This is the Blog for MORRIS BERMAN, the author of "Dark Ages America". It includes current publications and random thoughts about U.S. Foreign Policy, including letters and reactions to publications from others.
A cultural historian and social critic, MORRIS BERMAN is the author of "Wandering God" and "The Twilight of American Culture". Since 2003 he has been a visiting professor in sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
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March 22, 2018
Turkeys on the March!
Hola Waferinos-
Turkeys seem to be all I can think about these days:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsnZxfkkoKQ
Go, turkeys!
mb
My old friend Amerigo has been on life support for decades. In 2016 the family had a choice: which of two poisons should we put in the drip line? The family chose the most lethal one. Might as well get it over with sooner rather than later.
We now have two major American political figures talking about beating each other up. Donald Trump and Joe Biden should battle it out in a cage match at the next WrestleMania.
Even worse, the woman's grammar is terrible: "I didn't order no sausage biscuit." This is inexcusable, esp. given the high quality of education in the US. In any case, what we are seeing is degradation at every level of existence. Rejoice, O declinists! We are steeped in barbarism. (And this ain't no hyperbole.)
Bolton makes Nikki Haley look like a 60's flower child. Even W thought he was nuts. It's thus clear there will be war against Iran probably not too long after Hair Trumpf decides to leave the nuclear accord in May. Did anyone see Hair and the Saudi prince? Hair showed cartoonish charts probably made by a nearby high school art class showing how much money the Saudis were spending on US arms. It was hustling non pareil. As wretched as the Saudi prince is, I almost felt sorry for him as he was displayed little more than a grubby buyer. Found myself team teaching with a fellow retiree yesterday. I don't think through the entire day did he not say a sentence with the word "I" in it. The guy was in his late 60's and still needed to speak about himself entirely. Did he not grow even a smidgen from grade school?
It seems that everywhere we look these days there is an embarrassment of riches for declinist Wafers... for example Matt Taibbi's latest on Rolling Stone
Up in Canada we have the same problem of bright intelligent people who can't see the wool that is their eyes... my family doctor of 35 years is a smart compassionate worldly person... I met him when we both worked in an inner city community health clinic so he is someone who tried to put his ideals into practice in his life.
Even he yearns for Obama and believes that the USA can be reformed if only the crude Trump could be replaced... no matter how many facts are cited to him about Obama's presidency and how Trump is just carrying on many parts of his legacy he just can't move from his hope and belief things can be improved.
I'm going to share the Taibbi article with him... but my diagnosis is it won't cut through his hopium addiction.
In the context of Trumpi, mostly a nothingburger given that they ended their relationship with CA before the general election.
The bigger story rather seems to be about Facebook itself and the fact that this data harvesting was pioneered by Obama and FB in a collaborative effort; the O campaign even gave a TED talk about it.
By far the funniest part of this whole fiasco is Facebook recently banning CA from its platform. This is purely for optics, ofc, as in 2012, FB said verbatim that they allowed CA to engage with some of their more legally and ethically questionable tactics on its platform because they were "on our side." You couldn't make this stuff up.
BTW, in the context of the absolute onslaught of MSM propaganda and misleading reporting over the past year or so, how many are aware that one of the last things Obama did in office was to repeal Smith-Mundt? Just a coincidence, surely.
Lots of abbreviations and refs that are hard to follow. Perhaps clarify in future? Thanks.
Anjin-
Good essay, but Matt is claiming that most Americans saw thru the 2003 war on Iraq, i.e., what the govt was up to, at the time. I doubt they do even today. I was still lvg in the US in 2003, and my memory of those days is v. different. Most (all?) of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis, but it was very easy to convince the public that Iraq was the real enemy; or to give the impression that the enemy could be lumped into one big category called Ay-rabs, no differentiation necessary. How often do I hafta say it? The American people are simply not very bright. They are not critical thinkers; they can be sold any pile of shit, and have been repeatedly. The enemy of the US is indeed US--i.e., us.
Dan-
In other cultures, the elderly are a source of wisdom because they have, over the yrs, indeed become wise. When I lived in the US, I talked with lots of older folks--in my apt. bldg. in DC, for example--and discovered that the elderly in America have no wisdom at all; they are basically vegetables, and many are simply fools.
@Bill Hicks: I'm really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. That said, go kick cancers ass again. I'm pulling for you.
In the meantime, you wouldn't know on CNN that Trump has appointed an incredibly dangerous and unqualified man as his national security adviser. No, they're running 24/7 with this ex-Playboy model who had an affair with the president. Because, why? Why does this matter? What's the story here? Trump's a womanizer? Who knew.
Over at Salon the other day I saw that Stormy Daniels is now a feminist hero. We've never discussed that rag on this blog but we should. That site is a prog douche-parade if I ever saw one.
The thing abt Trumpi is that he never disappts. After a short lull of nothing, he'll come out w/something even more damaging than b4. Bolton is the latest, and I for one am so happy abt this apptment I'm practically fainting w/joy. Then just wait a couple of mos., and there will be yet another Trumpian disaster. This man is fulfilling his historical destiny, and (hopefully) nothing can stop him now. Meanwhile, the country is filled with prog-douchebag-parades and antiprog-douchebag-parades. Also an appropriate scenario for the End of Days. To see a trashy, stupid nation writhing in its death throes is not something given to every historian to witness. I tell ya, I'm blessed, as are we all. Go, Bolton! Kill! Destroy! You show 'em who's boss!
ps: With Bolti at the helm, my dream of the Pentagon nuking Toronto and Paris might just come to pass. (He needs to be given the nuclear codes so he doesn't hafta consult Trumpi or anyone else.) Of course, he shd start with N. Korea, aiming at Kim's haircut. Then, after Toronto and Paris, perhaps some selected targets in the US, such as Peoria and Sacramento. Finally, why not DC itself? He cd send a nuclear missile directly to his moustache, which wd obviate the need for Robt Mueller and Stormy Daniels, just for starters. I tell ya, this is looking gd.
The ominous silence enveloping the DOJ the week after Andrew McCabe’s firing — and before the release of the FBI Inspector General’s report — suggests to me that a grand jury is about to convene and indictments are in process, not necessarily from Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s office. The evidence already publicly aired about FBI machinations and interventions on behalf of Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump looks bad from any angle, and the wonder was that it took so long for anyone at the agency to answer for it.
McCabe is gone from office and apparently hung out to dry on the recommendation of his own colleagues.... Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr, have been sent to the FBI study hall pending some other shoes dropping in a grand jury room. James Comey is hustling a book he slapped together to manage the optics of his own legal predicament (evidently, lying to a congressional committee)....
Tendrils of evidence point to a coordinated campaign that included the Obama White House and the Democratic National Committee starring Hillary Clinton. Robert Mueller even comes into the picture both at the Uranium One end of the story and the other end concerning the activities of his old friend, Mr. Comey. Most tellingly of all, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was not shoved out of office but remains shrouded in silence and mystery as this melodrama plays out, tick, tick, tick.
Some serious turkey shit may be about to hit the fan.
ps2: In a wk or so, this blog will celebrate its 12th anniversary. Seems hard to believe. In merely a dozen yrs, Waferdom has nearly taken over the world. In that time, the blog has had--count 'em!--more than 3.3 million hits. In the face of bullshit news and the torrent of nonsense that constitutes 'information' in the US, we are an unwavering flame of truth and integrity. Wafers, pls celebrate w/me. Nothing can stop us now!
The key thing about Trump is that people tend to assume that he's basically like other human beings. Big mistake! He will do whatever he feels he must do to protect his sense of preeminence, and it doesn't matter who gets hurt in the process. In effect, people do not matter, laws do not matter, democracy doesn't matter, nothing matters to Trump. As a conman and a sociopath, he's fundamentally not human and lacks the underlying basic structure of empathy that we all have. There's absolutely nothing he can do that would surprise me in the least, because I know that he is fundamentally different form normal people.
True, but none of this really matters. We might as well have it out, but the endless 'news' abt Hillary, Mueller, the DNC, Russian influence etc. is just a distraction from the real issues, which involve relations of power, the disintegration of capitalism, the collapse of the US, our inability to win even small wars, the corruption of every major American institution, the existence of a drugged, ignorant, wigged-out population, and so on. If you want distraction, read the NYT or WashPost. If you want analysis of structural problems, if you want to live in reality and not in Turkeyville, you come to this blog.
Another great one from Andrew Sullivan: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/america-takes-the-next-step-toward-tyranny.html Money quote: "The prism is essentially how a late-stage democracy, dripping with decadence and corruption, with elites dedicated primarily to enriching themselves, and a people well past any kind of civic virtue, morphs so easily into tyranny." Yep, we're well on our way now, past the point of no return, and Trumpi just stepped on the gas by appointing Bolton Soon, we'll be at war with North Korea and Iran and possibly China and the EU...get ready for $300 oil, multi-trillion dollar deficits and another great depression.
I must confess I think about life at Powder Mountain. It must be hell. I'm sure it is 100% white with plenty of Tesla SUVs at the valet. Can you imagine who your neighbors are and what they are like as people? All conversations are non-stop bragging and trying to 'one-up' each other. Like San Francisco these days, Powder Mountain is a status good. You buy in so you can brag to your 'friends' that you are a member of the 'club'. I'm sure they will constantly try to up-sell you experiencial goods such as lectures by cutting edge thinkers (Jordan Peterson and Steven Pinker- perhaps they will even debate!) or skiing with dolphins. All play on FOMO (fear of missing out) - existential millennial angst. That's really what Instagram and Wastebook are for. The only way to win is not to play.
Re: McDonald's woman. Not only is her grammar bad, her diction is also poor. i had to listen 3x to understand what exactly she was saying. The colonists are murdering the Queen's English. Sad!
Actually, I'm not sure Trumpi is all that different from most Americans, whose life is abt hustling and who have the empathy of an armadillo. See post from Bro Maynard, e.g.; this is what America is about.
I can't blame everything on the Turkeys since the powerful brainwashing all-american media got them by the jewels since they were toddlers. Turkeys were so protective of their media - they kept consuming their favorite version of fake news and thinking they had freedom of speech in their country. In turn, these media kept congratulating the turkeys for their dead-end way of life. I decided to learn a foreign language (French) so that I could get information from non-anglophone sources.
Chomsky's theory of manufactured consent only partially correct, n'est-ce pas? There have always been ways to get around the brainwashing, but Americans never had any interest, because what they wanted to do was hustle and make $. WAF documents the counter-tradition that existed from earliest days, but the Turkeys just ignored it--altho they didn't have to. They are heavily to blame, and need to be vigorously punished; which is happening now, except they are too stupid to realize it. They have merde dans la tete, tu comprends? But note that it doesn't require foreign-language sources to see thru the American Dream; not at all.
Shen - Are you talking about Nunes's memo? Because that was straight up propaganda from the GOP. On Hillary and Obama not wanting Trump to win, what a surprise! Regardless, like Dr Berman said, the behind the scene politics really don't matter. People who liked Trump still like him, people who hate him still hate him. That pornstars are suing Trump or that Hillary/Obama did some sketchy things don't matter. Everything is falling apart, the trade war with China is just starting! We might be at the start of another cold war! And let me tell you, we will not win this one, Russia after WWII had just lost 30 million men and they were no where near as powerful as China is today but still gave the USA a fight, China will mop the floor with us even if it takes them 1-5 decades. Just so you understand the competition, the average Chinese student at a decent Chinese university would mop the floor with the top students at Harvard/Princeton/etc but, actually, the top students there are probably Chinese to begin with. Trump is also successfully getting rid of anyone that stands up to him so we might soon have a dictator!
Bro - I think you're right about oil, Trump is doing everything he said he was going to do, no reason to think he won't attack Iran. I wonder if Israel will survive that war, the entire Middle East is ready unite to destroy them at this point. If America collapses and can't provide support, they definitely can't survive. But hey, if oil goes up maybe Venezuela makes a comeback! I always wanted to visit Venezuela, I say there is a 90% chance it's more livable than America even now.
Paul Craig Roberts bemoans Trump's choice of John Bolton as national security advisor after stating the desirability of good relations with Russia. Roberts was grasping for anything positive from Trump after the 2016 election - I think he is admitting that Trump's declarations often should not be believed. For peace with Russia or any other country outside of US and EU domination, Bolton is the worst possible choice. Hopefully we get through the Trump presidency without a nuclear war.
Stupid Higher Education Tricks: A University of Wisconsin campus pushes plan to drop 13 majors — including English, history and philosophy. Because after all, who needs to speak & write properly, or to NOT think everything worthwhile began with douchebag Obama's "historic" election or how to think logically? In fact, it's now a "microagression" to tell an American college student that they are a simple-minded snowflake who doesn't know fuck all.
@Dan, the "I" vs. "we" is what also differentiates their cultural artifacts like Raku vs. Gun, Lao-Tzu vs. Chris-Kyle, and their inevitable consequences. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/opinion/why-are-some-cultures-more-individualistic-than-others.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/11/opinion/journal-the-rambo-culture.html "...April 29, 1995, the author of "The Turner Diaries," William Pierce, gave an elaborate, rather erudite radio address, in which he predicted that the resentment generated among "normal Americans" by Jews, politicians, homosexuals, minorities and "female executives" would lead to more terrorism "on a scale that the world has never seen before.""
@Anjin, Maher and Hicks both called Amerikns cowards. They way the goons slaughtered the Indians was just a prelude... https://youtu.be/0AVQxwQULVg?t=19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-NKWNFWbCs
The epitaph of Empire Amerika will be written the vow fulfilled by Abu Usama, 'I promised you endless wars'. http://www.businessinsider.com/bin-ladens-911-roi-a-25140001-return-and-counting-2011-5 http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/20/heres-osama-bin-ladens-letter-to-the-american-people/ "How will you win a war whose leaders are pessimistic and whose soldiers are committing suicide? If fear enters the hearts of men, winning the war becomes impossible. How will you win a war whose cost is like a hurricane blowing violently at your economy and weakening your dollar?"
Belman-nim & Esteemed Wafers, I cannot now recall if you cite him much in your work, Dr. Berman, but of late I've been reading Sinclair Lewis' novel "Babbitt." Truly a proto-Waferian masterpiece from way back in 1922. Here's a passage that I feel resonates with the past few posts; in it, Lewis describes the consensus American ideal:
"To them, the Romantic Hero was no longer the knight, the wandering poet, the cowpuncher, the aviator, nor the brave young district attorney, but the great sales manager, who had an Analysis of Merchandizing Problems on his glass-topped desk, whose title of nobility was 'Go-getter,' and who devoted himself and all his young samurai to the cosmic purpose of Selling - not of selling anything in particular, for or to anybody in particular, but pure Selling."
In a similar vein, Thos Wolfe, "Look Homeward, Wafer."
Esca-
Excellent letter from Osama, of course ignored at our peril. No dummy, he. On the other hand, American people, military, govt, and everyone else here: dog excrements in their heads. All Osama did on 9/11 was light the fuse; the rest has been our own self-destruction. He knew what he was talking abt.
WAFER Matt S. Preaching to choir: MSM was propaganda and psy ops. There are many sources of real news and critical thinking commentary en anglais.
Toutefois, Le Monde, Le Canard (c'est drole), ou, en Allemagne, Die Zeit, Die Rheinpfalz, etc.. offer a much higher standard and writing level than what brain-dead americans thk as "news."
I, personally, LOVE the fact that the us "news" is filled with very impt matters such as Russian "influence," porno stars, storm-tracker obcessions, and useful idiots parroting how great america is.
Ah... Frank Rich, from the times when I read the NY Times and, dare I say, the NY Times could still be read without vomiting. I remember when he announced he was leaving the NY Times; I couldn't fully understand why, but I felt it was slightly ominous.
Now, moved by nostalgia, I can't help reminiscing about the time when the US still had some appeal, even if it was the appeal of a clever prostitute that covers the bruises left by her pimp with skillfully applied make-up. The time when what Dr Berman called "the alternative tradition" still had some space in public life... The era of film noir, where movies were still made with some basis in reality. Or even later, when a children's cartoon could still be a subtly anti-war work of art. Why, even in the first Superman movie, the villain was a rich guy that wanted to make a killing with "the greatest real-estate swindle of all time"!
O America, America! Why have you killed your soul? Could it have been different? Like Harry Haller, did you have to turn all the talent that you were given into a clinical history? Now you're time is truly up and you do nothing but rage against the dying of the light.
American universities with Liberal Arts careers that don't have Shakespeare in their programs. Bolton is Secretary of Defense. Great! I wonder why Americans don't take on the streets right now and ask for Omarosa to go back in the White House as Secretary of the Treasury?
Esca, TO paraphrase the George Harrison song, "All through the day, I me mine, I me mine, I me mine." I recall reading somewhere that only individuals like Socrates or Jesus are allowed to use "I". In other words, speaking about yourself is something you earn through hard work. Otherwise, you are too worthless and incomplete a soul to speak about yourself. This guy was your typical brain dead American male full of boring stories-saving up for a cruise, making home improvements (my perennial favorite), and all the money he was able to save enrolling his son in a state college. Why do people assume others are interested in someone's kid? Manol and Bill, Yesterday, I substituted in a high school English class. As they handed in their work I noticed something that I actually wasn't surprised to see. All work was printed, no one did cursive writing. This stems from a few years ago when Core Curriculum denigrated cursive handwriting so it is no longer taught. When I asked the students if anyone could write cursive not a hand went up. Only one girl said she had bought a book how to do it. I could have cried. I mean is there not a better example of a country committed suicide. I told the class I had taught English in northern Japan and those students could write cursive and English was not even their first language! The reaction I got was again typical of your average brain dead American-bovine. I mean why not just raze Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell if we have no interest in tradition? How embarrassing it will be if and when these students meet foreigners who can write cursive. Mute point. Few of these students will have little of any contact with foreigners except as waiters and chambermaids.
On America's upcoming Retail Apocalypse https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-retail-debt/
American men eat like boys. Literally. https://melmagazine.com/the-men-who-eat-like-boys-c72c39da18bf
Meanwhile Progs and the Silicon Valley Gang are focused on very impt matters. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/23/elon-musk-delete-facebook-spacex-tesla-mark-zuckerberg
All I can say about the kids not knowing cursive or not knowing Shakespeare is that the more ignorant and uncultured you are the easier you are to control. I remember when I found out about Operation Northwoods and later when I found out Nixon deliberately went behind LBJ's back to frustrate his efforts to win the war so he could win the election I told everyone I knew the first name of. All I could get was blank stares. The American people are dumb as bricks and like Dr. Berman says they are not as innocent as one may think. Nothing shocks them anymore so there are problably things they know or see every day that are bad and immoral b ut they just do not care or think they gain from it. I mean, in Northwoods, the government was will to kill people on fake pretenses to start a war, and Nixon got even more soldiers killed just so he could beat Humphrey.
Shen, thanks for posting the item from Kunstler. He's another one who seems to get it (IMO), and I've followed him since reading Geog. of Nowhere some 15 yrs ago.
RE: the Nunes memo, it was devastating in itself, but only the tip of the iceberg; it's the precursor to the coming OIG report.
Have never understood the media sainthood of Mr. Rogers. Did he accomplish anything more than reassure stressed and anxious housewives television was a safe and educational place to drop off their kids. Isn't this the beginning of manufactured consent? But MB is right there are workarounds if you aren't too fat, lazy, and happy.
Thank you WAFERS and this blog. Truly appreciate the insight and critical thinking. Cannot talk to really anyone in the empire about anything substantive; including, family, "friends," etc...it's as if they're lobotomized, brainwashed, and/or in a perpetual daze.
Told them concrete plans/time frame of emigration, and met with--"it's the same everywhere," "so what, if people want to work all the time, that's their choice," "be careful," "grass is always greener-cliches," etc...These are folks with "college" degrees, and doctorates.
americans presented a fixed action pattern when met with truths/reality. The minute one discusses issues such as endless hustling, imperialism, false flags, or employment at will, etc...met with glazed eyes, phone diddling, change topic, and 'stop being negative."
Counting down the days until we escape this shit hole. Truly--a stranger in a strange land.
Hitler, he had just one ball, Goering, had two but very small, Himmler, was very similar, And Goebbels had no balls at all.
Mike-
Yr describing 99% of the American public, maybe more. And I have felt like a stranger in a strange land since I was 8.
This blog, of course, is a home/haven for such strangers. Sometimes, I just sit around thinking of how spiritually evolved we are, and I get so excited I pass out.
I really feel for the Parkland kids and all the marchers today. I really do. It makes me sad. All the energy and talent of our youth reduced to protesting so that they won't be murdered at school. That this is an uphill battle tells you what a rancid, open sewer of a society we are (as if electing Trumpi didn't already confirm that).
This country cannot be saved. Prognosis is terminal. The cancer of brutal and cruel lassie faire capitalism (the Hobbesian society of all against all) is in our bones and brain. No one can stop it; many have tried. Moreover, at this point, the country is not at all worth saving. Save for junk food, fast food, suburban sprawl, gas guzzling SUVs, reality tee vee, Walmart and Wastebook? No thanks.
I recall all the energy of our youth, artists and dreamers of the 60's trying to stop Vietnam. The country responded by electing Nixon, bombing Cambodia (triggering genocide), and killing some of them at Kent State.
