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.
Feel free to write and participate.
May 04, 2023
Healing
So it's finally here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47YQXYQ/ref=sr_1_29?crid=27WJHQ5GXMZZP&keywords=morris+berman&qid=1683257351&s=books&sprefix=morris+berman+%2Cstripbooks%2C263&sr=1-29
Also available in Kindle for $2 less, I guess. Hope you all will enjoy it.
-mb
Congratulations on the new book! I just bought a copy. After going from the heights of Panglossian Pinkertonian optimism (I couldn't quite finish his Better Angels, but I'll get there. I'm stubborn about finishing even books I dislike) to the dismal and apocalyptic realism of "The Uninhabitable Earth," I've felt, if not exactly an urge to knock the hats off of everyone I see on the street, then at least a Greta Thornburgian desire to puff out my chest and scream "How dare you American co#ksuckers! And while I'm at it, maybe to take a baseball bat to Wall Street with Chris Hedges and smash some windows, crack some skulls, and overturn the money-changers tables. But this is probably just a sign that I need to relax, take a deep breath, and read your new book on Healing.
In the meantime, I think I'm going to try and order a Pinker-look-alike, fluffy white hair wig. And any time I get out of sorts, I'm just going to put it on and look at myself in the mirror, wink archly, and then say, "First of all, you look marvelous, bitch!" Then I'm going to continue, "Every day, in every way I'm getting better and better, in this most perfect of all possible worlds. The fact that we have just had our 184th mass shooting and that the earth is gradually heating up to life-destroying temperatures, does not concern you, princess. And fuck the kids, the world will be hotter for them, but they suck anyhow, and I will die well before the time when the real bill is coming. And did I tell you already that you look marvelous?"
After that, I'm going to just get out my cymbals and chant "Kamala Shmamala" to the music of this most exquisite version of this lovely song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVMgEupff-E
And spin around like an impassioned maenad or whirling dervish, clapping my hands and singing to the increasing tempo of the beautiful mantra, until all the ugliness of modern America is fully exorcised from my being, and dissolves into a Beatific Vision of KamalaShmamala herself! (Forgive my silliness, I haven't drank in ten years, but I just had five Black Russians.)
Thank you, so happy it is on Kindle. Of course, I prefer the physical book, but living off the grid, having Kindle is more practical. Finally, something worth reading in the sea of crappy books. Also, living in nature gives me unlimited time for reading. I just wish to motivate my daughter to read more. She is 13, loves sports, and movement, thanks got she hates fones, but making her sit is a challenge. Sometimes, I feel today's kids can't focus on reading books, anymore. What will happen in the future when 99% of the population doesn't read? Nicholas Carr was right when he said our brains are shallow, unable to focus thanks to the digital age. I love the book Screen Schooled how kids in the US are almost 20 hours on the screen, focused on completely mindless stuff. A wonderful future is awaiting... And I heard phones are allowed in American schools. At least in Spain are not. You get expelled for bringing your phone to school.
Hope u enjoy the bk. Let's hear it for Spain! Didju know that biopsies performed on the brains of American children have revealed that most have actual pieces of dog excrement in them? Literal chunks, amiga. Meanwhile, give us links for Carr and Screen Schooled, thanks.
Megan-
Rest assured, Hedges is all talk; you'll be out there on yr own. Hope u enjoy the bk. As for Black Russians, my Russia bk shd be out on Amazon in 2-3 months. Keep in mind that millions of Americans admire Pinker, who is a buffoon, and millions more love Kamala (Schmamala), who is quite literally a dope. Meanwhile, in future, pls be sure to limit yr posts to half a page. Thank you, and may Krishna bless all of your cocktails.
ps: Spanish trans of the bk shd be out later this year from Sexto Piso Editorial, based in Madrid. When I think of Pinker or Kamala trying to understand the bk, I cd both laugh and cry. And you can add Gisele Bundchen to that list.
You'll love amerikkkan youth even more! Another dumbass teen attempted a TikTok "challenge" involving a flammable liquid, leaving him crispier than fried chicken. Natural selection, yo!
Haha, thanks a lot, Miles/Jeff, and right back at ya. I always look forward to your amusing and insightful posts and postmodern poems.
As for George Harrison, you know how they say "there is wisdom in learning from other people's mistakes?" Well, Harrison is a good example where you can learn a lot from another's success. Most of us will never get to be a Beatle or have members of the opposite sex scream and tear out their hair when they see us. But in this very insightful video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP9Qz3HdM3
George explains why that is a "high that very quicky fails to satisfy." So even if Dr. Berman became a celebrated, "global phenonom," he is likely at peak happiness right now, exactly as things are. (Plus, if that ever did happen, and he appeared in, say, a commercial like The World's Most Interesting Man,"--"I don't always drink beer, but when I do..."--it would cause me severe existential strain. Like if I were on a retreat at a revered guru's ashram, and I accidentally barged into his room while he was surfing Porn Hub!)
No luck w/the link, I fear. But rest assured, I'll never make it onto the American radar screen. Chinese historians, plowing thru the wreckage of the NY Public Libe decades from now, will come across my work and say: "This guy, Belman; he saw it all. Why didn't they listen to him?" Jus' call me Cassandra. Note that most gurus have feet of clay. Happily, I'll never be one, so my secret--that I'm substanced-addicted to chopped liver--will remain hidden from public view.
With millions in UK at near-starvation, King Charles parades his billions in wealth. Clearly, a douche bag for the ages. Charles, Schmarles, Ozymandias redux. And how pathetic the Great Empire is these days--as we too will be, b4 2 long.
Rob Urie's latest article goes over the history of the destruction of the American working class, the deindustrialization of the country, the deliberate fragmenting of the population into cuture-warring factions and sub factions. The re-defining of the "left" as neocon democratic party liberals. He sees no rising left resistance.
At some point, American workers may wake up for a moment and become aware of this incredible betrayal. I'm not holding my breath, mind you. They'd likely find it hard to view and change the channel to reruns of Three's Company, but one can wish...
Lovely book doctor. I read it yesterday afternoon. I'll be recommending it to some colleagues and patients as well. It's tough to do good work in 'mental health' these days given the constraints of the system, insurance, etc. Tougher still when folks seem to be interested mostly in what seem like repackaged 'behaviorist' approaches - though maybe that's fitting for a technically oriented society, unaccustomed to 'depth'. With the exception of one colleague, in practice since the early 70s, no one has even heard of Lowen, or Edwin Friedman, Murray Bowen, etc. I almost fall over when I meet a colleague who has heard of Satir.
Thanks so much for yr kind words. Be sure to tell yr colleagues that the path to dramatic healing is to buy at least 100 copies of the bk. :-) Imagine, that they will start talking abt Winnicott and Adler! Say, are those pigs flying over the NIH?
Oops-
I don't get it. Chris Hedges kept telling us the masses were abt to rise up against their masters. Cd he have been wrong? Of course, it proved to be problematic, inasmuch as the American workers had their heads embedded in do poo. What're ya gonna do?
“Where do you think our leaders come from? Mars?” -George Carlin Perhaps this thoughts and prayers Texas Christian Republican does. LOL. Yes, USAins. In this de facto Christian theocracy, according to him God is in charge. One has to ask this elected Texas conservative doofus if his imaginary god has been in charge of the now 199 mass shootings in this dysfunctional country as it violently implodes. Like Gore Vidal, stupidity excites us Wafers too. Our good Doctor’s 2030 can’t come soon enough for the rest of this planet.
Do the morons that buy weapons like that get off on literally blowing peoples heads off? I now worry constantly about my kids. It feels as if things are rather quickly spiraling out of control. Bubbas are not going to accept the fact that the state will be forced at some point to take away guns. The clash that ensues will probably consume the country.
On a lighter note, I enjoyed laughing at the photo of the guy linked above. What a chump.
The state (which is who, exactly?) will not be able to take away guns, and rest assured, it won't even try. I've predicted 2030 for the end of America, but it looks like we are already halfway down the toilet. The US is by now a joke, but a v. bad one.
Too bad this author didn't mention the work of our GSWH.
"Is the United States a Failed Society? The facts have become too dire to ignore any longer." By Chad C Mulligan - https://hipcrime.substack.com/p/is-the-united-states-a-failed-society
I saw that the US introduced a bill that said something about being committed to Ukraine's victory. Our leaders have completely abandoned reality. Are they just that crooked and dependent on the military industrial complex?
And I'm looking forward to yr reaction, amigo. Meanwhile, you only introduce legislation like that if yr losing, I'm guessing. It's just empty chest-beating, no? (not to mention meat-beating)
Imagine my surprise when I opened up my current read and found this on page 3 : an author quoting from “Twilight of American Culture” on how global capitalism ….”has become the total commercial environment that circumscribes an entire mental world”. So when you are done reading Dr. MB’s new book, read this, Highly recommended:
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture By Dr. Gabor Mate
https://a.co/d/6pVi5Dj
I use Amazon as a reference, I hope you will purchase it at your local bookstore or borrow from your Library.
In the notes app on my phone, I saved a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book "Silence" that Dr. Berman posted here last year. Here’s part of it: “Many of us are afraid of going home to ourselves because we don't know how to handle the suffering inside us. That's why we're always reaching for more and more sense impressions to consume."
I think that quote is relevant to me after reading the kindle preview of Dr. Berman’s newest book “Healing.” Yes, I’m still on that hamster wheel. Without going into details, I’m still “unwilling” to get off of it. But I’m beginning to stand outside my own “narrative” arc. So there is “hope.”
Note to Torreblanca— please know that my previous message to you was written while I was on the hamster wheel. Thankfully Dr. Berman was able to pick up the slack and get me pointed in the right direction. Still no excuse b/c I kinda came off to you like an ass. And a blowhard. I really don’t know shit. I’m sorry if this comes across as just another one of those “non-apology” apologies. Certainly don’t let all this keep you from further blog participation if you so desire! Take care.
I returned the compliment--quoting Mate a few times in "Healing"--without knowing that he had quoted me! Thanks for the heads-up.
Ro-
Thanks for the apology to Torreblanca. I did feel you were being a bit heavy-handed with him, sort of talking down to him from 'on high'. Perhaps this suggests yr leaving the hamster cage.
I read Mate's book earlier this year and forgot to log on and report he cites MB! It's a great book..
Americans pessimistic about nation’s future, more positive about past | Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/americans-take-a-dim-view-of-the-nations-future-look-more-positively-at-the-past/
Half in U.S. Say They Are Worse Off Than in the Past. The writing is on the wall, and in the polls!
Sorry for the delayed response. Here are the links to the book Screen Schooled https://www.amazon.com/Screen-Schooled-audiobook/dp/B07QJ7F1PN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KKE3VYTPB5S2&keywords=screen+schooled&qid=1683575115&sprefix=screen+schooled%2Caps%2C636&sr=8-1 And the other is from Nicholas Carr, I think you use it in the WAF in Ch3: https://www.amazon.com/The-Shallows-Nicholas-Carr-audiobook/dp/B003RCWPJW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14FBSKWNFTA4T&keywords=nicholas+carr&qid=1683575470&s=audible&sprefix=nicolas+carr%2Caudible%2C382&sr=1-1 And my story about Spain in comparison to the US:https://medium.com/illumination/after-my-5-years-of-living-in-spain-i-offer-a-brutally-honest-view-of-life-there-1bae6ec9e760 Looks like many Americans are realizing the ship is sinking. At least more than in 2018. I read the book and enjoyed it, too bad it wasn't longer. Can't wait for the other one.
I had a companion vol. on the healing properties of chopped liver, but pulled it at the last minute. Probably a mistake. W/Russia bk, if you buy 10 copies you get a plate of blini delivered to yr front door.
Once again, we need to think of some Wafer T-shirts. Help me out here:
IT'S OVER THIS COUNTRY IS A SHIT PIT EMIGRATE, DUMMY!
Wafers, As the GSWH so accurately stated, it doesn’t matter if guns are outlawed here in this shithole. USAins will find another way to kill each other. And although it didn’t happen in these two examples, it isn’t far fetched at all. USAins will use their cars as weapons when they fly off the handle about something. Perhaps like the old television show we can call this one chapter of this shithole imploding, “Demolition Derby.”
I'd like a Wafer tee-shirt that says "You really are that stupid" but that would proly get me shot. The wife still won't let me spray paint a "Z" on the side of our truck. Part of me hopes Russia will put the Frech to work building boats when they reach the Atlantic... 'murica needs some ass kicking on its own turf for once. -comrade simba-
The common theory that leaders only get worse and more ridiculous as an empire declines appears very true. If ever evidence was needed to back that claim up...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJL82hpK3k
I know zero democrats who think Biden has dementia, even though many of them DID before he won the primary. They get very testy when I ask if they think he should still drive.
Farm labor crisis update: immigrant workers from Mexico pulling up stakes & going back home bc the US sucks so bad, & discussing their reasoning behind that choice.
Idk it's incredible what you can learn from listening to people
I ordered a hard copy of the new book. No techno garbage 4 me;)
In other news, Schmiden is fanning the flames of war in East Asia. S. Korean prez Yoon Suk-yeol appears to be yet another US-backed puppet, as he's hinted @ doing a "pre-emptive" strike on the North. Meanwhile, Amerikkka wants to provide "strategic nuclear submarines to that neck of the woods, along w/ war game simulations.
Great, but there is no hard copy that I know of. Only Kindle and pb. Anyway, hope u enjoy it. As for imperial overstretch, as historians call it: we are in the process of implosion rt *now*. Amazing, how America continues to ignore me, really. But then it also ignored the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils, and look at the result.
This is built into the core of structure of the entire country, it's like asking fish in the ocean to stop being so wet. Putnam's "Bowling Alone" immediately comes to mind...
Just wondering if anybody bought Dr. Berman's book "Healing" on Kindle. I did and it doesn't seem to work. If anybody else bought a working copy, I'd like to know. Thank you
What a bombshell..an outright fabrication that shaped (for the worse, i think) the way millions of americans thought about the relationship btwn King and X
My kindle version of healing works fine for me. In fact, and I kid you not, I was reading while eating a pastrami sandwich I had shipped in from Carnegie Deli and the overall effect was quite therapeutic. Perhaps as effective as yoga for getting one 'back into the body'? We could always run it by Bessel vdk. Maybe reconsider the second volume on chopped liver?
Good to hear, i.e. that Kindle works. As for the Carnegie Deli: I thought they went outta business yrs ago. I guess not. But pastrami, imo, is the true healer. Beats yoga 6 ways from Sunday.
Thanks for your v. kind review of "Healing" on Amazon. I'm hoping that positive revs will lead to massive sales, enabling me to hobnob with the rich and famous. Which, as I say in the bk, is what life is really all about!
Interesting you should bring those up, Doctor First in my re-read of "Coming to Our Senses" your discussion of the basic fault, mirroring, implications of Self/Other awareness et al dovetails neatly with a project I'm already doing, so that covers the therapy angle.
Regarding the sandwich, I'd sell my soul for one of those, on rye, with swiss cheese and a bit of Dijon but sadly, all that is N/A in my neck of the woods.
All that said, I do want the book. and am beginning to explore avenues for how to get it. I was wondering if anybody else here had bought it on Kindle and had similar challenges
When guns aren’t available USAins shall hurl rocks at each other. https://www.14news.com/2023/05/11/video-drivers-throw-rocks-landscaping-blocks-road-rage-incident/ Their speeding drivers in ( what else? Heavy pickup trucks or SUV’s) definitely take umbrage at someone telling them to slow down. The quick fix: Try to run them over. https://www.wmur.com/article/moultonborough-video-black-pickup-truck-road-rage/43856759 But when guns are available, what better way to aim and shoot than to open up and use the sunroof. https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime/indiana-state-police-investigating-road-rage-incident-on-interstate-465-indianapolis/531-bc174b3e-4bd0-42a5-a478-c505a4849037
And today’s mugshot: a prom after-party killer who obviously didn’t have a date for it. https://www.wlox.com/2023/04/30/teen-arrested-after-six-injured-bay-st-louis-shooting/
ps: Joe: Ya know, that face is really haunting, and it speaks to a Post-Buffoon Age (PBA). My prediction is that after Americans have exhausted buffoonery, they will pass over to a post-buffoonery, in which the eyes are blank. Nobody at home, don't even knock. Zombies, in effect. It's not that we will all become douchebags; we are *already* douchebags. It's that we will become--0.
I think it fitting that Kamala (Schmamala) will be leading us into the PBA.
ps2: I also think that the PBA, beginning roughly in 2025, will be a period of existential horror. Mass suicides, for example. And not one massacre a day, but 5 or 10. We have always filled the Void at the center of American life with hustling and consumerism. In the PBA, that won't work anymore. All we shall have left to us as a way of life, is death.
It could be a sticky wicket, tho, as (PBA) seems to indicates "death" as a kind of prerequisite. Clearly, Chris was celebrating life, poolside! What a doofus...
Miles
ps: Did you see Trumpi's performance on CNN last night? No more licking his wounds, Trumpi is BACK!
Sorry, cdn't post it. We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Next time you post a link, provide a para of yr own commentary. Thank you.
Jeff-
Shaneka Torres was from the Buffoon Era. As well as Freddie, Schmendrick, and Laquisha. But Mr. Harris--just check out his eyes--is clearly PBA. As for Trumpi: we may be in for a terrifying 2025-29. But then fascism, historically, has been a certified path to collapse.
Dr. Berman, congratulations on your new book. It's gonna take a while before I get the book, but I know it's gonna be great as always. Second, there is a new war on Gaza. And the US as always stands with the bully. https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-blocks-china-led-security-council-initiative-to-issue-statement-on-gaza-violence/ Finally, ngl Trumpi is winning me over. He's at once the sanest american and the highway to imperial decline (Ours is the age of paradox it seems). And he's entertaining. I hope he's back by 2024. At least we can get a faster and a more entertaining decline with a lesser risk of a WWIII. Here's the CNN interview https://youtu.be/rfzOFCf-6jw
Many thanks for your thoughts on Trumpi and the war in Ukraine. I believe it is the crucial issue as well. This author sees the war as a perfect vehicle for Trump's version of economic nationalism to play out, and his direct willingness to flout US foreign policy orthodoxy i.e., that the US could go broke (we are 33 trillion in debt after all) funding a war (36 billion so far) in Ukraine that looks increasingly unwinnable for Ukraine, while the economic needs of the US continues to be ignored:
The author also states that it just may work, particularly if the US goes into recession, which appears very likely. That alone could turn the tide against Schmiden and Kamamala, and put Trumpi back in the WH. I also agree w/you that it seems absurd that Trumpi could end the war in 24 hrs, but Trumpi is, in effect, laying the groundwork for a deal to end this mess.
