A gentleman I had just met, opened up our conversation with what I knew was going to be an anti Trump rant. I explained to him that I was put off by the fact that without knowing me for even 5 minutes he assumed that I was as anti-trump as he, and we could go on from there. When I told him that I didn't share his feelings, he said to me well, then what are we going to talk about?. I answered, no comment.
This is terrifying, but totally relatable. It perfectly epitomizes how people's brains have been melted by years of Two Minutes Hate on endless loop: they really do not have any idea what else to talk about!
Any news station any time if day, Somehow someway they always bring Trump into the conversation. I really don’t know what they would do if he wasn’t around to talk about.
Zappa saw this coming! "I'm the Slime", about sums it up.
We used to call them "Boob Tubes" because the Cathode Ray Tubes were actually shaped like a boob! The contemporary usage would refer to the viewers actually being turned into "BOOBS"!
That may have been an alternative meaning but "boob" also means a stupid person. I'm pretty sure that was the intent of "boob tube" when the phrase was commonly used - including by my Baptist mother! - in the 50s and 60s
But that applies to both sides of that argument in particular but many others as well, there is ideology on both sides and both sides KNOW they are right.
The *usual* rub is avoiding the tyranny of the majority, but our individual rights protected by a *right-leaning* (i.e. strictly-Constitution-following) SCOTUS does a good job stopping this.
But today, one party has figured out how to win *without* a majority, by capturing private sector actors (media, universities, finance, c-suites) to censor and fool the ignorant peeps grown fat, happy, and complacent with the success of Capitalism (another word for the Classical Liberalism of the West in general, and especially of the founding documents, appropriately amended to include *all* citizens of course some 150 years ago).
Coupled with Democrat Party capture of what should certainly be non-partisan Federal security entities, as well as most adminstrative entities (think Strzok, but these apparatchiks are almost too many to list, and the most dangerous are certainly still anonymous) *and* a number of wealthy oligarchs, this equals...
A Fascist State.
The U.S. Federal State has been taken over by Fascist-minded Democrats. Goaded beautifully by the neo-twin-slaying (and un-capturable) DJT, they have had to reveal themselves and double down, effectively conducting a declaration of war on the People and their precious freedoms.
*Only* massive voting for an un-diluted opposition party (that's the Republicans, folks) will avoid an eventual 1984 outcome, and the death of all that we libertarians hold dear.
Trump is uncapturable? I don't think so, his foreign policies were not significantly different than any other, while he didn't start any _major_ wars, he din't stop the covert crap that the US does and he made a bigger mess in the Middle East by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, the war in Yemen continued, he almost started a war with Iran, and instead of a war with Russia, he wanted a war with China, the difference is just _who_ he was captured by, as I pointed out, when Ideology takes over, objectivity is lost. Besides, have you ever seen a millionaire/billionaire that couldn't be bought, they _never_ have enough money!
As for voting for the altruistic Republicans, _most_ of them are voting _with_ Biden on his war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza, as far as the establishment Republicans go, they are no different than the Democrats, they are just generally more forthright in their attacks on the average person, they don't beat around the bush about being enablers of the wealth transfer to the 1% by reducing their taxes even more.
"If the Democrats cared about getting your vote they’d be trying hard to earn it. They’re not trying because they don’t care.
"The unelected empire managers who actually run the US power structure also don’t care who wins the election. They know they’ll still get their murder and militarism and capitalism and imperialism no matter who gets sworn in next year, whether it’s Biden or Trump or Harris or someone else. Nobody with any real power cares about your vote.
"And that’s the real issue. That’s the real point that keeps getting missed here. The problem is not that the wrong people keep getting elected, it’s that the elections don’t matter and voters don’t have a say. It’s that humanity is dominated by a murderous globe-spanning power structure loosely centralized around Washington whose actual movements and behavior have effectively zero responsiveness to the will of the electorate.
"You’re never going to be able to vote your way out of this mess, and you’re never going to be able to not-vote your way out of this mess, because the power of your vote has been undermined to a value of zero. That doesn’t mean there’s no way out of this mess, it just means there’s no way to get out of this mess using the fake plastic diversion toy they handed you to shut you up and trick you into thinking you have a say." - Caitlin Johnstone
Imso, DJT has shown that he is *not* a Statist, nor an oligarch, nor ever will be.
And today the two parties are night and day. Democrats are destroying the wealth-creating private sector, and aggrandizing the public. They are acting like Fascists in all but name, including their woke base.
Woke is just the latest word for social Fascism (I am aware that is not its original meaning).
Remember the pictures of the screaming apes mobbing black students as they walked into schools during desegregation? This epitomizes the type of brain prone to TDS.
What's really sad is that science and medicine were so politicized during Covid, that what turned out to be better ideas and approaches were censored. Physicians and scientists who spoke out were vilified, some lost their jobs. Many of the over a million Covid deaths could have been prevented just by open dialogue.
A major part of the problem was that pretty much everyone knew it was extremely probable that it came from the Wuhan Lab where we knew they were performing Gain of Function research under conditions similar to that of a dentist lab. The back channel emails from Faucci's group show that A) they thought it probable that it came from bioweapon research and B) displayed characteristics of an engineered virus and C) they were not allowed to consider the lab as the source.
Goes back to the foundational truth - he who controls the assumptions controls the analysis
The journalistic community enabled that denial-of-Wuhan lie. And the Medill and Columbia journalists keep wondering why the news reporting business is dying...
Absolutely , but also it came from the top and it was protecting the left so the press did not want to look very deeply. What was surprising was how freely those writing the dismissals talked in their back channel coms that they knew they were "just following orders" not the facts. Although I disagree with a lot of his ideas RFK jr just nailed it in his writing on covid from its origins to the vaccine corruption to masks and closing schools .
The coverup of Hunter Biden's laptop and the vast array of crimes he conveniently documented on his computer were stuffed into the closet by the press to protect Joe Biden and the greater problem, the army of influence peddling lawyers, fixers and spinners and their partners in crime in various government departments and agencies.
This is a sample of the corruption. Louie Freeh, Hunter and gang are working to assist a client, JP Morgan, get $2.4 Billion out the back door of the Treasury with help from a an array of elected and appointed officials. Even better there would be no visibility of the event.
"Trust fund"... All these World Governance institutions were started after WW2 with our gold we "gifted" to them. Time to get it back with 80 years interest.
Dream on! The Government and State Media are desperately trying to push the Orange Man Bad theme (true, but worse than the more dangerous Establishment?) and of course abortion access (which I favor, along with voluntary, non-mandated vaccinations).
It's a good thing that, like Obama, Biden once again broke his campaign promise: "I would send immediately to the desk of the United States Congress, when I'm elected president -- if I'm elected president, a codification of Roe v. Wade amended by Casey, because I think it is a woman's right to choose." transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2020-03-15/segment/03 Of course Biden did nothing with control of the House and Senate (why waste the Democrats' best campaign promise? Even Trump, when a Democrat, supported Roe vs Wade), and Obama, when called out on the same campaign promise, said it wasn't high priority. Except as a continual campaign promise.
It's sooo true. Living in an Uber liberal city, as I do, people assume ALL the time that you're automatically going to agree w their political views without question. Makes me nuts.
