... you can handle the truth.
This is an open thread, but the photo makes me want to link to this book excerpt I read earlier today: "The death of truth: how we gave up on facts and ended up with Trump/From post-modernism to filter bubbles, ‘truth decay’ has been spreading for decades. How can we stop alternative facts from bringing down democracy, asks Michiko Kakutani" (The Guardian).
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67 comments:
No, it was Paul De Man who wrote for the Nazis and then denied the reality of True Truth.
Long before Trump.
I started to read the Guardian article, but it seemed to boil down to “everything we of the media say is true,” no matter what your lying, cheating eyes tell you, and everything the Deporables, in general, Republicans more specifically, and Trump, in particular, say, is a lie. I’m pretty tired of the crap, and I stopped about three paragraphs into it.
I'd prefer to listen to 29 minutes of Nickelback.
Postmodernism doesn't deny the truth, but is surprised at what goes into it.
Modern academic postmodernism is the variety that dislikes the systems it analyses, rather than just being curious about them.
"Meat Free Since 83"
Deipnosophistry is the soup of the day.
The meme being pushed from all sides now is that the internet is full of strange stuff made up by strange people. And that is said to be bad because we are being lured away from the long accepted CIA created narratives run on the Media Monoply as constant Big Lie Propaganda.
That is funny, because the CIA created Media Narratives are nearly all fake baloney used to create false "facts". But the strange internet people are roughly 80% truth. They have to be since they are always under instant analysis by hundreds of thousand of other brilliant people.
Censorship is all the CIA has left to keep their parallel government going.
Deipnophobia - fear of dinner.
Carnophobia - fear of meat.
Carno-Deipno-phobia - fear of meatless dinner?
"What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime".
I thought the Left insisted that there is no such thing as truth, only perception?
He got very emotional arguing the point that there are such things as objective facts.
Surreal. I've spent quite a bit of time over the last three decades+ arguing with Lefties that objective truth/facts exist while they emotionally insisted that there is no such thing.
I just had a big dispute with my brother-in-law about “facts.” I told him my view that the press are fact asserters, and in a democracy the public (and I) are fact deciders. He got very emotional arguing the point that there are such things as objective facts. It took me 15 minutes to convince him that I already stipulated that point. He thought I was refusing to believe there are objective facts. I finally got a word in edgewise to suggest that the issue - the problem - isn’t whether there are or are not objective facts, the issue is who decides what is are the facts and how do they decide it. (My general point was that in a democracy the public decides and carries that decision into the voting booth. But it was so strange how emotional he was arguing the point that there is such a thing as an objective fact. It was as thou he was standing true to some kind of important principle and special knowledge that he felt a lot of people around him (or half of America) refused to recognize. Later he sent me a chart showing which news channels and websites were fact based and which were opinion based, and of course that chart itself was some conclusion by some person or group which, apparently, my brother in law just accepted as fact.
Lately, the Left has rediscovered not only Truth but also Morality, both capitalized. All through the 1960s to the present the Left ridiculed persons who even thought of those concepts as deserving capitalization, and actively fought anyone who would use those concepts as a guide in life. Now they are losing popularity and political support, and expect us to forget decades of ridicule and attacks. Well, it's too late, since we've learned from the Left that in the world of politics everything is lower-case. That's not so bad, since most not on the Left do not act as though the personal is political, and so we have many parts of our lives where capitalization still is a welcome tool. We don't mind our politicians being friends from low places.
Sorry Gahrie, I deleted and reposted below you. Ad Ann will tell you, I’m a crap speller and editor anyway, and when I post from my phone it’s even worse.
BBC ran a good show on French Art this afternoon. Which I mention because the painter's that did Napoleon were caught up in a Make France Great Again campaign. Bonaparte collected art like no one else ever did. He created the use of the Louvre as a museum for all his loot. And they credit the French expedition of conquest to Egypt taking along hundreds of artists as the beginning of Archeology.
He claimed that his stolen art/ artifacts collected for the Louvre was a Revolution Freeing the Art from the old Church control.
