Althouse: "I don't think there are any sinister persons deliberately trying to rob people of their freedom" — in the United States — but there are "a number of impersonal forces..."

August 4, 2019

"I don't think there are any sinister persons deliberately trying to rob people of their freedom" — in the United States — but there are "a number of impersonal forces..."

Mike Wallace interviews Aldous Huxley:

122 comments:

J. Farmer said...: I think that is essentially correct, which is why I tend to disbelieve in conspiracy theories. What are often described as conspiracies are more often the natural consequence of an alignment of incentives. Do I think the arms industry is secretly getting wars started to line their pockets? No. Do I think the arms industry has an incentive structure which lead them to take actions which make more likely? Undoubtedly.; 8/4/19, 3:09 PM
Big Mike said...: Well he's wrong. There really are sinister persons trying to rob people of their freedom, and they are the shadowy billionaires that pull the strings in the Democrat party. Two of them are incautious enough to let their names be known -- Tom Steyer and George Soros -- but others, like Reid Hoffman are more successful at staying out of the limelight.; 8/4/19, 3:11 PM
buwaya said...: The natural consequences of alignments of incentives are acted upon by individuals, who coordinate with other individuals.
This is not an argument against conspiracies. There are always persons making decisions, almost always in consultation with others, and from them orders go to some others.

One has to have been, perhaps, a witness to decisions being made to get that.; 8/4/19, 3:20 PM
Darrell said...: Never underestimate the power of creative minds to create resources ro supply growing populations. Or the rapidity of solutions. Norman Borlaug turned India into a net food exporter almost overnight. Say "God Bless America" when you retire for the night and when you awake. And curse the demons that say no borders, no walls, no America at all.; 8/4/19, 3:20 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: @Farmer,

It's not mutually exclusive. Yes, your "alligned incentive" theory is well-stated. I buy it.

1. But, the murder of Prez Lincoln was definitely a conspiracy. Booth had a team of Confederate sympathesizers, who felt humiliated by losing the War, so they went after Lincoln, Johnson and Seward.

2. More so, the Watergate burglary was a conspiracy by Hunt & Liddy to take illegal action against Nixon's political opponents. (Notwithstanding the Silent Coup theory of Watergate).

I think the Russia hoaxers were engaged in a conspiracy to topple Trump, similar to the Watergate burglars.

I think there are certain "alligned" elements on the Left, who would love to topple "racist" America.

I don't think that's crazy talk either. Could be wrong, though.; 8/4/19, 3:20 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Big Mike:

There really are sinister persons trying to rob people of their freedom

I guess the question for me is are they consciously trying to do that? Is their conscious goal to "rob people of their freedom?" Nearly everyone, with perhaps the exception of psychopaths, claim to have benign goals? Isn't the consequence of what someone wants more important than why they want it in the first place? Even if someone was doing a destructive thing for totally pure and good intentions, it would still be a destructive thing. I don't really have firm answers to any of these questions myself, but it is how I tend to think about this issue.; 8/4/19, 3:21 PM
madAsHell said...: Huxley never met Hillary!; 8/4/19, 3:23 PM
Seeing Red said...: They don’t consider it a destructive thing. Then wh3n it’s pointed out it was a destructive thing, the response might just be throw more money at it.; 8/4/19, 3:24 PM
buwaya said...: What we usually note is a state of obvious coordination, in the mass media say.
How does this happen? Is it a conspiracy or an emergent phenomenon that is a result of “incentives”?

I sincerely doubt it. The timing is almost always perfect. The institutions involved are not copying each other.; 8/4/19, 3:27 PM
J. Farmer said...: @buwaya:

This is not an argument against conspiracies. There are always persons making decisions, almost always in consultation with others, and from them orders go to some others.

I obviously agree with this. Humans do interact. Conspiracies do exist. We have laws against them (e.g. "conspiracy to commit..."). Conspiracy theories are a horse of a different color.; 8/4/19, 3:33 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Bay Area Guy:

I think there are certain "alligned" elements on the Left, who would love to topple "racist" America.

That's certainly not a conspiracy! They say outright that that is what they want. The fact that a lot of wants don't want to listen, don't want to believe it, or don't care doesn't make it a conspiracy.; 8/4/19, 3:37 PM
Sebastian said...: I think John Brennan is a person.; 8/4/19, 3:38 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Follow the path back to those supplying the bread and putting on the circuses.

Caligulation.

I am Laslo.; 8/4/19, 3:40 PM
buwaya said...: Conspiracies are the natural state of elite decision making in complex societies.
You simply don’t know what your leaders are deciding, often enough, or, hardly ever, the substance of the arguments they are holding with each other. By definition it is a world of conspiracies.