That comment I wrote is only one of many I have every week. The sad thing is, that most of my dear educated loving long time friends and I can't find anything to talk about anymore because all they want to talk about is how much they hate trump. I now drop out of many conversations and just have another cup of coffee as they go at it. I even had a Canadian Living down in expat Mexico where I live whose jaw literally dropped when I told her that I rather liked Trump. The hatred has even spread to canada. She rarely spoke to me after that encounter. But Life Goes On. And thank god, I found this site.
Thank you, dorothy. It makes me happy you have found your community. If you have time, check out the stack Screaming into the Void by SimulationCommander. There are many libertarian-minded newsletters.
When the peeps around me start assuming I'm woke too, I stay very friendly, but not silent either. Someone's got to wake them up!
It's not so bad, really. I think part of it is human nature. Once about 60% of the population goes one way politically, both sides tend to give that substantial majority much more weight in describing the people of a region/state.
But one out of three Bay area resident voted Republican.
And when I *do* wear my Trump hat (black, with big white lettering, easily seen within 50 feet!), while most look askance, I do get quiet signs of support.
I think this time around especially, final numbers count, so it is important for all blue-state people-of-the-right to vote, even if in losing effort.
I hope that is a Trump hat you're tipping, but a sincere thanks in any case!
The feeling is one of not just total isolation, but of all eyes on you like you are a joke or not even human. No one talks to you (except the occasional and quiet thumbs-up). I doubt most could take it. We are social animals, and TDS is *so* dis-heartening.
But...Woke Foods has my parmesano reggiano, and I can take it. ;-)
Ha. When I quit talking about liberal politics or any politics with my rabid liberal sister back in my “weaning off democrats during the Obama days”, she said I was now “boring”.
The assumption you thought like him is a phenomena I still don't get, especially given the 50/50 split in the population. Basic statistics would tell you that a 1 in 2 chance is you're talking to the 'other' side. There are so many things to talk about besides politics.
Perhaps that was a missed opportunity, it sounded like an invitation to conversation. We need more speech, not less. Friendly dissent, perhaps? It's become a vanished artform.
What I love about Racket News comments is the broad stretch of perspectives, and while there are a fair amount of pointed comments, it's nothing like other places. Like The Free Press, for instance, where even the whiff of criticism of Israel's government will have you called antisemite and Jew-hater by at least 4-6 people.
Yep, I can’t even look at Citizen’s Free Press anymore. And I won’t. Just because of this very issue. It’s sickening. I always respond with, “I happen to admire and adore Aaron and Gabor Mate, Max Blumenthal, Medea Benjamin, Norman Finkelstein, Russell Dobular, Keaton Weiss and Glen Greenwald to name just a few of the fine Jewish people with intact moral compasses.” Then I end by telling the person who called me a “Jew-hater” - “so you are FULL of ****.”
Just a question. how many governments that are democracies you've criticized other than Israel? If you have more than one I hope you started with our own "democracy".
Lately? Ours, Canada's, China's, Russia's, the UK's, Germany's, and the EU's in general when it comes to censorship. There are a lot more I haven't heard or written about much lately, like Saudi Arabia and India.
No, but I have had a couple freeze-outs, as some other commenters have related as well. Then again, I pay them $80 to read, so they probably like that.
Oh come on. I love the comment section on The Free Press. I've seen people disagree with you (Iike me) but I've never seen you called a Jew hater, much less by 4-6 people. Maybe if you celebrate rape and terrorism you would get that, but you're not in that category.
Antisemite didn't surprise me, though it did disappoint me. It's a quick, reflexive response given by people who otherwise seem logical. Those were the 4-6. I was called a Jew-hater once, and was asked if I was a Jew-Hater once. Those are the extremists, and I pay them no mind. I would probably be able to remember the specific commenters if I scrolled through a random TFP.
You're right, I don't support rape or terrorism. But neither do I support what is happening to Gaza, much less our providing the guns and bombs to do it.
There's also the option to IGNORE speech and not lend foolish, flippant, or impulsive comments any credibility by bringing them to a public forum, thereby validating them. Stupid shit doesn't even deserve the validation of a response.
Our local Idiot of The Year is the NJ Governor's wife, Tammy Murphy, who somehow thought that there were phalanxes of voters in HoHoKus just dying to see her replace Mendacious Menendez as a U.S. Senator. That delusion perished in the sunlight of reality.
04/01/24: With a hefty hockey-assist point from the knowledge that when Covid Murphy bankrupted (and murdered) thousands with his Cuomoian (NYS gov) business lockdowns/from-hospital-to-nursing home dumps, he and Tammy also thought it a good idea to get a good night's sleep or two at their villa in Italy (bought with Murphy's accrued investment-banking Goldman Sachs lucre). Instant disapproval. And we remembered.
Yes, the wealthy Left are out of touch with reality.
I sure enjoyed the irony when Menendez publicly defended his crony-capitalism by threatening his fellow anti-Capitalist Democrat politicians with exposing (and thus ending) their own.
Oh, HELL NO to entering THAT world! I’d never go back to it! Women are the WORST, most territorial backstabbing drama characters of anyone out there! And YES, I can write this without remorse because I’ve lived it!!!
"Everyone here ought to stop by the NBC site for a proper scolding by Richard Engel about the ignorance of the bigoted term "Chinese virus,"... delivered from his [impeccable] moral pinnacle previously occupied by Brian Williams, Matt Lauer and most recently, Chris Matthews."
And mine:
DR: I personally remember the days when you could be fired from NBC for moral turpitude.
04/03/24: Then you must be immensely enjoying the public spectacle of the five exclusively female NBC-Pravda "News" 30 Rock execs shrieking and tearing each other's hair out trying to avoid being fingered as one of The Women (hello, Claire Booth Luce!) Who Hired Ronna McDaniel.
[Which is all very strange in itself since their boss, Señor Conde --- "The Revenge of Telemundo" --- had publically taken sole responsibility for the McDaniel Hired-Fired Dumpster Inferno. Maybe if they had watched, you know, the "news," they would have known this before launching their hussy-diabolical diatribes.]
Worthy successors indeed to Fili-Krushel and Deborah Turness, the one-time Big NBC-Pravda execs in charge when Lyin' Brian William's fables were exposed.
F-K in the aftermath landed in a cushy, empty executive Comcast office before returning to the beaten-path as an Upper East Side nosh-commando.
FCD ("Forever Cool" Debby) was rewarded with the biggest media job in the UK, BBC-Pravda "News."
(Honorable mention goes to the putz who in January 2019 had to spend $160,000,000 to get rid of his prize hire, Megan Kelly. His name escapes me for the moment. Another H.M. is Third-Sex-Specimen Noah Oppenheim, long gone.)
Nothing changes.
Actually, that's not true. The male goons were replaced by the FemDolts.
Good to hear, always! And she can't go wrong with "Mind The Gaffe, The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English," by Larry Trask [1944-2004]; Penguin Group (2002 paperback).
The title is misleading; it sounds like a "scold" book (a grammar "specialty," which is why no one wants anything to do with it). MTG isn't like that at all. Mr. Trask's robust and resilient sense of humor will win over readers of all ages.
Above all, buy the English edition; AVOID the American edition!
