Trump has become so normalized with his jabbering, his irate social posts, his vindictiveness, his narcissism, that when the King stood up and spoke before Congress, when he spoke so eloquently and sincerely, so intelligently and kindly, so warm-heartedly and friendly, it took my breath away. My head was spinning and my heart was thumping.
It made me sad to realize in a truthful and realistic manner how much influence and sway and infiltration trump has over our country—-how he chips away at pure decency right before our eyes day and night, and how I thought I was removed from it all- because I have no respect for him, dislike him immensely, and typically don’t listen to him—-still…he infiltrates every cell in my body, whether it is conscious or unconscious. And he does this relentlessly and after I see these two men, what they have to offer, how they communicate, what motivates them, they could not be any different apart from day and night. As time passes and the filth of trump continues to churn and burn, I realize that the King gave me a breath of fresh air around the fetid stench of trump where he sucks out all the oxygen in the room. I continue to feel our country is victimized by trump. Even traumatized by his violence and vindictiveness. He is a man with an iron grip on this country. Yes there is resistance, but what he is doing to the spirit, to the drive, to the beauty of America is dark, deranged and immoral. He is holding Americans hostage. The King understands his danger. He was telling Americans he understands our predicament and he will always defend the values and principle of our country. He will stand up for America while our own president is tearing it down.
Sunny Girl, you are spot on. What is alarming to me, more than the heap of human pathology evidenced in Trump, is the behavior of those elected and appointed members of Congress, SCOTUS, and the executive cabinet. I can understand one deviant, malignant mutated "cell," but not a "house-full."
I guess our lives are too complicated to expend time, talent and treasury on issues beyond soccer or baseball or March madness. Who runs our country is boring stuff. Vetting people to be possibly elected in positions of power, or vetting those coming into our country is just too much work when you need to rush home and pop open a Coors or a Bud-Lite. Let's spend our Sundays going to Church and praising the Lord, but come Monday let's just shit all over our neighbors and the planet. Drill Baby Drill. Oil is good, Wind is Evil. Welcome to America. Come see the Prime, Grade A, Shit-Show, starring POTUS, SCOTUS, and Congress.
Nice job Mike! I think Yarvin's done too many drugs -- or something. He is completely and utterly out of touch with American historical/constitutional reality. What a poseur! Theorist indeed! He's a joke.
Reading Yarvin makes me think of Koko the gorilla with a closed head injury after an all night bender. Debating him must be painful. How do you engage with someone so ill-informed yet self confident of the originality of his threadworn ideas? Musk, Thiel, Karp, Altman - we are cursed with substandard intellects encased in too much money.
Brock has written a masterly op-ed that, for some, not many in the US, will be thought-provoking, i.e., provocative. I often view Brock as a van Gogh in that he is poorly appreciated by his contemporaries insofar as the population du jour. The other day, I was commenting to a 95-year old cousin how people, places and events in our lives from a lifetime ago are now realized to be of great consequence, but not appreciated in those earlier years. That, in itself, brought back the words on a plaque that hung on our basement wall:
"Vee Get Too Soon Olt Und Too Late Schmart!" —old German proverb
I think, however, this saying applies to fewer and fewer people. Our society seems to have degenerated in terms of "things that matter." I do not think the mass of H. sapiens has the sensitivity, the sentience that I believe was more present 30-60 years ago.
The bell, thinking about the bell, leads to so many paths.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." (Written in December 1623 prior to "Devotions" in 1624
John Donne (Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, no. 6 written in 1624)
Of course, our pathological narcissist is not capable of thinking of anyone but himself. He is the Sun King, and all revolves around Him.
Another bell, the bell-shaped curve, and its modification by yours truly also comes to mind.
The above is a Dropbox link to my version of the bell-shaped curve. The curve has shifted markedly to the left. The percentage in the extreme right of the curve has significantly decreased. This is my adaptation of the frequency of artistry in the world, but especially so in the US since this is where I have spent most of my life.
This shift reflects many things. How we are raised in our families, our role models, our education, and our inner nature. The US population has grown more "religious" but in a hypocritical way. So many talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. Know a man by his deeds, how he treats the "other," be it a human, an animal, nature, anything. Lincolinism has been pushed out and replaced by the malignant version of the Alfred E. Newman "What's in it for me?" And that is Trumpism. There is no bell in Trumpism other than a gold one to ring in praise of the great one: Donald J. Chump. Or was it Donald J. Lump.
Before I forget, Lincolnism; what's that?
