe modern day alchemists? Or is it impossible now because of the era we live in?
ReplyDeleteAlso, could the elites really be part of some occult religion? Or why else would they do ceremonies for deities like moloch knowing people will find out about it? Just mocking us knowing conspiracy theories will be formed around that? I usually discard such conspiracy theories as nonsense but after reading your book I couldn't help but ask myself if I discard it because I'm conditioned to discard it. If magic is/was real, is it that much of a stretch that the elites be part of an occult religion?
MB and Wafers:
ReplyDeleteOMG I am so glad you are all back. I missed the startup while relocating to Australia. There are so many links to follow. Yum, yum. Truly this is the only blog to follow.
Just this morning I was wishing to share the following link with you and voila! (Pardon my French.)
In the Imagine My Surprise department:
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/nazis-used-jim-crow-laws-model-race-laws/
If you had any doubts about the racist foundations of the U.S., every sentence in this article is a gut punch.
George, this article by inference speaks to PR's neglect as well.
MB and all attending the soiree on the 29th, I love pie and am so bummed not to be there. I hope you have a wonderful time. In the meantime, I'll meet you here.
Hey Morris,
ReplyDeleteI was trying to explain Reenchantment of the World to this guy, and he became interested in your critique of Descartes, so I directed him here. I don't know if he'll post, so I'm just going to copy/paste his question and hopefully you'll be able to answer:
"I'm curious about "participating consciousness" and how this notion might relate to reason as a faculty which can apprehend the world as it is and which Kant, in his famous critique of pure reason, tried to replace with rationality based on apriori subjective categories. I also wonder whether Hegel's critique of Kant might relate to this critique of Descartes."
I really liked Bladerunner-2049 a lot. Jaw-dropping world building and photography by Deakins. Tarkovskyesque pacing - not "action" really, but reflection. Had any of you ever read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
ReplyDeletehttps://aeon.co/videos/from-soldiers-to-monks-the-end-of-a-monastery-founded-by-veterans-of-the-second-world-war
ReplyDeleteWar and Peace, no?
https://vimeo.com/235744243 The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire, by Kyle Harper
ReplyDeletemy history book of the year! impeccably researched, but with the quality of great science fiction, guys n gals!
I think I have a new crush on a Kiwi! The headline is interesting in this context. finally a leader is saying it, a Kiwi WAFer, MB? :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/new-zealand-new-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-capitalism-blatant-failure-a8012656.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/new-zealand-new-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-capitalism-blatant-failure-a8012656.html
New Zealand’s new prime minister calls capitalism a ‘blatant failure’
'If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that's a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as?'
Gunnar-
ReplyDeleteCdn't run it (half-page-max rule).
George-
Cdn't run it (24-hr rule).
Taylor-
Phil Dick is fabulous, imo.
Cactus-
As for Hegel on Kant, I read it abt 50 yrs ago, and don't remember v. much. But reason, Kantian or otherwise, can never apprehend the ding an sich, altho shamanism and Buddhism claim that it can be done--outside of reason (satori, e.g.). Which may sometimes be true (see philosophy chapter in my Japan bk). Problem is when you get a direct message from 'God', and He tells you to murder all children under age 5. Not much enlightenment there.
Sorrow-
6 days from now, we'll be up to our ears in pie. Meanwhile, all of the pie restaurants in NY are being bombarded by requests to reveal if the Wafer Summit will be at their restaurant.
Student-
The occult sciences live, but can only operate at the margins of a society such as ours. I discuss this in ch. 3 of the Reenchantment bk, and partly had the help of a practicing alchemist in San Fran, a friend of mine, in the 70s, in writing it. As for elite interest in all this, check out the Nazi chapter in CTOS. What American elites are doing with it, I have no idea.
Gig-
Sorry, yr off base. In the USSR or Nazi Germany, neighbors reported on each other, and children reported on parents. A joke or casual remark cd get you thrown in jail, or killed. This is totalitarianism, and it doesn't describe contemporary America.
fasting-
1. Dinosaurs antedated oil technology.
2. Thanks to fracking, the US now has so much surplus oil that it is exporting it.
Nigel-
The Telling.
