โBLAKE WROTE the Marriage of Heaven and Hell. If I have written of their Divorce, this is not because I think myself a fit antagonist for so great a genius, nor even because I feel at all sure that I know what he meant. But in some sense or other the attempt to make that marriage is perennial.
The attempt is based on the belief that reality never presents us with an absolutely unavoidable "either-or"; that, granted skill and patience and (above all) time enough, some way of embracing both alternatives can always be found; that mere development or adjustment or refinement will somehow turn evil into good without our being called on for a final and total rejection of anything we should like to retain.
This belief I take to be a disastrous error. You cannot take all luggage with you on all journeys; on one journey even your right hand and your right eye may be among the things you have to leave behind.
We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork you must make a decision.
Even on the biological level life is not like a pool but like a tree. It does not move towards unity but away from it and the creatures grow further apart as they increase in perfection. Good, as it ripens, becomes continually more different not only from evil but from other good.
I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A wrong sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on.
Evil can be undone, but it cannot "develop" into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, bit by bit, "with backward mutters of dissevering power"-or else not. It is still "either-or." If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.
I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) was precisely nothing: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in "the High Countries."
In that sense it will be true for those who have completed the journey (and for no others) to say that good is everything and Heaven everywhere. But we, at this end of the road, must not try to anticipate that retrospective vision. If we do, we are likely to embrace the false and disastrous converse and fancy that everything is good and everywhere is Heaven.
But what, you ask, of earth? Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.โ
C.S. Lewis, preface to The Great Divorce
0 notes
โGovernment is a search for order, and for power only in so far as power is required by order.
It is present in the family, in the free associations of neighbours, and in the โlittle platoonsโ extolled by Edmund Burke in his Reflections on the French Revolution and by Alexis de Tocqueville, in Democracy in America.
It is there in the first movement of affection and good will, from which the bonds of society grow. For it is simply the other side of freedom, and the thing that makes freedom possible.โ
3 notes
ยท
View notes
โWhen I met him on the set for the very first timeโฆa couple of hours before we were going to shoot our first scene together, the director says (to Matthau) โthis is Kevin Pollak, heโs going to play your sonโ, and I foolishly decided to make small talk with Walter Matthau, and I said, โSo, Walter, uh, uh, the scriptโs pretty good huh?โ, and he says, โthe script sucks kid, I owe my bookie 2 million.โโ
โ Kevin Pollak, Grumpy Old Men (1993)
5 notes
ยท
View notes
5 notes
ยท
View notes
36 notes
ยท
View notes
lol
3 notes
ยท
View notes
โ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐'๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ก-๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ "๐๐ง๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ฒ."
๐๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐'๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ง "๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ" ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ'๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ.โ
โ ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆรฉ ๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฑ
25 notes
ยท
View notes
โ๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ฒ๐๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ง๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ญ๐ข๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ
Anaxagoras maintained that snow is black, but no one believed him. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ค๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ค.
Various results will soon be arrived at.
First, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐จ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐.
Second, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ก ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐๐ง.
Third, that ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐.
Fourth, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ. (aka โcrackpot conspirarcy theoriesโ)
But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark gray.
Although this science will be diligently studied, ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ. ๐๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐๐.
When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for a generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemenโฆ
Some of these effects depend upon the political and economic character of the country concerned; others are inevitable, whatever this character may be.โ
โBertrand Russell
๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ (1954)
6 notes
ยท
View notes
โThe first thing to notice is that the student in the video pretends to be asking for the teacher's opinion but is in fact probing to find out if his teacher has the right opinion. That is, he's trying to find out if his teacher is part of "the people" or an "enemy of the people."
Bc of the power dynamic (the student is alone, particularly), he's unlikely to be able to initiate a struggle session, though he could deliver "criticism," in line with Mao Zedong Thought by accusing his teacher of being out of step with "the people's standpoint" on the issue.
His opener, though, where he pretends to be interested in the teacher's take or opinion is actually a test as to whether or not criticism needs to be delivered for having a wrong opinion. In other settings, it's the basis for shunning and even outright struggle sessions.
