“He’ll bury you in regulations, dismantle your police departments, dissolve our borders, confiscate your guns, terminate religious liberty, destroy your suburbs.” Well, they keep telling us they want to do those things, inundate pop culture and media with messages saying we should do those things, and they have put a lot of effort into trying to do those things. So you tell me, are we really imagining things? As for the “grooming” stuff. Even a cold cynic like me had a hard time believing it until I saw the evidence with my own two eyes. That is a line too far. Live and let live is fine until you realize the other guy has no intention whatsoever of leaving you alone.
I think you are right. The article is addressing a sort of overreaction, but in doing so the author fails to recognize that there is a sort of deconstructing of the past, of all the family values or whatever you want to call them that the progressive/pop-culture side is intent on doing. People concerned over this are generally correct.
There is a rather popular meme going around that I thinks sums this insanity pretty well.
“What are you even talking about?”
“Okay it exists but it has always existed. Nothing new.”
“Okay it exists and has not always been that way, but it does not have any real impact. Why are you such a culture warrior!?”
“This is good, we like it, and it has not gone far enough!”
Funny, isn’t it? All the predictions of what a Trump President would entail, a tanking of the economy, WWIII and social chaos never happened……until Biden came to power. Trump delivered on many of his campaign promises and all Americans flourished. Biden is delivering on many of his campaign promises and we are descending further into hell.
I guess the voters will decide in November which side gets it.
I am reminded of Rod Dreher’s Law of Merited Impossibility, used by progressives anytime a conservative points out where their policies could easily end up: “Oh, that will never happen. And when it does, you bigots will deserve it.”
I agree that the author misses a gross imbalance in Left/ Right paranoia. We certainly both have our loons (and after Jan 6 and QAnon, I must admit that the loons are more common on the Right than I thought). However, the Left is paranoid about fantasies of what the Right may do. The Right is paranoid at what the Left is already doing. The Left is worried the Right will ban birth control (in the future). The Right is worried about the Left is promoting drag queens to elementary schoolers (right now).
What’s the difference between a conspiracy theory and a factual event? About 6 months…
Christopher Chantrill
1 year ago
Look, this is not that hard (except, maybe, for prebendaries at the Cathedral of Kent).
On one side we have the educated class — the Cathedral — that has ruled the United States since about the administration of President Wilson, who was once the Bishop of Princeton Cathedral.
On the other hand we have the ordinary Commoner middle class that wants a little respect. They elected Richard Nixon, and the Cathedral dumped him with Watergate. They elected Ronald Reagan and the Cathedral tried to dump him with Iran Contra. They elected Donald Trump and the Cathedral dumped him with the help of Zuck bucks.
As often happens with bishops and canons and characters in Trollope novels, the educated class of the Cathdral cannot believe, darling, that these deplorable hicks should be given the time of day.
Tune in to next week’s exciting episode of the Anointed and the Benighted.
It is all a one ay street. The liberal caucus pays lip service to democracy, rights and freedom of speech until the system fails to deliver what they want and then thy show their true colours as they descend into hysteria.
We saw it in the UK with the reaction to Brexit and in the US with the reaction to the election of Donald Trump.
Invariably the allegations made by right about the activities and intentions of the left look to be well founded and also invariably the allegations made by the left appear to be very largely fabricated, Jan 6 being a case in point
Correct. There is no better example of threatening democracy than silencing your opponents. I only see that being done on the left.
James Anthony Seyforth
1 year ago
I can’t see why alarmism isn’t required when literal reality is being distorted from every front by establishment figures: gender and dysphoria ideology (even in schools), COVID lockdowns and unreasonable vaccine/travel regulations galore, economic blunders and misinformation tweets, elections decided by sudden and unregulated postal voting, pumping featherweight money into the financial system whilst asking business to reduce prices, racial social justice winning votes from ‘you ain’t black’ Let’s go Brandon then to literal destruction of inner cities, and people who subsequently profit from the BLM franchise. It’s alarmist because the rate of change of control of the information is increasing and without sounding off people won’t get the message that it may be too late soon. This is one aspect of how tyranny begins, in information control and information retention; if you didn’t ever read up on it, then might be worth doing so sir.