Napoleon's similarity to Emperor Trump is quite striking. Both men understand Propaganda and Nationalism needs bold a leadership.
a world in which fake news and lies are pumped out in industrial volume by Russian troll factories,
I miss Bernie Bro Coloring, flying across the world at lightning speed!
Stop conflating logical domains (e.g. Twilight faith) and lose your Pro-Choice, selective, opportunistic religious/moral philsophy; and practice political equality, not congruence. Also, don't spy on competitors, disenfranchise people through journolistic lynching, discriminate between people based on "color" judgments (i.e. diversity), and rehabilitate the Nazi concept of "Jew privilege" as "White privilege". End the social justice adventures (i.e. elective regime changes, trials by sodomy and abortion, catastrophic anthropogenic immigration reform a.k.a. refugee crises).
Immigration that does not exceed the rate of assimilation and integration before Planned Parenthood. Also, emigration reform, not immigration reform.
Close the abortion chambers, torture from around one month, and denial of life deemed unworthy (e.g. Down Syndrome, boys, girls) throughout. We are not Nazis or Aztecs. This is not a progressive liberal (i.e. monotonically divergent) society. #HateLovesAbortion
Medical care, not through shifting progressive costs, but through market function to control socialism (e.g. monopolies) and redistributed responsibility.
I’m shocked, shocked, to learn that congressional Democrats, plus noted neutral observer John McCain, have written open letters to President Trump to cancel his meeting with Putin (or at least to follow their instructions on how to conduct it) - especially given the recent indictment of Russians.
It’s almost as if the indictments were timed to undermine our government’s objectives in the summit.
Do the Germans have a word for that?
Carno-Deipno-phobia - fear of meatless dinner?
7/14/18, 9:07 PM
Yeah, I sure got that. Good one, Etienne! Happy Bastille Day!
@Steve, you left out Patriotism (capitalized, of course). Now the media is telling us that we should stop being red versus blue or Republican versus Democrat, we need to band together and be Patriots. Just as soon as we Deplorable, red necked, Republicans fall in behind the far left point of view, then and only then will we be Patriots.
Yup.
I started to read the article. After all, Althouse linked to it - should be even-handed and thoughtful. I stopped at "climate change deniers". I don't think the author's concept of "truth decay" is close to mine.
Truth reigned supreme during the Obama administration. It was a time of truth telling and great truthyness. And before that, in the 1990's, a Man's word was his bond.
And then Trump came. And the lies began - this climate of dishonesty.
Can we ever recover our love of truth? Maybe in 2021.
One reason Democrats love young voters, is they're so ignorant and stupid.
For example, when I was young I *really* believed all that MSM bullshit about "ethics in government" and "Telling truth to power".
Imagine my surprise when all these MSM reporters SUDDENLY in January 1993, become uninterested in Presidential Administration ethics, or asking the President "Tough questions".
And incredibly the homeless crises disappeared too.
I was knocked out of my socks, when Dan Rather, "Big Dan the Reporter Man", who'd shouted at George Bush, and sneered at Nixon, had a lap-dog interview with the Clinton's where he praised them for being "so marvelous".
Oh, wow, the Left is deciding that post-modernism is yet another torpedo that circled around & sank one of their ships, eh? And all because of President Cheetoh, bless him!
If Trump forces the Left to understand that there's a really good chance that in a post-Reason & post-Truth world forces may get unleashed that will not be good for the continued existence of the Left, then Trump will, by that deed alone, have performed a great benefit for Western Civilization.
I honestly can't believe how imbecilic a group of people can be when they're staring across the chasm at folks who have 300+ million more guns than they do, & yet they want to reduce moral questions as just covers for the Will To Power.
Bad timing, guys, bad timing.
Close the World Bank and other pure instruments of debt. Shutter the UN, curb its "peacekeeping" missions, and international cover-ups. Address artificial asset inflation and progressive devaluation of capital and labor.
McCain's hatred of Putin seems puzzling at first, but if you think about it, is very understandable.
McCain comes from a Military background. He LOVES Defense issues. Defense contractors and the Military are his biggest supporters.
But why do we need a Military? To defend ourselves, of course.
But defend ourselves from WHO? How can you justify a $700 billion Defense budget unless you have an enemy.