Your assessment that Trump might be a lesser evil/disaster than Biden is right on target. The stepping up of lunatic level war provocations is obviously existential to anyone with a sub-par IQ. That leaves out a lot of Americans and their leadership. The neocons think everyone bluffs like they do. Experience should show them that the Russians don't — and that a threat to attack Russia or overthrow its state is the state-doctrine trigger for a nuclear response.
Here's a raise you 10,000 before I even see you step toward oblivion:
Sometimes I wonder if the whole world has gone completely coocoo except for me. What great insight does it take to recognize that Putin is trying to protect Russian boundaries in the same way that JFK did with respect to American boundaries in 1962? US SOP is to create an enemy by putting them in an impossible position (e.g., NATO in Russia's backyard), and then brand them Evil Hitlers when they object. With us it's always Heads I win, tails you lose; that has been our foreign policy for a long time now. How is it that Americans can't see this? Is almost everyone in the US a buffoon except myself? (rhetorical question)
Jeff-
The author writes: "Trump’s comments are an affront to generations of US foreign policy orthodoxy based on the idea that making the world safe for democracy and standing up to tyrants is in core US political, diplomatic and commercial interests and is a multiplier of American power."
Wha?? We *back* tyrants; we don't stand up to them. Saudi Arabia is only 1 example among many. And "making the world safe for democracy" is our propaganda line; in truth, we continue to create a v. unsafe world. But I do agree that this nonsense is in our commercial interests (esp. our war corporations) and serves to advance our power, wh/is the real agenda here, and always has been.
Some years ago, the UN did a poll on whom the world's nations regarded as the greatest threat to world peace. 198 of them (give or take) said the US, and the US and Israel said Iran.
The American people remain jokes, and this is, as George Carlin famously said, the gene pool from which our leaders come.
I shudder to think of a Trump presidency, despite the fact that abt half the country loves him. The only thing that makes me shudder more violently is nuclear holocaust. Trumpi won't deliver that; Schmiden might. He's a doofus who is mechanically following "generations of US foreign policy orthodoxy." No possibility that that orthodoxy has been a costly error? And that review and revision might be a better path, at this point? No, let's just keep our heads tucked in our rear ends, and proceed accordingly.
The 1st link has a vid that explains the role Amerikka has had in maintaining tensions on the Korean peninsula. It covers how the South was run by US-backed puppets after the ceasefire. @ 3:20, there's a screenshot tweet from Secretary Anthony Blinken, calling S. Korea a "linchpin" for "stability" in that region. Then there's a graphic showing Amerikkka's military bases around Asia, in its bid to encircle China.
The 2nd link is of diasporic Koreans rallying against Schmiden's recent pledge to send nukes. Amerikkka desperately wants a war somewhere that isn't the Middle East.
Dear Dr. Berman and WAFERs all, Re Trump and the Ukraine war: Bolton's opinion following the last election was that, had he been elected, Trump would have pulled the US out of NATO. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/04/bolton-says-trump-might-have-pulled-us-out-nato-if-he-had-been-reelected/ Since it was over Ukraine possibly joining NATO that Putin invaded, do you suppose the US leaving NATO and ending the arms shipments would automatically foreclose that possibility and end the Russian offensive? All this is certainly to be desired, as I see it. Per events of June 2021 when Biden froze weapons shipments to Ukraine, it would seem Trump could do that part. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/18/white-house-ukraine-military-lethal-weapons-495169 But I'm wondering if he would be able to get senate agreement to Leave NATO. Any thoughts about that?https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/3/rubio-kaine-applaud-committee-passage-of-joint-resolution-to-prevent-any-u-s-president-from-leaving-nato-without-congressional-approval#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAmerica's%20commitment%20to%20NATO%20is,invaluable%20alliance%20without%20Senate%20approval.%E2%80%9D
It wd appear that Trumpi is anti-empire. Wh/is a rare note of sanity in today's political scene. It is we, not Putin, who are living in an "alternative universe." And that universe is upside down.
Friday Night at the Fights! Two road ragers go at it for about a full round of USAin anger! https://www.kktv.com/2023/05/12/watch-two-colorado-men-take-literal-definition-road-rage/
And on an airplane. Listen at about the 2:15 minute mark. A remark is made about USAin culture. Do we have a Wafer on board that flight? Or Doctor, is your word unconsciously spreading about our screwed up society? https://www.facebook.com/ItsGoneViralOfficial/videos/woman-voted-off-plane-by-passengers/795157231686306/ https://www.wsaz.com/2023/05/04/woman-apparently-voted-off-flight-by-fellow-passengers-after-argument/
Yes, that was a boneheaded and incorrect thing to say by that author. I'm sure, as you point out, that that is the author's view of American foreign policy, but he may have meant it in terms of the fact that Trumpi has broken w/that idea; that Trumpi broke w/decades of post-Reagan GOP establishment and consensus that America should have a hegemonic presence in the world affairs, and that it is largely moral and benevolent. Trumpi seems to have called BS to this nonsense, and structurally changed that idea within the GOP. I don't know, I could be wrong.
Texas alone has suffered 17 mass shootings this year and now lawmakers propose ‘battlefield trauma care’ facilities in schools
HB 1147, a bill pending in the Texas house of representatives, is strikingly graphic. It proposes that schools across the state should provide “bleeding control stations” equipped with “tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma care by the armed forces of the United States”.
How America’s fatal gun attraction turned schools into war zones https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/13/mass-shootings-schools-guns-violence?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
No doubt meant to offer some measure of reassurance to the parents and relatives of school-age children. Likely contribution to reducing the body count: nil, bupkis, zip.
As for Trump, it seems to me he's one of two faces of the acceleration of the decline. First we have the Biden and co. and their road is that of decline by antagonising the world. And then the Trump and co. whose mission is to destroy the US from the inside.
Texas is in the vanguard of the project to end the US. The idea of this project, discussed many times b4 on this blog, is that everyone in the country gun down everyone else, like dogs in the street (while laughing). Texas: canary in a coal mine.
Jeff-
Not sure how many GOP politicians wd go along w/Trumpi's anti-empire stance, anti-"Washington Consensus." His unwillingness to publicly go pro-Ukrainian cd get him into trouble. I think we need to bring Tulsi in on this. I think she does some regular podcast, in addition to interviews on Fox News, condemning the Democrats as dishonest and corrupt (Go, Tulse!); but other than that, I'm guessing she doesn't have too large an audience. Also that the Dem establishment doesn't see her as any type of threat. Personally, I keep waiting for the day that some politician, of any party, declares that "Morris Berman is a danger to the stability of our nation, and must be stopped at any cost"--an event that's long overdue.
As Jas Howard Kunstler likes to say, "It's all good."
What if Kamala had a cow pie in her head? What if Schmiden was a senile fool? What if King Charles was a complete doofus? And what if Gisele Bundchen was the source of all our troubles?
Thank you for writing Healing. I read it three times. Reading is easy, but getting off the treadmill is hard. Back in the late 70s I bought into the whole “I Am Woman myth.” I was married, nursing the baby, teaching elementary school, doing daily cooking, cleaning, washing laundry, growing an organic garden, canning fruits and vegetables, making bread and yogurt, raising bees, and working on a doctorate. My epiphany came at 2 AM as I was trying to pick up the two year old to nurse.
Sleep deprivation is brutal. Never did finish that degree (worth an extra $600 a year in 1980). Family was most important. For me, “being still” is an ongoing journey even today.
Remember the Geopolitics & Empire interview where u said nearly all Amerikkkans are monolingual? An interesting moment happened today while meeting up w/ a Canadian bud 4 lunch in Virginia. Canada has 2 official languages, unlike its imperialist, moronic neighbor. I happened to be @ an intermediate level in French; Therefore I was able to converse w/ mon ami Quebecois. It was during our convo that I noticed a couple folks staring @ us like we had 3 heads.
I guess speaking a foreign language is some sort of superpower? Never mind the occasional asshat who think you're a walking dictonary & want u 2 translate shit.
I'm so glad the bk was helpful 2u. Thanks for letting me know. As for the feminist "you can have it all" bullshit: No one can have it all, and the lifestyle involved, regardless of gender, is part of the American Way of Life pathology. It certainly won't make one happy; it's just one more (oppressive) "script," as I call it in the book. Hamsters on a wheel, the whole country. Run faster, go nowhere. Etc.
Satch-
During the presidential campaign of 2004, John Kerry kept it secret that he was fluent in French, because he understood that this would render him unpopular with American voters/douchebags. No amount of slapping, no amount of urine...
Daniel Penny killing Jordan Neely shows how shit the country is. Neely's mom was murdered, and that sent Jordan into a downward cycle of depression & crime. Penny wandered around aimlessly after high school, looking for violence (Marines & vigilante justice) & adventure (van life, wandering around the world). Penny has become a right wing hero and Penny's lawyers have collected millions in donations through GiveSendGo (a Christian white nationalist alternative to GoFundMe).
When I say that America now exists in a degraded condition, it is clearly no exaggeration. The evidence piles up on a daily basis. You think we've scraped the bottom of the barrel; then it turns out there were just a few inches more to go. Etc.
Sort of reminds one that the evils and others America creates out in the world are contrapositional and obverse to it. We exist as a holism and it seems the US will beat its head against the wall til it breaks open before it ever recognizes that..
A little too long for this blog. We have a guideline of a half-page maximum. If you could edit your post down by about 20% and re-send, that would be good. Thank you.
Let cities bloom again! How do you feel abt this article in light of degrowth and dual processes, MB? I see it as a bright side to declinism.. What's a weed anyway?
More craziness from the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! A soldier wannabe steals a military style vehicle. Check out our mugshot for today. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/05/13/stolen-5-ton-military-vehicle-highway-chase/4681683995706/ The newest place to safely get stabbed: a hospital. https://www.wbaltv.com/article/woman-stabbed-baltimore-washington-medical-center-hospital/43882590 https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/2-minors-hospitalized-altercation-outside-brockton-high-school/ And our latest daily mass shooting occurred in Yuma, Arizona. https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/14/us/2-dead-5-injured-yuma-arizona-shooting/index.html
A couple of problems here. 1st, NYT has a paywall, so I cdn't read the article. 2nd, you need to provide some extended commentary of yr own, when you post a link. We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Thank you.
MB/Wafers: Paywall? Try spaywall.com, enter the desired (paywalled) link. Doesn’t work? Try Google cache. Tested Tosh article using this approach, it works.
I just read Healing in one five-hour sitting. It is really outstanding--a gem. Of course, it is not true that there isn't "anything new" in it. Will Durant said that "All great authors plagiarize from a hundred odd sources." There is some truth in this. But even when you draw on an array of various thinkers, you weave it into something that is wholly your own and sui generis. A synthesis that would not have existed otherwise.
I highlighted a number of things that I will go back to and meditate more on over time. Incidentally, I came to a very similar conclusion as you, regarding the "internal critic." About 15 years ago I realized that you can only combat such things through meditation. You can't merely "think" them away. In any case, it is no accident that "ecstasy" literally comes from the Greek "extasis," to stand outside oneself. Only through deep meditation, and standing outside of our paltry, everyday, superficial ego, do we have a chance at understanding or making peace with such things.
Your three personal instances of "ex-tasis" were especially poignant to me. May you have two or three more before you are done!
On a related subject, I always go back to this wonderful series (eight talks total) every few years. I find his talks very wonderfully soothing and comforting. Over the years, various Wafers have linked Rick Roderick before, and I can't recommend him enough. A rare voice of sanity and humanity in these ugly times. Like Dr. Berman, he saw what was coming!
I was really happy to hear that you enjoyed the bk, and got something out of it. That's what it's there for! My goal has always been to touch people where they live. In terms of #s, I'm quite sure I failed. But then quality is more impt than quantity. At least, that's what I like to tell myself. In any case, thank you for the kudos.
There are a few voices out there still talking sense on the important issues. Our leadership and most Americans will just ignore this, but I applaud them for saying it. It's a 46 min interview worth a listen. Its surprising that one can spend 40 years "in and out of the Pentagon" and not sound like a warmonger in my opinion.
Thanks for this link. Unfortunately, the US will never be a force for peace. As I explain in QOV and elsewhere, war and opposition ("negative identity") is in our bloodstream, our DNA. It's great that these national security folks recognize that the Ukrainian caper is a pile of crap, but at least 99% of the American public approves of the war, sees Russia as The Ultimate Evil, and so on. Here's the bottom line: we are a stupid country filled w/stupid people. This is why we do things like this, and why we have no future. The president is a marionette on strings; the VP is a complete moron. Etc. Believe me, there will be no wake-up moment for America or its citizens. Heads up asses, we will roll to our destruction. Folks like myself have no voice whatsoever.
Talk about "negative identity" being in the bloodstream... Take a look at this video from peacenikville—Woodstock: A man with a sign saying "Stop aid to Ukrain, Disband NATO" is attacked by the progressive liberal boomers for his shameful anti-war sign.
Reps. Jamaal Bowman, Marjorie Taylor Greene's spar https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmDaEaYR-8&pp=ygUoamFtYWFsIGJvd21hbiBhbmQgbWFyam9yaWUgVGF5bG9yIGdyZWVuZQ%3D%3D
Let's pretend alien spaceships came to earth and these people happened to be the aliens' first encounter, would the aliens assume this was deliberation in the worlds most powerful legislative body? Could anyone even convinced them that it was? What a joke!
Sorry, cdn't run yr posts. Here's the deal: we are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. If you want to post a link, give us more of yr own commentary than a single line. Try a paragraph, for example. Thank you.
My own take is that the emerging world order that is slowly replacing the American post-War formula will be v. different from what we have lived with for nearly 80 yrs now, but--as Immanuel Wallerstein once said--it may not necessarily be any better. For a healthier (utopian) vision of the future, check out the 2nd story in my bk "The Heart of the Matter." If only.
Fan of Scorsese for many years because he exposes the brutal violent truth of power dynamics in his films.
His latest "Killers of the Flower Moon" releasing this Oct, continues his interest in portraying deeply unsettling truths. After seeing the trailer, I researched what the story is based on. It's from yet another dark chapter in American history when members of the Osage tribe, rightful owners of their land and mineral rights, were abused and murdered for owning rich oil deposits.
Yet more evidence of the greed and violence that is rooted in the twisted history of this country that continues in our daily news stories.
Here is the first trailer. "Can you find the wolves in this picture?"
Here's a UK story that relates to the folly of endless growth. A farmland area called Sandleford Park was the subject of a controversial development plan by UK's gov't. The goal is to build 1,000 new homes, schools & other things here. It's a quiet spot where wildlife resides, and where one can go to think. These plans were met with much opposition by nearby residents, but they went ahead anyway. Takin' this back 2 Amerikkka, I've heard folks say Florida's beaches were spoiled by too much development. Seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?
Forget about the many violent mass shootings for a moment. Here’s something funny to accompany the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! as it implodes. Check out what the St. Louis Cardinals are doing in June. A special “Christian Day”. Hegetsus.com signage already is behind home plate and seen on every pitch. And conservatives here complain about Iran and other Middle Eastern countries being theocracies. Our national pasttime is joining them. LOL! https://www.mlb.com/cardinals/tickets/promotions/christian-day
After the game maybe these dumbed down Bible-thumping USAins can travel to Kentucky and visit Noah’s ark (where baby T-Rex’s were saved from the flood) and the Creation Museum. After all, this planet is only 6,000 years old in many USAin heads. LOL! https://creationmuseum.org/
I have just finished Healing and want to thank you for it. Quite illuminating and plenty to chew on. It’s a complement to a book I also recently read, based in attachment, theory, called Running On Empty.
Here’s a recent article from The NY Times (I’ve run it through spaywall.com in case it’s paywalled - apologies if this doesn’t work). Written by a psychologist recounting how she’s introduced what I’d call woke ideology’s MeToo, BLM, etc. into her work with patients. I found it a difficult read, but unfortunately all too common in my experience of the ‘field’ of psychotherapy today. Is it my imagination or does this amount to gaslighting, if not malpractice?: imposing the therapist’s political ideology on patients. It’s one thing if they bring it into the session, but effectively coercing people to see themselves not as individuals but as sociocultural stereotypes… Sadder still, I bet there are patients that eat this stuff up, no wait… I know there are.
Contrast, doctor, this anemic approach with the things you outline in ‘Healing’.
I think the main takeaway from Healing, is the idea that one needs to make these insights "ontological knowledge," rather than just "intellectual knowledge." I personally think that meditation is the most effective method (Though I'm unfamiliar with Alexander Technique and some of the other interesting approaches that Dr. Berman mentions in the book.)
I believe the expression is, "Meditation is not what you think." In the case of Americans, they strike out on both intellectual levels and ontological ones. Of course, Mindfulness is now very popular, used in corporate training, for example. It's typically employed in the context of hustling better, becoming more 'successful'. Towards the end of "The Sopranos," Dr. Melfi kicks Tony out, because she realizes that he has no interest in changing as a person; he just wants to be a better Mafioso, and her therapy w/him is contributing to that end. Tony is really an American Everyman, just at a more aggressive level--the hustler on steroids, so to speak.
So having read WAF and as a result becoming interested in Toynbee. His take on the degradation of the upper classes into groups that always make the wrong move as they are trying to display dominance at all times is so apparent in Usian politics right now. Spoiler: this below also includes the Sopranos as a metaphor.
Lately I’ve noticed how few friends I have left in late middle age because I never bought into hustling. When I leave the states (or stumble into a sun culture that’s less greedy) I literally make friends everywhere as it’s not about hustling. I hope to read “Healing” after I finish Toynbee.
But I improved on Toynbee. 1st, I said the elite were trash. 2nd, I recommended slapping and urine for them. Also note that 'friends' in the US aren't real friends. Anyway, enjoy "Healing," chico.
Greetings, Wafers everywhere, here’s your news roundup from Cascadia. A columnist in the Seattle Times has questioned the point of the Seattle area’s King County Regional Homelessness Authority in increasing the supply of housing for the domicile-impaired. Instead of increased housing supply, the authority has lengthened delays for funding applications by housing providers, created a new bureaucracy enforcing a new layer of procedures and requirements, immersed itself in clashes over virtue signaling, and facilitated little new housing - another example of a society incapable of mitigating the consequences of casino capitalism.
Meanwhile, despite a drop in non-fatal shootings, the number of King County homicides has keep pace with totals of the past three years, and the number of incidents where at least 10 rounds have been fired has gone up. Duck and cover!
And locally here in Olympia, Evergreen College has discovered a new revenue stream to suck off of as it announced on May 15th that it will participate in Amazon’s “Career Choice Program,” in which the company pre-pays tuition for hourly Amazon employees.
