I hope you appreciate my stunningly non-creepy illustration of drop-seat pajamas (from Disney's "Peter Pan"). Now, just picture Joe Biden, with the flap open, and the deep rot exposed.
The opinion column in the WSJ is by its editor at large Gerard Baker.
What troubles me isn't simply this particular obsession with the former vice president's odd olfactory habits or what he does with his hands. It is what this baffling discussion says about the quality of what passes for debate now, the issues that seem to dominate that debate and the way that debate is conducted....What also lies? Oh, the malaise!
This obsessive puritanism is merely one symptom of the malaise in our public discourse, which runs deep and wide. It also lies...
... in the trivialization of serious political issues; the willful mischaracterization of one another's views; the seething mutual contempt for an opposing voice; the rancor that suffuses discussion of even the least consequential of topics; the wild conspiracy-theorizing on both left and right as they seek to characterize each other's positions in the most poisonous way imaginable....Baker has a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Corpus Christi College, Oxford University. That prose made me look up his background. Especially "the rancor that suffuses discussion." This is civility bullshit, but oh, what bullshit! Is it properly called passive when the abstractions that replace the human subject are so active? "Rancor" isn't just there, it's suffusing. "Contempt" is seething. "Malaise" is running and lying.
All of this speaks to the triumph today not of reason -- the defining characteristic of the Enlightenment values that made America great -- but of emotion.The old reason/emotion distinction. A favorite of blog commenters everywhere, so get on it.
Pundits, media companies and politicians have discovered that it is emotion, not reason, that wins votes and pulls in eyeballs. It's fun and lucrative while it lasts, but the Greeks and Romans can tell you precisely what it does to a civilization in the long run.Make America Great Again. This obsession with greatness is as emotional as everything else. There's a gesture at erudition with a mere mention of the Enlightenment, the Greeks, and the Romans. But what has that got to do with thinking Joe Biden, because of his ample displays of sexless physical affection, should not be President? The reason/emotion distinction isn't too helpful, since what we're trying to "reason" about is how voters will feel about the super-feely Biden. Oh! But Rome fell!!!
Because this, in the end, is what undoes great civilizations.
Defeat on the battlefield overseas or destructive revolution at home only comes when the rot within is so advanced that the seemingly robust institutional structures have been fatally undermined. The condition of public discourse today is absolutely the kind of rot with that sort of potential.Those are the last 2 sentences — conclusory and absolutely unsupported. I used the word "absolutely" because he did. I think it's a very silly word. So is "rot." Baker never demonstrated that the effort to take down Biden is "rot." And he didn't show that it was "malaise" or "obsessive puritanism."
If you want to write about elevating the discourse, elevate the discourse.
For now, my tag remains, as ever, "civility bullshit."
Posts
112 comments:
obsessive puritanism
=
Weaponized obsessive puritanism - (d) *used to destroy the candidate who needs to be destroyed, at the moment, so the proper leftwing corruptocrat can be installed.
Joe is too old, too moderate and too dumb to be President.
This high level smoke and mirrors about civilization being the writer's monopoly is British Aristocracy born and bred. It is American's oldest enemy.
The only Biden issue is the passive/aggressive way Biden makes intentional blunders in the public spotlight and grins. He is saying that we have to take it. It is Joe's way of showing off his level power over his audience.
The obvious seduction of preteen children as their parents helplessly watch done at picture taking events is the ultimate F-U at the parents and at the audience. Now, submit to him and his opinion of us.
No wonder Biden never won an election outside of the mini-State of Delaware.
Well, I guess that puts Old Crazy Bernie on top now. Can't beat socialism. Just ask Venezuela.
I wonder if there is mention of Alinsky Rules in the article, those influence do much of today’s political discussions, it’s behind a paywall so I don’t know
Sounds like the author is a “wimpcon”
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/02/13/shoving-alinskys-rules-for-radicals-right-back-in-the-lefts-ugly-face-n2284892
Because this, in the end, is what undoes great civilizations.
What? Human emotion?
Thanks Mr. Spock. You've been a big help.
Shorter: Talking about Joe Biden's touchy, smelly ways prevents the serious discussions of talking about Joe's policy positions. We do this all the time now with everything political! *stamps tiny WSJ leather shod foot* (Doing it with respect to Trump doesn't count.)
