April 25, 2019

"Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems."

"Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe. Of course it’s important to know what’s right and what’s wrong. Individual errors in judgment can usually be corrected. As long as you have the courage to admit mistakes, things can be turned around. But intolerant, narrow minds with no imagination are like parasites that transform the host, change form, and continue to thrive. They’re a lost cause, and I don’t want anyone like that coming in here.”

That's a passage from Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore" that came up today in my relistening to the audiobook. It jumped out at me because it resonated with "America is an idea," Biden's new campaign slogan.

By the way, I was resting in the shade on a hike with Meade. He walked on a difficult path ahead, and I simply waited an hour until he got back. As I was waiting, another woman — whose husband was also going on the difficult path without her — waited in the same shade. We got to talking. She was traveling in America from South Korea, and I talked with her about where she was going, and what traveling in South Korea is like. America is so big, and South Korea quite small. I said I liked traveling within Wisconsin, and ventured the guess that Wisconsin and South Korea are about the same size. That was the substance of our conversation. Then Meade showed up and I introduced him to my new South Korean friend. Meade's first question — said in an expansive, exuberant way — was "So what do South Koreans think of our President?" Without hesitation, she said with enthusiasm, "We love him!" Should one immediately talk to a foreigner about politics? I would have thought no, but it worked out okay... though it was not long at all before she said she didn't concern herself with politics.

By the way, North Korea is an idea.
Juche... is the official state ideology of North Korea, described by the government as "Kim Il-sung's original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought." It postulates that "man is the master of his destiny,"  that the Korean masses are to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction" and that by becoming self-reliant and strong a nation can achieve true socialism. 

100 comments:

rhhardin said...

Optimists say the glass is half full; pessimists say the glass is half empty. Engineers say the glass is too big.

- Scott Adams (approx)

traditionalguy said...

The whole world is amazed at Trump's high level of intelligence and cold courage. Where do we get people like that? We get them from the American WASP idea.

gilbar said...

my dad spent about a year in Korea, about 30 miles north of Seoul;
he didn't like it, he said the people were VERY Rude.
But, the people he met were mostly Chinese, and They probably thought my dad was rude too.

tcrosse said...

Do they still speak of the Wisconsin Idea?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

" Reality-- what a concept!!" -- L. Tomlin

Lewis Wetzel said...

America is an idea, but it is an expansive idea (unlike North Korea). The list of things that are American is huge, larger than the imagination of the elites who control our cultural and political institutions. The problem with believing in social progress is that it narrows your vision of what the future can be, and what man can do. The real world don't work that way.

mockturtle said...

"But intolerant, narrow minds with no imagination are like parasites that transform the host, change form, and continue to thrive. They’re a lost cause, and I don’t want anyone like that coming in here.”

Sounds pretty intolerant to me.

mockturtle said...

Gender is an idea, too.

narciso said...

Speaking of ideas:

https://saraacarter.com/breaking-fbi-texts-show-agents-discussed-recruiting-white-house-sources-to-spy-for-bureau/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug&fbclid=IwAR1BTxiUx4uV1eISBEtMxnjKgx5RixQDuQTzqdkubW_54PIyUHJb2PlQr2g

Lewis Wetzel said...

The other night I was watching a WW2 era cartoon produced by Disney. It was made in '43 or '44. It talked about all the wonderful things the military was doing to win the war. It didn't mention the atom bomb, but it had a longish segment on supposed "earthquake bombs" the government was working on. The narrator described with glee the effect of the bombs -- buildings collapsed and a firestorm, a true city killer with tens of thousands of dead civilians.
A year or two after the cartoon was released we dropped atomic weapons on a pair of Japanese cities.
This is America. It is as much a part of our DNA as civil rights marches and the Berlin airlift.

stevew said...

"Then Meade showed up and I introduced him to my new South Korean friend. Meade's first question — said in an expansive, exuberant way — was "So what do South Koreans think of our President?"

Did you cringe? Smirk? Adopt a bemused smile?

Of course they love Trump in South Korea, he has so far defused a very unstable situation.

Wince said...

"Korea hangs like a lumpy phallus between the sprawling thighs of Manchuria and the Sea of Japan."

--William Manchester

Kathryn51 said...

".... the Berlin airlift".