Whether any given well-publicized “conspiracy”, or let’s say some alternate explanation for a given phenomenon, is true or not is not relevant. The people making decisions work within a continuum of events, persons, incentives, threats, and an infinite number of decisions are being made continuously. We do not hear of much of this.; 8/4/19, 3:40 PM
J. Farmer said...: @buwaya:

Is it a conspiracy or an emergent phenomenon that is a result of “incentives”?

It's a combination of both. I never said conspiracies do not exist. I said that I tend to discount "conspiracy theories." But still, I think it is much more the latter than the former. I see it as much more web-like and less top-down hierarchical.; 8/4/19, 3:41 PM
narciso said...: I Think since dean, organized the plumbers, gave them their orders, now dean probably told Nixon of the hughes loan connection with O'Brien, but he had them tap the spense oliver which tied to cathy riekan, and consequently mo biner nee dean, which in turn is tangentially tied to Jacob nesline, whose influence extends all the way to the elian case and the smith bagleys,

although Huxley didn't seem to mind the controllers re brave new world; 8/4/19, 3:42 PM
narciso said...: patterns of association, nodes of influence, the Cambridge cell, which included cairncross, klugmann, as well as Philby and co, time went on there were networks formed against Harold Wilson, say that peter wright Edward king were party to,; 8/4/19, 3:44 PM
James K said...: “the Watergate burglary was a conspiracy by Hunt & Liddy to take illegal action against Nixon's political opponents.”

The bigger and more sinister conspiracy was the plot to take down Nixon. Is that what you meant by the “Silent Coup” theory? Some sickening details are here:

https://spectator.org/grand-jury-secrecy-and-jerry-nadler/; 8/4/19, 3:45 PM
buwaya said...: Institutions are hierarchical by definition. These coordinate, “web-like”, in that case, across the points of their respective pyramids.
But even among institutions there are hierarchies, with some being more significant and influential than others. We have very poor information about this.

Mostly we can observe behavior, where it is visible to us, and knowing what we know about institutions we can make operating assumptions.; 8/4/19, 3:47 PM
Michael K said...: the Watergate burglary was a conspiracy by Hunt & Liddy to take illegal action against Nixon's political opponents.

That's one theory but there are others, The John Dean and his wife being one.; 8/4/19, 3:47 PM
J. Farmer said...: @buwaya:

By definition it is a world of conspiracies.

You describe the systematic nature by which human decisions are made and then say that is "by definition," but how precisely is that the definition of a conspiracy? The fact that two or more people conspire to commit a criminal act is well known and well attested. Who has denied that such a thing exists?; 8/4/19, 3:48 PM
narciso said...: this was based on the misapprehension, due to golitsyn's info, and the sudden passing of hugh Gaitskell, that Harold Wilson was a soviet agent, rather than a bumbling fool, now the mitrokhin files have revealed that Michael foot and tony benn, were certainly soviet agents of influence, benn embarrassingly so even for the soviets,; 8/4/19, 3:48 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Our media is corrupt. They paint a picture for one party. They leave the other pictures on the cutting room floor.; 8/4/19, 3:50 PM
narciso said...: ted kennedy, through his cut out john tunney, made contact with Andropov, one might say he was more in the Michael foot vein, than tony benn, interestingly they were both sons of civil servants involved in india,; 8/4/19, 3:52 PM
narciso said...: of course, being that McCord, the committee's security chief, also worked for the office of security, did he also keep the higher ranks of the Company involved, if not merely involved,; 8/4/19, 3:54 PM
buwaya said...: A conspiracy need not be a “criminal” act, or be about criminal behavior. For our purposes it just needs to be acts or the decision-making behind them that is deliberately obscure. We simply have no way to tell what is criminal, who had input, what quid pro quo is on the table, and to what degree it protects or considers “public” interests.

In such a miasmic zone anything could pass, and probably does.; 8/4/19, 3:56 PM
narciso said...: of course the counterpart to the Cambridge cells, was the ware and pressman rings in this country, which involved figures as high up as alger hiss William Remington, Lawrence duggan,; 8/4/19, 3:59 PM
Molly said...: (eaglebeak)

Aldous Huxley would not have been my first choice to interview on this topic, Brave New World notwithstanding. Huxley's fascination with LSD, exemplified in his essay Heaven and Hell and his book Doors of Perception (not to mention his unnerving deathbed acid trip), would have encouraged me to find another interlocutor.

Not having read all of Huxley's books, I can't swear that After Many a Summer Dies the Swan is the creepiest and most worth reading, but it is certainly somewhat striking.