If you like to talk about scissoring you might. Condemning a comment and then issuing this a couple days later is tidily apologetic but not exactly "no bullshit"
You ROCK, @yuri!!! I DO believe that you are the reincarnated version of Yuri 1.0. I’m Resubscribing to you! Word I love now: samizdat. Thanks to you! Sposeba!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrXoCb4ORio (starts at 08:35). 04/03/24: Unfortunately, since Mark Dice somehow didn't provide indexes to any of his/the four books that I once owned, you CAN'T find the pages pertinent to the original Yuri in "The War on Conservatives."
This is the BEST comment section on the web. The IQ level of your audience is off the chart. It gives me hope for our hurting humanity. It is also the best kind of rabbit-hole ;-)
Why does it have to be measured by left or right? Are we only pigeon holes to be filled? There are intelligent and interesting posts from all sides of the spectrum.
True. I do see fewer "Orange Man Bad!" and "all Democrats are fascists/communists" (well, which is it?) here, which typically signifies a my tribe vs. your tribe perspective found so many other places.
We have had some dyed in the wool Dem cheerleaders here, but they seem to get scared off when the party line is not swallowed here. Or just assume that we're all right wing Trumpsters and unsalvagable.
Rtj, I was referring to the left and right side of an IQ chart. The commenter said the posters to this site are off the chart when it comes to IQ. I made a joke: are we off the chart to the left side or the right?
Based on the responses, I believe the joke has unintentionally answered itself.
I think that's because Matt is a straight shooter. The Free Press, for example, when it was Common Sense, was much more a straight shooter than it is now. So it's not surprising to see reactions to factual, interesting content vs a whole lot of slant. You get much more thoughtful, insightful and educated comments when one is presented with the facts.
Because to the left lies more of today's Democrat Fascism (a form of Statism), and to the right lies the freedom of Classical Liberalism, not to mention *limited* gov't.
But I don't believe bk was refering to the political spectrum...
Why does that matter so long as we are all THINKING? "Conservative" speech naturally gravitates to the internet because it is suppressed everywhere else. So long as one is not a sophist, has an honest argument I will LISTEN and maybe LEARN something. I might even be convinced to change my position.
Bill, my inbox says your reply here is to me. Sorry if that’s not the case. But if it is, here goes: i posted a comment about the left and right side of the IQ chart in response to the original poster saying that this substack’s readership has “off the charts” IQ. My joke was: off the chart in which direction—toward the low numbers(left) or the high numbers (right)?
Everyone who has posted since then about left-right political ideation rather than left-right IQ scores either didn’t read closely or has trouble recognizing when a joke has been made. Again, sorry if I’m responding to you by mistake.
I saw an email notification pop up from Matt about rules for comments and really wondered how he could have any given his continued fight for free speech.
I was pleased when I actually read the message. :)
Absolutely! The essence of the American spirit is to stand up and be able to look any man in the eye and tell him to "Go Fuck Yourself". We have lost the rebel spirit that made this country special, nakedly proven by covid.
I post under my own name because I'm an American and will not be cowed by authority. Don't like what I have to say? GO FUCK YOURSELF- my opinions are worth what you pay for them. FREE SPEECH!!!
That performance by the Democrats in committee when questioning Matt and Michael was the clearest example of the depth of their depravity. It was funny at first but then I realized how far they might take this against not only disagreeing journalists but those of us who appreciate their work. I saw nothing but totalitarians among them.
And dumbass totalitarians at that. A bunch of stooges who were handed their notes on the way into the hearing, having no idea what the issue is all about. The so-called Rep from the Virgin Islands and her nonsense, then it's handed to Allred for some real stupidity, then Wasserman-Schultz grabs the baton for the home stretch, fantasizing that if her hero Hillary were there, she would simply vanquish these heretics!
You know, that is a highly underutilized pejorative. I've been defaulting to foul language for way too long. I'm going back to good words like "weenie" for maximum effectiveness!
LOL. Peter De Vries had a female-centered novel, Sauce For the Goose. There's a memory her high-school english teacher has of her back when. He'd asked the class what poetry was for; someone offered, "to shock the bourgeosie?"
Then the teacher asked how one would do that, and got ,"Um, four letter words?"
So he pressed, what four letter words would actually shock the bourgeorsie - our heroine piped up with, "How about 'fain,' and 'dost?"
He knew this was the brat he'd been hoping to have in the class.
Thanks for sharing the link to Freddie’s rant about his comments section. It makes me appreciate Matt’s 1 minute read even more. Seems like Freddie needs to lose his nose for a while. Or forever.
De Boer will instantly ban you if you suggest that maybe, just maybe, psychiatric drugs sometimes have negative side effects, like--oh, I don't know--suicide and violence. He's utterly intolerant of dissent from his pet views and he acts like a middle schooler if you have the gall to express any. Call me nitpicky but that strikes me as a terrible quality for a writer working in a public space. He's certainly the opposite of Matt in that regard, and it's not a trivial thing.
"The only arbiter of when these lines are crossed is me. This is my shop and I run it how I want."
Yup. He's begging for people to mess with him, and so of course they will (and already do, under his radar, compounding his paranoia). This attitude doesn't result in the best commentary, and it may backfire spectacularly some day.
He has super thin skin. He correctly observes the kids ought not self diagnose themselves by watching TikTok videos, except of course that they are not their sex, which cannot be questioned. Then there's his Hamas rape denial. Oh well...
I agree with him on quite a few of his views but I can't abide banning people for disagreeing. On the issue of psychiatric drugs he behaves like he's on Big Pharma's payroll.
I don't always agree with Freddie, but his talent for pissing off the kinds of self-important people I loathe is unparalleled and for that, I appreciate him
Don't you understand? Modern "Leftists" know the uncontestable "truth". Naturally, FdB's self-esteem is sufficient for him to "know it when I see it" with an unimpeachable finality. (As for positive and normative, um... what's that?)
Among other things, this means that if, in some polity, an election candidate (such as, oh, Saddam Hussein) wins 100%, that democracy must so perfect that "the will of the people" has been fully revealed, and all the "erroneous" beliefs have been completely destroyed by a thorough "education". Three cheers for the Democratic Republic of America!
He does _and_ he can come off as no more than a spicy Dem more often than not. He really likes and stands by identity politics more than he thinks he does and he's an incredibly insecure person who probably shouldn't have a comment section or a public facing profession at all.
I deleted my paid subscription from deBoer a few months ago due to his seeming support for totalitarianism as long as it was leftist totalitarianism, but the the headline of the one he dropped this morning made me unsubscribe entirely. Then I saw this post from Matt and it cheered me up. (That and the brunch drinks.)
He is a better writer than he is a public intellectual. All of his ideas have been tried already and failed repeatedly. So we go off to search for Real Socialism (TM). After a while, it's just gets repetitive. YMMV.
Socialism is based on No True Scotsman logical fallacy. Any argument based on the logical fallacy becomes unfalsifiable. His pro-Palestinian stance was the last straw for me. I can read "Israel is bad, m'kay" pieces in Nation or TNR for free.
just realize that when reading quillette, you are basically reading reason-lite magazine. they def. have their bias and blinders on in various ways. (like listening to tim pool, well not that bad but you get it)
Freddy is an intellectual coward. He takes positions, but will not defend them. He subscribes to a ideology that has been proven to be a failure, and yet clings to it, even as he reaps the benefits of the antithesis of that ideology.
A socialist who owns a house in the suburbs. Need I say more.
(he does have an excellent comment section, far above what he writes. i am not surprised he wants to tame it, indeed, is frightened of it.)