My Millennial kids/in-laws don't even know what this is. In their frame of reference, Germany has always been reunited; NAZIs are bad, Hitler was the most evilest/murderous person in the history of mankind; they've heard the names Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin and Lenin but aren't sure if they are bad or good. Actually, they are pretty sure that Stalin was a bad man.

But they DO know that America is unique; America IS exceptional for a variety of historical reasons; and they are willing to go to the Reagan Presidential Library from time to time (if Mom and Dad pay for the trip).



Automatic_Wing said...

Lumpy phallus, eh? Sounds painful.

stephen cooper said...

Of course Koreans generally love Trump.
Thais and Japanese generally love him too.
(I don't know enough Chinese people to have an opinion, and we are just talking about one part of Asia here.
I could go on for paragraph after paragraph, in Russian or English, about what Russians think about Trump, but why should I bother).

He says out loud he wishes we had not gotten into so many wars back in the day.

Koreans and Japanese people understand that, in a non-obvious way.

The Koreans have a complicated history with Americans, about which they feel almost no guilt.
The Japanese have a complicated history with Americans, about which they feel lots of guilt, in some ways, and not so much, in other ways.

Trump is open to discussion on just about anything.
Not saying he is better than other presidents, just saying he is willing to talk things out.
History is a nightmare that is hard to emerge from and it is hard to talk about things.
And Sometimes the people who want to talk about history are unrepentant about having been on the side of the villains in the nightmares.
But they are still, usually, human. It is wrong to dislike someone simply because you happen to have had a nightmare where someone like them was on the side of villains, But it is also wrong not to take that knowledge you have and try - if only in prayer - to make them a better person. Bad people need people to pray for them too. And if you can do that successfully or can do more than that -----
then you are one of God's chosen.
God loves us all of us even the way we are, but loves all of us too much to let us stay that way (that is a quote from the quirky "independent film" Junebug).

traditionalguy said...

A good study of how the American Idea works is the reaction to the threats from a British Army unit that was pacifying South Carolina in Cornwallis's southern campaign of 1780. In September, 1780, Ferguson's 1,000 man British unit was pacifying the areas around Charlotte, NC and sent a written demand for surrender of the "over the Mountains Men which were American militiamen in East Tennessee.

Their response triggered the chain of American Victories that ended in The British surrender at Yorktown. In two weeks the fighting Ulstermen in the area assembled 1,200 riflemen, elected their leaders at a local meeting place and immediately started out in pursuit of the British unit that had just threatened to kill them all.

They caught them. They surrounded them on a hill called King's Mountain and then charged from up the hill from all sides until 400 British were wiped out and 600 surrendered and many hung for their earlier tactics of slaughtering captured Americans.

That event sent Cornwallis into a retreat through the battles of Guilford Courthouse and Cowpens( well portrayed in the Mel Gibson film The Patriot) on to evacuation by ship at Yorktown. But the French Fleet and Army showed up and joined Washington's troops brought down from Pennsylvania and they ENDED the British Empire's attempt to kill free Americans and steal their land.

Sebastian said...

"America is an idea." This is so old-liberalish. Doesn't Biden know it is a racist and oppressive idea?

It's the fundamental Dem challenge: their base and their leading "intellectuals" despise America, idea and all; but to win they have to persuade enough of the rubes in flyover country that they are patriots of a sort. Of course, Dems have lied about things large and small for years, from Ocare to collusion to Charlottesville. But as Biden is about to illustrate, their very MO is a lie.

Althouse was annoyed at Biden's "demonstrable" and disqualifying lie. Good for her. Will the bigger lies, and the lie-as-MO, turn her away from the Dems for good?

I predict the pull of "women's rights" and "how we imagine law" will keep her close to the fold. Let's call it CBF syndrome.

Ann Althouse said...

For the record, Wisconsin is almost twice the size of South Korea. South Korea has ten times the population that Wisconsin has.

Lewis Wetzel said...

I doubt if any other nation than the US would have come up with a working atomic bomb. The Germans never got close, they were more interested in nuclear power than atom bombs. The Japanese had a very small, eccentric program. I believe that they got as far as containing uranium flouride gas, a precursor to enriching uranium. It was not a high priority for them. The Soviets were army-centric, they wanted weapons for their the army, specifically weapons that would support tank and infantry attacks (like short range rockets).
The hated Curtis LeMay (Geo. Wallace's 1968 running mate) did more to stop fascism than all the campus radicals of the 1960s put together. LeMay did it by dropping bombs on them.
That must be a burn.