Many of his relatives were fixated on evolutionary biology, like his ancestor Thomas Huxley (known as Darwin's Bulldog) and his brother Sir Julian Huxley, a biologist who was the first head of, ugh, UNESCO (the virulently anti-Semitic UN org from which the U.S. and Israel have withdrawn.

Not a big fan of any of the Huxleys, but Mike Wallace obviously did not agree.; 8/4/19, 3:59 PM
Otto said...: What's your point Ann? We could go all over the lot with this video.; 8/4/19, 4:05 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Inside, Huxley was screaming.; 8/4/19, 4:05 PM
Ken B said...: Bob Boyd
The annus mirabilis.; 8/4/19, 4:06 PM
buwaya said...: Consider my favorite conspiracy, that enormous one across the MSM.
It isn’t criminal to coordinate coverage, to coordinate a political line, to avoid covering certain things, to suppress stories, etc.
Criminality is a very limited way of looking at it.

Consider my own reporting “scoop”, from 2012-13, about the hiding of a pro-corporate and anti-beneficiary private pension compliance policy adjustment hidden within a transportation bill, passed by both Democrats and Republicans with no discussion. There was, for certain, some mention of this behind closed doors as a great deal of money was involved. But not a peep, from politicians or MSM. Other than private whining in specialist actuarial journals. No criminality in this, but there certainly was a conspiracy.

And it goes on and on.; 8/4/19, 4:10 PM
Fernandinande said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/4/19, 4:13 PM
Big Mike said...: @Farmer, then ask yourself this question. How is i that so many can synchronize so quickly on a set of talking points without a guiding hand? It doesn’t happen within days, it happens within a couple hours, tops.; 8/4/19, 4:16 PM
Fernandinande said...: Is their conscious goal to "rob people of their freedom?"

If they're running witch hunts or drug wars, yes.

Nearly everyone, with perhaps the exception of psychopaths, claim to have benign goals?

The drug warriors and and witch-hunter claim to have benign goals, and they're psychopaths.; 8/4/19, 4:16 PM
narciso said...: there was an illustration of a novel by the creator of heroes and later timeless, that involved a fictional relative of the late secretary forrestal, lsd enabled perception and john f kennedy, along with timothy leary, name escapes me right now, now cord Meyers ex wife was experimenting with lsd, while in a relationship with john f kennedy, and perhaps others, meyer having been a high level official in the Company at the time,; 8/4/19, 4:17 PM
The Godfather said...: Well, the Communists are gone, so Huxley was wrong about that. But we now have the threat to democracy and freedom from the global warmists. Some of them (e.g. Thomas Friedman) are actually candid enough to say that the only way we can meet this "existential" threat is a dictatorship of the wise. It's easy to laugh at "the squad", but imagine if (say) Warren is elected President next year, along with a Democrat-controlled House and Senate. How free will we be after a couple of years of that?; 8/4/19, 4:24 PM
Yancey Ward said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/4/19, 4:27 PM
narciso said...: not very, because unlike with trump, you have a bureaucracy and a media that is willing to go along with the likes,; 8/4/19, 4:28 PM
Yancey Ward said...: There are no impersonal forces outside of nature. All other forces are made up of human beings, and thus personal.

There are always people who want to be in control- those who can't stand the thought that others read certain things, say certain things, do certain things, buy and sell certain things. These people form alliances with each other to attain power, and, yes, they do want to steal your freedom, and if you resist hard enough and long enough, they will also decide to kill you. The means become the goal after a long enough time.; 8/4/19, 4:29 PM
J. Farmer said...: buwaya:

For our purposes it just needs to be acts or the decision-making behind them that is deliberately obscure

That is perhaps why we are talking past each other. The common definition of conspiracy or conspiring is to secretly plan to do a destructive thing. According to Dictionary.com, a conspiracy is "a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful." Merriam-Webster defines conspire as "to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or an act which becomes unlawful as a result of the secret agreement."

Plenty of decisions are made in secrecy, such as hiring decisions or parents making decisions for their children. Is it really useful to use the verb conspire to describe that behavior?; 8/4/19, 4:30 PM
Bob Boyd said...: The annus mirabilis.

Not to be confused with the anus miribilis; 8/4/19, 4:32 PM
buwaya said...: All acts of public policy are “destructive”, as in that they will disadvantage someone.
Or they will disproportionately advantage someone else.
And whatever else is involved, the secrecy creates impunity on the part of the principals, they cannot easily be held responsible for even unintended consequences.

What then is innocuous about this sort of conspiracy, and why isn’t it all properly called conspiracies?