Struggle sessions were a form of psychosocial torture used by Maoist activists to humiliate and shame people who had the wrong opinions, trying to force them into conformity or into a process of thought reform ("ideological remolding"). Alternatively, it would just destroy them.
It's crucial to understand that this video opens with the student probing to find grounds to initiate criticism and struggle against the teacher. Had this gone differently, it's possible the teacher would face MANY students going after him later bringing vicious criticism.
You will find that with Maoist activism, the style is often to seem to probe what you think as a justification to rain opprobrium (struggle) down on you if you don't think what they want. It's very Hundred Flowers: let people speak so you can crush ideological enemies.
The Hundred Flowers Campaign (baihua qifang) was a time in the late 1950s when Mao encouraged free speech against his regime for a while then rounded up everyone who outed themselves as an "enemy" and sent them to be reeducated or die in the countryside (gulag).
The next thing to notice from the video is that the student hasn't formed his opinion about JK Rowling on the basis of any facts. It's what other people are saying. He's in the "outer circle" of the cult, like most people. He's locked in socially and emotionally ONLY.
You can tell this is the case for three reasons:
1) He presents it as such, lacking any substantive evidence;
2) He doesn't actually agree with the people's standpoint perfectly himself but defers to it;
3) He cannot articulate (intellectualize) WHY she's "transphobic."
If he were intellectually committed in addition to socially and emotionally locked ("inner school" of the cult), he would have been able to spout off any number of BS rationalizations for how Rowling is "transphobic" by stating the reality of sex. He can't, though.
This is important to recognize when it happens because people in the "outer school" of a cult are the most rescuable, as we see by the end of the video. They believe it because their social and emotional identities depend on it (so, hijacked psychosocial valuation schema).
A psychosocial valuation schema, by the way, is a method by which people evaluate themselves as good people (psycho-) or good members of a community (social). It's a fascinating subject, but Maoist "unity" through criticism and struggle (peer pressure) hijacks it, as seen here.
In short, the student is perceiving that if he has the wrong opinion about Rowling, he'll be a bad "community member" (ally), which means he's probably a bad person, worthy of shame, guilt, and exclusion, demanding he "do better." This dynamic is crucial to the cult brainwashing.
The teacher skillfully picks apart that this "outer school" cult member student doesn't know why he believes what he believes and forces him to think for himself, breaking him free from the Maoist psychosocial valuation schema for the duration of the exercise.
The next thing to observe is that the student later confesses to the fact that he personally sees nothing wrong with the statement but can see how others would find it problematic. That is, the psycho- part is breaking away from the -social part of the evaluation schema.
What he's expressing there is actually that he has adopted "the people's standpoint," as Mao called it. Wokes would call it "positionality" or "the standpoint of the oppressed" (yes, for those who know, "standpoint epistemology"). He knows he's supposed to see the world that way.
Psychologically for the student, this is the most dangerous and most important moment, and kudos to the teacher for effecting the deprogramming well. The reason is because the Maoist brainwashing program of "self-criticism" depends on the psycho- and -social being out of step.
The guilt and shame cycles in Maoist brainwashing, together with "leniency" or "love bombing" when people uphold the "people's standpoint" and criticism and struggle when they don't, are most powerful when the psycho- and -social parts disagree, not when they align.
The dynamic is to make the target feel like they're the only person who doubts "the people's standpoint." The student, in the wrong setting, would immediately feel alienated, alone, and ashamed that he knows "the people's standpoint" but secretly disagrees with it. This is key.
Maoism as a psychosocial brainwashing phenomenon requires "milieu control," such that the social group around you all publicly seems to perfectly hold to "the people's standpoint" so that each person believes they're the only one who thinks it's probably bogus.
In that state, you will "self-criticize" because you think something must be wrong with you. Indoctrination is external criticism. Conversion is self-criticism. Now note Robin DiAngelo saying "antiracism" is a lifelong commitment to self-reflection, self-critique, and activism.
In the end, the teacher breaks through, and the students sees not just that he was relying on "the people's standpoint" (psychosocial valuation) instead of his own critical thinking, and the teacher gives him space to feel accepting of "feeling like an idiot." That's very good.
