Detached from America? It depends

 

On Twitter, our friend Claire Berlinski (I could have just said Claire, and you’d know, but I used her whole name as a bat signal in case she gets an alert that I’m talking about her tweet) wrote:

Yes and no. 

The problem with “Yes” is that different people have exactly opposite opinions.

For some: yes, they believe the country is on the brink of authoritarianism, and also there is not enough authoritarianism when it comes to masks and vaccines. The country is threatened by right-wing white supremacists who want to destroy Our Democracy; we’re always one day away from 1/6, and also, the riots of 2020 were regrettable but righteous and understandable. An astroturf cohort of “concerned parents” are violently attacking school boards in an attempt to keep schools from teaching about racism and the history of slavery.

On the other side: yes, because our expectation of minimal competence among the managerial class in government, always grudging and grumpy because they’re so sure of themselves and what’s best for us, has been demolished by two years of flat-footed mismanagement coupled with no diminution in their estimation of their abilities and importance. The current administration is empty at the top, indifferent to actual problems, intent on forcing things on the populace that the populace does not want, incapable of addressing lawlessness and public disorder, and hostile to the Moorlocks in the hustings with their retrograde ideas (like single-family zoning or the desire to buy a pickup.)

But. No, inasmuch as the real world is not the fret-fest of social media, where you stick your head into the yowling maelstrom of the tremulous and neurotic, or the locker-room of boisterous bros who bleep-post to own the libs. In the actual America people are going to bars and restaurants and grocery stores and getting along just fine, bearing up under the new problems, gritting our teeth, and holding doors open for people behind us without worrying who they voted for. Bad ideas come and go in cycles. We’ve been through worse.

Responses:

Uh huh. Comptroller of the Currency nom wants to bankrupt the energy industry, wants the nationalization of the banking industry, the FBI raids journalists’ offices, racial essentialism is the required intellectual posture in the circles of power, commerce,  and education, but the real worrisome thought is ending up like Hungary.

Takes a lot longer slog to get out from under nationalized banks and no carbon-based energy sector, I think.  

And:

Again, there was this thing called “The summer of 2020” when city after city, including my own, had spasms of leftist political street violence (with some assistance from opportunistic apolitical miscreants and alt-right morons) that burned down blocks, killed businesses, and increased crime; the reaction of the bien-pensants was to justify the Uprising and attack anyone who seemed to point out that property damage was bad. We have a record number of carjackings in our city, and I guar-an-damn-tee you there’s not a soul driving around worried that MAGA types are going to bracket their car and drag them out at gunpoint. 

But yes, sure, Trumpian fascism is right around the corner. Be on guard!  Also, report your co-worker for saying something approving about Dave Chappelle. It made you feel unsafe.

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  1. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Chris O (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Were you speaking of a de facto rather than a de jure expiration on the common currency, then?

    Yes, indeed. No particular date in mind, maybe Friday, though. Whenever German taxpayers decide enough is enough

    I’m astonished that hasn’t happened yet.

    • #151
  2. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    You can’t have a common currency with separate and otherwise sovereign legislatures and cultures. They made everything worse.

    Like American states?

    • #152
  3. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    You can’t have a common currency with separate and otherwise sovereign legislatures and cultures. They made everything worse.

    Like American states?

    It’s not the same structure and we have been doing this a lot longer when the economy was different.

    • #153
  4. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Headedwest (View Comment):
    Pittsburgh has been called “The Paris of the Appalachians”

    What about Elizabethton, TN?

    Does Elizabethton look like this at night?

    Um, well, not quite…

    But the joke will be on Phil. when global warming puts it all under water.

    • #154
  5. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    You can’t have a common currency with separate and otherwise sovereign legislatures and cultures. They made everything worse.

    Like American states?

    It would be good if we could go back to the days when states could issue their own currency. (I think there were such days. Correct me if I’m wrong.)

    • #155
  6. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    You can’t have a common currency with separate and otherwise sovereign legislatures and cultures. They made everything worse.

    Like American states?

    It would be good if we could go back to the days when states could issue their own currency. (I think there were such days. Correct me if I’m wrong.)

    Not sure about states directly, but I think states could charter banks that could issue their own currency.

    (h/t to Alias Smith And Jones.)

    • #156
  7. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    I think the EU started out as a good idea to just facilitate trade.

    I believe you are incorrect: A number of European journalists have written that the EU is the result of a many-decades-long project by European elites whose goal was always to subsume all the nations of Europe into a United States of Europe, erasing all traces of local sovereignty while empowering an elite that had little accountability to those they supposedly represented. Any claim of respect for local customs and norms was a pretense to gain consent.