Enter Mr. Putin.
The Guardian says
Pro-tip to detect a lie--those words.
And of course, there's the age old:
Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels;
President Cheetoh
So, that's the origin of the Orange #Label.
During the 2012 election, when Barack Obama famously claimed that the 1980s wanted their foreign policy back, he neglected to say that he planned to collude with Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Rod Rosenstein, Loretta Lynch, Jim Clapper, and Robert Mueller to recreate the Cold War. I can only guess that he, and they, were dissatisfied with the result of the last one.
a $700 billion Defense budget unless you have an enemy.
Global free trade is anything but free... of explicit and implicit tariffs, and collateral damage. We may not be dependent on foreign oil, slave labor, environmentalism, but our manufacturing centers (e.g. Green Blight) in China, etc. are.
Enter Mr. Putin.
Mr Putin harshed their mellow in Syria, which motivated retributive change in Kiev. The internationalists like to play zero sum games with deficits.
nice to see several commenters on a roll tonight.
just saying.
Obama famously claimed that the 1980s wanted their foreign policy back, he neglected to say
... that he likes his global adventures, abortion fields, and [catastrophic anthropogenic] immigration reform. Delusional clingers. They see dead Soviets... and conflate them with Russians.
Why does a decade want its used stuff back. And can a decade even use a phone?
If I were Romney, I would’ve said, “President Obama, with all due respect, what kind of dumbass decade still calls? Every decade I know that deserves its place in history, uses instant messaging or Twitter, they don’t call.”
Lite Spectrum
There are days when I think you cannot be paranoid enough.
My wife and I just watched one of my favorite movies, which I had not seen in a few years.
It is called "Primal Fear" and was (I think )Edward Nortons first movie role. Anyway, he is excellent.
My other favorite is "Dead Again", which has a great role for Robin Williams as a paranoid psychiatrist.
I saw it in the theater and was half way through before I realized Kenneth Branaugh was playing two roles.
Both good flicks, especially if you are paranoid.
"Truth Decay" in Britain began when Margaret Thatcher stopped handing out free pints of milk to workers. Workers never got free pints of milk, of course. But it still rotted Lefties teeth.
Etienne, thats just stupid.
We settled this long ago with the defense budget breakdowns on what was being spent on conventional vs nuclear, etc.
Remove nuclear and chemical weapons, and we'd only need about $200 billion a year, or about the same as debt interest.
1) Retire all of our strategic forces, missiles, subs and bombers.
2) Cancel all future carriers, and evolve the Navy into a destroyer/frigate/attack sub commerce defense force.
3) Downsize the marines, eliminate all but one helicarrier and one landing craft carrier.
4) Return the Air Force to the Army, and let the Army control close air support and transport aircraft.
5) Buy a half dozen Dreamchasers from SierraNevada. Put a rail gun and a KEW dispenser on them. Mount them on SpaceX Falcon 9 boosters.
He who controls the orbitals, controls the planet. If we don't do it someone else will.
Etienne wrote: The B-2 is no longer able to go downtown, unless it is in a third world country. I know this, because of what I know about modifications to the aircraft.
Didn't you just violate those secrecy oaths you swore to and confidentiality agreements you signed?
"violate those secrecy oaths"
Nope. Because I don't know if it's true. I'm only extrapolating from 20th century knowledge. If x + y = z but maybe it's x + y + m = z, and I don't know what 'm' is.
But we haven't heard of any B-2's being flown in Syria or Ukraine :-)
Nope. Because I don't know if it's true.
I know this, because of what I know about modifications to the aircraft.
Thanks, Etienne, for the consistent inconsistency.
The B-2's biggest weakness (I think) is the thermal signature.
It's too expensive to replace to risk it in non-vital missions (which also give our enemies data on how to detect & counter it). B-1 had the same problem.
As someone quipped about our Navy, we build submarines and we build targets.
We don't need strategic bombers any more, we need a spaceplane.
McCain and those other Congressmen have it exactly backwards, this is a perfect time to engage with Russia and Putin. And Trump is just the guy to do it.
-sw
What a big fooking black word cloud. Just one more of countless no fact articles designed to placate the haters and persuade everyone to dump Trump because of some undefined morality.