Capitalism then transformed the idealistic baby boomers of the 60's into the yuppies of the go-go 80's. Sigh.
I'm going to disagree with you on cursive. I remember learning all the cursive instruction over years of parochial school, and by high school everybody had abandoned it or just incorporated it into some other kind of personal script. After all, the thing about handwriting is that it *is* personal, so why bother learning all these nuances of a calligraphy?
I would settle for people that are able to paragraph out a logically coherent email.
The drive for cursive seems to be some kind of conservative thing that's a bit sentimental. Just teach a section of calligraphy and teach kids how to write out fine Greek, Chinese, and Latin characters, that would be cool and develop culture and a sense of sensory motor skills. But I'm not going to say that printing per se is the a sign of decline (especially on a school paper, which should be legible first and foremost).
Go look at the personal letters of intelligent, accomplished people in the early 20th century- they probably didn't follow their third grade cursive rules.
Dr. Zuckerstien's Monster: "...unlike Dr. Frankenstein, you’re still alive; indeed, you’re young and rich enough to start over, and to take care of your employees while they find other work. Actually, given that your business model amounts to theft, subsidizing the repatriation of your workforce would be a nice start in making reparations. So think about it, dude. No charge for the advice: put that monster on an ice floe and shove him off to the Arctic while it’s still frozen. It’s the least you could do. It might even make you feel better." In other words, Zuckershmuck should stop being a turkey, become a human being and kill his creation...HIGHLY unlikely.
Florida Man Arrested For Tossing A Bomb Into Yard To Kill Man’s Chickens. Scott (“Spider”) Wegener, 55, is accused of creating an IED using a Canadian Mist bottle, black powder and a cannon fuse to try to kill another man’s chickens. The attack was reportedly due to a disagreement over a BB gun.
Mom crashed car to prove to kids God is real. One of Warren’s daughters told police she thinks her mom did it on purpose. “…Her eyes (were) closed and she was saying, ‘blah, blah, blah, I love God,’” the girl said. “She didn’t want us to just have a car accident. She wanted us to know that God is real.”
Boy, do I ever feel like a stranger in a strange land too! It feels like a bizarro world out there, yet it is all so normal. I had a long, wonderful discussion with my 31-year old son the other day about some of this stuff. He is the most intelligent, thoughtful, and Wafer-ish person I know. While he understood much of what I was saying about technology, society, etc., he also is way more willing than I to accept things like smartphones and social media as just the way people do things nowadays. Privacy or dependence on machines, apps, and corporations (like Facebook and Google) is not much of a worry for him or apparently 99.9% of the people out there. His girlfriend is a super power user of a smartphone, it being the vehicle for doing her job as an environmental activist and organizer, and she has essentially given up on the idea of privacy (this also being the viewpoint of the person who sold the latest phone to her). This recent Facebook kerfluffle with Cambridge Analytica and the #deletefacebook thing maybe shows that some people still care about privacy, but my guess is that 99.9% of Facebook users either don't care, or they are so addicted to it that they can't quit, or it has become so ingrained into how things are done that they can't extricate themselves from it even if they wanted to. I have the sense that essentially nobody thinks critically about these issues, and if you try to discuss them, you have to tread so lightly that the point is lost. Sigh. I really have no hope for this country or the world. Thanks for the encouragement from this blog.
Belman-nim, Enjoyed your link re: "Foreign Babes in Beijing" (great title!); most China ex-pats capable of critical thought tend toward DeWoskin's perspective, in my experience. That said, the sheer am't of techno-douchebaggery and rudeness here is appalling and far more dystopian than anything the gov't is up to. Hard to see where it ends, really, altho there does seem to be a resurgence of interest in classical Chinese art and literature among some of my students. Also, there might be a (hopefully growing) trend toward leaving "progress" behind; at least some millenial Chinese seem to be opting for something like Dual Process. There's a fantastic, short documentary about this trend called "Summoning the Recluse" which is quite worth a watch if you'd like a different kind of perspective, from the young, on China's headlong rush into post-modernity. Of course, the millenials featured in the doc are far, far from the norm, but perhaps Final American Death will also spell the doom for its more misguided, currently globalized "values"?
Summoning the Recluse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd_PClI4Ut0
Mike R., A hearty congrats on your impending escape. Believe me when I say, you’ll never, ever look back.
You might wanna assign yr students the Mandarin edition of WAF. It was published several years ago by the Beijing World Publishing Co. I saw very little in the way of royalties, so I assume there are pirated editions floating around that they can buy for a few renminbi. The Preface provides a prediction regarding China that may sober them up. Great little video, BTW.
David-
The privacy issue is only 1 aspect of the damage, and not really the most pernicious. We have listed on this blog numerous articles documenting the deleterious social and psychological effects of cell phones; they may even cause brain damage. Also check out the work of Sherry Turkle in this regard, and essay #3 of AWTY.
Maybe we can compose a song to the tune of "Fascination." Long b4 Trumpi was elected, I predicted that the future of the US lay deep inside Kim's buttocks. As w/my previous predictions, this also proved to be true. To which we can now add Bolti. I can't wait to hear his 1st public statement. Will he nuke Nairobi? Only time will tell.
ps: David: It's an impt question, whether this pernicious technology is here to stay, or whether we shall dump it for an authentic life. It may be similar to smoking: for decades, it was cool and everyone did it. It also took a decades-long campaign to ban it from public and many private places, which ultimately succeeded. There was a huge lit showing how destructive it was, and finally it began to be regarded as stupid rather than cool. The same thing might happen with cell phones, as the lit on how unhealthy the usage is, mounts. When I see people on these things, they look like complete assholes to me; hardly cool.
There may be 3 paths here. In one, they just become and remain part of the social environment, and the misery they cause just one more aspect of alienated daily life. The lit I'm talking abt documents that concomitant w/cp use is isolation, anxiety, depression, and--surprise!--increasing stupidity. This we might call the Bladerunner Scenario, in which the entire nation has become virtual and meaningless.
Path #2 might be the one that parallels the defeat of cigarette smoking, in which a very long campaign gets the fones banned from public use. Right now it's a hard sell, but the same was true of smoking ca. 1960. I suspect the majority of Americans, when they see someone smoking, are vaguely repulsed.
Path #3 is the scenario depicted in the Gary Shteyngart novel, in which (30 yrs from now) the Ethernet breaks down, and cell fones are about as useful as plastic turds. This may be the most likely scenario, given Jonathan Franzen's depiction of cp use as "capitalism on steroids." (Check out my novel, TMWQ.) As capitalism continues to disintegrate during the rest of this century, cp's might become superfluous. One can only hope.
Chomsky is the most dangerous scholar in human history for thinking that the American people have had the wool pulled over their eyes. As the Great Seer once said, “The wool is the eyes.” I would love to see Hedges, Chomsky and Morris Berman on the same CSPAN Book TV panel together. Professor Berman, if you had an intellectual faceoff versus Chomsky and Hedges who would you want to have as your partner against them?
Sorry, cdn't run it (24-hr rule). Come back later, por favor.
Fran-
Someone who would throw handfuls of chopped liver. No, seriously, I'm not particularly good on my feet; I tend to think of the right response the next day (like George Costanza; remember "The Comeback"?). Right or wrong, I'm sure they would win. In any case, Noam isn't completely wrong regarding manufactured consent; it's just that this argument ignores the larger cultural picture.
Francois - I wouldn't call Chomsky "dangerous." He is by far the most important intellectual of the 20-21th century, IMHO. He is definitely smart enough to know America's in decline and he's well aware of how dangerous the conservative side of America is. But he chooses to be optimistic because being a declinists would be too depressive for him. He's said this himself. I think the reason why he blames the elites for the mess is because they are the ones with power and because he believes in the inmate goodness of human beings, due to his work on language. If the American population were really educated properly, America could indeed be an amazing place. The problem is ofc, that the elites are trying to educate the population better, look at the Bill Gate's foundation for instance, but the general population just wants money. They're not interested in a real education. But he takes this into account too and believes we should get rid of money so again, he's not stupid.
Anyways, I wouldn't put Hedges and Chomsky on the same level. I don't think Hedges is very smart, you can tell by his language skills, he put a plagiarized piece of work on one of his books for instance, so clearly he's not creative enough to come up with his own material. To me there is 3 types of intellectuals, the first ones are real geniuses like Chomsky or Dr Berman then there is the Hedges type who tries hard but is just not smart enough and then there is the pseudo-intellectuals like Pinker.
Well, no one has mentioned Hillary in awhile so here is another entry in the turkey parade. Nick Pemberton on Counterpunch does a bang up job of peeing on her shoes.
Pls send messages to most recent post; no one reads the older stuff. Thank you.
Sorrowful-
I wasn't aware that I was out of action, but then I'm fairly senile, so I don't remember much. (Maybe yr referring to my foray into the Yucatan a while ago, I dunno.)
Student-
Most impt intellectual of 20C was probably Heidegger, w/Wittgenstein and Sartre following close on his heels. Chomsky's theory of innate language has nothing to do w/innate goodness. He blames elites because then something can supposedly be done abt the situation (Hedges follows the same Marxist line), whereas if the problem lies w/the American people, then very little can be done abt it. Evidence that elites are trying to raise level of general education is vanishingly small, outside of computer literacy, perhaps. All indications are that their focus is on their wealth and power, not the level of awareness among the general population. Nor does Chomsky seriously believe we shd get rid of money; this is merely rhetorical flourish, if he even ever said such a thing.
Hedges may be a plagiarist, and not terribly creative, but he is definitely intelligent. There isn't anything wrong w/his language skills that I can see. He is certainly misguided, and at odds w/himself, but that isn't the same thing; that is *ontological* stupidity, as we've discussed on the blog. As for me, thanks, but I very much doubt that I'm a genius.
Let me talk abt Wafer protocol, since yr a Student, and since, as time passes, you don't seem to be catching on to what we do here. Wafers don't come up with a bunch of broad, inaccurate assertions dressed up to look like fact. They know the difference between opinion and argument, and they don't talk off the top of their heads. Instead, they think things thru b4 they start typing, and they provide evidence where possible. What I suggest is that you really think carefully b4 you post, perhaps for several days, and do research on the topic, i.e. come up with accurate statements that you document or substantiate. Which means, in your case, posting once a wk rather than once a day. I think this might help your own progress in Waferian practice. Thanks.
Sorry for length but just as with tech, it seems to me it's all about balance and moderation. There's no point trying to "ditch" tech altogether. One can live an authentic life while still checking facebook from time to time, and also smoking ;-)
Pls send messages to most recent post. No one reads the older stuff. Thank you. As for yr assertion that Bolton is a true idiot, and that this surely signals the end of America, I cdn't agree more. All of Trumpi's appointments have been jokes, more or less; Bolti is surely the far end of the spectrum in terms of demented advisers. From a declinist pt of view, however, he (Trumpi) cdn't be doing better.
What I propose is that all 172 Wafers descend on the Pentagon and picket it w/signs:
BOLTI IS A WIMP BOMB BOMBAY! WHERE ARE THE NUKES?
After all, he's supposed to be this tough guy, a hardliner, and thus far hasn't said boo. It's time for him to put some aggressive plans into action, and show the world he means business.
I don't know if anyone here has read the book, but "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" was fairly interesting. One of the central themes in the book is the idea of "Hypomania" and it's relation to "Malignant Personality Disorder." Trump clearly has a severe case of MPD if not outright sociopathy. But according to the psychiatrists, whenever a Malignant Narcissist feels threatened or "cornered", hypomania is dangerously exacerbated into something resembling psychosis. I knew about MPD, but the hypomania concept was new to me and I found it interesting. In their view, at any rate, Trump is already well on this path, and their consensus view is that it will absolutely get worse.
Trump was already showing alarming signs of hypomania many months ago. And now with the stress of Mueller, Stormy, and the 7 other women trying to take him down, he's spiraling ever further from normalcy. When you add Bolton to the equation, it's almost too much to contemplate. Think about that. We are now at the point where a global catastrophe is more likely than not. Has there ever been a more surreal moment in world history? I honestly don't see how they will be able to hold back on North Korea for 3 years, especially when you factor in Trump's unraveling psyche and Bolton's sinister mustache! Decline is fun, yes, but radiation poisoning is also a bit of a buzz-kill.
Dr Berman i have to disagree with you on the fact that some of the Generals will stop Trump if he orders a hit on NK. These clowns will go along with this fool. And with crack pot Bolton talking to him look out. But you should be happy the end for the USA is closer than anyone thinks.
This says it all, except I'm not so sure how much pity, if any, we actually deserve:
“Pity The Nation” Pity the nation whose people are sheep, and whose shepherds mislead them. Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced, and whose bigots haunt the airwaves. Pity the nation that raises not its voice, except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero and aims to rule the world with force and by torture. Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own and no other culture but its own. Pity the nation whose breath is money and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed. Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode and their freedoms to be washed away. My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.” Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti
I don't know much abt military protocol, but this general, whose name I forget, did say that the command was a chain, not a direct order, and that the brass were in the position to break the chain. And I don't think the end is immediately on the horizon, nor that nuclear war wd be the best path to our collapse. My best guess is the Roman model: a slow petering out of resources and influence. But then, it's only a guess.
A great poem, written in 2007, and a perfect description of our situation. But it's hard to pity a people who not only allow all that to happen to them, but support all of it enthusiastically. What they are getting is called karma. So much for 'manufactured consent'.
I think it unlikely that Trump would initiate military action against either China or Russia, much less issue any order involving nuclear weapons use.
What concerns me is the constant reinforcement of the idea that China is not just an economic competitor but an enemy. While conceding the existence of Chinese spies seeking to obtain business secrets from Western firms and of People’s Liberation Army hackers hacking away, I don’t see the Chinese initiating military action from their side either. Or, for that matter, the Russians.
What I see as possible is a military miscalculation. The Chinese have been building artificial islands in and around the Spratlys in the South China Sea, installing bases with airfields on them, and effectively establishing new Chinese territory with international freedom of navigation implications around these sites. See this article for brief background: http://www.janes.com/article/77921/china-built-new-bases-in-south-china-sea-us-pacom-commander-says. And their ships and ours are constantly passing close by one another in games of naval chicken.
If you can find a DVD of the movie or a cable channel carrying it, see The Bedford Incident (1965). Richard Widmark plays a US Navy destroyer captain chasing and hounding a Soviet sub around the North Atlantic like a Captain Ahab. Sidney Poitier plays an embarked journalist writing a piece on the Cold War as seen from the high seas, James MacArthur plays the ship’s gunnery officer, and Wally Cox is the sonarman who’s the ears of the ship over the course of days of cat and mouse. And an error in understanding has a bad end.
In the last month I quit trying to quit smoking. Got tired of paying 6$ a pack so I bought a machine that injects tobacco into a filtered tube. Much cheaper and I can smoke pipe tobacco which doesn't have the chemicals used in cigarettes to amplify the effects of nicotine. We had a 90 day inpatient state run treatment center for people with mental illness and substance abuse. They were adamant/vigilant/obsessed with treating nicotine 'addiction' as any other substance of abuse. I worked at the state hospital years ago and many of the patients sent to the center from their regular ward came back psychotic within just a few weeks. I'm not saying cessation of tobacco made them psychotic more likely it was the aggressive authoritarian structure of the place - it was expected of patients to turn in a peer if caught doing something against program rules - tx @ gunpoint, a patient could literally be sent back to prison if caught with cigarettes. I've come to the conclusion, based on nothing but my own experience, that something more than nicotine is in play in the brain of a smoker. Smoking is especially comforting to people with schizophrenia and bi-polar d/o (hence lower life expectancy) it's cruel to tell them they're just junkies in need of a fix. I'm reminded that in the concentration camps cigarettes were the major currency, people even gave up food for one. Why would anyone deny a person experiencing holocaust this small pleasure? Who can deny the holocaust of mental illness/substance today in 'Merica? I never smoke around others recognizing it is my choice, basic respect wld probably go further than anti smoking laws - a third offense for smoking on Pearl Street Mall in Boulder can be a 1000$ fine.
Police arrested Jedediah Ezekiel Fulton, 37, after he flew into a rage after employees at a Sutherlin, Oregon McDonald's restaurant declined to fill his order for 30 cheeseburgers. Fulton pulled down a banner and then started pummeling the golden arches themselves.
How many Americans even know there was an Iraq War? 86% can't find Iraq on a world map. What % believe that 9/11 was initiated by Saddam Hussein? Etc.
Jack-
Jesus, look at this guy's face. America's future, for sure. I'm hoping for a Jedediah/Shaneka ticket in 2020. When does she get outta jail, BTW? I'm thinking a contingent of Wafers need to be there to welcome her when she's released, get her a bacon cheeseburger and an AK-47.
Vida-
Speaking of faces, hava look at Pinker's. It actually resembles a horse's ass. This can't be a coincidence.
ps: Vida: Regarding Mishra on Peterson, I very much enjoyed his takedown of Jos Campbell, whom I always regarded as a romantic fascist and a disgusting human being. (And who really didn't know shit abt mythology) But if the present age has given us Pinker, it has also given us Peterson--mirror images of one another. I discussed the whole question of science vs. myth a few posts back; Mishra has gone overboard, and makes the mistake of thinking that all speculation on the unconscious and mythology necessarily results in Nazism. His dismissal of Jung, for example, is far too facile. As I said earlier, there are 2 forms of barbarism: a completely rational world, and a completely irrational one (Pinker, Peterson). I cover a lot of this territory in the Reenchantment bk and CTOS. We have not yet figured out how to navigate the terrain of life by balancing science and magic, and in each camp we find zealots who sadly have no truck with the other side. Ultimately, the prime enemy of human sanity is Manichaeanism, also known as fundamentalism (whether religious or scientific); and the need to go 'whole hog', so to speak, is a function of the emptiness inside us (CTOS ch. 1).
Dr Berman - Thanks for the advice, I'll take it. But you yourself give your opinions too, even right now you mentioned that the prospect of nuclear war is far fetched even though we have a clearly unstable man in the presidency but then when you thought Hillary was going to win, you thought nuclear war with Russia as a serious threat, so clearly, you are biased. I think I rather read Noam Chomsky's work than spend time on a blog where I'm not welcome so I won't be coming back this time. Also, a lot of the things you mentioned in Dark Ages America was wrong, for example, your take on Bretton Woods but you can't take criticism so it's impossible to mention them to you. I don't expect you to even read this far because again, you can't take criticism, but thanks for your writings anyways, even though not perfect, just like my opinions, they did teach me some stuff.
Well, are u guys ready for Stormy's interview about her relationship w/Trumpo? Maybe it'll turn out to be a real Thrilla in Vanilla. Trumpo's countless hypocrisies notwithstanding, at least sex isn't one of them. He doesn't seem to give a *damn* about American sexual customs or hang-ups. He seems to grasp that the one human constant is horniness, and that it's the engine that drives the world. God speed, Trumpo! May you continue to fuck like a rabbit. Now we just hafta figure out how to get Bolton laid, I fear.
I do think it's best that you go somewhere else, but in parting, let me point out the (once again) numerous errors in your post.
1. In talking abt future events, opinion is inevitable, since evidence is unavailable by definition. Having Trumpi in the W.H. does not mean nuclear war is inevitable, by a long shot. Your critique of me on this pt doesn't hold water. 2. I never said nuclear war w/Russia was a serious threat. I did say Hillary was a warmonger (true enuf), and that she and Putin were likely to butt heads; but this is hardly the same thing. Very muddled thinking on your part. 3. My analysis of Bretton Woods and its repeal in DAA is backed up by tons of evidence and yrs of research; just read the footnotes (ch. 2, notes 2-19 and passim). You, on the other hand, provided no evidence at all for my supposedly incorrect 'take' on BW. 4. I can take criticism easily, if it is rendered in a polite and conscientious way, and backed by evidence rather than mere assertion. In these cases, it leads to dialogue, which I certainly welcome on this blog. Unfortunately, critics typically show up here w/ad hominem attacks and insults; this, I'm not interested in. Once again, you just make an assertion, one that is very much off-base.
Finally, I'm sorry you were unwilling to rise to the challenge I set you, and took the easy path of doubling down, making me the problem instead of really hearing what I had to say--wh/was designed to help you. Had you done so (rose to the challenge), you cd have grown a lot intellectually, one week at a time. It shows real fear and cowardice on your part, that you posted yet another pile of inaccurate musings and then checked out. This is adolescence, not adulthood. I'm honestly embarrassed for you, and I suspect that the karmic road that lies ahead for you is going to be a pretty rocky one.
Godspeed, amigo. I don't know if Noam has a blog, but if so, I don't think he will be willing to indulge your tiresome barrages of unsubstantiated generalizations any more than I am.
Well, Trumpola managed to get Stormy for $130,000. Can Bolti come up w/this amt in hard cash, do you think? What does a National Security Adviser get paid, anyway? Bolti is so grotesque looking, that I think play-for-pay is the only route open to him. Waferettes: what do you say? Is this a guy you cd cozy up2?