One of the things he was whining about in his post today was folks going "FdB doing the bipolar thing again". He has no "can he hear himself right now?" filter whatsoever, though.
My late husband was - slightly - bipolar. That can tend to people really, truly not hearing themselves "right now."
However, it doesn't tend to lend confidence in their general observation powers or mental clarity. Perhaps De Boer should write fiction instead of social commentary.
Freddie uses his mental illness as the basis for his constant claiming to know more about mental illness than anyone who disagrees with him about mental illness.
He pretends to have "taken responsibility" for his spurious online rape charges against someone who disagreed with him but has written thousands of words establishing that mental illness makes people do bad things and that it is important to understand that about mental illness. In other words, his mental illness "made" him do bad things.
He talks about the side effects of his meds, the power of his illness to influence his perspective and his behavior, and then broadens his experience to the point where it becomes "what mental illness and psychiatric drugs ACTUALLY are."
Sounds like a mental illness to me. But don't say it in Freddie's hearing, cuz he's a Marxist.
The guy is publicly on board with an ideology that has created more oppression, suffering and death than any in world history. That is everything you need to know about him.
But then he writes long diatribes assuring us that he is one of the Good Ones, a good Ally who is totally down with adult men showering with pre-teen girls. And everyone who disagrees is a reactionary who should shut the fuck up.
I unsubscribed because what I thought I was getting was something different than typical woke bullshit. What I ended up getting was exactly the same woke bullshit, only written up better. I can get that for free anywhere.
why be original when I can be consistent? you’re the kind of person I was referring to in my first comment. also rich asking me to be original when you’re fearmongering about bathrooms like a NC state senator from half a decade ago
I agree. What's the point of you even trying to be original? A man's got to know his limitations, and you know yours. So kudos.
Just like Freddie, I see you too think that disregarding welfare of women to appease some dudes is really awesome and everybody who is not aboard the latest thing should shut the fuck up. I think you probably get off on the idea of frightening women but have no balls to live out your fantasy. So you live it through others. Naughty naughty.
Disdainful? Fred? Duh-Boor? It's probably just a case of self-loathing that stems from the fact that nobody has any idea what he's talking about at any given column inch, including himself. He is, after all, a self-proclaimed Marxist whose ideas suggest a lonely CPA going through a mid-life crisis and who is actually a closet libertarian.
Best response to bad speech is more speech
A gentleman I had just met, opened up our conversation with what I knew was going to be an anti Trump rant. I explained to him that I was put off by the fact that without knowing me for even 5 minutes he assumed that I was as anti-trump as he, and we could go on from there. When I told him that I didn't share his feelings, he said to me well, then what are we going to talk about?. I answered, no comment.
This is terrifying, but totally relatable. It perfectly epitomizes how people's brains have been melted by years of Two Minutes Hate on endless loop: they really do not have any idea what else to talk about!
Shorter attention spans are a feature not a bug of the modern media.
Bill that is an OUTSTANDING observation - and terrifying
Any news station any time if day, Somehow someway they always bring Trump into the conversation. I really don’t know what they would do if he wasn’t around to talk about.
Zappa saw this coming! "I'm the Slime", about sums it up.
We used to call them "Boob Tubes" because the Cathode Ray Tubes were actually shaped like a boob! The contemporary usage would refer to the viewers actually being turned into "BOOBS"!
That may have been an alternative meaning but "boob" also means a stupid person. I'm pretty sure that was the intent of "boob tube" when the phrase was commonly used - including by my Baptist mother! - in the 50s and 60s
I'm actually a former TV tech. At the dawn of the CRT, was the boob shape. And it took on a new and more publicly palatable meaning almost instantly.
I guess one has to be of a certain age to remember that Jeremy Boob was the Nowhere Man in the Beatles movie Yellow Submarine...
Blast from the past! Boob tubes. Lol.
The original meaning of "boob tube" was sex is best sold visually.
cold showers for the lot of you...
- regards, The Church Lady
Good advice, my Lady. After cold showers, I am more civilized: I call them decolletages, and they look just as good...
Some people use Trump as metaphor all day long for everything in their lives. I know someone like that.
Only one? Lucky you.
But that applies to both sides of that argument in particular but many others as well, there is ideology on both sides and both sides KNOW they are right.
Thus, democracy.
The *usual* rub is avoiding the tyranny of the majority, but our individual rights protected by a *right-leaning* (i.e. strictly-Constitution-following) SCOTUS does a good job stopping this.
But today, one party has figured out how to win *without* a majority, by capturing private sector actors (media, universities, finance, c-suites) to censor and fool the ignorant peeps grown fat, happy, and complacent with the success of Capitalism (another word for the Classical Liberalism of the West in general, and especially of the founding documents, appropriately amended to include *all* citizens of course some 150 years ago).
Coupled with Democrat Party capture of what should certainly be non-partisan Federal security entities, as well as most adminstrative entities (think Strzok, but these apparatchiks are almost too many to list, and the most dangerous are certainly still anonymous) *and* a number of wealthy oligarchs, this equals...
A Fascist State.
The U.S. Federal State has been taken over by Fascist-minded Democrats. Goaded beautifully by the neo-twin-slaying (and un-capturable) DJT, they have had to reveal themselves and double down, effectively conducting a declaration of war on the People and their precious freedoms.
*Only* massive voting for an un-diluted opposition party (that's the Republicans, folks) will avoid an eventual 1984 outcome, and the death of all that we libertarians hold dear.
Trump is uncapturable? I don't think so, his foreign policies were not significantly different than any other, while he didn't start any _major_ wars, he din't stop the covert crap that the US does and he made a bigger mess in the Middle East by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, the war in Yemen continued, he almost started a war with Iran, and instead of a war with Russia, he wanted a war with China, the difference is just _who_ he was captured by, as I pointed out, when Ideology takes over, objectivity is lost. Besides, have you ever seen a millionaire/billionaire that couldn't be bought, they _never_ have enough money!
As for voting for the altruistic Republicans, _most_ of them are voting _with_ Biden on his war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza, as far as the establishment Republicans go, they are no different than the Democrats, they are just generally more forthright in their attacks on the average person, they don't beat around the bush about being enablers of the wealth transfer to the 1% by reducing their taxes even more.
"If the Democrats cared about getting your vote they’d be trying hard to earn it. They’re not trying because they don’t care.
"The unelected empire managers who actually run the US power structure also don’t care who wins the election. They know they’ll still get their murder and militarism and capitalism and imperialism no matter who gets sworn in next year, whether it’s Biden or Trump or Harris or someone else. Nobody with any real power cares about your vote.
"And that’s the real issue. That’s the real point that keeps getting missed here. The problem is not that the wrong people keep getting elected, it’s that the elections don’t matter and voters don’t have a say. It’s that humanity is dominated by a murderous globe-spanning power structure loosely centralized around Washington whose actual movements and behavior have effectively zero responsiveness to the will of the electorate.
"You’re never going to be able to vote your way out of this mess, and you’re never going to be able to not-vote your way out of this mess, because the power of your vote has been undermined to a value of zero. That doesn’t mean there’s no way out of this mess, it just means there’s no way to get out of this mess using the fake plastic diversion toy they handed you to shut you up and trick you into thinking you have a say." - Caitlin Johnstone
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/nobody-with-real-power-cares-if-you
I could not disagree more.
Imso, DJT has shown that he is *not* a Statist, nor an oligarch, nor ever will be.