Um, didn't he just use a lot of "emotional" words to do exactly that about which he is crying foul?
If Joe Biden weren't also a blithering idiot, I would give him a pass on his grabby hands. Does Gerald Baker think were are going to get a high-minded discussion of policy from Joe Biden????
We should be grateful in this lax age of impropriety that neither Biden, Trump, Clinton, Thomas, Kavanaugh, et al, actually raped someone. That would merit a jail sentence.
The writer seems to be a Biden fan. The "both sides do it" meme is overworked. Think about what you want for the country.
20 million illiterate peasants living off our society ? Why is Sweden the rape capital of Europe ?
Why can't we say we want America to be great ?
It has nothing to do with puritanism. Biden stands in somebody else's way, and this is how he gets pushed aside.
That is some serious Editor at Large writin'. Even worked in the Decline and Fall.
So much for trying to be an "A" student. All his erudition couldn't win Ann's love.
is absolutely the kind of rot with that sort of potential
absolutely could be.
willful mischaracterization of one another's views
On the grabbing of pussy. Not just views, but blatant lies about recorded words.
Remember when elections turned on what Ford said about Poland?
On internal rot causing institutional falure -
"Strange Defeat", Marc Bloch, on the collapse of the French army in 1940.
Now, just picture Joe Biden, with the flap open, and the deep rot exposed.
I was eating breakfast when I read that line. Thanks heaps Professor!
When you can't openly and honestly talk about or even acknowledge the problems bedeviling your society, this kind of empty blather is what you end up with.
Mike
For the moment I’m content with both sides following the same rules. One side picking up the weapon has blunted the other side’s.
Voters don’t go for wonkish policy talk anyways...
My my my. What florid writing you do produce, dear sir.
I truly hope your fainting couch is nearby to prevent you from bumping your head when the vapors do finally overtake you.
buwaya
See also Alistair Horne's To Lose a Battle. Very good read.
I find it fascinating that Gerald Ford was, within his lifetime, proven correct. When the Established Image of dense bumbler proves wrong there is no acknowledgment given.
Heck, even Biden might be proven right about something eventually.
TW
Can't beat socialism. Just ask Venezuela
Correct!! Socialism beats you.
Joe Biden was the point man for Obama's program to refuse due process to college men when accused of sexual harassment. Joe Biden was the point man for duming down sexual harassment to mere touching woman's arm without consent. Joe Biden gave speech after speech saying don't touch women ever. Joe Biden deserves the shit storm, every thing he has done is chargeable sexual harassment by his and Obama policies. Fuck Joe Biden, he is the mattress girl of the Democrat Party.
PS If anyone is curious what Al Sharpton's balls and taint smell and taste like just ask a Democrat presidential candidate.
Gerard Baker has a distinguished career in journalism., and we are lucky to have him.
You can say a lot about where we are today and where we are likely going, but I don't think it's wrong to complain about the level of discourse at the present time. My party game is to ask guests what "Make America Great Again" means to them. The answers are--ahem--diverse. I don't think that a content-free slogan demonstrates a high level of political discourse. It's not like, say, "The Union forever" or "No taxation without representation." It's more like "Happy days are here again" or "Let's get the country moving again" (JFK, for those too young to remember). The citizen has to fill in the blanks with whatever thoughts or feelings he or she or zir has.
That the discussion about sex/gender has spilled into the public arena from the bowels of academia is not a healthy thing. And race? It is a social construct, so get over it. Black citizens are no more or less worthy than other citizens. Don't talk to me about race or gender in the law.
No, we are in the age of feelings, as well as the age of that's not funny. Feelings don't care about facts. And that is rot.
Once again the media tries to tell us who is and isn’t worthy of our vote?
I think that’s how they do it in China.
Shorter: back in the day political discourse was exceedingly polite and political opponents respected, maybe even liked, each other.
That's the real bullshit in this op-ed.
Cute how the attack on Biden brings about high minded we’re better than this talk. Usually that’s reserved for when Republicans fight back instead of when lefties fight each other*.
*(or possibly in this case when a leftie is trying to offset a weakness that could be used against him later.)
"This is civility bullshit, but oh, what bullshit!"
Yes! Epistemologically speaking, it is high grade, Kantian ethical bullshit of the highest order.
Hint: I have been reading Gerard Baker for 25 years. He thinks Joe Biden is a blithering idiot.