When Lincoln was asked what his religion was, he is said to have answered with the following:
"When I do good, I feel good,
When I do bad, I feel bad.
That is my religion."
It is sad commentary that the American resident does not take far more interest in how their House is run. I am saddened by what I believe will be the worst outcome. TJ had it right.
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Maybe that gift from Charles was the bell of awakening.
Well said. However I think debating people like Yarvin is a waste of time. He wins just because anyone is willing to pay attention to him not to say he should be ignored but not given such a platform. I speak from experience as a few years ago when I had an underground venue a guy named Gasda asked me if he could debate this guy named Yarvin over the veracity of Shakespeare. I'd need heard of Yarvin and while I wasn't and still am not fond of Gasda I agreed with Gasda taking the side that Willy was real and Yarvin the opposite. It was t so much of a debate as Gasda spewing facts as he saw them and Yarvin not really saying much. N.Y. the tone of the debate I had finally done some homework on Yarvin and spent the entire evening feeling like a jsckass. I also couldn't understand what his appeal was and never will. I met him at many other events since and decided the best way to play it was to keep my opinions to myself and try to learn as much as I could. I even read his substack for a while until I just couldn't stomach it anymore. Somehow he's a cult of personality playing the role of leader to a bunch of mostly GenZ and Millenial white Republican angry entitled kids. It's a standard trope of an older person captivating a bunch of young disenchanted people looking for a place to park their anger and discontent. And while I always encourage dialogue and will be anti polarizing til my grave there's a time and place for everything and I regret having let that "debate" take place on my soil. So it goes. Life and learn. Ignorance is no excuse. Anyway thanks for this. I look forward to more .
Trump has become so normalized with his jabbering, his irate social posts, his vindictiveness, his narcissism, that when the King stood up and spoke before Congress, when he spoke so eloquently and sincerely, so intelligently and kindly, so warm-heartedly and friendly, it took my breath away. My head was spinning and my heart was thumping.
It made me sad to realize in a truthful and realistic manner how much influence and sway and infiltration trump has over our country—-how he chips away at pure decency right before our eyes day and night, and how I thought I was removed from it all- because I have no respect for him, dislike him immensely, and typically don’t listen to him—-still…he infiltrates every cell in my body, whether it is conscious or unconscious. And he does this relentlessly and after I see these two men, what they have to offer, how they communicate, what motivates them, they could not be any different apart from day and night. As time passes and the filth of trump continues to churn and burn, I realize that the King gave me a breath of fresh air around the fetid stench of trump where he sucks out all the oxygen in the room. I continue to feel our country is victimized by trump. Even traumatized by his violence and vindictiveness. He is a man with an iron grip on this country. Yes there is resistance, but what he is doing to the spirit, to the drive, to the beauty of America is dark, deranged and immoral. He is holding Americans hostage. The King understands his danger. He was telling Americans he understands our predicament and he will always defend the values and principle of our country. He will stand up for America while our own president is tearing it down.
Sunny Girl, you are spot on. What is alarming to me, more than the heap of human pathology evidenced in Trump, is the behavior of those elected and appointed members of Congress, SCOTUS, and the executive cabinet. I can understand one deviant, malignant mutated "cell," but not a "house-full."
I guess our lives are too complicated to expend time, talent and treasury on issues beyond soccer or baseball or March madness. Who runs our country is boring stuff. Vetting people to be possibly elected in positions of power, or vetting those coming into our country is just too much work when you need to rush home and pop open a Coors or a Bud-Lite. Let's spend our Sundays going to Church and praising the Lord, but come Monday let's just shit all over our neighbors and the planet. Drill Baby Drill. Oil is good, Wind is Evil. Welcome to America. Come see the Prime, Grade A, Shit-Show, starring POTUS, SCOTUS, and Congress.
Traitors all.
Roll out your tumbrils and guillotines!
Yes, traitors all, but I'd prefer jail time just not at Club Fed and for a long time with no parole.
Nice job Mike! I think Yarvin's done too many drugs -- or something. He is completely and utterly out of touch with American historical/constitutional reality. What a poseur! Theorist indeed! He's a joke.
Fuck Curtis Yarvin and the pig he rode in on!
Reading Yarvin makes me think of Koko the gorilla with a closed head injury after an all night bender. Debating him must be painful. How do you engage with someone so ill-informed yet self confident of the originality of his threadworn ideas? Musk, Thiel, Karp, Altman - we are cursed with substandard intellects encased in too much money.
