To despair or not to despair?
That is the question – or at least, one of the questions.
I know that some of you – maybe most of you – are feeling some despair right now. Maybe a lot of despair. What we’ve been seeing – and what I’ve been writing – in the last couple of months and especially the last few weeks has been discouraging, and that’s really a very mild word for it.
I can only write honestly about what I see. I can’t be a false cheerleader. But that doesn’t mean I’m a seer. I can’t know the future, and I’ve been surprised before. I hope I’ll be surprised again, this time pleasantly.
Some people are expressing hope. One is Victor David Hanson:
The Reign of Terror will end and the Thermidor reaction is on the horizon. Today’s opportunist virtue-signaler will be tomorrow’s gullible fool. Tonight’s brave looter and edgy arsonist will be tomorrow’s matter-of-fact felon. This morning’s memo-writing social justice executive and administrator will be seen as tomorrow’s rank abettor of McCarthyite persecutions. And the coveted and esteemed racial arsonist of the moment soon will become the ostracized segregationist.
Americans believe there is one thing more regrettable than a falsifier—and that is an opportunistic and careerist falsifier.
But I’m not sure what Americans believe anymore – that is, the majority. I’m not sure it even matters, because the mob speaks loudly, the Deep State has its own agenda, and too many governors and mayors seem to have lost their minds as much of the nation watches, nearly hypnotized.
I think it will come down to core beliefs in mankind, in destiny, perhaps even in guidance from above. I don’t know which way the turning will go. I do know that this is a time of crisis.
Once again, let’s hear from Yeats, in a poem written almost exactly 100 years ago, during a time of bleakness and crisis right at the end of the First World War. It’s not a hopeful poem, to say the least. But notice that it ends with a question rather than an answer:
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Long ago, in another time of despair (the late 1960s), I read a book of Eastern philosophy that mentioned that those Hindu statues of goddesses and gods, the ones with all the arms, always depicted one hand placed palm forward in an attitude that is meant to symbolize “Fear not; all is well despite whatever you may temporarily see that tells you otherwise.”
I’m trying to remind myself of that.
As long as leftists and progressives (along with their violent foot-soldiers of Antifa and BLM assaulting, burning and looting without fear of the law and with the full support of the MSM) control all the commanding heights of the culture (now including nearly every major corporation in the country and, of course, every university except for Hillsdale) with almost no real opposition from the president or from the spineless and feckless GOP, there is no rational reason to be optimistic, although, as (perhaps) stated by the great physicist Niels Bohr, it is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.
I go back and forth from despair to hope and back again. But despair has gotten the upper hand in the past couple of weeks. I am planning to move from my current suburban Washington, D.C. location (what will the new name be?) to somewhere else, maybe New Hampshire or South Dakota. I’m just glad I don’t have to find a job in this environment.
j e:
I’m not sure what you mean by “real opposition.” To me, the president and many members of Congress such as Cruz, Nunes, Cotton, and some others, have mounted opposition that is real. At the moment, though, it’s not effective for the very reasons you state – the Gramscian march, to be exact.
Nil desperandum. Never despair.
It’s even been difficult for me lately, and I am not someone generally given to feel despair or even a little bit down. I’ve been particularly busy at work and I’ve heard about things on the investigatory level around my state regarding Antifa and their financial backing and organization that could be very disheartening to me if I were to let it.
But there are positive signs too. Very positive. One is the cracks I am seeing in the the edifice of Hollywood’s cultural hegemony.
I don’t suppose we have a lot of Star Wars of Sci-Fi fans here at Neo’s place*. I am, or was, a huge fan. All my life. But Disney decided to take Star Wars full Social Justice a few years back. And there was some backlash. Well, there, was a lot of backlash. And even more than that, the silent reaction was bigger: each movie they released made significantly less than the one before. To the point where they actually did something Social Justice Warriors rarely ever do: They backed down and tried to appease fans with The Rise of Skywalker. It was too little, too late. One movie even bombed. And when Disney bought the rights in 2012, I don’t think anyone foresaw that or could have foreseen it.
It’s also happening with Star Trek. And Doctor Who.
I also think COVID-19 has hurt Hollywood even more than its hurt the rest of the economy. Realistically, whether you watch TV and movies or not, Hollywood’s incessant propaganda is as insidious and damaging as our educational system.