A restorateur and a bunch of convicts is defeating an army backed by pretty much the whole western world. Ukrain is a lost battle yet we keep pouring billions of dollars of equipment to them. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/20/europe/bakhmut-capture-wagner-ukraine-russia-intl/index.html
To more important news, catch them when they're young. Mongol kids learned to ride before they could walk, american kids shoot people before they can say dada. https://us.cnn.com/2023/05/20/us/illinois-child-shooting-2-injured/index.html
I can't remember when the American head was this deeply embedded in the American ass. There will be no wake-up moment for America or the American people. Of that, you can be sure. When defeat comes, we will whitewash it. 50% of the American public believe we won the war in Vietnam.
This book spells out in great detail the extent to which the US and NATO is and has been involved in Ukraine, essentially turning Ukraine into a de facto client state of the US. There are many layers here, completely absent from mainstream coverage of the war.
How cd I have missed this bk? Thank you for the link. This is the true narrative of the Ukraine story, something the MSN will never acknowledge. Meanwhile, Americans live in darkness. Well, nothing new there.
Following up on my previous post, the book is Running on Empty by Jonice Webb, https://www.amazon.com/s?k=running+on+empty+jonice+webb&crid=21KEV7QCBOHN3&sprefix=jonice%2Caps%2C114&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_6
Dr. Webb's premise is that many are impacted by emotional neglect in childhood (which she defines as a kind of trauma) and are not attuned to their real feelings as adults. Which results in low self esteem, unhealthy choices, and empty feelings (even in circumstances of so-called adult "success"). Latter half of the book includes prescriptions for healing, for getting in touch with one's true feelings. I see this in myself and after reading it I learned of your book, Healing, and have enjoyed your insights immensely. I only wish your book was longer -- :)
Wd like to interview her. Was this a statement against the church, or a comment on America in general? If the latter, perhaps it could become a (bowel) movement: Miniardism.
I got a great idea 4 a new tournament, specifically for buffoons & turkeys to unleash their inner wrath on each other. We'll call it the Great Amerikkkan Moron Bash. U get a bunch of buffoons & turkeys from all over Amerikkka. Since that shithole has the largest concentration of idiots, this won't b hard @ all. Put em in 1 of them monster truck dirt rings. Then u give 'em some wooden clubs w/ a pic of Schmiden's face pasted on. Watch the fun begin. Last buffoon standing gets a gilded dunce cap. This event will ideally b televised so other turkeys can watch @ home & make bets. Win-win 4 the tv networks too ;)
This piece claims that the Sinaloa Cartel is flooding Amerikkka w/ Fentanyl. Given the CIA's own history of passing out drugs, this organization may just be a red herring. Either way, some1 is making sure Amerikkkans are stocked up on their opioids. Up shit creek w/ no paddle, I tell ya!
Another funny entertaining day in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! First off: An angry Floridian Karen going at it on the road with a guy. LOL! https://winknews.com/2023/05/23/road-rage-attack-in-fort-myers-caught-on-camera/
You never know what to expect in the Big Apple. The newest: a drive by groping. https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-gropes-teen-while-passing-on-scooter-near-central-park
And here’s today’s mugshot. https://www.fox19.com/2023/05/23/man-arrested-following-road-rage-incident-clermont-county-sheriff-says/
Incidentally, I awoke today thinking about Shaneka Torres. After an exhaustive search of the Michigan Dept. of Correction's database, I still cannot verify if she's been paroled. I'm guessing that she was, since she was sentenced to three to seven yrs in prison back in 2015
Poem for Shaneka:
I was out and about And wanted a bite A McDonald's Bacon Cheeseburger Sounded good tonite I pulled up to the drive-thru window Someone said, "How can I help you?" Gimme a burger, well done W/a widdle cheese Oh, and add some bacon to it will u please I opened the wrapper And could plainly see it was a bacon-less burger I screamed like a banshee! Wait! Wait! Was this incorrect order worth it? Was it worth throwing a hissy fit? As my AR-15 sat on the floorboard Cooling its heels I jerked the wheel And headed down the highway Turned into Burger King Heard they could do it my way
^^Sheesh! We don't really teach this in us history classes but the US invaded Mexico a hundred years ago to chase after Pancho villa after he raided a border town and it was a massive debacle that almost led to actual war.
"The expedition was launched in retaliation for Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, and was the most remembered event of the Mexican Border War. The declared objective of the expedition by the Wilson administration was the capture of Villa.[7] Despite locating and defeating the main body of Villa's command who were responsible for the Columbus raid, U.S. forces were unable to achieve Wilson's stated main objective of preventing Villa's escape.
The active search for Villa ended after a month in the field when troops sent by Venustiano Carranza, the head of the Constitutionalist faction of the revolution and then head of the Mexican government, resisted the U.S. incursion. The Constitutionalist forces used arms at the town of Parral to resist passage of a U.S. Army column. The U.S. mission was changed to prevent further attacks on it by Mexican troops and to plan for the possibility of war.[8] When war was averted diplomatically, the expedition remained in Mexico until February 1917 to encourage Carranza's government to pursue Villa and prevent further raids across the border."
I broke my rule of refusing to order books from Amazon in order to buy your new book, _Healing_. I've read about half of it so far and while I don't agree with everything there, I like your basic message and it's something I'm benefiting from hearing.
On another note, scrolling through recent posts I'm surprised no one on this blog has commented on the "debt ceiling" negotiations. It's amazing to me how so many U.S. people put up with this level of financial instability that is effectively being caused by elected officials. I ask myself: how can this be normal or acceptable?
Here's an excellent discussion with Glenn Greenwald and Saagar Enjeti on the insanity behind the war in Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InFohCLojn0
Enjeti is especially good on what's going on with the money the US pouring into it that can't even be accounted for.
Thanks to Miles/Jeff for the notice about the book on the war by Benjamin Abelow. I ordered it immediate and it came today. The author starts out by talking about the Monroe Doctrine. I wonder how many Americans even know what that is. No, of course I don't wonder about that. Even if they new, would they see the immediate relevance to the issue of the war in Ukraine? Doubtful.
First, here's a beatiful view of SF. As Wafers, you'll find this to be the peak of declinist aesthetics https://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1661360461915234307?t=Grmv5AtJyzguytPk1pvcGg&s=19 Second, it may be that we are witnessing the beginning of a second nuclear messiles crisis. The chinese Say "may you live in interesting times", and I think we are. Russia and the US have been flirting with human extinction for decades New. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/05/25/belarus-5-a81289
If more Amerikkkans traveled anywhere besides Canada, Mexico & the Caribbean, some of 'em might realize that Amerikkka isn't all that gr8. Especially when u can b gunned down while minding ur own business. Tho the true # of folks coming to that conclusion would probably b around 1% or less
Admittedly I am still not quite sure what to make of the Covid pandemic and vaccine controversy. I took the jabs, I lived. But this video, as much as some of it comes off as cranky conspiracy thought, is interesting. I enjoy the psychologist's take on how a small group in society can influence the majority into being a fear mongering gang (he uses the term fascists). A key condition needed is mass loneliness, something I think we can agree is present in the USA.
Hopefully, it will alleviate much confusion about the pandemic, vaccine controversies, and the ascendant American idiocracy. In it you'll see how little the human race has changed since the days w/o indoor plumbing, electricity, antibiotics and vaccines.
Here's a worthwhile "white paper" called: WOKE IMPERIUM: THE COMING CONFLUENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL JUSTICE AND NEOCONSERVATISM. It discusses how US foreign policy reflects past systems, like the British, who were once "for" slavery, but then became "woke" and opposed slavery, reinventing colonialism by putting a moral face on it. He also discusses Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty" and McKinley declaring that the US was "an instrument of God."
The author says- "...those conditioned to believe that geopolitics is a realm of moral certitude can be convinced to support any action carried out by a foreign policy establishment provided it only sounds the correct ideological notes."
Of course, nothing will change. How many of the US population of 335 million will read this, or would even want to read it? I can say that no one I know even discusses foreign policy; all you hear about is their health, kids, sports, celebrities, etc. Best not to dwell on it, I guess; just sit back, watch, and crack open another can of beer.
Greetings Wafers everywhere from Cascadia, he’s an op-ed piece you’re unlikely to see anywhere in the media of U-S-A! U-S-A!: Paul Gillespie in The Irish Times points out that much of the world outside the G-7 is trying to assert national interests in their regions without the U.S. dictating what to do. He cites a recent speech by a former Trump security adviser on Russia, Fiona Hill, who says the vocabulary used by American functionaries “reeks of colonialism.” A Suez Moment for Merica might not be so far in the future.
A footnote correction to Gillespie’s reference to Brazilian President Lula not meeting with Ukraine’s Zelensky at the G-7 summit: Lula had scheduled a meeting with Zelensky, but Lula was stood up by a no-show Zelensky (possibly a U.S.-directed snub at Lula for pursuing non-dollar trade arrangements with China?):
Below is a speech by Putin at the Eurasian Economic Forum underscoring the evolving Eurasian economy vs. the devolving western economies led by the US. He emphasizes the clear shooting in the foot of the US empire and its allies. The contrast is stark, highlighting the failure of US imperial floundering and war making opposed to what Russia and China's one belt road initiative has to offer: productive, cooperative life. Sure, some of it is political/corporate rhetoric; but the flailing irrelevance of the west, strapped to the US, which acts like a disruptive child, is pretty stark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpxBwI7jAKs
In light of this, what do you think the US will do? Reflect maybe? NO! DOUBLE DOWN, of course!!! Onward and downward.
1st off, keep in mind that America is a buffoonocracy, and will behave like one, supported by 335 million buffoons. This is ridicule on my part, but it is also accurate.
America simply doesn't know how to do anything different, than pursue the road it is currently on, because that road and psychological format is hundreds of yrs old. I outlined this in QOV and other writings, but the US is not interested in alternative voices, and never has been. It's a major reason as to why it failed (WAF).
Mao Zedong was never one of my favorite people, but at one pt he predicted that "there is a wind blowing from the East, and it will overcome the West." This is exactly what is happening, 60 yrs later.
There are a # of possible scenarios for the death of America; we have discussed them in the past. But what seems to be shaping up is the Eclipse Scenario: as opposed to doing things that are self-destructive, the bloc of Russia-India-China-Iran?-other Eastern nations will pursue a progressive, expansive, and semi-united path. Given our history, our stupidity, and the commitment to endless "imperial floundering," all America can do is get itself eclipsed by far more intelligent and superior forces, poco a poco. This is a geopolitical trajectory that cannot be reversed, or even mildly arrested.
As I have repeatedly stated, there will be no "wake-up moment" for America. That is not in the cards, not even slightly. What *is* in the cards is irrelevance, and possibly death.
Prof - Ya think we might need a new term "Zombfoon" introduced into the Wafer lexicon? I see a lot of them at my Safeway cashier job here in beautiful Astoria Oregon.
I just discovered that Bush jr. & John Kerry were distant cousins, according 2 genealogists in this link from '04. This makes a complete charade of these foolish (s)elections. The Amerikkkan political process is devoid of any real choice https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4286105
Or as George Carlin once said in an HBO special: "The shit they shuffle around every 4 yrs? Doesn't mean a fuckin' thing". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HeMGqTwWA6U
Kissinger at 100: New War Crimes Revealed in Secret Cambodia Bombing That Set Stage for Forever Wars | Democracy Now! https://www.democracynow.org/2023/5/24/intercept_kissinger_cambodia_killing_fields
With all the Kissinger at 100 stories im going to re-up this POLITICO Mag story about how Kissinger secretly conspired with the Chilean military dictatorship to undermine the Carter admin. He counseled Chile to subvert a US terrorism investigation into a lethal bombing in Washington.
What we need: More motorcycle rallies! https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/new-mexico-motorcycle-rally-ends-in-mass-shooting-between-rival-gangs-177846853606 We also need more confrontations between motorcyclists and cars! https://ktla.com/news/local-news/video-captures-road-rage-fight-in-pasadena/ And we have to keep celebrating these long Memorial Day weekends in Seattle, Baltimore, Atlanta, and this country’s celebratory home—Washington, D.C. https://www.wave3.com/video/2023/05/29/shootings-over-memorial-day-weekend-rock-communities-across-us/ U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Instead of reading "Eminent Post Victorians" straight through, I've started by reading books by the relevant authors. I hadn't read any Isaiah Berlin before, but he is really great. I've now read his book on Marx, as well as "The Crooked Timber of Humanity," and really enjoyed both. Now I will get more from Dr. Berman's book. At any rate, here is a great series of Berlin's talks on the Romantics:
Hermann Hesse's books have had such an influence on me, that I no longer know where Hesse ends and I begin. In any case, he was profoundly influenced by both his pietistic upbringing, as well as the romantic poets like Novalis. Berlin led me (INTJ style, we have to know everything about everything!) to another outstanding book, which I think people here will enjoy. I think you can make a good case that these guys "out Bloomsburyed" the Bloomsburys." In any event, the Bloomsburys would be unthinkable without Romantic "Jena Set" who preceded them. (Hopefully the long link won't put me past the half page limit!)
https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Rebels-First-Romantics-Invention-ebook/dp/B09NLNPRYQ/ref=sr_1_1? any event, the Bloomsburys would be unthinkable without "crid=EXUR3JJJQU54&keywords=magnificent+rebels&qid=1685396643&sprefix=magnificent+rebels%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1
Wulf's bk is strangely blind; what she presents as 'breakthru' is actually old hat. The invention (discovery?) of the self goes back to the so-called Axial Age, 800-200 B.C., when folks like the Buddha, Socrates, the Hebrew prophets, and Confucius arose almost simultaneously and posited a self that was able to reflect on things, and not merely be immersed in them. Julian Jaynes makes a gd case for this being the difference between the Iliad and the Odyssey, and thus Odysseus emerges as the first intellectual (in the West, at least). Subsequent pre-Jena discussions of the self include Augustine, Descartes, Aquinas, Rousseau, Kant, etc. I also think the "Bloomsberries" were realists, not romantics; they had no interest in people like the Schlegels, that I know of.
There once was a Romantic named Schlegel Who had, every morning, a bagel. He would point to the hole And exclaim, "This is my soul!" All of which had nothing to do with Ernest Nagel.
It seems the Ukraine farce is nearing its end as the US is looking for another enemy, such as Uganda https://www.axios.com/2023/05/29/uganda-anti-gay-law-biden-sanctions-warning Don't let the anti-homophobia rhethoric fool you, many of the US allies have such laws. Just like the WMDs in Irak, it's just a facade. As for the real reason, maybe because of the 31 million tonnes of gold, or maybe it was just a roll of a dice. After all the US needs an enemy. https://www.reuters.com/article/uganda-gold-idUSKBN2NP17M
I've been away, but the magnetism of the greatest blog on earth always pulls me back. I had to return just to confirm that what the good professor has been predicting for the past twenty plus years is now taking form before our very eyes. Have a look:
https://youtu.be/K8q0hjga9o0?t=78
And I highly recommend Glenn Greenwald's latest report on the subject. Fast forward to about 30 mins in. The whole episode is good, but this takes you to the matter of America losing its status out in the open.
Luv the Greenwald clip, particularly Jerry Nadler pooping his pants on live TV. How awful. Greenwald did make an error, tho. He said that Robert F. Kennedy was a California Senator. This is not true. Bobby was Senator of New York until his assassination in '68. In any case, this was good stuff.
What we are seeing, at every level, is the progressive disintegration of the country. My guess is that all of this will accelerate as time goes on, rt up to that fateful year, 2030.
I was unable to access the Glenn Greenwald video as it seems that one has to have an account on Rumble. However, I found the same video on YouTube which I think everyone can access:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBBUempOB-c
Before the last election, I tried telling people (Democrats) that Joe Biden was showing signs of mental decline. This is how they reacted: "Biden has a stutter!" I know he had a stutter that he overcame decades ago, and I've never heard him stutter. And I can tell the difference between someone stuttering and someone in mental decline. I guess many Democrats can't do that.
I'd not previously seen that clip of Biden's speech at the G7, but it's devastating. And it's good fodder for an opposition campaign.
Here’s the recap. It was a great holiday weekend for mass shootings. We had 20 of them here in the world’s most disgusting violent shithole of a country. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/30/memorial-day-weekend-gun-violence-mass-shootings/70268159007/
And if there isn’t a mass shooting, here’s the newest hip violent thing. “Flash Mobbing”. https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-suburb-cancels-armed-forces-carnival-flash-mob-400-teens-devolves-fights-chaos https://www.nbc4i.com/video/columbus-police-looking-to-curb-%e2%80%9cflash-mob-takeovers%e2%80%9d/8691436/ It’s all here to watch in the “exceptional” U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Nice work with the Schlegel poem. I hadn't thought of it that way, but your qualifications regarding Wulf's thesis are worth taking into consideration. Still, it is a bit like Harold Bloom's, "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human" book. Of course Shakespeare didn't really invent the concept of the "human." But even if Wulf, like Bloom, makes a somewhat exaggerated claim, I think the value of the book is less in that particular thesis, than in her page-turning "group portrait."
I also think that many previous conceptions of the self were rather lacking. The Cartesian Self, after all, is largely a bloodless abstraction. The Kantian Self ("The Transcendental Unity of Apperception") is slightly more fleshed out, but still essentially insubstantial and lifeless. One could argue that the Platonic Self was a mixed bag too. Most selves, in Plato's mind, were selves of "inferior metals," which needed intensive modeling by the superior "Guardian Selves," etc. etc. But even granting that your reservations have merit, and are good food for thought, I do think that people like Fichte, the Schlegels, Novalis, and others, elaborated and gave life and vigor, weight and heft, to the more "ghost in the machine" conception of the self, which was in floating around in the atmosphere of the time. At any rate, for a nice, interesting introduction to the thought of Fichte, and his more "robust" conception of the self, this is a good series, which nicely complements Wulf's book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKkMMMGTstQ&list=PLRG1UpvFjeaTfIXJGmYZw6lFE9G7SpYoN
I am so grateful for your book Healing. I wish it was in hardcover. It feels like something that I want with me wherever I go. I am in the process of organizing a bookclub discussion around this wonderful text.
Al contrario, as we say in Spanish; thanks to *you*. Let me know how the discussion goes. As for hardcover: too short (thin) for that, I'm afraid. Also, I wanted to price it low, deliberately, so that more people might read it.
Megan-
Well, if Hamlet didn't have a self, then no one did; and I don't think it was abstract or bloodless. Also note that despite problems of timing and causality, Jaynes pegged it correctly, that the consciousness of the Odyssey is v. different from the one in the Iliad. (Also not abstract.)
Joe-
I love a gd flashmob, myself. I've also heard broadcast journalists use the term 'smashmob'. We (Wafers) need to get together and manufacture a Declinist Medal, to be bestowed on Americans contributing to our decline. Wafers are encouraged to say what words or legend the medal might contain. "Carthago delenda est," for example.