Ann Althouse said...

“Did you cringe? Smirk? Adopt a bemused smile?”

I had many thoughts and feelings and I tried including some of them in this post. If I were writing a novel, the transition in the conversation that happened on the arrival of Meade could go on for pages. I’ll just say that a lot is done through smiling.

madAsHell said...

Ya know.....Mr Marakami might be NUTS!!

Lewis Wetzel said...

"Meade leaned in close to the tiny, cowering Korean Girl. His arms were straight down, his hands were tight fists, the veins on his neck stood out. 'SO, WHAT DO SOUTH KOREANS THINK OF OUR PRESIDENT!' he said through clenched teeth.
The Korean girl seemed to become even smaller. She kept her head down, and said in small voice 'We love him, Meade-nim' as she looked desperately for a path to escape."

narciso said...

But Korea before it was occupied it was the joleon kingson for hundreds of years, they had friction with not only Japan, but china.

narciso said...

And goldwater was a pilot over the Himalayas, once of the most treacherous air routes.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

@Lewis Wetzel
Nooooo!
Like an anxious bride-to-be answering "YES!!" before Hubby2B can finish proposing,
The Korean woman blurted " WE RUV HIM!!!" before Meade, almost deferential, concluded the question

wildswan said...

I was raised on the East Coast and sometimes it feels like travelling all the time just to live in one place in the MidWest. Sometimes Joshua Tree National Park doesn't seem like a stranger place than a winter day in Wisconsin.

stephen cooper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
320Busdriver said...

Today, my adorable wife of nearly 30 years spent the afternoon helping her parents sift and sort through their home of many years to prepare them for the eventual sale and downsizing that must occur. Assisting was her younger sibling who, for some reason, decided that today was the day he could no longer keep quiet about his hatred for Donald Trump. He began yelling, face twitching and all, about how Trump is a liar, a racist, sexist, and is ruining America. He recounted how he had to “bite his tongue” for all the years when people spoke ill of Obama, (we never let our views of the Obama years be known) but now he can no longer remain silent. He asked my wife what she thought about global warming and scolded her when she questioned the science saying it was the number one threat to humanity. We enjoy the company of her brother and his spouse. They are truly great people. Great family. Their kids are super. My wife, to her credit, attempted to defuse the melee by repeatedly saying that we should be able to “talk” about these things and try to see the others points of view. Then they sat down and had a nice lunch. I’m sorta glad I’m in CA for a few more days.

mccullough said...

Meade would make an excellent ambassador. Our Man in Seoul.

chickelit said...

Korea hangs like a lumpy phallus between the sprawling thighs of Manchuria and the Sea of Japan.

The Korean Peninsula is China's wattle, and China wants its wattle back one day.

narciso said...

America was founded on faith, we cant talk about that, that's theocracy it rebuts Darwin, enterprise it's about envy rebuts Marx and self restraint and deferral, Freud tells us thats repression, so what are we left with.

Lewis Wetzel said...

Here's a fun story.
I work at a remote site. There is a sort of hotel there that I stay stay when I am working: I have a small room, and there is a lounge and dining area for workers like me. The people who take care of the place are housekeepers and cooks. The guy who runs the place is a big local guy. Happiest guy I've ever met, always cheerful, whistling as he works, he genuinely seems to love his job of cleaning bathrooms and making beds for people like me.
Last year I found that he has led a life of tragedy. His brother was a drug addict shacked up with another drug addict. They had a couple of kids together. Then she died of an overdose. A few weeks later the brother hanged himself.
This guy, who makes maybe twice the minimum wage, stepped up and took the kids to raise. Nothing in it for him, he was in his early twenties.
He has no career, no social status, a ton of responsibility he never looked for, and he is the happiest guy I know.

narciso said...

So what is one left with as identity, race ethnicity and gender, but they dont unify in the absence of the former they are corrosive.

stephen cooper said...

I like Trump, me and him were at the same bar in old NYC back in the day, one late Thursday evening, we were both flirting with the hottest girl in the bar, she left with me and not him, he did not even hardly notice, he just started flirting with the second hottest girl in the bar.


The guy is not a liar, no more than most people, anyway, he is definitely not a racist, and he is not sexist, and America is too strong to be ruined by a mere mortal.





mockturtle said...