And that system is taking a huge hit too. Colleges around the nation are closing. Next year, I’m betting a significant percentage of high school graduates are going to opt out of college, at least immediately and try out a gap year, maybe join the workforce and get a dose of reality. I guess what I’m trying to say is there are a lot of silver linings on the storm clouds that loom.
Never despair.
*I’m betting huxley is a fan, though!
I have an advantage. I know God is real, and in charge. Yet he allows awful things to happen. My son dead at 42. My beloved brother dead at 45. My mother dead at 38. All died far too soon.
Life isn’t fair or easy. If we focus on our circumstances, they can seem overwhelming. My favorite story from the Bible is Elijah and the widow. God asks Elijah to pray for a drought, he does. It happens. Elijah hides out in a tiny brook, where ravens bring him food, and the brook water.
Then the brook dries up. What Elijah relied on is gone. What will he do? This is the question for today. What will we do now that what we relied on is gone? Now that our brook has dried up?
For Elijah, God sends him to a widow in a small village named Zarephath. But this journey is a 100 miles on roads where Ahab has everyone looking for him. A dangerous journey. He arrives safely, meets the widow, and learns she is preparing to cook her last meal with the last of her flour and oil.
Every time I think I am having a hard time, I ask myself: Am I better off than either Elijah or the widow?
So I am angry. I am frustrated. I am better off than either Elijah or the widow. Be not afraid, as we travel to our Zarephath.
For the rest of the story read 1st Kings Chapter 17.
Fear not!
A fellow goes to the streets of NYC to ask the question “Would black people be better off without the police?” He first goes to the heart of liberal white lower Manhattan. Then he goes to Harlem. Is there agreement between blacks and whites? Should the police be abolished?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyTTxWtOBZM
I’ve seen this fellow’s work before. Brilliant.
I’m not a psychologist but I think white liberals are projecting their own fears of the police onto the black community, with the added benefit of virtual signaling to other liberals and perhaps curry favor with blacks. Notice how they initially respond to the question. They start off restrained but when they discover that they are not challenged they become increasingly vicious. Do white liberals suffer from herd mentality to a greater degree than others? It sure looks that way.
Many years ago when Eddie Murphy was a cast member on SNL, he did a one-man skit where he donned make-up and a suit to pass as a white man. I’m sure it was all scripted but he went on the streets of Manhattan. He walked into a bodega to purchase a newspaper. When he tried to pay the cashier, who was white, greeted Murphy with a smile and said “go ahead, take it.” Murphy was heard afterwards saying that when whites are alone together they give things to each other, free! It was hysterically funny but I think with all good comedy there is an element of truth to it. I see something similar going on in this YouTube video.
Be of good cheer. Look at who the other side is betting all their hopes on: nihilistic rioters and a guy who should probably be living in an assisted-care facility.
We’ve been through tough times before. We’ll got through them again. Things will probably be tough whether Trump wins or loses this November. But no matter who is in charge in DC, you remain in charge of your own life.
Mike
If you really think that actual civil strife in the form of social war may break out, there would be every reason to be pumped up, and almost none to despair.
In order to despair you would have to believe that things will never get better through normal means, and yet never really reach a crisis point either, the latter of which which would then resolve the issue one way or another.
In that case, I suppose, absent some new technology that enabled you to cut the hand flapping inclusion hysterics effectively out of your life, and establish new relationships beyond their reach, then I guess, as it would be living in a virtual Hell lorded over by transgendered vampires and child buggers, there would indeed be some reason to despair.
Look on the bright side. Maybe a plague will come along and kill most of the mentally ill progressives off. If so, for my money it is welcome to take a few of those professional conservatives running useless outrage mills bilking old widows, out too.
All of it (riots,statues,rewriting history) is very troubling but to me it still all comes back to the lockdowns. Some of this would have happened any way at the next controversial police incident but the lockdown has caused it to be much, much worse in my opinion. Being pent up with nothing positive to do for months gives bad actors lots of time to organize and plan trouble for the next chance and the Floyd killing was it.
For a large part of the world to take such drastic measures and not consider for all the possible unknown problems was truly horrific and every one of them bears a level of blame for me.
It’s such a disheartening time all around. That cabin in the woods in Montana looks better by the day.
