The Revolting Masses
The battle for Brexit, the nature of the struggle, has become much more clear [than it was three years ago]. Before, it was, “Ooh, should we be part of the EU? Should we not be part of the EU?” Now, I think it’s much more clearly a class struggle… On the one hand, you have people who are very much part of the establishment, people who are in the public sector, or who are members of organisations that are paid for out of taxation, whose jobs depend on regulating the lives of others… the arts establishment, the university establishment… You can tell when you go to a party, say, who’s likely to be Brexit and who’s not likely to be Brexit… The media is an utterly ‘Remain’ industry, and they’re absolutely furious.
Peter Whittle interviews filmmaker Martin Durkin.
Two of Durkin’s films – Brexit: The Movie and Margaret: Death of a Revolutionary – have been featured here before, in full, and are strongly recommended. The subsequent threads are also worth a peek.
Update:
The old word is treason… A large part of the British political elite has deliberately gone and negotiated against their own country…. They regard [the electorate] with absolute contempt.
Via Samizdata, and very much related, David Starkey has some thoughts.
Also, open thread.
“I realized that actually these supposed radicals weren’t in favour of ordinary people at all. In fact they were quite appalled by ordinary people…”
That.
In fact they were quite appalled by ordinary people
The casual arrogance of our self-imagined betters, their condescension and contempt, has been noted here once or twice.
Regarding the social class aspect mentioned above, this recent item seems somewhat relevant.
What I find fascinating from the other side of the world is the number of people mad that David Cameron even deigned to have a vote about it. Essentially, they are charging the British public for being too stupid to know what they are voting for, only tinged by the fact that so many of these Leave voters seem to be poor, and therefore easily tricked by false promises. And so why on earth would they ever actually ask the people what they thought about it?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/16/david-cameron-brexit
And the media class also seem to be cranky about the fact that so many of the middle class and poor seem so easily swayed, apart from by them. It is as if they believe their ongoing contempt will cause people to turn around and reconsider, or that talking about how Doncaster or wherever got an EU grant so why would they vote leave will get people to miss the tide of pounds leaving the country to prop up Southern and Eastern Europe.
In fact they were quite appalled by ordinary people
Indeed. Some of the casual comments I have heard from woke, urban liberals have been quiet shocking in the attitudes they reveal. Perhaps the most memorable were from some people who bought rural homes because they liked living in the woods and because they had hobbies that could not be pursued in the city. Their contempt for their new neighbors was surprising and disturbing.
It doesn’t seem to me coincidental that the left’s great volte face on Europe coincided with the fall of the Soviet Union and the tacit acceptance that the post-war ‘consensus’ was gone forever. There is a real tendency amongst even educated left-wingers to be taken in by Utopian fantasies.
I don’t think the EU is remotely as bad as the USSR, but the treatment it’s afforded by its partisans is very similar. They project a vision of happy, forward-thinking internationalism onto a flawed and undemocratic behemoth. They treat criticism of it as at best vulgar and at worst “regressive”.
They also adopt a little syllogism, I think, that runs “Nigel Farage is racist. Nigel Farage hates the EU. Therefore the EU is the paragon of anti-racism”.
There are other tribes of Remoaners – people who only care about their house prices, Tory Wets who think they’re Benjamin Disraeli. At least these people are intellectually consistent. The left that’s bleated about so-called austerity for years has strikingly little to say on the Fiscal Compact..
Related, and also worth a listen. Martin Durkin interviewed by Brendan O’Neill:
https://www.spiked-online.com/podcast-episode/brexit-is-a-revolt-against-the-new-elites/
Interesting (long) video here by Gearoid Murphy, about the playbook for nipping in the bud any deplorable local opposition in the small Irish towns which have asylum seeker centres imposed on them.
The pattern that emerges from the towns he’s visited – the secret preparations; the public meeting to give a facade of local democracy, but which is really the presentation of a fait accompli; the unrepresentative “friends of the refugees” group given funding, advance notice, and privileged access to speak for the town in the media; the local hotelier who likes the idea of government-backed rents and not having to listen to the guests complain about their shabby accommodations; the safe channel for opposition, where the simple folk are allowed to say that they have some concerns, but we can all agree that asylum seekers should be given more generous allowances and not asked such hard questions; and the unsafe channel for opposition, where some local politician is Alinsky’d pour encourager les autres.
Nemo and Anita, thanks for those.
It is as if they believe their ongoing contempt will cause people to turn around and reconsider
Yep, that seems to be how the Democrats are running for 2020 “Vote for me, you damn Nazi!”
Isn’t it “Margaret: portrait of a revolutionary”? You changed it to “death”.