The other interesting thing about this continuous, chronic stream of conspiracies is that it thoroughly disproves counter-conspiratorial tropes, such as for instance the impossibility of secrecy. The opposite is true.; 8/4/19, 4:39 PM
narciso said...: you can look at the journalist or the rizzotto tray networks, as conspiracies in favor of Hillary, now as opposed to assanges other releases of classified cables, and programs and personnel, this one seemed to affect journalists, more than usual,; 8/4/19, 4:42 PM
narciso said...: now sites like the treehouse, detect certain patterns or nodes, say with the gang of eight members of the intelligence committee and their behavior re events in north Africa. and disclosures related to same.; 8/4/19, 4:46 PM
narciso said...: of course in places like the gulf states facts are even more difficult to ascertain,

https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/03/qatar-travel-ban-billionaires-slaves-trapped-middle-east/; 8/4/19, 4:49 PM
Fernandinande said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/4/19, 4:49 PM
PJ said...: Fascinating in multiple ways; thanks for posting it. Chilling to contemplate modern humans embracing the yoke, but Huxley is right: just look around.; 8/4/19, 4:50 PM
Fernandinande said...: It took me almost 30 years to soak my bokanovskified fetal brain in alcohol.; 8/4/19, 4:51 PM
Hagar said...: David Dellinger of the Chicago 6, 7, or 8 said it was unreasonable to charge a group of people who could not agree where to go for lunch with conspiracy, which is technically correct, but they all knew the idea was to go to Chicago and cause whatever trouble they could.

I tend to say that malicious conspiracies do exist, but do not amount to much in the scheme of things. For a real five alarm, all decks on hand flaming disaster, the best and the brightest among us have to take a hand with good intentions to set matters straight.; 8/4/19, 4:51 PM
h said...: Intervening in the discussion between Buwaya and JFarmer about the appropriate definition of "conspiracy". It looks to me like Buwaya accepts the dictionary definition, but simply puts more attention on the "harmful" part. Of course "harmful" is in the eyes of the beholder, so a secret effort to elect Democrats is not a conspiracy if you think that outcome is not harmful, but is a conspiracy if you think that outcome is harmful. I think this is one of the reasons that lawyers like Mueller shy away from use of the term.; 8/4/19, 4:58 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: 95% of democrats think the election was stolen from Hillary by the Russians.; 8/4/19, 5:04 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Sinister people never think they are sinister. A man that died the same day Huxley did understood this better than Huxley.; 8/4/19, 5:04 PM
narciso said...: that would be cs lewis,; 8/4/19, 5:10 PM
Birkel said...: Conspiracies are revealed by the impossibility of reproducibility. Bernie Madoff's conspiracy was, ex-post, revealed by the smoothness of his alleged earnings. The same is true w/rt China's alleged economic growth. And the same is true of the direction of the mistakes w/in the MSM, always benefitting Democratics.

A fair coin won't flip in one direction that many times. 40 times in a row is less than 1 in a trillion. And these "mistakes" run more like 500 in one direction without deviation.

Similarly, all of the close calls went to Hillary's favor and against Trump. That cannot be considered coincidental.; 8/4/19, 5:11 PM
Gospace said...: The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence csgvdotorg, Everytown for Gun Safety everytown.org, United Against Gun Violence Brady United.org are just a few of the organizations openly working to rob us of our freedom. Trying to trace the funding sources of these anti-freedom groups apparently leads to an interlocking network of million and billionaires. I choose to call them sinister.

In July Congresscritter Frederica Wilson openly called for people who mock congresscritters online to be prosecuted. I'm completely unable to find any media outlets or fellow congresscritters calling for her resignation. Silent approval of her words calling to restrict our freedoms.

If you can wade through the morass of words in HR1, who h has zero chance of passage, it would massively restrict freedom of speech, even moreso than McCain-Feingold did. Supported, of course, by Democrats.

And look at all the healthcare proposals by Democrats. All supported with the lie "You can keep your doctor!" Massive restriction on freedom of choice.

And how many times is Colorado going to prosecute a single cakemaker for dating to choose what viewpoints he'll decorate for?

And should we talk about people being fired from employment for dating to even question the wisdom of allowing males to compete in women's sports?

And every bit of this is coming from the left.; 8/4/19, 5:13 PM
Narayanan said...: ,,,sinister persons trying to rob people of their freedom,,

Not enough attention on words: "Sinister" and "Rob"

Sweet talking into surrender take care of both.

Doesn't Mike Wallace has his own skeletons to hide.; 8/4/19, 5:19 PM
narciso said...: http://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2019/08/susan-collins-ratcliffe-too-hard-on.html; 8/4/19, 5:22 PM
rcocean said...: I stopped at the bit about Overpopulation. that was a big thing with liberals in the 60s and 70s. Of course, what they weren't completely honest with us. The Left was concerned with Native Born American "Overpopulation". AKA Americans were having too many kids. Especially the working and middle class.