It also seems that trust in the institutions in the US is collapsing. This from Gallup polling: https://news.gallup.com/poll/394283/confidence-institutions-down-average-new-low.aspx
Only small business and the military are above 50% and most are below 33%. The collapse of trust in the civil institutions is a common feature in all the major revolutions.
The trend lines already existed prior to the pandemic. The pandemic propaganda worldwide created fear that is now subsiding as individuals are discovering they were duped all along about their personal risk. But they are really feeling the pinch of the ineffective measures. They are not inclined to trust much and seek out truth or at least confirmation or apology. They are looking for solutions to their obvious issues.
Ian Stewart
1 year ago
So…..what’s the difference between Trump ‘attacking’ a democratic result by a rather clumsy means and the Democrats attacking the democratic election of Trump over 4 long years (a la the Brexit referendum with all means they could to stop it) with, as it turned out, false claims of Russian collusion to undermine the vote? (Much to the disbelief of Bill Maher)
When liberals attack democracy it’s ok. When non-liberals attack democracy it’s the end of democracy.
Recalling how Liberal-Progressives sounded the alarm bell about Trump “attacking our democratic norms.”
It’s not hypocrisy, its hierarchy.
William Simonds
1 year ago
Perhaps I am a bit of a Pollyanna, but if one really takes the long view…the really long view, not just the next couple of news cycles…one might see that just as you think things are getting to the point where democracy implodes and consumes itself, everything is going to sort of settle down and is going to be all right.
Huh?
Yeah. You see, the dissection of the electorate based on polar opposite extreme views is self destructive. As time goes on the definition of “them” becomes broader and broader and “us” becomes narrower and narrower. Eventually, with Darwinian precision, the “us” ultimately defines and redefines itself into such an exclusive group it, for all practical purposes, ceases to exist.
We are seeing this now on the left (for example) with the extremism of gender identity cannibalizing sexual identity. Whole swathes of former mates are being demonized for not holding to the latest version of the Textus Receptus.
Similarly on the right extremists are cutting out any part of the quilt that is not completely opposed to any form of abortion, or that might find ownership of automatic weapons questionable or at least worthy of debate.
Eventually, as the extremes become so extreme that the middle ground is by far the largest segment of the electorate, then this key concept the author of this article so correctly identifies comes back into play:
…sounding the alarm about impending catastrophe is what political partisans do, especially if they can’t persuade a good number of people on the merits of their policies.
We begin to have debates among ourselves on the merits of various ideas. We start to actually talk with people again rather than hiding our ideas for fear of setting people off on rants. And this trend is helped along by a growing dissatisfaction with the way in which news is packaged and presented…and I’m talking about people on both sides of the issues.
Already a great number of my friends have dropped out of the news cycles. They’ve stopped watching and listening. They are judiciously picking their news sources based on the clear lack of bias in the source. And they are choosing to comb those sources in very measured and patient ways. Definitely not hourly, often not even daily. But as they determine they need to know something, not when the media and the panic porn purveyors insist.
I do see a light at the end of the tunnel…and I don’t think it is a train coming the other way.
Extremely Pollyannish. The center is disappearing before our eyes, and most centrists can feel it. Ask yourself who this “middle ground” might be, who is their vanguard as these processes continue — and then ask yourself if their political power is increasing or decreasing.
Not Pollyanna. Actually common sense. The hysteria right now is media created, per usual, and with social media as its fuel. You HAVE to be leery of news sources in the US, and I would suspect in the UK and other countries as well, because the news nowadays boils down into a sort of gossip. It is filled with “experts” talking about “what might happen” IF something else “might happen”. It creates a very knee jerk society. The pendulum swings widely from the left to the right depending on the day. The center is there. It is holding. It never went away but I do think it was bewildered for a very long time.. And you’re right: The discussions I have with people now involves a lot fewer hurt feelings and a lot more eye rolling about the news. We are starting to listen to one another again and not run around like chickens with our heads cut off every time the press drops its newest bit of trash.