Margaret: Death of a Revolutionary
One of the Left’s most spittle-inducing figures of hate next to Ronald Reagan. Look how they reacted when actress Gillian Anderson was announced as being cast to play Thatcher in Netflix’s The Crown.
Isn’t it “Margaret: portrait of a revolutionary”? You changed it to “death”.
Nope.
It’s dark and I smell gas. Where is my cigarette lighter?
As a colonial with few pretensions, I don’t understand Brexit and I think that is important. I have this idea that England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are suffering from some policies favored by the continentals, there was a vote and the British public chose to leave the EU. I imagine that this is really complicated but is there a “Brexit for dummies” or “Brexit in 2,000 words” version?
I am particularly ignorant of this question about the hard border with the Irish Republic. I don’t get the issue there.
I tend to favor Mr. Churchill’s summary, “One people divided by a common language” so I care and I want a better understanding. I know that there is a lighter around here somewhere …
Martin Durkin, from the Spiked interview, linked upthread.
[But with the EU,] we haven’t elected them; we don’t know who did elect them; we don’t know how the machine works. We have no control over it. It is not democratic
That is what was so eye-opening for me when I first watched Brexit:the Movie. I really had no prior information on how invasive Brussels was and that the whole Ruling Class there was unaccountable to the ruled and shielded by a vast, anonymous bureaucracy.
and that the whole Ruling Class there was unaccountable to the ruled and shielded by a vast, anonymous bureaucracy.
A couple of years ago, in another example of the recently-discussed blurting phenomenon, a woman at a party, an old-school lefty, decided to start our first ever conversation by telling me her views on Brexit and demanding to know mine. It was very much a demand and some kind of shibboleth. The woman said she couldn’t comprehend how anyone could be opposed to the EU and its allegedly benign influence. I suggested the issues of sovereignty and accountability. She seemed genuinely baffled by this – largely because she knew, via some paranormal means, that everyone in favour of Brexit is racist and hates foreigners. After a pause, I asked if she knew the name of her MEP. She said no. Adding, a beat later, that she didn’t see the relevance.
We’ve all noticed the mask slipping and in some cases falling right off of the left recently, but the brazen lying about the EU Army still shocks me. A resurgent Germany once again threatening world peace – this time using other nations’ tax dollars – is bad enough, but to do it in an era of ample video evidence of their schemes is downright demoralizing.
Related Anecdote: about 15 years ago I purchased a firearm from a small hardware store who’s owner was a stereotypical rightwing gun nut prepper type. Nice enough guy but I laughed at all the paranoid paraphernalia adorning his shop, and specifically remember his posters decrying the UN and EU wanting to create a “New World Order”. Looking back and recognizing that this nutjob was right has been a tough pill to swallow.
his posters decrying the UN and EU wanting to create a “New World Order”. Looking back and recognizing that this nutjob was right has been a tough pill to swallow.
Cassandra was sneered at, too.
IMHO the conspiracy mongering is a little much; however, the lust for power is baked into human existence. From tribal chiefs to royal dynasties to Dictators for Life – authoritarian and totalitarian rule is much more prevalent then democratic republics. So suspicion over the motives of the UN and EU to meddle in people’s lives in ways that mirror Communist China or North Korea is well warranted.
It’s like on-going argument over the 2nd Amendment and guns in private citizens’ hands. When law abiding gun owners say “Why are you trying to confiscate my guns?” our betters ridicule us with “You paranoid rube, we are NOT going confiscate your guns”… up until they say, “Hell yes, we are going to take your guns.”
Somewhat related, this interview with David Starkey.
Via Samizdata.
After a pause, I asked if she knew the name of her MEP.
In my limited understanding of the EU, the European Parliament is very much like the first Duma in imperial Russia; an institution that exists at the whim of the Tsar. It can’t write binding legislation and it can’t overturn legislation written from on high. In this case, the Tsar is the European Commission. A body of appointees who are tasked to act in the interests of the EU and not the interests of the countries that appointed them.
How Britain went from Common Market to Slave of Brussels should be text book case study in the slippery slope. Europe has nothing to teach Britain about representational government.
A European Parliament session reminds me of a Canadian (or British) Parliament Question Period. Much bluster, sound and fury, but at the end of the day whatever the government has proposed will be legislated. The saving grace being that the Canadian and British Governments were democratically elected whereas the real governing and legislative bodies in the EU–the European Commission and the European Council–were appointed.
In my limited understanding of the EU,
The irony being that knowing the name of one’s MEP is largely irrelevant, though not for reasons that would bolster the position of the woman in question. And if even this tiny fig leaf is mysterious and inaccessible…
Here in the US, they are known as “the deplorables”, and they made their presence known in 2016, with the election of Trump. The Trump Derangement Syndrome set in before election night was over, and has only intensified.