But Korea before it was occupied it was the joleon kingson for hundreds of years, they had friction with not only Japan, but china.

The Joseon period was an interesting era. I think when I'm through studying Japanese history [if that ever happens] I'll start on Korean history. The Japanese actually did annex South Korea in the early 20th century but there was never quite the animosity that there was between China and Japan.

mockturtle said...

Stephen Cooper fantasizes: I like Trump, me and him were at the same bar in old NYC back in the day, one late Thursday evening, we were both flirting with the hottest girl in the bar, she left with me and not him, he did not even hardly notice, he just started flirting with the second hottest girl in the bar.

Sure, Stephen. Trump doesn't drink and certainly never had to pick up girls in a bar. Are you just bored, or what?

narciso said...

Yes I blame autocorrect but it's only recently that I've done a deep dive into Korean history, there a couple of interesting series on Netflix among other places about major figures

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Should one immediately talk to a foreigner about politics?

yes, if they are on American soil.
Approach them, assume an official demeanor, and ask them pointed political questions.
Brusquely rifle thru their personal effects, and demand to see requisite identification.
Scan the documents with mock-scrutiny, then abruptly hand them back.
Look intently into their eyes, pause, then with a big, warm smile, say:
"Welcome to the U.S.! Enjoy your stay!!"

mockturtle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
320Busdriver said...

Well BIL also said “that wall won’t do shit”

Nes to check in with CNN where Tom Friedman just told Blitzeder...”You’d Better Believe We Need A “High” Border Wall,”

Pigs really do fly, don’t they?

stephen cooper said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
stephen cooper said...

mockturtle ----

or what is the right answer

David Begley said...

Very risky to ask a foreigner about US politics as they probably get their info from CNN International. What do Americans know about politics in the UK or Brazil?

mockturtle said...

Correction: Korea, not South Korea.

David Begley said...

The Left’s ideas can drive one to insanity. I recall the story of some guy who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge because he bought into Gore’s global warming scam.

Do we kill ourselves in 12 years? What happens if AOC is wrong?

narciso said...

So imho that's what extolling that trio of thinkers has done to this country.

stephen cooper said...

Teraz, zostava viera, nadej a laska.

Ale najvacsia znich je laska.

(or what is the right answer)

try that in Trieste.

(that was Slovenian for There are these three, faith hope and charity. and the greatest of these is charity).

I remember, thanks.

stephen cooper said...

Pray for someone tonight that you have not prayed for in a while

Bay Area Guy said...

My Father-in-Law served at the tail end of the Korean War. Without the US, South Korea spends the last 70 years as an oppressive Commie Hellhole under the boot of the Norks.

Of course, the South Koreans like us.

William said...

"America is an idea." I don't take offense at the statement. I don't know whether I'd describe it as a banality or a vacuity, but it's not offensive......I've been re-watching Veep. It's a good show. It dramatizes the thought and care that goes into composing these innocuous slogans. This reminds me of something that Veep's brain trust would come up with.......I can't say that my character declined or improved during the Obama years. I don't think my character has changed much during the last two Trump years either. My character has always been pretty much independent of who the current president is.......The stock market has boomed during the Trump years. That has improved my mood but not my character.

livermoron said...

Tradguy:
I have two ancestors (brothers) who were Overmountain Men fighting against Ferguson. I also have a relative who fought FOR Ferguson.
Of all the men on that mountain that day, only Ferguson himself was British. All the rest were Americans (Colonials for the nit-pickers) either Loyalists to the Crown or Rebels. The 400 uniformed soldiers fighting for the Crown were Americans from New York under Captain DePeyser, also an American.

King's Mountain was the only major battle in the War for Independence where no British troops were involved. The land was laid waste in the Carolinas not just by the troops of Tarleton; it was American-on-American internecine warfare. Farms and crops were burned, families were driven out of their homes, old antagonisms resurfaced and were avenged. More than one tree bore 'strange fruit'. The American Revolution was our first civil war.

The Battle of King's Mountain exemplifies the spirit behind the Second Amendment. Brave and angry farmers and hunters left their families behind during a spate of American Indian predations, gathering their muskets from off their mantelpieces, their rain slickers from the hook on the door, and handfuls of parched corn that they could eat in the saddle... to ride across the mountains and face down and destroy an existential threat.