Barb-
Pinker is a turkey. I've said this a # of times, in the past. His linguistic analysis also blows.
Some interesting revs in the NYTBR:
This was mentioned b4 on this blog: Kurt Anderson, "Fantasyland." He says that Trumpo was no accident, but our national destiny. That for centuries, Americans have had a "devotion to the untrue." That this is baked into our DNA, and that we live in "manufactured bubbles of hope." (Where have I heard all this b4?)
Suzy Hansen, "Notes on a Foreign Country." She says that to be an American is to be crippled in the imagination. The main thing that has been terrorizing us is our ignorance, our blindness. On 9/11, Americans "lost their marbles." We have no interest in self-examination, even as we destroy other countries. The distance between who we are and what we think we are is enormous. She hopes Americans might wake up, one day, but more accurately, the bk is a gesture of despair. (This stuff also seems familiar...)
mb
Just when you think we couldn't get more depraved, another reminder of just how low we can go:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2017/10/22/richardson-police-plan-news-conference-unconfirmed-rumorsspread-3-year-old-sherin-mathews-found
What a surprise department:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-23/americans-are-retiring-later-dying-sooner-and-sicker-in-between
Happy Monday!
Kanye
Speaking of psychology of the American mind, Anne Wilson Schaef put it well in 1988:
ReplyDelete"The best-adjusted person in our society is the person who is not dead and not alive, just numb, a zombie. When you are dead you're not able to do the work for the society, so it doesn't want you that way. But if you are fully alive, then you must constantly say, ‘No’ to many of the processes of society, the racism, the polluted environment, the nuclear threat, the arms race, drinking unsafe water and eating carcinogenic foods. Thus it is in the interest of modern consumer society to promote those things that take the edge off, keep us busy with our fixes, and keep us slightly numbed out and zombie-like. In this way our modern consumer society itself functions as an addict."
Clearly Shaneka Torres was addicted to her Scottish hamburgers at McDonald's. The rest of America is now dependent on everything from their phones to opiods. I do get the sense that most folks I encounter on a daily basis in this country are definitely not fully alive. The social media addiction is particularly relevant. It seems as though people now seek out vacations, meals, and events that will garner them the most "likes", rather than asking themselves what they really want, which is usually a hug. Would they even know how to hug someone back? Using their shoes as a urinal might do the trick too.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/how-facebook-and-google-are-leading-us-to-a-world-without-mind/story-UYGUA7iRc3SD9DDQPc3MfN.html
ReplyDeleteMay I also recommend an interesting new book ~ https://www.amazon.com/World-Without-Mind-Existential-Threat/dp/1101981113
"When the Pentagon peers into its crystal ball, the images reflected back are bleak."
ReplyDeleteNick Turse on our war-futures fortune telling https://theintercept.com/2017/10/22/the-u-s-will-invade-west-africa-in-2023-after-an-attack-in-new-york-according-to-pentagon-war-game/
Wafer Summit Participants:
ReplyDeleteI hope you’ll all enjoy your conclave. And, it goes without saying, the pie(s). I would hope that at least one of you might see your way clear to ordering a piece of cherry pie, as a nod to Special Agent Dale Cooper and David Lynch, two people who might qualify for membership in the brotherhood. And as a favor to me, if you please. À la mode or not, as you will.