It is interesting that this same phenomenon showed up in two common law/English-law systems at the same time. And the great fear among the moderate observers is that the derangement will not go away, and that the next election, in both countries, will result in extreme dissatisfaction by whichever side loses and great unpleasantness. Here in the USA, the deplorables are much better armed than the progressives, but the police are all on the side of “more government power”. The military will likely just stand by. I was in the military when Nixon resigned, and there was no talk whatsoever about any military involvement in politics, so I think that mindset still exists.
As a former US government official, a former resident of France (twice), and now a dual national (US and Italy) I think that the UK will lose more than it will gain from Brexit, but I fully understand the argument about accountability, and I sympathise with the desire for freedom. The EU bureaucracy is beholden to no one, and doesn’t care what the people or their elected representatives, at any level, want. In the US, the deplorables do not want to be ruled by an unaccountable UN bureaucracy, which is the ultimate aim of the progressives.
First, though, they have to get rid of the guns. (Full disclosure – I don’t own any guns, yet)
Speaking of Brexit, Jean-Claude Juncker has been quoted as saying “Everyone understands English, but nobody understands England.”
What is the context of that comment? I haven’t found any source that quotes him in more detail?
Was he indeed, as I suspect, saying that English motives for leaving the EU are “incomprehensible”? Or was he commenting on how long the Brexit move has been going on without resolution?
The EU bureaucracy is beholden to no one…
True, but it’s actually much worse than that. The governing bodies themselves are accountable to no one. The only elected body is the European Parliament and it has no power. It’s very much an elitist European tradition to make the masses think they have a say when in fact they don’t.
I think that the UK will lose more than it will gain from Brexit
Possibly – particularly in the short term. It’s very hard to work out what will happen with the Euro though (to pick the most obvious example). If it needs a full on fiscal union to work then all bets are off.
I think that the UK will lose more than it will gain from Brexit
Brexit will certainly be disruptive, as trading relationships will have to be reconsidered and renegotiated, but the EU will also feel the pain if it tries to punish Britain. 1n 2018, Britain imported 345-billion-pounds worth of goods from the EU while exporting 289-billion-pounds to the EU.
Britain has historically had a trade deficit with the EU. Britain is one of only two countries that export more goods outside the EU than within it. In addition, EU policy more often than not has gone against Britain–Fisheries are a good example of that.
The greatest gain for Britain is it regains political control of all things and its politics become more accountable to individual voters. It seems that’s something the US fought a revolutionary war over.
If you asked an American, if you said, “Look, I put it to you – do you want to be part of a trans-national super-state which you don’t understand, run by people you don’t know, and who you didn’t elect, and who you can’t get rid of…
I think some Americans would interpret this as a description of Washington, D.C.
Here in the US, they are known as “the deplorables”, and they made their presence known in 2016, with the election of Trump.
I will add that the rise of the Tea Party a few years earlier was met with disbelief until they were able to derail a few long-serving Republicans during the primaries (which 99 percent of the incumbents win).
Thereafter, they were declared Racist White Supremacists, and a Threat to democracy until Obama weaponized the IRS to attack their organizations by denying them non-profit status. Fighting the IRS drained resources that could have been used to grow the moment, and many of them folded in response.
Then, during the 2012 House midterms, the GOP ran on the promise of getting rid of Obamacare if they were given the majority. The voters did just that, and the day after, turned around and said, “Nah, you #$%#&^ up. You trusted us.”
This, among another dozen reasons, was why we got Trump.
Obama weaponized the IRS to attack their organizations by denying them non-profit status. Fighting the IRS drained resources that could have been used to grow the moment, and many of them folded in response.
Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter are going to play the IRS’s role in 2020. Indeed, they’ve already started. (one example among many)
I think that the UK will lose more than it will gain from Brexit
Three years ago, when the referendum was held, the EU Commission and the French and Germans (perhaps I am repeating myself) were far more circumspect about their aims of full federal integration.
Britain always acted as a brake when the EU vehicle steered in that direction.
With Britain on the way out, the mask has been thrown away, and the EU Federalists are quite open about their aims which include an integrated EU army.
There is no going back to the status quo of 4 years ago.
Our estimable bartender, rising star of the blogosphere.
Landlord, another round of Night Train, please.
The best way to understand the remainer mentality is to go back to 2016 when a large group of people objected to the “Tampon Tax”. A tax of 5% was being imposed on female sanitary products because they were deemed luxury, non-essential items. Understandably, there was an outcry about this. It became a lead item on the BBC for a few days and the airwaves were filled with lefty “comedians” telling us, hilariously, that the Tories thought that having a period was exactly like taking a lovely luxury cruise.