Ahm gonna get me a pussy hat and make me a revolution! I wonder what all these folks who are marching to get gun legislation will do when the whole thing amounts to nothing, or close to it. Most of them are young people, and don't realize that this country is not moving in a direction favorable to them and their demands. How many will wake up at that pt, and instead of planning the next useless march, will start planning how to emigrate? Extremely few, I'm guessing. Americans of any age don't wake up. As Gore Vidal once said, We never learn anything; it's part of our charm.
Interesting how this works in a country with some authentic degree of citizen participation and common solidarity. I can also guarantee no Swiss are hoarding stockpiles of weapons in fear that Switzerland may turn into a dark tyranny and come for their guns.
Both sides of the argument seem so silly when you see how a real country operates.
@Kanye, the folks we despise, denigrate and destroy are where men eat like caballeros. http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20180101-is-oshi-palav-the-the-king-of-meals http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20171025-kyrgyzstans-bread-that-feeds-the-dead "If you can say one thing about Tajik culture, it’s that people prioritise making time for others. Walk through a city and people are sitting on benches, chatting and relaxing. Show up at a stranger’s door and your hosts will welcome you with not only warm smiles but also a table laden with food and endless amounts of tea. In many big, industrial cities in Europe, people are so busy that they have no time for sharing anything – time, food or even just talking with each other,” said Munira Shahidi, a Tajik professor in Dushanbe who has lived in the UK. “They’re always running from place to place. We’re saying you can be very busy, but you should not forget to share your time and space with others. The main tradition in our culture is sharing – to share food with the others and especially to go to those types of places and making palav for them,” Shahidi said. We believe that it is our human duty to share. Whether that is with friends, strangers, or even, in the case of peace palav, enemies."
In our fast food stuff-your-face un-culture there's no place for generosity or traditions like baking for your ancestors. http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20171220-the-iraq-city-that-opens-its-doors http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20170811-the-moroccan-dish-heated-by-a-hammam http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20180122-madfouna-moroccos-surprising-take-on-pizza
Radiolab segment about mind-body connection: http://www.radiolab.org/story/91524-where-am-i/
I feel like they touched on some of the themes in Coming to our Senses. ( I think so anyway, been a while since I read it).
When is the West finally going to dump mind-body dualism? Scientific studies have been showing for a while now that what we know as the human mind is mind/body together, not separate. But you wouldn't know it from listening to certain AI researchers, who think we could put a brain in a jar and still call it human.
I read the preface for your Mandarin edition of WAF (August 29, 2013 if other Wafers want to check it out). I agree that modern China appears to have embraced American style capitalism but my understanding is that Deng's embrace of capitalism was tactical not fundamental - an attempt to get China to catch up with the West. After Mao died, China was backward almost to the point of being medival and nothing beats raw capitalism in terms of its ability to rapidly enhance material conditions. Deng was well known for his pragmatism. Check out the change in pictures, it is staggering: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/10/china-pearl-river-delta-then-and-now-photographs
Couldn't one reasonably view China's embrace of capitalism much as your take on Japan: it appears they have embraced capitalism whole hog but it's fundamentally superficial. Like Japan, China has a deep and rich culture stretching back thousands of years. Chinese culture takes the long view with high value placed on education, hard work and family (pretty much the opposite of modern America).
China's embrace of capitalism has only been since 1978. Before that, it was the Cultural Revolution (anti-capitalism).
Anyway, my short take from my visit there was that they're going to kick our ass. In a negotiation, they'd take Trumpi to the cleaners.
You cd be rt. My problem is that unlike the case of Japan, I never visited the country, never studied it in depth, and certainly never wrote a bk abt it. So I can't say if the modern/medieval dynamic that operates in Japan, also operates in China.
Yrs ago, there was a movement known as Falun Gong, a mix of Buddhism and Taoism that was designed to get the Chinese in touch w/their own inner truth. The govt was not interest in people finding an inner authority, and clamped down on the movement pretty violently--practitioners were tortured, for example. What happened to it, and whether it still exists--I have no idea.
It made me think that everyone is going about guns ass backwards. It seems 3% of Americans own 1/2 of all the guns. I think they should be forced to give them up and have their guns and ammo redistributed to arm the rest of the population. Once that supply is exhausted then everyone who isn't armed should get one free gun and lots of ammo. Given that disrespect for others is ingrained in the culture that Time story would be replicated by millions and soon the survivors would be too few to impact the rest of the world.
Given that most nations now think America is the most dangerous country in the world you would think that is a legislative program the globe could unite behind.
P.S. My comment about John Bolton he is no hypocrite - he doesn't pretend to care about international law or diplomacy or non-Americans... the world is grist for his military mill. At least we won't have to listen to BS as he blows us all up.
Actually, I read that 50% of all American households have guns. But I do agree w/u that we need to arm the entire population. Everyone between ages 18 mos. and 94 yrs shd be equipped w/a small arsenal, including a nuclear device, and encouraged to use these weapons as often as possible. Anything else is un-American.
It doesn't matter what people march for - gun control, any number of the identity political movements or even free beer and even if any are successful, its all moot. As long as nothing is done about the climate crisis, the collapse of civilization is eminent. The Mortal Sin (pardon my Catholic upbringing) is not the extinction of the human species but the rest of the flora and fauna. Think about it, possibly the only planet in a vast universe where atoms have come together to form objects that actually have mobility, can communicate and propagate and one of the variety has the audacity hubris and stupidity to destroy it all. The Tao says - the sage stops those who know too much from going too far - we just can't stop them. over and out
According to many JKF assassination conspiracy theorists, Lansdale was in charge of the hit squad that took out JFK in Dallas. One in particular, a colonel named Fletcher Prouty, who knew Lansdale well, and was well-versed in Lansdale black operations, claimed that Lansdale was seen in Dallas the day of the assassination. He also wrote a book about this: "Secret Team: The CIA and it's Allies in Control of the United States and the World."
*Forensic Files -- It's disturbing how violent and sociopathic American society is. The one upside to technological progress is in forensics, particularly DNA technology.
*American Greed on CNBC -- It's sickening how enough is never enough for so many people. They need to have more. As Dr. Berman mentioned before, "more isn't a goal." Once you have more, then you want even more!
Favorite Wafer Movie:
*Office Space -- The daily banality and dread of the American office worker. Loved the ending where Peter found true happiness.
"We have not yet figured out how to navigate the terrain of life by balancing science and magic, and in each camp we find zealots who sadly have no truck with the other side. Ultimately, the prime enemy of human sanity is Manichaeanism, also known as fundamentalism (whether religious or scientific); and the need to go 'whole hog', so to speak, is a function of the emptiness inside us (CTOS ch. 1)."
Jaw-dropping insights like the above, tossed casually into a throwaway comment, are why we pay you, Professor Berman, the big bucks. Kudos!
That Vox article on JP is such a great example of the state of our MSM. Items taken entirely out of context, no attempt to treat the subject matter objectively, a simplistic style of writing and shallow argumentation that makes it easily digestible for a mixed audience, and, to boot, large photos of Stormy Daniels or the gossip/outrage du jour plastered in primary colors up and down the right-hand column.
I'm in college right now and my good lord some of this professors are a joke in their own way. A sense of entitlement here or lack of effort there or just downright laziness and somehow wonder why the students treat them like the utter garbage that they are. I find it rare to find at least one professor who enjoys the job of actually teaching. It's ridiculous and sad. Sorry if this sounds like a rant Mr. Berman, but I just had to release this frustration somehow.
I feel 4u, amigo. For me, it's a question of what I might get away with. If I could come to your college with a 6-pack of Bud Lite, drink it all down and then pee on the shoes of your profs, and there wd be no arrest or penalties, I'd be down there tomorrow. You wd need to video the whole thing, after wh/it cd go viral. These guys are just circling the drain.
Many thanks for the Graham Greene novel recommendation. I will read it.
MB, Wafers
Here's a coterie of conservative Texas women who voted for Trumpo and watched the Stormy interview. They don't believe her. Reason: God told them not to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nvCmc6Np1Q
Miles
ps: After MB finishes urinating on these profs for Bologna, he should travel to Dallas and storm this interview. MB should then take a couple of these gals into the bedroom, take off their clothes w/his teeth, and give them a go-round like they've never had...
Chris Hedges on the gig economy. There is a bit of "we must" language but overall I thought it was a good article. I wish Hedges would write like this more often.
The Global Happiness Report 2018 was just released: http://worldhappiness.report/ed/2018/
We not tired of winning yet as we are #18. We are also well behind our peer countries of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In fact, we are declining. So much so that an entire chapter of the report (Chapter 7) is dedicated to the statistical anomaly of the USA. It references the Easterlin Paradox: US income per capital has doubled since 1972 yet happiness has remained the same or even declined.
Money quote: "The U.S. is in the midst of a complex and worsening public-health crisis, involving epidemics of obesity, opioid addiction, and major depressive disorder that are all remarkable by global standards. The cumulative effect of these epidemics is the remarkable recent fall in overall life expectancy at birth (LEB), an event that is nearly unprecedented for a high-income country in peacetime.
We whole report is well reading. The statistics and analysis it presents is quite damning of the USA: our society and culture are quite literally toxic to human health.
But everyone shd adopt our way of life, at gunpt if nec.
I wish the UN would do a World Moron Report (WMR), in which scientists wd calculate the # of Morons Per Hectare (MPH) for each member nation. I'm guessing Denmark, e.g., would score something like 6.7, while the US wd be around 188.5.
BTW, I can't recall the name of the survey, but a few yrs ago there was some sort of happiness calculation, and the US ranked around 150.
Fifty years from now 1 in 3 people will live in slums. Is this a sign of 'Enlightenment Now'? Apocalypse Now would have been a more appropriate title for our times. But who would buy a book with such a conclusion? Regardless the bible predicts just that. https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/the-slum/episodes.html http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/religion-and-spirituality-apocalypse/76911.aspx
The profound question is of the flaws in the species itself. Inmendham is loathed for having the audacity -he doesn't pussyfoot- to condemn the motives n actions of the "noble" primate. Cognitive dissonance maybe the hallmark that prevents us from seeing the obvious. Not just turkeys, but too many turkeys shitting in their own nests all over the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh_Iyi6_pZw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_vIucSuTtk “As long as there are slaughter houses there will always be battlefields.” ― Leo Tolstoy
P.S. Progress as defined by data experts like Pinker and Friedman may not be what the humans want or even needs. If that was so, then why do we see so many smiling faces in the slum documentary? Without romanticizing poverty and squalor, compare that to the ghettos of Amerika. There is also more depression and suicide in poorer communities in affluent countries. Who is then the ultimate judge of happiness, aka subjective-wellbeing? Elena Poniatowska, a French-born Mexican author, suggested to ask yourself; Irrespective of statistics and what the pundits admonish us to feel, the way you feel is the way it is. Thus if you really feely believe that there's God, then there's God. The same for earth being round, flat or cuboid, and everything else and in between.
Regarding the bk I mentioned earlier, "Rise and Kill First," abt Israeli policy of targeted assassination, there's a very gd review of it in the NYTBR, March 11, by Kenneth Pollack. Basically he says that this policy, wh/is one pursued by the US as well, has been a waste of time (again, check out the docu "The Gatekeepers"--very honest Israeli film). It deals w/symptoms, not causes; and yet, both countries, he suggests, are addicted to it. It's like a drug, and both countries are unwilling to kick the habit and treat the disease. The farce continues...
Wudu: Ya gotta love Western medicine…it’s like we’re a car where you get the brakes fixed here, transmission there, etc. You’d think they’d get that there might be some overarching, connecting theme, but nooooo. Mind/body connection? Ha! They don’t even look at the body as a highly intelligent, integrated, functioning unit.
Emotions are where the mind and body meet…without a physical sensation all we would have is a sterile thought. How could, say, empathy be programmed? AI will create a totally psychopathic, robotic society, although we’ve done pretty good job so far in that direction; AI will just be the final nail in the coffin.
Wafers: Jordan Peterson, Chris Hedges, Joseph Campbell, et al., all have value. Even though they may be frauds at some level, their perspective is different from the mainstream and can start a newbie thinking outside the box. Hopefully you evolve from there, but everyone has to start somewhere.
An interesting read...https://evonomics.com/ecological-economics-superorganism-lisi-krall/
I particularly like:
"If you look at our evolutionary history you find that we evolved as human beings in a world where we were basically embedded in this vital, other-than-human world. And we came to know ourselves — what we were individually and how we fit in — through interaction with that varied, robust, non-human world. We as humans have a very long period of maturation. It takes us 20 years to reach maturity. That long stretch of maturation was timed and punctuated with deference to the non-human world. So that we became healthy human beings psychologically through this constant play between us and the non-human world. We came to know ourselves individually, to be able to see ourselves in the complexity of the world. Not to have to dominate, but to be one of many. And so the tragedy for us is that we have this very complicated evolutionary history where on the one hand we do best embedded in a robust other-than-human world. We do best, we’re healthiest in that kind of world. And yet we have this strange part of our social evolution now that has taken us on tract which is going to destroy every bit of the non-human world before we’re done. And so when I look at our present ecological crisis that’s how I see it. It’s a crisis of our own evolution."
As the article states further on I think we are "a species out of context"
Here is a story from Blacklisted News Updates that states that China has launched its Petro-Yuan and that this currency will allow countries subject to economic sanctions by the US and the EU to bypass using the US dollar. Could this be our Suez Moment!?
Cd well be, altho the threat that Ike made to the pound was felt immediately, wh/is why Macmillan backed off at Suez. But this move by China cd be a Suez Mooooooment, so to speak. The Chinese are smart; in terms of world hegemony, they think in terms of decades, laying one brick at a time. By mid-century, if not b4, we shall see the results of this crafty planning. Americans, on the other hand, are not very bright; their idea of history is what the MSM reports on a daily basis. "News," for them, is immediate. They get excited by things like (alleged) Russian influence on the last election, or Stormy Daniels. This difference in quality of intelligence will probably eventually constitute an external Suez Moment. The internal SM took place in Nov. 2016, and continues to roll out.
Long-term investment, to Americans, means things like imperial overstretch--e.g. getting bogged down in wars in the middle east, for nearly two decades; wars we cannot and will not win. (The Roman Empire model) It is centrifugal, dispersing power, whereas the Chinese are slowly and steadily accumulating power. Or to put it another way, they are wise and we are foolish.
I was a bit short-sighted, in the Twilight bk, because I focused on internal forces of disintegration, and not on external threats (such as 9/11, wh/happened the following year). I did, however, talk at length about misguided foreign policy in DAA. Whatever. The pt is, it is now clear that the American empire is getting battered from both sides, internal and external. Which means it's standing on very shaky legs. Time is relentlessly not on our side. I suspect the country will be unrecognizable by 2040, having turned into a shell of its former self. Other nations will not take us seriously (this is already happening), and they won't have to, any more.
“...After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of opinion that the great majority of people will always find these are moving impulses of our life.” “The Press Under A Free Government,”. [President Calvin Coolidge to the Society of American Newspaper Editors, January 17, 1925 in Washington, D.C.]
“Arizona’s Republican governor repeatedly encouraged Uber’s controversial experiment with autonomous cars in the state, enabling a secret testing program for self-driving vehicles with limited oversight from experts, according to hundreds of emails obtained by the Guardian. There is no way to know whether tougher regulations would have prevented the death of 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, who was struck by an Uber-owned Volvo while it was in self-driving mode on 19 March. Uber immediately suspended its self-driving vehicle testing in Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.”
Exclusive: Arizona governor and Uber kept self-driving program secret, emails reveal https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/28/uber-arizona-secret-self-driving-program-governor-doug-ducey?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
"Unless an employee did something illegal or dishonest to earn their bonus, I have no problem with their being paid any bonus that the business can support."
"America is about equal opportunity, not economic equality; that's a privilege reserved for socialists and communists."
"I don't begrudge wall street folks their salaries or their bonuses. They possess skills and abilities that do not exist within the environs of 'the average Am. households'"
I doubt that his rec has any chance of getting off the ground, but it's certainly a conversation worth having. I don' think FB has anything to do w/it, BTW.
@Brother--I just found out that my 13-year-old niece has been diagnosed with clinical anorexia and is likely going to have to be sent to a residential treatment facility in the near future. My brother is actually quite Waferish in his outlook and is a physician himself, while my niece was always been a very bright, outgoing girl who reads voraciously and whose parents never put any undue pressure on her to succeed. What's worse is her best friend had to be hospitalized for a month with a feeding tube shoved down her throat--my niece saw that happen AND even admits that she knows she has to eat, but as my brother explained it, something has been triggered in her brain that can never be untriggered. As he put it, "I look at he and that's not my daughter anymore, but I have to do everything I can or I'm gonna lose her."
So I ask myself, what could possibly cause such a thing, especially in a family that doesn't push the predominant hustling American values, and all I can come up with is that it doesn't matter how well you try and raise a kid these days, the sickness within our society can still infect them. My brother-in-law served in the air force with the father of one of the Columbine shooters, and he said that family also seemed normal as can be. America is terminally ill, but we'd rather die a slow, agonizing death than consider any form of cure which for most people would even lead to a much better life. How pathetic.
I neglected to mention that Chapter 6 is about Happiness in Latin America ('Happiness in Latin America has Social Foundation'); Latin America is the opposite of the USA: people are very happy there despite being relatively poor.
This is as you have taught us Professor and corroborates your experiences in Mexico.
Money quote (from the introduction): "Latin Americans report high happiness levels. Positive-affect scores are substantially high both in comparison to other countries in the world and to what income levels in the region would predict. Latin Americans’ evaluation of life is also above what income levels would predict. It is clear that there is more to life than income and that there is something to learn from the Latin American case about the drivers of happiness."
I have read similar reports on happiness in Scandinavian countries- low relative incomes, very high happiness. Both point to levels of society cohesion and a safety net- precisely the thing our culture and government is destroying.
We in the USA would rather be miserable, depressed and rich rather than poor and happy.
And very few in the US are rich! Where's the payoff? What I say 2u, Bill, and Prezi is that what we've got in the US is a high-quality environment w/high-quality people in it. Our future looks bright!
The daughter of some friends of mine - someone I used to teach English to - had it pretty bad. She wasn't extremely thin, but she was very lost. I would find it slightly easier to process if her home life was somehow topsy turvy, but her parents are exemplary, loving and kind. Anyway it takes a long time to turn it around but it's not impossible.
Sorry about your other thing too - it's been a shitty couple of weeks I'd venture.
Pls send messages to most recent post; no one reads the older stuff. Thanks. Anyway, you wrote the following:
"Hi Morris - any chance that you'd come back to the University of New Mexico to teach, at least for a semester? My wife is on the faculty here and we'd both like to get you back up here...but of course, this state doesn't have a proverbial pot to piss in...I'd be willing to twist some arms, though."
I guess you know that I taught at UNM 1994-95. Do we know each other? I'm so senile these days, I can't remember what I had for breakfast. In any case, I'm not really into doing the visiting prof. thing anymore, but wd not be opposed to giving a series of lectures, over a wk or 10 days, for example. I also have a close friend at the medical schl who might be able to help; perhaps yr wife knows him. The problem is, as you say, that UNM doesn't have bupkis (which literally means goat shit, in Yiddish), and wd probably offer me $100 tops. It's not likely, in short, but if you wanna give it a go, it's fine by me. Write me at mauricio@morrisberman.com, and we can discuss it further. I appreciate yr interest.
Wafers and Dr. B - Concerning anorexia and obesity, a book you might want to check out is Dr Joel Fuhrman's "Fast Food Genocide". He makes a pretty good case as to how many of the diseases (mental, emotional physical) are related to the mass consumption of fast food (he call Frankenfoods) by Americans. He also calls it the SAD or standard american diet. He puts together long term, high participation studies, historical facts and his own patients stories. Of course you folks might have already covered this book as I've been in the deep freeze for over a couple of years and have just thawed out and stopped by too see if Dr.Berman was logging- and happy day! it feels like coming home.
"My neighbor Larry" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcsloUSE4w4 http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/colorado-postman-delivers-mail-dead-mans-body-17679995
A colleague of mine from several years ago was found 17 days after he had died by his landlord when his rent was late. Nobody noticed his absence from office since he often worked from home. The same office of ours never forgot to send us emails when someone had a baby telling us of the exact weight and length of the newborn. We all congratulated in response by email of course. Although Joe lived his entire life in the same town with many relatives and friends in the area, apparently no one missed him. Similar story with another friend recently who attended to her dying father all by herself. Michelle had many relatives and coworkers in town and people she calls "friends," yet whenever I met her in the hospital I found her weeping by father's bed all alone. The hospital staff were like automatons doing procedures. At the funeral dinner however came many. Devoid of any emotions the guests seemed quite nonchalant.
I have hardly ever known any of my neighbors beside a casual distant hello-hi. I see no interaction between anyone in my opulent suburbia where the place looks like a nice cemetery in morbid silence. A newly arrived foreign family celebrating a reunion with loud music promptly got the police summoned to be reminded of the local "norms." When a house in the neighborhood burnt down, there were oglers, but nobody offered the family a shelter. Yet while the smoke was still bellowing there were already home repairmen and legal reps on the site -they monitor fire station radios- offering deals. They assured the distraught family that they were there to help.
@Bill Sorry to hear about your niece. It is very tough for young people to stay sane today.
