So true, Janet. I was born in 1947 and I have always known that this was a country of privileged white men. My friends and I will work hard to get the vote out even as I know the polls are crap ( Michael Moore exposed that in previous elections), the media is a capitalist tool and more billionaires than ever are scooping the MSM up and they determine every published view point and topic. ABC recuses itself constantly to say what they report comes as a result of corporate ownership- in their case Disney. Do you feel good knowing Goofy and Cinderella are telling you who to vote for? Do they have any motivation to change?
Today I learned that there are TicTocs, etc. where thousands have signed on to watch anorexic girls starve themselves to death. I also learned that in-laws that I have had great liberal discussions with never heard of Substack. I can also say that most often people do not want to hear about any of this crisis we’re in. You can call them good people but they are not part of the solution.
Maybe a generalization on my part but still believe nafta took out the ground beneath the feet of American industry. Remember reading Friedman in the NYT declaring “the earth is flat” and thinking in the meantime who’s going to drown? Union jobs across the country.
From a Union family, husband was a teamster for a while, worked with union leadership in NYC years ago. I’ve been hopeful over both the SAG and now autoworkers strike. Amazon needs a wake up call, Walmart has been out of control in their policies forever, the ripple effects of which has been a disaster not only in its cynical use of hour manipulation but blight in surrounding communities. A factor in public opinion becoming increasingly pro union has been the gift of the obscenely wealthy having no discretion whatsoever in their behavior.
I guess you can tell I have little tolerance for union busting either.
Jeez Steve, I have to keep reminding myself that there are more good people in the world than bad. I am just wondering where they are in my little red area of the world. Something else, when you mentioned the Sacklers…I have recently and currently reading a book by Don Winslow and I am riveted by his tales of drugs, Mexico, U.S. etc. Have you ever considered interviewing him? The last time I asked you about Scot Galloway and you sent me the already posted interview. Hope I didn’t miss Don Winslow. Have you read any of his books? Started with city on Fire, Power of the Dog, Now Cartel and soon, tho I need to take a break between these book, the Border. Carry on and keep up the good, though depressing work.
Terrifying. I believe what he writes but some things are so extreme that I do need a break between books. I also find myself taking separate notes re: the voluminous characters, agencies, etc. His books are not for everyone, thats for sure but I would love to hear an interview with him and his take on “the drug war” and how it is transitioning. Also his take on immigration…
If you like Don Winslow's books may I recmommend Netflix incredible 5 season series Narcos. It was a surprise and I had had to be urged by and old friend who was shocked that I hadn't seen it. I gave in when he said "Bruce, this is our kind of show." Very well done with interspersed new footage and mines the same ground that Winslow does in his drug war trilogy. I read Winslow's books after seeing Narcos.
For some reason I do better reading about violence than viewing. I never could finish Ozark because I watched it before bed and the violence would always get me hyped. I am guesssing Narcos would be worse than Ozark… But thanks anyway
It is not difficult to take note/ to notice that Russell Brand has obsessive psychological problems.
Whenever he speaks, from years previously, his behavoir has always appeared radical in the formation of his speech, the way in which he spoke, the way in which he presents his thought/ideas, or comments, & his facial expressions.
This is not merely his English accent or his comedic style we are seeing either... There was once an episode where he and a girlfriend were interviewed and he could not stop interacting with her in a sexual capacity while he was being asked questions by the interviewer......... He is, as is said, "Visibly Touched," to say the least!
NAFTA is not a disaster, it’s a mixed bag. There’s a very good case that NAFTA is what allows the unified North American auto industry to stay competitive with the Korean and Japanese auto companies. I don’t disagree with any of Steve’s points, and it makes sense to talk about the UAW, because they are the ones on strike. UAW workers deserve substantial raises, and I hope they get them. But for the country as a whole, the biggest plus from UAW success will be the encouragement for other workers to unionize, and for the wider public to support those efforts. In order to reverse the impoverishment of the American middle class, it’s the workers at Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart who most need the solidarity of a union to achieve the compensation they deserve. There’s some indication that the Biden administration will end four decades of the federal government turning a blind eye to illegal union busting. I hope that change continues.