And today the two parties are night and day. Democrats are destroying the wealth-creating private sector, and aggrandizing the public. They are acting like Fascists in all but name, including their woke base.
Woke is just the latest word for social Fascism (I am aware that is not its original meaning).
Therein lies that problem. No principles or moral fortitude. The hate has shattered their soul, leaving a shell full of propaganda.
Remember the pictures of the screaming apes mobbing black students as they walked into schools during desegregation? This epitomizes the type of brain prone to TDS.
What's really sad is that science and medicine were so politicized during Covid, that what turned out to be better ideas and approaches were censored. Physicians and scientists who spoke out were vilified, some lost their jobs. Many of the over a million Covid deaths could have been prevented just by open dialogue.
A major part of the problem was that pretty much everyone knew it was extremely probable that it came from the Wuhan Lab where we knew they were performing Gain of Function research under conditions similar to that of a dentist lab. The back channel emails from Faucci's group show that A) they thought it probable that it came from bioweapon research and B) displayed characteristics of an engineered virus and C) they were not allowed to consider the lab as the source.
Goes back to the foundational truth - he who controls the assumptions controls the analysis
The journalistic community enabled that denial-of-Wuhan lie. And the Medill and Columbia journalists keep wondering why the news reporting business is dying...
Absolutely , but also it came from the top and it was protecting the left so the press did not want to look very deeply. What was surprising was how freely those writing the dismissals talked in their back channel coms that they knew they were "just following orders" not the facts. Although I disagree with a lot of his ideas RFK jr just nailed it in his writing on covid from its origins to the vaccine corruption to masks and closing schools .
The coverup of Hunter Biden's laptop and the vast array of crimes he conveniently documented on his computer were stuffed into the closet by the press to protect Joe Biden and the greater problem, the army of influence peddling lawyers, fixers and spinners and their partners in crime in various government departments and agencies.
This is a sample of the corruption. Louie Freeh, Hunter and gang are working to assist a client, JP Morgan, get $2.4 Billion out the back door of the Treasury with help from a an array of elected and appointed officials. Even better there would be no visibility of the event.
https://bidenlaptopemails.com/biden-emails/email.php?id=20100307-152935_23691
Excellent, and thank you.
Yep, but "foundational" only to the wayward Left today.
Can't have crisis capitalism without a crisis, manufactured or otherwise. Ahem....global boiling catastrophe emergency. lol
Everyone loves a good "IMF Riot".
$21,000,000,000 out of the $1,200,000,000,000 spending package just passed.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/treasurys-yellen-says-funding-bill-allows-lending-21-bln-imf-trust-2024-03-23/
"Trust fund"... All these World Governance institutions were started after WW2 with our gold we "gifted" to them. Time to get it back with 80 years interest.
You mean crony-capitalism, the opposite of classical Capitalism.
Dream on! The Government and State Media are desperately trying to push the Orange Man Bad theme (true, but worse than the more dangerous Establishment?) and of course abortion access (which I favor, along with voluntary, non-mandated vaccinations).
It's a good thing that, like Obama, Biden once again broke his campaign promise: "I would send immediately to the desk of the United States Congress, when I'm elected president -- if I'm elected president, a codification of Roe v. Wade amended by Casey, because I think it is a woman's right to choose." transcripts.cnn.com/show/se/date/2020-03-15/segment/03 Of course Biden did nothing with control of the House and Senate (why waste the Democrats' best campaign promise? Even Trump, when a Democrat, supported Roe vs Wade), and Obama, when called out on the same campaign promise, said it wasn't high priority. Except as a continual campaign promise.
But could it possibly be that even you, who see the truth about the Dem police state gambit, have bought Dem lies about "Orange Man Bad"?
OMB is TDS.
My only grandchild was steered into this hell. The monsters do quite a job on the parents.
It's sooo true. Living in an Uber liberal city, as I do, people assume ALL the time that you're automatically going to agree w their political views without question. Makes me nuts.
Their heads are little echo chambers
If you lived in coastal California, you get used to it.
Sometimes I can avoid it by wearing my Trump hat...
That comment I wrote is only one of many I have every week. The sad thing is, that most of my dear educated loving long time friends and I can't find anything to talk about anymore because all they want to talk about is how much they hate trump. I now drop out of many conversations and just have another cup of coffee as they go at it. I even had a Canadian Living down in expat Mexico where I live whose jaw literally dropped when I told her that I rather liked Trump. The hatred has even spread to canada. She rarely spoke to me after that encounter. But Life Goes On. And thank god, I found this site.
Thank you, dorothy. It makes me happy you have found your community. If you have time, check out the stack Screaming into the Void by SimulationCommander. There are many libertarian-minded newsletters.
When the peeps around me start assuming I'm woke too, I stay very friendly, but not silent either. Someone's got to wake them up!
I do the same here in deep red sw colorado. Except I dress up in rainbow leotards. I try to get used to it, but it’s a challenge.
Ha!
I don't think we *should* get used to it, william. That strikes me as giving in.
But...I don't usually wear my hat here in Marin County for two reasons.
1) I want these local wokesters to think they don't need to vote, and
2) I always feel like I have to be some kind of ambassador, instead of my usual curmudgeonly self!
Wow! Marin!! Hats off to you...no pun intended.
It's not so bad, really. I think part of it is human nature. Once about 60% of the population goes one way politically, both sides tend to give that substantial majority much more weight in describing the people of a region/state.
But one out of three Bay area resident voted Republican.
And when I *do* wear my Trump hat (black, with big white lettering, easily seen within 50 feet!), while most look askance, I do get quiet signs of support.
I think this time around especially, final numbers count, so it is important for all blue-state people-of-the-right to vote, even if in losing effort.
I hope that is a Trump hat you're tipping, but a sincere thanks in any case!
Richard Simmons, is that you? Lol.
I've always wondered about wearing a MAGA hat in a Whole Foods
The feeling is one of not just total isolation, but of all eyes on you like you are a joke or not even human. No one talks to you (except the occasional and quiet thumbs-up). I doubt most could take it. We are social animals, and TDS is *so* dis-heartening.
But...Woke Foods has my parmesano reggiano, and I can take it. ;-)
Ha. When I quit talking about liberal politics or any politics with my rabid liberal sister back in my “weaning off democrats during the Obama days”, she said I was now “boring”.
The assumption you thought like him is a phenomena I still don't get, especially given the 50/50 split in the population. Basic statistics would tell you that a 1 in 2 chance is you're talking to the 'other' side. There are so many things to talk about besides politics.
Was he my ex-wife? That’s our only communication. It’s like an MSNBC program.
Perhaps that was a missed opportunity, it sounded like an invitation to conversation. We need more speech, not less. Friendly dissent, perhaps? It's become a vanished artform.
...or better speech.
We can't decide which is better until we see them...
That's the point of erasing the middle man (the censor).
Better is in the ear of the beholder!
....and mind and heart....
It's the eye of the beholder I'm worried about.
spoken like a real running burning man! What are you hiding? Come out come out whoever you are!! ID yourself!
Or more speech by Matt.
That's always welcome.
Huh? Best detail that call sir. What is better?
What I love about Racket News comments is the broad stretch of perspectives, and while there are a fair amount of pointed comments, it's nothing like other places. Like The Free Press, for instance, where even the whiff of criticism of Israel's government will have you called antisemite and Jew-hater by at least 4-6 people.