I just had to replace my own “be of good cheer” with “look on the bright side.”
Damn, it’s dangerous to drop a comment without having read those that come before … even if only by moments.
Thank goodness for the edit delay function.
White liberals have no fear of the police. It’s virtual signaling plain and simple. They want to be down with mob so the mob will eat them last. F×#k them and their pathetic lives.
Scott Adams uses science to predict Trump will win. (His daily video podcast is a dose of cautious optimism. He analyzes things from the perspective of who is using persuasion techniques to best effect. Another analytical piece of the puzzle.)
Thank you for this post, Neo. I have been fighting on the edge of despair. Not fully, not yet, because I am fortunate to be too old to have to prove anything, I’ve accomplished most of what I hoped to, and I live in a beautiful place, remote from most of the chaos. There is a very good chance that Mr Whatsit and I will ride this out to our ends without a lot of change in our daily lives. But I have kids and grandkids, and siblings with kids, and their situations and their futures are not nearly so safe. I am seeing the close bonds of my friendships and, worse, my family, which until now has held its own quite well — the vulnerable ones, the grieving ones, the ones among us who were already frail or under stress — beginning to fray, and I can feel fraying within myself. Divisions are beginning to appear and it’s harder and harder to overlook them or heal them. I’m carrying around a darkness, and having trouble keeping myself from obsessing about it. I’m about to leave Facebook, which should help. I appreciate the optimistic notes struck by a few of your commenters, and I appreciate you for telling the truth and being so careful and thorough and genuine about it. With luck and effort, maybe it won’t be as bad as we fear. Maybe we can hope that, as Julian of Norwich said, all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
parker, but the “mob” seems to consist mainly of Marxist black and white liberals. It seems to me that the way to defeat the beast is for traditional liberals to team up with conservatives to finally drive a stake through the heart of the Marxists, figuratively speaking. We can achieve this when the numbers are on our side. I know that the knee-jerk reaction is to say “it’ll never happen” but ask yourself why? If anything, the events of the last few weeks should bring these two parties together long enough to get the job done. This is a time when we really need great leadership, someone who can bridge the divide. I don’t think Trump is up to.
Be of good cheer, this civil war will be over in 6 weeks at the most – Jefferson Davis? Be of good cheer this war with France will be over in 90 days – von Moltke? Be of good cheer the third time is the charm at Ypres – never found the body.
Wars and civil wars never turn out as expected. Cheerful idiots. There is a lot of ruin in a nation, don’t try to find out how much that really is.
Be realistic, courageous, and resolute.
…and certainly not Biden! I don’t think any one person can bring the two factions together. It’s got to be a high profile Republican and Democrat but who among the Democrats will break rank for the sake of the country?
This is a time for the Republican Party and the Democrats to introduce their best and brightest. 2024 is coming soon.
Seriously folks, technology won’t necessarily provide an escape route out of every social problem. But sometimes it has one heck of a game changing effect.
Like the effect of firearms on armor, or that of cannons on castles. Or the Internet (not big business social media) on the network and newspaper monopolies.
In order for the moron class to really triumph, they would have to find a means to suppress all game changing breakthroughs.
We have laser weapons, rocket ships that can land like the ones in some 1950’s Sci Fi flick, possibly new forms of propulsion on the horizon, genetic medicine and enhancements on the way for those wishing to access them. Probably even robot servants.
I think it is just as likely as not that the organisms of the left will eventually find their hands closing on nothing, rather than your neck.
I have to ask om, are you armed and ready. If not, why not
“Throw away respect,
Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty,”
Richard II Act 3 Scene 3.
Pretty much sums it up.
DNW,
Exactly who thought technology thought it was a solution. Definitely not me.
Yeah, well it’s a useful temporary recourse during a time of localized upheavals, if things look to return to normal soon.
But as you certainly already know, if the forces of repression gain generalized control, it won’t prove much of a refuge in the long run. Every square yard of the earth’s surface is for practical intents and purposes, available for inspection. And no one is going to escape an institutionalized American Red Guards reign of terror by hiding out in a summer place in the Adirondacks.
What’s not already listed on the tax rolls, will in short order be sniffed out by zealots with nothing better to do with their lives than spending all of it an a quest to ferret out every last possible reactionary trying to keep his head down in some bolt hole.