Thanks.
https://youtu.be/OUdI9V7BrgU
Twin Peaks:The Return (Cherry Pie Scene)
Regarding America and totalitarianism, I think the reason why we've not gone that route is because the elites are too damn greedy to pay for the type of security infrastructure you would need to maintain such a system. Instead, we have a form of "soft" totalitarianism whereby if you don't play along you won't get that high paying job, your political campaign will never get financial backing, you'll never get interviewed on television, your book won't find a publisher, you won't get tenure at the university, etc. Not cracking down on those few who do genuinely dissent also has the advantage of allowing us to pretend we have true freedom of expression. The biggest fear people had in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was the concentration camp and the Gulag. In America, it's losing your job and becoming homeless. Goebbles would have been amazed to see a society that has allowed itself to be so thoroughly propagandized without overt coercion.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile: War on Drugs "logic"--potheads belong in prison, but CONgress is allowed to push through a law gutting the DEA's ability to deal with the opioid crisis because it would curtail drug company profits.
I found an interview with Kurt Anderson. Scroll down in the comments and you get a mention Dr. Berman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRqDzEOJImw
ReplyDeletehttps://aeon.co/ideas/he-died-as-he-lived-david-hume-philosopher-and-infidel
ReplyDeleteMy respect for David Hume now even higher which I didn't think was possible. Must read this book. Great & brave mind
Dr. B & All:
ReplyDeleteNo surprise here- "George W. Bush Receives a Character Award at West Point"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176341/
Interesting post on the spiritual depletion of Christianity, although I think this analysis only applies to Western Christianity.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ecosophia.net/death-god-speculation/
Morris writes:
ReplyDelete>On 9/11, Americans "lost their marbles."
I've just re-read Pamela Frankau's novella "The Duchess and the Smugs" (well-known in the 1950s, soon incorporated in her novel _A Wreath for the Enemy_ https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.458635). In this story, 14-year-old Penelope, raised in an unusually bohemian environment, becomes ashamed of it and infatuated with a rigidly conventional, narrow-minded bourgeois family.
First reading it some ten years ago, it occurred to me that it was almost a prophetic parable of certain changes in the American cultural landscape. 9/11 was, of course, a great tragedy, but what we are doing to ourselves as a result is an even greater one-- complete with the girl's compilation of an "anthology of hates".
Re-reading it now other passages jumped out to reinforce this impression, such as the conversation between Penelope and the wise old duchess who gets to the heart of the matter immediately: "“Is freedom one of your Hates?”... I could not understand her question. She was smiling in a maddening way that implied more knowledge of me than I myself had." “Freedom is the most important thing that there is. You
have more freedom than the average child knows. One day you will learn to value this and be grateful for it.” She goes on to explain that a fenced-in childhood protected from the shocks of reality can prevent no emotional pain, only postpone it.
Walls along the borders. Helicopter parents. Young adults evidently unable to endure college life without trigger warnings and safe spaces. All since 9/11, and all aspects of losing our taste for freedom. Penelope outgrew her love affair with smugly cringing philistinism after a few days' exposure to it, but in America it still seems to increase.
https://modernfarmer.com/2017/10/wendell-berry-not-prophet/
ReplyDeleteExcerpt from the farmer-philosopher's newest
On the well deserved commemoration of Dick Gregory's passing, did anyone pay attention to his final guidance? "It's over, they gettin ready to roll baby."
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/Zutv0CMky34
Fast food goes apparel. Most Orwellian new word I've heard :
"The brands are really fighting for MINDSHARE and they don’t want to just be seen as a very functional brand that helps you satiate your hunger. They want to be a part of your lifestyle,"
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/10/24/crazy-merchandise-cheetos-coke-and-kfc-and-other-food-companies-sell-get-attention/769629001/
Literally carving up people's minds feeding it shit and trading it on the stock exchange.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2017/10/20/boo-taco-bells-scariest-product-yet-kit-kat-chocoladilla/785894001/
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your illuminating posts. Gd reading, here only on The Greatest Blog on Earth. Why people go to other blogs, I've never been able to understand.