Of course, once massive immigration - almost all of it Asian and South American started the whole "overpopulation" went went away. In 1965 it was snarky songs about "little boxes" and books like "How to kill a Golden State".

Now, its 100 million Californians? Hey what's the problem?; 8/4/19, 5:22 PM
rcocean said...: Huxley the philosopher was far superior to Huxley the novelist.; 8/4/19, 5:23 PM
narciso said...: there was a double face palm, in that last link, of course this is tied to sue Gordon's protecting the rest of the cabal,; 8/4/19, 5:24 PM
rcocean said...: Mike Wallace comes off as a real asshole in some of these interviews. Liberal bias and Media Entitlement didn't start with Trump.; 8/4/19, 5:25 PM
narciso said...: and his son, evinces some of the same sentiment,; 8/4/19, 5:26 PM
FrankiM said...: Right wing blogs, including this one and other rightist websites are rife with conspiracy theorists. One cannot read any blogpost without running into some Qanan type spouting some nonsense that is taken as gospel by the right wing readers. If it wouldn’t be so dangerous it would be funny.; 8/4/19, 5:28 PM
rcocean said...: I like the novel but Huxley himself, was the typical effete Loser Englishman. For example:

In 1953, Huxley and Maria applied for United States citizenship and presented themselves for examination. When Huxley refused to bear arms for the U.S. and would not state that his objections were based on religious ideals, the only excuse allowed under the McCarran Act, the judge had to adjourn the proceedings.; 8/4/19, 5:28 PM
FrankiM said...: Qanon? Whatever.; 8/4/19, 5:29 PM
rcocean said...: "and his son, evinces some of the same sentiment,"

Yep. 300 million Americans, but only Wallace's kid can head Fox News Sunday.; 8/4/19, 5:29 PM
narciso said...: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/08/04/sunday-talks-peter-navarro-vs-chris-wallace-fox-jumps-shark-into-full-multinational-propaganda-mode/; 8/4/19, 5:29 PM
bagoh20 said...: It's pleasant to assume that stealing your freedoms is just a by-product of other goals, but just listen to the things some people say, and the way they say it - people like De Blasio in NY or Gavin Newsome in CA. They clearly express a desire to punish, to take things away, to control and dominate others like the rich, the Right, the businesses, the deplorables. For some of them, it certainly doesn't sound or look like a by-product of their agenda. It is their agenda, and desire. The lofty reasons are the cover for their hate and ambition. This is why the hypocrisy is so common, so extreme, and so ignored in their camps. Everybody knows it's not about fixing anything. For example: Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco, L.A., etc. Do they fix anything? No. Do they take people's money and freedoms in the name of fixing things? Everyday.; 8/4/19, 5:31 PM
narciso said...: 'he really seems to care, about what I have no Idea,'; 8/4/19, 5:31 PM
Michael K said...: More trolling from FrankiM.; 8/4/19, 5:35 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Inga wrote:

"Right wing blogs, including this one and other rightist websites are rife with conspiracy theorists. One cannot read any blogpost without running into some Qanan type spouting some nonsense that is taken as gospel by the right wing readers. If it wouldn’t be so dangerous it would be funny."

This is hilarious, Inga, coming from you who still believe Russia and Trump worked together to steal the election.; 8/4/19, 5:35 PM
Birkel said...: Chris Wallace is the worst Sunday morning interview on television.
At least with Snuffalupagus and F. Chuck everybody knows to discount them immediately.
Wallace feigns superiority, knowledge, substance, and fairness.

Give me obvious bias every day.; 8/4/19, 5:35 PM
Yancey Ward said...: FrankiM is Inga, Michael. Showed up the day after Inga's TrollsforHire got banned, too. Same style and snark all day today. She tried for a day or two to disguise it, but she just isn't smart enough to pull it off.; 8/4/19, 5:37 PM
Birkel said...: The goal of the Leftist Collectivists is always and only power over their fellow man.

Free people.
Free markets.; 8/4/19, 5:38 PM
Birkel said...: There is no Inga.
Inga was a construct.
"Inga" claimed to have a child for every occasion.
The secondary goal was "absolute moral authority" in every conversation.

The primary goal was power.; 8/4/19, 5:40 PM
narciso said...: the usual suspects tried to deplatform him,

https://www.quodverum.com/2019/08/215/the-zarif-brouhaha.html; 8/4/19, 5:40 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Chris Wallace, for the longest time-at least while Ailes was still alive and in charge of FoxNews, played the role of right-leaning newsperson. However, since Ailes' deposing and death, you can see the slow drift of FoxNews towards the left. It is still right of center, but not nearly as much as it was a decade ago. A decade from now, I don't think you will be able to distinguish it from CNN.