"Leftists who call Putin “far-right” are delusional.
Communists must support all progressive social forces, and there is nothing more progressive than defeating the US Empire. That makes Putin objectively a progressive force.
Anti-Putin Leftists are the real reactionaries."
LOL, tankies like this acct's operator are so funny. Putin is expressly anti leftist! He hates Lenin and is admittedly influenced by fascist Russian philosophers like Ilyin, and his policies evolved from neoliberal to far right. That's what they don't get: Putin doesn’t hate US Empire, he envies it. If US offered him to share the world, he would be the happiest. Not a Wafer!
Just a few random thoughts. The defeat of the American Empire will certainly come as a relief to much of the planet. In fact, I predict 80% of the world will be dancing in the streets. This defeat will be karma, punishment of the US for what devastation it has visited upon the world. The problem is, both the gov't and the people are too stupid to understand what it is they have done wrong. In that sense, punishment is wasted. It won't be recognized as punishment, or karma. The gov't and the people will simply be hurt and angry, since they believe, along w/Bush Jr., that "we are so good." (direct quote)
The problem is that the candidates bidding to replace the US as the world's hegemon are not exactly appealing. Russia and China are authoritarian societies, repressive and often cruel. Hard to call them progressive, really. Empires suck, to put it bluntly. For an alternative vision (albeit rather utopian), check out the 2nd story in my bk "The Heart of the Matter". We need geopolitical entities that are decentralized, small-scale, anti-hegemonic, and humanitarian. Yes, I know, gd luck.
Glad you found the links useful... I enjoyed your latest book, by the way.
I didn't know who this fella was and he's definitely right-wing and yet, there's alignment in some of the views expressed on this blog concerning a declining empire:
"The Roman economy was basically a rapine economy. Like all slave-owning societies, Rome had no middle class, a debased currency, and no export production – it lived by conquests, slave trade, and plundering the conquered provinces. Such economies can exist only as long as they expand; when the expansion ends, downfall is inevitable. See any resemblance to the American economy?"
"Mistaking technological advancement and passage of laws with cultural and societal advancement is a complete fallacy, as described by Albert Einstein and Aldous Huxley almost a century ago"
Similar discussion can be found in my Twilight bk (2000). The notion that the Achilles' heel of the West cd be found in the outstripping of moral progress by scientific progress was elaborated upon by Arthur Koestler. (Check out portrait of him in my bk "Eminent Post-Victorians".)
Harvard did a study about the effect good relationships have on ppl's well-being. Here's a Q&A w/ director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, Robert Waldinger
The study spanned several generations thru the course of their lives. Robert Waldinger co-wrote a book called “The Good Life”. One of his findings was that good relationships are key to one's well-being. My own observation is that most Amerikkkans don't have that many close relationships. This has been further eroded by the obsession w/ gadgets, as any longtime Wafers already know. It's no wonder most of 'em are big-time pill poppers.
Well-known for some time, but thanks for the link. The problem for Americans is that the dominant narrative, the American Dream, is based on competition, rivalry, hustling, and one-upmanship. Fundamentally, Americans are narcissistic; they don't give a shit about the other person, and don't know *how* to be social, let alone loving. Their lives are crap, and they are basically miserable. They live in buffoonery w/o even knowing it. Check out my bk "Healing" for further elaboration. The following British study might also interest you:
Succession confirms Wallerstein's point that historically the bourgeoisie always desires to be aristocratic in a generational sequence he calls the Buddenbrooks phenomenon - after Thomas Mann's book about a German merchant family's contest for succession
Offering an assessment similar to others we’ve seen, author Peter Turchin writes in The Atlantic (2 June, “America Is Headed Toward Collapse”) about things that say we’re headed into the shit.
Then offers a suggestion/suggestions for how this whole verkakte mess can be cleaned up and sorted.
https://apple.news/Ashvuxi_QSQG1aUiFDdjcoQ
Deja vu all over again. Deus ex machina, etc., etc.
"When you're going in the wrong direction, progress is the last thing you need. The 'progress' that defines our age often seems closer to the progression of a disease than its cure. Civilization often seems to be picking up speed in the dizzying way things do when they're circling the drain. Could it be that the fiercely held belief in progress is a sort of a painkiller - a faith-in-the future antidote to a present too terrifying to contemplate?"
~ Christopher Ryan, "Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress"
I'm currently reading this book. It will resonate w/many Wafers. Ryan presents a clear and eloquent counter-argument to the Steven Pinkers of the world, and so much more. Most highly recommended:
Some1 asks the question of whether San Fran can "reinvent itself", despite rampant homelessness, drugs, tech biz layoffs, etc. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/28/san-francisco-vacant-buildings-housing-doom-loop
Yet here's a piece about some1 hittin' the road https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2023/03/10/so-long-san-francisco
I think San Fran is a symbol of what Amerikkka is becoming. So the question could b asked another way: Can Amerikkka reinvent itself?
The core of the American Dream is (economic and techno-) growth. But 'growth' is a term most often applied to cancer. How many Americans make the connection?
My trbl with Ryan's work is his "Sex at Dawn" was not very scholarly rigorous.. There was that critical book written by a biologist called "Sex at Dusk" but I have wanted to read this one of his..
Many thanks. I'm aware of the scholarly controversy surrounding "Sex at Dawn," and I have read the rebuttal, "Sex at Dusk" a number of years ago. There are too many fascinating arguments in both books to do them justice in this space. That said, I will say that I think "Sex at Dawn" was a well-argued and better written book. Any work, such as "Sex at Dawn," that confronts the established view that humans are/were built for monogamy will create a mighty pushback. I seem to also recall that many of the themes found w/in "Sex at Dawn," such as humans having a naturally promiscuous mating system that evolved out of the hunter-gatherer era, have been around for decades. In other words, it's not such a controversial nor an original thing to say. What I like about Ryan's work is his irreverence, his intelligence, and independence of mind. These qualities can also be found in "Civilized to Death." I think you should definitely take a look at it.
As our good Doctor has said, “It doesn’t take much to get shot and blown away by cops these days.” The same obviously goes for state troopers. https://www.fox29.com/news/fatal-shooting-shuts-down-parts-of-i-95-near-penns-landing-state-police-say It doesn’t take much to get shot in Philly either. https://www.fox29.com/news/7-overnight-shootings-plague-philadelphia-neighborhoods-as-weekend-gun-violence-continues And of course Chicago. https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/chicago-mass-shooting-7-wounded-1-fatally-on-west-side But New Yorkers shouldn’t fear too much of being blown away by police captains. Some of them pass out drunk in their squad cars. LOL! https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/nypd-captain-arrested-after-passing-out-drunk-in-police-car Just another normal weekend here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Trump's shadow wants to become the president. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pence-files-paperwork-presidential-campaign/story?id=99843078 As the Wafer saying goes : Pence schmence. I honestly think Trump's shoe has a better chance. And, I have a prediction. The rock, the movie star, will be the president by 2028 or 2032. US politics is a badly scripted reality TV, the rock fits perfectly. For an empire that's on its death bed, politics is entertainment, Trump, the rock, Reagan. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/11/politics/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-president-2024-cnntv/index.html
Echoing the works of our own GSWH, Michael Vlahos has written an essay on America as its own civil religion, an ingredient of national life present from the very beginning of the U.S., with endless wars a necessary component to sustain both national and personal narratives. He points to a future at home consumed by apocalyptic passions. A quote from the essay: “Under the new Wokeist religion, the boundaries between the global and the local, the domestic and the foreign wither away, to be replaced by a proselytizing, totalizing, and imperial Americanism.”
Here's a video about a recent New York Times article that's basically running cover for the fact that Nazi symbols are seen military uniforms in Ukraine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVs22Cwb6go
The Times has ignored the Nazi presence in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, though now they deal with it while offering cover for it at the same time. Could we expect anything different from the Times? I think not.
The discussion in this video is quite good, I think.
What a pile of shit America is, and that includes the NYT. This notion that we are defending democracy in the Ukraine is absurd. The place has been soaking in Nazis for ages. I can't get over the fact that Zelensky is Jewish. And talk abt repressive regimes...
Just finished _Healing_ about a week ago. Your descriptions of the issues people face certainly apply in my case. Reading _Healing_, one of the strongest things I gained was the pretty clear realization that living a life where one constantly feels oneself to be inadequate is bullshit. Realizing this gives me impetus to move forward with a healing process.
Thanks a lot for writing and publishing this book!
A school in Arlington, VA was holding a fifth-grade graduation ceremony at a school situated in an affluent neighborhood. As GSWH says, the elite are trash.
According to the police blotter: “Upon arrival, it was determined that adults who are known to each other became involved in a physical altercation during an event at the school. The parties were separated and no significant injuries were reported. The investigation is ongoing.”
No guns or edged weapons. Enough choler present to make weapons unneeded, apparently.
Here is an excellent video that does a point by point take-down of that recent New York Times piece white-washing the presence of Nazis in the Ukrainian military:
The gov't and the NYT are full of shit, and the American public consists of gullible fools. In terms of decline, this self-destruction cdn't be better. Jesus, what a farce. Let's send more $ to Zelensky and his Nazi-infested military.
However, from a grammatical pt of view, I don't like the word 'Nazis'. What we need are Hebrew plural endings. Thus, male Nazis need to be called Nazim, and female Nazis, Nazot.
On an unrelated topic: Cornel West just declared he's running for president. Wow! This will have Schmiden and Trumpi quaking in their boots. West might actually get 0.5% of the vote.
Dr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new book! I just bought a copy. After going from the heights of Panglossian Pinkertonian optimism (I couldn't quite finish his Better Angels, but I'll get there. I'm stubborn about finishing even books I dislike) to the dismal and apocalyptic realism of "The Uninhabitable Earth," I've felt, if not exactly an urge to knock the hats off of everyone I see on the street, then at least a Greta Thornburgian desire to puff out my chest and scream "How dare you American co#ksuckers! And while I'm at it, maybe to take a baseball bat to Wall Street with Chris Hedges and smash some windows, crack some skulls, and overturn the money-changers tables. But this is probably just a sign that I need to relax, take a deep breath, and read your new book on Healing.
In the meantime, I think I'm going to try and order a Pinker-look-alike, fluffy white hair wig. And any time I get out of sorts, I'm just going to put it on and look at myself in the mirror, wink archly, and then say, "First of all, you look marvelous, bitch!" Then I'm going to continue, "Every day, in every way I'm getting better and better, in this most perfect of all possible worlds. The fact that we have just had our 184th mass shooting and that the earth is gradually heating up to life-destroying temperatures, does not concern you, princess. And fuck the kids, the world will be hotter for them, but they suck anyhow, and I will die well before the time when the real bill is coming. And did I tell you already that you look marvelous?"
After that, I'm going to just get out my cymbals and chant "Kamala Shmamala" to the music of this most exquisite version of this lovely song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVMgEupff-E
And spin around like an impassioned maenad or whirling dervish, clapping my hands and singing to the increasing tempo of the beautiful mantra, until all the ugliness of modern America is fully exorcised from my being, and dissolves into a Beatific Vision of KamalaShmamala herself! (Forgive my silliness, I haven't drank in ten years, but I just had five Black Russians.)
Thank you, so happy it is on Kindle. Of course, I prefer the physical book, but living off the grid, having Kindle is more practical. Finally, something worth reading in the sea of crappy books. Also, living in nature gives me unlimited time for reading. I just wish to motivate my daughter to read more. She is 13, loves sports, and movement, thanks got she hates fones, but making her sit is a challenge. Sometimes, I feel today's kids can't focus on reading books, anymore. What will happen in the future when 99% of the population doesn't read? Nicholas Carr was right when he said our brains are shallow, unable to focus thanks to the digital age. I love the book Screen Schooled how kids in the US are almost 20 hours on the screen, focused on completely mindless stuff. A wonderful future is awaiting... And I heard phones are allowed in American schools. At least in Spain are not. You get expelled for bringing your phone to school.
ReplyDeleteLiv-
ReplyDeleteHope u enjoy the bk. Let's hear it for Spain! Didju know that biopsies performed on the brains of American children have revealed that most have actual pieces of dog excrement in them? Literal chunks, amiga. Meanwhile, give us links for Carr and Screen Schooled, thanks.
Megan-
Rest assured, Hedges is all talk; you'll be out there on yr own. Hope u enjoy the bk. As for Black Russians, my Russia bk shd be out on Amazon in 2-3 months. Keep in mind that millions of Americans admire Pinker, who is a buffoon, and millions more love Kamala (Schmamala), who is quite literally a dope. Meanwhile, in future, pls be sure to limit yr posts to half a page. Thank you, and may Krishna bless all of your cocktails.
mb
ps: Spanish trans of the bk shd be out later this year from Sexto Piso Editorial, based in Madrid. When I think of Pinker or Kamala trying to understand the bk, I cd both laugh and cry. And you can add Gisele Bundchen to that list.
ReplyDeleteGreetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB-
Great news about the release of your new book! I will look forward to reading it. Meanwhile, have a look at this guy:
https://www.davisenterprise.com/news/local/breaking-suspect-21-arrested-in-davis-serial-stabbings/
This former *student* was going around the Northern California city of Davis, stabbing people to death.
Megan-
I think I'm in luv w/u, LOL. Great post, and always nice to hear from a fellow George Harrison fan.
Jeff
I love American youth:
ReplyDeletehttps://sfstandard.com/education/uc-santa-cruz-students-threw-hitler-a-birthday-party-complete-with-swastikas/
mb
You'll love amerikkkan youth even more! Another dumbass teen attempted a TikTok "challenge" involving a flammable liquid, leaving him crispier than fried chicken. Natural selection, yo!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.insider.com/tiktok-challenge-leaves-n-carolina-teenager-with-75-burns-to-his-body-2023-4
Check out this guy's face, I beg of you:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.wsj.com/articles/prosecutors-seek-25-year-jail-term-for-oath-keepers-founder-stewart-rhodes-for-jan-6-role-6127e4e5?mod=hp_listb_pos1
What more is there to say?
Haha, thanks a lot, Miles/Jeff, and right back at ya. I always look forward to your amusing and insightful posts and postmodern poems.
ReplyDeleteAs for George Harrison, you know how they say "there is wisdom in learning from other people's mistakes?" Well, Harrison is a good example where you can learn a lot from another's success. Most of us will never get to be a Beatle or have members of the opposite sex scream and tear out their hair when they see us. But in this very insightful video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP9Qz3HdM3
George explains why that is a "high that very quicky fails to satisfy." So even if Dr. Berman became a celebrated, "global phenonom," he is likely at peak happiness right now, exactly as things are. (Plus, if that ever did happen, and he appeared in, say, a commercial like The World's Most Interesting Man,"--"I don't always drink beer, but when I do..."--it would cause me severe existential strain. Like if I were on a retreat at a revered guru's ashram, and I accidentally barged into his room while he was surfing Porn Hub!)
Meg-
ReplyDeleteNo luck w/the link, I fear. But rest assured, I'll never make it onto the American radar screen. Chinese historians, plowing thru the wreckage of the NY Public Libe decades from now, will come across my work and say: "This guy, Belman; he saw it all. Why didn't they listen to him?" Jus' call me Cassandra. Note that most gurus have feet of clay. Happily, I'll never be one, so my secret--that I'm substanced-addicted to chopped liver--will remain hidden from public view.
mb
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteWith millions in UK at near-starvation, King Charles parades his billions in wealth. Clearly, a douche bag for the ages. Charles, Schmarles, Ozymandias redux. And how pathetic the Great Empire is these days--as we too will be, b4 2 long.
mb
Dr. Berman—
ReplyDeleteRob Urie's latest article goes over the history of the destruction of the American working class, the deindustrialization of the country, the deliberate fragmenting of the population into cuture-warring factions and sub factions. The re-defining of the "left" as neocon democratic party liberals. He sees no rising left resistance.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/05/05/things-fall-apart-3/
At some point, American workers may wake up for a moment and become aware of this incredible betrayal. I'm not holding my breath, mind you. They'd likely find it hard to view and change the channel to reruns of Three's Company, but one can wish...
Lovely book doctor. I read it yesterday afternoon. I'll be recommending it to some colleagues and patients as well. It's tough to do good work in 'mental health' these days given the constraints of the system, insurance, etc. Tougher still when folks seem to be interested mostly in what seem like repackaged 'behaviorist' approaches - though maybe that's fitting for a technically oriented society, unaccustomed to 'depth'. With the exception of one colleague, in practice since the early 70s, no one has even heard of Lowen, or Edwin Friedman, Murray Bowen, etc. I almost fall over when I meet a colleague who has heard of Satir.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Bowen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Friedman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Satir
Vida-
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for yr kind words. Be sure to tell yr colleagues that the path to dramatic healing is to buy at least 100 copies of the bk. :-) Imagine, that they will start talking abt Winnicott and Adler! Say, are those pigs flying over the NIH?
Oops-
I don't get it. Chris Hedges kept telling us the masses were abt to rise up against their masters. Cd he have been wrong? Of course, it proved to be problematic, inasmuch as the American workers had their heads embedded in do poo. What're ya gonna do?
mb
ps: of course, I meant dog poo. Hot fecal matter, in short. Droppings of dung.
ReplyDelete“Where do you think our leaders come from? Mars?” -George Carlin
ReplyDeletePerhaps this thoughts and prayers Texas Christian Republican does. LOL.
Yes, USAins. In this de facto Christian theocracy, according to him God is in charge. One has to ask this elected Texas conservative doofus if his imaginary god has been in charge of the now 199 mass shootings in this dysfunctional country as it violently implodes. Like Gore Vidal, stupidity excites us Wafers too. Our good Doctor’s 2030 can’t come soon enough for the rest of this planet.
https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-congressman-keith-self-chicago-riots-allen-texas-mass-shooting-2023-5
I found this account particularly horrific:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/2023/05/07/1174652924/allen-texas-shooting
Do the morons that buy weapons like that get off on literally blowing peoples heads off? I now worry constantly about my kids. It feels as if things are rather quickly spiraling out of control. Bubbas are not going to accept the fact that the state will be forced at some point to take away guns. The clash that ensues will probably consume the country.
On a lighter note, I enjoyed laughing at the photo of the guy linked above. What a chump.
VMP, aka the Flabster
Harry-
ReplyDeleteThe state (which is who, exactly?) will not be able to take away guns, and rest assured, it won't even try. I've predicted 2030 for the end of America, but it looks like we are already halfway down the toilet. The US is by now a joke, but a v. bad one.
mb
ps: If Americans don't use guns to kill each other, they'll use knives--or cars. There is no end to the slaughter on daily basis.
ReplyDeletehttps://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/07/us/brownsville-texas-car-crash-accident/index.html
Looking forward to reading the new book.
ReplyDeleteToo bad this author didn't mention the work of our GSWH.