Very articulate and well framed. Steve is right in that the politicians, in this case, the Democratic Party better choose the right side and give a clear and present signal to Wall Street that change is coming. We desperately need reforms in many ways but undoing the result of a 40-year tide of steadily building oppression is tough at best. Hopefully enough voters will see this and vote for democracy rather than theatrical chaos.
Two great pieces. Thought provoking. As to the strikes, I hope the DEMS in power chose the side of the workers over Wall Street. If not, it seems they are sinking their own ship.
In terms of why Musk, Tucker and Tate quickly backed Brand, my best bet is its because they have all participated in sex with minors and are defending a fellow traveller out of fear. This type of Kompramat is common in the world of Russia, transnational crime, etc.. (Btw, transnational crime at the Russian Gov. work together, and transitional crime operates everywhere and likely in tandem with other governments too. Sadly, it's a huge force in the world.) Check out the Jeffrey Epstein story and Stuart Syvret. Syvret explains the sordid and disturbing world of child rape on the money laundering Jersey Island. It will take a long time to listen to enough podcasts on the Epstein story and the Jersey Island story, but after doing so myself, It appears that Kompromat involving sex with minors is a key element of all that we now see. Sex with minors is not just an indiscretion, it's a crime. If Brand goes down, so too may many others. (A minor has accused Trump of rape, but withdrew her accusation because she said she and her family were being threatened.) I'm very curious who has Epstein's files and tapes. One of the Palm Beach detectives on the case now lives in Russia. That always struck me as suspicious. If he's had/has any, he doesn't have them all. I believe some were seized when Epstein was arrested in NYC.
It speak volumes that a creep like Russell Brand (and I thought that he was a creep long before the current allegations surfaced) has drawn ardent defenders/admirers from people like Tucker Carlson and his ilk.
I have a problem with this piece, Steve and the problem is this: I worked in a prison for several years and I know that accusation does not mean guilt; sadly I also know that people often respond to accusations with the conviction that “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and that therefore accusation often is taken to be the equivalent of guilt. I don’t know what happened with Brand, though he has certainly admitted forthrightly that he went through an extremely promiscuous period. Frankly, the way I saw celebrity women and women in the audience view him, my sense was always that he did not have to try very hard to seduce woman. But he has not only admitted promiscuity, he’s also admitted addiction to haed-core drugs. People on drugs often do things they wold be ashamed of if they were sober, so that Brand having done some horrendous things is more plausible than iplausible. But I think, Steve, you may inadvertently stumbled into a major feminist controversey, as articulated by Camille Paglia. Paglia, a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, points out that during her early years as a feminist (the 1960’s) , the goal was for women to obtain the right to put themselves in dangerous situations if they so chose, thereby exercising their freedom and rejecting the idea of institutions like universities having the right of “in loco parentis”. Overtime, Paglia believes feminism has evolved (she might say “devolved”) to being hyper-protective of women and depriving them of their right to make mistakes. Sexual desire and attraction are powerful biological drives. Though as an older man I have some old-fashioned notions, such as that promiscity by both men and women ought to be discouraged, as a realistic older man, I know that’s not likely to happen among young men and young women with healthy (read “strong”) sex drives. I’m also cynical enough to believe that there are young women who have had consensual sex who on occasion begin to wonder if it actually was consensual because someone tells them that the person they consented to have sex with had more power than they. I would like to believe this does not happen among under-age women, but am not naive enough to believe what I want. Again, this does not mean that Brand did not rape a girl; it means that very few things in life are as straightforward as they first seemed. That’s my not-so-full throated defense of Brand. If he did as he’s accused and as you’ve described, it may be appropriate to link him in with Tate and Carlson, though having listened to Musk, I’m not sure that I would put him in that mix. Finally, I want to affirm that, yes, we are a corrupt society and that the corruption is getting ever deeper. Sexual promiscuity and corruption are aspects of this, and “virtue” at any level is a lost ideal-- sexually or politically. But if you want to fight corruption, I would suggest the most effective way is not through accusation and innuendo, but by reviving the ideal of virtue as a standard by which to measure all human relationships. Does a person stand by their word, does he or she evidence compassion for those who have less? Does he lie, or avoid truth when it suits him? Does he treat others with genuine respect? The thing I like about Brand (again, based on superficial impressions over the years) is that he appears to know that he acted inappropriately throughout a period of his life and made a real effort to change. I support people who want to change for the better because I believe that the capacity to change for the better is fundamental to our human nature. I am far less supportive of people who grow more self-centered and arrogant as they mature,
Two things Steve regarding your “Society in Decay” Video.