Still though, I like Wallace- he certainly does better interviews than anyone you will find on MSNBC or CNN, though he is no longer the equal to some of his own colleagues at FoxNews.; 8/4/19, 5:43 PM
narciso said...: this is the garbage that passes for news, or even argument:

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/mulvaney-scolds-mtp-panel-for-politicizing-shooting-panelist-hits-back-i-give-less-than-a-damn-what-he-thinks/; 8/4/19, 5:43 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Birkel,

A construct, sure, but still written by a single individual.; 8/4/19, 5:44 PM
MikeD said...: Let's see, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes fame, also known as the promoter of almost every lawyer's wet dream class action lawsuit, interviews a scifi writer with a dystopian best selling novel. As I don't have many 1/2 hours left didn't view, however, I did have the 1/2 minute to opine. Yeah, I'm older than that "get off my lawn" guy but, I enjoy kids having a lawn, any lawn, to play on.; 8/4/19, 6:15 PM
narciso said...: This other punk seems to be black bloc, by all indications; 8/4/19, 6:16 PM
Darrell said...: THE INVISIBLE BOY 1957

See Robby the Robot's follow-up film free. A ten-year-old boy and Robby the Robot team up to prevent a Super Computer from controlling the Earth from a satellite.

https://archive.org/details/THEINVISIBLEBOY1957; 8/4/19, 6:27 PM
Kevin said...: It's not mutually exclusive.

What one sees as organized against him gives one license to organize in response.; 8/4/19, 6:28 PM
William said...: The Oxbridge accent ain't what it used to be. I think they make efforts now to tone it down. It's gone the way of Larchmont lockjaw....Brave New World has come and gone. It went the way of disco, but Huxley can take credit for predicting it. If he had truly been a seer though, he would have also predicted its demise.....Generally people think that tomorrow will be just like today, only more so. That's generally a safe prediction until it isn't. I'm pretty sure that the internet, computers, Amazon, Netflix, and comfortable shoes are changing us in fundamental ways that Huxley and Wallace would find impossible to envision. I know I do.....They were both extremely wrong about the Soviet Union both as to the rewards it offered its most favored citizens and its longevity. Smart people get a lot of things wrong.; 8/4/19, 6:28 PM
FrankiM said...: USA: "It's a mental health issue."

WORLD: "We have those. We don't have mass shootings."

USA: "Then it's a video game issue."

WORLD: "We have those. We don't have mass shootings."

USA: "Well, it's very complex."

WORLD: "No, it's not. It's your gun laws and your President's embrace of white nationalism.”

USA: "Prayer in school?"

WORLD: "God, you're stupid."; 8/4/19, 6:40 PM
Bob Boyd said...: USA: "It's a mental health issue."

WORLD: "We have those. We don't have mass shootings."

USA: "Yes you do."

World: "Oh yeah. I forgot. Never mind."; 8/4/19, 6:48 PM
FrankiM said...: Christchurch, White Nationalism.; 8/4/19, 6:53 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Very good. Keep going.; 8/4/19, 6:55 PM
FrankiM said...: Breivik, White Nationalism; 8/4/19, 6:57 PM
FrankiM said...: Trump, laughs when rally goer yells “shoot them!” referring to migrants. Panama Beach, FL.; 8/4/19, 6:59 PM
narciso said...: Well hes following the dictates of the Murdoch boys that want to turn fox into just another network, more shep less tucker, to that end they drove Ailes to an early grave.; 8/4/19, 7:00 PM
Lydia said...: Both Aldous and Julian Huxley were into eugenics, but only Aldous was for compulsory sterilization, Julian settled for making it voluntary. See Aldous's 1934 essay, "What Is Happening to Our Population", in a collection of his essays, The Hidden Huxley: Contempt and Compassion for the Masses.; 8/4/19, 7:08 PM
narciso said...: Another den of thieves:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2019/08/04/hsbc-says-ceo-john-flint-to-step-down/amp/; 8/4/19, 7:24 PM
Marcus Bressler said...: Wasn't JournOList a conspiracy?

THEOLDMAN

Some of the MSM ARE The Enemy of the American People; 8/4/19, 7:29 PM
Michael K said...: you can see the slow drift of FoxNews towards the left

Another of Conquest's laws. The Murdoch kids want to be invited to the cool parties.; 8/4/19, 7:29 PM
Michael K said...: FrankiM is trying for troll of the year award.; 8/4/19, 7:30 PM
cubanbob said...: The Godfather said...
Well, the Communists are gone, so Huxley was wrong about that. But we now have the threat to democracy and freedom from the global warmists"

A watermelon is still a watermelon. Funny how every Democrat running for president is a watermelon. Green on the outside and red on the inside.; 8/4/19, 7:32 PM
Michael K said...: There are a few good interviewers still on Fox.