"Is the United States a Failed Society? The facts have become too dire to ignore any longer." By Chad C Mulligan - https://hipcrime.substack.com/p/is-the-united-states-a-failed-society
I saw that the US introduced a bill that said something about being committed to Ukraine's victory. Our leaders have completely abandoned reality. Are they just that crooked and dependent on the military industrial complex?
https://www.globalresearch.ca/pending-us-congressional-resolution-war-against-russia/5818096
Krak-
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm looking forward to yr reaction, amigo. Meanwhile, you only introduce legislation like that if yr losing, I'm guessing. It's just empty chest-beating, no? (not to mention meat-beating)
mb
Dr. MB,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new book.
Imagine my surprise when I opened up my current read and found this on page 3 :
an author quoting from “Twilight of American Culture” on how global capitalism
….”has become the total commercial environment that circumscribes an entire mental world”.
So when you are done reading Dr. MB’s new book, read this, Highly recommended:
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture
By Dr. Gabor Mate
https://a.co/d/6pVi5Dj
I use Amazon as a reference, I hope you will purchase it at your local bookstore
or borrow from your Library.
In the notes app on my phone, I saved a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book "Silence" that Dr. Berman posted here last year. Here’s part of it: “Many of us are afraid of going home to ourselves because we don't know how to handle the suffering inside us. That's why we're always reaching for more and more sense impressions to consume."
ReplyDeletehttp://morrisberman.blogspot.com/2022/03/eminent-post-victorians.html?m=1#comment-form
I think that quote is relevant to me after reading the kindle preview of Dr. Berman’s newest book “Healing.” Yes, I’m still on that hamster wheel. Without going into details, I’m still “unwilling” to get off of it. But I’m beginning to stand outside my own “narrative” arc. So there is “hope.”
Note to Torreblanca— please know that my previous message to you was written while I was on the hamster wheel. Thankfully Dr. Berman was able to pick up the slack and get me pointed in the right direction. Still no excuse b/c I kinda came off to you like an ass. And a blowhard. I really don’t know shit. I’m sorry if this comes across as just another one of those “non-apology” apologies. Certainly don’t let all this keep you from further blog participation if you so desire! Take care.
Trout-
ReplyDeleteI returned the compliment--quoting Mate a few times in "Healing"--without knowing that he had quoted me! Thanks for the heads-up.
Ro-
Thanks for the apology to Torreblanca. I did feel you were being a bit heavy-handed with him, sort of talking down to him from 'on high'. Perhaps this suggests yr leaving the hamster cage.
mb
ReplyDeleteTrout, MB:
I read Mate's book earlier this year and forgot to log on and report he cites MB! It's a great book..
Americans pessimistic about nation’s future, more positive about past | Pew Research Center
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/americans-take-a-dim-view-of-the-nations-future-look-more-positively-at-the-past/
Half in U.S. Say They Are Worse Off Than in the Past. The writing is on the wall, and in the polls!
Sorry for the delayed response. Here are the links to the book Screen Schooled https://www.amazon.com/Screen-Schooled-audiobook/dp/B07QJ7F1PN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KKE3VYTPB5S2&keywords=screen+schooled&qid=1683575115&sprefix=screen+schooled%2Caps%2C636&sr=8-1
ReplyDeleteAnd the other is from Nicholas Carr, I think you use it in the WAF in Ch3: https://www.amazon.com/The-Shallows-Nicholas-Carr-audiobook/dp/B003RCWPJW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14FBSKWNFTA4T&keywords=nicholas+carr&qid=1683575470&s=audible&sprefix=nicolas+carr%2Caudible%2C382&sr=1-1
And my story about Spain in comparison to the US:https://medium.com/illumination/after-my-5-years-of-living-in-spain-i-offer-a-brutally-honest-view-of-life-there-1bae6ec9e760
Looks like many Americans are realizing the ship is sinking. At least more than in 2018.
I read the book and enjoyed it, too bad it wasn't longer. Can't wait for the other one.
Liv-
ReplyDeleteI had a companion vol. on the healing properties of chopped liver, but pulled it at the last minute. Probably a mistake. W/Russia bk, if you buy 10 copies you get a plate of blini delivered to yr front door.
Once again, we need to think of some Wafer T-shirts. Help me out here:
IT'S OVER
THIS COUNTRY IS A SHIT PIT
EMIGRATE, DUMMY!
etc.
mb
ReplyDeleteWafers,
As the GSWH so accurately stated, it doesn’t matter if guns are outlawed here in this shithole. USAins will find another way to kill each other. And although it didn’t happen in these two examples, it isn’t far fetched at all. USAins will use their cars as weapons when they fly off the handle about something. Perhaps like the old television show we can call this one chapter of this shithole imploding, “Demolition Derby.”
https://www.foxla.com/news/road-rage-driver-hits-pedestrians-in-west-hollywood-crosswalk
https://abc7.com/woodland-hills-road-rage-video-ventura-boulevard/13224378/
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/woodland-hills-road-rage-crash-video/3149552/
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
I'd like a Wafer tee-shirt that says "You really are that stupid" but that would proly get me shot. The wife still won't let me spray paint a "Z" on the side of our truck. Part of me hopes Russia will put the Frech to work building boats when they reach the Atlantic... 'murica needs some ass kicking on its own turf for once.
ReplyDelete-comrade simba-
comrade-
ReplyDeleteWd she be OK with AMERICA CONSISTS OF BUFFOONS painted on it?
mb
The common theory that leaders only get worse and more ridiculous as an empire declines appears very true. If ever evidence was needed to back that claim up...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJL82hpK3k
I know zero democrats who think Biden has dementia, even though many of them DID before he won the primary. They get very testy when I ask if they think he should still drive.
Farm labor crisis update: immigrant workers from Mexico pulling up stakes & going back home bc the US sucks so bad, & discussing their reasoning behind that choice.
ReplyDeleteIdk it's incredible what you can learn from listening to people
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/133jest/im_moving_back_to_mexico/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=9&utm_content=share_button
I ordered a hard copy of the new book. No techno garbage 4 me;)
ReplyDeleteIn other news, Schmiden is fanning the flames of war in East Asia. S. Korean prez Yoon Suk-yeol appears to be yet another US-backed puppet, as he's hinted @ doing a "pre-emptive" strike on the North. Meanwhile, Amerikkka wants to provide "strategic nuclear submarines to that neck of the woods, along w/ war game simulations.
https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/1089854.html
Amerikkka still thinks it's the baddest kid on the block. But overstretched empires usually implode on themselves.
Fly-
ReplyDeleteGreat, but there is no hard copy that I know of. Only Kindle and pb. Anyway, hope u enjoy it. As for imperial overstretch, as historians call it: we are in the process of implosion rt *now*. Amazing, how America continues to ignore me, really. But then it also ignored the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils, and look at the result.
mb
The Surgeon General Should Stop Telling People to Solve the Loneliness Crisis on Their Own
ReplyDeletehttps://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/05/the-surgeon-general-should-stop-telling-people-to-solve-the-loneliness-crisis-on-their-own
This is built into the core of structure of the entire country, it's like asking fish in the ocean to stop being so wet. Putnam's "Bowling Alone" immediately comes to mind...
Just wondering if anybody bought Dr. Berman's book "Healing" on Kindle. I did and it doesn't seem to work. If anybody else bought a working copy, I'd like to know. Thank you
ReplyDeleteBrilliant, disturbing article from sciam on how witch hunts endure today, driven by social unrest, misogyny and capitalism.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-social-turmoil-has-increased-witch-hunts-throughout-history/
What a bombshell..an outright fabrication that shaped (for the worse, i think) the way millions of americans thought about the relationship btwn King and X
ReplyDeletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/05/10/mlk-malcolm-x-playboy-alex-haley/
Omid, Willis, Suddy-
ReplyDeleteWe are really more of a discussion forum than a simple bulletin board. In future, pls add a para of yr own commentary to your link. Thank you.
Wafers-
Anyone else have a problem with the Kindle version of "Healing"? I may hafta contact Amazon.
mb
My kindle version of healing works fine for me. In fact, and I kid you not, I was reading while eating a pastrami sandwich I had shipped in from Carnegie Deli and the overall effect was quite therapeutic. Perhaps as effective as yoga for getting one 'back into the body'? We could always run it by Bessel vdk. Maybe reconsider the second volume on chopped liver?
ReplyDeleteMine worked. I downloaded it on my Kindle and read it. No issues.
ReplyDeleteVida-
ReplyDeleteGood to hear, i.e. that Kindle works. As for the Carnegie Deli: I thought they went outta business yrs ago. I guess not. But pastrami, imo, is the true healer. Beats yoga 6 ways from Sunday.
mb
jmw-
ReplyDelete2 options 4u:
1. Massive amts of therapy
2. A fat, juicy pastrami sandwich
mb
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteThanks for your v. kind review of "Healing" on Amazon. I'm hoping that positive revs will lead to massive sales, enabling me to hobnob with the rich and famous. Which, as I say in the bk, is what life is really all about!
mb
Interesting you should bring those up, Doctor
ReplyDeleteFirst in my re-read of "Coming to Our Senses" your discussion of the basic fault, mirroring,
implications of Self/Other awareness et al dovetails neatly with a project I'm already doing,
so that covers the therapy angle.
Regarding the sandwich, I'd sell my soul for one of those, on rye,
with swiss cheese and a bit of Dijon but sadly, all that is N/A in my neck of the woods.
All that said, I do want the book. and am beginning to explore avenues for how to get it.
I was wondering if anybody else here had bought it on Kindle and had similar challenges
jmw-
ReplyDeleteI was jus' havin' fun w/u, chico.
So far, everyone is doing fine w/Kindle, except 4u. Maybe just order the pb?
mb
Yes I understand fun. Thank you for your jocularity. Always appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAll that notwithstanding, getting the book shipped here is a bit of an ordeal
jmw-
ReplyDeleteBut what if ordeals were an impt part of healing? What then?
mb
When guns aren’t available USAins shall hurl rocks at each other.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.14news.com/2023/05/11/video-drivers-throw-rocks-landscaping-blocks-road-rage-incident/
Their speeding drivers in ( what else? Heavy pickup trucks or SUV’s) definitely take umbrage at someone telling them to slow down. The quick fix: Try to run them over.
https://www.wmur.com/article/moultonborough-video-black-pickup-truck-road-rage/43856759
But when guns are available, what better way to aim and shoot than to open up and use the sunroof.
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime/indiana-state-police-investigating-road-rage-incident-on-interstate-465-indianapolis/531-bc174b3e-4bd0-42a5-a478-c505a4849037
And today’s mugshot: a prom after-party killer who obviously didn’t have a date for it.
https://www.wlox.com/2023/04/30/teen-arrested-after-six-injured-bay-st-louis-shooting/
Joe-
ReplyDeleteA great mug shot, and an archetypical American. The vacant eyes, esp. Don't tell me this isn't our future.
mb
ps: Joe: Ya know, that face is really haunting, and it speaks to a Post-Buffoon Age (PBA). My prediction is that after Americans have exhausted buffoonery, they will pass over to a post-buffoonery, in which the eyes are blank. Nobody at home, don't even knock. Zombies, in effect. It's not that we will all become douchebags; we are *already* douchebags. It's that we will become--0.
ReplyDeleteI think it fitting that Kamala (Schmamala) will be leading us into the PBA.
mb
ps2: I also think that the PBA, beginning roughly in 2025, will be a period of existential horror. Mass suicides, for example. And not one massacre a day, but 5 or 10. We have always filled the Void at the center of American life with hustling and consumerism. In the PBA, that won't work anymore. All we shall have left to us as a way of life, is death.
ReplyDeletePessimism, or Realism?
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB-
Sure thing. I really enjoyed "Healing." Meanwhile, does Christopher Harris qualify as a member of the (PBA)?:
https://97x.com/florida-man-watched-adult-films-in-public-with-speaker-at-full-volume/
It could be a sticky wicket, tho, as (PBA) seems to indicates "death" as a kind of prerequisite. Clearly, Chris was celebrating life, poolside! What a doofus...
Miles
ps: Did you see Trumpi's performance on CNN last night? No more licking his wounds, Trumpi is BACK!
Jeff
Thoreau-
ReplyDeleteSorry, cdn't post it. We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Next time you post a link, provide a para of yr own commentary. Thank you.
Jeff-
Shaneka Torres was from the Buffoon Era. As well as Freddie, Schmendrick, and Laquisha. But Mr. Harris--just check out his eyes--is clearly PBA. As for Trumpi: we may be in for a terrifying 2025-29. But then fascism, historically, has been a certified path to collapse.
mb
Dr. Berman, congratulations on your new book. It's gonna take a while before I get the book, but I know it's gonna be great as always.
ReplyDeleteSecond, there is a new war on Gaza. And the US as always stands with the bully.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-blocks-china-led-security-council-initiative-to-issue-statement-on-gaza-violence/
Finally, ngl Trumpi is winning me over. He's at once the sanest american and the highway to imperial decline (Ours is the age of paradox it seems). And he's entertaining. I hope he's back by 2024. At least we can get a faster and a more entertaining decline with a lesser risk of a WWIII. Here's the CNN interview
https://youtu.be/rfzOFCf-6jw
french-
ReplyDeleteHope u enjoy the bk. Meanwhile, there's no healing for America:
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/may/11/abu-zubaydah-drawings-guantanamo-bay-us-torture-policy
mb
Thank you for the reminder, Dr. Berman.
ReplyDelete"...Senses" is triggering a lot
of which 'ordeals' is a reminder.
Only way out is through!
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB-
Many thanks for your thoughts on Trumpi and the war in Ukraine. I believe it is the crucial issue as well. This author sees the war as a perfect vehicle for Trump's version of economic nationalism to play out, and his direct willingness to flout US foreign policy orthodoxy i.e., that the US could go broke (we are 33 trillion in debt after all) funding a war (36 billion so far) in Ukraine that looks increasingly unwinnable for Ukraine, while the economic needs of the US continues to be ignored:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/12/politics/trump-ukraine-russia-warning/index.html
The author also states that it just may work, particularly if the US goes into recession, which appears very likely. That alone could turn the tide against Schmiden and Kamamala, and put Trumpi back in the WH. I also agree w/you that it seems absurd that Trumpi could end the war in 24 hrs, but Trumpi is, in effect, laying the groundwork for a deal to end this mess.
Jeff
Dr. Berman—
ReplyDeleteYour assessment that Trump might be a lesser evil/disaster than Biden is right on target. The stepping up of lunatic level war provocations is obviously existential to anyone with a sub-par IQ. That leaves out a lot of Americans and their leadership. The neocons think everyone bluffs like they do. Experience should show them that the Russians don't — and that a threat to attack Russia or overthrow its state is the state-doctrine trigger for a nuclear response.
Here's a raise you 10,000 before I even see you step toward oblivion:
https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/12/uk-confirms-its-supplying-ukraine-with-long-range-missiles/
Oops-
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder if the whole world has gone completely coocoo except for me. What great insight does it take to recognize that Putin is trying to protect Russian boundaries in the same way that JFK did with respect to American boundaries in 1962? US SOP is to create an enemy by putting them in an impossible position (e.g., NATO in Russia's backyard), and then brand them Evil Hitlers when they object. With us it's always Heads I win, tails you lose; that has been our foreign policy for a long time now. How is it that Americans can't see this? Is almost everyone in the US a buffoon except myself? (rhetorical question)
Jeff-
The author writes: "Trump’s comments are an affront to generations of US foreign policy orthodoxy based on the idea that making the world safe for democracy and standing up to tyrants is in core US political, diplomatic and commercial interests and is a multiplier of American power."
Wha?? We *back* tyrants; we don't stand up to them. Saudi Arabia is only 1 example among many. And "making the world safe for democracy" is our propaganda line; in truth, we continue to create a v. unsafe world. But I do agree that this nonsense is in our commercial interests (esp. our war corporations) and serves to advance our power, wh/is the real agenda here, and always has been.
Some years ago, the UN did a poll on whom the world's nations regarded as the greatest threat to world peace. 198 of them (give or take) said the US, and the US and Israel said Iran.
The American people remain jokes, and this is, as George Carlin famously said, the gene pool from which our leaders come.
I shudder to think of a Trump presidency, despite the fact that abt half the country loves him. The only thing that makes me shudder more violently is nuclear holocaust. Trumpi won't deliver that; Schmiden might. He's a doofus who is mechanically following "generations of US foreign policy orthodoxy." No possibility that that orthodoxy has been a costly error? And that review and revision might be a better path, at this point? No, let's just keep our heads tucked in our rear ends, and proceed accordingly.
mb
This is a continuation of my last post
ReplyDeleteThe 1st link has a vid that explains the role Amerikka has had in maintaining tensions on the Korean peninsula. It covers how the South was run by US-backed puppets after the ceasefire. @ 3:20, there's a screenshot tweet from Secretary Anthony Blinken, calling S. Korea a "linchpin" for "stability" in that region. Then there's a graphic showing Amerikkka's military bases around Asia, in its bid to encircle China.
https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1655619429810462722
The 2nd link is of diasporic Koreans rallying against Schmiden's recent pledge to send nukes. Amerikkka desperately wants a war somewhere that isn't the Middle East.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19obv3qOnI4
Fly-
ReplyDeleteCheck out essays in QOV, esp. relating to America's "negative identity." If your soul is empty, war is a great way to try to fill it up.
Meanwhile, not just ignoring the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils, but also the Monkees and Paul Revere and the Raiders. The horror!
mb
Dear Dr. Berman and WAFERs all, Re Trump and the Ukraine war: Bolton's opinion following the last election was that, had he been elected, Trump would have pulled the US out of NATO. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/04/bolton-says-trump-might-have-pulled-us-out-nato-if-he-had-been-reelected/ Since it was over Ukraine possibly joining NATO that Putin invaded, do you suppose the US leaving NATO and ending the arms shipments would automatically foreclose that possibility and end the Russian offensive? All this is certainly to be desired, as I see it. Per events of June 2021 when Biden froze weapons shipments to Ukraine, it would seem Trump could do that part. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/18/white-house-ukraine-military-lethal-weapons-495169 But I'm wondering if he would be able to get senate agreement to Leave NATO. Any thoughts about that?https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2022/3/rubio-kaine-applaud-committee-passage-of-joint-resolution-to-prevent-any-u-s-president-from-leaving-nato-without-congressional-approval#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAmerica's%20commitment%20to%20NATO%20is,invaluable%20alliance%20without%20Senate%20approval.%E2%80%9D
ReplyDeleteHeidi-
ReplyDeleteIt wd appear that Trumpi is anti-empire. Wh/is a rare note of sanity in today's political scene. It is we, not Putin, who are living in an "alternative universe." And that universe is upside down.
mb
This coulda been an episode on Seinfeld (remember Kramer's lawsuit for the hot coffee):
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mcdonalds-found-liable-hot-chicken-mcnugget-burn-lawsuit-rcna84145
Only in America!