Just a favor I'd like to ask: As of Oct. 26 I'm flying to Cincinnati to give a lecture, and then on to NY. In the latter, we shall have the 4th or 5th Wafer Summit Mtg at an undisclosed pie restaurant; a bit later, Sean Stone is interviewing me for RT TV. If I get links for these 2 events, I'll post them later on. But I don't return to Mexico until Nov. 2, and I don't travel with my computer...which means I hafta rely on friends or Internet cafes. How much access/time I'll have, I'm not sure. But it wd probably help if you did not post during Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, just in case. I hate to do this 2u so soon after Italy, but as of Nov. 3, I promise to be around for most of Nov. and Dec. Thanks for yr patience.
mb
(formerly Turkey-Buster)
ReplyDeleteFive teens are charged in the death of a motorist. They hurled a rock from atop an expressway underpass.
Such wonderful people, these Americans.
"Dill"
Careful, MB, by going on RT you're liable to be named as a "useful idiot" in service of Comrade Putin. This latest McCarthyite idiocy reminds me of the Washington ComPost's execrable ProporNot bullsit from right after the election.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be there on the 29th for the summit, but I don't travel so well these days. Meantime, I'll have to keep scanning the 'nets for more signs that America is going down the shitter. First up, who would have ever guessed that an organization that has bombed and/or destroyed at least 7 countries since 9/11 would have a problem with racist views in ts ranks: The Military Has a Serious White Nationalist Problem
And on the lighter side--Bill O'Reilly blames God because he can't control his dick: Bill O'Reilly 'mad at God' over sexual misconduct allegations
Hello Wafers:
ReplyDeleteI don't have much to add, except that ever since I saw this Bill Hicks post:
"Faces of America Dept: Police say Iowa man killed his mother with guitar"
I've had a Zappanian earworm.
My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Oj-eZqpHE
I know. I'm going to Hell.
Dr Berman, would you recommend practicing zen? I was thinking about what you said of the vertical ascent having negative side effects and remember what you said about the shades being all there is. I know it will ultimately be my decision but I figured why not ask someone with more experience
ReplyDeleteDr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteA gentleman mentions you in one of his articles at the Rutherford Institute:
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/this_is_how_tyranny_rises_and_freedom_falls_the_experiment_in_freedom_?utm_source=The+Rutherford+Institute&utm_campaign=9d74ea68d4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_10_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d7ffde3304-9d74ea68d4-42135461
Bill Hicks writes:
ReplyDelete>the reason why we've not gone that route is because the elites are too damn greedy to pay for the type of security infrastructure you would need to maintain such a system. Instead, we have a form of "soft" totalitarianism ...allowing us to pretend we have true freedom of expression.
I totally agree with you, except that to me, it seems like the second reason entirely. What security infrastructure would be required that isn't already in place? Surveillance cameras are ubiquitous in public. If we carry a cell-phone or the like, we are probably broadcasting our identity and location-- the latter so precisely that store managers can determine what we're looking at in their windows.
A plausible rumor claims that Pokemon Go is a plot by Google and/or foreign agencies to send innocents and their smart phones to locations that have aroused curiosity for whatever reason: thus small children who think they're just playing a game perform real espionage and don't even need to be paid for it.
We're warned that our telephones and TV sets at home, even when "turned off", can eavesdrop on "private" conversations and activities. It's probably the same with cars, where GPS technology is becoming standard equipment. The good news is, we can't get lost anymore. The bad news is, neither can we run away or hide. There have already been incidents of hackers taking control of an entire vehicle. How long do you think it will be before self-driving cars check a government database before taking us anywhere, to be sure that the destination is not on our personal no-go list?
The disappearance of privacy online needs no comment.
@Bill Hicks
ReplyDeleteThe US at this point and time has no need of an authoritarian state. The Media's financial interest is in repeating the government line. The country is ruled by parties to which taking down an individual means nothing. The citizenry's culture makes it so they see politics as an annoyance and a hindrance to their lives. The Citizens do not GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ONE ANOTHER! The Citizens are divided by identity and contempt for one another.