In the Maoist environment, so with Woke teachers, the "people's standpoint" is pushed from the top, the interrogated "student" is urged to confess his sinful private doubts with increasing sincerity, and the social environment reinforces it all (to avoid their own struggle).
After breaking people down psychosocially this way and getting them to half-adopt and fully profess "the people's standpoint," the process enters another phase, xuexi, which means "study." That is, "outer school" cultists are pushed to become "inner school" cultists.
The point of "study" is to lead psychosocially locked people into intellectual rationalization, where the student would have been able to rattle off a litany of robotic-sounding theory (thought-terminating cliches and rationalizations) for how Rowling IS "transphobic."
That not only keeps them hermetically sealed (iykyk) in the cult, making deprogramming FAR harder and rarer, it also creates a demonstration for "outer school" members who can be convinced that their beliefs have intellectual foundations they just don't understand yet.โ
- James Lindsay
15 notes
ยท
View notes
โLike everything based on the writings of Karl Marxโseeing oppressors and colonial struggles everywhereโDEI was doomed to fail. The uniformity of thought known as intersectionality, fostered by DEI, meant all oppressed people must support all others who are oppressed. But that idea burst on Oct. 7 when Hamas raped, murdered and kidnapped Israelis. Many liberals, especially Jewish ones, couldnโt support genocidal โcolonizedโ terrorists. Pop! The long march is in retreat.
By the way, ESG, or investing based on โenvironmental, social and governanceโ principles, peaked last June, when BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he would stop using โthe word ESG anymore, because itโs been entirely weaponized.โ Never mind that performance of ESG funds has been sketchy and that BlackRock had been adding the label โsustainableโ or โESGโ to funds and charging up to five times as much. Then a study published in December by Boston Universityโs Andrew Kingfound โno reliable evidence for the proposed link between sustainability and financial performance.โ Pop!
Most offensive to me was DEIโs devious underlying agenda: societal design. ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ฐ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ฎ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ง, ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐, ๐๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐, ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐-๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฌ. That was the โmy truthโ that Ms. Gay invoked on her exit. Critical theories and Marxist techniques would take power from you and me, using big government as the enforcer.
The new societal design, embedded in DEI and ESG, envisioned idyllic communal progress. ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฌ. Diversity meant ideological conformity. Equity meant discrimination. Inclusion meant blurring the sexes. Men winning womenโs athletic events would be considered normal. It was all theatrics, like the tampons Iโve seen in menโs bathrooms on Ivy League campuses. Somewhere George Orwell is rolling on the floor laughing.
One goal of progressive societal design is to shrinkโdepopulation. Twenty-somethings now question having children. Net zero and degrowth, both World Economic Forum approved, are pushed via energy myths: carbon bad, cows bad. A plant-based chicken in every pot and two electric cars in every garage. They envy the merit-touting rich, shout โinequalityโ and wear โTax the Richโ dresses. They tear down statues to erase history. How did we let this happen?
๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง, ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง. There was very little free speech at Harvardโthe Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranked it last of all colleges last year. Those against the societal-design agenda were shouted down. Dissent was met with accusations of privilege or cancellation. Conform or be cast out. On a larger scale, the Biden administration co-opted social media to censure opposing views.
I, like most Americans, am for diversity, but not when itโs forced or mandated. In a 2017 interview, Mr. Fink admitted BlackRock would use DEI tactics to โforce behaviorsโ of corporations on โgender or race,โ including via management compensation. Now thatโs power.
๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฐ๐โ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ง ๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ๐๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐. Does national security adviser Jake Sullivan really care about equity or climate change? It polled well and put him back in power to implement his own societal design via โindustrial strategy.โ
๐๐ก๐ ๐ ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ. ๐๐๐๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ฌ. Those prices inform production much better than any government bureaucrat or Harvard professor. Societal designโremember Lyndon B. Johnsonโs Great Society?โrequires government control. Iโll take freedom.