First, Americans have always loved conspiracies. We have a long fascination with them. The concept of “falsifiability”, the inability to prove a conspiracy as false, is how they gain strength. As pundit Amanda Carpenter says, it seems counter-intuitive that for a theory to be true, there must be something to prove it untrue. Yet, that is the strength of conspiracy- the difficulty in proving it untrue, especially in a low trust environment.
But, what’s different today is that a conspiracy’s falsifiability is often ignored, and instead the conspiracy itself is promoted on social media as being true by blatant huckster opportunists like Carlson and his like. They profit from conspiracy. That’s why they promote them.
Second, in addition social media, another element is necessary to give strength to a conspiracy or conspiracies. It is structure. In this case political structure, the structure of the Republican Party. Today conspiracies are a key part of the Republican Party because it allows them to build an alternate reality where their lies become truth. Anything is plausible. This is exactly what a populist authoritarian wants- is to get the masses to believe anything he wants. This is manipulation on a gigantic scale, but demagogues do it to seize power. That’s why the GOP and Trump promote conspiracies. It paves the way for their regime of lies to control the masses.
These are dangerous times. I hope we realize the danger we’re in.
Thank goodness I’ve already lived three-quarters of my life…when it all gets blown up (which seems to be quickly coming), I won’t have too many regrets.
Regarding the video “They’re Both Wrong”, I have come to the realization that I myself have been wrong for years. As someone who voted Republican from my my first presidential election until Trump ran in 2016, I’ve concluded that I have been wrong for years. I drank the GOP “koolaid”. I bought into Reagan’s trickle down economic bs “hook line and sinker”. So, while I agree 100% with your analysis of our society, our economic inequality, as well as what the UAW and Screenwriter’s strikes are really all about, I believe that another major cause of our fundamentally inequitable economy has been 40 plus years of GOP “make the rich richer” economic policy. This especially pertains to their tax cuts for the rich and deficit spending driven by run away unaccountable defense spending at the expense of domestic programs that benefit the lower and middle classes. I bought into all of their propaganda while at the same time believing that they are the party of fiscal conservatism. There not. They are the party of financial deficits and have been for years. Why can’t we get the truth about that out to the American people? As for me, I’ve “detoxed” from the GOP which today is not even a real political party (it has no party platform). It is a personality cult of Trump and they continue their attack on the middle class that Reagan began 40 years ago.
This might seem in question, but the rape of children or younger woman by such men, brings up the thought of Pedophilia. In Centuries past, all men only took very young girls, children in marriage..other cultures selling off their young to old men for money, etc. It is still done in various countries today. Most acknowledge this history... We see it today where someone is marrying a young woman..but this man is 30 years old, & the woman he has married was yet an infant?....Today, one should ask if many males have this hidden tendency..........
I urge you to read Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk before equating him with psychopaths or sociopaths. I would be happy to share my knowledge as an expert with you personally anytime.
Wouldn't you say that Musk is more an idiot savant (is that politically incorrect?). He is a genius in a certain band of perception and view yet certainly does not make him compatible with the goals of the society as whole. People with his qualities really shouldn't have the power to make military decisions on his own. Keep in mind I'm not an idiot who buys into some USA no mater what in terms of how we deal with the world. I have not read your link yet. OK, I take that back. Just read it. I guess were into semantics, but it is a term that's overused and understandably so these days.