I honestly find the US to be an amusing country. You have the New Atheist movement who worry about Muslims while the Christian Right takes over their nation. You have Liberal-left pomo idiots who are convinced that Mathematics is inherently White Supremacist in nature.
https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=10005
Here is something that will make you laugh. This professor had the audacity to say this... "Gutierrez stresses that all knowledge is “relational,” asserting that “Things cannot be known objectively; they must be known subjectively.". How is this person a professor I have no idea but man I live in one dumbfuck nation.
5 teens denied bond in deadly highway rock-throwing case
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/us/michigan-teens-rock-throwing-death-trnd/index.html
I don't think books on astrology are recommended on here very much, but this treatise on the magicaal renaissance seems right up MB's thought re: his early writing
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Quantum-Astrologers-Handbook-Renaissance-mathematics/dp/1911344404
"This is a landmark in science writing. It resurrects from the vaults of neglect the polymath Jerome Cardano, a Milanese of the sixteenth century. Who is he? A gambler and blasphemer, inventor and chancer, plagued by demons and anxieties, astrologer to kings, emperors and popes. This stubborn and unworldly man was the son of a lawyer and a brothel keeper, but also a gifted physician and the unacknowledged discoverer of the mathematical foundations of quantum physics. That is the argument of this charming and intoxicatingly clever book, which is truly original in its style, and in the manner of the modernists embodies in its very form its theories about the world. The Quantum Astrologer’s Handbook is a science book with the panache of a novel, for readers of Carlo Rovelli or Umberto Eco. It is a work of and about genius."
Are Mericans turkey enough to allow Amazon into their homes? I’m confident that Wafers can answer this question.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-adds-in-home-delivery-option-with-key-service-and-security-camera/
Good travels, MB, and hoisted dill pickles everywhere in Waferdom to salute the 2017 New York Wafer Summit!
Interesting series of articles on the decline of American power and the rise of a more multipolar world order.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/09/25/failing-empire-russia-and-chinas-military-strategy-contain-us.html
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/10/04/challenging-dollar-china-russia-plan-from-petroyuan-gold.html
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/10/18/making-history-china-russia-transforming-enemies-into-friends.html
Student-
ReplyDeleteVipassana also gd. Just sit up straight for 20 mins. every morning and watch your breath.
mb
This just in: 93-year-old war criminal habitually grabs women's asses
ReplyDeleteAn evil old asshole who like so many others just won't die:
“We all circled around him and Barbara for a photo, and I was right next to him,” she says. “He reached his right hand around to my behind, and as we smiled for the photo he asked the group, ‘Do you want to know who my favorite magician is?’ As I felt his hand dig into my flesh, he said, ‘David Cop-a-Feel!’”
Grolnick says others in the room “laughed politely and out of discomfort.” Former first lady Barbara Bush was among those nearby. “[She] said something along the lines of, ‘He’s going to get himself put into jail!’ to which we laughed harder,” Grolnick says.
I think MB you're too hard on C. Hedges - he has consistently put himself out there at tremendous cost and risk for higher ideals - forfeited prestigious teaching and writing gigs to say and do what he felt just. The future is grim no question but Hedges constantly validates that he knows the odds against his causes.
ReplyDeleteThe matrix is a well oiled self-policing machine now no question. Humanities and philosophy depts for example create their own language and discourse in order to "professionally" herd together protected from the institutionally policing predators with their meaningless culture that stands for nothing an agenda that also shields from public criticism.
Yet, the entire world seems to be losing its marbles from uni-polar to multi-polar to melting polar. I thought you MB and the Wafers might appreciate Detroit beating out Guanajuato in this insane asylum piece: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/10/25/detroit-named-second-best-city-2018-travel-destinations/797027001/
Also, check out Chris Martenson's Peak Prosperity Youtube interviews regarding US oil surplus and production and shale tar sands financing myths.
Looking forward to this Sunday needless to say. With regard to humor, I may have mentioned that I'm doing some stand up comedy these days. Last Monday I did an open mic. Most of the comics were in their 20's and 30's and most of their routines were about masterbation. Nothing topical or thought provoking. Only masterbation. How fitting is that?
