Guest Contributor – Glenn W – 18APR2023 – Subjectivity on the Right

photog Glenn W, Guest Contributors ,

ZMan, as a rule, is an excellent observer and commenter on the moral and social decline of the West. That being said, his over confident analysis of the psychology of woke is subjective and full of unsupported allegations. I’m not going to try and write a comprehensive critique but I do want to point a couple of things out that are worth considering.

I know James Lindsay and Paul Gottfried got into a dust-up but haven’t followed it closely. I don’t have, and won’t have, a Twitter account so I couldn’t follow the discussion. This statement by ZMan is, at best, a half truth:

“It needs to be said that Paul Gottfried’s dog probably knows more about this topic than Lindsay will ever know. Given Gottfried’s connection to Frankfurt School theorist Herbert Marcuse, he is as close as we get to an expert on the forerunners of this new ideology gripping the minds of the ruling class.”

First of all I’ve heard Gottfried say that his PhD is in European history. His studying under Marcuse as a PhD student gives him no special insight into what is happening now. He may have such insight but it isn’t because he studied under Marcuse 60 years ago.

Lindsay has spent a tremendous amount of time studying the “woke” primary source material and can legitimately be called a subject matter specialist. That does not mean he can’t make mistakes but ZMans blowing him off out of hand is just hand waving.

This ZMan statement made me chuckle:

“That said, there is a tendency of people on what we call the Right to engage in the same binary thinking we see with the people we call the Left. That means playing the old game of linguistic guilt by association.”

Let me get this straight: Paul Gottfried who studied under the hard core leftist Herbert Marcuse is a great guy but Harry Jaffa who studied under that “mediocrity” Leo Strauss is a bum. Gee, that seems pretty binary to me. Projection anyone?

The last thing I want to point out is ZMan claims special insight into the psychology of the “woke” ruling class. While he is a smart man he has no claim to special insight into the hive mind that is our “woke” overlords. His opinion isn’t worth any more than those dreaded civic nationalists.

Parody Will Probably Turn Into Reality Any Day Now

photog Current Events ,

The Babylon Bee has so often seen their parodies turned into late breaking news so I have no doubt that Anheuser Busch’s marketing department are frantically looking for a way to double down on stupid even as we speak.  So far they had the lame no-pology by the CEO and now there is a “patriotic” ad of a Clydesdale galloping from New York City to Washington DC to the Grand Canyon.  There weren’t any noticeable gender dysphoric mental patients in sight but give them a chance.  The week is young.

 

 

ZMan Provides a Clear Explanation of What Wokism Is

photog Current Events , ,

Is it Communism?  Is it fascism.  Is it just radical liberalism?  ZMan walks through the origins and the functionality of wokism for the members of the elite and their lackeys.

And here’s the kernel of it:

“That is the key to understanding Wokism. It is not so much what it is but what it does for the people who embrace it. For the managerial elite, it provides a sense of legitimacy to their place atop the social hierarchy. For the climbers dreaming of a perch at the top and those who gain satisfaction aping those at the top, it provides an ever-changing set of cultural fashions. Primarily, Wokism provides a way to distinguish who is inside and who is outside the dominant social group.”

Well that’s clear enough.  In his essay he fleshes out how and why this happened along with why the other labels are inaccurate.  If you want to know what wokism is, the link follows.

What Is Woke?

Chicago Police Officially Give Up

photog Uncategorized , ,

The natural evolution of the breakdown of law and order in Chicago has reached the next stage; police capitulation.

The hot weather must have stirred up the blood of the youth of Chicago so they went on a rampage.

“Hundreds of teens cause fiery chaos in Downtown Chicago as they torch cars in rampage organized on social media: Vastly outnumbered police manage just 15 arrests.”

It appeared as if police were unable to handle the crowd and were seen escorting innocent bystanders and tourists to safety.

Mayor Lightfoot said while many of the young people gathered to have a good time and enjoy the weather, some were involved in ‘reckless, disrespectful and unlawful behavior.’

So burning cars, assaulting passersby and shooting each other is reckless and disrespectful.  That’s a very revealing interpretation.  What would it take for her to call it a riot, mass decapitations?

Lightfoot noted that Chicago police leadership has assured her they will ‘make the necessary adjustments to address these teen trends issues as we move into the summer months.’

But the most telling statement comes from the mayor-elect, Brandon Johnson:

“It is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities,” he said. “Our city must work together to create spaces for youth to gather safely and responsibly, under adult guidance and supervision, to ensure that every part of our city remains welcome for both residents and visitors.”

TRANSLATION:

Go ahead burn the city down I’ve got your back just keep voting for me and you can do whatever you like.

So this is before the new mayor takes office.  Can you imagine what will be going on by Juneteenth?  The devolution is moving along nicely.  Maybe Mayor Johnson doesn’t even get through the first year of his term before he throws in the towel and calls for Illinois to enact martial law.  Either way we’re getting a ringside seat to the next stage in Joe Biden’s America.  Well, it’s a hell of a ride.

Disney Reviving Firefly? Possible? Preferable?

photog Uncategorized , , ,

I stumbled across this video about whether Disney was planning to revive the Science Fiction series Firefly with the original cast.  Even after watching this discussion I wondered if this thing is just clickbait.

Sure, there are millions of Firefly fans who would love to see the show resurrected.  But how could it be done.  From what I’ve read Joss Whedon has been #MeToo’ed out of Hollywood or something and it’s been twenty years since the show went off the air and the lead is involved in a successful tv series.

But put that aside.  Suppose that  it could be done.  Suppose Nathan Fillion and the rest of the cast and Joss Whedon and his creative team from the original series could be reunited.  There remains the question of whether it should be done.  And by that I mean could Disney be trusted not to sabotage the whole thing by doing what they’ve done to Star Wars, The Avengers and every other intellectual property they buy?

I’ve got to be honest.  I think they’d ruin it.  Someway, somehow they’d corrupt the whole thing with the poison that they seem compulsively driven to inject in all their products.  They’d have Malcolm Reynolds discovering that he was a victim of whiteness and Zoe would have to become captain to atone for his sins.  And Jayne would end up transgendered and River would become a social justice warrior and Kaylee would have to go lesbian just to make the math work.

No, Disney should never try to bring Firefly back.  If Whedon were able to buy the intellectual property back and do it without interference there might be a chance of it turning out decent.  He could write some interesting stories for his world.  But Disney would murder it.  And that shouldn’t be done.  Let that special place exist in the past.  We can visit anytime we want with our dvds or streamed or on some network that loves good stories.  But don’t give it to the soulless hacks at Disney.  It deserves better than that.