I think people develop earlier than the infantalizing American culture realizes or accepts. If your niece is smart, she probably has some strong opinions about who she wants to become over the next decade or so. And where would she find those role models? I think most smart students can tell that their teachers are in a pretty limited social position, and can only take them so seriously. Outside of the family, who is there that shows her how to be a good person in this crazy world? The contact with a crazy society can be even harder if you have decent parents.
The fact is that there are very few exemplars out there for sensible people. Most of mine have come from foreign countries or earlier decades. When society cares more about their pets than about promoting good role models for their children, this is what you get.
I'm 10 years out of high school, and almost everybody I graduated with has gone to work for the same scam Midwestern company. These were people with very different interests, inclinations, and personalities, yet they all filtered into the same generic, do-nothing $40k a year corporate job. Their education could have been completely discarded and they could still functiion in this way. In our upper-middle class prep school, they were artists, social butterflies, mathematicians, but they are all now reduced to the same fake job title. It's that, or come back home after college (what I did).
A personality is something young people really can't afford these days.
The little animated film on YouTube that you recommended to DioGenes is a powerful addition to the Wafer canon. Thanks! It happened to remind me of a line in Lily Tomlin's (and Jane Wagner's) still-trenchant play, "The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe":
The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
My niece may be quite sick, but at least she is nowhere near THIS sick: Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz swamped with ‘perverted’ fan mail. "A woman from Chicago enclosed nine “suggestive” photos, while another from Texas commented on his “beautiful” eyes. An 18-year-old from New York included pink hearts in her letter, saying “I know you could use a good friend right now.” Another girl sent photos with Hello Kitty Snapchat filters." And to think of all the trouble I had getting dates when I was in high school. Next time I see an article from some dumbass "woke" feminist about why American women don't like nice guys I'm gonna puke.
@Dio--indeed, I was trying to imagine what caused my niece's behavior. Thinking back to my high school days, if I had to go through a metal detector each morning--then go to homeroom and get bombarded with commercial messages from the paid in house closed circuit channel--then go to class where the teachers are afraid to deviate from teaching material on the standardized tests--then go to lunch in a cafeteria sponsored by Taco Bell or some other fast food shithole--then get out of school only to find that all my classmates were too busy texting, snapchatting and taking selfies to actually TALK to me--all while constantly being told that every male stranger I see is a potential deadly rapist, I might have become anorexic myself.
I guess the Parkland message, at least for young men, is Go out and kill a few people, and you'll have yrself a whole mess of dates. I don't know of anything that spells We Have No Future more clearly than this.
As for yr niece: at least she didn't kill herself. I wonder what the teen suicide rate is these days, for the US. What a shitty life these kids hafta live.
Nice little animated film. Thanks for sharing MB. It reminds me of a quote I read a while ago, don't know who it's from: "the problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat".
Meanwhile,
Russians don't mince their words: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/29/putin-weinstein-accusers-prostitutes-says-russia-spokesman
Sheryl Sandberg (in case you wondered) is a douchebag. So much for "Leaning In"! https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/29/sheryl-sandberg-facebook-cambridge-analytica
There's a LOT of troubled nieces- take my sister-in-law's two daughters, for example. The oldest, aged 24, is totally clueless, enthralled with an odd fundamentalist "Christian" religion, and is probably saddled with over $100,000 in student loans. She recently switched graduate schools after failing mid-terms. The younger one, aged 20, is still working on her GED and lives with her boyfriend and two of his male friends. She was a "cutter," and has severely scarred arms and legs. We used to take the youngest to activities until she asked us what would happen if she jumped off the third balcony level at the New York State Theater.
Much of the pain caused by American capitalism, the American Dream, and the American Way of 'Life' is emotional and psychological, and hidden from public view. But it goes very deep, and is very widespread. I'm not sure of my source here--it may be Philip Slater in "The Pursuit of Loneliness"--but he called America a "psychological slum." And that was in 1970. So on the surface we run around yelling "We're No. 1!", when the reality is we're dying.
This is great news! Some recent research concluded "media exposure to Trump led participant to form a parasocial bond with Trump, which led them to believe his promises, disregard unpopular statements that he made, and have generally more positive evaluations of him."
Can we start a betting pool on which celebrity will be next? I was thinking Mark Z of Facebook, but he's gotten some bad press lately with selling everyone's information and all, maybe Jeff B of Amazon? People love shopping, they love that guy. Some Youtube personality maybe? Hard to know...
"While enjoying the friendliness, utility and all-encompassing convenience of social media, we have created a situation whereby the most powerful person in the world cannot be removed from office." https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/mark-zuckerberg-is-a-global-information-autocrat
Few things are certain in this world, but one is, absolutely: the US, for as long as it continues as a nation, will never resolve its racial problem. A short while ago, a guy named Stephon Clark was murdered by the Sacramento police in the front yard of his grandmother's house. He was carrying a cell phone; the cops mistook it for a gun. They shot him 20 times.
The chances that this killing will follow the usual pattern are extremely high. Here's how it goes:
1. Outrage among the black community. Marches, demonstrations, denunciations. 2. An internal review by the police dept. as to what happened. 3. The officers in question get off scot free, and remain on the force. 4. More demos, possible riots. 5. 3-4 mos. from now, very few Americans will be able to say who Stephon Clark was. Very few, at this pt, can identify names such as Dylan Roof or George Zimmerman or Eric Garner. 6. Rinse and repeat.
The quest to make everybody's life as miserable as possible continues; now coffee must carry cancer warnings. Hmmm, I wonder, are there no more pressing problems in America?
Doctor, It's considered almost de rigueur for young black men to walk on the streets of Philadelphia wearing head phones or engaged in some tech crap. How often I like to pull them aside and tell them, "There is a conscious war against young black men in this country and thus I recommend you be highly vigilant when walking outside. Therefore, put away your tech-crap and be more observant." Of course, I never get to say it since they'd more than likely consider me some old white guy who should mind his own business. Yes, the Florida shooter is getting all kinds of love letters reminding me of the words of Hillary Clinton: "America is great because the people are great." Finally, I have a moronic relative who hates any form of government assistance so never had health insurance. He is an independent painter. Last week he fell off a ladder,severely broke his arm and needs surgery. Oy.
Nutrition certainly isn't much of a 'science', since recommendations reverse themselves every 5-10 yrs or so. 1st you need vitamin C; then it turns out that taking vitamin C makes no difference. Then just wait a few yrs, and you need vitamin C. In the case of coffee, just 2 yrs ago it was announced that it was good for yr health, and the recommended dose was 2 cups/day. Now, it causes cancer. Just wait a few yrs for the 'experts' to tell us that the latest research reveals that coffee is life-enhancing, and that you shd drink at least 4 cups/day. Woody Allen parodied all this in the movie "Sleeper"--he wakes up 200 yrs from now, and doctors are saying that sprouts and organic food kill, and that if you want a long life you shd eat steak and hot fudge sundaes.
Morris: Nutrition is a science, but like everything else the first question to ask about any research is “who funded it?” or “cui bono?” The SAD is deadly, and one of the reasons why chronic illnesses are rampant. The way the average American eats is akin to building a skyscraper without a foundation, and yet doctors are taught bupkis (thanks for reminding me about the descriptive depth of Yiddish slang) about nutrition.
Hello Wafers: @Kanye: Hmm, I guy with a name like “Slutsky” oughtta know…
This article about Dylann Roof’s last dwelling place before his crime should be required reading for Wafers: An American void He showed them his gun. He spoke of doing ‘something crazy.’ Why do the friends Dylann Roof stayed with before the Charleston church shooting shrug about their inaction?
The comments following the article are predictable. Some note how these people lead hopeless lives and have no future, and they know it, while most comments are accusatory, saying they should get jobs, finish school, travel, etc. Others point out how they are treated differently than they would had they been black. I found those to be jarring, because while I read the article, questions about their race didn’t really occur to me. They just seemed like poor people in a bleak situation with no way out.
Pls send messages to most recent post; no one reads the older stuff. As for Peterson, you'll need to work thru discussions on previous posts, as we had all of this out some time ago. In any case, I agree w/some of his arguments, e.g. regarding political correctness and the need for mythology. Happy reading!
"and that if you want a long life you shd eat steak and hot fudge sundaes."
And smoke!: one of the best things you can do for your health! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFxksNcLfcA
It's a pretty well known fact in psychological circles that serial killers have groupies in this country and get loads of fan mail. Richard Ramirez (aka 'the Night Stalker') ended up marrying one: http://articles.latimes.com/1996-10-03/news/ls-49781_1_richard-ramirez
Lots of fan pages dedicated to the Columbine Killers and the Boston Bomber (just Google): https://medium.com/@mwcsdnwriting/tainted-love-a-brief-look-at-hybristophilia-and-columbiner-culture-10bcb3f8fa3e
Indeed, it is "The People' that makes this country great!
Hmm. I am hoping that universities across the country will eliminate all depts. of philosophy, humanities, English, languages, and so on, and fill in the consequent gaps with courses in welding, the preparation of chopped liver, incivility, hatred, callousness, Oprah, and downright indecency. Why in the world would a nation in a state of steady and irreversible collapse need critical thinking, the study of values, or any such nonsense anyway?
Last evening, I finished rereading Daniel Ellsberg's memoir, "Secrets." Ellsberg indicates that at given times in history, it is crucial to move from protest to resistance. He cites his own courage going up against the Power Elite, and the sacrifices of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War era as primary examples of this.
As I was reading, I was struck by the fact that *real* resistance, of a sort that we saw over Vietnam, is completely absent nowadays. Today's so-called resistance movement amounts to little more than an a photo op w/Miley Cyrus at an anti-gun rally. I mean pick yr issue: guns, deportations, bloated military budgets, state-sanctioned killings, militarized police forces, homeless kids, poverty, the racial problem (as MB indicates). We just don't see major revolts against this system anymore. We don't see people willing to die to resist great injustices. I've no desire to cause physical harm to others, of course, but truth be told, shit needs to burn. Who's gonna do it? And if somebody does, will the aggrieved join in? It's absolutely remarkable how much of an impact capitalism had on the psychology of Americans, and how little the Americans objected to all the bullshit that kept the system sustainable. In the process, we've destroyed our instincts for compassion, justice, and rebellion. We now find ourselves in a state of utter and complete detachment, psychologically numb to the cruelty that exists literally everywhere. Sad.
Many yrs ago I was interviewed by a radio station in Baltimore, and pointed out that Americans were not only ignorant of the oppression around them, but spineless: if they had any awareness of this, they just laid low. The program was actually a call-up show, and so I had to field questions from the public for abt half an hr. One fine old geezer called up, and he was hopping mad. "What about the unions in American history? The Depression riots? What about the Wobblies?" and so on. He sounded very Jewish. "Abe," I said, "you're absolutely right; only that was then, and this is now."
Somebody needs to write a bk called "From Informed, Courageous Dissent to Ignorant, Spineless Turkeys." Thus capitalism doth make cowards of us all...
As part of the upcoming summer quarter, EverGreen College will offer course HIST017B - History of the United State - Io [sic], surveying the political, economic, social, and intellectual development of the U.S. We are interested in inviting you to deliver a lecture on the role of cel-ray tonic on movements of significant activists of the 20th Century U.S. The College can offer a prorated stipend scaled according to the calculated "living wage" of the Seattle Metropolitan Area (currently $15/hour). Please respond at your earliest convenience. Sincerely, Cyrus "Bee" Horsechestnut Adjunct Cultural Coordinator SSHAPE-Social Sci., Humanities, Arts, & PE EverGreen College "Be All You Can Be!"
I was so excited about your invitation, in particular the stipend involved, that I lost control of my bowel functions. I.e., I pooped in my pants. I'm wondering if you can provide an additional stipend to cover the dry cleaning bill.
I shall be glad to discuss the historical impact of Cel-Ray Tonic, but also want to add something about the wonderful policy of political correctness being pursued at Evergreen. I mean, who needs a first-rate biologist like Bret Weinstein? Fuck 'im! Good that you guys doubled down and stuck to your moral guns, at least until a severe drop in applications suggested you might rethink the idea of the "Day of Absence." Well, whatever. You can count on me to lead the charge...to wherever you folks might be heading (I'm not entirely clear about that). I'll be wearing my pussy hat, in any case.
Hasta la revolucion permanente! And just keep doin' what yer doin'.
MB I've heard that flouride conspiracy keeps people docile, but fear, poverty, endless work, zero community, and overwhelming central force works too. We are completely dependent on the state.
Many do have options, but they're not terribly interested in living any other way. And I doubt there's anything in the water. I guess it's time for a new thread!
Here’s a brand new Interview in REASON magazine with Peven Stinker about his stinky book...
ReplyDeletehttps://reason.com/reasontv/2018/03/22/steven-pinker-enlightenment-now
Texas × 2 sized garbage island in Pacific Ocean
ReplyDeletehttp://m.theweek.com/speedreads/762425/garbage-island-floating-pacific-ocean-now-twice-size-texas
'Answer to the age old question why are we here?' George Carlin
https://youtu.be/rld0KDcan_w
My old friend Amerigo has been on life support for decades. In 2016 the family had a choice: which of two poisons should we put in the drip line? The family chose the most lethal one. Might as well get it over with sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteA brawl at a Memphis IHOP was caught on video.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.inquisitr.com/4832996/wwe-style-ihop-brawl-in-memphis-caught-on-video/
A woman assaults a McDonald’s employee for getting her breakfast sandwich order wrong.
https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/northshore/crime/2018/03/19/angry-woman-pushes-mcdonalds-employee-down-after-receiving-wrong-order/438717002/
We now have two major American political figures talking about beating each other up. Donald Trump and Joe Biden should battle it out in a cage match at the next WrestleMania.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/politics/donald-trump-joe-biden/index.html
Tom-
ReplyDeleteEven worse, the woman's grammar is terrible: "I didn't order no sausage biscuit." This is inexcusable, esp. given the high quality of education in the US. In any case, what we are seeing is degradation at every level of existence. Rejoice, O declinists! We are steeped in barbarism. (And this ain't no hyperbole.)
Pete-
My kinda family!
mb
Bolton makes Nikki Haley look like a 60's flower child. Even W thought he was nuts. It's thus clear there will be war against Iran probably not too long after Hair Trumpf decides to leave the nuclear accord in May. Did anyone see Hair and the Saudi prince? Hair showed cartoonish charts probably made by a nearby high school art class showing how much money the Saudis were spending on US arms. It was hustling non pareil. As wretched as the Saudi prince is, I almost felt sorry for him as he was displayed little more than a grubby buyer.
ReplyDeleteFound myself team teaching with a fellow retiree yesterday. I don't think through the entire day did he not say a sentence with the word "I" in it. The guy was in his late 60's and still needed to speak about himself entirely. Did he not grow even a smidgen from grade school?
It seems that everywhere we look these days there is an embarrassment of riches for declinist Wafers... for example Matt Taibbi's latest on Rolling Stone
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/taibbi-the-legacy-of-the-iraq-war-w518193
Up in Canada we have the same problem of bright intelligent people who can't see the wool that is their eyes... my family doctor of 35 years is a smart compassionate worldly person... I met him when we both worked in an inner city community health clinic so he is someone who tried to put his ideals into practice in his life.
Even he yearns for Obama and believes that the USA can be reformed if only the crude Trump could be replaced... no matter how many facts are cited to him about Obama's presidency and how Trump is just carrying on many parts of his legacy he just can't move from his hope and belief things can be improved.
I'm going to share the Taibbi article with him... but my diagnosis is it won't cut through his hopium addiction.
Sigh!
RE: Cambridge and Facebook
ReplyDeleteIn the context of Trumpi, mostly a nothingburger given that they ended their relationship with CA before the general election.
The bigger story rather seems to be about Facebook itself and the fact that this data harvesting was pioneered by Obama and FB in a collaborative effort; the O campaign even gave a TED talk about it.
By far the funniest part of this whole fiasco is Facebook recently banning CA from its platform. This is purely for optics, ofc, as in 2012, FB said verbatim that they allowed CA to engage with some of their more legally and ethically questionable tactics on its platform because they were "on our side." You couldn't make this stuff up.
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/977152009223725057
BTW, in the context of the absolute onslaught of MSM propaganda and misleading reporting over the past year or so, how many are aware that one of the last things Obama did in office was to repeal Smith-Mundt? Just a coincidence, surely.
Trans-
ReplyDeleteLots of abbreviations and refs that are hard to follow. Perhaps clarify in future? Thanks.
Anjin-
Good essay, but Matt is claiming that most Americans saw thru the 2003 war on Iraq, i.e., what the govt was up to, at the time. I doubt they do even today. I was still lvg in the US in 2003, and my memory of those days is v. different. Most (all?) of the 9/11 attackers were Saudis, but it was very easy to convince the public that Iraq was the real enemy; or to give the impression that the enemy could be lumped into one big category called Ay-rabs, no differentiation necessary. How often do I hafta say it? The American people are simply not very bright. They are not critical thinkers; they can be sold any pile of shit, and have been repeatedly. The enemy of the US is indeed US--i.e., us.
Dan-
In other cultures, the elderly are a source of wisdom because they have, over the yrs, indeed become wise. When I lived in the US, I talked with lots of older folks--in my apt. bldg. in DC, for example--and discovered that the elderly in America have no wisdom at all; they are basically vegetables, and many are simply fools.
mb
@Bill Hicks: I'm really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. That said, go kick cancers ass again. I'm pulling for you.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, you wouldn't know on CNN that Trump has appointed an incredibly dangerous and unqualified man as his national security adviser. No, they're running 24/7 with this ex-Playboy model who had an affair with the president. Because, why? Why does this matter? What's the story here? Trump's a womanizer? Who knew.
Over at Salon the other day I saw that Stormy Daniels is now a feminist hero. We've never discussed that rag on this blog but we should. That site is a prog douche-parade if I ever saw one.
Crow-
ReplyDeleteThe thing abt Trumpi is that he never disappts. After a short lull of nothing, he'll come out w/something even more damaging than b4. Bolton is the latest, and I for one am so happy abt this apptment I'm practically fainting w/joy. Then just wait a couple of mos., and there will be yet another Trumpian disaster. This man is fulfilling his historical destiny, and (hopefully) nothing can stop him now. Meanwhile, the country is filled with prog-douchebag-parades and antiprog-douchebag-parades. Also an appropriate scenario for the End of Days. To see a trashy, stupid nation writhing in its death throes is not something given to every historian to witness. I tell ya, I'm blessed, as are we all. Go, Bolton! Kill! Destroy! You show 'em who's boss!
mb
@ Bill Hicks. Bill, I hope you win your fight.
ReplyDeleteps: With Bolti at the helm, my dream of the Pentagon nuking Toronto and Paris might just come to pass. (He needs to be given the nuclear codes so he doesn't hafta consult Trumpi or anyone else.) Of course, he shd start with N. Korea, aiming at Kim's haircut. Then, after Toronto and Paris, perhaps some selected targets in the US, such as Peoria and Sacramento. Finally, why not DC itself? He cd send a nuclear missile directly to his moustache, which wd obviate the need for Robt Mueller and Stormy Daniels, just for starters. I tell ya, this is looking gd.
ReplyDeleteBolti: We salute you!
mb
From Kunstler's latest, "The Unspooling":
ReplyDeleteThe ominous silence enveloping the DOJ the week after Andrew McCabe’s firing — and before the release of the FBI Inspector General’s report — suggests to me that a grand jury is about to convene and indictments are in process, not necessarily from Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s office. The evidence already publicly aired about FBI machinations and interventions on behalf of Hillary Clinton and against Donald Trump looks bad from any angle, and the wonder was that it took so long for anyone at the agency to answer for it.
McCabe is gone from office and apparently hung out to dry on the recommendation of his own colleagues.... Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr, have been sent to the FBI study hall pending some other shoes dropping in a grand jury room. James Comey is hustling a book he slapped together to manage the optics of his own legal predicament (evidently, lying to a congressional committee)....
Tendrils of evidence point to a coordinated campaign that included the Obama White House and the Democratic National Committee starring Hillary Clinton. Robert Mueller even comes into the picture both at the Uranium One end of the story and the other end concerning the activities of his old friend, Mr. Comey. Most tellingly of all, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was not shoved out of office but remains shrouded in silence and mystery as this melodrama plays out, tick, tick, tick.
Some serious turkey shit may be about to hit the fan.
ps2: In a wk or so, this blog will celebrate its 12th anniversary. Seems hard to believe. In merely a dozen yrs, Waferdom has nearly taken over the world. In that time, the blog has had--count 'em!--more than 3.3 million hits. In the face of bullshit news and the torrent of nonsense that constitutes 'information' in the US, we are an unwavering flame of truth and integrity. Wafers, pls celebrate w/me. Nothing can stop us now!
ReplyDeletemb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteThe key thing about Trump is that people tend to assume that he's basically like other human beings. Big mistake! He will do whatever he feels he must do to protect his sense of preeminence, and it doesn't matter who gets hurt in the process. In effect, people do not matter, laws do not matter, democracy doesn't matter, nothing matters to Trump. As a conman and a sociopath, he's fundamentally not human and lacks the underlying basic structure of empathy that we all have. There's absolutely nothing he can do that would surprise me in the least, because I know that he is fundamentally different form normal people.