Hell, a Catholic priest could not be successfully hidden long term in a manor house in the English countryside, 450 years ago. No one is going to escape “the Woke Clan”, if it gets control of the power of the state, by trying to live in the woods.
I guess there were some religious Russians who managed it for 40 years or more after the Russian Revolution. But that was in Siberia, I think. And eventually their iron kettle wore out, or something like that.
The Late Great Jerry Pournelle held that Despair is a Sin.
The late and somewhat contentious Millán Astray of ¡Viva la Muerte! fame was perhaps the greatest optimist of C20 :P. <— Generally a bad idea to make us despair too much, O Lefties.
Property destruction, looting, BLM and antifa demands, “autonomous” enclaves… are politically beneficial in that they are measures that recruit for the right because those actions are, for those with eyes to see… exposing the left’s real nature. Moderate liberals and ‘independents’ are being forced to choose a side… do they grovel and apologize or do they say this is going too far?
The other night I watched a 2018 debate with Jordan Peterson participating. He asked of his opponents what for them defined too far left? After reiterating that question several times, the NYT’s Michelle Goldberg finally stated that violence was too far left. Curious, I looked up her response to the current violence. Not one word of censure, much less condemnation of the violence. Instead she is now acting as an apologist.
No surprise but more importantly, she now hasn’t a leg to stand on having aligned with the end justifying the means crowd. Liberals now have less and less cover, as the hard left drags them towards the cliff of insurrection.
Not everyone in the South welcomed secession and the war it brought but they were dragged into it just as the Marxist Left is dragging liberals into the coming whirlwind.
Irony of ironies, Trump is the only thing preventing them from going over that looming cliff.
Me … maybe … to some extent.
I was not referring to anyone else making that assumption. I am saying that if given some breathing space, before a generalized collapse is initiated, then, many of the assumptions, and the levers of coercion and monopolies which the repressionists assume and rely on as relevant, will become less conditioning of the potential outcome as the basic rules of the social game change.
Now, this particular “technology” is not going to become available in some pocket sized garage door opener device known only to conservatives, but just suppose for a moment for the sake of argument, that you actually did have enough technologies to partially immunize yourself from the coercive activities of the left. Suppose for example that you gained access to a new technology that could simply stop an antagonist’s heart from beating if he laid hands on you. There would not even be any obvious violence, they would just die in the act of attacking. Or let’s make the thought problem less odious and imagine them just temporarily paralyzed and helpless. Or suppose that off grid living did become cheap and practicable. You would not be able to “hide out better”, but being less dependent on the infrastructure progressives rely upon control of in order to “manage” people, you’ve taken one arrow out of their quiver.
Suppose that 3d printing became so commonplace that it would be futile for anyone to try and control access to basic implements of technology.
Now these are more or less frivolous imaginings at present, but sometimes, a technology comes along that puts real deterrence or independence in the hands of the individual.
You are a big fan of one of those older and well established technologies referred to in the Constitution, already.
I suspect there are others almost as useful if less dramatic which will inevitably appear if tides and time allow.
Don’t want to sound like a Broken Record, but folks should make it a point to read up on the drawn out prelude to and the opening weeks of the Spanish Civil War. Forget about the set pieces later or the Hemingway romanticism.
The pre-game and kickoff were beyond brutal. It definitely did not pay to be in the wrong place with the wrong background when it got going.
Parker,
“Seriously”, was in reference to my own somewhat lighthearted first reference to the iffy possibilities of a technological salvation.
By “seriously”, I meant that I considered it more than just moonshine.
I meant to note that although I do not see any ready to hand game changers, there are, along with potentially repressive technologies, numerous others which seem to re-open the horizons of human liberation and individual agency and independence.
That’s all …
DNW, your technology that kills anyone who touches you sounds like this movie “Radius” seen here:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6097798/
I watched. It was decent.
I’ve been feeling the despair. I’m on Cape Cod which has been peaceful. I’ve been having dreams that I live in the middle of CHOP. They haven’t been good.
Sometimes I feel despair, sometimes a faint thread of hope. Technology is the force that looms large behind the worst of my fear. Imagine if Hitler and his minions had wielded the information now available through cell phones, Facebook, nationwide linked medical data, facial recognition, etc. Throw in programs like deep fake video technology and whatever the name of the program is that is like Photoshop for the voice. If those had all been available in the 1940’s, would any European Jews have escaped? Would any political dissidents have eluded the Nazis? Imagine all of that technology in the hands of Stalin. Throw in our new robotic capabilities. Add that most people now have no idea how to grow, gather, preserve or even cook their own food. We don’t know how to make shelters anymore.