Yep, I can’t even look at Citizen’s Free Press anymore. And I won’t. Just because of this very issue. It’s sickening. I always respond with, “I happen to admire and adore Aaron and Gabor Mate, Max Blumenthal, Medea Benjamin, Norman Finkelstein, Russell Dobular, Keaton Weiss and Glen Greenwald to name just a few of the fine Jewish people with intact moral compasses.” Then I end by telling the person who called me a “Jew-hater” - “so you are FULL of ****.”
My reply is that my first teachers about Zionism were folks with numbers tattooed on their arms.
Yeah, there’s no cornering the market on genocide…
Just a question. how many governments that are democracies you've criticized other than Israel? If you have more than one I hope you started with our own "democracy".
Lately? Ours, Canada's, China's, Russia's, the UK's, Germany's, and the EU's in general when it comes to censorship. There are a lot more I haven't heard or written about much lately, like Saudi Arabia and India.
But, you've never been banned from commenting on the Free Press, have you?
No, but I have had a couple freeze-outs, as some other commenters have related as well. Then again, I pay them $80 to read, so they probably like that.
Oh come on. I love the comment section on The Free Press. I've seen people disagree with you (Iike me) but I've never seen you called a Jew hater, much less by 4-6 people. Maybe if you celebrate rape and terrorism you would get that, but you're not in that category.
Antisemite didn't surprise me, though it did disappoint me. It's a quick, reflexive response given by people who otherwise seem logical. Those were the 4-6. I was called a Jew-hater once, and was asked if I was a Jew-Hater once. Those are the extremists, and I pay them no mind. I would probably be able to remember the specific commenters if I scrolled through a random TFP.
You're right, I don't support rape or terrorism. But neither do I support what is happening to Gaza, much less our providing the guns and bombs to do it.
What do you see as the/a solution in Gaza?
Spot on.
Probably because they are.
Thanks for proving my point.
British accent?
More persuasive.
more better speech
Worse is good too
Who’s to say what’s better? How about we let the marketplace of ideas function?
There's also the option to IGNORE speech and not lend foolish, flippant, or impulsive comments any credibility by bringing them to a public forum, thereby validating them. Stupid shit doesn't even deserve the validation of a response.
Clear, concise, no bullshit. Why would you go anywhere else?
"Some writers are concerned about what the presence of certain kinds of commenters says about them."
These "writers" should get the hell out of the writing business and enter into beauty pageants.
Or politics.
Our local Idiot of The Year is the NJ Governor's wife, Tammy Murphy, who somehow thought that there were phalanxes of voters in HoHoKus just dying to see her replace Mendacious Menendez as a U.S. Senator. That delusion perished in the sunlight of reality.
Sweet sunshine!
Freedom's disinfectant.
04/01/24: With a hefty hockey-assist point from the knowledge that when Covid Murphy bankrupted (and murdered) thousands with his Cuomoian (NYS gov) business lockdowns/from-hospital-to-nursing home dumps, he and Tammy also thought it a good idea to get a good night's sleep or two at their villa in Italy (bought with Murphy's accrued investment-banking Goldman Sachs lucre). Instant disapproval. And we remembered.
Yes, the wealthy Left are out of touch with reality.
I sure enjoyed the irony when Menendez publicly defended his crony-capitalism by threatening his fellow anti-Capitalist Democrat politicians with exposing (and thus ending) their own.
Oh, HELL NO to entering THAT world! I’d never go back to it! Women are the WORST, most territorial backstabbing drama characters of anyone out there! And YES, I can write this without remorse because I’ve lived it!!!
And here's a blast from the NBC-Pravda past:
A comment posted on Mark Steyn's website...
"Paul G. • Mar 18, 2020 at 22:18
"Everyone here ought to stop by the NBC site for a proper scolding by Richard Engel about the ignorance of the bigoted term "Chinese virus,"... delivered from his [impeccable] moral pinnacle previously occupied by Brian Williams, Matt Lauer and most recently, Chris Matthews."
And mine:
DR: I personally remember the days when you could be fired from NBC for moral turpitude.
04/03/24: Then you must be immensely enjoying the public spectacle of the five exclusively female NBC-Pravda "News" 30 Rock execs shrieking and tearing each other's hair out trying to avoid being fingered as one of The Women (hello, Claire Booth Luce!) Who Hired Ronna McDaniel.
[Which is all very strange in itself since their boss, Señor Conde --- "The Revenge of Telemundo" --- had publically taken sole responsibility for the McDaniel Hired-Fired Dumpster Inferno. Maybe if they had watched, you know, the "news," they would have known this before launching their hussy-diabolical diatribes.]
Worthy successors indeed to Fili-Krushel and Deborah Turness, the one-time Big NBC-Pravda execs in charge when Lyin' Brian William's fables were exposed.
F-K in the aftermath landed in a cushy, empty executive Comcast office before returning to the beaten-path as an Upper East Side nosh-commando.
FCD ("Forever Cool" Debby) was rewarded with the biggest media job in the UK, BBC-Pravda "News."
(Honorable mention goes to the putz who in January 2019 had to spend $160,000,000 to get rid of his prize hire, Megan Kelly. His name escapes me for the moment. Another H.M. is Third-Sex-Specimen Noah Oppenheim, long gone.)
Nothing changes.
Actually, that's not true. The male goons were replaced by the FemDolts.
Granted, identical results. Money corrupts impartially, emphatically, completely.
And tonight, The Rockies beat the Cubs in Chicago.
Good to hear, always! And she can't go wrong with "Mind The Gaffe, The Penguin Guide to Common Errors in English," by Larry Trask [1944-2004]; Penguin Group (2002 paperback).
The title is misleading; it sounds like a "scold" book (a grammar "specialty," which is why no one wants anything to do with it). MTG isn't like that at all. Mr. Trask's robust and resilient sense of humor will win over readers of all ages.
Above all, buy the English edition; AVOID the American edition!
And amazing flourishes of humor, too.
If you like to talk about scissoring you might. Condemning a comment and then issuing this a couple days later is tidily apologetic but not exactly "no bullshit"
Love it. That’s why I subscribe.
This is the way. Ever notice that the more a leftist writer bleats on about fascism, the more they censor? Check out the Trump Derangement Substack March Madness Censorious Sixteen: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/christofascist-leftist-cult-religion
Why are you posting a comment about MSNBC (or, as someone called it, NBC's crazy sister they keep locked in the attic.)
If they had actual leftists there, I might watch.
Very true. Check out Due Dissidence on YT if you haven't already.
COURAGE!
You ROCK, @yuri!!! I DO believe that you are the reincarnated version of Yuri 1.0. I’m Resubscribing to you! Word I love now: samizdat. Thanks to you! Sposeba!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrXoCb4ORio (starts at 08:35). 04/03/24: Unfortunately, since Mark Dice somehow didn't provide indexes to any of his/the four books that I once owned, you CAN'T find the pages pertinent to the original Yuri in "The War on Conservatives."
That's the best rules to have.
***claps enthusiastically to the point of cringe***
***Claps like a North Korean general.***
lol!
gasp!
*snaps*
***feels unoffended***
**Claps until he needs a shot of penicillin**
This is the BEST comment section on the web. The IQ level of your audience is off the chart. It gives me hope for our hurting humanity. It is also the best kind of rabbit-hole ;-)
"Off the chart" always makes me think that we need better charts.