Miles
shen-
ReplyDeleteTrue, but none of this really matters. We might as well have it out, but the endless 'news' abt Hillary, Mueller, the DNC, Russian influence etc. is just a distraction from the real issues, which involve relations of power, the disintegration of capitalism, the collapse of the US, our inability to win even small wars, the corruption of every major American institution, the existence of a drugged, ignorant, wigged-out population, and so on. If you want distraction, read the NYT or WashPost. If you want analysis of structural problems, if you want to live in reality and not in Turkeyville, you come to this blog.
mb
Another great one from Andrew Sullivan:
ReplyDeletehttp://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/america-takes-the-next-step-toward-tyranny.html
Money quote: "The prism is essentially how a late-stage democracy, dripping with decadence and corruption, with elites dedicated primarily to enriching themselves, and a people well past any kind of civic virtue, morphs so easily into tyranny." Yep, we're well on our way now, past the point of no return, and Trumpi just stepped on the gas by appointing Bolton Soon, we'll be at war with North Korea and Iran and possibly China and the EU...get ready for $300 oil, multi-trillion dollar deficits and another great depression.
I must confess I think about life at Powder Mountain. It must be hell. I'm sure it is 100% white with plenty of Tesla SUVs at the valet. Can you imagine who your neighbors are and what they are like as people? All conversations are non-stop bragging and trying to 'one-up' each other. Like San Francisco these days, Powder Mountain is a status good. You buy in so you can brag to your 'friends' that you are a member of the 'club'. I'm sure they will constantly try to up-sell you experiencial goods such as lectures by cutting edge thinkers (Jordan Peterson and Steven Pinker- perhaps they will even debate!) or skiing with dolphins. All play on FOMO (fear of missing out) - existential millennial angst. That's really what Instagram and Wastebook are for. The only way to win is not to play.
Re: McDonald's woman. Not only is her grammar bad, her diction is also poor. i had to listen 3x to understand what exactly she was saying. The colonists are murdering the Queen's English. Sad!
BrotherMaynard
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm not sure Trumpi is all that different from most Americans, whose life is abt hustling and who have the empathy of an armadillo. See post from Bro Maynard, e.g.; this is what America is about.
mb
Dear Dr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteI can't blame everything on the Turkeys since the powerful brainwashing all-american media got them by the jewels since they were toddlers. Turkeys were so protective of their media - they kept consuming their favorite version of fake news and thinking they had freedom of speech in their country. In turn, these media kept congratulating the turkeys for their dead-end way of life. I decided to learn a foreign language (French) so that I could get information from non-anglophone sources.
Best,
Matt
Matt-
ReplyDeleteChomsky's theory of manufactured consent only partially correct, n'est-ce pas? There have always been ways to get around the brainwashing, but Americans never had any interest, because what they wanted to do was hustle and make $. WAF documents the counter-tradition that existed from earliest days, but the Turkeys just ignored it--altho they didn't have to. They are heavily to blame, and need to be vigorously punished; which is happening now, except they are too stupid to realize it. They have merde dans la tete, tu comprends? But note that it doesn't require foreign-language sources to see thru the American Dream; not at all.
mb
Shen - Are you talking about Nunes's memo? Because that was straight up propaganda from the GOP. On Hillary and Obama not wanting Trump to win, what a surprise! Regardless, like Dr Berman said, the behind the scene politics really don't matter. People who liked Trump still like him, people who hate him still hate him. That pornstars are suing Trump or that Hillary/Obama did some sketchy things don't matter. Everything is falling apart, the trade war with China is just starting! We might be at the start of another cold war! And let me tell you, we will not win this one, Russia after WWII had just lost 30 million men and they were no where near as powerful as China is today but still gave the USA a fight, China will mop the floor with us even if it takes them 1-5 decades. Just so you understand the competition, the average Chinese student at a decent Chinese university would mop the floor with the top students at Harvard/Princeton/etc but, actually, the top students there are probably Chinese to begin with. Trump is also successfully getting rid of anyone that stands up to him so we might soon have a dictator!
ReplyDeleteBro - I think you're right about oil, Trump is doing everything he said he was going to do, no reason to think he won't attack Iran. I wonder if Israel will survive that war, the entire Middle East is ready unite to destroy them at this point. If America collapses and can't provide support, they definitely can't survive. But hey, if oil goes up maybe Venezuela makes a comeback! I always wanted to visit Venezuela, I say there is a 90% chance it's more livable than America even now.
Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:
ReplyDeletePaul Craig Roberts bemoans Trump's choice of John Bolton as national security advisor after stating the desirability of good relations with Russia. Roberts was grasping for anything positive from Trump after the 2016 election - I think he is admitting that Trump's declarations often should not be believed. For peace with Russia or any other country outside of US and EU domination, Bolton is the worst possible choice. Hopefully we get through the Trump presidency without a nuclear war.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/03/23/bolton-bad-gets/
Stupid Higher Education Tricks: A University of Wisconsin campus pushes plan to drop 13 majors — including English, history and philosophy. Because after all, who needs to speak & write properly, or to NOT think everything worthwhile began with douchebag Obama's "historic" election or how to think logically? In fact, it's now a "microagression" to tell an American college student that they are a simple-minded snowflake who doesn't know fuck all.
ReplyDeleteOr that they are incapable of even preparing a simple meal: Three American Exchange Students in Italy Try to Boil Pasta Without Adding Water--Promptly Start a Fire.
Number of stories MSDNC has run on the Yemen genocide since 7/2/17 = 0. Keep on collecting your millions in fucking blood money, Rachel.
I hereby nominate Issac Casperson to be the next President of the United States. His main qualification is right there is his mugshot--what better person to replace a figurative clown as president than a literal one?
@Dan, the "I" vs. "we" is what also differentiates their cultural artifacts like Raku vs. Gun, Lao-Tzu vs. Chris-Kyle, and their inevitable consequences.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/04/opinion/why-are-some-cultures-more-individualistic-than-others.html
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/11/opinion/journal-the-rambo-culture.html
"...April 29, 1995, the author of "The Turner Diaries," William Pierce, gave an elaborate, rather erudite radio address, in which he predicted that the resentment generated among "normal Americans" by Jews, politicians, homosexuals, minorities and "female executives" would lead to more terrorism "on a scale that the world has never seen before.""
@Anjin, Maher and Hicks both called Amerikns cowards. They way the goons slaughtered the Indians was just a prelude...
https://youtu.be/0AVQxwQULVg?t=19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-NKWNFWbCs
The epitaph of Empire Amerika will be written the vow fulfilled by Abu Usama, 'I promised you endless wars'.
http://www.businessinsider.com/bin-ladens-911-roi-a-25140001-return-and-counting-2011-5
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/20/heres-osama-bin-ladens-letter-to-the-american-people/
"How will you win a war whose leaders are pessimistic and whose soldiers are committing suicide? If fear enters the hearts of men, winning the war becomes impossible. How will you win a war whose cost is like a hurricane blowing violently at your economy and weakening your dollar?"
Belman-nim & Esteemed Wafers,
ReplyDeleteI cannot now recall if you cite him much in your work, Dr. Berman, but of late I've been reading Sinclair Lewis' novel "Babbitt." Truly a proto-Waferian masterpiece from way back in 1922. Here's a passage that I feel resonates with the past few posts; in it, Lewis describes the consensus American ideal:
"To them, the Romantic Hero was no longer the knight, the wandering poet, the cowpuncher, the aviator, nor the brave young district attorney, but the great sales manager, who had an Analysis of Merchandizing Problems on his glass-topped desk, whose title of nobility was 'Go-getter,' and who devoted himself and all his young samurai to the cosmic purpose of Selling - not of selling anything in particular, for or to anybody in particular, but pure Selling."
Is that spot on, or what?
Doka-
ReplyDeleteIn a similar vein, Thos Wolfe, "Look Homeward, Wafer."
Esca-
Excellent letter from Osama, of course ignored at our peril. No dummy, he. On the other hand, American people, military, govt, and everyone else here: dog excrements in their heads. All Osama did on 9/11 was light the fuse; the rest has been our own self-destruction. He knew what he was talking abt.
mb
WAFER Matt S. Preaching to choir: MSM was propaganda and psy ops. There are many sources of real news and critical thinking commentary en anglais.
ReplyDeleteToutefois, Le Monde, Le Canard (c'est drole), ou, en Allemagne, Die Zeit, Die Rheinpfalz, etc.. offer a much higher standard and writing level than what brain-dead americans thk as "news."
I, personally, LOVE the fact that the us "news" is filled with very impt matters such as Russian "influence," porno stars, storm-tracker obcessions, and useful idiots parroting how great america is.
Onward and downward!
Ah... Frank Rich, from the times when I read the NY Times and, dare I say, the NY Times could still be read without vomiting. I remember when he announced he was leaving the NY Times; I couldn't fully understand why, but I felt it was slightly ominous.
ReplyDeleteNow, moved by nostalgia, I can't help reminiscing about the time when the US still had some appeal, even if it was the appeal of a clever prostitute that covers the bruises left by her pimp with skillfully applied make-up. The time when what Dr Berman called "the alternative tradition" still had some space in public life... The era of film noir, where movies were still made with some basis in reality. Or even later, when a children's cartoon could still be a subtly anti-war work of art. Why, even in the first Superman movie, the villain was a rich guy that wanted to make a killing with "the greatest real-estate swindle of all time"!
O America, America! Why have you killed your soul? Could it have been different? Like Harry Haller, did you have to turn all the talent that you were given into a clinical history? Now you're time is truly up and you do nothing but rage against the dying of the light.
Jim Carrey unleashing his powerful and provocative paintings to show the Absurdity of modern-day America.
ReplyDeletehttps://usat.ly/2FYzhl7
American universities with Liberal Arts careers that don't have Shakespeare in their programs.
ReplyDeleteBolton is Secretary of Defense. Great!
I wonder why Americans don't take on the streets right now and ask for Omarosa to go back in the White House as Secretary of the Treasury?
Manol-
ReplyDeleteBolton is National Security Adviser. Secy of Defense is Jas Mattis. When Americans take to the streets, it's abt theater, not abt reality.
mb
Esca,
ReplyDeleteTO paraphrase the George Harrison song, "All through the day, I me mine, I me mine, I me mine." I recall reading somewhere that only individuals like Socrates or Jesus are allowed to use "I". In other words, speaking about yourself is something you earn through hard work. Otherwise, you are too worthless and incomplete a soul to speak about yourself. This guy was your typical brain dead American male full of boring stories-saving up for a cruise, making home improvements (my perennial favorite), and all the money he was able to save enrolling his son in a state college. Why do people assume others are interested in someone's kid?
Manol and Bill,
Yesterday, I substituted in a high school English class. As they handed in their work I noticed something that I actually wasn't surprised to see. All work was printed, no one did cursive writing. This stems from a few years ago when Core Curriculum denigrated cursive handwriting so it is no longer taught. When I asked the students if anyone could write cursive not a hand went up. Only one girl said she had bought a book how to do it. I could have cried. I mean is there not a better example of a country committed suicide. I told the class I had taught English in northern Japan and those students could write cursive and English was not even their first language! The reaction I got was again typical of your average brain dead American-bovine. I mean why not just raze Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell if we have no interest in tradition? How embarrassing it will be if and when these students meet foreigners who can write cursive. Mute point. Few of these students will have little of any contact with foreigners except as waiters and chambermaids.
On America's upcoming Retail Apocalypse
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-retail-debt/
American men eat like boys. Literally.
https://melmagazine.com/the-men-who-eat-like-boys-c72c39da18bf
Meanwhile Progs and the Silicon Valley Gang are focused on very impt matters.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/23/elon-musk-delete-facebook-spacex-tesla-mark-zuckerberg
Go Progs!
Kanye
Dr. B:
ReplyDeleteA school district in PA has provided buckets of rocks for kids to defend themselves as a last resort-
http://wnep.com/2018/03/22/superintendent-says-students-are-armed-with-rocks-in-case-of-a-school-shooting/
All I can say about the kids not knowing cursive or not knowing Shakespeare is that the more ignorant and uncultured you are the easier you are to control. I remember when I found out about Operation Northwoods and later when I found out Nixon deliberately went behind LBJ's back to frustrate his efforts to win the war so he could win the election I told everyone I knew the first name of. All I could get was blank stares. The American people are dumb as bricks and like Dr. Berman says they are not as innocent as one may think. Nothing shocks them anymore so there are problably things they know or see every day that are bad and immoral b ut they just do not care or think they gain from it. I mean, in Northwoods, the government was will to kill people on fake pretenses to start a war, and Nixon got even more soldiers killed just so he could beat Humphrey.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.gq.com/story/dylann-roof-making-of-an-american-terrorist
ReplyDeleteLook into those eyes. All American.
Film rec: "The Post." How different the US was in 1971 from today.
ReplyDeletemb
Shen, thanks for posting the item from Kunstler. He's another one who seems to get it (IMO), and I've followed him since reading Geog. of Nowhere some 15 yrs ago.
ReplyDeleteRE: the Nunes memo, it was devastating in itself, but only the tip of the iceberg; it's the precursor to the coming OIG report.
Have never understood the media sainthood of Mr. Rogers. Did he accomplish anything more than reassure stressed and anxious housewives television was a safe and educational place to drop off their kids. Isn't this the beginning of manufactured consent? But MB is right there are workarounds if you aren't too fat, lazy, and happy.
ReplyDeleteThank you WAFERS and this blog. Truly appreciate the insight and critical thinking. Cannot talk to really anyone in the empire about anything substantive; including, family, "friends," etc...it's as if they're lobotomized, brainwashed, and/or in a perpetual daze.
ReplyDeleteTold them concrete plans/time frame of emigration, and met with--"it's the same everywhere," "so what, if people want to work all the time, that's their choice," "be careful," "grass is always greener-cliches," etc...These are folks with "college" degrees, and doctorates.
americans presented a fixed action pattern when met with truths/reality. The minute one discusses issues such as endless hustling, imperialism, false flags, or employment at will, etc...met with glazed eyes, phone diddling, change topic, and 'stop being negative."
Counting down the days until we escape this shit hole. Truly--a stranger in a strange land.
ReplyDelete“The man—Trump, the president of the United States—is a mess. He has no balls. He hasn’t got one ball. He literally has nothing.”
— Neil Young
https://www.thedailybeast.com/neil-young-sounds-off-on-trump-he-has-no-balls
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/neil-young-donald-trump-interview_us_5ab605cee4b054d118e2e248
Prez-
ReplyDeleteBritish WW2 song, to tune of Colonel Bogey March:
Hitler, he had just one ball,
Goering, had two but very small,
Himmler, was very similar,
And Goebbels had no balls at all.
Mike-
Yr describing 99% of the American public, maybe more. And I have felt like a stranger in a strange land since I was 8.
This blog, of course, is a home/haven for such strangers. Sometimes, I just sit around thinking of how spiritually evolved we are, and I get so excited I pass out.
mb
I really feel for the Parkland kids and all the marchers today. I really do. It makes me sad. All the energy and talent of our youth reduced to protesting so that they won't be murdered at school. That this is an uphill battle tells you what a rancid, open sewer of a society we are (as if electing Trumpi didn't already confirm that).
ReplyDeleteThis country cannot be saved. Prognosis is terminal. The cancer of brutal and cruel lassie faire capitalism (the Hobbesian society of all against all) is in our bones and brain. No one can stop it; many have tried. Moreover, at this point, the country is not at all worth saving. Save for junk food, fast food, suburban sprawl, gas guzzling SUVs, reality tee vee, Walmart and Wastebook? No thanks.
I recall all the energy of our youth, artists and dreamers of the 60's trying to stop Vietnam. The country responded by electing Nixon, bombing Cambodia (triggering genocide), and killing some of them at Kent State.
Capitalism then transformed the idealistic baby boomers of the 60's into the yuppies of the go-go 80's. Sigh.
Plus ca change.
BrotherMaynard
@Dan
ReplyDeleteI'm going to disagree with you on cursive. I remember learning all the cursive instruction over years of parochial school, and by high school everybody had abandoned it or just incorporated it into some other kind of personal script. After all, the thing about handwriting is that it *is* personal, so why bother learning all these nuances of a calligraphy?
I would settle for people that are able to paragraph out a logically coherent email.
The drive for cursive seems to be some kind of conservative thing that's a bit sentimental. Just teach a section of calligraphy and teach kids how to write out fine Greek, Chinese, and Latin characters, that would be cool and develop culture and a sense of sensory motor skills. But I'm not going to say that printing per se is the a sign of decline (especially on a school paper, which should be legible first and foremost).
Go look at the personal letters of intelligent, accomplished people in the early 20th century- they probably didn't follow their third grade cursive rules.
Dr. Zuckerstien's Monster: "...unlike Dr. Frankenstein, you’re still alive; indeed, you’re young and rich enough to start over, and to take care of your employees while they find other work. Actually, given that your business model amounts to theft, subsidizing the repatriation of your workforce would be a nice start in making reparations. So think about it, dude. No charge for the advice: put that monster on an ice floe and shove him off to the Arctic while it’s still frozen. It’s the least you could do. It might even make you feel better." In other words, Zuckershmuck should stop being a turkey, become a human being and kill his creation...HIGHLY unlikely.
ReplyDeleteFlorida Man Arrested For Tossing A Bomb Into Yard To Kill Man’s Chickens. Scott (“Spider”) Wegener, 55, is accused of creating an IED using a Canadian Mist bottle, black powder and a cannon fuse to try to kill another man’s chickens. The attack was reportedly due to a disagreement over a BB gun.
Mom crashed car to prove to kids God is real. One of Warren’s daughters told police she thinks her mom did it on purpose. “…Her eyes (were) closed and she was saying, ‘blah, blah, blah, I love God,’” the girl said. “She didn’t want us to just have a car accident. She wanted us to know that God is real.”
Boy, do I ever feel like a stranger in a strange land too! It feels like a bizarro world out there, yet it is all so normal. I had a long, wonderful discussion with my 31-year old son the other day about some of this stuff. He is the most intelligent, thoughtful, and Wafer-ish person I know. While he understood much of what I was saying about technology, society, etc., he also is way more willing than I to accept things like smartphones and social media as just the way people do things nowadays. Privacy or dependence on machines, apps, and corporations (like Facebook and Google) is not much of a worry for him or apparently 99.9% of the people out there. His girlfriend is a super power user of a smartphone, it being the vehicle for doing her job as an environmental activist and organizer, and she has essentially given up on the idea of privacy (this also being the viewpoint of the person who sold the latest phone to her). This recent Facebook kerfluffle with Cambridge Analytica and the #deletefacebook thing maybe shows that some people still care about privacy, but my guess is that 99.9% of Facebook users either don't care, or they are so addicted to it that they can't quit, or it has become so ingrained into how things are done that they can't extricate themselves from it even if they wanted to. I have the sense that essentially nobody thinks critically about these issues, and if you try to discuss them, you have to tread so lightly that the point is lost. Sigh. I really have no hope for this country or the world. Thanks for the encouragement from this blog.
ReplyDeleteBelman-nim,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your link re: "Foreign Babes in Beijing" (great title!); most China ex-pats capable of critical thought tend toward DeWoskin's perspective, in my experience. That said, the sheer am't of techno-douchebaggery and rudeness here is appalling and far more dystopian than anything the gov't is up to. Hard to see where it ends, really, altho there does seem to be a resurgence of interest in classical Chinese art and literature among some of my students. Also, there might be a (hopefully growing) trend toward leaving "progress" behind; at least some millenial Chinese seem to be opting for something like Dual Process. There's a fantastic, short documentary about this trend called "Summoning the Recluse" which is quite worth a watch if you'd like a different kind of perspective, from the young, on China's headlong rush into post-modernity. Of course, the millenials featured in the doc are far, far from the norm, but perhaps Final American Death will also spell the doom for its more misguided, currently globalized "values"?
Summoning the Recluse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd_PClI4Ut0
Mike R.,
A hearty congrats on your impending escape. Believe me when I say, you’ll never, ever look back.
Fecalation:
ReplyDeleteLift the lid
Take a dump
Peek between, you'll see
The mind of Donald Trump
Miles
Doka-
ReplyDeleteYou might wanna assign yr students the Mandarin edition of WAF. It was published several years ago by the Beijing World Publishing Co. I saw very little in the way of royalties, so I assume there are pirated editions floating around that they can buy for a few renminbi. The Preface provides a prediction regarding China that may sober them up. Great little video, BTW.
David-
The privacy issue is only 1 aspect of the damage, and not really the most pernicious. We have listed on this blog numerous articles documenting the deleterious social and psychological effects of cell phones; they may even cause brain damage. Also check out the work of Sherry Turkle in this regard, and essay
#3 of AWTY.
mb
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can compose a song to the tune of "Fascination." Long b4 Trumpi was elected, I predicted that the future of the US lay deep inside Kim's buttocks. As w/my previous predictions, this also proved to be true. To which we can now add Bolti. I can't wait to hear his 1st public statement. Will he nuke Nairobi? Only time will tell.
mb
jj-
ReplyDeleteCdn't run it; too long. Pls compress and re-send. Thank you.
mb
Wafers-
I think it's time to bring back Reince Priebus. A name like that shdn't go to waste.