Jack B. Nimble
1 year ago
The analogy with the boy who cried wolf is limited in a revealing way: we can all agree on what a wolf is. I don’t think Americans can agree on what constitutes the real danger to their republic. In American political life, what constitutes the wolf and its arrival are political, too.
You are quite right. If we can’t even define what a woman is today, or agree on the most basic of facts, such as a grown, fully functional man can be a woman if he chooses, then we are toast.
Quo Peregrinatur
1 year ago
Lumping febrile progressive misperceptions of a powerful right wing coming for their liberties together with -actual- examples of children being groomed by open sexual fetishists tells one all one needs to know about this article: namely, that it’s a feeble attempt to play the “centrist” to appear impartial, when in fact the author simply hasn’t taken stock of the time of day.
I live in the US and started paying close attention to what’s happening back in 2017. You are dead on. I hope people realize that if the West self destructs that, and I mean you UnHerd readers, your lives will suck in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. It has been generations since most in the West personally experienced evil on a broad scale. They lack the life experience to see it and it’s coming on slowly. The only way out is for the majority of people to start standing up for common sense.
I think you’re right. I no longer talk to many people about this stuff, save for a few close friends who’ve reached the same conclusions I have. Strangely enough it’s mostly the women in my life who are optimistic that the government has their own best interests at heart, whereas I feel like we’ve been taken over by an occupying force. I feel like I’m living in two different realities at the moment. I’m either dead on or dead wrong about everything.
AC Harper
1 year ago
I think that one of the national characteristics of Americans (I know, I know, but bear with me) is their enthusiasm.
They fought for Independence with great enthusiasm, they fought a Civil War with great enthusiasm, they adopted Prohibition with great enthusiasm, they (eventually) fought the Axis powers with great enthusiasm, they feared Communism with great enthusiasm, and now they struggle over many new #hashtag enthusiasms.
But in the end their enthusiasms resolved themselves, one way or the other. It just takes time, and identifying a New Enthusiasm is part of that process.
Amen. I can confirm this having worked in a US environment for a long time. In general, I found my US co-workers habitually and compulsively making everything GREAT. The fact that I did not act in such a way (due to my rather sober Dutch upbringing) and sometimes questioned the reasons behind some of the enthusiasm was considered ‘negative’ and ‘not cooperative’. I am sceptical that this culture has the capacity for moderation and that is frightening. It’s either GREAT or DANGEROUS.
Having moved from the Netherlands to the US I can confirm this. I very much miss the the pragmatism of the Dutch at times. What you’re describing is a very toxic kind of binary thinking that has infected the US. It’s suffering from some kind of cultural rot that demands obedience and conformity.
Dustshoe Richinrut
1 year ago
Americans used to watch shoot-outs on TV, when they watched westerns. Now they may catch some kind of shooting drama on live TV because of round-the-clock news. With a flick, the western might become Tom & Jerry; with the news, more grim fare. As for the newscasters of today, in their disarmingly plush studios, they dress awfully nice only to have to look grim in the face: it’s a long day for them. They beam down their grimness at the public in airports and waiting rooms. Why don’t these places play Tom & Jerry for the kids running round? Even The Magnificent Seven. Is there a certain shame nowadays that folk are supposed to feel about the good old American tv shows of yesteryear? Surely western civilisation and all its joys are just around the corner! The news is what’s offensive! And always on the offensive. Bring back newspapers and ditch the devices and alarmism would dissipate. Even that’ll do.
“What’s your favourite old western, Mr President?”
“What? Take that bad man away. Who does he think he is?”
Old time westerns are very problematic because they tended to reflect traditional American values. Outnumbered lawmen risking their lives to uphold order, outlaws trying to change their ways, communities banding together to survive natural disasters, pioneer spirit, independent women (bet you didn’t see that one coming), evil villains getting their comeuppance etc. American westerns are interesting for how they reflect its beliefs and traditions at the time, although I have to give the Italians credit for making some excellent ones. I need to watch some of those old ones again.
polidori redux
1 year ago
can anyone else remember “The Famous Five Go Mad on Mescaline? That was very funny, but when he happens to an entire nation… well, scary.