From where I sit journolists admitted they gave up truth to get rid of Trump. Now they want it back?
Trump's Space Force
Melania provides back-up, of course.
Yes ed Norton was very creepy there
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/07/the_donald_does_europe.html
The Guardian is the voice of Labour.
How have the mighty fallen!
Etienne said...
"How can you justify a $700 billion Defense budget?"
With nuclear and chemical weapons.
Remove nuclear and chemical weapons, and we'd only need about $200 billion a year, or about the same as debt interest.
Them first.
RE; Getting rid of things. You see the things you get rid of will be the first thing that the people that wish you harm will aquire.
Nice fantasy you have there.
I just glanced at the link, to confirm my supposition that it would be a display of the usual lefty lack of self-insight and self-knowledge.
Supposition confirmed. The self-delusion among the goodthinker pundit class goes so deep that I don't know if there's any end but madness for some of them. They've turned themselves inside out in the effort to not understand that Orwell was talking about people like *them*, not the Eurasians and Eastasians of Flyoveria.
The prognosis isn't good when one of them starts tub-thumping little volumes of Arendt and Orwell. (What next, invoking Solzhenitsyn without a glimmer of self-awareness?) We all knew this wouldn't end well, but 10 years ago I wouldn't have believed you if you came from the future and told me that a fair chuck of goodthinkers had essentially become Birchers.
The BS revolution thrived in the late 60's counter culture, the ancestor that spawned today's manure spreaders like the HuffPost, The NYTimes, The Guardian, and Kakutani. It's hilarious that the clueless Kakutani should blame the right, but of course she would.
If you use KEW there's no radiation to clean up.
McCain and those other Congressmen have it exactly backwards, this is a perfect time to engage with Russia and Putin.
Goes to confirm that McCain would have been a pretty ineffectual President, though probably better than the guy who was elected instead.
Spitting in someone’s burger?
You mean like when a Trump Admin official drops in for dinner?
Etienne said...
If you use a nuke and win, then you have to pay the cleanup.
The taxpayers spent a lot of money cleaning-up Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You can't nuke someone and not clean up the place. There's a lot of guilt involved. Nukes are like spitting in someones burger.
******************
Nope. The Japanese paid for their own cleanup and reconstruction.
https://www.quora.com/How-long-was-the-clean-up-and-reconstruction-of-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki-after-the-atomic-bombings
Now that anyone can have some form of wmd, a baby formula trailer can pump out humanicide, a chemical plant war gasses. Wars of invasion to seize resources are foolish. What remains is pride, and grievance. And failed negotiation to share the wealth, share in the use of making resources into wealth, like the south china sea. Make Money Not War is the way it will be. Use a Nuke to free the Ukraine or Crimea or South China Sea. I think not. Use Sanctions if you will. Cut the pipeline and die. Cheaper to make a deal. Swallow your pride. Iran you too. Look sideways at Israel and they will end you, and v.v.It's a new world, entire state departments are being replaced with cell phone video calls between decision makers who will commit to action that minute, what’s a treaty? Welcome to a world run like a business ever shrinking negotiated redundancy; improving the quality of life for every citizen. AJ has returned. Since no one represented the deplorables. And every $B is 100K fair jobs, a good income for a family of two earners. Fair home etc. Even more when the 10x current redundancies are gone. T will not do this overnight, ease it in over a decade like how we ended the family farm. In a century we will wonder how the governments employed twice any other sector. Perhaps they used typewriters back then in the dark ages.
Well as soon as I saw the article was published in "The Guardian" I laughed about using the description of "...the alternative facts...".
Blogger Etienne said...
"How can you justify a $700 billion Defense budget?"
With nuclear and chemical weapons.
Remove nuclear and chemical weapons, and we'd only need about $200 billion a year, or about the same as debt interest.
7/15/18, 12:28 AM
My friend you can have your opinion, but not your own facts. The base pentagon budget of $591 billion includes $150 billion for current and retired troops pay and benefits. So your "...$200 billion a year...." is all B.S.
T Bone Burnett's first solo album, 1980, "Truth Decay."
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