Chomsky: 'The Republican Party Is the Most Dangerous Organization in Human History'
ReplyDeleteThe renowned linguist and cognitive scientist on where we stand as an economy, as a country, and as human beings.
https://www.alternet.org/visions/chomsky-republican-party-most-dangerous-organization-human-history
ps: David: It's an impt question, whether this pernicious technology is here to stay, or whether we shall dump it for an authentic life. It may be similar to smoking: for decades, it was cool and everyone did it. It also took a decades-long campaign to ban it from public and many private places, which ultimately succeeded. There was a huge lit showing how destructive it was, and finally it began to be regarded as stupid rather than cool. The same thing might happen with cell phones, as the lit on how unhealthy the usage is, mounts. When I see people on these things, they look like complete assholes to me; hardly cool.
ReplyDeleteThere may be 3 paths here. In one, they just become and remain part of the social environment, and the misery they cause just one more aspect of alienated daily life. The lit I'm talking abt documents that concomitant w/cp use is isolation, anxiety, depression, and--surprise!--increasing stupidity. This we might call the Bladerunner Scenario, in which the entire nation has become virtual and meaningless.
Path #2 might be the one that parallels the defeat of cigarette smoking, in which a very long campaign gets the fones banned from public use. Right now it's a hard sell, but the same was true of smoking ca. 1960. I suspect the majority of Americans, when they see someone smoking, are vaguely repulsed.
Path #3 is the scenario depicted in the Gary Shteyngart novel, in which (30 yrs from now) the Ethernet breaks down, and cell fones are about as useful as plastic turds. This may be the most likely scenario, given Jonathan Franzen's depiction of cp use as "capitalism on steroids." (Check out my novel, TMWQ.) As capitalism continues to disintegrate during the rest of this century, cp's might become superfluous. One can only hope.
mb
Chomsky is the most dangerous scholar in human history for thinking that the American people have had the wool pulled over their eyes. As the Great Seer once said, “The wool is the eyes.” I would love to see Hedges, Chomsky and Morris Berman on the same CSPAN Book TV panel together. Professor Berman, if you had an intellectual faceoff versus Chomsky and Hedges who would you want to have as your partner against them?
ReplyDeleteDavid-
ReplyDeleteSorry, cdn't run it (24-hr rule). Come back later, por favor.
Fran-
Someone who would throw handfuls of chopped liver. No, seriously, I'm not particularly good on my feet; I tend to think of the right response the next day (like George Costanza; remember "The Comeback"?). Right or wrong, I'm sure they would win. In any case, Noam isn't completely wrong regarding manufactured consent; it's just that this argument ignores the larger cultural picture.
mb
Francois - I wouldn't call Chomsky "dangerous." He is by far the most important intellectual of the 20-21th century, IMHO. He is definitely smart enough to know America's in decline and he's well aware of how dangerous the conservative side of America is. But he chooses to be optimistic because being a declinists would be too depressive for him. He's said this himself. I think the reason why he blames the elites for the mess is because they are the ones with power and because he believes in the inmate goodness of human beings, due to his work on language. If the American population were really educated properly, America could indeed be an amazing place. The problem is ofc, that the elites are trying to educate the population better, look at the Bill Gate's foundation for instance, but the general population just wants money. They're not interested in a real education. But he takes this into account too and believes we should get rid of money so again, he's not stupid.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I wouldn't put Hedges and Chomsky on the same level. I don't think Hedges is very smart, you can tell by his language skills, he put a plagiarized piece of work on one of his books for instance, so clearly he's not creative enough to come up with his own material. To me there is 3 types of intellectuals, the first ones are real geniuses like Chomsky or Dr Berman then there is the Hedges type who tries hard but is just not smart enough and then there is the pseudo-intellectuals like Pinker.
Dr. B and Wafers:
ReplyDeleteWell, no one has mentioned Hillary in awhile so here is another entry in the turkey parade. Nick Pemberton on Counterpunch does a bang up job of peeing on her shoes.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/23/the-ghost-of-hillary/
Glad to see you're back in action, Dr. B.
random-
ReplyDeletePls send messages to most recent post; no one reads the older stuff. Thank you.
Sorrowful-
I wasn't aware that I was out of action, but then I'm fairly senile, so I don't remember much. (Maybe yr referring to my foray into the Yucatan a while ago, I dunno.)
Student-
Most impt intellectual of 20C was probably Heidegger, w/Wittgenstein and Sartre following close on his heels. Chomsky's theory of innate language has nothing to do w/innate goodness. He blames elites because then something can supposedly be done abt the situation (Hedges follows the same Marxist line), whereas if the problem lies w/the American people, then very little can be done abt it. Evidence that elites are trying to raise level of general education is vanishingly small, outside of computer literacy, perhaps. All indications are that their focus is on their wealth and power, not the level of awareness among the general population. Nor does Chomsky seriously believe we shd get rid of money; this is merely rhetorical flourish, if he even ever said such a thing.
Hedges may be a plagiarist, and not terribly creative, but he is definitely intelligent. There isn't anything wrong w/his language skills that I can see. He is certainly misguided, and at odds w/himself, but that isn't the same thing; that is *ontological* stupidity, as we've discussed on the blog. As for me, thanks, but I very much doubt that I'm a genius.
Let me talk abt Wafer protocol, since yr a Student, and since, as time passes, you don't seem to be catching on to what we do here. Wafers don't come up with a bunch of broad, inaccurate assertions dressed up to look like fact. They know the difference between opinion and argument, and they don't talk off the top of their heads. Instead, they think things thru b4 they start typing, and they provide evidence where possible. What I suggest is that you really think carefully b4 you post, perhaps for several days, and do research on the topic, i.e. come up with accurate statements that you document or substantiate. Which means, in your case, posting once a wk rather than once a day. I think this might help your own progress in Waferian practice. Thanks.
mb
Here's an interesting discussion:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/nyregion/yale-rape-verdict-consent-not-guilty-jurors.html?hpw&rref=education&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
altho I'm not clear why the guy wanted to have sex w/this woman after she tossed her cookies (several times).
mb
@MB,
ReplyDeleteRe:smoking. I am a smoker and very much enjoy it. In France we aren't as scared of smoking as in America and smoking is very much part of the French lifestyle - i.e. sitting in a café, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette while reading CTOS.
I am actually not quite sure I understand this manic "crusade" against smoking, which is also happening here in France. It's almost neurotic really. A packet of cigarettes here now costs 10€, all packs are covered in the same dull black packaging and show the same disgusting pictures of open guts, lung or throat cancer. I agree that smoking in excess is bad for you, but considering the absurdity of anti-smoking campaigns, I think there's more to it than simply health concerns. The Japanese after all have a very high life expectancy and yet a lot of them live past 90 years old? Tobacco was also a key part of Native Americans' culture. I think in America and Europe, Tobacco served as a scapegoat for people's fear of death and anxiety *on top of* the medical concerns. There's also a stress element which may be present in some countries and less in others, that creates more diseases linked to smoking in America than say in Japan. Gabor Maté has written extensively about this.
Sorry for length but just as with tech, it seems to me it's all about balance and moderation. There's no point trying to "ditch" tech altogether. One can live an authentic life while still checking facebook from time to time, and also smoking ;-)
Kanye
Balazs-
ReplyDeletePls send messages to most recent post. No one reads the older stuff. Thank you. As for yr assertion that Bolton is a true idiot, and that this surely signals the end of America, I cdn't agree more. All of Trumpi's appointments have been jokes, more or less; Bolti is surely the far end of the spectrum in terms of demented advisers. From a declinist pt of view, however, he (Trumpi) cdn't be doing better.
What I propose is that all 172 Wafers descend on the Pentagon and picket it w/signs:
BOLTI IS A WIMP
BOMB BOMBAY!
WHERE ARE THE NUKES?
After all, he's supposed to be this tough guy, a hardliner, and thus far hasn't said boo. It's time for him to put some aggressive plans into action, and show the world he means business.
Kanye-
No problem w/length. I disagree w/u abt Facebk; it's hardly a problem of one individual's occasional use, and--much to my surprise--even b4 the recent privacy flap, Zuckershmuck came out and said he thought the whole thing might have been a mistake. No shit, Sherlock. Pt is, there's tech and there's tech, and much of it since abt 1910 or so has been destructive. The car has been a disaster for the planet, for example, and the cell fone a disaster for human relations. It's also the case that w/some technologies, it's like being pregnant: you can't just do it a little bit. Or at least, that's how it's worked out, and it spreads like cancer. Selective dabbling sounds nice, but that's not what happens in practice. Anyway, next time yr sitting at the Café Flore, drinking a café au lait (preferably wearing a black turtleneck sweater)(I admit that I'm jealous), smoking a Gaulois, and reading WAF, check out ch. 3. (BTW, I do agree w/u that the zeal surrounding the anti-smoking campaign suggests that something else is at work beyond human health.)
I don't know if anyone here has read the book, but "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" was fairly interesting. One of the central themes in the book is the idea of "Hypomania" and it's relation to "Malignant Personality Disorder." Trump clearly has a severe case of MPD if not outright sociopathy. But according to the psychiatrists, whenever a Malignant Narcissist feels threatened or "cornered", hypomania is dangerously exacerbated into something resembling psychosis. I knew about MPD, but the hypomania concept was new to me and I found it interesting. In their view, at any rate, Trump is already well on this path, and their consensus view is that it will absolutely get worse.
ReplyDeleteTrump was already showing alarming signs of hypomania many months ago. And now with the stress of Mueller, Stormy, and the 7 other women trying to take him down, he's spiraling ever further from normalcy. When you add Bolton to the equation, it's almost too much to contemplate. Think about that. We are now at the point where a global catastrophe is more likely than not. Has there ever been a more surreal moment in world history? I honestly don't see how they will be able to hold back on North Korea for 3 years, especially when you factor in Trump's unraveling psyche and Bolton's sinister mustache! Decline is fun, yes, but radiation poisoning is also a bit of a buzz-kill.
Megan-
ReplyDeleteYeah, nuclear war wd be a tad depressing, no doubt. But it really isn't as simple as pushing a button. Even b4 we get to that, Kim has made overtures of détente, talked abt willingness to dismantle his nuclear program and so on. Ergo, I don't think we are at a pt where global castastrophe is more likely than not. Nor can Bolti, as big a fuckhead as he is, simply order the prez to do anything. In addn, you may remember that one general testified that the chain-of-command in the case of launching a missile can be broken if one of the top brass in that chain disagrees. In other words, there are probably a few people in a position to refuse, after the order is given, based on their own sober assessment of the situation. Just my opinion, but I don't think we are in any imminent danger...except for the damage that Trumpi does on a daily basis.
mb
Dr Berman i have to disagree with you on the fact that some of the Generals will stop Trump if he orders a hit on NK. These clowns will go along with this fool. And with crack pot Bolton talking to him look out. But you should be happy the end for the USA is closer than anyone thinks.
ReplyDeleteThis says it all, except I'm not so sure how much pity, if any, we actually deserve:
ReplyDelete“Pity The Nation”
Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”
Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Mark-
ReplyDeleteI don't know much abt military protocol, but this general, whose name I forget, did say that the command was a chain, not a direct order, and that the brass were in the position to break the chain. And I don't think the end is immediately on the horizon, nor that nuclear war wd be the best path to our collapse. My best guess is the Roman model: a slow petering out of resources and influence. But then, it's only a guess.
mb
Sar-
ReplyDeleteA great poem, written in 2007, and a perfect description of our situation. But it's hard to pity a people who not only allow all that to happen to them, but support all of it enthusiastically. What they are getting is called karma. So much for 'manufactured consent'.
mb
I think it unlikely that Trump would initiate military action against either China or Russia, much less issue any order involving nuclear weapons use.
ReplyDeleteWhat concerns me is the constant reinforcement of the idea that China is not just an economic competitor but an enemy. While conceding the existence of Chinese spies seeking to obtain business secrets from Western firms and of People’s Liberation Army hackers hacking away, I don’t see the Chinese initiating military action from their side either. Or, for that matter, the Russians.
What I see as possible is a military miscalculation. The Chinese have been building artificial islands in and around the Spratlys in the South China Sea, installing bases with airfields on them, and effectively establishing new Chinese territory with international freedom of navigation implications around these sites. See this article for brief background: http://www.janes.com/article/77921/china-built-new-bases-in-south-china-sea-us-pacom-commander-says. And their ships and ours are constantly passing close by one another in games of naval chicken.
If you can find a DVD of the movie or a cable channel carrying it, see The Bedford Incident (1965). Richard Widmark plays a US Navy destroyer captain chasing and hounding a Soviet sub around the North Atlantic like a Captain Ahab. Sidney Poitier plays an embarked journalist writing a piece on the Cold War as seen from the high seas, James MacArthur plays the ship’s gunnery officer, and Wally Cox is the sonarman who’s the ears of the ship over the course of days of cat and mouse. And an error in understanding has a bad end.
In the last month I quit trying to quit smoking. Got tired of paying 6$ a pack so I bought a machine that injects tobacco into a filtered tube. Much cheaper and I can smoke pipe tobacco which doesn't have the chemicals used in cigarettes to amplify the effects of nicotine. We had a 90 day inpatient state run treatment center for people with mental illness and substance abuse. They were adamant/vigilant/obsessed with treating nicotine 'addiction' as any other substance of abuse. I worked at the state hospital years ago and many of the patients sent to the center from their regular ward came back psychotic within just a few weeks. I'm not saying cessation of tobacco made them psychotic more likely it was the aggressive authoritarian structure of the place - it was expected of patients to turn in a peer if caught doing something against program rules - tx @ gunpoint, a patient could literally be sent back to prison if caught with cigarettes. I've come to the conclusion, based on nothing but my own experience, that something more than nicotine is in play in the brain of a smoker. Smoking is especially comforting to people with schizophrenia and bi-polar d/o (hence lower life expectancy) it's cruel to tell them they're just junkies in need of a fix. I'm reminded that in the concentration camps cigarettes were the major currency, people even gave up food for one. Why would anyone deny a person experiencing holocaust this small pleasure? Who can deny the holocaust of mental illness/substance today in 'Merica? I never smoke around others recognizing it is my choice, basic respect wld probably go further than anti smoking laws - a third offense for smoking on Pearl Street Mall in Boulder can be a 1000$ fine.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.boulderdowntown.com/_files/docs/smoking-ban_frequently-asked-questions.pdf
(since expanded to include almost all outdoor spaces in Boulder - doesn't apply to weed btw a separate fine mostly ignored)
Go Progs!
"Fifteen Years Ago, America Destroyed My Country" a powerful opinion piece by Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi writer.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-anniversary-.html
I wonder how many many Americans even care about the death and devastation caused by the Iraq War.
Cheeseburger rage has now hit Cascadia!
ReplyDeletePolice arrested Jedediah Ezekiel Fulton, 37, after he flew into a rage after employees at a Sutherlin, Oregon McDonald's restaurant declined to fill his order for 30 cheeseburgers. Fulton pulled down a banner and then started pummeling the golden arches themselves.
http://canoe.com/news/crime/i-cannot-has-cheeseburgers-man-attacks-mcdonalds-golden-arches-after-order-for-30-burgers-denied-cops-say
Good afternoon one and all! Some links just for kicks. Sorry if they're repeats; I don't think I've seen them here yet:
ReplyDeleteOn Pinker:
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/ours-best-world-ever
On Peterson:
http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/03/19/jordan-peterson-and-fascist-mysticism/
Looking good!:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/books/article/Ferlinghetti-speaks-out-at-99-his-voice-as-vital-12764802.php?utm_campaign=email-premium&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social
Last but not least, from a friend's blog:
http://www.nealumphred.com/childhood-damage/
Tom-
ReplyDeleteHow many Americans even know there was an Iraq War? 86% can't find Iraq on a world map. What % believe that 9/11 was initiated by Saddam Hussein? Etc.
Jack-
Jesus, look at this guy's face. America's future, for sure. I'm hoping for a Jedediah/Shaneka ticket in 2020. When does she get outta jail, BTW? I'm thinking a contingent of Wafers need to be there to welcome her when she's released, get her a bacon cheeseburger and an AK-47.
Vida-
Speaking of faces, hava look at Pinker's. It actually resembles a horse's ass. This can't be a coincidence.
mb
ps: Vida: Regarding Mishra on Peterson, I very much enjoyed his takedown of Jos Campbell, whom I always regarded as a romantic fascist and a disgusting human being. (And who really didn't know shit abt mythology) But if the present age has given us Pinker, it has also given us Peterson--mirror images of one another. I discussed the whole question of science vs. myth a few posts back; Mishra has gone overboard, and makes the mistake of thinking that all speculation on the unconscious and mythology necessarily results in Nazism. His dismissal of Jung, for example, is far too facile. As I said earlier, there are 2 forms of barbarism: a completely rational world, and a completely irrational one (Pinker, Peterson). I cover a lot of this territory in the Reenchantment bk and CTOS. We have not yet figured out how to navigate the terrain of life by balancing science and magic, and in each camp we find zealots who sadly have no truck with the other side. Ultimately, the prime enemy of human sanity is Manichaeanism, also known as fundamentalism (whether religious or scientific); and the need to go 'whole hog', so to speak, is a function of the emptiness inside us (CTOS ch. 1).
ReplyDeletemb
Dr Berman - Thanks for the advice, I'll take it. But you yourself give your opinions too, even right now you mentioned that the prospect of nuclear war is far fetched even though we have a clearly unstable man in the presidency but then when you thought Hillary was going to win, you thought nuclear war with Russia as a serious threat, so clearly, you are biased. I think I rather read Noam Chomsky's work than spend time on a blog where I'm not welcome so I won't be coming back this time. Also, a lot of the things you mentioned in Dark Ages America was wrong, for example, your take on Bretton Woods but you can't take criticism so it's impossible to mention them to you. I don't expect you to even read this far because again, you can't take criticism, but thanks for your writings anyways, even though not perfect, just like my opinions, they did teach me some stuff.
ReplyDeleteGreetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteWell, are u guys ready for Stormy's interview about her relationship w/Trumpo? Maybe it'll turn out to be a real Thrilla in Vanilla. Trumpo's countless hypocrisies notwithstanding, at least sex isn't one of them. He doesn't seem to give a *damn* about American sexual customs or hang-ups. He seems to grasp that the one human constant is horniness, and that it's the engine that drives the world. God speed, Trumpo! May you continue to fuck like a rabbit. Now we just hafta figure out how to get Bolton laid, I fear.
Miles
Student-
ReplyDeleteI do think it's best that you go somewhere else, but in parting, let me point out the (once again) numerous errors in your post.
1. In talking abt future events, opinion is inevitable, since evidence is unavailable by definition. Having Trumpi in the W.H. does not mean nuclear war is inevitable, by a long shot. Your critique of me on this pt doesn't hold water.
2. I never said nuclear war w/Russia was a serious threat. I did say Hillary was a warmonger (true enuf), and that she and Putin were likely to butt heads; but this is hardly the same thing. Very muddled thinking on your part.
3. My analysis of Bretton Woods and its repeal in DAA is backed up by tons of evidence and yrs of research; just read the footnotes (ch. 2, notes 2-19 and passim). You, on the other hand, provided no evidence at all for my supposedly incorrect 'take' on BW.
4. I can take criticism easily, if it is rendered in a polite and conscientious way, and backed by evidence rather than mere assertion. In these cases, it leads to dialogue, which I certainly welcome on this blog. Unfortunately, critics typically show up here w/ad hominem attacks and insults; this, I'm not interested in. Once again, you just make an assertion, one that is very much off-base.
Finally, I'm sorry you were unwilling to rise to the challenge I set you, and took the easy path of doubling down, making me the problem instead of really hearing what I had to say--wh/was designed to help you. Had you done so (rose to the challenge), you cd have grown a lot intellectually, one week at a time. It shows real fear and cowardice on your part, that you posted yet another pile of inaccurate musings and then checked out. This is adolescence, not adulthood. I'm honestly embarrassed for you, and I suspect that the karmic road that lies ahead for you is going to be a pretty rocky one.
Godspeed, amigo. I don't know if Noam has a blog, but if so, I don't think he will be willing to indulge your tiresome barrages of unsubstantiated generalizations any more than I am.
mb
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteWell, Trumpola managed to get Stormy for $130,000. Can Bolti come up w/this amt in hard cash, do you think? What does a National Security Adviser get paid, anyway? Bolti is so grotesque looking, that I think play-for-pay is the only route open to him. Waferettes: what do you say? Is this a guy you cd cozy up2?
mb
Mark-
ReplyDeleteSorry, cdn't run it (24-hr rule). Come back later.
mb
Dr. B-
ReplyDelete"Evil eye gloves" are the new pussy hats-
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/evil-eye-gloves-march-for-our-lives_us_5ab53a20e4b0decad049ba70
Birn-
ReplyDeleteAhm gonna get me a pussy hat and make me a revolution! I wonder what all these folks who are marching to get gun legislation will do when the whole thing amounts to nothing, or close to it. Most of them are young people, and don't realize that this country is not moving in a direction favorable to them and their demands. How many will wake up at that pt, and instead of planning the next useless march, will start planning how to emigrate? Extremely few, I'm guessing. Americans of any age don't wake up. As Gore Vidal once said, We never learn anything; it's part of our charm.
mb
https://m.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Switzerland-has-a-stunningly-high-rate-of-gun-12709383.php
ReplyDeleteInteresting how this works in a country with some authentic degree of citizen participation and common solidarity. I can also guarantee no Swiss are hoarding stockpiles of weapons in fear that Switzerland may turn into a dark tyranny and come for their guns.