Oooo-rah!

wwww said...

"He has no career, no social status, a ton of responsibility he never looked for, and he is the happiest guy I know."

What a great guy and a great story! I bet he gets a ton of love from the kids he adopted.

livermoron said...

mock:
I have been to South Korea about 8 times. All on business. The South Koreans do not like the Japanese. Part of my role at Sun Micro was to speak about the future of technology - 'futurist'- to audiences all around the world. Setting up a big event in Asia, we chose Seoul as the venue. The Koreans were very wary of allowing the Japanese to attend and the Japanese knew it and segregated themselves throughout the event.
Of course, I have also been in company bars in Japan where some of the hostesses were of Korean heritage. Although born in Japan, they were given 2nd class citizenship and required to carry passports that were different from Original Recipe citizens.
So I guess the feeling is mutual.

Gahrie said...

The South Koreans do not like the Japanese

Genetically, the Japanese and Koreans are the same people. Japanese are descended from Koreans who pushed the Ainu off the islands. Japan and Korea have had centuries of history of conflict. The term kamikaze comes from a storm that sank a Korean invasion fleet. The Japanese conquest and occupation of Korea in the twentieth century was brutal. Many Korean women were forced to become "comfort women" to Japanese soldiers or were simply outright raped. They have long memories. Don't ever call a Japanese person Korean, or a Korean person Japanese. Huge insults.

Gahrie said...

America was founded on faith

America was colonized on faith. America was founded on Enlightenment ideals.

Anonymous said...

So two out of two women who wait in the shadows for an hour whilst their men folk exercise support Trump...

I wonder what the ladies hiking on ahead with your men think... or was it a "Boys Only" trail? ;-)

(Get off your asses and move 'em, ladies! Yep, you two...)

Crazy World said...

That sassy scamp Meade!
I for one am STOKED rocket man is not firing missiles at me tonight, actually read where this little island we live on tested a few of our own.
Reference GARDEN ISLAND NEWS as much as their reporting pretty much blows.

rhhardin said...

Richard Epstein says three problems with an obstruction of justice charge
1. Trump has no motive for obstruction. He knows there was no collusion.
2. Everything was done in public. He's not trying to conceal anything.
3. Mueller explicitly skips that President has the power to do what he did.

American ideas.

Anonymous said...

We don't teach our kids fairy tales any more. That's a shame because some have valuable lessons, an important one being from, "The Emperor's New Clothes."

Henry said...

"The Transition in the Conversation that Happened on the Arrival of Meade" reads like one of Murakami's chapter titles.

Here's one from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle:

"Culverts and an Absolute Insufficiency of Electricity * May Kasahara's Inquiry into the Nature of Hairpieces"

Wince said...

Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe.

"Only two things scare me. One is nuclear war..."

Sally327 said...

Speaking of Korea, I recommend Martin Limon's novels based in the 70s and focused on two Army CID investigators, Sueno and Bascom. Those books have generally informed my thinking, right or wrong, about Korea and how it views its American ally.

I think it's possible that the vast majority of the people in the world don't really care about politics. It's why we all end up with such crappy politicians making bad policy.



Laslo Spatula said...

Althouse's story would be better if the Korean woman was instead a Japanese girl in a schoolgirl skirt and long white socks.

Meade would seem very American to her, and she would Japanese-girl-giggle behind her hand.

"Would you like to buy my bicycle seat?" she would ask, because in Japan the Japanese men were always offering her money for the temporary use of her bicycle seat.

Meade's polite refusal would only make her Japanese-girl-giggle more.

"You are like American Samurai," she would say to him. While peeling a banana with delicate fingertips.

I am Laslo.

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Tommy Duncan said...

Blogger tcrosse said...

"Do they still speak of the Wisconsin Idea?"

Yes, but only when it provides Democrats with political advantage.

Laslo Spatula said...

"My Grandfather, he died in the Big War," she would say to Meade.

"A lot of good men died in that Big War," Meade would reply stoically.

"Yes," she would answer. "He was killed by American soldier."

Meade would nod, because an Old-School American understands that sometimes the right words are no words at all.

"There is pride in being killed by big strong American," she would say, her delicate fingertips touching the tip of the peeled banana. "Not like being killed by dirty Korean gangster."

Meade would nod again, because that is what Gary Cooper would've done.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

"After the war, my father would work twelve hours a day. He did not have a war to fight, and he wanted to make his father proud."