Then it turned out that Westminster had no control over this tax. It was being imposed by Brussels.
Overnight it ceased to be a news story. The BBC dropped it. The angry feminists and the woke comedians all fell silent. Why? Surely, if a tax is immoral, it is just as immoral if imposed by Brussels, as if is if imposed by Westminster. But, not to remainers.
Honestly – and trust me I’ve tried – you’d do better having a reasonable discussion with Tom Cruise about Scientology than you would having an argument about Brexit with a remainer.
In re my last… just to be clear…
I’ve tried reasoning with remainers. I have never tried to discuss Scientology with Tom Cruise.
Tom and I haven’t spoken for years.
In the interest of open thread, here’s something revolting. Via Ace…
Notice how no one mentions the commonality between these three “robberies”. No. One. Not the mayor, not the high end restauranteur, not the city councilman, not the tv reporter, not the Blaze writer. No. One.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/minneapolis-police-beating-videos
Heh. And the link reads police-beating-videoes. I didn’t see no damn police. What did we see? Hmmm?
here’s something revolting
“…the Minneapolis city government has become embroiled in a heated debate over whether to increase staffing on the Minneapolis Police Department…”
How about decreasing immigration?
I also wish I had kept careful record of all the political figures who said so loudly that we should accept lots of “refugees” from Somalia and other hell-holes.
Our estimable bartender, rising star of the blogosphere.
Blimey. I’d forgotten about that.
[ Does best ‘blushing debutante’ face. ]
“Women hardest hit.”
In fact they were quite appalled by ordinary people
Of the noticeably status-conscious people I’ve known – and by that, I mean status-anxious – most have been middle-class lefties. People who regard themselves, and declare themselves, as ‘progressive’ and sophisticated. In my experience, they’ve been the ones to do the most social signalling, often compulsively, and at times almost desperately. The idea of being seen to have opinions and preferences that are, as it were, common seems a cause of some discomfort – presumably, the prospect of losing in-group standing.
Such ‘common’ and therefore disreputable views include, it seems, almost any kind of national or patriotic sentiment, or just a preference for feeling good about one’s country, it’s history and culture – one’s wider tribe – rather than archly disdainful. Though I’m not sure how long a society can survive without some level of the attachment being ostentatiously disdained.
It seems to me we’ve gone beyond any realistic appraisal of a nation’s historical shortcomings or whatever and are now well into territory where the high-status posture is one of casual contempt, of practically wishing punishment and defeat on the, as it were, home team. Which is easier to do if you don’t have to live amid the demoralised social consequences and can flit elsewhere and sneer from afar.
“Women hardest hit.”
Somewhat reminded of this:
Somewhat reminded of this:
Heh. That.
On woke high-school curricula:
The morally demented race-hustling parasite Melina Abdullah has been mentioned here before.
morally demented race-hustling parasite
LOL
LOL
If you follow the link, you’ll see what I mean. And this is the standard now. Good enough for a professional educator at a university.
[middle class lefties have] been the ones to do the most social signalling, often compulsively, and at times almost desperately
Is it simply people trying to be good Christians in a post-Christian culture? The Christian notions of anti-materialism and an emotional connection with the poor and downtrodden seem to still hold sway, but even the lip service paid to humility has vanished. If it’s still gaudy to show off one’s wealth and you’re unwilling to personally help the oppressed then the only avenue to show virtue is to enthusiastically express it in pantomime.
If… you’re unwilling to personally help the oppressed then the only avenue to show virtue is to enthusiastically express it in pantomime.
The people I know who help out their neighbours or volunteer for charities or whatever tend not to bang on about it. They don’t seem to feel a need. And I suppose actually doing the routine leg-work isn’t as glamorous or self-exalting as blathering about pronouns and “whiteness,” or announcing how much you favour mass immigration and the abolition of national borders, which offer a kind of kudos, at least among idiots and fellow pretenders.
I think you may be too generous, Sam. Even if Christianity is out of vogue, anybody who feels the need to be charitable may contribute their time and money to any number of secular charities. I think our esteemed host understands the phenomenon just fine — we’re talking about insecure status-seekers who need to be seen caring about the right things, simply because they are the things that all the right people are seen caring about.
Actually caring, to say nothing of actually helping, isn’t important. Which is why so many of these people will do the bare minimum required to get the t-shirt, or the tote bag, or the sticker for their car. It’s just another aspect of Woke Fashion, along with knowing the correct names of all 237 genders this month.