Speaking of which:
ReplyDelete‘Seinfeld’ Ended 25 Years Ago. Its View of Adulthood Endures. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Friday Night at the Fights! Two road ragers go at it for about a full round of USAin anger!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.kktv.com/2023/05/12/watch-two-colorado-men-take-literal-definition-road-rage/
And on an airplane. Listen at about the 2:15 minute mark. A remark is made about USAin culture. Do we have a Wafer on board that flight? Or Doctor, is your word unconsciously spreading about our screwed up society?
https://www.facebook.com/ItsGoneViralOfficial/videos/woman-voted-off-plane-by-passengers/795157231686306/
https://www.wsaz.com/2023/05/04/woman-apparently-voted-off-flight-by-fellow-passengers-after-argument/
Joe-
ReplyDeleteI'm quite sure my influence on American culture has been minuscule, but thanks anyway.
mb
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteI still have this haunting feeling that Gisele Bundchen is the cause of it all.
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB-
Yes, that was a boneheaded and incorrect thing to say by that author. I'm sure, as you point out, that that is the author's view of American foreign policy, but he may have meant it in terms of the fact that Trumpi has broken w/that idea; that Trumpi broke w/decades of post-Reagan GOP establishment and consensus that America should have a hegemonic presence in the world affairs, and that it is largely moral and benevolent. Trumpi seems to have called BS to this nonsense, and structurally changed that idea within the GOP. I don't know, I could be wrong.
Jeff
Under the heading “Don’t Mess with Texas,” this:
ReplyDeleteTexas alone has suffered 17 mass shootings this year and now lawmakers propose ‘battlefield trauma care’ facilities in schools
HB 1147, a bill pending in the Texas house of representatives, is strikingly graphic. It proposes that schools across the state should provide “bleeding control stations” equipped with “tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma care by the armed forces of the United States”.
How America’s fatal gun attraction turned schools into war zones
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/13/mass-shootings-schools-guns-violence?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
No doubt meant to offer some measure of reassurance to the parents and relatives of school-age children. Likely contribution to reducing the body count: nil, bupkis, zip.
Apparently americans can go Iwo jima on each other
ReplyDeletehttps://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics/fact-check-biden-flamethrowers-machine-guns/index.html
As for Trump, it seems to me he's one of two faces of the acceleration of the decline. First we have the Biden and co. and their road is that of decline by antagonising the world. And then the Trump and co. whose mission is to destroy the US from the inside.
Jas-
ReplyDeleteTexas is in the vanguard of the project to end the US. The idea of this project, discussed many times b4 on this blog, is that everyone in the country gun down everyone else, like dogs in the street (while laughing). Texas: canary in a coal mine.
Jeff-
Not sure how many GOP politicians wd go along w/Trumpi's anti-empire stance, anti-"Washington Consensus." His unwillingness to publicly go pro-Ukrainian cd get him into trouble. I think we need to bring Tulsi in on this. I think she does some regular podcast, in addition to interviews on Fox News, condemning the Democrats as dishonest and corrupt (Go, Tulse!); but other than that, I'm guessing she doesn't have too large an audience. Also that the Dem establishment doesn't see her as any type of threat. Personally, I keep waiting for the day that some politician, of any party, declares that "Morris Berman is a danger to the stability of our nation, and must be stopped at any cost"--an event that's long overdue.
mb
french-
ReplyDeleteAs Jas Howard Kunstler likes to say, "It's all good."
What if Kamala had a cow pie in her head? What if Schmiden was a senile fool? What if King Charles was a complete doofus? And what if Gisele Bundchen was the source of all our troubles?
mb
Thank you for writing Healing. I read it three times. Reading is easy, but getting off the treadmill is hard. Back in the late 70s I bought into the whole “I Am Woman myth.” I was married, nursing the baby, teaching elementary school, doing daily cooking, cleaning, washing laundry, growing an organic garden, canning fruits and vegetables, making bread and yogurt, raising bees, and working on a doctorate. My epiphany came at 2 AM as I was trying to pick up the two year old to nurse.
ReplyDeleteSleep deprivation is brutal. Never did finish that degree (worth an extra $600 a year in 1980). Family was most important. For me, “being still” is an ongoing journey even today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA4DR4vEgrs
Remember the Geopolitics & Empire interview where u said nearly all Amerikkkans are monolingual? An interesting moment happened today while meeting up w/ a Canadian bud 4 lunch in Virginia. Canada has 2 official languages, unlike its imperialist, moronic neighbor. I happened to be @ an intermediate level in French; Therefore I was able to converse w/ mon ami Quebecois. It was during our convo that I noticed a couple folks staring @ us like we had 3 heads.
ReplyDeleteI guess speaking a foreign language is some sort of superpower? Never mind the occasional asshat who think you're a walking dictonary & want u 2 translate shit.
Rose-
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad the bk was helpful 2u. Thanks for letting me know. As for the feminist "you can have it all" bullshit: No one can have it all, and the lifestyle involved, regardless of gender, is part of the American Way of Life pathology. It certainly won't make one happy; it's just one more (oppressive) "script," as I call it in the book. Hamsters on a wheel, the whole country. Run faster, go nowhere. Etc.
Satch-
During the presidential campaign of 2004, John Kerry kept it secret that he was fluent in French, because he understood that this would render him unpopular with American voters/douchebags. No amount of slapping, no amount of urine...
mb
Check it out:
ReplyDeletehttps://unherd.com/2023/05/christopher-laschs-forgotten-utopia/
Daniel Penny killing Jordan Neely shows how shit the country is. Neely's mom was murdered, and that sent Jordan into a downward cycle of depression & crime. Penny wandered around aimlessly after high school, looking for violence (Marines & vigilante justice) & adventure (van life, wandering around the world). Penny has become a right wing hero and Penny's lawyers have collected millions in donations through GiveSendGo (a Christian white nationalist alternative to GoFundMe).
ReplyDeleteWho is Daniel Penny? Marine charged in Jordan Neely chokehold subway death from NY
Daniel Penny's Legal Defense Fund
vig-
ReplyDeleteWhen I say that America now exists in a degraded condition, it is clearly no exaggeration. The evidence piles up on a daily basis. You think we've scraped the bottom of the barrel; then it turns out there were just a few inches more to go. Etc.
mb
The Linked Ecological Futures Of America And China
ReplyDeleteWhen one country’s desert forms another’s rain, then one’s dream is another’s peril.
https://www.noemamag.com/the-linked-ecological-futures-of-america-and-china/
Sort of reminds one that the evils and others America creates out in the world are contrapositional and obverse to it. We exist as a holism and it seems the US will beat its head against the wall til it breaks open before it ever recognizes that..
Piotr-
ReplyDeleteA little too long for this blog. We have a guideline of a half-page maximum. If you could edit your post down by about 20% and re-send, that would be good. Thank you.
mb
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/09/opinion/urban-gardens-rewilding-cities-biodiversity.html
ReplyDeleteLet cities bloom again! How do you feel abt this article in light of degrowth and dual processes, MB? I see it as a bright side to declinism.. What's a weed anyway?
More craziness from the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! A soldier wannabe steals a military style vehicle. Check out our mugshot for today.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/05/13/stolen-5-ton-military-vehicle-highway-chase/4681683995706/
The newest place to safely get stabbed: a hospital.
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/woman-stabbed-baltimore-washington-medical-center-hospital/43882590
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/2-minors-hospitalized-altercation-outside-brockton-high-school/
And our latest daily mass shooting occurred in Yuma, Arizona.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/14/us/2-dead-5-injured-yuma-arizona-shooting/index.html
Tost-
ReplyDeleteA couple of problems here. 1st, NYT has a paywall, so I cdn't read the article. 2nd, you need to provide some extended commentary of yr own, when you post a link. We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Thank you.
mb
MB/Wafers: Paywall? Try spaywall.com, enter the desired (paywalled) link. Doesn’t work? Try Google cache. Tested Tosh article using this approach, it works.
ReplyDeleteDr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteI just read Healing in one five-hour sitting. It is really outstanding--a gem. Of course, it is not true that there isn't "anything new" in it. Will Durant said that "All great authors plagiarize from a hundred odd sources." There is some truth in this. But even when you draw on an array of various thinkers, you weave it into something that is wholly your own and sui generis. A synthesis that would not have existed otherwise.
I highlighted a number of things that I will go back to and meditate more on over time. Incidentally, I came to a very similar conclusion as you, regarding the "internal critic." About 15 years ago I realized that you can only combat such things through meditation. You can't merely "think" them away. In any case, it is no accident that "ecstasy" literally comes from the Greek "extasis," to stand outside oneself. Only through deep meditation, and standing outside of our paltry, everyday, superficial ego, do we have a chance at understanding or making peace with such things.
Your three personal instances of "ex-tasis" were especially poignant to me. May you have two or three more before you are done!
On a related subject, I always go back to this wonderful series (eight talks total) every few years. I find his talks very wonderfully soothing and comforting. Over the years, various Wafers have linked Rick Roderick before, and I can't recommend him enough. A rare voice of sanity and humanity in these ugly times. Like Dr. Berman, he saw what was coming!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wetwETy4u0&list=PLA34681B9BE88F5AA
Megan-
ReplyDeleteI was really happy to hear that you enjoyed the bk, and got something out of it. That's what it's there for! My goal has always been to touch people where they live. In terms of #s, I'm quite sure I failed. But then quality is more impt than quantity. At least, that's what I like to tell myself. In any case, thank you for the kudos.
mb
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/5/17/dennis_fritz_ukraine_war_diplomacy_letter
ReplyDeleteThere are a few voices out there still talking sense on the important issues. Our leadership and most Americans will just ignore this, but I applaud them for saying it. It's a 46 min interview worth a listen. Its surprising that one can spend 40 years "in and out of the Pentagon" and not sound like a warmonger in my opinion.
Krak-
ReplyDeleteThanks for this link. Unfortunately, the US will never be a force for peace. As I explain in QOV and elsewhere, war and opposition ("negative identity") is in our bloodstream, our DNA. It's great that these national security folks recognize that the Ukrainian caper is a pile of crap, but at least 99% of the American public approves of the war, sees Russia as The Ultimate Evil, and so on. Here's the bottom line: we are a stupid country filled w/stupid people. This is why we do things like this, and why we have no future. The president is a marionette on strings; the VP is a complete moron. Etc. Believe me, there will be no wake-up moment for America or its citizens. Heads up asses, we will roll to our destruction. Folks like myself have no voice whatsoever.
mb
Dr. Berman—
ReplyDeleteTalk about "negative identity" being in the bloodstream... Take a look at this video from peacenikville—Woodstock: A man with a sign saying "Stop aid to Ukrain, Disband NATO" is attacked by the progressive liberal boomers for his shameful anti-war sign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyiHArAqS2Q
First trailer for Scorsese's next movie. He could be a WAFer. "Can you find the wolves in this picture?"
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/EG0si5bSd6I
Reps. Jamaal Bowman, Marjorie Taylor Greene's spar
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmDaEaYR-8&pp=ygUoamFtYWFsIGJvd21hbiBhbmQgbWFyam9yaWUgVGF5bG9yIGdyZWVuZQ%3D%3D
Let's pretend alien spaceships came to earth and these people happened to be the aliens' first encounter, would the aliens assume this was deliberation in the worlds most powerful legislative body? Could anyone even convinced them that it was? What a joke!
BH, Daddy-
ReplyDeleteSorry, cdn't run yr posts. Here's the deal: we are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. If you want to post a link, give us more of yr own commentary than a single line. Try a paragraph, for example. Thank you.
mb
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteThis is a World Systems Analysis-type of diagnosis of what is now going down, in terms of geopolitics. I think the author is rt on the money.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/18/americas/g7-china-russia-biden-intl-latam-analysis/index.html
My own take is that the emerging world order that is slowly replacing the American post-War formula will be v. different from what we have lived with for nearly 80 yrs now, but--as Immanuel Wallerstein once said--it may not necessarily be any better. For a healthier (utopian) vision of the future, check out the 2nd story in my bk "The Heart of the Matter." If only.
mb
Fan of Scorsese for many years because he exposes the brutal violent truth of power dynamics in his films.
ReplyDeleteHis latest "Killers of the Flower Moon" releasing this Oct, continues his interest in portraying deeply unsettling truths. After seeing the trailer, I researched what the story is based on. It's from yet another dark chapter in American history when members of the Osage tribe, rightful owners of their land and mineral rights, were abused and murdered for owning rich oil deposits.
Yet more evidence of the greed and violence that is rooted in the twisted history of this country that continues in our daily news stories.
Here is the first trailer. "Can you find the wolves in this picture?"
https://youtu.be/EG0si5bSd6I
Here's a UK story that relates to the folly of endless growth. A farmland area called Sandleford Park was the subject of a controversial development plan by UK's gov't. The goal is to build 1,000 new homes, schools & other things here. It's a quiet spot where wildlife resides, and where one can go to think. These plans were met with much opposition by nearby residents, but they went ahead anyway. Takin' this back 2 Amerikkka, I've heard folks say Florida's beaches were spoiled by too much development. Seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/minister-approves-1000-home-scheme-on-watership-down-site/5117414.article
Forget about the many violent mass shootings for a moment. Here’s something funny to accompany the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! as it implodes. Check out what the St. Louis Cardinals are doing in June. A special “Christian Day”. Hegetsus.com signage already is behind home plate and seen on every pitch. And conservatives here complain about Iran and other Middle Eastern countries being theocracies. Our national pasttime is joining them. LOL!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mlb.com/cardinals/tickets/promotions/christian-day
After the game maybe these dumbed down Bible-thumping USAins can travel to Kentucky and visit Noah’s ark (where baby T-Rex’s were saved from the flood) and the Creation Museum. After all, this planet is only 6,000 years old in many USAin heads. LOL!
https://creationmuseum.org/
Joe-
ReplyDeleteI wd suggest slapping, but no amt of slapping can get bozos to stop being bozos.
Satch-
See my reply to Joe.
Daddy-
If you haven't seen "The Irishman," now wd be a gd time.
mb
Anon-
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't post Anons or Unknowns. You need a real handle to post here. E.g., Book Lover, or whatever.
mb
ps: regarding alternatives to Amazon: have yr local bkstore order a copy from Amazon, and then sell it 2u.
ReplyDeleteDr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteI have just finished Healing and want to thank you for it. Quite illuminating and plenty to chew on. It’s a complement to a book I also recently read, based in attachment, theory, called Running On Empty.
Best Regards,
Jim
Here’s a recent article from The NY Times (I’ve run it through spaywall.com in case it’s paywalled - apologies if this doesn’t work). Written by a psychologist recounting how she’s introduced what I’d call woke ideology’s MeToo, BLM, etc. into her work with patients. I found it a difficult read, but unfortunately all too common in my experience of the ‘field’ of psychotherapy today. Is it my imagination or does this amount to gaslighting, if not malpractice?: imposing the therapist’s political ideology on patients. It’s one thing if they bring it into the session, but effectively coercing people to see themselves not as individuals but as sociocultural stereotypes… Sadder still, I bet there are patients that eat this stuff up, no wait… I know there are.
ReplyDeleteContrast, doctor, this anemic approach with the things you outline in ‘Healing’.
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/magazine/couples-therapy-orna-guralnik.html
Original:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/magazine/couples-therapy-orna-guralnik.html#commentsContainer
Jim-
ReplyDeleteVery glad to hear you found it helpful. Pls give us link to other bk. Thank you.
mb
I think the main takeaway from Healing, is the idea that one needs to make these insights "ontological knowledge," rather than just "intellectual knowledge." I personally think that meditation is the most effective method (Though I'm unfamiliar with Alexander Technique and some of the other interesting approaches that Dr. Berman mentions in the book.)
ReplyDeleteHere is a nice article that reinforces this idea:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/use-your-mind-change-your-brain/201305/is-your-brain-meditation
Rebecca Gladding also has a good book called, "You Are Not Your Brain," which explores these ideas in more detail:
https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-Your-Brain/dp/1583334831/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CA43P0ARVHY5&keywords=you+are+not+your+brain&qid=1684561441&sprefix=you+are+not+your+brain%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-1
In another post, I'll explain how this can be used as a potent and powerful tool for dealing with the "Internal Critic."
Megan-
ReplyDeleteI believe the expression is, "Meditation is not what you think." In the case of Americans, they strike out on both intellectual levels and ontological ones. Of course, Mindfulness is now very popular, used in corporate training, for example. It's typically employed in the context of hustling better, becoming more 'successful'. Towards the end of "The Sopranos," Dr. Melfi kicks Tony out, because she realizes that he has no interest in changing as a person; he just wants to be a better Mafioso, and her therapy w/him is contributing to that end. Tony is really an American Everyman, just at a more aggressive level--the hustler on steroids, so to speak.
mb
So having read WAF and as a result becoming interested in Toynbee. His take on the degradation of the upper classes into groups that always make the wrong move as they are trying to display dominance at all times is so apparent in Usian politics right now. Spoiler: this below also includes the Sopranos as a metaphor.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.epsilontheory.com/the-united-states-of-bed-bath-beyond/
Lately I’ve noticed how few friends I have left in late middle age because I never bought into hustling. When I leave the states (or stumble into a sun culture that’s less greedy) I literally make friends everywhere as it’s not about hustling. I hope to read “Healing” after I finish Toynbee.
Harry-
ReplyDeleteBut I improved on Toynbee. 1st, I said the elite were trash. 2nd, I recommended slapping and urine for them. Also note that 'friends' in the US aren't real friends.
Anyway, enjoy "Healing," chico.
mb
Greetings, Wafers everywhere, here’s your news roundup from Cascadia. A columnist in the Seattle Times has questioned the point of the Seattle area’s King County Regional Homelessness Authority in increasing the supply of housing for the domicile-impaired. Instead of increased housing supply, the authority has lengthened delays for funding applications by housing providers, created a new bureaucracy enforcing a new layer of procedures and requirements, immersed itself in clashes over virtue signaling, and facilitated little new housing - another example of a society incapable of mitigating the consequences of casino capitalism.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, despite a drop in non-fatal shootings, the number of King County homicides has keep pace with totals of the past three years, and the number of incidents where at least 10 rounds have been fired has gone up. Duck and cover!