I am becoming terrified. I still have young children and I have grandchildren. I am a little bit afraid for me, but beginning to have to fight off anxiety attacks over what will happen to them.
I will end this lengthy comment with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books, “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ? J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
I think it is time to bring the ladies forward. I hate saying it but it seems that Marxism really appeals to liberal women. Nikki Haley is a good choice although some times she disappoints me. Which female on the Democrat side would be a good fit? How about Tulsi Gabbard? They would lead but more recognizable faces need to be brought in support.
leavingliberty:
I have often had similar thoughts about technology and the Nazis, and realized that if they had had access to today’s technology they would have been able to find every single Jew; no one could have hidden out effectively. I suppose that the Resistance to that sort of thing would have had to have come in the form of hackers.
I think everyone is exaggerating the reach that the Marxists in America have. Would Neo’s liberal friends really advocate for her execution, or do the dirty work themselves? I do not see that happening. I don’t think you can count on Blacks to support indiscriminate or targeted killings of millions. Forget about Asians joining in. Forget about Hispanic except perhaps MS-13. The numbers are small: mostly White plus a few Black Marxist agitators. The sane people need to set aside their political squabbles and nip this thing in the bud.
“Be of good cheer, this civil war will be over in 6 weeks at the most – Jefferson Davis? Be of good cheer this war with France will be over in 90 days – von Moltke? Be of good cheer the third time is the charm at Ypres – never found the body.”
You’d think someone who makes historical references would…you know…have a little historical perspective.
When would you rather live, 2020 or 1960? 2020 or 1860? 2020 or 1940? There have been far darker days in American history than now. I’m pretty sure the Weather Underground would look at today’s “revolutionaries” and laugh themselves silly.
Mike
And for heavens sake, shut down Twitter. Hopefully Parler will gain a strong foothold. I would love to see Twitter go the way of Newsweek. Wouldn’t that be great? And while you are at it, shut down J-Schools, fire the Marxist professors, hire an even mix of red and blue, and then reopen.
Finally, ask yourself: “What’s despair going to gain me?”
Nikki Haley? Please. She couldn’t wait to roll over and show her belly to the leftists.
Brian Morgan: “Would Neo’s liberal friends really advocate for her execution,..?”
They wouldnt have to. All that would be needed is for neo’s ideas to be isolated from everyone else. If need be there could be camps. In a few years mostly all of neo’s liberal friends would accept that as necessary.
You know, I’m too young for Neo’s site. She does attract an older demographic. I figured that at 63yo I might fit in but apparently not. You all sound like my 88yo father who has given up.
Where are the fresh ideas, people? No interest in solving problems? Or are we just here to recite literature?
Mr Bunge:
You didn’t read Zaphod’s comment about the run up to the Spanish Civil War?
I live in the present but history teaches those who pay attention. Riots in Washington DC in ’68 were a concern in the poorer Northern VA exurbs I grew up in. My father had to decide if a 12GA shotgun was needed to supplement the 30’06, 22s, and pistols, and where the threat would likely come from. I guess he was thinking like an infantryman again. Not a happy time.
Is Bill Ayers still out and about? “Guilty as hell, free as a bird” he said IIRC. Do you consider that Billy (of the Weather Underground) is a mentor for the current crop of Marxists? I know, inconceivable.
The issues now are not the same except that Marxists are still stirring the pot.
You can be of good cheer but don’t be an idiot.
I’m deeply pessimistic by nature, but I don’t see prison camps and executions coming. I do see the end of the American republic, the structure left apparently intact but no longer operating in anything like the way it was intended to. We have been heading that way for a long time. I do see a stifling blanket of conformist thought as far as public and much private expression is concerned: what Rod Dreher is calling “soft totalitarianism,” in which people will be afraid to speak plainly for fear of unemployment and generally being trashed. Dreher has a book on the subject coming out in a few months.