To the extent that the behavior is post-Christian, I would say it’s only in the most negative and corrupt aspects of historical Christianity. One gets the sense that the Sierra Club sticker on the back of the Subaru is a kind of indulgence intended to protect the Wokeling wannabe from persecution when they are caught sipping a latte through a plastic straw, driving said Subaru to some errand that they could have reached via mass transit.
None of it is admirable, once you understand that it’s all just superficial signalling.
The people I know who help out their neighbours or volunteer for charities or whatever tend not to bang on about it. They don’t seem to feel a need. And I suppose actually doing the routine leg-work isn’t as glamorous or self-exalting as blathering about pronouns and “whiteness,” or announcing how much you favour mass immigration and the abolition of national borders, which offer a kind of kudos, at least among idiots and fellow pretenders.
Well here’s my 2 cents on why that is. These people who bang on and on about such stuff are insecure about their inability to actually DO anything to a degree that would attract any positive attention their way. They need to fill the mammalian social-animal need to be seen as making some sort of contribution to the pack/group beyond just their mundane jobs. And of course a sliding scale between that and genuine self-sufficiency/self-worth. Some can be very accomplished people who still, for whatever psychological reasons, lack that self-esteem.
I also see a correlation of such people (again, MNSHO) to be a bit over enthusiastic fans of famous (or better yet, not quite so famous) musicians and/or pro athletes and such. There’s a hole there somewhere.
I would say it’s only in the most negative and corrupt aspects of historical Christianity.
That was my take as well, and I don’t mean it to excuse these wokelings, but rather to indict them.
I never quite agreed with the Hitchens that religion isn’t required for people to be/do “good”. Many humans seem incapable of exploring various outlooks and reasoning their way to the one that does the least harm. It’s much easier to go along with the zeitgeist, ignore any contradictions and not even attempt to justify any of its ills. Adhering to a set of norms and rules – enforced by a higher power to mitigate inherent fecklessness – seems to be the default for humans. Except, as you say, the beneficial tenets of Christianity have been diluted or corrupted, and the higher power enforcing the new dogma is the Opaque Hand of Twitter. Not an improvement.
In other words, these people would be hypocritical vain superficial busybody curtain twitching Christians had they been born in yesteryear.
“Women hardest hit”
Because husbands don’t know how to make male friends, leaving their entire load of emotional washing to be dealt with by their wives. And it’s compulsory for her to blame it on “toxic masculinity”, which gets the story backwards. Dudebros and jocks are characterized by intense and loyal friendships that are strong enough to withstand the corner-clearing efforts of authorities suspicious of male solidarity. It’s the Mr Sensitive’s, alienated from masculine energy and masculine forms of sociability, who have difficulty making male friends. The burden on women with friendless husbands is unlikely to be because he’s macho and taciturn. but because he’s whiny and clingy and she feels like his mother.
They’re reaping what they’ve been sowing for decades. The trailer for the 1989 movie Say Anything, which was heavily promoted at the time, is a good example of the culture telling men how to be a good feminist boyfriend. John Cusack is getting PUA-type advice from a bunch of dudebros who hang out at the gas station, and he asks them how come if they know so much about women, this is where they spend their Saturday nights. And just as you’re laughing at that, the trailer segues into his friend Lily Taylor telling him not to be a “guy” but to be a “man”, something she’s an authority on from her feminine wisdom as a suburban high schooler. Men needing the presence of women to validate them individually as men and to grant status to their assemblies, men needing the wisdom of women to save them from their backwardness and show them how to be men. Over the years, quite a lot of men took to heart that worldview.
A couple of years ago, in another example of the recently-discussed blurting phenomenon, a woman at a party
I have resolved this issue by simply not attending any gathering of people where I’m going to run into people that I know are going to do this. There just aren’t enough years left in my three score and ten for me to put up with this.
In other words, these people would be hypocritical vain superficial busybody curtain twitching Christians had they been born in yesteryear.
Bingo. We got rid of religion. We didn’t get rid of the underlying problem that drove so many of religion’s problems. Consequently, the muddled thinkers and control freaks had to find a home somewhere, thus they end up in the controlling domain of the day. Government. To some extent, it was always thus. Just back in the day, religion and government were much more entwined. The Enlightenment attempted to separate the two. Until people understand what the limitations of government are, and more broadly what the limitations of controlling someone else’s morality are, it’s all just a re-labeling game.
WTP – completely agree. Maybe, despite all of Christianity’s myriad faults, it perhaps did a relatively better job containing the worst excesses of “muddled thinkers and control freaks”. These people don’t seem to be any less bent on petty domination once they lost the authority of God. In fact, they just up and appropriated that authority.
I imagine the word ‘treason’ is going to gain a great deal more currency in the wake of that podcast.
I imagine the word ‘treason’ is going to gain a great deal more currency in the wake of that podcast.