I would give Koko a bit more respect.
Well, Yarvin missed the actual timing of the Magna Carta by about 400 years. So, a genius he is not.
No Puritans around either.
Brock has written a masterly op-ed that, for some, not many in the US, will be thought-provoking, i.e., provocative. I often view Brock as a van Gogh in that he is poorly appreciated by his contemporaries insofar as the population du jour. The other day, I was commenting to a 95-year old cousin how people, places and events in our lives from a lifetime ago are now realized to be of great consequence, but not appreciated in those earlier years. That, in itself, brought back the words on a plaque that hung on our basement wall:
"Vee Get Too Soon Olt Und Too Late Schmart!" —old German proverb
I think, however, this saying applies to fewer and fewer people. Our society seems to have degenerated in terms of "things that matter." I do not think the mass of H. sapiens has the sensitivity, the sentience that I believe was more present 30-60 years ago.
The bell, thinking about the bell, leads to so many paths.
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." (Written in December 1623 prior to "Devotions" in 1624
John Donne (Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, no. 6 written in 1624)
Of course, our pathological narcissist is not capable of thinking of anyone but himself. He is the Sun King, and all revolves around Him.
Another bell, the bell-shaped curve, and its modification by yours truly also comes to mind.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vorwracnw2ku7qzwcwe6p/Bell-shaped-Curve-2-Strum-2017.jpg?rlkey=ftolgtz7n25xtufn4lcjfjasi&dl=0
The above is a Dropbox link to my version of the bell-shaped curve. The curve has shifted markedly to the left. The percentage in the extreme right of the curve has significantly decreased. This is my adaptation of the frequency of artistry in the world, but especially so in the US since this is where I have spent most of my life.
This shift reflects many things. How we are raised in our families, our role models, our education, and our inner nature. The US population has grown more "religious" but in a hypocritical way. So many talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. Know a man by his deeds, how he treats the "other," be it a human, an animal, nature, anything. Lincolinism has been pushed out and replaced by the malignant version of the Alfred E. Newman "What's in it for me?" And that is Trumpism. There is no bell in Trumpism other than a gold one to ring in praise of the great one: Donald J. Chump. Or was it Donald J. Lump.
Before I forget, Lincolnism; what's that?
When Lincoln was asked what his religion was, he is said to have answered with the following:
"When I do good, I feel good,
When I do bad, I feel bad.
That is my religion."
It is sad commentary that the American resident does not take far more interest in how their House is run. I am saddened by what I believe will be the worst outcome. TJ had it right.
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Maybe that gift from Charles was the bell of awakening.
Stephen
Well said. However I think debating people like Yarvin is a waste of time. He wins just because anyone is willing to pay attention to him not to say he should be ignored but not given such a platform. I speak from experience as a few years ago when I had an underground venue a guy named Gasda asked me if he could debate this guy named Yarvin over the veracity of Shakespeare. I'd need heard of Yarvin and while I wasn't and still am not fond of Gasda I agreed with Gasda taking the side that Willy was real and Yarvin the opposite. It was t so much of a debate as Gasda spewing facts as he saw them and Yarvin not really saying much. N.Y. the tone of the debate I had finally done some homework on Yarvin and spent the entire evening feeling like a jsckass. I also couldn't understand what his appeal was and never will. I met him at many other events since and decided the best way to play it was to keep my opinions to myself and try to learn as much as I could. I even read his substack for a while until I just couldn't stomach it anymore. Somehow he's a cult of personality playing the role of leader to a bunch of mostly GenZ and Millenial white Republican angry entitled kids. It's a standard trope of an older person captivating a bunch of young disenchanted people looking for a place to park their anger and discontent. And while I always encourage dialogue and will be anti polarizing til my grave there's a time and place for everything and I regret having let that "debate" take place on my soil. So it goes. Life and learn. Ignorance is no excuse. Anyway thanks for this. I look forward to more .
What a delight it is to be challenged daily by the precision and fairness of such thinking.
Ok, I know the origin of the bell, but I don't understand the symbolism of it that you are invoking...
Nor do I, thank you 🙏
I immediately thought of the Liberty Bell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell
Beautifully written, thank you.
Having a dirty monarch inside Congress is a shame that cannot be undone.
'Bold and imaginative rebels with a cause' resonated deeply with me. Moving description of patriots coming from the King.
Yarvin said the Magna Carta was a Puritan artifact but it was enforced on King John before the Renaissance.
What a bellend.