Bartiromo is one of the few left.,; 8/4/19, 7:34 PM
Birkel said...: Christchurch: Leftist Collectivist
Breivik: Leftist Collectivist
Toledo: Leftist Collectivist

No themes.
No sir.
None.; 8/4/19, 7:37 PM
Birkel said...: Maria Bartiromo is terrific.
She should be doing the evening news or Sunday, at worst.
Her weekly show covers economic news better than all the others.; 8/4/19, 7:39 PM
cubanbob said...: FrankiM said...
Right wing blogs, including this one and other rightist websites are rife with conspiracy theorists. One cannot read any blogpost without running into some Qanan type spouting some nonsense that is taken as gospel by the right wing readers. If it wouldn’t be so dangerous it would be funny."

Next time don't forget the sarc tag.; 8/4/19, 7:42 PM
narciso said...: Also ecological pagans, nice try though.; 8/4/19, 7:44 PM
Francisco D said...: FrankiM is trying for troll of the year award.

LIL! The competition must be really weak.

The problem is that Leftists have little experience arguing their points. They simply declare people with "unacceptable" viewpoints as White Supremacists, homophobes, xenophobes, misogynists and cultists.

We all fit nicely into Hillary's basket of deplorable.; 8/4/19, 7:52 PM
Kevin said...: Right wing blogs, including this one and other rightist websites are rife with conspiracy theorists.

We are living through one of the greatest mass conspiracy theories of all time.

(Cough) Russian collusion. (Cough)

And it’s on right-wing blogs only due to left-wing commenters.; 8/4/19, 7:57 PM
Robert Cook said...: "I like the novel but Huxley himself, was the typical effete Loser Englishman. For example:

"In 1953, Huxley and Maria applied for United States citizenship and presented themselves for examination. When Huxley refused to bear arms for the U.S. and would not state that his objections were based on religious ideals, the only excuse allowed under the McCarran Act, the judge had to adjourn the proceedings."

How does this make Huxley a "typical effete Loser Englishman," (whatever that is)? It shows me he was a principled human being. And why are "religious ideals" the only justified basis for pacifism? The McCarran Act appears to be unconstitutional in considering one's religious beliefs in such matters.; 8/4/19, 8:09 PM
Darrell said...: Cookie--

If it happens to you tell them you are a member of the Communist Party. Especially if it happens in 1953.; 8/4/19, 8:22 PM
Robert Cook said...: "If it happens to you tell them you are a member of the Communist Party. Especially if it happens in 1953."

I have no idea what your comment means.; 8/4/19, 8:30 PM
Michael McNeil said...: Well, the Communists are gone, so Huxley was wrong about that.

The communists are far from gone. Their ideology together with damaging memes they spawned during the Cold War is presently ravaging America and many other parts of the world (e.g. Europe) — while the (capital-C) Communists still rule in the most populous and one of the most powerful countries in the world — China — where they're determined to displace the United States as “world hegemon.”; 8/4/19, 8:39 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Frank M - Hi Inga. Go f yourself you leftwing tool.; 8/4/19, 9:09 PM
traditionalguy said...: He is spouting the fount of all evil Malthusian theory that the people must die. That is no force. That is a mega lie told to justify mass murder. It naturally started with the British Empire who used it to exterminate the Irish in Ireland the better to steal their land.

And that SOB then calls the British Empire's ruling class's hierarchical bureaucracy an impersonal force that cannot be blamed for carrying out the British Empire's murderous plans to kill and steal all they can before shortages of natural resources do it with out their careful planning.; 8/4/19, 9:12 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: It's been a while since I read Brave New World. I thought the Malthusian stuff was more about forced birth control?; 8/4/19, 9:21 PM
wildswan said...: Julian Huxley
Eugenics Society Fellow 1930, 1937, 1939, 1947
Eugenics Society Council 1931, 1932, 1944-45
Eugenics Society V.P. 1937-44
Eugenics Society President 1959-62 Fellow 1971
First head of UNESCO

Julian Huxley said:
“Taking the techniques of persuasion and information and true propaganda that we have learnt to apply nationally in war, and deliberately bending them to the international tasks of peace, if necessary utilising them, as Lenin envisaged, to ‘overcome the resistance of millions’ to desirable change. ... This must be a mass philosophy, a mass creed, and it can never be achieved without the use of the media of mass communication. UNESCO Its Purpose and Philosophy. Julian Huxley https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000068197