Here’s the real issue: If Joe Biden doesn’t get the nomination, who can the WSJ Editorial Board endorse over Trump?
It is nice to see the historiography of the late Western Roman Empire once again embrace the notion of a fall. Since Peter Brown's The World of Late Antiquity, it had become fashionable to eschew Edward Gibbon's decline and fall language and talk more about "transformation." Germanic invasions were reimagined as culturally-enriching migrations. Brown was right, I think, to identity the era of about 300AD to 600AD as an important period in western history that deserved its own periodization, rather than being a postscript to the classical age or a prelude to the middle ages. But his transformation thesis really glossed over a tremendous amount of violence and bloodshed and a sharp decline in standards of living.
Thanks a lot Althouse. Now I get to go through the day with a picture of Joe Biden in feety jammies with the trap door pulled down.
"I wonder if there is mention of Alinsky Rules in the article"
No.
Gerard Baker is a pro-Western Civilization realist. To him, folly is folly, and it does not become less so because it is dolled up with emotions or good intentions.
"Pundits, media companies and politicians have discovered that it is emotion, not reason, that wins votes and pulls in eyeballs. It's fun and lucrative while it lasts, but the Greeks and Romans can tell you precisely what it does to a civilization in the long run.
But wait...was not the French Revolution based on Reason?
One of the main reasons the Western Roman Empire fell was because of the influx of foreigners - Vandals, Goths, Huns. The Eastern Empire lasted over a thousand years and fell after invasions by the Ottoman Empire.
I don't think I'm drawing the same conclusion from his warning that he meant me to.
My goodness, that's purple prose. He's about two sentences away from exclaiming "stabbed in the back" or nattering about "fifth columns."
To the man's credit, his sweeping foray into termite inspection seems devoid of actual villains, and he actually criticizes the paranoid style. Can't read the whole thing of course. The rot hasn't reached the WSJ paywall.
Was the French Revolution based on reason? They said so, but was it not sophistry of the first order?
It's not like, say, "The Union forever" or "No taxation without representation."
As a control group, try asking about those and see what answers you get. You’ll likely find just as wide a range of responses.
It’s no longer about the words at all, but what feeling and emotion we decide to pack into them.
Last night Tucker Carlson had a lovely montage of announced Democrat candidates figuratively fellating “the Reverend” Al Sharpton, and prostrating themselves on the altar of Reparations (which, if you read the fine print, is Rep. Conyers’s old bill to create a commission to study reparations, as regurgitated by the equally odious Sheila Jackson Lee.)
@mockturtle:
But wait...was not the French Revolution based on Reason?
As was the American Revolution. Reason as the primary source of knowledge is the central premise of the Enlightenment. It's why I always say that anyone who considers themselves conservative should be very skeptical of the Enlightenment.
It's fun and lucrative while it lasts, but the Greeks and Romans can tell you precisely what it does to a civilization in the long run.
The Romans can tell you that the long run is a long time.
As for the Greeks, good lord. Plato was so worried about the emotional degradation of the state that he proposed a tyranny of people like himself to keep everyone else a slave. Greek philosophy is not a model for statecraft.
Farmer replies: As was the American Revolution. Reason as the primary source of knowledge is the central premise of the Enlightenment. It's why I always say that anyone who considers themselves conservative should be very skeptical of the Enlightenment.
Yes, I had that in mind as I wrote. Ours turned out a bit better but The Enlightenment was possibly the beginning of the end of civilization in the West.
"Greek philosophy is not a model for statecraft."
Yes, and western civilization moved on with robust intellectual debate and millions of premature deaths.
The folks who are trying to move the US from a representative republic to a more "democratic" model are playing with fire. The right answer would be to work on getting the Congress to take back power it has ceded to the executive branch.
@Amadeus 48
But can you say this column wasn't lame?
The trouble with Reason is that it can be remote from humanity.
Balance, toleration, and moderation, please.
I was about to write a comment along the lines of what MacMacConnell wrote above, but instead I will respond to Gerard Baker by saying that this “flap” really is important. What politicians (and Democrats in particular) have taught us is to pay minimal attention to what they say but to look hard at what they do. As MacMac points out, Biden has portrayed himself as a champion for women by defining sexual harassment down to a level barely above brushing elbows in a crowded bar. But when it comes to his own behavior, he sees nothing wrong with unwanted touching, including young girls. And I think that does speak to his fitness to be President of the United States.