Musk is what you would call an idiot savant...Remember, we have two sides to our brain. On side may appear genius in terms of the ability of invention making society believe that one is a perfect being, but the other side may have an inability to form judgements, moral or social in the world...AND this is the danger with this particular person. His perception of life is guided by a lack of insight, therefore he creates a condemnation of others for his faults. ( I remember knowing a person in school, who was a straight A graded student, but socially completely lacked any social capacity in terms of interaction with others......)
I knew Steve Jobs pretty well. Musk is very much like him. As Isaacson said, who also knew Steve, Steve was more focussed on the product than the manufacturing and Musk the opposite. I find this credible. Steve was highly empathetic and Musk the same. Their missions completely absorbed them. But their missions were not to be all powerful for their own liberty, unlike true psychopaths. The want to be all powerful to achieve their missions. This is different because it actually destroys their liberty. As Chaplin said in the Great Dictator (1940), a dictator wants all liberty to himself (ALL liberty) at the expense (EXPENSE) of the liberty of others. Isaacson correctly characterized the missions of Steve, and I find his characterization Musk's missions credible from what I have seen. Their missions...having to do with changing the trajectory of humanity for the good of humanity...is not psychopathic. It is, however, quite obsessive. There are many people who are abnormally obsessive. This can also be correctly characterized as an abnormal personality type. But it is not that these people are psychopaths unless the obsession is solely on their own liberty to do whatever they want solely for serving themselves at the expense of others. People say that Steve was like that. He was not. I see Musk the same way.
That may be and I applaud all they have achieved, for mankind or themselves. The problem I find is that because they have sooooooooo much money they have unfettered control over things maybe they shouldn’t. If they paid their janitors a living wage, that janitor could decide what to do with his salary even though maybe they would not have as much money. When one has such excessive wealth they, one person, make decisions for many people based on what they think is correct for all. Doesn’t that kind of take away the franchise of the janitor? It feels like king or queen making and the misappropriation of power.
Part 1 first. What do all these men have in common? Power. They either want more, think someone is trying to take it away, or need to regain some power they lost. Who do those various men look to to fill their need to feel better and more in control than someone else? Trump looks for the lowest common denominator, sometimes women, maybe children, employees, attorneys, family. He is a learned manipulator and monster. Even though he is none of the things he convinces his followers he is, he is able to use lying as a great foil and the fact that he has, unobstructed, taken whatever he ever wanted and until recently no one said a thing. There is your crowd of 2,000. I would say Elon is probably the same person with a lot more money. We are all finding out what happens when a member of society has so much power through wealth he can second guess a government and change the course of war. We also are fighting tooth and nail against the same money=power takes all, is all powerful, in our own government. Elections, judicial malpractice, lying politicians, foreign influence in our government and elections. If we don’t stop it, we are the 2,000. The Brand fellow is just another guy who uses his fame=power to do whatever he wants, never thinking what he is taking away from the person he hurts. Steve, there have ever been some men who would use their power to feel bigger and better. It is an old saw that those men do it usually to women and usually the group of 2,000 is standing right by to let the victim know she is lying, she did it to herself, she came on to him.... Whatever is necessary to gain more power by getting away with such a thing. It has ever and ever been going on to lots of segments of society. Women, lgbtq, people of color, first people, blah, blah, blah. We are all the 2,000. Yes, I suppose it is coming to a head. Trump has convinced some men they are so close, so close to creating the world they think will be their be all, end all. Yes, there are women who do this, too, but we are talking about men today. Trump’s men have been on a bead to scrape personhood off women since they got the vote. Now they are empowered to take further liberties and laugh in our faces. They have a plan and are carrying it out. We have to promise ourselves and each other that we will not be a member of the 2,000. If we don’t I fear the only people left standing will be those men and women who feel Trump gives them exception and power if they believe in him. They thought Trump was the answer to their prayers. Trump will have the last laugh.
Four powerful, white men scoff at allegations of a rape of a child. Not really all that surprising to women everywhere.
So true, Janet. I was born in 1947 and I have always known that this was a country of privileged white men. My friends and I will work hard to get the vote out even as I know the polls are crap ( Michael Moore exposed that in previous elections), the media is a capitalist tool and more billionaires than ever are scooping the MSM up and they determine every published view point and topic. ABC recuses itself constantly to say what they report comes as a result of corporate ownership- in their case Disney. Do you feel good knowing Goofy and Cinderella are telling you who to vote for? Do they have any motivation to change?