I heard myself using the word traitorous on Friday evening. I may have also muttered something about lampposts and rope.
Maybe, despite all of Christianity’s myriad faults, it perhaps did a relatively better job containing the worst excesses of “muddled thinkers and control freaks”. These people don’t seem to be any less bent on petty domination once they lost the authority of God. In fact, they just up and appropriated that authority.
Agree very much. In fact, I would argue that Christianity and Judaism, by teaching these things, exerts a powerful check on corrupt ambition:
(1) All men and women are brothers and sisters, and therefore are to be treated as such.
(2) The proper focus of a Christian’s attention should be on the discovery and rectification of his own sins, not on the seeking out of others’ sins.
(3) All men are sinful, and this naturally leads to the lesson that there should be limits on the power of the State.
Leftism, in contrast, teaches:
(1) All men and women who are of the wrong class and race should be treated as enemies. Kindness and fairness are reserved for members of your class, race, etc.
(2) The proper focus of a leftist’s attention should be on the discovery and punishment of others’ sins.
(3) Leftist ideology can bring about utopia, and therefore there are no proper, principled limits on the power of the State.
I don’t remember who first pointed out that leftist ideology promises to its followers that they “shall be as gods”.
And thus a cardinal attribute of Christianity is love, while that of leftism is hate (in spite of the left’s claim to being all about love.)
“Women hardest hit.”
I haven’t read the article yet, but WTH was expected when the screeching females demanded that men stop gathering in mens-only groups? No more Boy Scouts, service clubs (Elk Clubs, etc) and the like? All those spaces gave men a chance to make friends without a girlfriend or wife jostling their elbow.
See: Bowling Alone
PS There is the cohort of males who are jealous beyond reason of “their” woman having male or female friends but – in my experience – there is a much larger cohort of females who are jealous of “their” man having male friends and spending time with those male friends. This is unacceptable.
“We don’t want students to have the option not to take ethnic studies,” said Melina Abdullah… “It is as important as taking a lab science.”
Am I to understand that students have no option but to take a lab science? That will come as news to a lot of humanities and social “science” majors.
PS There is the cohort of males who are jealous beyond reason of “their” woman having male or female friends but – in my experience – there is a much larger cohort of females who are jealous of “their” man having male friends and spending time with those male friends.
This is something I observed many years ago about coworkers going out to lunch. For my group, it was a Friday thing. Look around a restaurant on a Friday at lunch time and you will see many tables of men, possibly with one or two women in the minority, but mostly men. Women will be there but it’s never a large group. Women tend to lunch in twos and threes unless there’s some obvious special occasion such as a birthday or someone expecting a baby or some office-driven thing and not a casual, “Well, that’s lunch” thing.
That will come as news to a lot of humanities and social “science” majors.
I was thinking the same thing, but I believe this was in the context of high school, not college. Gotta get ’em while they’re young too, lest this anti-college thing catches on.
Seventy years ago today sounds good to me.
The people I know who help out their neighbours or volunteer for charities or whatever tend not to bang on about it. They don’t seem to feel a need. And I suppose actually doing the routine leg-work isn’t as glamorous or self-exalting as blathering about pronouns and “whiteness,” or announcing how much you favour mass immigration and the abolition of national borders, which offer a kind of kudos, at least among idiots and fellow pretenders.
“Vanity is a powerful drug”, as our host would say.
“Vanity is a powerful drug”, as our host would say.
When you have educators denouncing any reservations about rapid demographic change and denouncing those who register the ongoing importation of third-world behaviour – and when you have supposedly educated, middle-class protestors, our would-be elite, demanding the abolition of national borders and with them any control over who comes and runs up a bill – then this isn’t so much politics as something akin to a cultural death wish.
It’s vanity, yes; a kind of neurotic preening. But it’s vanity with a real-world cost – the bill for which is generally left for some other sucker. An obvious example being the pseudo-altruistic chest-puffing of Mr Simon Schama.
“It is as important as taking a lab science.”
One teaches you to follow directions exactly, to make careful observations, to take thorough notes, and to learn humility because even when you do things right, you may not get the right results every time. It teaches the importance of reproducibility, of showing your work, of inviting others to test your hypotheses and your methods to see if they are really valid.
The other teaches you that everything is Whitey’s fault, and that you are a golden child who would live in a palace if that mean old Whitey wasn’t holding you down.
So sure — they’re exactly equivalent in importance to a growing mind.
OT but watch quickly before it gets taken down.
watch quickly
OMG that’s hilarious and very well done.
…and based on her fantasy lies about her heritage, it’s just the sort of comic book Indian she’d be.
it’s just the sort of comic book Indian she’d be
I always giggle when I remember she contributed a couple of plagiarized French recipes as “Cherokee” to a cookbook called “Pow Wow Chow”.