While Gerard is focused on helping Joe button his flap, Althouse comes up from behind, pantses him and laughs.
@mockturtle:
Yes, I had that in mind as I wrote. Ours turned out a bit better but The Enlightenment was possibly the beginning of the end of civilization in the West.
To be skeptical of revolutionary change is, to me, the central insight of conservatism. Which is why I found myself living in a surreal Twilight Zone in the early oughts as supposedly conservative people thought that destroying a state in Iraq and replacing it with a top down democratic republic was a great idea. It's about the most unconservative idea I could ever imagine.
@Henry:
As for the Greeks, good lord. Plato was so worried about the emotional degradation of the state that he proposed a tyranny of people like himself to keep everyone else a slave. Greek philosophy is not a model for statecraft.
Very true. On the subject of Greece versus Rome, Boris Johnson and Mary Beard had a fantastic debate, which you can watch here. I am predisposed to agree with Johnson over Beard but thought that Beard made the far more compelling case.
I agree that it is the usual civility bullshit, this time wrapped around some rather bizarre ideas about the political climate in ancient Greece and Rome. I think Julius Caesar actually encountered some degree of political incivility, and the losers in Athenian politics were frequently exiled for years. So I will address the only important issue raised here;
"Is it properly called passive when the abstractions that replace the human subject are so active?"
If you mean "passive voice", no. Passive voice is not the absence of a human subject. It is the absence of any actor. "Mistakes were made" is passive voice. "The computer made a mistake" is not.
The French Revolution quickly descended into "chaos" giving rise to a military Officer (Napoleon)who made took command - and then embarked on a lotta pointless foreign wars in Europe.
After the UN de-colonization efforts in 1948, the Ruskies used to have a saying: "colonialism, chaos, then Communism."
This parallels historically with the Fremch Revolution - Robespierre - Napoleon phases of France.
Most revolutions end badly - the US revolution is much more the exception, than the rule.
My 2 cents, and I could be totally wrong.
Farmer observes: Which is why I found myself living in a surreal Twilight Zone in the early oughts as supposedly conservative people thought that destroying a state in Iraq and replacing it with a top down democratic republic was a great idea. It's about the most unconservative idea I could ever imagine.
Yes. Democracy is antithetical to Middle Eastern philosophy.
Kevin said...
"Here’s the real issue: If Joe Biden doesn’t get the nomination, who can the WSJ Editorial Board endorse over Trump?"
Bloomberg!
It's funny to look back on how many people agreed that one of Joe Biden's greatest political assets was his "common touch".
I don't think it's wrong to complain about the level of discourse at the present time.
I'm a bit surprised that anyone says this. Ask Charles Sumner, for example.
The beating nearly killed Sumner and it drew a sharply polarized response from the American public on the subject of the expansion of slavery in the United States. It has been considered symbolic of the "breakdown of reasoned discourse" that eventually led to the American Civil War.
Then, of course, there is Huey Long and Andrew Jackson, both shot, one fatally,.
In June 1933, Long visited the White House to meet President Roosevelt, but the meeting was a disaster: Long was flagrantly disrespectful, refusing to take off his straw hat and addressing Roosevelt as "Frank", instead of the normal "Mr. President".
Here is real polarized discourse.
On September 8, 1935, Long was at the State Capitol attempting to oust a long-time opponent, Judge Benjamin Henry Pavy. At 9:20 p.m., just after passage of the bill effectively removing Pavy, Pavy's son-in-law Carl Weiss, a physician from Baton Rouge, approached Long, and, according to the generally accepted version of events, shot him in the torso with a handgun from four feet (1.2 m) away.
Then there is Jackson.
Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol building and shot at him, but his gun misfired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence managed to pull out a second loaded pistol and pulled the trigger, but it also misfired. Jackson’s aides then wrestled Lawrence away from the president, leaving Jackson unharmed but angry and, as it turned out, paranoid.
Lawrence was most likely a mentally unstable individual with no connections to Jackson’s political rivals, but Jackson was convinced that Lawrence had been hired by his Whig Party opponents to assassinate him.
Years later both guns were fired and did not misfire.