Today I learned that there are TicTocs, etc. where thousands have signed on to watch anorexic girls starve themselves to death. I also learned that in-laws that I have had great liberal discussions with never heard of Substack. I can also say that most often people do not want to hear about any of this crisis we’re in. You can call them good people but they are not part of the solution.
‘The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.’
Maybe a generalization on my part but still believe nafta took out the ground beneath the feet of American industry. Remember reading Friedman in the NYT declaring “the earth is flat” and thinking in the meantime who’s going to drown? Union jobs across the country.
From a Union family, husband was a teamster for a while, worked with union leadership in NYC years ago. I’ve been hopeful over both the SAG and now autoworkers strike. Amazon needs a wake up call, Walmart has been out of control in their policies forever, the ripple effects of which has been a disaster not only in its cynical use of hour manipulation but blight in surrounding communities. A factor in public opinion becoming increasingly pro union has been the gift of the obscenely wealthy having no discretion whatsoever in their behavior.
I guess you can tell I have little tolerance for union busting either.
Jeez Steve, I have to keep reminding myself that there are more good people in the world than bad. I am just wondering where they are in my little red area of the world. Something else, when you mentioned the Sacklers…I have recently and currently reading a book by Don Winslow and I am riveted by his tales of drugs, Mexico, U.S. etc. Have you ever considered interviewing him? The last time I asked you about Scot Galloway and you sent me the already posted interview. Hope I didn’t miss Don Winslow. Have you read any of his books? Started with city on Fire, Power of the Dog, Now Cartel and soon, tho I need to take a break between these book, the Border. Carry on and keep up the good, though depressing work.
I live in Mexico and Don Winslow is the only author who tells us what's really happening with the cartels, imho.
Terrifying. I believe what he writes but some things are so extreme that I do need a break between books. I also find myself taking separate notes re: the voluminous characters, agencies, etc. His books are not for everyone, thats for sure but I would love to hear an interview with him and his take on “the drug war” and how it is transitioning. Also his take on immigration…
If you like Don Winslow's books may I recmommend Netflix incredible 5 season series Narcos. It was a surprise and I had had to be urged by and old friend who was shocked that I hadn't seen it. I gave in when he said "Bruce, this is our kind of show." Very well done with interspersed new footage and mines the same ground that Winslow does in his drug war trilogy. I read Winslow's books after seeing Narcos.
For some reason I do better reading about violence than viewing. I never could finish Ozark because I watched it before bed and the violence would always get me hyped. I am guesssing Narcos would be worse than Ozark… But thanks anyway
Hope this message gets through......
It is not difficult to take note/ to notice that Russell Brand has obsessive psychological problems.
Whenever he speaks, from years previously, his behavoir has always appeared radical in the formation of his speech, the way in which he spoke, the way in which he presents his thought/ideas, or comments, & his facial expressions.
This is not merely his English accent or his comedic style we are seeing either... There was once an episode where he and a girlfriend were interviewed and he could not stop interacting with her in a sexual capacity while he was being asked questions by the interviewer......... He is, as is said, "Visibly Touched," to say the least!
NAFTA was a disaster, agreed.
NAFTA is not a disaster, it’s a mixed bag. There’s a very good case that NAFTA is what allows the unified North American auto industry to stay competitive with the Korean and Japanese auto companies. I don’t disagree with any of Steve’s points, and it makes sense to talk about the UAW, because they are the ones on strike. UAW workers deserve substantial raises, and I hope they get them. But for the country as a whole, the biggest plus from UAW success will be the encouragement for other workers to unionize, and for the wider public to support those efforts. In order to reverse the impoverishment of the American middle class, it’s the workers at Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart who most need the solidarity of a union to achieve the compensation they deserve. There’s some indication that the Biden administration will end four decades of the federal government turning a blind eye to illegal union busting. I hope that change continues.