And locally here in Olympia, Evergreen College has discovered a new revenue stream to suck off of as it announced on May 15th that it will participate in Amazon’s “Career Choice Program,” in which the company pre-pays tuition for hourly Amazon employees.
https://seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/whats-the-point-of-the-regional-homelessness-authority/
https://seattletimes.com/ law-justice/violent-crime-is-down-in-king-county-but-a-troubling-trend-persists/
www.thurstontalk.com/2023/05/15/the-evergreen-state-college-joins-amazons-career-choice-program/
A restorateur and a bunch of convicts is defeating an army backed by pretty much the whole western world. Ukrain is a lost battle yet we keep pouring billions of dollars of equipment to them.
ReplyDeletehttps://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/20/europe/bakhmut-capture-wagner-ukraine-russia-intl/index.html
To more important news, catch them when they're young. Mongol kids learned to ride before they could walk, american kids shoot people before they can say dada.
https://us.cnn.com/2023/05/20/us/illinois-child-shooting-2-injured/index.html
french-
ReplyDeleteI can't remember when the American head was this deeply embedded in the American ass. There will be no wake-up moment for America or the American people. Of that, you can be sure. When defeat comes, we will whitewash it. 50% of the American public believe we won the war in Vietnam.
mb
What can ya say, really?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/20/new-york-christian-university-staff-fired-pronouns
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteBook recommendation:
https://www.amazon.com/How-West-Brought-Ukraine-Understanding/dp/B0BM56PJYV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Q1OCNO4SFU2B&keywords=how+the+west+brought+war+to+ukraine+abelow&qid=1684629018&sprefix=How+the+west+%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1
This book spells out in great detail the extent to which the US and NATO is and has been involved in Ukraine, essentially turning Ukraine into a de facto client state of the US. There are many layers here, completely absent from mainstream coverage of the war.
Here is an excerpt from Abelow's book:
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/how-the-west-brought-war-to-ukraine
Desecration Dept.:
Laura Miniard defecated on a church alter and wiped herself w/a fabric runner. Is this not totally shitty behavior?
Jeff
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteHow cd I have missed this bk? Thank you for the link. This is the true narrative of the Ukraine story, something the MSN will never acknowledge. Meanwhile, Americans live in darkness. Well, nothing new there.
mb
Dr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteFollowing up on my previous post, the book is Running on Empty by Jonice Webb, https://www.amazon.com/s?k=running+on+empty+jonice+webb&crid=21KEV7QCBOHN3&sprefix=jonice%2Caps%2C114&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_6
Dr. Webb's premise is that many are impacted by emotional neglect in childhood (which she defines as a kind of trauma) and are not attuned to their real feelings as adults. Which results in low self esteem, unhealthy choices, and empty feelings (even in circumstances of so-called adult "success"). Latter half of the book includes prescriptions for healing, for getting in touch with one's true feelings. I see this in myself and after reading it I learned of your book, Healing, and have enjoyed your insights immensely. I only wish your book was longer -- :)
-Jim
Jim-
ReplyDeleteThanks again, and glad to be of help.
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB, Wafers-
I forgot to include the link for Laura Miniard, the church defecator, in my previous post. Here it is:
https://www.wlwt.com/article/cincinnati-court-documents-good-samaritan-hospital-chapel-desecration/43901184
Jeff
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteWd like to interview her. Was this a statement against the church, or a comment on America in general? If the latter, perhaps it could become a (bowel) movement: Miniardism.
mb
I got a great idea 4 a new tournament, specifically for buffoons & turkeys to unleash their inner wrath on each other. We'll call it the Great Amerikkkan Moron Bash. U get a bunch of buffoons & turkeys from all over Amerikkka. Since that shithole has the largest concentration of idiots, this won't b hard @ all. Put em in 1 of them monster truck dirt rings. Then u give 'em some wooden clubs w/ a pic of Schmiden's face pasted on. Watch the fun begin. Last buffoon standing gets a gilded dunce cap. This event will ideally b televised so other turkeys can watch @ home & make bets. Win-win 4 the tv networks too ;)
ReplyDeleteThis piece claims that the Sinaloa Cartel is flooding Amerikkka w/ Fentanyl. Given the CIA's own history of passing out drugs, this organization may just be a red herring. Either way, some1 is making sure Amerikkkans are stocked up on their opioids. Up shit creek w/ no paddle, I tell ya!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-ruthless-sinaloa-cartel-has-flooded-the-us-with-fentanyl-and-business-is-booming-a-shocking-doj-indictment-reveals-how-they-do-it/ar-AA1btoNs
Another funny entertaining day in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! First off: An angry Floridian Karen going at it on the road with a guy. LOL!
ReplyDeletehttps://winknews.com/2023/05/23/road-rage-attack-in-fort-myers-caught-on-camera/
You never know what to expect in the Big Apple. The newest: a drive by groping.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-gropes-teen-while-passing-on-scooter-near-central-park
And here’s today’s mugshot.
https://www.fox19.com/2023/05/23/man-arrested-following-road-rage-incident-clermont-county-sheriff-says/
Joe-
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed all 3 of these. I love seeing American buffoons in action.
mb
Hola MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteClifton Williams, 64, shot his roommate for eating the last Hot Pocket sandwich:
https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/kentucky-man-accused-of-shooting-roommate-for-eating-last-hot-pocket-police-say
Incidentally, I awoke today thinking about Shaneka Torres. After an exhaustive search of the Michigan Dept. of Correction's database, I still cannot verify if she's been paroled. I'm guessing that she was, since she was sentenced to three to seven yrs in prison back in 2015
Poem for Shaneka:
I was out and about
And wanted a bite
A McDonald's Bacon Cheeseburger
Sounded good tonite
I pulled up to the drive-thru window
Someone said, "How can I help you?"
Gimme a burger, well done
W/a widdle cheese
Oh, and add some bacon to it will u please
I opened the wrapper
And could plainly see
it was a bacon-less burger
I screamed like a banshee!
Wait! Wait! Was this incorrect order worth it?
Was it worth throwing a hissy fit?
As my AR-15 sat on the floorboard
Cooling its heels
I jerked the wheel
And headed down the highway
Turned into Burger King
Heard they could do it my way
Jeff
https://reason.com/2023/05/24/the-republican-primary-consensus-for-sending-the-military-into-mexico/
ReplyDelete^^Sheesh! We don't really teach this in us history classes but the US invaded Mexico a hundred years ago to chase after Pancho villa after he raided a border town and it was a massive debacle that almost led to actual war.
"The expedition was launched in retaliation for Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, and was the most remembered event of the Mexican Border War. The declared objective of the expedition by the Wilson administration was the capture of Villa.[7] Despite locating and defeating the main body of Villa's command who were responsible for the Columbus raid, U.S. forces were unable to achieve Wilson's stated main objective of preventing Villa's escape.
The active search for Villa ended after a month in the field when troops sent by Venustiano Carranza, the head of the Constitutionalist faction of the revolution and then head of the Mexican government, resisted the U.S. incursion. The Constitutionalist forces used arms at the town of Parral to resist passage of a U.S. Army column. The U.S. mission was changed to prevent further attacks on it by Mexican troops and to plan for the possibility of war.[8] When war was averted diplomatically, the expedition remained in Mexico until February 1917 to encourage Carranza's government to pursue Villa and prevent further raids across the border."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_Villa_Expedition
Dr. B,
ReplyDeleteI broke my rule of refusing to order books from Amazon in order to buy your new book, _Healing_. I've read about half of it so far and while I don't agree with everything there, I like your basic message and it's something I'm benefiting from hearing.
On another note, scrolling through recent posts I'm surprised no one on this blog has commented on the "debt ceiling" negotiations. It's amazing to me how so many U.S. people put up with this level of financial instability that is effectively being caused by elected officials. I ask myself: how can this be normal or acceptable?
-- Torreblanca
Torre-
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that after rdg my bk, the blind can see, and the crippled get up out of their wheelchairs (sans crutches).
Jeff-
I guess some Americans can get very devoted to Hot Pockets. Clifton had a gun, and he used it. A true American.
Very moving poem, BTW.
mb
Here's an excellent discussion with Glenn Greenwald and Saagar Enjeti on the insanity behind the war in Ukraine:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InFohCLojn0
Enjeti is especially good on what's going on with the money the US pouring into it that can't even be accounted for.
Thanks to Miles/Jeff for the notice about the book on the war by Benjamin Abelow. I ordered it immediate and it came today. The author starts out by talking about the Monroe Doctrine. I wonder how many Americans even know what that is. No, of course I don't wonder about that. Even if they new, would they see the immediate relevance to the issue of the war in Ukraine? Doubtful.
ccg-
ReplyDeleteI believe the $ that was lost and not accounted for in our war against Iraq came to $6 billion. Whose pockets? one might ask.
mb
First, here's a beatiful view of SF. As Wafers, you'll find this to be the peak of declinist aesthetics
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/ivan_8848/status/1661360461915234307?t=Grmv5AtJyzguytPk1pvcGg&s=19
Second, it may be that we are witnessing the beginning of a second nuclear messiles crisis. The chinese Say "may you live in interesting times", and I think we are. Russia and the US have been flirting with human extinction for decades New.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/05/25/belarus-5-a81289
Tina Turner died this wk in her adopted country. Cue all the dimwits asking y she abandoned a sinking ship & moved 2 a real nation.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-did-tina-turner-live-in-switzerland/ar-AA1bGCeA
If more Amerikkkans traveled anywhere besides Canada, Mexico & the Caribbean, some of 'em might realize that Amerikkka isn't all that gr8. Especially when u can b gunned down while minding ur own business. Tho the true # of folks coming to that conclusion would probably b around 1% or less
Check out these faces. Fuckin' surreal.
ReplyDeletehttps://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/25/politics/oath-keepers-sentencing-stewart-rhodes-kelly-meggs/index.html
Admittedly I am still not quite sure what to make of the Covid pandemic and vaccine controversy. I took the jabs, I lived. But this video, as much as some of it comes off as cranky conspiracy thought, is interesting. I enjoy the psychologist's take on how a small group in society can influence the majority into being a fear mongering gang (he uses the term fascists). A key condition needed is mass loneliness, something I think we can agree is present in the USA.
ReplyDeletehttps://rumble.com/v2nis2y-how-covid-turned-people-into-fascists-explained-by-psychologist.html
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteBaron-
Although a definitive account of the pandemic has yet to be written, this one is a good start:
https://www.amazon.com/Virus-Vaccinations-Hijacking-Americas-Response/dp/1644211807
Hopefully, it will alleviate much confusion about the pandemic, vaccine controversies, and the ascendant American idiocracy. In it you'll see how little the human race has changed since the days w/o indoor plumbing, electricity, antibiotics and vaccines.
ccg-
Sure thing. Happy to hear you are enjoying it.
Jeff
Dr. B-
ReplyDeleteHere's a worthwhile "white paper" called: WOKE IMPERIUM: THE COMING CONFLUENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL JUSTICE AND NEOCONSERVATISM. It discusses how US foreign policy reflects past systems, like the British, who were once "for" slavery, but then became "woke" and opposed slavery, reinventing colonialism by putting a moral face on it. He also discusses Jefferson's "Empire of Liberty" and McKinley declaring that the US was "an instrument of God."
The author says- "...those conditioned to believe that geopolitics is a realm of moral certitude can be convinced to support any action carried out by a foreign policy establishment provided it only sounds the correct ideological notes."
https://peacediplomacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Woke-Imperium.pdf
Of course, nothing will change. How many of the US population of 335 million will read this, or would even want to read it? I can say that no one I know even discusses foreign policy; all you hear about is their health, kids, sports, celebrities, etc. Best not to dwell on it, I guess; just sit back, watch, and crack open another can of beer.
Greetings Wafers everywhere from Cascadia, he’s an op-ed piece you’re unlikely to see anywhere in the media of U-S-A! U-S-A!: Paul Gillespie in The Irish Times points out that much of the world outside the G-7 is trying to assert national interests in their regions without the U.S. dictating what to do. He cites a recent speech by a former Trump security adviser on Russia, Fiona Hill, who says the vocabulary used by American functionaries “reeks of colonialism.” A Suez Moment for Merica might not be so far in the future.
ReplyDeleteA footnote correction to Gillespie’s reference to Brazilian President Lula not meeting with Ukraine’s Zelensky at the G-7 summit: Lula had scheduled a meeting with Zelensky, but Lula was stood up by a no-show Zelensky (possibly a U.S.-directed snub at Lula for pursuing non-dollar trade arrangements with China?):
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/05/27/an-appetite-for-a-world-without-a-hegemon-is-emerging/
Dr. Berman—
ReplyDeleteBelow is a speech by Putin at the Eurasian Economic Forum underscoring the evolving Eurasian economy vs. the devolving western economies led by the US. He emphasizes the clear shooting in the foot of the US empire and its allies. The contrast is stark, highlighting the failure of US imperial floundering and war making opposed to what Russia and China's one belt road initiative has to offer: productive, cooperative life. Sure, some of it is political/corporate rhetoric; but the flailing irrelevance of the west, strapped to the US, which acts like a disruptive child, is pretty stark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpxBwI7jAKs
In light of this, what do you think the US will do? Reflect maybe? NO! DOUBLE DOWN, of course!!! Onward and downward.
Oops-
ReplyDelete1st off, keep in mind that America is a buffoonocracy, and will behave like one, supported by 335 million buffoons. This is ridicule on my part, but it is also accurate.
America simply doesn't know how to do anything different, than pursue the road it is currently on, because that road and psychological format is hundreds of yrs old. I outlined this in QOV and other writings, but the US is not interested in alternative voices, and never has been. It's a major reason as to why it failed (WAF).
Mao Zedong was never one of my favorite people, but at one pt he predicted that "there is a wind blowing from the East, and it will overcome the West." This is exactly what is happening, 60 yrs later.
There are a # of possible scenarios for the death of America; we have discussed them in the past. But what seems to be shaping up is the Eclipse Scenario: as opposed to doing things that are self-destructive, the bloc of Russia-India-China-Iran?-other Eastern nations will pursue a progressive, expansive, and semi-united path. Given our history, our stupidity, and the commitment to endless "imperial floundering," all America can do is get itself eclipsed by far more intelligent and superior forces, poco a poco. This is a geopolitical trajectory that cannot be reversed, or even mildly arrested.
As I have repeatedly stated, there will be no "wake-up moment" for America. That is not in the cards, not even slightly. What *is* in the cards is irrelevance, and possibly death.
mb
Prof -
ReplyDeleteYa think we might need a new term "Zombfoon" introduced into the Wafer lexicon?
I see a lot of them at my Safeway cashier job here in beautiful Astoria Oregon.
comrade-
ReplyDeleteI have, in fact, been to Astoria.
Consider: What do you get when you cross a zombie with a buffoon? Possible answers:
1. A Zombfoon
2. A Buffie
3. An American
mb
I just discovered that Bush jr. & John Kerry were distant cousins, according 2 genealogists in this link from '04. This makes a complete charade of these foolish (s)elections. The Amerikkkan political process is devoid of any real choice
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4286105
Or as George Carlin once said in an HBO special: "The shit they shuffle around every 4 yrs? Doesn't mean a fuckin' thing".
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HeMGqTwWA6U
Kissinger at 100: New War Crimes Revealed in Secret Cambodia Bombing That Set Stage for Forever Wars | Democracy Now!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.democracynow.org/2023/5/24/intercept_kissinger_cambodia_killing_fields
With all the Kissinger at 100 stories im going to re-up this POLITICO Mag story about how Kissinger secretly conspired with the Chilean military dictatorship to undermine the Carter admin. He counseled Chile to subvert a US terrorism investigation into a lethal bombing in Washington.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/henry-kissinger-jimmy-carter-chile-214603/
And this was not the only time Kissinger has been accused of trying to undermine the Carter admin. Have you guys heard of the Ogorodnik microfilm ?
Barrett-
ReplyDeleteHe was, and is, a truly awful human being.
Satch-
The country is beating off, and the people are beating off. What awaits us is a beat-off future.
mb
What we need: More motorcycle rallies!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/new-mexico-motorcycle-rally-ends-in-mass-shooting-between-rival-gangs-177846853606
We also need more confrontations between motorcyclists and cars!
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/video-captures-road-rage-fight-in-pasadena/
And we have to keep celebrating these long Memorial Day weekends in Seattle, Baltimore, Atlanta, and this country’s celebratory home—Washington, D.C.
https://www.wave3.com/video/2023/05/29/shootings-over-memorial-day-weekend-rock-communities-across-us/
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Instead of reading "Eminent Post Victorians" straight through, I've started by reading books by the relevant authors. I hadn't read any Isaiah Berlin before, but he is really great. I've now read his book on Marx, as well as "The Crooked Timber of Humanity," and really enjoyed both. Now I will get more from Dr. Berman's book. At any rate, here is a great series of Berlin's talks on the Romantics:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIffazJIrLo&list=PLhP9EhPApKE_9uxkmfSIt2JJK6oKbXmd-
Hermann Hesse's books have had such an influence on me, that I no longer know where Hesse ends and I begin. In any case, he was profoundly influenced by both his pietistic upbringing, as well as the romantic poets like Novalis. Berlin led me (INTJ style, we have to know everything about everything!) to another outstanding book, which I think people here will enjoy. I think you can make a good case that these guys "out Bloomsburyed" the Bloomsburys." In any event, the Bloomsburys would be unthinkable without Romantic "Jena Set" who preceded them. (Hopefully the long link won't put me past the half page limit!)
https://www.amazon.com/Magnificent-Rebels-First-Romantics-Invention-ebook/dp/B09NLNPRYQ/ref=sr_1_1? any event, the Bloomsburys would be unthinkable without "crid=EXUR3JJJQU54&keywords=magnificent+rebels&qid=1685396643&sprefix=magnificent+rebels%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1
Megan-
ReplyDeleteWulf's bk is strangely blind; what she presents as 'breakthru' is actually old hat. The invention (discovery?) of the self goes back to the so-called Axial Age, 800-200 B.C., when folks like the Buddha, Socrates, the Hebrew prophets, and Confucius arose almost simultaneously and posited a self that was able to reflect on things, and not merely be immersed in them. Julian Jaynes makes a gd case for this being the difference between the Iliad and the Odyssey, and thus Odysseus emerges as the first intellectual (in the West, at least). Subsequent pre-Jena discussions of the self include Augustine, Descartes, Aquinas, Rousseau, Kant, etc. I also think the "Bloomsberries" were realists, not romantics; they had no interest in people like the Schlegels, that I know of.
mb
ps:
ReplyDeleteThere once was a Romantic named Schlegel
Who had, every morning, a bagel.
He would point to the hole
And exclaim, "This is my soul!"
All of which had nothing to do with Ernest Nagel.