I remember she contributed a couple of plagiarized French recipes
A very serious character flaw for someone who wants to run the country. I can’t believe so many people are willing to support her.
As an American, I thought Brexit was going to lead to the EU and UK coming to an agreement and little actual change. How quickly it went from ‘(free trade, etc) benefits us both’ to, in effect, manically screaming ‘screw you’ because the EU project itself is more important than what the group can accomplish together.
The reactions to Norway and Switzerland rejecting the EU seemed to be considerably less hysterical. The reaction to the French and Dutch rejection of the Lisbon treaty was also telling.
the pseudo-altruistic chest-puffing of Mr Simon Schama.
That.
That.
It’s quite a thing, a telling example. And you have to wonder what it must be like to inhabit a social circle in which even the most naked hypocrisy can pass unchallenged, such that you don’t even anticipate the obvious objections, as if no-one would ever check on Mr Schama’s own rather exclusive living arrangements, his immunity from consequences. And so, he advocates a policy that would degrade the neighbourhoods of other, much less wealthy people, using them as a kind of third-world landfill – knowing full well it will never happen to him or to anyone in his circle – and he vehemently disdains those who object to their neighbourhoods, their lives, being transformed in this way. And Mr Schama even dares to pretend that his posturing is altruism, a mark of piety.
It’s just, rather conveniently, a kind of altruism that other people have to pay for and which costs Mr Schama sweet bugger all.
This is one of the reasons amateur sports teams are still important; rugby training is a spouse free zone, even if you’re going out with a lass on the women’s side.
“And if the area around him goes somewhat downhill because the neighbours all start to come from the rougher corners of Eritrea then Simon Schama can move.”
Even better for him, such a decline offers him more opportunities for power over law-abiding citizens, as they become more desperate to avoid being robbed and murdered.
as they become more desperate to avoid being robbed and murdered.
When the Mr Schamas and Professor Kotskos of the world are the ones whose doorsteps are being shat on and whose neighbourhoods are being enlivened with Congolese machete gangs, I may be more inclined to believe that they mean what they say.
They’d still be neurotic and contemptible, of course.
The New York Times tries to out Guardian The Guardian.
The New York Times tries to out Guardian The Guardian.
Well, there’s an image.
Feminism and excrement, together at last.
Feminism and excrement, together at last.
In a world where it’s menstrual blood this and menstrual blood that pooping can be a revolutionary act.
The New York Times tries to out Guardian The Guardian.
It’s easy to write these people off as not being well. As being insane. Etc. But keep in mind, they function quite normally in most regards. They get out of bed in the morning, feed themselves, can drive a car or navigate public transport, can write coherent sentences…unfortunately for the rest of us. They are functional adult human beings. What has allowed them to go so far out of kilter is that the productive part of society fails to push back. These articles and such are things that these people do.
They don’t grow/harvest food, don’t fix leaky plumbing, don’t design buildings nor engineer bridges nor create logistical systems. They are fed and cared for by people who do these latter things. They have been educated to the level of stupidity demonstrated in the NYT, etc. by the wealth produced by people who do these productive things. There’s not mystery that these journalists do the stupid things that they do. They do it for their kibble. The mystery is why do the rest of us passively tolerate supporting this idiocy? We’re the ones with the problem.
It’s like blaming an unruly dog when its owner pampers and spoils it. The dog, by his very nature, seeks to lead the pack/family. The dog will continue to do so until/unless the owner asserts his authority over it. Some dog trainers, and I ascribe to this as well, will tell you that by indulging the dog, you are not doing the dog any favors. The dog knows it is inferior to the owner’s obvious skills and, to the dog, mystical powers. Yet the dog still strives to lead unless/until you make it clear to the animal who is in charge. But the dog is not happy leading because the dog, unlike the owner, instinctively knows he is inferior. Personally, I manage my dog by making him sit and wait for my command before he can eat. I also require him to do a few simple tricks once in a while. But the idea is that the dog needs to understand where his manna comes from. Who is in control of the things that allow him to live. People are no different. The problem is we have let the dogs think they are the masters and we behave like the dogs. WTH should we expect to happen?
Shit-shaming has a better ring. NYT amateur hour.
The mystery is why do the rest of us passively tolerate supporting this idiocy? We’re the ones with the problem.
The number of Americans 18 years or older is 252 million.
According to Pew Research, the number of televisions tuned in to CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News averaged 1.25 million for the three networks combined. That’s less than 0.5% of voting-age Americans. Even if we assume that 2.2 people were watching each of those televisions, that’s still barely 1% of the electorate. Employment in those newsrooms was estimated at 2,700 workers, compared to 2,950 fifteen years ago.