"Making a respected father proud is deep in the heart of a true man," Meade would reply, sharing an understanding that bridged between cultures like a bridge bridges between two land masses separated by water.

"To bring home a strong true man like you -- my father would be proud of me but never say the words."

Meade nodded, because, again: Gary Cooper.

"Then my father would sadly disown me because you were an American."

"Fathers can possess great wisdom but not always be wise," Meade would say, staring into the middle distance.

"We would have to go to America, and I would have to try to be American Girl."

"To be an American Girl means not having to try to be an American Girl. It just means you need to be you. A girl. In America..."

I am Laslo.

Hagar said...

Why not? Turn about is fair play.

When I visited the "old country," the first thing people would do was to attack me to explain what in the world those crazy Americans were about for them, and it was not easy for me, since I too think you people are passing strange, but I would do the best I could.

Kind of like Kissinger, who as a German born and raised but a longtime resident in the U.S., tried to explain the U.S. to the rest of the world and vice versa as best he could.

Birches said...

Pretty safe to ask an Asian. They get Trump. He gets them.

Laslo Spatula said...

"Many men, they like the young Japanese girl," the young Japanese girl would say. "They like the schoolgirl skirt and the tall white socks."

"There is more to a woman than just what she wears," Meade would say to the the young Japanese girl in the schoolgirl skirt and the tall white socks.

"It's funny," she would say, after suppressing behind her hand a Japanese-girl-giggle. "You are more American man because you are so very different from so many American men."

"Like the difference between Gary Cooper and John Wayne?" Meade would reply, staring into that great American middle distance.

"Oh, the difference, it is much bigger than THAT," she would whisper, putting the banana to her lips...

I am Laslo.

Anonymous said...

AA: Should one immediately talk to a foreigner about politics? I would have thought no...

I don't see a problem with a native asking the foreigner for his opinion. For a foreigner to bang on with his unsolicited opinions is not recommended, however.

Laslo Spatula said...

Meade is an Idea.

I am Laslo.

iowan2 said...

Tom Freidman is a White Nationalist, Not very bright, doesn't read. The highlight of his life is when SharkWeek! is airing.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Is Denmark Socialist?

South Koreans love American Strength. Leftists in America are more like Kim Jong Un. Control freaks.

chuck said...

"My Grandfather, he died in the Big War," she would say to Meade.

Hemingway at his best.

Fernandinande said...

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"North Korea presented US with $2 million bill for care of Otto Warmbier[the guy who returned in a coma and soon died], but Trump says US didn't pay"

rhhardin said...

The Avengers: Endgame
350 of 600 people found this review helpful.

rhhardin said...

Suzanne Venker is an author, columnist and relationship coach known as The Feminist "Fixer.” She helps free women from feminist lies so they can find lasting love with men. Suzanne's newest book, WOMEN WHO WIN at Love: How to Build a Relationship That Lasts, will be published October 2019.

The universal constant is female self-help books.

narciso said...

Here's a twist thread:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1121568398285127680.html

Kevin said...

Intolerance: deplorables.

theories cut off from reality: Trump is a danger to America.

empty terminology: racism.

usurped ideals: equality means equal outcomes.

inflexible systems: single-payer, government-run healthcare.

Fernandinande said...

Don't do what Donny Don't does, which lately is acting like a dominationst firmly!

"The Korean people value the independence of the country and nation and, under the pressure of imperialists and dominationsts[sic], have thoroughly implemented the principle of independence, self-reliance and self-defence, defending the country's sovereignty and dignity firmly."

Orange Juche Bad.

Browndog said...

I'm going with "The United States is a country. A sovereign nation."

That is all.

narciso said...

Well it's more than that, obviously.

gspencer said...

"But intolerant, narrow minds with no imagination are like parasites that transform the host, change form, and continue to thrive. They’re a lost cause, and I don’t want anyone like that coming in here.”

Sounds like a direct quoting of any Democrat office holder in Portland, SF, NYC, Seattle, et alia.

Paco Wové said...

"I don't see a problem with a native asking the foreigner for his opinion"

I make it a point never to bring up politics when abroad. If somebody asks me, I usually try to keep the answers as simple and polite as truth will allow. (I'm always asked about American politics. Nobody ever wants to know what I think of local events – probably figuring that I've never heard of them.)