Preferred pronouns are fading. College admissions, and maybe hiring, based on race is illegal. DEI departments are being deconstructed. But while the DEI movement may have peaked, like that Monty Python character, itโs not dead yet. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ซ.โ
โ Andy Kessler//WSJ
23 notes
ยท
View notes
Classic. Remember dancing to this in the more musically eclectic clubs during the 1980โs. Nina & Danielle Dax were my crushes with their respective unique and seriously funky vibes..
Nina Hagen // Cosma Shiva
376 notes
ยท
View notes
Alexander Volkov (Russian/American, b.1960 in St. Petersburg, now lives in New Jersey)
"Evensong," 2019
Oil on canvas 30 x 48 in
196 notes
ยท
View notes
AT&T PicturePhone, Bell Lab (1969)
2K notes
ยท
View notes
โIt is his contention that liberal democracy contains within itself the seeds of its own decayโwhat Marxists would once have called its internal contradictionsโbecause it is not moored to any substantive belief system, such as that which Christianity once supplied. Under what he calls hyperliberalism, the individual is left, and in fact is enjoined, to find his own identity and purpose, free of the barnacle-like accretions of intellectual, moral, and political history. The world for such individuals is an existential supermarket, in which nothing is received from the past, no possibilities are closed off, and no one has the right to interfere with anyone elseโs choices. If today someone wants to be a man, tomorrow a woman, and the next day neither, so be it.
This is thin gruel, however, for a social animal endowed with self-consciousness. Man may desire to be free (whether this desire is inborn or the product of circumstance is beside the point, at least in the West), but he also desires to belong, for it is only by belonging that he can achieve some kind of transcendent purpose or find some transcendent meaning. The old group identitiesโreligion, state, nation, classโhave withered in the West under the relentless assault of supposedly rational criticism, but since group identity is an imperative need, new, more egotistical identities, highly balkanized, have taken their place, and are now engaged in a struggle for power.
Christianity once promised a better, indeed perfect, life in the hereafter, but once belief in the truth in its historical claims and doctrines began to waver, hopes for perfection moved from heaven to earth. Liberalism promised, if not perfection, at least constant progress toward it; but by also promising equality, not in the eyes of God, but here on earth, it opened the way to endless squabbles about what such equality meant, and to resentment when it was not achieved. My supposed right to equal respect is also my right to survey, censor, or suppress your thoughtsโand vice versa. A state of paranoia results.
Liberalism is a doctrine of rights but, unsupported by any common cultural understanding in the population, it has become a kind of inflamed legalism, in which the law must adjudicate between, for example, the right to life of the conceptus, on the one hand, and the right of a woman to decide what goes on in her own body, on the other. Both rights, for those who uphold them, are absolute; no compromise is possible so long as the question is couched in these terms. Where the law adjudicates more and more in this way, it is not the legislature (which cannot even read all the laws it passes), but the apparatchiks and the nomenklatura, and a favored class of economic actors, that become the powers in the land. A liberal order gives way to an administrative authoritarianism. At the same time, a huge intelligentsia, created by the expansion of tertiary education, and largely antinomian in nature and surplus to the ability of the economy to absorb it, raises endless ideological tensions as it seeks its place in the sun, destructive of the very pillars of liberalism. Countries and societies weaken as a result of these tensions and divisions, which are largely navel-gazing in nature. The countries or societies are thus ripe for takeover, so to speak, by their enemiesโat least, if any stronger and more determined countries remain in the field that are not yet rotted by liberalism.
This is Grayโs diagnosis. He does not offer a firm prognosis, first because the future remains unknown, and second because liberalismโs competitors have weaknesses of their own. One reason for Islamistsโ rage, for example, is their awareness of the extreme vulnerability of Islam to rational criticism, which must therefore be intimidated into silence. Islamists are aware of what happened to Christianity, or even to Communism, once the intellectual nitpickers got going; they think that prevention is not merely better than cure, but it is the only cure. In this, they are right, but it is hard to ensure a public mentality that will be immune from all outside influences.โ
โ Theodore Dalrymple review of the latest book by philosopher John Gray, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด: ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ
6 notes
ยท
View notes
Star Trek
29 notes
ยท
View notes
โThere is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.โ
โHerman Melville, Moby-Dick
15 notes
ยท
View notes