ReplyDeleteYesterday the Senate voted to change a rule which allowed class action law suits against financial institutions engaging in fraud. In other words, all Wells Fargo had to do was wait until today to cheat customers and not face any consequences. I can now imagine going to an ATM and suddenly finding $5000 missing and you have no recourse but sue the bank yourself which is prohibitive given lawyer fees, etc. Needless to say, none of the major media outlets covered the vote which, by the way, was supported by those senators who just a few days earlier criticized Trump.
Nesim,
ReplyDeleteAs a graduate of the very school where "Professor" Gutierrez works, all I can do is laugh; the outrage industrial complex is a booming business these days on college campuses. This lady will probably get speaking engagements for essentially throwing darts at a board of (self) righteous indignation and hitting a triple twenty of buzzwords.
I would seriously suggest that all Wafer summit attendees order their pie a la mode before vanilla ice cream is boycotted for, wait for it.....being a stand in for Whiteness itself.
Onward and downward a la mode!
Dr. B: Thought you would pleased to hear that a new article on American culture (or its lack thereof) has been published at Counterpunch that contains a key lead-in quote from your work: John Steppling's "The Simulacra Democracy": https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/26/the-simulacra-democracy/
ReplyDeleteAs for myself: currently attending sessions of interest at International Herbert Marcuse Society Seventh Biennial Conference at York University in TO: https://marcuseconference.wordpress.com/
-Northern Johnny
“Bring His Head To Me”!!
ReplyDeleteWhat an utterly absurd statement from an elected official in 2017. Clearly influenced by Trump and his narcissistic Bravado.
We are descending into BARBARISM.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/10/26/bring-his-head-to-me-tampa-mayor-tells-police-to-hunt-down-killer-after-string-of-murders/?utm_term=.198f7825b5c9
https://historyforatheists.com/2017/10/islamic-reformation-pseudo-history-meets-politics/
ReplyDeleteBrilliant essay! "History for Atheists - An Islamic 'Reformation"? - Pseudo History meets Politics" or "Be careful what you wish for"
...“New Atheist historiography is quaintly old fashioned and largely Victorian.” Tim ONeill as unillusioned as ever.
Dr. B et al -- Here's an interesting piece from the New York Review of Books on the fate of the humanities in a commercial civilization (a rather well-worn topic by this point, I would think). http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/11/09/what-are-we-doing-here/
ReplyDeleteAt best, she talks about the current state of intellectual desolation across the land: "Workers, a category that seems to subsume us all except the idlest rich, should learn what they need to learn to be competitive in the new economy. All the rest is waste and distraction.... and will these competitors of ours be left to enjoy the miserable advantage of low wages and compromised health? And is there any particular reason to debase human life in order to produce more, faster, without reference to the worth of the product, or to the value of the things sacrificed to its manufacture?"
Her essay ends a little optimistically, in my view - arguing, in effect, that our awareness of the power of the humanities is slumbering, not dead. I teach community college, not at an elite college, and I'm far less sanguine. In any event, safe travels to Cincinnati and NYC!
- The Capt.
Have you guys paid attention to the state of movies right now? Oh boy, how in the hell do they keep making money.
ReplyDeleteCheck this one out. It's about a poor Merican soldier coming home and having a difficult time adjusting. Poor guy, who would have thought that killing people and destroying their countries would affect their mind? Maybe they should make a movie about how killing brown people is what Jesus wants to help them deal with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50LQGcb5knE
Of check this one out." The Foreigner"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9YCk7ufHs
Seems pretty clear that this one is just trying to get Chinese money. It seems as if the Chinese are even bigger turkeys than Mericans. Any Waferinos want to make a movie about a Chinese out hustling an American? I think we'd break some records on the box office
"What an utterly absurd statement from an elected official in 2017. Clearly influenced by Trump and his narcissistic Bravado."
ReplyDelete----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nah, old hat. Madame Secretary in 2011:
"We came, we saw, he died. Hahahahaha!"