Both sides of the argument seem so silly when you see how a real country operates.
@Kanye, the folks we despise, denigrate and destroy are where men eat like caballeros.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20180101-is-oshi-palav-the-the-king-of-meals
http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20171025-kyrgyzstans-bread-that-feeds-the-dead
"If you can say one thing about Tajik culture, it’s that people prioritise making time for others. Walk through a city and people are sitting on benches, chatting and relaxing. Show up at a stranger’s door and your hosts will welcome you with not only warm smiles but also a table laden with food and endless amounts of tea. In many big, industrial cities in Europe, people are so busy that they have no time for sharing anything – time, food or even just talking with each other,” said Munira Shahidi, a Tajik professor in Dushanbe who has lived in the UK. “They’re always running from place to place. We’re saying you can be very busy, but you should not forget to share your time and space with others. The main tradition in our culture is sharing – to share food with the others and especially to go to those types of places and making palav for them,” Shahidi said. We believe that it is our human duty to share. Whether that is with friends, strangers, or even, in the case of peace palav, enemies."
In our fast food stuff-your-face un-culture there's no place for generosity or traditions like baking for your ancestors.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20171220-the-iraq-city-that-opens-its-doors
http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20170811-the-moroccan-dish-heated-by-a-hammam
http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20180122-madfouna-moroccos-surprising-take-on-pizza
Radiolab segment about mind-body connection: http://www.radiolab.org/story/91524-where-am-i/
ReplyDeleteI feel like they touched on some of the themes in Coming to our Senses. ( I think so anyway, been a while since I read it).
When is the West finally going to dump mind-body dualism? Scientific studies have been showing for a while now that what we know as the human mind is mind/body together, not separate. But you wouldn't know it from listening to certain AI researchers, who think we could put a brain in a jar and still call it human.
Professor-
ReplyDeleteI read the preface for your Mandarin edition of WAF (August 29, 2013 if other Wafers want to check it out). I agree that modern China appears to have embraced American style capitalism but my understanding is that Deng's embrace of capitalism was tactical not fundamental - an attempt to get China to catch up with the West. After Mao died, China was backward almost to the point of being medival and nothing beats raw capitalism in terms of its ability to rapidly enhance material conditions. Deng was well known for his pragmatism.
Check out the change in pictures, it is staggering:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/10/china-pearl-river-delta-then-and-now-photographs
Couldn't one reasonably view China's embrace of capitalism much as your take on Japan: it appears they have embraced capitalism whole hog but it's fundamentally superficial. Like Japan, China has a deep and rich culture stretching back thousands of years. Chinese culture takes the long view with high value placed on education, hard work and family (pretty much the opposite of modern America).
China's embrace of capitalism has only been since 1978. Before that, it was the Cultural Revolution (anti-capitalism).
Anyway, my short take from my visit there was that they're going to kick our ass. In a negotiation, they'd take Trumpi to the cleaners.
BrotherMaynard
Bro-
ReplyDeleteYou cd be rt. My problem is that unlike the case of Japan, I never visited the country, never studied it in depth, and certainly never wrote a bk abt it. So I can't say if the modern/medieval dynamic that operates in Japan, also operates in China.
Yrs ago, there was a movement known as Falun Gong, a mix of Buddhism and Taoism that was designed to get the Chinese in touch w/their own inner truth. The govt was not interest in people finding an inner authority, and clamped down on the movement pretty violently--practitioners were tortured, for example. What happened to it, and whether it still exists--I have no idea.
mb
TODDLER PUMMELING and PIMPING!!!
ReplyDeleteMan sucker punches 5-year-old in face on New York City subway: cops
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/25/man-sucker-punches-5-year-old-in-face-on-new-york-city-subway-cops.html
Man gets 60 years in prison for trying to sell 4-year-old daughter for sex
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/andrew-turley-sentenced-prison-selling-daughter-for-sex-craigslist/
A recent Time article
ReplyDeletehttp://time.com/5214336/a-man-felt-disrespected-by-a-woman-so-he-killed-her-police-say/
It made me think that everyone is going about guns ass backwards. It seems 3% of Americans own 1/2 of all the guns. I think they should be forced to give them up and have their guns and ammo redistributed to arm the rest of the population. Once that supply is exhausted then everyone who isn't armed should get one free gun and lots of ammo. Given that disrespect for others is ingrained in the culture that Time story would be replicated by millions and soon the survivors would be too few to impact the rest of the world.
Given that most nations now think America is the most dangerous country in the world you would think that is a legislative program the globe could unite behind.
https://www.good.is/articles/the-world-is-afraid-of-americans
Maybe it is all moot anyway...
http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/extinction.html
P.S. My comment about John Bolton he is no hypocrite - he doesn't pretend to care about international law or diplomacy or non-Americans... the world is grist for his military mill. At least we won't have to listen to BS as he blows us all up.
Anjin-
ReplyDeleteActually, I read that 50% of all American households have guns. But I do agree w/u that we need to arm the entire population. Everyone between ages 18 mos. and 94 yrs shd be equipped w/a small arsenal, including a nuclear device, and encouraged to use these weapons as often as possible. Anything else is un-American.
mb
It doesn't matter what people march for - gun control, any number of the identity political movements or even free beer and even if any are successful, its all moot. As long as nothing is done about the climate crisis, the collapse of civilization is eminent. The Mortal Sin (pardon my Catholic upbringing) is not the extinction of the human species but the rest of the flora and fauna. Think about it, possibly the only planet in a vast universe where atoms have come together to form objects that actually have mobility, can communicate and propagate and one of the variety has the audacity hubris and stupidity to destroy it all. The Tao says - the sage stops those who know too much from going too far - we just can't stop them. over and out
ReplyDeleteInteresting article on Vietnam in New Yorker, Feb. 26, by Louis Menand.
ReplyDeleteIn Lithuania, it seems, a bee is like a good friend and a good friend is like a bee
ReplyDelete"Europe's last pagan nation. Are Lithuanians obsessed with bees?"
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180319-are-lithuanians-obsessed-with-bees
Wonderful article !
ReplyDeleteTrump took down his pants, and she spanked him a couple of times:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stormy-daniels-describes-her-alleged-affair-with-donald-trump-60-minutes-interview/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stormy-daniels-trump-nda_us_5ab5410ee4b0decad049c37d
Anderson Cooper: You-- you told Donald Trump to turn around and take off his pants.
Stormy Daniels: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: And did he?
Stormy Daniels: Yes. So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little -- you know had underwear on and stuff and I just gave him a couple swats.
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteAccording to many JKF assassination conspiracy theorists, Lansdale was in charge of the hit squad that took out JFK in Dallas. One in particular, a colonel named Fletcher Prouty, who knew Lansdale well, and was well-versed in Lansdale black operations, claimed that Lansdale was seen in Dallas the day of the assassination. He also wrote a book about this: "Secret Team: The CIA and it's Allies in Control of the United States and the World."
Miles
Favorite Wafer TV Shows:
ReplyDelete*Forensic Files -- It's disturbing how violent and sociopathic American society is. The one upside to technological progress is in forensics, particularly DNA technology.
*American Greed on CNBC -- It's sickening how enough is never enough for so many people. They need to have more. As Dr. Berman mentioned before, "more isn't a goal." Once you have more, then you want even more!
Favorite Wafer Movie:
*Office Space -- The daily banality and dread of the American office worker. Loved the ending where Peter found true happiness.
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't read "The Quiet American," by Graham Greene, it's a great novel. The central figure, i.e. the Quiet American, is based on Lansdale.
mb
ps: The film based on that bk is pretty gd as well.
ReplyDelete"We have not yet figured out how to navigate the terrain of life by balancing science and magic, and in each camp we find zealots who sadly have no truck with the other side. Ultimately, the prime enemy of human sanity is Manichaeanism, also known as fundamentalism (whether religious or scientific); and the need to go 'whole hog', so to speak, is a function of the emptiness inside us (CTOS ch. 1)."
ReplyDeleteJaw-dropping insights like the above, tossed casually into a throwaway comment, are why we pay you, Professor Berman, the big bucks. Kudos!
Spy-
ReplyDeleteThank you, but where, exactly, are those big bucks? I cd sure use a few...
mb
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2004/05/claes-g-ryn/which-american/
ReplyDelete+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO4JcgD3vq0
= American foreign policy?
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteSympathetic portrait of Jordan Peterson in the New Yorker, March 5. (The debate continues, I guess.)
mb
I haven't read this, but it looks interesting:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/Rise-Kill-First-Targeted-Assassinations/dp/1400069718/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522118136&sr=1-1&keywords=rise+and+kill+first
I wd also recommend an Israeli documentary called "The Gatekeepers."
mb
Porden Jeterson EXPLAINED
ReplyDeleteMarch 26, 2018
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/3/26/17144166/jordan-peterson-12-rules-for-life
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/223697/20180326/artificial-meteor-showers-will-soon-be-available-for-under-40-000.htm
ReplyDeleteArtificial Meteor Showers Will Soon Be Available For Under $40,000
The Disenchantment of the World
That Vox article on JP is such a great example of the state of our MSM. Items taken entirely out of context, no attempt to treat the subject matter objectively, a simplistic style of writing and shallow argumentation that makes it easily digestible for a mixed audience, and, to boot, large photos of Stormy Daniels or the gossip/outrage du jour plastered in primary colors up and down the right-hand column.
ReplyDeleteJust painful.
I'm in college right now and my good lord some of this professors are a joke in their own way. A sense of entitlement here or lack of effort there or just downright laziness and somehow wonder why the students treat them like the utter garbage that they are. I find it rare to find at least one professor who enjoys the job of actually teaching. It's ridiculous and sad. Sorry if this sounds like a rant Mr. Berman, but I just had to release this frustration somehow.
ReplyDeleteBol-
ReplyDeleteI feel 4u, amigo. For me, it's a question of what I might get away with. If I could come to your college with a 6-pack of Bud Lite, drink it all down and then pee on the shoes of your profs, and there wd be no arrest or penalties, I'd be down there tomorrow. You wd need to video the whole thing, after wh/it cd go viral. These guys are just circling the drain.
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB-
Many thanks for the Graham Greene novel recommendation. I will read it.
MB, Wafers
Here's a coterie of conservative Texas women who voted for Trumpo and watched the Stormy interview. They don't believe her. Reason: God told them not to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nvCmc6Np1Q
Miles
ps: After MB finishes urinating on these profs for Bologna, he should travel to Dallas and storm this interview. MB should then take a couple of these gals into the bedroom, take off their clothes w/his teeth, and give them a go-round like they've never had...
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteOnly if Sarah Palin is among them. Whatever happened to her, BTW?
Meanwhile, here's a gd study of young techno-buffoons, aka The Douche Bag Generation:
https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Connected-Rebellious-Happy-Adulthood/dp/1501151983/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522177217&sr=1-1&keywords=igen+jean+twenge
mb
Suicide rates increased 70 percent among American youth from 2006 to 2016.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nbc26.com/news/national/cdc-suicide-rates-increased-70-percent-among-youth-from-2006-to-2016
Economic and social conditions underlie geographic differences in drug-related deaths.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20180326/Economic-and-social-conditions-underlie-geographic-differences-in-drug-related-deaths.aspx
Chris Hedges on the gig economy. There is a bit of "we must" language but overall I thought it was a good article. I wish Hedges would write like this more often.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-gig-economy-is-the-new-term-for-serfdom/
The Global Happiness Report 2018 was just released:
ReplyDeletehttp://worldhappiness.report/ed/2018/
We not tired of winning yet as we are #18. We are also well behind our peer countries of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In fact, we are declining. So much so that an entire chapter of the report (Chapter 7) is dedicated to the statistical anomaly of the USA. It references the Easterlin Paradox: US income per capital has doubled since 1972 yet happiness has remained the same or even declined.
Money quote: "The U.S. is in the midst of a complex and worsening public-health crisis, involving epidemics of obesity, opioid addiction, and major depressive disorder that are all remarkable by global standards. The cumulative effect of these epidemics is the remarkable recent fall in overall life expectancy at birth (LEB), an event that is nearly unprecedented for a high-income country in peacetime.
We whole report is well reading. The statistics and analysis it presents is quite damning of the USA: our society and culture are quite literally toxic to human health.
BrotherMaynard
Bro-
ReplyDeleteBut everyone shd adopt our way of life, at gunpt if nec.
I wish the UN would do a World Moron Report (WMR), in which scientists wd calculate the # of Morons Per Hectare (MPH) for each member nation. I'm guessing Denmark, e.g., would score something like 6.7, while the US wd be around 188.5.
BTW, I can't recall the name of the survey, but a few yrs ago there was some sort of happiness calculation, and the US ranked around 150.
mb
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteHere's a shock:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/03/27/outrage-little-surprise-after-police-officers-face-no-charges-killing-alton-sterling?utm_term=Daily%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=News%20%2526%20Views%20%7C%20Crumbs%20for%20Workers%2C%20%2425%20Billion%20%27Bonanza%27%20for%20Big%20Oil&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email&cm_mmc=Act-On%20Software-_-email-_-News%20%2526%20Views%20%7C%20Crumbs%20for%20Workers%2C%20%2425%20Billion%20%27Bonanza%27%20for%20Big%20Oil-_-Outrage%2C%20But%20Little%20Surprise%2C%20After%20Police%20Officers%20Face%20No%20Charges%20for%20Killing%20of%20Alton%20Sterling
The sign of a civilized nation: white cops repeatedly gun down black people like dogs, and get off scot free. We ain't nothin' if not charming!
mb
Fifty years from now 1 in 3 people will live in slums. Is this a sign of 'Enlightenment Now'? Apocalypse Now would have been a more appropriate title for our times. But who would buy a book with such a conclusion? Regardless the bible predicts just that.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/the-slum/episodes.html
http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/religion-and-spirituality-apocalypse/76911.aspx
The profound question is of the flaws in the species itself. Inmendham is loathed for having the audacity -he doesn't pussyfoot- to condemn the motives n actions of the "noble" primate. Cognitive dissonance maybe the hallmark that prevents us from seeing the obvious. Not just turkeys, but too many turkeys shitting in their own nests all over the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh_Iyi6_pZw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_vIucSuTtk
“As long as there are slaughter houses there will always be battlefields.” ― Leo Tolstoy
P.S. Progress as defined by data experts like Pinker and Friedman may not be what the humans want or even needs. If that was so, then why do we see so many smiling faces in the slum documentary? Without romanticizing poverty and squalor, compare that to the ghettos of Amerika. There is also more depression and suicide in poorer communities in affluent countries. Who is then the ultimate judge of happiness, aka subjective-wellbeing? Elena Poniatowska, a French-born Mexican author, suggested to ask yourself; Irrespective of statistics and what the pundits admonish us to feel, the way you feel is the way it is. Thus if you really feely believe that there's God, then there's God. The same for earth being round, flat or cuboid, and everything else and in between.
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteRegarding the bk I mentioned earlier, "Rise and Kill First," abt Israeli policy of targeted assassination, there's a very gd review of it in the NYTBR, March 11, by Kenneth Pollack. Basically he says that this policy, wh/is one pursued by the US as well, has been a waste of time (again, check out the docu "The Gatekeepers"--very honest Israeli film). It deals w/symptoms, not causes; and yet, both countries, he suggests, are addicted to it. It's like a drug, and both countries are unwilling to kick the habit and treat the disease. The farce continues...
mb
This looks interesting:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/Fair-Shot-Rethinking-Inequality-Earn/dp/1250196590/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522198500&sr=1-1&keywords=fair+shot+chris+hughes
Let me stress, once again, the inherent goodness of Americans:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/23/us-soldier-admits-killing-afghans
"Jordan Peterson has a way of making even the mildest pronouncement sound like the dying declaration of a political prisoner."
ReplyDeleteFrom that NY'er bio ... gimme a break!
Wudu: Ya gotta love Western medicine…it’s like we’re a car where you get the brakes fixed here, transmission there, etc. You’d think they’d get that there might be some overarching, connecting theme, but nooooo. Mind/body connection? Ha! They don’t even look at the body as a highly intelligent, integrated, functioning unit.
ReplyDeleteEmotions are where the mind and body meet…without a physical sensation all we would have is a sterile thought. How could, say, empathy be programmed? AI will create a totally psychopathic, robotic society, although we’ve done pretty good job so far in that direction; AI will just be the final nail in the coffin.
Wafers: Jordan Peterson, Chris Hedges, Joseph Campbell, et al., all have value. Even though they may be frauds at some level, their perspective is different from the mainstream and can start a newbie thinking outside the box. Hopefully you evolve from there, but everyone has to start somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting read...https://evonomics.com/ecological-economics-superorganism-lisi-krall/
I particularly like:
"If you look at our evolutionary history you find that we evolved as human beings in a world where we were basically embedded in this vital, other-than-human world. And we came to know ourselves — what we were individually and how we fit in — through interaction with that varied, robust, non-human world. We as humans have a very long period of maturation. It takes us 20 years to reach maturity. That long stretch of maturation was timed and punctuated with deference to the non-human world. So that we became healthy human beings psychologically through this constant play between us and the non-human world. We came to know ourselves individually, to be able to see ourselves in the complexity of the world. Not to have to dominate, but to be one of many. And so the tragedy for us is that we have this very complicated evolutionary history where on the one hand we do best embedded in a robust other-than-human world. We do best, we’re healthiest in that kind of world. And yet we have this strange part of our social evolution now that has taken us on tract which is going to destroy every bit of the non-human world before we’re done. And so when I look at our present ecological crisis that’s how I see it. It’s a crisis of our own evolution."
As the article states further on I think we are "a species out of context"
Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:
ReplyDeleteHere is a story from Blacklisted News Updates that states that China has launched its Petro-Yuan and that this currency will allow countries subject to economic sanctions by the US and the EU to bypass using the US dollar. Could this be our Suez Moment!?
https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/64797/china-moves-to-destroy-us-dollar-as-they-launch-the-goldbacked.html
Michael-
ReplyDeleteCd well be, altho the threat that Ike made to the pound was felt immediately, wh/is why Macmillan backed off at Suez. But this move by China cd be a Suez Mooooooment, so to speak. The Chinese are smart; in terms of world hegemony, they think in terms of decades, laying one brick at a time. By mid-century, if not b4, we shall see the results of this crafty planning. Americans, on the other hand, are not very bright; their idea of history is what the MSM reports on a daily basis. "News," for them, is immediate. They get excited by things like (alleged) Russian influence on the last election, or Stormy Daniels. This difference in quality of intelligence will probably eventually constitute an external Suez Moment. The internal SM took place in Nov. 2016, and continues to roll out.
Long-term investment, to Americans, means things like imperial overstretch--e.g. getting bogged down in wars in the middle east, for nearly two decades; wars we cannot and will not win. (The Roman Empire model) It is centrifugal, dispersing power, whereas the Chinese are slowly and steadily accumulating power. Or to put it another way, they are wise and we are foolish.
I was a bit short-sighted, in the Twilight bk, because I focused on internal forces of disintegration, and not on external threats (such as 9/11, wh/happened the following year). I did, however, talk at length about misguided foreign policy in DAA. Whatever. The pt is, it is now clear that the American empire is getting battered from both sides, internal and external. Which means it's standing on very shaky legs. Time is relentlessly not on our side. I suspect the country will be unrecognizable by 2040, having turned into a shell of its former self. Other nations will not take us seriously (this is already happening), and they won't have to, any more.
mb
(Ms. Herzberg didn’t get a vote on the matter.)
ReplyDelete“...After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. I am strongly of opinion that the great majority of people will always find these are moving impulses of our life.” “The Press Under A Free Government,”. [President Calvin Coolidge to the Society of American Newspaper Editors, January 17, 1925 in Washington, D.C.]
“Arizona’s Republican governor repeatedly encouraged Uber’s controversial experiment with autonomous cars in the state, enabling a secret testing program for self-driving vehicles with limited oversight from experts, according to hundreds of emails obtained by the Guardian. There is no way to know whether tougher regulations would have prevented the death of 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, who was struck by an Uber-owned Volvo while it was in self-driving mode on 19 March. Uber immediately suspended its self-driving vehicle testing in Arizona, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.”
Exclusive: Arizona governor and Uber kept self-driving program secret, emails reveal
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/28/uber-arizona-secret-self-driving-program-governor-doug-ducey?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Thank God Wall Street bonuses are up!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/03/26/wall-streets-average-bonus-in-2017-three-times-what-most-u-s-households-made-all-year/?utm_term=.bc23c09f7d0e
Gotta love the comments from the defenders:
"Unless an employee did something illegal or dishonest to earn their bonus, I have no problem with their being paid any bonus that the business can support."
"America is about equal opportunity, not economic equality; that's a privilege reserved for socialists and communists."
"I don't begrudge wall street folks their salaries or their bonuses. They possess skills and abilities that do not exist within the environs of 'the average Am. households'"
Re: Fair Shot by Chris Hughes
ReplyDeleteisn't that the co-founder of FB, Professor? An interesting recommendation coming from you, for sure. I'll be sure to look into it! Thank you!