Very articulate and well framed. Steve is right in that the politicians, in this case, the Democratic Party better choose the right side and give a clear and present signal to Wall Street that change is coming. We desperately need reforms in many ways but undoing the result of a 40-year tide of steadily building oppression is tough at best. Hopefully enough voters will see this and vote for democracy rather than theatrical chaos.
Agree, starting with "a mixed bag." All your ideas are excellent, imho. Thanks!
Two great pieces. Thought provoking. As to the strikes, I hope the DEMS in power chose the side of the workers over Wall Street. If not, it seems they are sinking their own ship.
In terms of why Musk, Tucker and Tate quickly backed Brand, my best bet is its because they have all participated in sex with minors and are defending a fellow traveller out of fear. This type of Kompramat is common in the world of Russia, transnational crime, etc.. (Btw, transnational crime at the Russian Gov. work together, and transitional crime operates everywhere and likely in tandem with other governments too. Sadly, it's a huge force in the world.) Check out the Jeffrey Epstein story and Stuart Syvret. Syvret explains the sordid and disturbing world of child rape on the money laundering Jersey Island. It will take a long time to listen to enough podcasts on the Epstein story and the Jersey Island story, but after doing so myself, It appears that Kompromat involving sex with minors is a key element of all that we now see. Sex with minors is not just an indiscretion, it's a crime. If Brand goes down, so too may many others. (A minor has accused Trump of rape, but withdrew her accusation because she said she and her family were being threatened.) I'm very curious who has Epstein's files and tapes. One of the Palm Beach detectives on the case now lives in Russia. That always struck me as suspicious. If he's had/has any, he doesn't have them all. I believe some were seized when Epstein was arrested in NYC.
Right On! Thanks.
It speak volumes that a creep like Russell Brand (and I thought that he was a creep long before the current allegations surfaced) has drawn ardent defenders/admirers from people like Tucker Carlson and his ilk.
I have a problem with this piece, Steve and the problem is this: I worked in a prison for several years and I know that accusation does not mean guilt; sadly I also know that people often respond to accusations with the conviction that “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and that therefore accusation often is taken to be the equivalent of guilt. I don’t know what happened with Brand, though he has certainly admitted forthrightly that he went through an extremely promiscuous period. Frankly, the way I saw celebrity women and women in the audience view him, my sense was always that he did not have to try very hard to seduce woman. But he has not only admitted promiscuity, he’s also admitted addiction to haed-core drugs. People on drugs often do things they wold be ashamed of if they were sober, so that Brand having done some horrendous things is more plausible than iplausible. But I think, Steve, you may inadvertently stumbled into a major feminist controversey, as articulated by Camille Paglia. Paglia, a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, points out that during her early years as a feminist (the 1960’s) , the goal was for women to obtain the right to put themselves in dangerous situations if they so chose, thereby exercising their freedom and rejecting the idea of institutions like universities having the right of “in loco parentis”. Overtime, Paglia believes feminism has evolved (she might say “devolved”) to being hyper-protective of women and depriving them of their right to make mistakes. Sexual desire and attraction are powerful biological drives. Though as an older man I have some old-fashioned notions, such as that promiscity by both men and women ought to be discouraged, as a realistic older man, I know that’s not likely to happen among young men and young women with healthy (read “strong”) sex drives. I’m also cynical enough to believe that there are young women who have had consensual sex who on occasion begin to wonder if it actually was consensual because someone tells them that the person they consented to have sex with had more power than they. I would like to believe this does not happen among under-age women, but am not naive enough to believe what I want. Again, this does not mean that Brand did not rape a girl; it means that very few things in life are as straightforward as they first seemed. That’s my not-so-full throated defense of Brand. If he did as he’s accused and as you’ve described, it may be appropriate to link him in with Tate and Carlson, though having listened to Musk, I’m not sure that I would put him in that mix. Finally, I want to affirm that, yes, we are a corrupt society and that the corruption is getting ever deeper. Sexual promiscuity and corruption are aspects of this, and “virtue” at any level is a lost ideal-- sexually or politically. But if you want to fight corruption, I would suggest the most effective way is not through accusation and innuendo, but by reviving the ideal of virtue as a standard by which to measure all human relationships. Does a person stand by their word, does he or she evidence compassion for those who have less? Does he lie, or avoid truth when it suits him? Does he treat others with genuine respect? The thing I like about Brand (again, based on superficial impressions over the years) is that he appears to know that he acted inappropriately throughout a period of his life and made a real effort to change. I support people who want to change for the better because I believe that the capacity to change for the better is fundamental to our human nature. I am far less supportive of people who grow more self-centered and arrogant as they mature,
Two things Steve regarding your “Society in Decay” Video.