So Aldous in this interview was describing what Julian was doing on behalf of eugenics and also of globalism. But was that a conspiracy like the Russia Hoax which traces back to specific people like John Brennan and Peter Strzok and which aimed to overthrow an election? I ask myself this all the time in relation to eugenics. A small tight group committing a crime - conspiracy. A very large group suppressing dissent - is that a conspiracy or an oligarchic autocracy? And midway between - eugenics in our time: A relatively small group hiding its true goals and using social marketing slogans such as "Choice" to promote social policies whose true goal is to reduce the numbers of certain groups such as African-Americans which they judge inferior.; 8/4/19, 9:31 PM
narciso said...: Huxley was pedaling the classic heresy you shall be like gods what kicked Adam out of the garden.; 8/4/19, 10:08 PM
narciso said...: Interesting the villain in the latesr fast and furious film Brixton is a genetically enhanced and conditioned individuals a variation on his character in star trek beyond; 8/4/19, 10:10 PM
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Get IPR Due Diligence for Companies in Bangalore. Contact Lex Protector .; 8/5/19, 12:21 AM
rcocean said...: "The McCarran Act appears to be unconstitutional in considering one's religious beliefs in such matters."

No one thought so at the time. Its no different then C/O status in the Korean War. Religious C/O were usually accepted, but just saying I don't care to fight in THIS WAR, usually wasn't. IRC, Ali changed this slightly (he was Muslim who believed in holy war) because the Judges didn't like the Vietnam war.

Lefties always have trouble remembering we were fighting a war in Korea 1950-1953 and 50,000 Americans died.; 8/5/19, 9:12 AM
Robert Cook said...: "'The McCarran Act appears to be unconstitutional in considering one's religious beliefs in such matters.'

"No one thought so at the time. Its no different then C/O status in the Korean War. Religious C/O were usually accepted, but just saying I don't care to fight in THIS WAR, usually wasn't. IRC, Ali changed this slightly (he was Muslim who believed in holy war) because the Judges didn't like the Vietnam war.

"Lefties always have trouble remembering we were fighting a war in Korea 1950-1953 and 50,000 Americans died."

Like most of the wars we've fought in our history, (and for all of them post-WWII), it was an unnecessary war for us to involve ourselves in.

I still assert that allowing CO status for "religious ideals" while not allowing it for non-religious ideals is unconstitutional. It favors religion as a belief system over philosophical principles.; 8/5/19, 11:05 AM
Bilwick said...: If Huxley didn't think there were people deliberately trying to rob people of their freedom, he should be alive today to witness the Democratic Clown Car of State-shtupping presidential candidates.; 8/5/19, 1:41 PM
Narr said...: FWIW I agree with Robert Cook on the disparate treatment of religious (i.e. spiritual ergo good) and humanist (i.e. philosophical ergo bad) conscientiousness. I think there actually was some secular carve-out in the system before the all-volunteer force, but it has been a long time.

As for the Wallace-Huxley interview, meh. An episode in cross-class and cross-ocean misreading and miscommunication, interesting as history.

Narr
Seems to have spawned a lot of crankiness here!; 8/5/19, 2:02 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: buwaya @3:27 PM: At the risk of repeating myself (which can arguably said of many of us here) I suggest the examples of schooling fish and flocking birds. The apparent precision of the timing is really remarkable over many individuals, and across quite large areas (compared to the size of any individual).

Surely, you don't think that human groups are immune to this kind of emergent behavior?

With fish, the evolutionary driver is probably the fact that the fish left behind is the one the barracuda sees against an unmoving background.

With starlings, it may have originated in birds "discovering" that some individual notices the swarm of midges (or whatever) first, so that's the best place to find the next thing to eat, so let's head that way.

With humans, the drivers include status and the need for peer-group acceptance, not to mention intellectual laziness.

I do not foreclose the possibility of other factors in human behavior but it is a fact that we have more in common with the other creatures on this planet than is commonly recognized. So there may be some merit in looking there for some insight.; 8/5/19, 3:45 PM
Achilles said...: Robert Cook said...

"Lefties always have trouble remembering we were fighting a war in Korea 1950-1953 and 50,000 Americans died."

Like most of the wars we've fought in our history, (and for all of them post-WWII), it was an unnecessary war for us to involve ourselves in.

Cook thinks North Korea is a model.

Veterans look at South Korea and are proud that it isn't like North Korea. We understand what we are fighting for.

South Vietnam could have been like South Korea.

Cook also understands what he is fighting for. Democrats betrayed the South Vietnamese and Cambodians and millions of people died. Cook is proud he and his fellow travelers turned the South Vietnamese over to his fellow communists.; 8/5/19, 9:52 PM