Facebook has announced increased policing of “misleading information” and “hate speech.” We all know what those terms mean. My first thought was that it’s really time to leave Facebook, as I’ve considered doing for a while. Then I thought: how about conservatives taking it upon themselves to calmly, politely, and with evidence point out falsehoods from the Dems/media? Several million people doing that could make a difference.
And I’m very afraid for my grandchildren–not so much of direct harm being done to that as for the fact that they will not know or value the great civilization to which they are heir and which is being destroyed.
The cure for despair…
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Linus xmas speech (speaking of Bethlehem)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIYECDQk5Vg
but aside from that, Trump’s latest executive order is a subtle light of hope
to set aside the requirement for degrees in government in favor of skill or merit or ability… one way the state has been seeded by the left is through that simple requirement that you need a degree to work for the feds. it made sure that elites got hired and regular people did not…
also the left long term is done in by their games with feminism, and its effect on birth… liberals have very few babies, conservatives tend to have many more.. over time, where does this lead?
Mac,
The problem is that politics has become sport for a lot of people. I’ve been told by my father and grandfather that polite people didn’t speak of it in public. It was a private matter between you and the ballot box. Unfortunately Government has gotten way too big for its britches so now it intrudes in every aspect of our lives; you can’t avoid it. I suggest the following:
1. Close Facebook. Close Twitter. All that is needed is an email account and/or smartphone to stay in touch with friends and family.
2. If you are hosting a party let it be known that the topic of politics is not open for discussion. If someone insists then ask them to leave.
3. If you are elsewhere and someone brings up the topic then politely excuse yourself.
Other people will learn to follow your lead. Isolate the malcontents among us. If they are in need of social interaction they need to know that the rules have now changed.
4. Turn off the TV, even Fox. Consider going TV-free. You’ll save money and gain your sanity, and find that you have a lot more time for hobbies.
Between 1945 and 1959 the official organization of the church was greatly expanded, although individual members of the clergy were occasionally arrested and exiled. The number of open churches reached 25,000.
this was after so many anti religion actions.. so many.. its easier to count the years in which there was no persecution… and there was this too:
According to Mitrokhin Archive and other sources, the Moscow Patriarchate has been established on the order from Stalin in 1943 as a front organization of NKVD and later the KGB All key positions in the Church including bishops have been approved by the Ideological Department of CPSU and by the KGB. The priests were used as agents of influence in the World Council of Churches and front organizations, such as World Peace Council, Cristian Peace Conference, and the Rodina (“Motherland”) Society founded by the KGB in 1975.
Russia today has a population about 144 million…
[feminism destroyed their children]
over 100 million go to church…
did got win over Stalinism, and the atheistic state?
sure seems like it…
Brian, Im afraid this isnt going to be something you can simply shut out. Yes, government has gotten bigger, and its growing more intrusive and soon the unhinged mob will have full control over it, then you.
Brian Morgan,
Yep, I agree with all four of your points. I don’t do Facebook or instagram or Twitter at all and my life is better for it. When I see a cousin or old friend I have no idea if they rant away about whatever on Facebook I just know them as someone I’ve known for years.
There was a country song about twenty years ago called ‘Politics, Religion and Her’ by Sammy Kershaw about a man whose wife died and the people say those are the three topics to avoid when talking to him. Politics was never talked about in social settings that I was in even in the 90s and most people had a general idea where people stood but it wasn’t the be all and end all.
I’m very good at the wander away when the conversation veers into the uncomfortable area.
I think I would add the internet to your point about tv. I know for me that limiting my internet time can do wonders for my overall mood.
Great points.
neo on June 26, 2020 at 9:48 pm said: leavingliberty:
I have often had similar thoughts about technology and the Nazis, and realized that if they had had access to today’s technology they would have been able to find every single Jew; no one could have hidden out effectively.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
irrelevant… technology is not magic.. the idea of getting women to murder their own, make themselves unmarryable, use hypergamy against the people, is doing the job far better than any short term repulsive that causes a pendulum to swing the other way once its passes its apex
Western civ using the smarts of women against their own vanity has insured an end to the Jews over time… they will not survive if things do not change… because ideology will do to them slowly what fast could never do
Given that the question of whether Judaism is a race, a peoples, a religion, or a floor wax/desert topping, there is no way to hunt all of them down… ultimately, what is dangerous to the ideologues is not their physical actuality, but their mental belief.. dilution and more will do that in eventually given feminism’s march and how many of them follow it. All except the most devout and extreme… Hasidim have many children.. but are easy to find, like the Amish..
