March 18, 2019

Andrew Yang (the Democratic presidential candidate) talks about "normal" so much....

... it reminds my son John of that fake police officer played by Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita":
I said to myself when I saw you — I said, "That's a guy with the most normal-looking face I ever saw in my life!" . . . It's great to see a normal face, because I'm a normal guy. It'd be great for two normal guys like us to get together and talk about world events — you know, in a normal sort of way....
At the link: the "Lolita" clip and Yang's "normal" quotes.

24 comments:

Bay Area Guy said...

Normal is very boring. However, Althouse says she is pro-boring, so maybe she is not waiting for Godot, but pining for Yang.

Sprezzatura said...

He was on Rogan. 1245.

Rob said...

I've been participating in PredictIt, a New Zealand betting market website. In the 2020 Democratic nomination market, Yang's price is currently 12, compared to Sanders 22, Biden 22, O'Rourke 16, Harris 16, Booker 6, Warren 6, Buttigieg 6, Klobuchar 5 and Gillibrand 3. Yang's absurdly high price (and it's been as high as 16) is driven by a bunch of Yang fanboys. I'm shorting Yang, of course, and also shorting Sanders and O'Rourke. I'm long Buttigieg, not because I think he has a prayer of getting the nomination, but because I expect his own fanboys to drive the price up, so I can dump him and then make some money on his way down.

Quaestor said...

Normal means there are just as many people with IQs below the mean as above it.

Quaestor said...

The Althouse comment section is looking distinctly abnormal lately.

Charlie Currie said...

That was not Peter Sellers' normal voice. That was really weird.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Yang is the smartest guy in this race and has the best ideas for what the country needs - at least domestically. Unfortunately it remains to be seen if his nerdy demeanor and atypical pedigree will translate into the perception of star-power leadership potential.

But he doesn't care, and more power to him for it. He simply wants to poll well enough to enter the debates and make UBI/basic income an unavoidable political issue.

The more you listen to him the more you realize what he knows. And that the country should know. And he's constructive - even getting Tucker Carlson and prominent right-wingers to agree with his platform.

Phil 314 said...

""I've got a wife and two kids and I'm running for president to solve the problems of this era," Yang said. "We have this sinking feeling that our government is way behind the curve, and I'm trying to catch us up."

a lot of images in those 2 sentences.

I'm seeing Mr. Yang standing out in front of his house, smiling with his wife and two kids (and a dog, I hope there's a dog) THEN SUDDENLY

a sinkhole opens up and the family is falling in the hole

AND THEN

Someone throws him a curve...its a rope! and he's trying to catch it to get himself and his family back up.

Phew!!! this doesn't feel normal.

(PS [racist alert] Why is it when he claims so much to be "normal" that I think his name shouldn't be Yang but should be Young. Isn't that a "normal" name?)

Inga...Allie Oop said...

It’s interesting that the 4chan posters are excited about Yang, yet Yang rejects any support from White Nationalists. He’s got some interesting ideas, that’s for sure.

narciso said...

He wants to get rid of the electoral college, just one of his many poorly thought out ideas

Unknown said...

Yang is a meme... you can see on 4chan and reddit the primary purpose of his UBI posture.

Perhaps this is the way of direct democracy in the social media age. The network rules, and its instant.

Rather than statesmanship, various "sides" unless human memes on the "opposition" - AOC (Green New Meme), Trump (Wall Meme), Beto (tear down all walls meme, back to cDc meme) Dem candidates (reparations meme)

persuade by unleashing memes into The Matrix

Yang is good at meme-ing - google yang meme, see #YangGang, pink vaporare hats, lots of meme video clips

Memeing is the new thinking


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture—often with the aim of conveying a particular phenomenon, theme, or meaning represented by the meme.[4] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices, that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures.[5]

Sarah from VA said...

Andrew Yang is a very normal name for an Asian American. I mean, if you were trying to make up a name for a hypothetical Asian American, you'd probably pick Yang or Lee or Chen/Chan for the surname and then a vanilla American name for the first name -- John, Joshua, Andrew, James...

Yang has a sort of strange charisma about him. The "freedom dividend" idea is patently ridiculous, and crazy people are super excited about him. But I like him. And seeing a crowded Democratic field of career politicians and one free-wheeling businessman on the outside edge, I have to wonder -- is Yang the Trump of 2020?

n.n said...

The Althouse comment section is looking distinctly abnormal lately.

A slower pace to be sure. It's unfortunate that Blogger doesn't offer personalized, active filtering to self-moderate the comments.

Phil 314 said...

“It’s interesting that the 4chan posters are excited about Yang, yet Yang rejects any support from White Nationalists. He’s got some interesting ideas”

I wonder how long his team had to think about the “White Nationalists” support before they rejected.

“Let’s put that on next weeks agenda to discuss.

narciso said...

No, hes a dangerous fool, hes against the electoral college for a universal basic income probably wants to disband the military

Rob said...

And now Yang, bless his heart, has announced his opposition to circumcision. Most candidates deal only in broad strokes, but Yang takes the matter in hand and thrusts himself into the fray.

James K said...

Am I the only one who had to look Andrew Yang up, having never heard of him?

It would be great if his running mate were named Yin.

exhelodrvr1 said...

"And now Yang, bless his heart, has announced his opposition to circumcision. Most candidates deal only in broad strokes, but Yang takes the matter in hand and thrusts himself into the fray."

Putting his best foot forward?

meep said...

When I was in school, I distrusted "normal" people, as in, people who did not seem to have any sort of individual quirk at all.

It was like they were aliens.

Or, more specifically, their weirdness was where you couldn't see it.

In a like manner, I noticed the people who dressed in extreme ways, or had extensive tattoos, or whatever, tended to be the most boring people to talk with. It's like they put on this protective coloring to seem interesting when the core was just... normal.

DaveL said...

He wants a "News and Information Ombudsman" who can fine purveyors of "fake news." Apparently he doesn't understand the First Amendment or the nation's judicial system. Not impressed.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The Democrat party is running full communist.

Drago said...

Inga: "It’s interesting that the 4chan posters are excited about Yang, yet Yang rejects any support from White Nationalists."

Fox Butterfield call your office.

jeremyabrams said...

Being against circumcision is just as bad as being for it. It shows he has no sense of the limits of the federal government. True, there is no 11th Amendment saying Congress shall not infringe on the loose skin around men's penises, but until now I thought it was implied.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"That was not Peter Sellers' normal voice."

I'm not sure what was. He was always doing accents, and odd characters, and very well.

"It’s interesting that the 4chan posters are excited about Yang, yet Yang rejects any support from White Nationalists."

Is Yang minority enough to not have to campaign against himself? Maybe, if he bashes Whitey enough to deflect from his Asian privilege. I'm sure as a skilled Dem politician he is up to the challenge.