Baker seems to be pining for the days when important men like Biden were protected by the establishment media. And now look. Why is everybody so mad? Why won't they listen to reason anymore? He just can't understand it.
Jackson needed faster aides.
Scalise is also lucky.
Where would we be if 5-10 Rep Reps had been killed?
AA: "If you want to write about elevating the discourse, elevate the discourse."
Nice work showing that the editorial is of a piece with the degraded discourse it purports to be criticizing. Civility bullshit indeed.
We already know that political discourse is dumbed-down and rancorous to an obscene degree, thank you very much, Mr. Baker. The question is *why* that's happened. Civility bullshit editorials serve only to obfuscate the answer to that question.
Clear aside the bullshit and it becomes clear why Biden is being attacked, and it has nothing to do with some inchoate "malaise" that can be corrected if Americans would just wise-up and behave themselves again. The people co-ordinating the attacks are very clear-headed about what they're doing, and what they're doing is the inevitable concomitant of the goofy rah-rah diversity/globalist/open borders agenda that WSJ editorials have been pushing for decades.
"Enlightenment values" are not compatible with an agenda that requires the dissolution of once-functioning national political cultures based on those values. The replacement of those shared values by poisonous identity politics is predictable and inevitable. The most charitable thing one can say about those who pen these wailing editorials is that they really are just too stupid to understand that they've gotten exactly what they asked for. Good and hard.
Thanks Mr. Spock. You've been a big help.
"It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want."
The article is reprinted here, but glossy puritanism suffuses seething contempt for wild conspiracy-theorizing in the most poisonous way imaginable so here's the only good part:
"Indeed, meeting Joe Biden, for a man or a woman (he doesn’t discriminate), is a bit like an encounter with an especially attentive and curious cephalopod—one tentacle grips your upper arm, another winds its way around your shoulder and another (yes, I do think there might be three) prods you repeatedly in the chest to emphasize a point."
Watching the MSM flip-flop between puritanical horror at Republican misconduct (The pussy tape, Roy Moore, Kavanaugh having a beer, etc.) and lofty "What does it matter?" cynicism at Democrat misconduct (Clinton-Lewinsky, Biden, Ted Kennedy) never gets old.
All this MSM civility bullshit proves is who the writer/newspaper likes and who they don't. Saying "A Republican would never..." has gotten so common/boring, its not even necessary to write it out anymore. IMO, Biden's lack of self-control and refusal to apologize is indicative of a deeper problem. One that we don't need in a POTUS.
“Now, just picture Joe Biden, with the flap open, and the deep rot exposed.”
Shouldn't we ask his Secret Service detail. I believe they’ve been repeatedly exposed to the deep rot.
"Malaise" is running and lying.
Running? As in "running with scissors"? There he goes, running with malaise again. One of these days he's gonna trip and wind up with first-degree existential angst.
Or as in "running with those motorcycle hooligans from the bad side of town", a stereotypical upper-middle class concern from the 1950s. (Well, that's what I learned from "The Wild One".) After being expelled from the Rotary Club, Geoffrey began running with malaise.
Or as in the flow of a liquid? Hollandaise for asparagus, béarnaise for steak au poivre, mayonnaise for a ham sandwich, and malaise for anything from Burger King.
(edited for improved wit)
Can civility bullshit be any more sanctimonious?
Biden didn't need feel the need to really apologize, and he's now joking about the whole thing. That shows a real arrogance that you only find in people who are accustomed to unwarranted power their entire lives. Biden got selected as VP for 8 years and before that had a "Senate Seat for Life" courtesy of the Democrat Boobs in Delaware. As long as you brought home the graft, supported abortion, and didn't kill anyone he got automatically re-elected. Hence, the arrogance.
Gentlemen gentlemen there's no fighting in the war room! Biden is pure swamp. Been nesting with the indisputably most corrupt and evil bunch this country has seen. This is deep shit we're into now. He writes like there's no MS-13 living in his apartment building. You wanna read him and feel noble, fine! That isn't gonna get this republic squared away. As Ralph L has pointed out the shooting has already started. A coup has been averted by one Mike Rodgers, where MANY knew what was going on. You wanna look noble, Try modeling for a statue, there's work need to be done. He sounds like "stop that cursing there in the pump room" from the bridge of the Titanic.
Shorter version... See AZ Bob.