If trends continue, in 20 years the majority of the world’s Jews will be living in Israel.
First, though, let’s start with the trends.
I have tried to hammer this home and the seriousness has not taken hold
for each woman that has no children, another woman has to have 5 for the population to be static..
we are soooooooooooo low… feminism has exterminated the majority US future…
as it did in russia…
but lets wait till it drops farther and the UN doesnt just write papers on replacement immigration we ignore
i hear the population of cats has gone up given the ladies sit “in a room of their own” alone..
In 20 years, projections based on current population growth rates show the Jewish population in Israel approaching 9 million and in the United States dropping below 5 million.
all a modern hitler would have had to do was promote feminsm and prevent the birth of israel
while disbanding the hasidim… the rest would liberally take care of itself
and the victims would have had no one to blame but themselves
just like now… who would the barren ladies get angry at given their egos?
source of information is from israel hayom
Facebook is facing a lot of trouble..
caught between the hammer and the anvil…
the state will revoke its protections… its not acting as common carrier
and many companies are boycotting… and i dont mean to get more action that would revoke protection faster… but as in, we cant advertise, so we wont at all.
Brian Morgan:
We count on you young whippersnappers for the fresh ideas!
Regarding social media, it amazes me how eager people are to share every aspect of their lives in public. Back before the Internet people worried about Peeping Toms looking through windows, invading their privacy. What happened to those concerns? The Peeping Toms are still out there, lurking about, salivating over every tidbit you share. In just a generation or two we’ve done a “180” on privacy. What brought on this madness? Is social media that addictive that we throw caution to the wind? Or is it that a lot of people are exhibitionists?
Neo, you made me laugh 😀
Griffin, thank you.
Fractal – SF fan here, from 3rd grade on.
SW & ST are worlds oddly at odds with themselves.
ST’s universe (The Federation) is orderly, hierarchical, government-as-benevolent-dictator, yet all the best episodes are when the leads go rogue as individuals pursuing a principle, usually freedom.
SW’s universe is good-guy freedom-fighters (individuals working together) against the (literally) Evil Empire. Yet, the iconic character is not the nominal hero (Luke) or the heroine, and not even the converted libertarian (Han), but the top gun of the bad guys (Vader).
Hard to know what to make of all that.
FWIW, I was brainwashed by Heinlein before the Gramscians could get to me, and he is also had an odd mix of libertarian, conservative, and liberal values.
The invasion of the body snatchers (SJWs) that over-ran SF & fantasy has been well-documented in the Sad Puppies Wars, but independent publishing has brought forth a large, and growing, counterweight to the Woke traditional realm. Sarah Hoyt covers that battle front admirably in her blog.
As she says: we win, they lose.
And Brian, you young whippersnapper, get off my synthetic-land-covering!
AesopFan,
I almost mentioned the changes in publishing in my earlier post but I felt I was getting long winded. I’m well aware of the Puppy Wars.
Never really been a fan of Sarah Hoyt’s work, sadly. I’ve tried, especially since she’s on the same political side, more or less. I like to give my money to people who don’t hate me. But I just can’t get into her writing.
One of my favorites is a guy named Brian Neimeier and he’s been doing great with the indie publishing scene, especially using something he has termed the neo-Patronage model; he generally crowd-funds a book for relatively small amount, enough to get it jump started on Amazon.
He’s also got a book out right now called ‘Don’t Give Money To People Who Hate You’ about cutting ties with Hollywood and main stream publishing and making our own franchises and platforms. Good stuff.
Another great indie series is the Galaxy’s Edge series by Nick Cole and Jason Anspach. They call it Star Wars-Not Star Wars. It’s a Star Wars series if George Lucas, post-Empire Strikes Back, had people to tell him “No” when he had a dumb idea. And it’s completely devoid of “Social Justice”. Excellent series.
I like David Drake in his various genres.
It may just be me but I have this hypothetical. Somebody invents a time machine, goes back a quarter of a century and fetches the younger Joe Biden to 2020. He looks at what the dems and his family–has his wife no soul–are doing to this poor old man….. What is he thinking?