Jo Nielson
1 year ago
The thing is that a lot of us spent years rolling our eyes at the stupidity of the woke culture, hoping it would burn itself out. The young never got over it. Now, it’s everywhere and you are the one with the problem of you call BS.
Growing up in the 1980’s I remember watching the right try to cancel Madonna. These days, I feel like I’m getting the same morality play from the Left. Neither extreme is where most people live their lives, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the media.
Acting like protests are good or bad based on the political cause is what did me in. The BLM people and the 1/6 folks both have the same rights, even if you disagree with their causes. But not being able to have rational discussions about anything has just gone out the window.
The Anyone I don’t like is a Russian agent, insurrectionist, socialist, snowflake, or nazi mentality needed to end yesterday. We have serious problems, but it’s like you’re the bad guy for suggesting that throwing labels at people isn’t a great way to solve problems. Our leaders simply don’t want to solve problems, but have election issues. That’s just not a good way to run the country. Add in that you have so many young people who have no idea how our systems work, but want to dismantle them and claim democracy isn’t working, no wonder the West is a mess and a lot of us are alarmist. My side worked for 50 years to get Roe dismantled. We used the democratic process to get that done. it wasn’t a big secret. We didn’t do anything illegal.
laurence scaduto
1 year ago
The author misses a few important points:
A huge number of Americans are taking anti-anxiety medications. These meds are a blessing for those few with serious chemical imbalances that lead to crushing, life-altering bouts of anxiety. But thy are way over-prescribed. So, just as with the anti-depression meds that were so popular ten/twenty years ago, if you step back and take a population-wide view, they seem to have the perverse effect of increasing the prevalence of the condition they’re prescribed to treat.
Also, the US is stuck with two monopoly Parties. Neither one actually represents the real interests of of the People; except for that segment of the People who are filled with rage and a sense of greivence. (We all know characters like this; if they can’t rave against the Mets they’re ready to fire all the Dodgers.) So the People are deeply frustrated but still unwilling to admit that their leaders/heros are made of clay. Or something worse.
And, also, the population’s sense of humour has collapsed. The image of a nut with a silly beard and a sign on a stick that says “THE END IS NEAR!” was once a trope that always got a giggle. Now, it’s just politics as usual, a photo on the cover of the NYTimes almost every day.Oy!
“He’ll bury you in regulations, dismantle your police departments, dissolve our borders, confiscate your guns, terminate religious liberty, destroy your suburbs.” Well, they keep telling us they want to do those things, inundate pop culture and media with messages saying we should do those things, and they have put a lot of effort into trying to do those things. So you tell me, are we really imagining things? As for the “grooming” stuff. Even a cold cynic like me had a hard time believing it until I saw the evidence with my own two eyes. That is a line too far. Live and let live is fine until you realize the other guy has no intention whatsoever of leaving you alone.
I think you are right. The article is addressing a sort of overreaction, but in doing so the author fails to recognize that there is a sort of deconstructing of the past, of all the family values or whatever you want to call them that the progressive/pop-culture side is intent on doing. People concerned over this are generally correct.
There is a rather popular meme going around that I thinks sums this insanity pretty well.
“What are you even talking about?”
“Okay it exists but it has always existed. Nothing new.”
“Okay it exists and has not always been that way, but it does not have any real impact. Why are you such a culture warrior!?”
“This is good, we like it, and it has not gone far enough!”
Funny, isn’t it? All the predictions of what a Trump President would entail, a tanking of the economy, WWIII and social chaos never happened……until Biden came to power. Trump delivered on many of his campaign promises and all Americans flourished. Biden is delivering on many of his campaign promises and we are descending further into hell.
I guess the voters will decide in November which side gets it.
<paid ballot traffickers have entered the chat>
Pollyanna?
Nukes.
I am reminded of Rod Dreher’s Law of Merited Impossibility, used by progressives anytime a conservative points out where their policies could easily end up: “Oh, that will never happen. And when it does, you bigots will deserve it.”