Luther-
ReplyDeleteI doubt that his rec has any chance of getting off the ground, but it's certainly a conversation worth having. I don' think FB has anything to do w/it, BTW.
mb
ReplyDeleteAmericans are so free that some of them do this:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/woman-lewd-come-on-to-easter-bunny_us_5abbcdabe4b04a59a313c0e4
sad!
@Brother--I just found out that my 13-year-old niece has been diagnosed with clinical anorexia and is likely going to have to be sent to a residential treatment facility in the near future. My brother is actually quite Waferish in his outlook and is a physician himself, while my niece was always been a very bright, outgoing girl who reads voraciously and whose parents never put any undue pressure on her to succeed. What's worse is her best friend had to be hospitalized for a month with a feeding tube shoved down her throat--my niece saw that happen AND even admits that she knows she has to eat, but as my brother explained it, something has been triggered in her brain that can never be untriggered. As he put it, "I look at he and that's not my daughter anymore, but I have to do everything I can or I'm gonna lose her."
ReplyDeleteSo I ask myself, what could possibly cause such a thing, especially in a family that doesn't push the predominant hustling American values, and all I can come up with is that it doesn't matter how well you try and raise a kid these days, the sickness within our society can still infect them. My brother-in-law served in the air force with the father of one of the Columbine shooters, and he said that family also seemed normal as can be. America is terminally ill, but we'd rather die a slow, agonizing death than consider any form of cure which for most people would even lead to a much better life. How pathetic.
Re: World Happiness Report 2018
ReplyDeleteI neglected to mention that Chapter 6 is about Happiness in Latin America ('Happiness in Latin America has Social Foundation'); Latin America is the opposite of the USA: people are very happy there despite being relatively poor.
This is as you have taught us Professor and corroborates your experiences in Mexico.
Money quote (from the introduction): "Latin Americans report high happiness levels. Positive-affect scores are substantially high both in comparison to other countries in the world and to what income levels in the region would predict. Latin Americans’ evaluation of life is also above what income levels would predict. It is clear that there is more to life than income and that there is something to learn from the Latin American case about the drivers of happiness."
I have read similar reports on happiness in Scandinavian countries- low relative incomes, very high happiness. Both point to levels of society cohesion and a safety net- precisely the thing our culture and government is destroying.
We in the USA would rather be miserable, depressed and rich rather than poor and happy.
BrotherMaynard
Bro-
ReplyDeleteAnd very few in the US are rich! Where's the payoff? What I say 2u, Bill, and Prezi is that what we've got in the US is a high-quality environment w/high-quality people in it. Our future looks bright!
mb
“The buyer is a European Investor who has homes all over the world...
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2018/03/15/this-penthouse-could-be-the-citys-most-expensive-condo-sale/
Homeless Family of four, in their pajamas sleeping in their van, found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/4-people-found-dead-parked-van-southern-california-142923424.html
@Bill Hicks
ReplyDeleteThe daughter of some friends of mine - someone I used to teach English to - had it pretty bad. She wasn't extremely thin, but she was very lost. I would find it slightly easier to process if her home life was somehow topsy turvy, but her parents are exemplary, loving and kind. Anyway it takes a long time to turn it around but it's not impossible.
Sorry about your other thing too - it's been a shitty couple of weeks I'd venture.
Cookie-
ReplyDeletePls send messages to most recent post; no one reads the older stuff. Thanks. Anyway, you wrote the following:
"Hi Morris - any chance that you'd come back to the University of New Mexico to teach, at least for a semester? My wife is on the faculty here and we'd both like to get you back up here...but of course, this state doesn't have a proverbial pot to piss in...I'd be willing to twist some arms, though."
I guess you know that I taught at UNM 1994-95. Do we know each other? I'm so senile these days, I can't remember what I had for breakfast. In any case, I'm not really into doing the visiting prof. thing anymore, but wd not be opposed to giving a series of lectures, over a wk or 10 days, for example. I also have a close friend at the medical schl who might be able to help; perhaps yr wife knows him. The problem is, as you say, that UNM doesn't have bupkis (which literally means goat shit, in Yiddish), and wd probably offer me $100 tops. It's not likely, in short, but if you wanna give it a go, it's fine by me. Write me at mauricio@morrisberman.com, and we can discuss it further. I appreciate yr interest.
mb
Wafers and Dr. B - Concerning anorexia and obesity, a book you might want to check out is Dr Joel Fuhrman's "Fast Food Genocide". He makes a pretty good case as to how many of the diseases (mental, emotional physical) are related to the mass consumption of fast food (he call Frankenfoods) by Americans. He also calls it the SAD or standard american diet. He puts together long term, high participation studies, historical facts and his own patients stories. Of course you folks might have already covered this book as I've been in the deep freeze for over a couple of years and have just thawed out and stopped by too see if Dr.Berman was logging- and happy day! it feels like coming home.
ReplyDelete"My neighbor Larry" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcsloUSE4w4
ReplyDeletehttp://abcnews.go.com/US/video/colorado-postman-delivers-mail-dead-mans-body-17679995
A colleague of mine from several years ago was found 17 days after he had died by his landlord when his rent was late. Nobody noticed his absence from office since he often worked from home. The same office of ours never forgot to send us emails when someone had a baby telling us of the exact weight and length of the newborn. We all congratulated in response by email of course. Although Joe lived his entire life in the same town with many relatives and friends in the area, apparently no one missed him. Similar story with another friend recently who attended to her dying father all by herself. Michelle had many relatives and coworkers in town and people she calls "friends," yet whenever I met her in the hospital I found her weeping by father's bed all alone. The hospital staff were like automatons doing procedures. At the funeral dinner however came many. Devoid of any emotions the guests seemed quite nonchalant.
I have hardly ever known any of my neighbors beside a casual distant hello-hi. I see no interaction between anyone in my opulent suburbia where the place looks like a nice cemetery in morbid silence. A newly arrived foreign family celebrating a reunion with loud music promptly got the police summoned to be reminded of the local "norms." When a house in the neighborhood burnt down, there were oglers, but nobody offered the family a shelter. Yet while the smoke was still bellowing there were already home repairmen and legal reps on the site -they monitor fire station radios- offering deals. They assured the distraught family that they were there to help.
Esca-
ReplyDeleteAmerica!
mb
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/john-gray-hyper-liberalism-liberty/
ReplyDeleteAn anti-liberal [and maybe a little supercilious] rant from John Gray -
@Bill
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your niece. It is very tough for young people to stay sane today.
I think people develop earlier than the infantalizing American culture realizes or accepts. If your niece is smart, she probably has some strong opinions about who she wants to become over the next decade or so. And where would she find those role models? I think most smart students can tell that their teachers are in a pretty limited social position, and can only take them so seriously. Outside of the family, who is there that shows her how to be a good person in this crazy world? The contact with a crazy society can be even harder if you have decent parents.
The fact is that there are very few exemplars out there for sensible people. Most of mine have come from foreign countries or earlier decades. When society cares more about their pets than about promoting good role models for their children, this is what you get.
I'm 10 years out of high school, and almost everybody I graduated with has gone to work for the same scam Midwestern company. These were people with very different interests, inclinations, and personalities, yet they all filtered into the same generic, do-nothing $40k a year corporate job. Their education could have been completely discarded and they could still functiion in this way. In our upper-middle class prep school, they were artists, social butterflies, mathematicians, but they are all now reduced to the same fake job title. It's that, or come back home after college (what I did).
A personality is something young people really can't afford these days.
Nigel-
ReplyDeleteTerrific essay, thanks.
Dio-
https://youtu.be/RARTGj4q8vs
mb
Dr. B,
ReplyDeleteThe little animated film on YouTube that you recommended to DioGenes is a powerful addition to the Wafer canon. Thanks! It happened to remind me of a line in Lily Tomlin's (and Jane Wagner's) still-trenchant play, "The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe":
The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
My niece may be quite sick, but at least she is nowhere near THIS sick: Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz swamped with ‘perverted’ fan mail. "A woman from Chicago enclosed nine “suggestive” photos, while another from Texas commented on his “beautiful” eyes. An 18-year-old from New York included pink hearts in her letter, saying “I know you could use a good friend right now.” Another girl sent photos with Hello Kitty Snapchat filters." And to think of all the trouble I had getting dates when I was in high school. Next time I see an article from some dumbass "woke" feminist about why American women don't like nice guys I'm gonna puke.
ReplyDelete@Dio--indeed, I was trying to imagine what caused my niece's behavior. Thinking back to my high school days, if I had to go through a metal detector each morning--then go to homeroom and get bombarded with commercial messages from the paid in house closed circuit channel--then go to class where the teachers are afraid to deviate from teaching material on the standardized tests--then go to lunch in a cafeteria sponsored by Taco Bell or some other fast food shithole--then get out of school only to find that all my classmates were too busy texting, snapchatting and taking selfies to actually TALK to me--all while constantly being told that every male stranger I see is a potential deadly rapist, I might have become anorexic myself.
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteBen Carson dept.:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/29/ben-carson-hud-mission-statement-write-your-own
Was Carson such a good neurosurgeon that he managed to remove his own brain?
Anyway, time for some jazz:
A beautiful execution of Luiz Bonfá's "Tenderly":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phUwPdND2hA
Miles
Bill-
ReplyDeleteI guess the Parkland message, at least for young men, is Go out and kill a few people, and you'll have yrself a whole mess of dates. I don't know of anything that spells We Have No Future more clearly than this.
As for yr niece: at least she didn't kill herself. I wonder what the teen suicide rate is these days, for the US. What a shitty life these kids hafta live.
mb
Nice little animated film. Thanks for sharing MB. It reminds me of a quote I read a while ago, don't know who it's from: "the problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat".
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile,
Russians don't mince their words:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/29/putin-weinstein-accusers-prostitutes-says-russia-spokesman
Sheryl Sandberg (in case you wondered) is a douchebag. So much for "Leaning In"!
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/29/sheryl-sandberg-facebook-cambridge-analytica
Kanye
Kanye-
ReplyDeleteThat link to Sheryl shows a foto from 2014 of 2 major turkeys walking side by side. But heroes to Americans! (small turkeys who wanna be big turkeys).
mb
Check it out:
ReplyDeletehttps://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/29/entertainment/sean-penn-metoo-poem/index.html
Dr. B-
ReplyDeleteThere's a LOT of troubled nieces- take my sister-in-law's two daughters, for example. The oldest, aged 24, is totally clueless, enthralled with an odd fundamentalist "Christian" religion, and is probably saddled with over $100,000 in student loans. She recently switched graduate schools after failing mid-terms. The younger one, aged 20, is still working on her GED and lives with her boyfriend and two of his male friends. She was a "cutter," and has severely scarred arms and legs. We used to take the youngest to activities until she asked us what would happen if she jumped off the third balcony level at the New York State Theater.
Birn-
ReplyDeleteMuch of the pain caused by American capitalism, the American Dream, and the American Way of 'Life' is emotional and psychological, and hidden from public view. But it goes very deep, and is very widespread. I'm not sure of my source here--it may be Philip Slater in "The Pursuit of Loneliness"--but he called America a "psychological slum." And that was in 1970. So on the surface we run around yelling "We're No. 1!", when the reality is we're dying.
mb
This is great news! Some recent research concluded "media exposure to Trump led participant to form a parasocial bond with Trump, which led them to believe his promises, disregard unpopular statements that he made, and have generally more positive evaluations of him."
ReplyDeletehttps://psmag.com/news/from-the-apprentice-to-the-white-house
Can we start a betting pool on which celebrity will be next? I was thinking Mark Z of Facebook, but he's gotten some bad press lately with selling everyone's information and all, maybe Jeff B of Amazon? People love shopping, they love that guy. Some Youtube personality maybe? Hard to know...
"While enjoying the friendliness, utility and all-encompassing convenience of social media, we have created a situation whereby the most powerful person in the world cannot be removed from office."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/mark-zuckerberg-is-a-global-information-autocrat
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteFew things are certain in this world, but one is, absolutely: the US, for as long as it continues as a nation, will never resolve its racial problem. A short while ago, a guy named Stephon Clark was murdered by the Sacramento police in the front yard of his grandmother's house. He was carrying a cell phone; the cops mistook it for a gun. They shot him 20 times.
The chances that this killing will follow the usual pattern are extremely high. Here's how it goes:
1. Outrage among the black community. Marches, demonstrations, denunciations.
2. An internal review by the police dept. as to what happened.
3. The officers in question get off scot free, and remain on the force.
4. More demos, possible riots.
5. 3-4 mos. from now, very few Americans will be able to say who Stephon Clark was. Very few, at this pt, can identify names such as Dylan Roof or George Zimmerman or Eric Garner.
6. Rinse and repeat.
mb
The quest to make everybody's life as miserable as possible continues; now coffee must carry cancer warnings. Hmmm, I wonder, are there no more pressing problems in America?
ReplyDeleteDoctor,
ReplyDeleteIt's considered almost de rigueur for young black men to walk on the streets of Philadelphia wearing head phones or engaged in some tech crap. How often I like to pull them aside and tell them, "There is a conscious war against young black men in this country and thus I recommend you be highly vigilant when walking outside. Therefore, put away your tech-crap and be more observant." Of course, I never get to say it since they'd more than likely consider me some old white guy who should mind his own business.
Yes, the Florida shooter is getting all kinds of love letters reminding me of the words of Hillary Clinton: "America is great because the people are great."
Finally, I have a moronic relative who hates any form of government assistance so never had health insurance. He is an independent painter. Last week he fell off a ladder,severely broke his arm and needs surgery. Oy.
Zar-
ReplyDeleteNutrition certainly isn't much of a 'science', since recommendations reverse themselves every 5-10 yrs or so. 1st you need vitamin C; then it turns out that taking vitamin C makes no difference. Then just wait a few yrs, and you need vitamin C. In the case of coffee, just 2 yrs ago it was announced that it was good for yr health, and the recommended dose was 2 cups/day. Now, it causes cancer. Just wait a few yrs for the 'experts' to tell us that the latest research reveals that coffee is life-enhancing, and that you shd drink at least 4 cups/day. Woody Allen parodied all this in the movie "Sleeper"--he wakes up 200 yrs from now, and doctors are saying that sprouts and organic food kill, and that if you want a long life you shd eat steak and hot fudge sundaes.
mb
ps: Meanwhile, it turns out that roughly 50% of Americans who die of heart attacks have low cholesterol.
ReplyDeleteps2: What the US looks like, when you look a little bit deeper:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com.mx/search?q=pictures+of+turkeys+running&hl=en&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiR8LvqiZTaAhVLnq0KHXT7Dj4QsAQILw&biw=950&bih=538&dpr=1.25
Morris: Nutrition is a science, but like everything else the first question to ask about any research is “who funded it?” or “cui bono?” The SAD is deadly, and one of the reasons why chronic illnesses are rampant. The way the average American eats is akin to building a skyscraper without a foundation, and yet doctors are taught bupkis (thanks for reminding me about the descriptive depth of Yiddish slang) about nutrition.
ReplyDeleteHello Wafers:
ReplyDelete@Kanye: Hmm, I guy with a name like “Slutsky” oughtta know…
This article about Dylann Roof’s last dwelling place before his crime should be required reading for Wafers:
An American void
He showed them his gun. He spoke of doing ‘something crazy.’ Why do the friends Dylann Roof stayed with before the Charleston church shooting shrug about their inaction?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/09/12/an-american-void/?utm_term=.5e35a6c77075
The comments following the article are predictable. Some note how these people lead hopeless lives and have no future, and they know it, while most comments are accusatory, saying they should get jobs, finish school, travel, etc. Others point out how they are treated differently than they would had they been black. I found those to be jarring, because while I read the article, questions about their race didn’t really occur to me. They just seemed like poor people in a bleak situation with no way out.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePaolo-
ReplyDeletePls send messages to most recent post; no one reads the older stuff. As for Peterson, you'll need to work thru discussions on previous posts, as we had all of this out some time ago. In any case, I agree w/some of his arguments, e.g. regarding political correctness and the need for mythology. Happy reading!
mb
"and that if you want a long life you shd eat steak and hot fudge sundaes."
ReplyDeleteAnd smoke!: one of the best things you can do for your health!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFxksNcLfcA
It's a pretty well known fact in psychological circles that serial killers have groupies in this country and get loads of fan mail. Richard Ramirez (aka 'the Night Stalker') ended up marrying one:
http://articles.latimes.com/1996-10-03/news/ls-49781_1_richard-ramirez
Lots of fan pages dedicated to the Columbine Killers and the Boston Bomber (just Google):
https://medium.com/@mwcsdnwriting/tainted-love-a-brief-look-at-hybristophilia-and-columbiner-culture-10bcb3f8fa3e
Indeed, it is "The People' that makes this country great!
BrotherMayanrd
Lil’ Marco admits he was wrong about Philosophy.
ReplyDeletehttps://qz.com/1241203/marco-rubio-admits-he-was-wrong-about-philosophy/
jj-
ReplyDeleteHmm. I am hoping that universities across the country will eliminate all depts. of philosophy, humanities, English, languages, and so on, and fill in the consequent gaps with courses in welding, the preparation of chopped liver, incivility, hatred, callousness, Oprah, and downright indecency. Why in the world would a nation in a state of steady and irreversible collapse need critical thinking, the study of values, or any such nonsense anyway?
mb
ps: also graduate seminars on the installation of Botox.
ReplyDeleteHola MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB, Wafers-
Last evening, I finished rereading Daniel Ellsberg's memoir, "Secrets." Ellsberg indicates that at given times in history, it is crucial to move from protest to resistance. He cites his own courage going up against the Power Elite, and the sacrifices of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War era as primary examples of this.
As I was reading, I was struck by the fact that *real* resistance, of a sort that we saw over Vietnam, is completely absent nowadays. Today's so-called resistance movement amounts to little more than an a photo op w/Miley Cyrus at an anti-gun rally. I mean pick yr issue: guns, deportations, bloated military budgets, state-sanctioned killings, militarized police forces, homeless kids, poverty, the racial problem (as MB indicates). We just don't see major revolts against this system anymore. We don't see people willing to die to resist great injustices. I've no desire to cause physical harm to others, of course, but truth be told, shit needs to burn. Who's gonna do it? And if somebody does, will the aggrieved join in? It's absolutely remarkable how much of an impact capitalism had on the psychology of Americans, and how little the Americans objected to all the bullshit that kept the system sustainable. In the process, we've destroyed our instincts for compassion, justice, and rebellion. We now find ourselves in a state of utter and complete detachment, psychologically numb to the cruelty that exists literally everywhere. Sad.
Miles
ps: T-shirt idea:
Listen Up, Turkeys! You Are On Your Own
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteMany yrs ago I was interviewed by a radio station in Baltimore, and pointed out that Americans were not only ignorant of the oppression around them, but spineless: if they had any awareness of this, they just laid low. The program was actually a call-up show, and so I had to field questions from the public for abt half an hr. One fine old geezer called up, and he was hopping mad. "What about the unions in American history? The Depression riots? What about the Wobblies?" and so on. He sounded very Jewish. "Abe," I said, "you're absolutely right; only that was then, and this is now."
Somebody needs to write a bk called "From Informed, Courageous Dissent to Ignorant, Spineless Turkeys." Thus capitalism doth make cowards of us all...
mb
BEGIN forwarded message:
ReplyDeleteDear Professor Berman,
As part of the upcoming summer quarter, EverGreen College will offer course HIST017B - History of the United State - Io [sic], surveying the political, economic, social, and intellectual development of the U.S. We are interested in inviting you to deliver a lecture on the role of cel-ray tonic on movements of significant activists of the 20th Century U.S. The College can offer a prorated stipend scaled according to the calculated "living wage" of the Seattle Metropolitan Area (currently $15/hour). Please respond at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Cyrus "Bee" Horsechestnut
Adjunct Cultural Coordinator
SSHAPE-Social Sci., Humanities, Arts, & PE
EverGreen College
"Be All You Can Be!"
Bee (if I may)-
ReplyDeleteI was so excited about your invitation, in particular the stipend involved, that I lost control of my bowel functions. I.e., I pooped in my pants. I'm wondering if you can provide an additional stipend to cover the dry cleaning bill.
I shall be glad to discuss the historical impact of Cel-Ray Tonic, but also want to add something about the wonderful policy of political correctness being pursued at Evergreen. I mean, who needs a first-rate biologist like Bret Weinstein? Fuck 'im! Good that you guys doubled down and stuck to your moral guns, at least until a severe drop in applications suggested you might rethink the idea of the "Day of Absence." Well, whatever. You can count on me to lead the charge...to wherever you folks might be heading (I'm not entirely clear about that). I'll be wearing my pussy hat, in any case.
Hasta la revolucion permanente! And just keep doin' what yer doin'.
-mb
MB I've heard that flouride conspiracy keeps people docile, but fear, poverty, endless work, zero community, and overwhelming central force works too. We are completely dependent on the state.
ReplyDeleteIf people had options etc.
Z-
ReplyDeleteMany do have options, but they're not terribly interested in living any other way. And I doubt there's anything in the water. I guess it's time for a new thread!
mb