    • #157
  8. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    I wonder if Claire has read any of Victor Davis Hanson’s comments on Trump.

    I’d like to hear her thoughts on VDH’s comments. I’d like to hear David French’s thoughts too.

    NeverTrump is not very fond of VDH. I don’t know about Dispatchers, but when the Bulwankers launched their little blog, Sykes called out VDH specifically as someone who was too Trumpy and had to be destroyed.

    Early indication that the Bulwank was nothing but a middle school girls’ slam book.

    I saw none of those attacks, but Sykes does seem to be a particularly nasty piece of work.

    • #158
  9. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):
    whose goal was always to subsume all the nations of Europe into a United States of Europe, erasing all traces of local sovereignty while empowering an elite that had little accountability to those they supposedly represented.

    That’s a pretty good description of America’s current form of government…

    • #159
  10. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    Percival (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    James Lileks: We’ve been through worse.

    Yup.

    If we become Hungary, do we at least get kiffles? I can put up with a lot of nonsense if we get kiffles.

    Let’s do it for Schlitz and kiffles!

    Not Schlitz. There aren’t many beers that I avoid, but Schlitz is one.

    “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Infamous”?

    • #160
  11. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Someone’s been taking Lileks Lessons!

    Let’s just say I’m avoiding his decorating tips.

    And the cooking tips. They would be…Regrettable.

    • #161
  12. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Someone’s been taking Lileks Lessons!

    Let’s just say I’m avoiding his decorating tips.

    And the cooking tips. They would be…Regrettable.

    Let’s be fair, they weren’t HIS cooking tips.

    • #162
  13. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Someone’s been taking Lileks Lessons!

    Let’s just say I’m avoiding his decorating tips.

    And the cooking tips. They would be…Regrettable.

    Let’s be fair, they weren’t HIS cooking tips.

    I’m ignoring such inconvenient facts, in emulation of the 90’s blogger who perpetrated the “Evil Glenn” [Reynolds] memes.

    EDIT: Here is a link to explain the “Evil Glenn” reference. I was astonished to see that the linked blog is still active after all these years; so many are inactive or have vanished.

    • #163
  14. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    James Lileks: the reaction of the bien-pensants was to justify the Uprising and attack anyone who seemed to point out that property damage was bad.

    Not to mention pointing out all the innocent people who were beaten and even stomped by “mostly peaceful” Antifa and BLM goons.

    • #164
  15. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Someone’s been taking Lileks Lessons!

    Let’s just say I’m avoiding his decorating tips.

    And the cooking tips. They would be…Regrettable.

    Let’s be fair, they weren’t HIS cooking tips.

    I’m ignoring such inconvenient facts, in emulation of the 90’s blogger who perpetrated the “Evil Glenn” [Reynolds] memes.

    Never heard of that, do tell!

    • #165
  16. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    The Hungarian Bugaboo – which sounds like a charming native children’s dance – is interesting, because I don’t know exactly what they mean. Is it just authoritarian Orbanism? Because it that’s the case then stop expanding the got-durned state and sticking its tentacles into places that would make Kurt Eichenwald blush. If it’s the nationalism, well, Hungary is different from the United States, and is under no obligation to be less Hungarian, any more than Japan is obliged to become more Spanish. Is it the religion? If so, what you mean is it’s the wrong religion, and they shouldn’t be so, you know, religiousy.

    It’s hard to be sure of anything from thousands of miles away–particularly when one cannot trust the corporate news apparat to accurately and honestly report the facts.

    However, I get the impression that most of the nations of Eastern Europe are pushing back against EU attempts to impose unwelcome and harmful policies in the name of an unworkable and destructive utopianism.

    • #166
  17. John H. Member
    John H.
    @JohnH

    Ah, Claire Berlinski. I remember her. How could I forget her.

    To answer her tweeted question: no.

    • #167
  18. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Someone’s been taking Lileks Lessons!

    Let’s just say I’m avoiding his decorating tips.

    And the cooking tips. They would be…Regrettable.

    Let’s be fair, they weren’t HIS cooking tips.

    I’m ignoring such inconvenient facts, in emulation of the 90’s blogger who perpetrated the “Evil Glenn” [Reynolds] memes.

    Never heard of that, do tell!

    Glenn was very influential in the early days of the blogosphere, not just because he posted interesting things every day, but because he made a practice of linking to lots of blogs that he thought people should know about. He earned a great deal of affection for that. Satirist Frank J. Flemming of IMAO published funny “Evil Lies” posts about Glenn, the first of which was that Glenn’s evil dietary habits were what gave him the strength to do so much blogging on top of his day job. Crude and sophomoric, I suppose, but we liked it and I think Glenn even linked back to it.