What troubles me isn't simply this particular obsession with the former vice president's odd olfactory habits or what he does with his hands.
Biden's got a Roman nose and Russian fingers.
“IMO, Biden's lack of self-control and refusal to apologize is indicative of a deeper problem. One that we don't need in a POTUS”
This has got to be purposely ironic.
The right isn't hating the left. The right is amused at most. The left will eventually grow up and become conservatives.
Philosophers will have just been in some university where PC is required, or at least egg shell walking. It affects the quality of the product.
Ask clarence Thomas the fairness that Biden showed him, the only right decision I see from him in retrospect is the vote against 5he gulf war.
"It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want."
It curious how often these hurricanes are accompanied by strong winds.
Once again the media tries to tell us who is and isn’t worthy of our vote?
I think that’s how they do it in China.
Kevin @ 0835
THIS!
I support his larger central point. We are witnessing the decline of Western Civilization before our eyes, but it’s been ongoing for decades, and this Biden thing is just another chapter.
Here’s an idea we should adopt: “Your feelings are hurt? Sorry, nobody gives a shit, move on with your life.”
As Instapundit says, harsh but fair.
Try to imagine today’s 18-22 year olds storming the beaches at Normandy.
The MSM is telling Joe Biden and his friends to sit down and shut up, and if they don't get the message soon, they will dump a load over him that will make it absolutely clear.
This obsessive puritanism is merely one symptom of the malaise in our public discourse, which runs deep and wide. It also lies...
I read "what also lies" as "This obsessive puritanism", not "the malaise". It also fits a bit better. Compare
"This obsessive puritanism also lies in the trivialization of serious political issues; the willful mischaracterization of one another's views; the seething mutual contempt for an opposing voice; the rancor that suffuses discussion of even the least consequential of topics; the wild conspiracy-theorizing on both left and right as they seek to characterize each other's positions in the most poisonous way imaginable...."
versus
"The malaise also lies in the trivialization of serious political issues; the willful mischaracterization of one another's views; the seething mutual contempt for an opposing voice; the rancor that suffuses discussion of even the least consequential of topics; the wild conspiracy-theorizing on both left and right as they seek to characterize each other's positions in the most poisonous way imaginable...."
Although neither one reads very well, for neither puritanism nor malaise is a thing that can lie in something else. Maybe within something else, but not really in it. Either way the locution is clumsy, a sign of mediocre thinking.
Try to imagine today’s 18-22 year olds storming the beaches at Normandy.
Don't believe these numbnuts are representative of the entire generation. These are just the small percentage who have internalized the left's message.
Defeat on the battlefield overseas or destructive revolution at home only comes when the rot within is so advanced that the seemingly robust institutional structures have been fatally undermined
Such passivity.
Which side continues to undermine institutional structures?
We can’t win, let’s change the electoral college.
Hey, I remember this song from vacation bible school.
Deeeep and wiiiiide,
Deeeeeep and wiiiiiide,
There’s a malaise flowin’ deep and wide....
All of this speaks to the triumph today not of reason -- the defining characteristic of the Enlightenment values that made America great -- but of emotion.
The old reason/emotion distinction. A favorite of blog commenters everywhere, so get on it.
Didn’t you write a post about this?
Was the French Revolution based on reason?
Of course it was. And Marxism is scientific. Do try to keep up.
Jussie Smolett is the face of the modern democratic party.
One fake story after the other. You must pay for it.
What the hell are Dunham's creepy friends drinking? Screwdrivers? Or is Pernod?
Plato was so worried about the emotional degradation of the state that he proposed a tyranny of people like himself to keep everyone else a slave. Greek philosophy is not a model for statecraft.
You missed the point of The Republic. It appears to conclude that the only way to get a just society is to coerce the disinterested seeker of truth, the philosopher, into ruling. But this, of course, does a grave injustice to the philosopher, taking him away from his seeking after truth, which is the thing he values most highly. Plato's real point is that a perfectly just society is not possible.
Lubos Motl had a better blog on this subject today:
Pillars of the society and nation states are being systematically attacked by numerous folks. Those of us who have been asking "why did the Roman Empire decline" see an answer in the ongoing repetition of the process. Too many people simply lose any attachment to everything that is good about the society and deliberately start to promote changes that are terrifying and destructive. In the absence of truly formidable competitors, great civilizations collapse simply because the people inside want that collapse and those who don't lose their power to prevent it.
https://motls.blogspot.com/2019/04/dimons-capitalism-vs-aocs-socialism.html
It’s a much longer piece and worth the read. Lubos grew up in a socialist state, Czechoslovakia, now the Czek Republic.
