Putin: "We know that there are more and more people in the world who support our position on defending traditional values that have made up the spiritual and moral foundation of civilization in every nation for thousands of years . . . "
How can that be?
Those kinds of people keep dying, new ones are NOT being born, and no one is converting
"anthropologists, psychologists, and historians alike can testify, the male need for validation is universal." Wow, makes them sound like big babies. That's why we have so many wars. I wish we could banish all violence to one part of the world , maybe in the mide of te Sahara or the Russian steppes or Ourer Mongolia. All the pseudo GI Joes could go their guns and bombs, break up into teams and fight each other. The rest of us can live in peace.
Of course the reslity is that Carlson would wet himself if anyone physically threatened him.
Apr 21, 2022·edited Apr 21, 2022Liked by Charlie Sykes
I think this is part of a deeply embedded myth-idea of Hero morality in our culture. The Hero is not only allowed to act in ways not permitted to ordinary mortals, he is under a positive obligation to do so. For this purpose he is granted extraordinary traits, powers and privileges, including (and especially) powers to create, to destroy, and to decide who lives and who dies. Not only is he free from the jurisdiction of rules and limits which apply to lesser mortals, he is under a positive obligation to evade them.
[Insert here a couple of books detailing examples of this mythos in art and literature and film and philosophy, from Homer through Plato and the Bible and Westerns and Rambo movies and so on.]
The essence of being a hero is being free from mundane laws and rules. A hero who never strays outside those boundaries is by definition not being heroic, because he receives these privileges for the explicit purpose of breaking them. If he never violates them, he never acts heroically, leaving open the question of (a) whether he is a hero in the first place, and (b) whether he is avoiding his duty. It follows then that if the hero does violate laws and rules, and gets away with it, his success validates his heroic status, proving his anointed right to act as he pleases.
It is advisable therefore for the hero to publish proof of his rights by defying law and custom. One of the best ways to do this is to strike down those who try to constrain him. Not only does this prove he is one of the elect, it also exposes his enemies as enemies of the right and true.
If this seems like a moral self-licking ice cream cone, it is.
One of the major problems with our country right now, wholly the fault of conservatives, and part or most of the reason the Bulwark even exists, is that conservatives, and principally DJT, have made it toxic to hold conservatives accountable for anything. They can just retreat to their own news ecosystem and then the argument changes to who's playing politics? It's the reason we're losing democracy and why we'll ultimately turn into Hungary. What galls me is that the conservatives allowing this to happen think they'll be spared the devilish constraints on speech, media, and daily life, because they "won," but that's because they're also not good at history.
These are just superficial leftist hit pieces no different than what I can get on WaPo and NYT. I read substack newsletters for the independent views with more objective and in-depth analysis.
I have a related question. Since DeSantis is now the evil Republican actor behind Trump, is there a Republican politician anywhere that we should all get behind as being worthy, if not fully supporting our left-leaning agenda?
Just from a messaging standpoint I wouldn't call DeSantis's actions "authoritarian socialism", but rather "Soviet style rule". It sounds more accurate and rings truer.
Slightly off topic, but in Tennessee, Trump's pick was tossed by the Rep Party from the upcoming primary. Beginning to think Trump may be getting to his "best buy" date.
The reason MBS went to Jared's and didn't cause a scandal is that no one believes that the DoJ, Congress or anyone else will pursue it. It's clearly bribery, almost certainly a violation of lobbying and foreign agency regulations and most likely an illegal campaign donation in a different uniform but, if someone can foment an insurrection, call for the illegal voiding of a demonstrably valid election and perform in office such that 1,000,000 Americans die from contracting a substantially preventable disease and not just get off Scott free but be lionized for it what's a little bribery among friends. The "Rule of Law" has become a joke, at least if one is wealthy and therefore powerful.
1. Important issues like Jared's 2 billion haul and Mike Lee's texts get no coverage because the "zone" has not just been flooded, it undergoes a tsunami on a daily basis. And the media fears the backlash from the highly coordinated GOP attack machine.
2. I certainly hope that everyone from the owners of small businesses to the boards and stockholders of major corporations are paying close attention to the multiple ways the GOP wants to control their operations unless they toe the line. And I hope they radically change their political donations accordingly. ASAP.
3. As far as improving and possibly even perfecting Dem messaging for 2022 and 2024 RE Republican tactics and goals, you must see this from MI State Senator Mallory McMorrow. THIS is the way.
Mona Charen’s article is written from such a Western Chauvinist perspective. There have been MANY types of societies in our collective world history where gender roles were very different than what we see today. There were/are matriarchal societies, societies with female warriors, and societies where male shamans dressed as women and were considered to be both genders. Recess being shortened isn’t just bad for boys, it’s bad for everyone. Also, as much as I like Theodore Roosevelt, he and others like him promoted eugenics. So maybe not the role model we need right now… especially when the right is getting so very Hitlerish.