It seems the Ukraine farce is nearing its end as the US is looking for another enemy, such as Uganda
ReplyDeletehttps://www.axios.com/2023/05/29/uganda-anti-gay-law-biden-sanctions-warning
Don't let the anti-homophobia rhethoric fool you, many of the US allies have such laws. Just like the WMDs in Irak, it's just a facade. As for the real reason, maybe because of the 31 million tonnes of gold, or maybe it was just a roll of a dice. After all the US needs an enemy.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uganda-gold-idUSKBN2NP17M
french-
ReplyDeleteI say, Nuke 'em all! Nuke all of America's potential enemies!To you I say, check out essays in QOV, and also:
https://www.amazon.com/Werewolf-Complex-Americas-Fascination-Violence/dp/1859731511/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KT8VXNMKJ00W&keywords=denis+duclos&qid=1685459868&s=books&sprefix=denis+duclos%2Cstripbooks%2C1085&sr=1-1
mb
Hola WAFers,
ReplyDeleteI've been away, but the magnetism of the greatest blog on earth always pulls me back. I had to return just to confirm that what the good professor has been predicting for the past twenty plus years is now taking form before our very eyes. Have a look:
https://youtu.be/K8q0hjga9o0?t=78
And I highly recommend Glenn Greenwald's latest report on the subject. Fast forward to about 30 mins in. The whole episode is good, but this takes you to the matter of America losing its status out in the open.
https://rumble.com/v2q7soy-system-update-show-89.html
And if you prefer the written word, I suggest Nicollo Soldo’s excellent substack “Fisted by Foucault”:
https://niccolo.substack.com/p/on-us-hegemony-the-quest-for-a-new?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=39821&post_id=124761336&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
All the best,
Anders
anders-
ReplyDeleteThese are gd links, thanks. I esp. liked hearing from Greenwald, who is rt on target. For yrs, I've been saying that
1. The US is full of shit
2. The US has no future
Finally, a lot of other people are saying it, across the globe. Perhaps I'm not a crackpot, after all. Gee...
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteWhat's more American than this?:
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/police-investigate-shooting-hollywood-beach-broadwalk/3043485/
anders-
Luv the Greenwald clip, particularly Jerry Nadler pooping his pants on live TV. How awful. Greenwald did make an error, tho. He said that Robert F. Kennedy was a California Senator. This is not true. Bobby was Senator of New York until his assassination in '68. In any case, this was good stuff.
Jeff
Jeff et al.-
ReplyDeleteWhat we are seeing, at every level, is the progressive disintegration of the country. My guess is that all of this will accelerate as time goes on, rt up to that fateful year, 2030.
mb
I was unable to access the Glenn Greenwald video as it seems that one has to have an account on Rumble. However, I found the same video on YouTube which I think everyone can access:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBBUempOB-c
Before the last election, I tried telling people (Democrats) that Joe Biden was showing signs of mental decline. This is how they reacted: "Biden has a stutter!" I know he had a stutter that he overcame decades ago, and I've never heard him stutter. And I can tell the difference between someone stuttering and someone in mental decline. I guess many Democrats can't do that.
I'd not previously seen that clip of Biden's speech at the G7, but it's devastating. And it's good fodder for an opposition campaign.
Here’s the recap. It was a great holiday weekend for mass shootings. We had 20 of them here in the world’s most disgusting violent shithole of a country.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/30/memorial-day-weekend-gun-violence-mass-shootings/70268159007/
And if there isn’t a mass shooting, here’s the newest hip violent thing. “Flash Mobbing”.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/chicago-suburb-cancels-armed-forces-carnival-flash-mob-400-teens-devolves-fights-chaos
https://www.nbc4i.com/video/columbus-police-looking-to-curb-%e2%80%9cflash-mob-takeovers%e2%80%9d/8691436/
It’s all here to watch in the “exceptional” U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Dr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteNice work with the Schlegel poem. I hadn't thought of it that way, but your qualifications regarding Wulf's thesis are worth taking into consideration. Still, it is a bit like Harold Bloom's, "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human" book. Of course Shakespeare didn't really invent the concept of the "human." But even if Wulf, like Bloom, makes a somewhat exaggerated claim, I think the value of the book is less in that particular thesis, than in her page-turning "group portrait."
I also think that many previous conceptions of the self were rather lacking. The Cartesian Self, after all, is largely a bloodless abstraction. The Kantian Self ("The Transcendental Unity of Apperception") is slightly more fleshed out, but still essentially insubstantial and lifeless. One could argue that the Platonic Self was a mixed bag too. Most selves, in Plato's mind, were selves of "inferior metals," which needed intensive modeling by the superior "Guardian Selves," etc. etc. But even granting that your reservations have merit, and are good food for thought, I do think that people like Fichte, the Schlegels, Novalis, and others, elaborated and gave life and vigor, weight and heft, to the more "ghost in the machine" conception of the self, which was in floating around in the atmosphere of the time. At any rate, for a nice, interesting introduction to the thought of Fichte, and his more "robust" conception of the self, this is a good series, which nicely complements Wulf's book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKkMMMGTstQ&list=PLRG1UpvFjeaTfIXJGmYZw6lFE9G7SpYoN
I am so grateful for your book Healing. I wish it was in hardcover. It feels like something that I want with me wherever I go. I am in the process of organizing a bookclub discussion around this wonderful text.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Roberto-
ReplyDeleteAl contrario, as we say in Spanish; thanks to *you*. Let me know how the discussion goes. As for hardcover: too short (thin) for that, I'm afraid. Also, I wanted to price it low, deliberately, so that more people might read it.
Megan-
Well, if Hamlet didn't have a self, then no one did; and I don't think it was abstract or bloodless. Also note that despite problems of timing and causality, Jaynes pegged it correctly, that the consciousness of the Odyssey is v. different from the one in the Iliad. (Also not abstract.)
Joe-
I love a gd flashmob, myself. I've also heard broadcast journalists use the term 'smashmob'. We (Wafers) need to get together and manufacture a Declinist Medal, to be bestowed on Americans contributing to our decline. Wafers are encouraged to say what words or legend the medal might contain. "Carthago delenda est," for example.
mb
https://twitter.com/MarxianDialogu1/status/1663534204888424449?t=UXDKljfkTtrk03k6El15jA&s=19
ReplyDelete"Leftists who call Putin “far-right” are delusional.
Communists must support all progressive social forces, and there is nothing more progressive than defeating the US Empire. That makes Putin objectively a progressive force.
Anti-Putin Leftists are the real reactionaries."
LOL, tankies like this acct's operator are so funny. Putin is expressly anti leftist! He hates Lenin and is admittedly influenced by fascist Russian philosophers like Ilyin, and his policies evolved from neoliberal to far right. That's what they don't get: Putin doesn’t hate US Empire, he envies it. If US offered him to share the world, he would be the happiest. Not a Wafer!
Sorta-
ReplyDeleteJust a few random thoughts. The defeat of the American Empire will certainly come as a relief to much of the planet. In fact, I predict 80% of the world will be dancing in the streets. This defeat will be karma, punishment of the US for what devastation it has visited upon the world. The problem is, both the gov't and the people are too stupid to understand what it is they have done wrong. In that sense, punishment is wasted. It won't be recognized as punishment, or karma. The gov't and the people will simply be hurt and angry, since they believe, along w/Bush Jr., that "we are so good." (direct quote)
The problem is that the candidates bidding to replace the US as the world's hegemon are not exactly appealing. Russia and China are authoritarian societies, repressive and often cruel. Hard to call them progressive, really. Empires suck, to put it bluntly. For an alternative vision (albeit rather utopian), check out the 2nd story in my bk "The Heart of the Matter". We need geopolitical entities that are decentralized, small-scale, anti-hegemonic, and humanitarian. Yes, I know, gd luck.
mb
MB,
ReplyDeleteGlad you found the links useful... I enjoyed your latest book, by the way.
I didn't know who this fella was and he's definitely right-wing and yet, there's alignment in some of the views expressed on this blog concerning a declining empire:
"The Roman economy was basically a rapine economy. Like all slave-owning societies, Rome had no middle class, a debased currency, and no export production – it lived by conquests, slave trade, and plundering the conquered provinces. Such economies can exist only as long as they expand; when the expansion ends, downfall is inevitable. See any resemblance to the American economy?"
"Mistaking technological advancement and passage of laws with cultural and societal advancement is a complete fallacy, as described by Albert Einstein and Aldous Huxley almost a century ago"
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/05/31/fall-of-american-empire-and-descent-into-a-new-dark-ages/
anders-
ReplyDeleteSimilar discussion can be found in my Twilight bk (2000). The notion that the Achilles' heel of the West cd be found in the outstripping of moral progress by scientific progress was elaborated upon by Arthur Koestler. (Check out portrait of him in my bk "Eminent Post-Victorians".)
mb
Harvard did a study about the effect good relationships have on ppl's well-being. Here's a Q&A w/ director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, Robert Waldinger
ReplyDeletehttps://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/02/work-out-daily-ok-but-how-socially-fit-are-you/
The study spanned several generations thru the course of their lives. Robert Waldinger co-wrote a book called “The Good Life”. One of his findings was that good relationships are key to one's well-being. My own observation is that most Amerikkkans don't have that many close relationships. This has been further eroded by the obsession w/ gadgets, as any longtime Wafers already know. It's no wonder most of 'em are big-time pill poppers.
joker-
ReplyDeleteWell-known for some time, but thanks for the link. The problem for Americans is that the dominant narrative, the American Dream, is based on competition, rivalry, hustling, and one-upmanship. Fundamentally, Americans are narcissistic; they don't give a shit about the other person, and don't know *how* to be social, let alone loving. Their lives are crap, and they are basically miserable. They live in buffoonery w/o even knowing it. Check out my bk "Healing" for further elaboration. The following British study might also interest you:
https://revisesociology.com/2020/08/07/the-up-series-britains-best-loved-longitudinal-study/
mb
Speaking of World Sys Analysis:
ReplyDeleteIMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN
THE BOURGEOIS(IE) AS CONCEPT AND REALITY
https://newleftreview.org/issues/i167/articles/immanuel-wallerstein-the-bourgeois-ie-as-concept-and-reality
https://newleftreview.org/issues/i167/articles/immanuel-wallerstein-the-bourgeois-ie-as-concept-and-reality
Succession confirms Wallerstein's point that historically the bourgeoisie always desires to be aristocratic in a generational sequence he calls the Buddenbrooks phenomenon - after Thomas Mann's book about a German merchant family's contest for succession
ReplyDeleteOffering an assessment similar to others we’ve seen, author Peter Turchin writes in The Atlantic (2 June, “America Is Headed Toward Collapse”) about things that say we’re headed into the shit.
Then offers a suggestion/suggestions for how this whole verkakte mess can be cleaned up and sorted.
https://apple.news/Ashvuxi_QSQG1aUiFDdjcoQ
Deja vu all over again. Deus ex machina, etc., etc.
Jas-
ReplyDeleteHow many times have I said, that in the US, even the smart people are stupid?
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteApproximate Wafer Alert (AWA):
"When you're going in the wrong direction, progress is the last thing you need. The 'progress' that defines our age often seems closer to the progression of a disease than its cure. Civilization often seems to be picking up speed in the dizzying way things do when they're circling the drain. Could it be that the fiercely held belief in progress is a sort of a painkiller - a faith-in-the future antidote to a present too terrifying to contemplate?"
~ Christopher Ryan, "Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress"
I'm currently reading this book. It will resonate w/many Wafers. Ryan presents a clear and eloquent counter-argument to the Steven Pinkers of the world, and so much more. Most highly recommended:
https://www.amazon.com/Civilized-to-Death-audiobook/dp/B07QGH3TDF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2OD2OYKZF34MC&keywords=civilized+to+death+the+price+of+progress&qid=1685808481&sprefix=Civilized+to+death%2Caps%2C170&sr=8-1
Jeff
Some1 asks the question of whether San Fran can "reinvent itself", despite rampant homelessness, drugs, tech biz layoffs, etc.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/28/san-francisco-vacant-buildings-housing-doom-loop
Yet here's a piece about some1 hittin' the road
https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2023/03/10/so-long-san-francisco
I think San Fran is a symbol of what Amerikkka is becoming. So the question could b asked another way: Can Amerikkka reinvent itself?
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteThe core of the American Dream is (economic and techno-) growth. But 'growth' is a term most often applied to cancer. How many Americans make the connection?
mb
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteMy trbl with Ryan's work is his "Sex at Dawn" was not very scholarly rigorous.. There was that critical book written by a biologist called "Sex at Dusk" but I have wanted to read this one of his..
Davis-
ReplyDeleteDo you have a link for "Sex at Dusk"?
mb
Davis-
ReplyDeleteMany thanks. I'm aware of the scholarly controversy surrounding "Sex at Dawn," and I have read the rebuttal, "Sex at Dusk" a number of years ago. There are too many fascinating arguments in both books to do them justice in this space. That said, I will say that I think "Sex at Dawn" was a well-argued and better written book. Any work, such as "Sex at Dawn," that confronts the established view that humans are/were built for monogamy will create a mighty pushback. I seem to also recall that many of the themes found w/in "Sex at Dawn," such as humans having a naturally promiscuous mating system that evolved out of the hunter-gatherer era, have been around for decades. In other words, it's not such a controversial nor an original thing to say. What I like about Ryan's work is his irreverence, his intelligence, and independence of mind. These qualities can also be found in "Civilized to Death." I think you should definitely take a look at it.
Jeff
As our good Doctor has said, “It doesn’t take much to get shot and blown away by cops these days.” The same obviously goes for state troopers.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fox29.com/news/fatal-shooting-shuts-down-parts-of-i-95-near-penns-landing-state-police-say
It doesn’t take much to get shot in Philly either.
https://www.fox29.com/news/7-overnight-shootings-plague-philadelphia-neighborhoods-as-weekend-gun-violence-continues
And of course Chicago.
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/chicago-mass-shooting-7-wounded-1-fatally-on-west-side
But New Yorkers shouldn’t fear too much of being blown away by police captains. Some of them pass out drunk in their squad cars. LOL!
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/nypd-captain-arrested-after-passing-out-drunk-in-police-car
Just another normal weekend here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Trump's shadow wants to become the president.
ReplyDeletehttps://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pence-files-paperwork-presidential-campaign/story?id=99843078
As the Wafer saying goes : Pence schmence. I honestly think Trump's shoe has a better chance.
And, I have a prediction. The rock, the movie star, will be the president by 2028 or 2032. US politics is a badly scripted reality TV, the rock fits perfectly. For an empire that's on its death bed, politics is entertainment, Trump, the rock, Reagan.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/11/politics/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-president-2024-cnntv/index.html
BTW, it's Reagan's death anniversary
french-
ReplyDeleteWhat abt Nikki Haley, a true douche baguette? Or perhaps we shd just bring back Sarah Palin, WTF.
mb
Echoing the works of our own GSWH, Michael Vlahos has written an essay on America as its own civil religion, an ingredient of national life present from the very beginning of the U.S., with endless wars a necessary component to sustain both national and personal narratives. He points to a future at home consumed by apocalyptic passions. A quote from the essay: “Under the new Wokeist religion, the boundaries between the global and the local, the domestic and the foreign wither away, to be replaced by a proselytizing, totalizing, and imperial Americanism.”
ReplyDeletehttps://www.agonmag.com/p/the-demon-in-americas-sacred-narrative
Here's a video about a recent New York Times article that's basically running cover for the fact that Nazi symbols are seen military uniforms in Ukraine:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVs22Cwb6go
The Times has ignored the Nazi presence in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, though now they deal with it while offering cover for it at the same time. Could we expect anything different from the Times? I think not.
The discussion in this video is quite good, I think.
ccg-
ReplyDeleteWhat a pile of shit America is, and that includes the NYT. This notion that we are defending democracy in the Ukraine is absurd. The place has been soaking in Nazis for ages. I can't get over the fact that Zelensky is Jewish. And talk abt repressive regimes...
mb
Dr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteJust finished _Healing_ about a week ago. Your descriptions of the issues people face certainly apply in my case. Reading _Healing_, one of the strongest things I gained was the pretty clear realization that living a life where one constantly feels oneself to be inadequate is bullshit. Realizing this gives me impetus to move forward with a healing process.
Thanks a lot for writing and publishing this book!
-- Torreblanca
Torre-
ReplyDeleteMany thanks; glad I cd be of some help. Like yourself, I too am walking the 'road of recovery'.
mb
Dear Dr. Berman,
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing and sharing Healing.
I gave one of my copies to my mom who posted her review above.
I wanted to share how about a week after reading it, it started helping. Then there was a death in the family, and it helped with that as well.
Experienced a setback last night, and I’m rereading Healing today.
Thank you again for Healing and for all of your work.
k-
ReplyDeleteVery glad the bk was helpful 2u at a difficult time. As for yr mother's review: sorry, I don't see it. Exactly where did she post it?
mb
Wetiko-
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't post other blogs on this one.
mb
Hola MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteA Day in the Life Dept.:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/07/politics/supreme-court-2022-financial-disclosure-forms-justices/index.html
https://people.com/gisele-bundchen-brazil-emotional-stage-exclusive-7508773
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-responds-chris-christie-attacks-fat-jokes-1234765157/
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/06/04/ukraine-russia-war-putin-trump-nikki-haley-town-hall-vpx.cnn
We are swimming in a tsunami of bullshit, Wafers.
Jeff
One more for the road:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3fnSXcA0Irs
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteBuffoon Levels have never been higher. I'm pulling for a Bundchen-Haley ticket in 2024.
mb
ReplyDeleteA school in Arlington, VA was holding a fifth-grade graduation ceremony at a school situated in an affluent neighborhood. As GSWH says, the elite are trash.
According to the police blotter: “Upon arrival, it was determined that adults who are known to each other became involved in a physical altercation during an event at the school. The parties were separated and no significant injuries were reported. The investigation is ongoing.”
No guns or edged weapons. Enough choler present to make weapons unneeded, apparently.
https://www.arlnow.com/2023/06/09/parent-fight-at-elementary-school-graduation-ceremony-draws-police-response/
"The best historians have the future in their bones."
ReplyDelete--E.H. Carr
Here is an excellent video that does a point by point take-down of that recent New York Times piece white-washing the presence of Nazis in the Ukrainian military:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIBrR1agjrA&t=615s
The shear awfulness of the Times comes through loud and clear in this video. This is the best take-down I've ever seen of this rag.
ccg-
ReplyDeleteThe gov't and the NYT are full of shit, and the American public consists of gullible fools. In terms of decline, this self-destruction cdn't be better. Jesus, what a farce. Let's send more $ to Zelensky and his Nazi-infested military.
However, from a grammatical pt of view, I don't like the word 'Nazis'. What we need are Hebrew plural endings. Thus, male Nazis need to be called Nazim, and female Nazis, Nazot.
mb
On an unrelated topic: Cornel West just declared he's running for president. Wow! This will have Schmiden and Trumpi quaking in their boots. West might actually get 0.5% of the vote.
ReplyDeletemb