First, Americans have always loved conspiracies. We have a long fascination with them. The concept of “falsifiability”, the inability to prove a conspiracy as false, is how they gain strength. As pundit Amanda Carpenter says, it seems counter-intuitive that for a theory to be true, there must be something to prove it untrue. Yet, that is the strength of conspiracy- the difficulty in proving it untrue, especially in a low trust environment.
But, what’s different today is that a conspiracy’s falsifiability is often ignored, and instead the conspiracy itself is promoted on social media as being true by blatant huckster opportunists like Carlson and his like. They profit from conspiracy. That’s why they promote them.
Second, in addition social media, another element is necessary to give strength to a conspiracy or conspiracies. It is structure. In this case political structure, the structure of the Republican Party. Today conspiracies are a key part of the Republican Party because it allows them to build an alternate reality where their lies become truth. Anything is plausible. This is exactly what a populist authoritarian wants- is to get the masses to believe anything he wants. This is manipulation on a gigantic scale, but demagogues do it to seize power. That’s why the GOP and Trump promote conspiracies. It paves the way for their regime of lies to control the masses.
These are dangerous times. I hope we realize the danger we’re in.
www.tomthedemocratist.com
Steve, I value what you say in your posts but you scare the shit out of me.
Thank goodness I’ve already lived three-quarters of my life…when it all gets blown up (which seems to be quickly coming), I won’t have too many regrets.
Regarding the video “They’re Both Wrong”, I have come to the realization that I myself have been wrong for years. As someone who voted Republican from my my first presidential election until Trump ran in 2016, I’ve concluded that I have been wrong for years. I drank the GOP “koolaid”. I bought into Reagan’s trickle down economic bs “hook line and sinker”. So, while I agree 100% with your analysis of our society, our economic inequality, as well as what the UAW and Screenwriter’s strikes are really all about, I believe that another major cause of our fundamentally inequitable economy has been 40 plus years of GOP “make the rich richer” economic policy. This especially pertains to their tax cuts for the rich and deficit spending driven by run away unaccountable defense spending at the expense of domestic programs that benefit the lower and middle classes. I bought into all of their propaganda while at the same time believing that they are the party of fiscal conservatism. There not. They are the party of financial deficits and have been for years. Why can’t we get the truth about that out to the American people? As for me, I’ve “detoxed” from the GOP which today is not even a real political party (it has no party platform). It is a personality cult of Trump and they continue their attack on the middle class that Reagan began 40 years ago.
www.tomthedemicratist.com
This might seem in question, but the rape of children or younger woman by such men, brings up the thought of Pedophilia. In Centuries past, all men only took very young girls, children in marriage..other cultures selling off their young to old men for money, etc. It is still done in various countries today. Most acknowledge this history... We see it today where someone is marrying a young woman..but this man is 30 years old, & the woman he has married was yet an infant?....Today, one should ask if many males have this hidden tendency..........
I urge you to read Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk before equating him with psychopaths or sociopaths. I would be happy to share my knowledge as an expert with you personally anytime.
https://medium.com/liecatcher/quick-test-for-psychopaths-4839ccbcf74d
Wouldn't you say that Musk is more an idiot savant (is that politically incorrect?). He is a genius in a certain band of perception and view yet certainly does not make him compatible with the goals of the society as whole. People with his qualities really shouldn't have the power to make military decisions on his own. Keep in mind I'm not an idiot who buys into some USA no mater what in terms of how we deal with the world. I have not read your link yet. OK, I take that back. Just read it. I guess were into semantics, but it is a term that's overused and understandably so these days.