Gender identity is a social construct, and while we are now evolving to what is a more fair and just society, Charen still believes in the Western Chauvinist idealism of masculinity. The problem is too many men are unemployed. If you go back to all those moments in history Charen refers to, I guarantee disgruntled, unemployed men are usually the problem. They just need stuff to do, but it could be baking or sewing or chopping down trees. It’s okay for men to not be “manly” and it’s fine if they are. It’s just an adjustment, but I for one don’t need to be told that my “march” towards equal civil rights needs to be put on pause because insecure men feel left behind. The younger generation gets it, and thank goodness for that.
Do family values include the mass murder of people, including children, the disabled and the elderly? Does it include torture, rape, thievery, vandalism? Professing Christian leaders like Franklin Graham have a lot of explaining to do.
There seem to be some people who doubt that Trump will be running in 2024. But would the Saudis be giving Trump's son-in-law $2 billion if they didn't think Trump was running? And what are the Saudis willing to do in 2024 to ensure a return on their investment? And if Trump is elected, how will he handle being beholden to both Putin (let's hope he's dead by then. Hell, Trump, too) and MBS? How will that effect America and the world?
Wanted to call your attention to an upcoming event in my state of Nebraska. Trump will be holding a rally for a candidate for governor, Charles W. Herbster. This week we learned that Herbster is a serial ass-grabber. (One of his victims is a mid-20's state senator and his other victims ranged in age from late teens to mid-20's. Herbster is 67.) Thought the ass-grabber sharing the stage with the pussy-grabber during a time of discussion about masculinity would make a good story.
As to the why isn't the Jared story a bigger deal.......maybe the media isn't as liberal as the R's have shouted that it is for the last 40 f'ing years.
Maybe the MSM is concerned with making money and returning to shareholders?
Maybe the MSM is concerned with maintaining access to power?
Maybe the MSM is concerned with telling "stories" that don't inform as much as entertain?
Tom Nichols in today's 'Peacefield” Atlantic newsletter has much to say about the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill's bloodlust and Putin's Messianic vision of his war. This is Nichols' most highly personal/professional attempt to deconstruct the 'whys of Putin's War:
--For the messianic dreams of a small man, a frightened and delusional thug leading a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government, who believes that he is doing God’s will. (Nichols)
.
Putin: "We know that there are more and more people in the world who support our position on defending traditional values that have made up the spiritual and moral foundation of civilization in every nation for thousands of years . . . "
How can that be?
Those kinds of people keep dying, new ones are NOT being born, and no one is converting
.
"anthropologists, psychologists, and historians alike can testify, the male need for validation is universal." Wow, makes them sound like big babies. That's why we have so many wars. I wish we could banish all violence to one part of the world , maybe in the mide of te Sahara or the Russian steppes or Ourer Mongolia. All the pseudo GI Joes could go their guns and bombs, break up into teams and fight each other. The rest of us can live in peace.
Of course the reslity is that Carlson would wet himself if anyone physically threatened him.
Putin a Christian? Was this miracle conversion when he realized that being a Communist KGB agent wasn't getting him rich and powerful fast enough.
It's good thing America's National Socialist Party is willing to use anyone to get what they want.
I think this is part of a deeply embedded myth-idea of Hero morality in our culture. The Hero is not only allowed to act in ways not permitted to ordinary mortals, he is under a positive obligation to do so. For this purpose he is granted extraordinary traits, powers and privileges, including (and especially) powers to create, to destroy, and to decide who lives and who dies. Not only is he free from the jurisdiction of rules and limits which apply to lesser mortals, he is under a positive obligation to evade them.
[Insert here a couple of books detailing examples of this mythos in art and literature and film and philosophy, from Homer through Plato and the Bible and Westerns and Rambo movies and so on.]
The essence of being a hero is being free from mundane laws and rules. A hero who never strays outside those boundaries is by definition not being heroic, because he receives these privileges for the explicit purpose of breaking them. If he never violates them, he never acts heroically, leaving open the question of (a) whether he is a hero in the first place, and (b) whether he is avoiding his duty. It follows then that if the hero does violate laws and rules, and gets away with it, his success validates his heroic status, proving his anointed right to act as he pleases.
It is advisable therefore for the hero to publish proof of his rights by defying law and custom. One of the best ways to do this is to strike down those who try to constrain him. Not only does this prove he is one of the elect, it also exposes his enemies as enemies of the right and true.
If this seems like a moral self-licking ice cream cone, it is.
One of the major problems with our country right now, wholly the fault of conservatives, and part or most of the reason the Bulwark even exists, is that conservatives, and principally DJT, have made it toxic to hold conservatives accountable for anything. They can just retreat to their own news ecosystem and then the argument changes to who's playing politics? It's the reason we're losing democracy and why we'll ultimately turn into Hungary. What galls me is that the conservatives allowing this to happen think they'll be spared the devilish constraints on speech, media, and daily life, because they "won," but that's because they're also not good at history.