I agree that the author misses a gross imbalance in Left/ Right paranoia. We certainly both have our loons (and after Jan 6 and QAnon, I must admit that the loons are more common on the Right than I thought). However, the Left is paranoid about fantasies of what the Right may do. The Right is paranoid at what the Left is already doing. The Left is worried the Right will ban birth control (in the future). The Right is worried about the Left is promoting drag queens to elementary schoolers (right now).
What’s the difference between a conspiracy theory and a factual event? About 6 months…
Look, this is not that hard (except, maybe, for prebendaries at the Cathedral of Kent).
On one side we have the educated class — the Cathedral — that has ruled the United States since about the administration of President Wilson, who was once the Bishop of Princeton Cathedral.
On the other hand we have the ordinary Commoner middle class that wants a little respect. They elected Richard Nixon, and the Cathedral dumped him with Watergate. They elected Ronald Reagan and the Cathedral tried to dump him with Iran Contra. They elected Donald Trump and the Cathedral dumped him with the help of Zuck bucks.
As often happens with bishops and canons and characters in Trollope novels, the educated class of the Cathdral cannot believe, darling, that these deplorable hicks should be given the time of day.
Tune in to next week’s exciting episode of the Anointed and the Benighted.
It is all a one ay street. The liberal caucus pays lip service to democracy, rights and freedom of speech until the system fails to deliver what they want and then thy show their true colours as they descend into hysteria.
We saw it in the UK with the reaction to Brexit and in the US with the reaction to the election of Donald Trump.
Invariably the allegations made by right about the activities and intentions of the left look to be well founded and also invariably the allegations made by the left appear to be very largely fabricated, Jan 6 being a case in point
Correct. There is no better example of threatening democracy than silencing your opponents. I only see that being done on the left.
I can’t see why alarmism isn’t required when literal reality is being distorted from every front by establishment figures: gender and dysphoria ideology (even in schools), COVID lockdowns and unreasonable vaccine/travel regulations galore, economic blunders and misinformation tweets, elections decided by sudden and unregulated postal voting, pumping featherweight money into the financial system whilst asking business to reduce prices, racial social justice winning votes from ‘you ain’t black’ Let’s go Brandon then to literal destruction of inner cities, and people who subsequently profit from the BLM franchise. It’s alarmist because the rate of change of control of the information is increasing and without sounding off people won’t get the message that it may be too late soon. This is one aspect of how tyranny begins, in information control and information retention; if you didn’t ever read up on it, then might be worth doing so sir.
It also seems that trust in the institutions in the US is collapsing. This from Gallup polling:
https://news.gallup.com/poll/394283/confidence-institutions-down-average-new-low.aspx
Only small business and the military are above 50% and most are below 33%. The collapse of trust in the civil institutions is a common feature in all the major revolutions.
The trend lines already existed prior to the pandemic. The pandemic propaganda worldwide created fear that is now subsiding as individuals are discovering they were duped all along about their personal risk. But they are really feeling the pinch of the ineffective measures. They are not inclined to trust much and seek out truth or at least confirmation or apology. They are looking for solutions to their obvious issues.
So…..what’s the difference between Trump ‘attacking’ a democratic result by a rather clumsy means and the Democrats attacking the democratic election of Trump over 4 long years (a la the Brexit referendum with all means they could to stop it) with, as it turned out, false claims of Russian collusion to undermine the vote? (Much to the disbelief of Bill Maher)
When liberals attack democracy it’s ok. When non-liberals attack democracy it’s the end of democracy.
Recalling how Liberal-Progressives sounded the alarm bell about Trump “attacking our democratic norms.”
It’s not hypocrisy, its hierarchy.
Perhaps I am a bit of a Pollyanna, but if one really takes the long view…the really long view, not just the next couple of news cycles…one might see that just as you think things are getting to the point where democracy implodes and consumes itself, everything is going to sort of settle down and is going to be all right.
Huh?
Yeah. You see, the dissection of the electorate based on polar opposite extreme views is self destructive. As time goes on the definition of “them” becomes broader and broader and “us” becomes narrower and narrower. Eventually, with Darwinian precision, the “us” ultimately defines and redefines itself into such an exclusive group it, for all practical purposes, ceases to exist.