On the broadcast side, viewership for ABC/CBS/NBC evening news averaged about 5.3 million. Again, assuming 2.2 viewers per TV, we’re talking about 4.6% of Americans over age 18 who are tuned in to the big Evening News broadcasts.
Newspaper circulation was 28.5 million (11.3% of voting-age Americans), and it was estimated that 38,000 were employed in newspaper newsrooms. Fifteen years ago, those numbers were 54.6 million and 72,000 workers.
Granted, I help support cable news by reason of the fact that I subscribe to cable television, and so part of my monthly bill goes toward the licensing fees of those channels. (I think we’ll leave ala carte pricing for another discussion.) Still, cable subscriptions are falling as more people choose to “cut the cord” and rely on various streaming services, so even those “built-in” revenues are falling.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that “we” are actually doing a lot to limit the stupidity, by turning our eyeballs elsewhere and denying the idiots an audience they can market to their advertisers. Still, it doesn’t take that much of an audience to pull some serious advertising revenue, so I fear that we’ll forever be condemned to see these idiots doing their thing in public.
For me, the really scary thing is realizing how much of the world’s conversation is driven by so few people.
“They,” if it means the Times or journalists more widely considered — they aren’t dogs and “we,” whoever we are, aren’t their masters.
First off, journalists do work just as useful and productive as the bridge builders and greengrocers and so on. Sure, the valuable part of any newspaper (newscast, newsfeed, …) trails along with it a variable amount of waste, fault, and folly. So what profession is faultless? A bridge still gets us across the river though it’s a blot on the landscape; the broccoli is fresh and crisp though they cut the stalks too short lately. We consumers make do with what’s good in their productions, and discard or disregard the rest.
There’s really no chance “we” will start treating journalists, or just Times or Times-style journalists, as “our dogs.” It would be monstrous, and it’s not going to happen.
I’ve come up with a new name for Them.
You know, the people who may or may not be elite, but who definitely have enough money, status, and living arrangements to do what they want, and complain that they’re not being taken seriously.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present:
The Cushion Class
Not elites (although they’re certainly included), but people who are cosseted and protected. They don’t go to jail for drug abuse, they go to rehab. They lose a job? Their friends and supporters get them another one. Wreck a car? Why not buy a new one?
They’re the people to whom nothing bad has happened to them (so far, of course), but who loudly proclaim their intelligence, and their virtue, and wonder who all those people are, off in the distance. Why, it appears they’re pointing. And laughing.
The cushion class. Because consequences are for other people.
First off, journalists do work just as useful and productive as the bridge builders and greengrocers and so on
Not the journalists who write about women being oppressed by their poo. Or WTF that’s about. I didn’t say ALL journalists. I really wasn’t speaking of journalists. I was speaking of these kinds of people. Though I did say “There’s not mystery that these journalists do the stupid things that they do”, I was referencing this specific instance of the wokeness. Could apply to academia and a few other occupations as well.
No, they are not our dogs and we are not their masters. But they do defer to us, whether they know it or not, to provide them their kibble. Articles like this, or the teaching of such stupidity in philosophy or social science or whatsthisinmypants studies, are not economic contributors. They are leeches. We need to cut off the funding so that these people are forced to find some manner of being productive and thus masters of themselves. And I do think, to some degree, deep down inside, many of them understand this. They are simply drawn to these…occupations due to a lack of selfesteem, an inability to see that they can contribute. It’s this idiocy that we teach in our schools that “oh, you can’t make it without government’s help” or “only the privileged can ever be successful” that eats away at their humanity.
The book ‘Intellectuals and the Masses’ by John Carey goes over this ground. How they hate ordinary people.
The Cushion Class
It’s an old story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4fLThwiAr4 starting at 1:12
A very serious character flaw for someone who wants to run the country.
Speaking of serious character flaws. Here’s my country’s Prime Minister being called on the magic carpet.
There are really only two types of journalist that matter:
1) Those writing on specialist subjects for an informed audience, since they actually face professional consequences for being wrong
2) Those who can inform the reader as a result of their access to knowledge that would otherwise be unavailable. Reporting from a war zone, genuine investigative journalism – that sort of thing, that involves some degree of autopsy.
Most ‘journalism’ is just pompous idiots giving their opinion, or moron twenty-somethings rewriting Wikipedia articles over the course of an afternoon in between lengthy bouts on Twitter.
pompous idiots giving their opinion
[ Wipes bar, acts nonchalant. ]
Most ‘journalism’ is just pompous idiots giving their opinion…
Don’t forget lazy idiots merely rewriting press releases from companies and activists.