America is a hard country, a rather uniquely violent country in the developed world. I expect the violence in a MAGA dictatorship would be a lot worse than people expect, both by the state (Trump was eager to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy the military against protestors) and by militant thugs the state won't punish, or will pardon. The MAGA media is very good at stoking hate of the opposing side. It reminds me a bit of the Spanish Civil War, where the brutality, the sheer hatred toward other Spaniards because of their political views was so extreme. Hugh Thomas's book on that war does a good job of depicting the hate in the lengthy description of the lead-up to the war. And I see the same hate in MAGA TPs. It will be very violent indeed. And I'm not sure the dandies are any less likely to be violent; it's to make up for their insecurity that they may in fact support the worst violence. No, they won't get their own hands dirty, but they'll have it done.
Perhaps this is obvious but . . . Those wood blocks are in mirror-writing. They were used to print on paper. Characters such as these two are shown in the photo, reversed left to right: 家 正
I did the thumbs-up on YouTube but this: "If you prefer it as a pure podcast, go and subscribe to the feed here. And five-star it and leave a review?" didn't work. Perhaps one needs Apple-brand hardware to do that, which I have none of. Apple is odd in that way.
Being from the real American West, I've had lunch with friends at the Sale Barn. If you don't know, the bigger towns in Wyoming, Nebraska, and other ranching areas have feedlots with auction houses and cafeterias attached. This old school America in these places, men wear spurs and cowboy hats, and it isn't for show. These men take off the Cowboy hat when they sit down, as decorum requires, and you can see a bright line between deeply tanned neck and their white head under a buzzed haircut. These are serious men, and they are harsh, but good judge of character. These people often have multiple business ventures and/or land deals in work. Imagine, showing up to do business with these kinds of men, wearing bronzer, with a ridiculous overworked hair, and ill-fitting suits. These guys wouldn't sell that kind of guy a cow pie. But somehow, someway, they all, almost uniformly support Donald Trump and all ridiculous dandies in his service. I. Don't. Get. It. It is devastating to me that these people I know and respect have been so taken in by someone they wouldn't give the time day to in their real lives.
Bonus: Couple of other points, when I was young man, I was hunting Pheasants in South Dakota, maybe I was 13. We were on a group hunt, and the owner/operator introduced himself, and we all shook hands. Afterwards, my dad was gruff and angry with me, and I noticed, he explained, "You always take your glove off when you shake a man's hand, Son."
Finally, the first time I heard the word Dandy, my Dad (again) was describing an uncle that way. It was clear he did not approve...
Funny you mentioned Lenin, because the Real Dictators podcast just started its series about him. There's an anecdote about when famine struck Czarist Russia and some of his (relatively well off, by the standards of the time) family members were discussing relief efforts. Lenin argued instead that starving people were more likely to turn toward Communist revolution.
Stalin might have ultimately killed even more people, but Lenin? Very much a brutalist in his own right.
Re, of course, furries: I work at a social services agency where one of our clients previously identified as a cat. As a middle-aged Lutheran, originally from the Midwest, I can't be real sure of the correct term but I did want to bring a beacon to your conversation that the other thing also exists.
An interesting compilation of the “manly men” leading the charge with their violent rhetoric. But it all starts at the top. Just look at Trump. Here’s a man who spent something like $70,000 ON HAIRCUTS, uses bronzer profusely, and doesn’t look like he’s done an honest day’s hard work in his life (let alone actually worked up a sweat doing anything). And when someone says something mean about him, he whines and cries that people are so unfair to him. Yet he is the macho symbol of the GOP. Go figure.
JVL you were in rare and hilarious form today with your comical quips throughput the first non-paywalled TNL. Bravo to you 3 for some much needed laughs in the midst of the midterm and Republican craziness 👏🏼
We've talked about the "cruelty is the point" among Trump's Pets. See how Lara Trump toughens up her poor child as Ian was beginning to hit Florida. (Politicususa, and it's on Twitter). Where was her useless turd of a husband?