The best part of the Lubos blog entry was the side by side pictures of East and West German cars.
A West German and East German car, 1989 – perhaps the most widespread car models in each country. Can you tell the difference between the Mercedes and the Trabant? After 40 years of divergence, these products were made by people whose DNA was almost identical. Socialism ruins any economy and there are no racial exceptions!
"But can you say this column wasn't lame?"--Althouse
I'll give it a try.
First, this wasn't on the editorial page. It is in the Review section (Culture-Science-Politics-Humor) that WSJ publishes on the weekends. This is an occasional column by Gerry Baker, the former editor-in-chief of WSJ. I think the Wall Street Journal news coverage has become more conventional and worse since he stepped down as editor-in-chief. Having read his work since the 1990s, I would say that the description of his views in Wikipedia is inaccurate. As I said above, I think he is a pro-Western Civilization realist.
Rather than fighting it out with the extended Althouse critique of Baker's column, I'll summarize the column's essence, which is clearly stated by Baker:
Our public discourse suffers from a malaise which runs deep and wide. Its symptoms include an obsessive puritanism, the trivialization of serious issues, the willful mischaracterization of one another's views, contempt for opposing voices, rancor in discussing inconsequential topics, wild conspiracy theorizing, and a poor example at the top from President Trump. This rot leads to a weakening of a society's institutions that collapse when they are needed most. The condition of public discourse today has the potential to undermine these vital institutions.
In other words, there are plenty of serious objections to Joe Biden being president, but his overly tactile style is not principal among them.
So, I don't see this occasional column by the WSJ editor-at-large as lame at all. He is critiquing the trivial focus of so much of our public discourse and suggesting that the nation's leaders go back to discussing ideas, ways and means, and objectives rather than piddling away their time and influence on ephemera.
Living as I do in Illinois, I have received a masterclass in fiddling while Rome burns.
Right on, Mr. Baker.
SDaly wrote:
"If Joe Biden weren't also a blithering idiot, I would give him a pass on his grabby hands. Does Gerald Baker think were are going to get a high-minded discussion of policy from Joe Biden????"
That isn't what Baker is implying. I promise you that Baker also thinks Biden is a blithering idiot.
Michael K wrote:
"The writer seems to be a Biden fan."
Absolutely not. I think he is being a bit naive in this essay, but his point is to uphold an ideal.
And Amadeus48 beat me to it.
People can evaluate Joe Biden as they see fit, but as I have noted in comments over the past few days, his limited intelligence, unprincipled views, electoral invulnerability, and bibulous persona have blighted our national landscape since 1973. On the brighter side, Mitch McConnell smiled when Obama turned the tax bill negotiations over to Biden. Mitch had been picking Joe's pocket in the Senate since Reagan was in office.
The problem is not Biden's tactile style.
It might be that the MSM has wised up enough to realize they can't pound #meToo and nominate Creepy Joe without looking like fools or worse to normal voters. I don't think that's trivial.
Biden is being warned off right now, and if he persists, there will be more serious allegations made. Biden's enemies are other Democrats, and they are ruthless. I won't be defending him, that much is certain. When it comes, he has earned all of it.
" Plato's real point is that a perfectly just society is not possible."
Which is why our republic , as founded, simply tries to make a less unjust society.
The problem is not Biden's tactile style.
True, but its fair game.
Nobody@11:02: Excellent! Thanks for the reference.
Was the French Revolution based on reason?
There's a reason [heh!] I capitalized the word Reason. Reason, as they supposed their revolutionary zeal to be, became the god of the French nobles, who nobly eschewed their nobility. Then it was embraced by the bourgeoisie and then the peasants. And so many lost their heads in the name of 'Reason'. Just as many do today.
I saw Queastar's "Pernod" as Period. I could imagine Lena and friends drink menstrual fluid as indoctrination to the Gaga sisterhood of the traveling maxipads.
"On internal rot causing institutional falure -
'Strange Defeat', Marc Bloch, on the collapse of the French army in 1940."