I'll give 110% making a better chart!
😂
Or at least bigger ones.
IQ levels off the chart…to the right side or left?
Why does it have to be measured by left or right? Are we only pigeon holes to be filled? There are intelligent and interesting posts from all sides of the spectrum.
Brad, google an image of an IQ chart. Look at the numbers on the left side. Look at the numbers on the right side. Place your comment left of midline.
Funny
True. I do see fewer "Orange Man Bad!" and "all Democrats are fascists/communists" (well, which is it?) here, which typically signifies a my tribe vs. your tribe perspective found so many other places.
Left and right do not always mean the first thing that pops in your head.
We have had some dyed in the wool Dem cheerleaders here, but they seem to get scared off when the party line is not swallowed here. Or just assume that we're all right wing Trumpsters and unsalvagable.
Rtj, I was referring to the left and right side of an IQ chart. The commenter said the posters to this site are off the chart when it comes to IQ. I made a joke: are we off the chart to the left side or the right?
Based on the responses, I believe the joke has unintentionally answered itself.
Sorry, my bad. I was replying to Builttoill's comment.
I think that's because Matt is a straight shooter. The Free Press, for example, when it was Common Sense, was much more a straight shooter than it is now. So it's not surprising to see reactions to factual, interesting content vs a whole lot of slant. You get much more thoughtful, insightful and educated comments when one is presented with the facts.
Fascism and Communism, both being forms of Authoritarian Socialism, share the LEFT endpoint.
It's funny, because the last big power of each really didn't get along, and even had a war about it.
That's because in the end, there can be only one Authoritarian Socialist in charge.
If you will do some research, you will find this is the historical rule.
And it isn't funny at all.
Because to the left lies more of today's Democrat Fascism (a form of Statism), and to the right lies the freedom of Classical Liberalism, not to mention *limited* gov't.
But I don't believe bk was refering to the political spectrum...
I don’t think IQ is partisan
I do not think IQ means much. Highly overrated these days
If it did not represent something significant the Left would not be working so industriously to banish its use.
But it does find a way of revealing itself.
Especially in the last few comments
But wisdom is.
Only a unified opposition party can defeat the entrenched/embedded Statist party.
Vote policy, not personality.
Left side of chart = Axis of Morons. Which is a good description for the NATO-centered Borgish Empire.
Why does that matter so long as we are all THINKING? "Conservative" speech naturally gravitates to the internet because it is suppressed everywhere else. So long as one is not a sophist, has an honest argument I will LISTEN and maybe LEARN something. I might even be convinced to change my position.
Bill, my inbox says your reply here is to me. Sorry if that’s not the case. But if it is, here goes: i posted a comment about the left and right side of the IQ chart in response to the original poster saying that this substack’s readership has “off the charts” IQ. My joke was: off the chart in which direction—toward the low numbers(left) or the high numbers (right)?
Everyone who has posted since then about left-right political ideation rather than left-right IQ scores either didn’t read closely or has trouble recognizing when a joke has been made. Again, sorry if I’m responding to you by mistake.
Ha! Yes I can see that now. I must be on the lower end of the bell curve.
Bill, Glad you could join me!
I hate 'LOL' but I actually did laugh out loud
Yes
Indeed!
I saw an email notification pop up from Matt about rules for comments and really wondered how he could have any given his continued fight for free speech.
I was pleased when I actually read the message. :)
yup I was frightened there for a second. a nano second
For a half-second I thought we wouldn't be allowed to say son of bitch, fuckton, and assclown anymore. Then I remembered who this writer is.
lol. all Tourette's people. sign off. one of the best scenes ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8OZP_4sUs...
I just pissed myself. How did I miss that episode?
I have to imagine that was the intention. Great writers take you on a journey.
I wasn't. Not here. I assumed he'd say something to the effect that there were no rules, and I was right.
However, Substack may overrule him here and there.
Haha, perfect answer Matt!
Matt’s got an IDGAF attitude lately, and I like it.
I think that attitude is about 20 years old, but you're right, it has amped up since some dipshits in Congress called him a so-called journalist.
We all need to cultivate a DGAF attitude.
Absolutely! The essence of the American spirit is to stand up and be able to look any man in the eye and tell him to "Go Fuck Yourself". We have lost the rebel spirit that made this country special, nakedly proven by covid.
I post under my own name because I'm an American and will not be cowed by authority. Don't like what I have to say? GO FUCK YOURSELF- my opinions are worth what you pay for them. FREE SPEECH!!!
That performance by the Democrats in committee when questioning Matt and Michael was the clearest example of the depth of their depravity. It was funny at first but then I realized how far they might take this against not only disagreeing journalists but those of us who appreciate their work. I saw nothing but totalitarians among them.
And dumbass totalitarians at that. A bunch of stooges who were handed their notes on the way into the hearing, having no idea what the issue is all about. The so-called Rep from the Virgin Islands and her nonsense, then it's handed to Allred for some real stupidity, then Wasserman-Schultz grabs the baton for the home stretch, fantasizing that if her hero Hillary were there, she would simply vanquish these heretics!
DILLIGAF
Even better is DILIGAF. When someone tries to point out your "error", you can reply DILIGAF.
I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
+1 for appropriately channeling Kent Brockman
The comments on this post are really a problem for me.
I want to like all of them, but do not have time to do so.
Whoopie ! No rules ! I feel like a defiant teenager.....
Go for it, Susan. Stay out late, rip off multiple MF's per day, consume much weed, and continue to join us here.
I'm getting much too old for the first two, but I've got the third and fourth covered. And it's fun.
Done !...in the previous Century.....
Me too, but the weed is much better now.
Ain't it the truth!
Those were the days!
....and these are the Dark nights...or Dark Knights ?
In the dark nights, we need Dark Knights.
I'm with Matt. Substacker Freddie deBoer had an extremely long discourse on commenting today that might have prompted Matt's note —"The Only Way to Continue to Host Comments Here at All is to Get Ruthless." deBoer promised weeklong all the way up to lifetime commenting bans on offensive commenters. https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/the-only-way-to-continue-to-host?publication_id=295937&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=2jvk2&utm_medium=email
That's because he's a weenie.
You know, that is a highly underutilized pejorative. I've been defaulting to foul language for way too long. I'm going back to good words like "weenie" for maximum effectiveness!
LOL. Peter De Vries had a female-centered novel, Sauce For the Goose. There's a memory her high-school english teacher has of her back when. He'd asked the class what poetry was for; someone offered, "to shock the bourgeosie?"
Then the teacher asked how one would do that, and got ,"Um, four letter words?"
So he pressed, what four letter words would actually shock the bourgeorsie - our heroine piped up with, "How about 'fain,' and 'dost?"
He knew this was the brat he'd been hoping to have in the class.
I'm particular to "dweeb"
He totally is. I should know. ;)
He’s done v that before. That is a reason I dropped his posts.
So is it a fair conclusion that Matt's post was prompted by deBoer's?
Matt's brevity seems like a mic drop.
Thanks for sharing the link to Freddie’s rant about his comments section. It makes me appreciate Matt’s 1 minute read even more. Seems like Freddie needs to lose his nose for a while. Or forever.