We are seeing this now on the left (for example) with the extremism of gender identity cannibalizing sexual identity. Whole swathes of former mates are being demonized for not holding to the latest version of the Textus Receptus.
Similarly on the right extremists are cutting out any part of the quilt that is not completely opposed to any form of abortion, or that might find ownership of automatic weapons questionable or at least worthy of debate.
Eventually, as the extremes become so extreme that the middle ground is by far the largest segment of the electorate, then this key concept the author of this article so correctly identifies comes back into play:
We begin to have debates among ourselves on the merits of various ideas. We start to actually talk with people again rather than hiding our ideas for fear of setting people off on rants. And this trend is helped along by a growing dissatisfaction with the way in which news is packaged and presented…and I’m talking about people on both sides of the issues.
Already a great number of my friends have dropped out of the news cycles. They’ve stopped watching and listening. They are judiciously picking their news sources based on the clear lack of bias in the source. And they are choosing to comb those sources in very measured and patient ways. Definitely not hourly, often not even daily. But as they determine they need to know something, not when the media and the panic porn purveyors insist.
I do see a light at the end of the tunnel…and I don’t think it is a train coming the other way.
Extremely Pollyannish. The center is disappearing before our eyes, and most centrists can feel it. Ask yourself who this “middle ground” might be, who is their vanguard as these processes continue — and then ask yourself if their political power is increasing or decreasing.
Interesting post. I hope your prediction is correct.
Not Pollyanna. Actually common sense. The hysteria right now is media created, per usual, and with social media as its fuel. You HAVE to be leery of news sources in the US, and I would suspect in the UK and other countries as well, because the news nowadays boils down into a sort of gossip. It is filled with “experts” talking about “what might happen” IF something else “might happen”. It creates a very knee jerk society. The pendulum swings widely from the left to the right depending on the day. The center is there. It is holding. It never went away but I do think it was bewildered for a very long time.. And you’re right: The discussions I have with people now involves a lot fewer hurt feelings and a lot more eye rolling about the news. We are starting to listen to one another again and not run around like chickens with our heads cut off every time the press drops its newest bit of trash.
The analogy with the boy who cried wolf is limited in a revealing way: we can all agree on what a wolf is. I don’t think Americans can agree on what constitutes the real danger to their republic. In American political life, what constitutes the wolf and its arrival are political, too.
You are quite right. If we can’t even define what a woman is today, or agree on the most basic of facts, such as a grown, fully functional man can be a woman if he chooses, then we are toast.
Lumping febrile progressive misperceptions of a powerful right wing coming for their liberties together with -actual- examples of children being groomed by open sexual fetishists tells one all one needs to know about this article: namely, that it’s a feeble attempt to play the “centrist” to appear impartial, when in fact the author simply hasn’t taken stock of the time of day.
I live in the US and started paying close attention to what’s happening back in 2017. You are dead on. I hope people realize that if the West self destructs that, and I mean you UnHerd readers, your lives will suck in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. It has been generations since most in the West personally experienced evil on a broad scale. They lack the life experience to see it and it’s coming on slowly. The only way out is for the majority of people to start standing up for common sense.
I think you’re right. I no longer talk to many people about this stuff, save for a few close friends who’ve reached the same conclusions I have. Strangely enough it’s mostly the women in my life who are optimistic that the government has their own best interests at heart, whereas I feel like we’ve been taken over by an occupying force. I feel like I’m living in two different realities at the moment. I’m either dead on or dead wrong about everything.
I think that one of the national characteristics of Americans (I know, I know, but bear with me) is their enthusiasm.
They fought for Independence with great enthusiasm, they fought a Civil War with great enthusiasm, they adopted Prohibition with great enthusiasm, they (eventually) fought the Axis powers with great enthusiasm, they feared Communism with great enthusiasm, and now they struggle over many new #hashtag enthusiasms.
But in the end their enthusiasms resolved themselves, one way or the other. It just takes time, and identifying a New Enthusiasm is part of that process.