What kind of jackass sites a book instead of making a comment? What, there's maybe 100,000 volumes about the failure of some army, political movement, civilization? How about making a short comment about what is interesting about "Strange Defeat." Good grief, if you are older than 20, no one cares about the books you have read. I learned this at 21.
From Ray - So Cal pasted URL:
"Rule 2: “Never go outside the expertise of your people” and Rule 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.” Stupid GOP wonkcons want to fight to where the liberals are strong, like on entitlements. Trump is smart enough to fight where liberals are weak, like on the economy. And he’s going to throw down some serious jujitsu by doing a liberal thing – infrastructure spending – in a conservative way. He's a developer – he knows how to build stuff, and he will freak the Left out by delivering concrete results (not the least of them, a wall) where liberals (for whom “infrastructure” means giving our money to their deadbeat constituents) never actually build stuff anymore. As a conservative, I’m not thrilled about “infrastructure” spending. But as a conservative insurgent who wants to see the Left on its collective collectivist back, twitching like a dying roach, I’m thrilled."
Thanks for the reminder how stupid Trumpkins can be, with the fucking hero worship and all instead of a wall. Sobering. Kudos.
The idea people collectively have an expertise is offensive to experts of all stripes even when illogically combined (domain-wise).
"He's a developer – he knows how to build stuff, and he will freak the Left out by delivering concrete results (not the least of them, a wall) where liberals (for whom “infrastructure” means giving our money to their deadbeat constituents) never actually build stuff anymore. As a conservative, I’m not thrilled about “infrastructure” spending."
If a Democrat says this, they win. Truth wins.
Trump knew and knows, he just didn't get it done. His signature is now shit, issue-wise.
Kepler's Ledge: Perceived, evil untruths sonance, whereby hopping off to the known devil appears the best option.
Known devil winning against flawed man, because that flawed man lied, thus un-differentiating himself from the devil hisself.
Farmer,
There is no Patreon option.
But you can forward your money to me..and minus a small administrative fee, I will put it into Meadehouse via the Paypal button that says:
"Make a 1-time donation or set up a monthly donation of any amount you choose"
I don't know the rules. I copy and pasted a comment of mine, but it had Camille Paglia quotes splattered throughout, quotes which I did not credit.
"I attacked Dworkin and MacKinnon with all guns blazing."
Way to let us know!
"‘Rape culture’ is a ridiculous term – mere gassy propaganda, too rankly bloated to critique. Anyone who sees sex so simplistically has very little sense of world history, anthropology or basic psychology."
Isn't that statement omitting the evidence/proof of what Rotterdam has been shown to be, and therefore unscientific dogma afraid of reality on Paglia's dime intellectually? Perhaps conflating rape/rape/rape-death by ISIS and "sex" is the point somehow? To create an industry to prove sex isn't about rape, but power?
Conflating the idiocy of calling American campus' dens of rape culture, an idiocy deserving of critiquing, when there are, if one knows of world history, anthropology, and basic psychology (or just knows a bunch about any combo of the above including the various 1-0-0 sets and is able to use Kepler's Ledge leaps to advance far beyond those with great knowledge of all three but unable to utilize leaps) actual rape cultures denounced as non-existent because of a conflation of imaginary bullshit in America and Mexican gangs child-trafficking for real, really sucks.
At the minimum, you don't talk about "world history, anthropology or basic psychology" after saying the phrase is ridiculous, as if other culture's shit including rape wasn't refuted time and time again by the British, to the world, but most especially, the territories lands, of course the son-of-bitch Cromwell notwithstanding.
12/15/15, 5:55 PM
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2015/12/i-am-continually-shocked-and-dismayed.html
Rules for all or rules for none, leftists.
And trust me, you don't want rules for none.
"This obsessive puritanism"
Huh? Baker is clueless. We cynical conservatives are done with puritanism. It is used against us. It is used by progs for prog purposes. The self-professed nice-guy puritans in our ranks didn't do much for us. Sure, we respect the actual evangelical puritans who live their faith, but that's about the extent of it. Trump is our plan B antidote to faux prog puritanism.
But we enjoy our Alinskyite fun, personalizing the political and making the left live up to its own rules. We also enjoy prog-on-prog civil war, and are happy to encourage their circular-firing-squad puritanism. But obsession? No, we leave that to lefty culture warriors.
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