Whatever else the left is doing to our culture and nation, what they are doing to somebody who should be at home not exposed to ridicule indicates a depth of …evil…depravity….example of what they’ll do to anybody as needed…that is frightening.
Brian Morgan: “The problem is that politics has become sport for a lot of people.” I’d say rather that it has become a religion, entirely on the left and to some degree on the right. And it’s a religious war that’s in progress. And we know how those tend to go.
About Facebook, btw, and why be on it at all: well, besides the keeping up with friends and family aspect (in which aspect it’s done at least as much harm as good), it can be fun. People post funny things as often as rants and gooey inspirational graphics. And have interesting non-political conversations, such as one about pop music that I’ve been having with a friend whom I haven’t seen for over fifteen years. And the language question from an online friend I’ve never met who works as a translator. And it has a lot of practical utility, such as information and discussion of local things, and classified ads (where I recently got a modestly-priced used guitar). Etc.
In any case I don’t think the idea of creating conservative alternatives for these services is very practical, for a variety of reasons which I won’t delve into because I need to mow the lawn.
Yeats closes with
“The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
which I do not find hopeful, not at all.
“Surely the Second Coming is at hand” is immediately quenched by the lines that follow.
Because the rough beast is a monster that has stonily, sphinx-like, slept with nightmares inspired by the rocking of the Christ child in the cradle, through the entire twenty centuries of Christendom since His birth, and now, “it’s hour come round at last” moves against His birthplace, Bethlehem, and symbolically thus against all of Christianity.
I think it helps to be a believer in Christ Jesus to grasp the Yeats-seen terminus of Christian belief here and understand the ? mark means little; the “rough beast” is on the march.
Yeats was apparently not a believer. Note the “its hour come round at last”. At last, finally!
Cicero:
No, it’s not hopeful, as I said. I just pointed out that it’s a question rather than a statement, and a question is at least ambiguous.
And although it uses Christian imagery – in fact, the title and the entire poem uses it, including the “twenty centuries” reference to the approximate time since the first coming – I believe it’s talking about more than the death of Christianity in addition to talking about the death of Christianity.
The phrase “at last” does not indicate that Yeats is at all happy about the prospect. It just refers to the length of the 20 century wait.
Neo,
Thanks for noticing. I thought my comment, #56, would pass unnoticed.
But I was glad for the opportunity to really think about what Yeats was communicating.
As we see, the monster is moving, in recent decades, at last, after the long nightmare sleep of peace.
Mac, just saw your comment now. Thanks, an interesting concept of politics as a replacement for religion on the left. That then makes their religion on par with…well I won’t mention which but I think you know what I mean.
One of the wonderful things about cutting the cord with social media and television is all the extra time I have for Astronomy. I just spent the last 17 hours coding my brains out. Let me see, I’m now up to having one blog, three websites with tools for astrophotographers and photometrists. I’m active on a forum to help guys starting out in this hobby. All of this came about in the last few years since I decoupled.
Maybe I would feel differently about social media if I had kids. My wife loves her smartphone but she just texts as do I. She has no interest in FB or TWIT. We’re all different I guess.
Nice hearing from you!
For optomistic SF, try John Ringo’s Live Free or Die series.
SF fan here, too, and I’m only 55!
I started out on SF in 4th grade. In junior high and high school and college I read every SF novel, short story anthology, or magazine I could get my hands on. As a military history nerd I gravitated to military SF, and read all of David Drake and Niven & Pournelle by the time I was 30.
Unfortunately, after that my tolerance threshold for hackery went way down, so I’ve only found a few authors I can stand (Jim Butcher, Charles Stross, John Ringo, and David Weber among them), and the SJW takeover has killed most of the interest I have left.
Hhaha, despair? Yall don’t know the meaning quite yet. Wait until later in 2020.
Those of you that survive to 2021, will see the Golden Age dawn. Those of you that don’t make… you’ll be seeing me for a debrief after your life or someone equivalent.
Yammer gets a wedgie.
I really would like to spoil star wars and star trek, but I won’t.
Let’s just say it is truth as fiction or fact as fiction.
Neo said, re Hindu deity’s message: “Fear not; all is well despite whatever you may temporarily see that tells you otherwise.”
I’m trying to remind myself of that. }}}
Me too. I try to remember the words of Julian of Norwich, who received a similar message from a mystical Christian experience: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”