Amen. I can confirm this having worked in a US environment for a long time. In general, I found my US co-workers habitually and compulsively making everything GREAT. The fact that I did not act in such a way (due to my rather sober Dutch upbringing) and sometimes questioned the reasons behind some of the enthusiasm was considered ‘negative’ and ‘not cooperative’. I am sceptical that this culture has the capacity for moderation and that is frightening. It’s either GREAT or DANGEROUS.
Having moved from the Netherlands to the US I can confirm this. I very much miss the the pragmatism of the Dutch at times. What you’re describing is a very toxic kind of binary thinking that has infected the US. It’s suffering from some kind of cultural rot that demands obedience and conformity.
Americans used to watch shoot-outs on TV, when they watched westerns. Now they may catch some kind of shooting drama on live TV because of round-the-clock news. With a flick, the western might become Tom & Jerry; with the news, more grim fare. As for the newscasters of today, in their disarmingly plush studios, they dress awfully nice only to have to look grim in the face: it’s a long day for them. They beam down their grimness at the public in airports and waiting rooms. Why don’t these places play Tom & Jerry for the kids running round? Even The Magnificent Seven. Is there a certain shame nowadays that folk are supposed to feel about the good old American tv shows of yesteryear? Surely western civilisation and all its joys are just around the corner! The news is what’s offensive! And always on the offensive. Bring back newspapers and ditch the devices and alarmism would dissipate. Even that’ll do.
“What’s your favourite old western, Mr President?”
“What? Take that bad man away. Who does he think he is?”
Old time westerns are very problematic because they tended to reflect traditional American values. Outnumbered lawmen risking their lives to uphold order, outlaws trying to change their ways, communities banding together to survive natural disasters, pioneer spirit, independent women (bet you didn’t see that one coming), evil villains getting their comeuppance etc. American westerns are interesting for how they reflect its beliefs and traditions at the time, although I have to give the Italians credit for making some excellent ones. I need to watch some of those old ones again.
can anyone else remember “The Famous Five Go Mad on Mescaline? That was very funny, but when he happens to an entire nation… well, scary.
The thing is that a lot of us spent years rolling our eyes at the stupidity of the woke culture, hoping it would burn itself out. The young never got over it. Now, it’s everywhere and you are the one with the problem of you call BS.
Growing up in the 1980’s I remember watching the right try to cancel Madonna. These days, I feel like I’m getting the same morality play from the Left. Neither extreme is where most people live their lives, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from the media.
Acting like protests are good or bad based on the political cause is what did me in. The BLM people and the 1/6 folks both have the same rights, even if you disagree with their causes. But not being able to have rational discussions about anything has just gone out the window.
The Anyone I don’t like is a Russian agent, insurrectionist, socialist, snowflake, or nazi mentality needed to end yesterday. We have serious problems, but it’s like you’re the bad guy for suggesting that throwing labels at people isn’t a great way to solve problems. Our leaders simply don’t want to solve problems, but have election issues. That’s just not a good way to run the country. Add in that you have so many young people who have no idea how our systems work, but want to dismantle them and claim democracy isn’t working, no wonder the West is a mess and a lot of us are alarmist. My side worked for 50 years to get Roe dismantled. We used the democratic process to get that done. it wasn’t a big secret. We didn’t do anything illegal.
The author misses a few important points:
A huge number of Americans are taking anti-anxiety medications. These meds are a blessing for those few with serious chemical imbalances that lead to crushing, life-altering bouts of anxiety. But thy are way over-prescribed. So, just as with the anti-depression meds that were so popular ten/twenty years ago, if you step back and take a population-wide view, they seem to have the perverse effect of increasing the prevalence of the condition they’re prescribed to treat.
Also, the US is stuck with two monopoly Parties. Neither one actually represents the real interests of of the People; except for that segment of the People who are filled with rage and a sense of greivence. (We all know characters like this; if they can’t rave against the Mets they’re ready to fire all the Dodgers.) So the People are deeply frustrated but still unwilling to admit that their leaders/heros are made of clay. Or something worse.
And, also, the population’s sense of humour has collapsed. The image of a nut with a silly beard and a sign on a stick that says “THE END IS NEAR!” was once a trope that always got a giggle. Now, it’s just politics as usual, a photo on the cover of the NYTimes almost every day.Oy!