"Hell, I’d be shocked if any of these guys has ever even had a Bud."
I'm sure they drink Miller Highlife, the Champagne of Bottled Beer. Bottom line: like Trump, they are shameless, cheapjack hucksters and pushers who know how to gin up and unload (at a handsome profit) a thousand bauble bedecked boondoggles, hustles and grifts. Like Trump, they present (in print at least) as salt-of-the-earth, working-class heroes when, in fact, they are the proverbial fortunate sons lampooned so long ago by John Fogerty. Six of them together wouldn't last one round against Pee Wee Herman. Tucker Carlson is the most conspicuous and sickeningly phony example.
I can’t wait until Stone is convicted - again - and frog marched to a small cinderblock cell. It’s is severe miscarriage of Justice that his incitement of violence is tolerated. Stone is the worst American human? Since Roy Cohen.
Regarding "soft bois." I had a similar insight visiting a museum dedicated to revolutionary martyrs--not of the privileged luxury-loving "soft" bois kind, but young idealists who fuelled the early urban stages of the Chinese revolution.
The Shanghai Martyrs Museum celebrates the lives of the youthful, predominantly urban Communists executed by the Nationalists and the Japanese during the 1920s-40s. Most were students. Their portraits are on display. Boys and girls. They look so young! Many died in their early 20s.
I had a overwhelming sense of the youthful educated idealism that can fuel a revolution. But like those idealists, the affluent modern poseurs won't survive a real revolution. The ruthless, tough-guys will--many of them angry "workers" and "peasants" whose only schooling has been leading rough lives and experiencing life's hard-knocks.
Soft Bois Eventually Give Way to Hard Men
America is a hard country, a rather uniquely violent country in the developed world. I expect the violence in a MAGA dictatorship would be a lot worse than people expect, both by the state (Trump was eager to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy the military against protestors) and by militant thugs the state won't punish, or will pardon. The MAGA media is very good at stoking hate of the opposing side. It reminds me a bit of the Spanish Civil War, where the brutality, the sheer hatred toward other Spaniards because of their political views was so extreme. Hugh Thomas's book on that war does a good job of depicting the hate in the lengthy description of the lead-up to the war. And I see the same hate in MAGA TPs. It will be very violent indeed. And I'm not sure the dandies are any less likely to be violent; it's to make up for their insecurity that they may in fact support the worst violence. No, they won't get their own hands dirty, but they'll have it done.
I gotta say JVL, that is one impressive library. Who would have thought the most efficient library in the world has a dirt floor.
Perhaps this is obvious but . . . Those wood blocks are in mirror-writing. They were used to print on paper. Characters such as these two are shown in the photo, reversed left to right: 家 正
I did the thumbs-up on YouTube but this: "If you prefer it as a pure podcast, go and subscribe to the feed here. And five-star it and leave a review?" didn't work. Perhaps one needs Apple-brand hardware to do that, which I have none of. Apple is odd in that way.
This topic is very dear to me, about the Soft Bois, so this is going to be a bit a stemwinder, sorry in advance.
For context, I could pretty much be the narrator in this commerical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSbZ8LmwTds
Being from the real American West, I've had lunch with friends at the Sale Barn. If you don't know, the bigger towns in Wyoming, Nebraska, and other ranching areas have feedlots with auction houses and cafeterias attached. This old school America in these places, men wear spurs and cowboy hats, and it isn't for show. These men take off the Cowboy hat when they sit down, as decorum requires, and you can see a bright line between deeply tanned neck and their white head under a buzzed haircut. These are serious men, and they are harsh, but good judge of character. These people often have multiple business ventures and/or land deals in work. Imagine, showing up to do business with these kinds of men, wearing bronzer, with a ridiculous overworked hair, and ill-fitting suits. These guys wouldn't sell that kind of guy a cow pie. But somehow, someway, they all, almost uniformly support Donald Trump and all ridiculous dandies in his service. I. Don't. Get. It. It is devastating to me that these people I know and respect have been so taken in by someone they wouldn't give the time day to in their real lives.