    Glenn was, by the way, known back then as one of the Four Horsemen of the Ablogalypse.

    • #168
  19. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Someone’s been taking Lileks Lessons!

    Let’s just say I’m avoiding his decorating tips.

    And the cooking tips. They would be…Regrettable.

    Let’s be fair, they weren’t HIS cooking tips.

    I’m ignoring such inconvenient facts, in emulation of the 90’s blogger who perpetrated the “Evil Glenn” [Reynolds] memes.

    Never heard of that, do tell!

    Glenn was very influential in the early days of the blogosphere, not just because he posted interesting things every day, but because he made a practice of linking to lots of blogs that he thought people should know about. He earned a great deal of affection for that. Satirist Frank J. Flemming of IMAO published funny “Evil Lies” posts about Glenn, the first of which was that Glenn’s evil dietary habits were what gave him the strength to do so much blogging on top of his day job. Crude and sophomoric, I suppose, but we liked it and I think Glenn even linked back to it.

    Glenn was, by the way, known back then as one of the Four Horsemen of the Ablogalypse.

    Oh, to uninitiated-me it sounded like you were saying James Lileks was bashing on Glenn Reynolds back then.

    • #169
  20. Paul Stinchfield Member
    Paul Stinchfield
    @PaulStinchfield

    kedavis (View Comment):
    Oh, to uninitiated-me it sounded like you were saying James Lileks was bashing on Glenn Reynolds back then.

    Oops. And that would have been quite out of character for James Lileks whose wit tends in other directions.

    • #170
  21. Chris O Coolidge
    Chris O
    @ChrisO

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Chris O (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Were you speaking of a de facto rather than a de jure expiration on the common currency, then?

    Yes, indeed. No particular date in mind, maybe Friday, though. Whenever German taxpayers decide enough is enough

    I’m astonished that hasn’t happened yet.

    The Greeks went all in for austerity, nearly toppling their entire governmental system. Everyone got their stuff together, but it didn’t solve the underlying problem.

    • #171
  22. Chris O Coolidge
    Chris O
    @ChrisO

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):

    RufusRJones (View Comment):

    I think the EU started out as a good idea to just facilitate trade.

    I believe you are incorrect: A number of European journalists have written that the EU is the result of a many-decades-long project by European elites whose goal was always to subsume all the nations of Europe into a United States of Europe, erasing all traces of local sovereignty while empowering an elite that had little accountability to those they supposedly represented. Any claim of respect for local customs and norms was a pretense to gain consent.

    It started out (in the 50’s) as the European Coal and Steel Community with just six members, one of which was Luxembourg. The UK wanted in but they said no. Limited mission, limited membership, I’m not sure it was all bad back then.

    • #172
  23. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Chris O (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Chris O (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Were you speaking of a de facto rather than a de jure expiration on the common currency, then?

    Yes, indeed. No particular date in mind, maybe Friday, though. Whenever German taxpayers decide enough is enough

    I’m astonished that hasn’t happened yet.

    The Greeks went all in for austerity, nearly toppling their entire governmental system. Everyone got their stuff together, but it didn’t solve the underlying problem.

    The underlying problem being that the Greek economy can’t be treated as identical to the German economy?

    • #173
  24. Chris O Coolidge
    Chris O
    @ChrisO

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Chris O (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat (View Comment):

    Chris O (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Were you speaking of a de facto rather than a de jure expiration on the common currency, then?

    Yes, indeed. No particular date in mind, maybe Friday, though. Whenever German taxpayers decide enough is enough

    I’m astonished that hasn’t happened yet.

    The Greeks went all in for austerity, nearly toppling their entire governmental system. Everyone got their stuff together, but it didn’t solve the underlying problem.

    The underlying problem being that the Greek economy can’t be treated as identical to the German economy?

    Yeah, I think that’s the basic thing. It can’t be treated the same, nor can it be treated as one big economy, which was probably the thinking the Eurocrats had. Oh, well, now we’re just all the same thing and it will be okay.

    • #174
  25. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    Paul Stinchfield (View Comment):
    Glenn was, by the way, known back then as one of the Four Horsemen of the Ablogalypse.

    I always liked the sweet mafia vibe of “The Blogfather” best. (:

    • #175
  26. Concretevol Thatcher
    Concretevol
    @Concretevol

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Concretevol (View Comment):

    To answer Claire’s question, I am not detached from America. I am very detached from the federal government and social media.

    With you, I figured you had a strong wall between you and the Federal government and social media!

    It’s getting taller and taller!   lol

    • #176
  27. Cal Lawton Inactive
    Cal Lawton
    @CalLawton

    Looks like someone is gonna buy another cat.

    • #177
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