Musk is what you would call an idiot savant...Remember, we have two sides to our brain. On side may appear genius in terms of the ability of invention making society believe that one is a perfect being, but the other side may have an inability to form judgements, moral or social in the world...AND this is the danger with this particular person. His perception of life is guided by a lack of insight, therefore he creates a condemnation of others for his faults. ( I remember knowing a person in school, who was a straight A graded student, but socially completely lacked any social capacity in terms of interaction with others......)
It's been roundly criticized but I haven't gotten to the bad part yet and have read 75%.
I knew Steve Jobs pretty well. Musk is very much like him. As Isaacson said, who also knew Steve, Steve was more focussed on the product than the manufacturing and Musk the opposite. I find this credible. Steve was highly empathetic and Musk the same. Their missions completely absorbed them. But their missions were not to be all powerful for their own liberty, unlike true psychopaths. The want to be all powerful to achieve their missions. This is different because it actually destroys their liberty. As Chaplin said in the Great Dictator (1940), a dictator wants all liberty to himself (ALL liberty) at the expense (EXPENSE) of the liberty of others. Isaacson correctly characterized the missions of Steve, and I find his characterization Musk's missions credible from what I have seen. Their missions...having to do with changing the trajectory of humanity for the good of humanity...is not psychopathic. It is, however, quite obsessive. There are many people who are abnormally obsessive. This can also be correctly characterized as an abnormal personality type. But it is not that these people are psychopaths unless the obsession is solely on their own liberty to do whatever they want solely for serving themselves at the expense of others. People say that Steve was like that. He was not. I see Musk the same way.
That may be and I applaud all they have achieved, for mankind or themselves. The problem I find is that because they have sooooooooo much money they have unfettered control over things maybe they shouldn’t. If they paid their janitors a living wage, that janitor could decide what to do with his salary even though maybe they would not have as much money. When one has such excessive wealth they, one person, make decisions for many people based on what they think is correct for all. Doesn’t that kind of take away the franchise of the janitor? It feels like king or queen making and the misappropriation of power.
Part 1 first. What do all these men have in common? Power. They either want more, think someone is trying to take it away, or need to regain some power they lost. Who do those various men look to to fill their need to feel better and more in control than someone else? Trump looks for the lowest common denominator, sometimes women, maybe children, employees, attorneys, family. He is a learned manipulator and monster. Even though he is none of the things he convinces his followers he is, he is able to use lying as a great foil and the fact that he has, unobstructed, taken whatever he ever wanted and until recently no one said a thing. There is your crowd of 2,000. I would say Elon is probably the same person with a lot more money. We are all finding out what happens when a member of society has so much power through wealth he can second guess a government and change the course of war. We also are fighting tooth and nail against the same money=power takes all, is all powerful, in our own government. Elections, judicial malpractice, lying politicians, foreign influence in our government and elections. If we don’t stop it, we are the 2,000. The Brand fellow is just another guy who uses his fame=power to do whatever he wants, never thinking what he is taking away from the person he hurts. Steve, there have ever been some men who would use their power to feel bigger and better. It is an old saw that those men do it usually to women and usually the group of 2,000 is standing right by to let the victim know she is lying, she did it to herself, she came on to him.... Whatever is necessary to gain more power by getting away with such a thing. It has ever and ever been going on to lots of segments of society. Women, lgbtq, people of color, first people, blah, blah, blah. We are all the 2,000. Yes, I suppose it is coming to a head. Trump has convinced some men they are so close, so close to creating the world they think will be their be all, end all. Yes, there are women who do this, too, but we are talking about men today. Trump’s men have been on a bead to scrape personhood off women since they got the vote. Now they are empowered to take further liberties and laugh in our faces. They have a plan and are carrying it out. We have to promise ourselves and each other that we will not be a member of the 2,000. If we don’t I fear the only people left standing will be those men and women who feel Trump gives them exception and power if they believe in him. They thought Trump was the answer to their prayers. Trump will have the last laugh.