These are just superficial leftist hit pieces no different than what I can get on WaPo and NYT. I read substack newsletters for the independent views with more objective and in-depth analysis.
I have a related question. Since DeSantis is now the evil Republican actor behind Trump, is there a Republican politician anywhere that we should all get behind as being worthy, if not fully supporting our left-leaning agenda?
Just from a messaging standpoint I wouldn't call DeSantis's actions "authoritarian socialism", but rather "Soviet style rule". It sounds more accurate and rings truer.
Slightly off topic, but in Tennessee, Trump's pick was tossed by the Rep Party from the upcoming primary. Beginning to think Trump may be getting to his "best buy" date.
The reason MBS went to Jared's and didn't cause a scandal is that no one believes that the DoJ, Congress or anyone else will pursue it. It's clearly bribery, almost certainly a violation of lobbying and foreign agency regulations and most likely an illegal campaign donation in a different uniform but, if someone can foment an insurrection, call for the illegal voiding of a demonstrably valid election and perform in office such that 1,000,000 Americans die from contracting a substantially preventable disease and not just get off Scott free but be lionized for it what's a little bribery among friends. The "Rule of Law" has become a joke, at least if one is wealthy and therefore powerful.
Just a few short thoughts:
1. Important issues like Jared's 2 billion haul and Mike Lee's texts get no coverage because the "zone" has not just been flooded, it undergoes a tsunami on a daily basis. And the media fears the backlash from the highly coordinated GOP attack machine.
2. I certainly hope that everyone from the owners of small businesses to the boards and stockholders of major corporations are paying close attention to the multiple ways the GOP wants to control their operations unless they toe the line. And I hope they radically change their political donations accordingly. ASAP.
3. As far as improving and possibly even perfecting Dem messaging for 2022 and 2024 RE Republican tactics and goals, you must see this from MI State Senator Mallory McMorrow. THIS is the way.
https://youtu.be/0-dhbYHw-Jw
Mona Charen’s article is written from such a Western Chauvinist perspective. There have been MANY types of societies in our collective world history where gender roles were very different than what we see today. There were/are matriarchal societies, societies with female warriors, and societies where male shamans dressed as women and were considered to be both genders. Recess being shortened isn’t just bad for boys, it’s bad for everyone. Also, as much as I like Theodore Roosevelt, he and others like him promoted eugenics. So maybe not the role model we need right now… especially when the right is getting so very Hitlerish.
Gender identity is a social construct, and while we are now evolving to what is a more fair and just society, Charen still believes in the Western Chauvinist idealism of masculinity. The problem is too many men are unemployed. If you go back to all those moments in history Charen refers to, I guarantee disgruntled, unemployed men are usually the problem. They just need stuff to do, but it could be baking or sewing or chopping down trees. It’s okay for men to not be “manly” and it’s fine if they are. It’s just an adjustment, but I for one don’t need to be told that my “march” towards equal civil rights needs to be put on pause because insecure men feel left behind. The younger generation gets it, and thank goodness for that.
Do family values include the mass murder of people, including children, the disabled and the elderly? Does it include torture, rape, thievery, vandalism? Professing Christian leaders like Franklin Graham have a lot of explaining to do.
There seem to be some people who doubt that Trump will be running in 2024. But would the Saudis be giving Trump's son-in-law $2 billion if they didn't think Trump was running? And what are the Saudis willing to do in 2024 to ensure a return on their investment? And if Trump is elected, how will he handle being beholden to both Putin (let's hope he's dead by then. Hell, Trump, too) and MBS? How will that effect America and the world?
Charlie-
Wanted to call your attention to an upcoming event in my state of Nebraska. Trump will be holding a rally for a candidate for governor, Charles W. Herbster. This week we learned that Herbster is a serial ass-grabber. (One of his victims is a mid-20's state senator and his other victims ranged in age from late teens to mid-20's. Herbster is 67.) Thought the ass-grabber sharing the stage with the pussy-grabber during a time of discussion about masculinity would make a good story.
As to the why isn't the Jared story a bigger deal.......maybe the media isn't as liberal as the R's have shouted that it is for the last 40 f'ing years.
Maybe the MSM is concerned with making money and returning to shareholders?
Maybe the MSM is concerned with maintaining access to power?
Maybe the MSM is concerned with telling "stories" that don't inform as much as entertain?
Tom Nichols in today's 'Peacefield” Atlantic newsletter has much to say about the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill's bloodlust and Putin's Messianic vision of his war. This is Nichols' most highly personal/professional attempt to deconstruct the 'whys of Putin's War:
--For the messianic dreams of a small man, a frightened and delusional thug leading a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government, who believes that he is doing God’s will. (Nichols)