Bonus: Couple of other points, when I was young man, I was hunting Pheasants in South Dakota, maybe I was 13. We were on a group hunt, and the owner/operator introduced himself, and we all shook hands. Afterwards, my dad was gruff and angry with me, and I noticed, he explained, "You always take your glove off when you shake a man's hand, Son."
Finally, the first time I heard the word Dandy, my Dad (again) was describing an uncle that way. It was clear he did not approve...
Funny you mentioned Lenin, because the Real Dictators podcast just started its series about him. There's an anecdote about when famine struck Czarist Russia and some of his (relatively well off, by the standards of the time) family members were discussing relief efforts. Lenin argued instead that starving people were more likely to turn toward Communist revolution.
Stalin might have ultimately killed even more people, but Lenin? Very much a brutalist in his own right.
I notice I havent heard much about Shapiro's primary commercials "promoting" Mastriano lately.
Re, of course, furries: I work at a social services agency where one of our clients previously identified as a cat. As a middle-aged Lutheran, originally from the Midwest, I can't be real sure of the correct term but I did want to bring a beacon to your conversation that the other thing also exists.
An interesting compilation of the “manly men” leading the charge with their violent rhetoric. But it all starts at the top. Just look at Trump. Here’s a man who spent something like $70,000 ON HAIRCUTS, uses bronzer profusely, and doesn’t look like he’s done an honest day’s hard work in his life (let alone actually worked up a sweat doing anything). And when someone says something mean about him, he whines and cries that people are so unfair to him. Yet he is the macho symbol of the GOP. Go figure.
JVL you were in rare and hilarious form today with your comical quips throughput the first non-paywalled TNL. Bravo to you 3 for some much needed laughs in the midst of the midterm and Republican craziness 👏🏼
We've talked about the "cruelty is the point" among Trump's Pets. See how Lara Trump toughens up her poor child as Ian was beginning to hit Florida. (Politicususa, and it's on Twitter). Where was her useless turd of a husband?
"Hell, I’d be shocked if any of these guys has ever even had a Bud."
I'm sure they drink Miller Highlife, the Champagne of Bottled Beer. Bottom line: like Trump, they are shameless, cheapjack hucksters and pushers who know how to gin up and unload (at a handsome profit) a thousand bauble bedecked boondoggles, hustles and grifts. Like Trump, they present (in print at least) as salt-of-the-earth, working-class heroes when, in fact, they are the proverbial fortunate sons lampooned so long ago by John Fogerty. Six of them together wouldn't last one round against Pee Wee Herman. Tucker Carlson is the most conspicuous and sickeningly phony example.
Oh so true
I can’t wait until Stone is convicted - again - and frog marched to a small cinderblock cell. It’s is severe miscarriage of Justice that his incitement of violence is tolerated. Stone is the worst American human? Since Roy Cohen.
Regarding "soft bois." I had a similar insight visiting a museum dedicated to revolutionary martyrs--not of the privileged luxury-loving "soft" bois kind, but young idealists who fuelled the early urban stages of the Chinese revolution.
The Shanghai Martyrs Museum celebrates the lives of the youthful, predominantly urban Communists executed by the Nationalists and the Japanese during the 1920s-40s. Most were students. Their portraits are on display. Boys and girls. They look so young! Many died in their early 20s.
I had a overwhelming sense of the youthful educated idealism that can fuel a revolution. But like those idealists, the affluent modern poseurs won't survive a real revolution. The ruthless, tough-guys will--many of them angry "workers" and "peasants" whose only schooling has been leading rough lives and experiencing life's hard-knocks.
So now I have the lumberjack song as an earworm for the rest of the the day. But like the song says "that's OK"
Tripitaka Koreana, interesting. Learned something new, that makes it a good day.
thanks, it makes up for the lumberjack song. ;-)