I’m a big Freddie fan, but he has such disdain for his audience
De Boer will instantly ban you if you suggest that maybe, just maybe, psychiatric drugs sometimes have negative side effects, like--oh, I don't know--suicide and violence. He's utterly intolerant of dissent from his pet views and he acts like a middle schooler if you have the gall to express any. Call me nitpicky but that strikes me as a terrible quality for a writer working in a public space. He's certainly the opposite of Matt in that regard, and it's not a trivial thing.
"The only arbiter of when these lines are crossed is me. This is my shop and I run it how I want."
Yup. He's begging for people to mess with him, and so of course they will (and already do, under his radar, compounding his paranoia). This attitude doesn't result in the best commentary, and it may backfire spectacularly some day.
Calvinball content moderation - just like pre-Musk Twitter.
He has super thin skin. He correctly observes the kids ought not self diagnose themselves by watching TikTok videos, except of course that they are not their sex, which cannot be questioned. Then there's his Hamas rape denial. Oh well...
I agree with him on quite a few of his views but I can't abide banning people for disagreeing. On the issue of psychiatric drugs he behaves like he's on Big Pharma's payroll.
I don't always agree with Freddie, but his talent for pissing off the kinds of self-important people I loathe is unparalleled and for that, I appreciate him
Not for nothin', up till now, never heard of him. I hit the link posted below, and looked at his latest or whatever...
MAN DOES HE LOVE HIS KEYBOARD! I gave up when I realized that this one post was more than 4K words.
Reading his posts gave me a newfound appreciation for editors.
Agreed. He’s a helluva writer.
That's right. Just ask him!
Thanks for the chuckle.
Agree, but some of his ideas are preposterous, and he doesn’t discuss any POVs that he doesn’t share.
Not only doesn't discuss but needs to snuff out any POVs he doesn't share.
Don't you understand? Modern "Leftists" know the uncontestable "truth". Naturally, FdB's self-esteem is sufficient for him to "know it when I see it" with an unimpeachable finality. (As for positive and normative, um... what's that?)
Among other things, this means that if, in some polity, an election candidate (such as, oh, Saddam Hussein) wins 100%, that democracy must so perfect that "the will of the people" has been fully revealed, and all the "erroneous" beliefs have been completely destroyed by a thorough "education". Three cheers for the Democratic Republic of America!
Freddie?
Bartholomew, March, or _____ and the Dreamers?
“I’m Telling you now”.
Krueger ?
DeBoer
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/the-only-way-to-continue-to-host
Oh brother....
He does _and_ he can come off as no more than a spicy Dem more often than not. He really likes and stands by identity politics more than he thinks he does and he's an incredibly insecure person who probably shouldn't have a comment section or a public facing profession at all.
I deleted my paid subscription from deBoer a few months ago due to his seeming support for totalitarianism as long as it was leftist totalitarianism, but the the headline of the one he dropped this morning made me unsubscribe entirely. Then I saw this post from Matt and it cheered me up. (That and the brunch drinks.)
#Metoo
He is a better writer than he is a public intellectual. All of his ideas have been tried already and failed repeatedly. So we go off to search for Real Socialism (TM). After a while, it's just gets repetitive. YMMV.
Apparently his new book boils down to "real identity politics have never been tried" according to Quillette
https://quillette.com/2024/03/28/rescuing-identity-politics/
Socialism is based on No True Scotsman logical fallacy. Any argument based on the logical fallacy becomes unfalsifiable. His pro-Palestinian stance was the last straw for me. I can read "Israel is bad, m'kay" pieces in Nation or TNR for free.
I'm going to read the review.
just realize that when reading quillette, you are basically reading reason-lite magazine. they def. have their bias and blinders on in various ways. (like listening to tim pool, well not that bad but you get it)
Freddy is an intellectual coward. He takes positions, but will not defend them. He subscribes to a ideology that has been proven to be a failure, and yet clings to it, even as he reaps the benefits of the antithesis of that ideology.
A socialist who owns a house in the suburbs. Need I say more.
(he does have an excellent comment section, far above what he writes. i am not surprised he wants to tame it, indeed, is frightened of it.)
I know more about his complaints about Substack than about him or his positions on anything. Does he want people to read him or hate him? Or both?
He’s bipolar so likely both.
lololol
That’s not fair (or nice).
It's a fact (asserted by De Boer). May not be nice, but fair, yes.
One of the things he was whining about in his post today was folks going "FdB doing the bipolar thing again". He has no "can he hear himself right now?" filter whatsoever, though.
My late husband was - slightly - bipolar. That can tend to people really, truly not hearing themselves "right now."
However, it doesn't tend to lend confidence in their general observation powers or mental clarity. Perhaps De Boer should write fiction instead of social commentary.
Freddie uses his mental illness as the basis for his constant claiming to know more about mental illness than anyone who disagrees with him about mental illness.
He pretends to have "taken responsibility" for his spurious online rape charges against someone who disagreed with him but has written thousands of words establishing that mental illness makes people do bad things and that it is important to understand that about mental illness. In other words, his mental illness "made" him do bad things.
He talks about the side effects of his meds, the power of his illness to influence his perspective and his behavior, and then broadens his experience to the point where it becomes "what mental illness and psychiatric drugs ACTUALLY are."
Sounds like a mental illness to me. But don't say it in Freddie's hearing, cuz he's a Marxist.
The guy is publicly on board with an ideology that has created more oppression, suffering and death than any in world history. That is everything you need to know about him.
I mean if you’re one of those people that takes every opportunity to bitch about trans people maybe you should just shut the fuck up?
But then he writes long diatribes assuring us that he is one of the Good Ones, a good Ally who is totally down with adult men showering with pre-teen girls. And everyone who disagrees is a reactionary who should shut the fuck up.
I unsubscribed because what I thought I was getting was something different than typical woke bullshit. What I ended up getting was exactly the same woke bullshit, only written up better. I can get that for free anywhere.
yeah see you’re one of those people that ought to shut the fuck up
Straight to ad hominem. How boring. Can't you at least try to say something original?
I think you'll find "STFU" and a Kill All Terfs T-shirt is pretty much the extent of what to expect from ol' SV.
I don’t remember asking you a god damn thing billboard boy
Really? I consider myself a TERF and a militant one at that.
The Internet delivers again. Never change, anonymous Internet boards.
why be original when I can be consistent? you’re the kind of person I was referring to in my first comment. also rich asking me to be original when you’re fearmongering about bathrooms like a NC state senator from half a decade ago
I agree. What's the point of you even trying to be original? A man's got to know his limitations, and you know yours. So kudos.
Just like Freddie, I see you too think that disregarding welfare of women to appease some dudes is really awesome and everybody who is not aboard the latest thing should shut the fuck up. I think you probably get off on the idea of frightening women but have no balls to live out your fantasy. So you live it through others. Naughty naughty.
This particular blowup had nothing to do with trans. I would know lol
https://substack.com/@milesmcstylez/note/c-52637691?utm_source=activity_item
Maybe you should try getting an argument.
If people want to bitch about trans people they can. It's a free country.
Freddie?
Disdainful? Fred? Duh-Boor? It's probably just a case of self-loathing that stems from the fact that nobody has any idea what he's talking about at any given column inch, including himself. He is, after all, a self-proclaimed Marxist whose ideas suggest a lonely CPA going through a mid-life crisis and who is actually a closet libertarian.
You’re going to treat me like a grownup and act like one yourself? I’d pay $5/month to see that.