The worst thing is running into other Americans gassing on about American politics.

rcocean said...

South Koreans and Japanese are usually very polite in public. So they wouldn't come to the USA and say they hate Trump unless you were a liberal and asked a loaded question like "How do you like our bigoted, racist, Orange Man?" and then they would agree - out of politeness.

And there's no reason for the Koreans to like Japan, anymore then there's reason for the Poles to like the Germans. And Korea and Japan are not "ideas" - they're peoples and they not intention of importing 40 million Zulus and giving them the keys to the country.

mockturtle said...

Livermoron @ 12:33: Oooo-rah!

Indeed! And I hope that spirit is only dormant, not dead.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Japanese schoolgirl fantasies bring out the Laslo in Laslo.

I look forward to the movie version.

Will the naughty bits be pixelated out, Japanese-style? Maybe only in the version for the Japanese market.

Henry said...

It's ironic that given a quote about intolerant narrow-mindedness, the immediate response is to use it as an accusation.

stlcdr said...

Blogger Paco Wové said...
"I don't see a problem with a native asking the foreigner for his opinion"

I make it a point never to bring up politics when abroad. If somebody asks me, I usually try to keep the answers as simple and polite as truth will allow. (I'm always asked about American politics. Nobody ever wants to know what I think of local events – probably figuring that I've never heard of them.)

The worst thing is running into other Americans gassing on about American politics.

4/26/19, 8:20 AM


If it comes up, I note how great things are in the US; the economy is doing great, low crime rates, low unemployment, wages are great, people just doing what they want to do.

Of course, they try to bring up Trump. I usually say I like him, he's great, and just point out what I previously said. They say the rest of the world sees him as an awful hateful little man. Just shrug.

It's 'Make America Great Again', not 'Make The World Happy and not Hate You'.

Big Mike said...

For the record, Wisconsin is almost twice the size of South Korea. South Korea has ten times the population that Wisconsin has.

But I’ll bet you have more cows

;-)

narciso said...

Heck of a job:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6961389/Biden-campaigns-hires-include-onetime-Harvey-Weinstein-adviser-former-Bernie-spokeswoman.html

tcrosse said...

But I’ll bet you have more cows

And more communists.

Meade said...

Laslo is ideal.

I, Meade

Anonymous said...

In my experience, the notion that Amurrcans are some uniquely ignorant population about the rest of the world is risible. Ignant we can be, but no more than they can, and the flipside idea that Europeans have some sophisticated understanding of politics that we lack is even stupider.

Before the WABAWTS (1861-1865) the biggest streams of immigration here, and hence the weightiest cultural traditions, were British Isles (esp. Scots-Irish early, Irish later), and German (especially 1840-1870). The so-called WASP is more or less a convenient figment, but they sat atop the uncouth newcomers as well as they could.

Others have already attributed motives, more or less accurate. I like Amy Clampitt: old Europe, "that hodgepodge of ancestral calamities."

The shift to other sources of immigration is also pretty well known, and is inextricable from the development of modern America. (More calamities.)

Of course in the South, mostly, there was the enormous influence of African people on oh, just about everything here. (Calamity at both ends.)

Here's the thing, we shouldn't encourage people to bring the calamities with them.

Narr
Fan of the Three B's: Bach, Basie,and Brubeck


Anonymous said...

Big Mike said...
For the record, Wisconsin is almost twice the size of South Korea. South Korea has ten times the population that Wisconsin has.

But I’ll bet you have more cows

;-)

4/26/19, 9:04 AM


Them furriners are a beef-eating people, I would not be so sure.

narciso said...

so the times and the journal, decided to choose today to focus on the mastermind of the easter massacre, but they follow the narrative of finding if not an excuse a rationalization in an event that happened 29 years ago,

mockturtle said...

Narr sez: Here's the thing, we shouldn't encourage people to bring the calamities with them.

Yes. The immigration officials should make this clear. As in, "Did you bring any calamities with you? Are you sure?" [Searches bags, plucks out two or three obvious calamities and tosses them into the trash]

Anonymous said...

Mockturtle 7:31 PM

La Migra are overworked already.

Narr
Got to watch for the ones that have ah internalized the calamity. There are some tells.

gerry said...

So the men took on the tough path, and the ladies waited in the shade? LOL.

(Sorry, I had to take the bait).