Folks on the left see folks on the right as benighted, dishonest, boorish, morally inferior or some combination of these. They must do this to avoid engaging on the merits of a given argument. They love to borrow high sounding terms (epistemic closure) to add a pseudo-intellectual veneer to their statements. Ever heard of "stochastic terrorism"?
The left thinks all politics on the right is seeded talking points and astroturfed popular movements because all politics on the left *is* seeded talking points and astroturfed popular movements.
When one accounts for the insularity and arrogance of the managerial class one can simply work backwards from the theories advanced in their media to their actual method of operation. They believe in nothing as such; expressions of beliefs are signals sent to those more powerful (“I agree with you!”) and less powerful (“here is the new party line.”). All beliefs are fashions and all fashions are top-down manufactured phenomena that serve the interest of the powerful. “Rich Men North of Richmond” for them must be the right wing version of an astroturfed, autotuned, pop song because what else could it be? For our managerial class, there are no accidents, no organic movements, no culture apart from mass culture, which they control. Any threats to that order must necessarily mirror it. Matt Walsh is Kathleen Kennedy and Oliver Anthony is Greta Thunberg in the same way Iraq was Texas.
Aug 18, 2023·edited Aug 18, 2023Liked by Chris Bray
Re: "They’re losing a country they’ve never met, sitting in a mental basement and constructing their own shadows into something they feel pretty sure is a picture of the world."
Well said. That's exactly what I see around me. Many old friends and colleagues are still reading the NYT assuming it's the Oracle of Truth. And these are the same people who happily took their Pfizer and/or Moderna jabs, and they're going to get more. This chunk of society is crumbling. It's just taking time, and it's heartbreaking to watch.
She was badly underrated as an actress by people who associated her only with *Murder, She Wrote.* Anyone who saw her work in *The Manchurian Candidate* and *Gaslight* (interesting coincidence) marvels at her ability to be so utterly convincing as someone she (I hope) was not.
Wow, that last sentence says it all. Great summation of the insularity of these people.
When the "news" started filling up with reporting on things happening on Twitter - what people were saying about events rather than the events, themselves - I knew we were in trouble. But Twitter has exposed for all to see how people with power operate - through tribalism, gossip, hearsay, and with maniacal control - in real time. And while it feels crazy to be in a world where this insanity is becoming obvious, I think it will ultimately be for the good. Now that we see it plainly, we can change course.
The giant blind spot derives from the Left’s overwhelming brilliance, which subsumes the lesser light of mere mortal deplorables. In other words at a certain point everything is self referential. If they didn’t think of it, and they don’t agree with it, it can’t be. I think, therefore you aren’t.
The bien pensant cruise liberalism of today and the crackpot neoconservative messianism of the Bush years share so much. The liberals have turned the permanent war inward, domestically, to a greater extent than the neocons managed, but it's the same basic mentality.
i dont understand how we ended up here again after the iraq and afgan wars. go to a meme or video site and its nothing but war propaganda. its like the younger generation learned nothing from our failures
Right on !! Another brilliant analysis of he multiple dimensioned world we live in - where decency and yearning become Putenesque brainwashing; where putting your neighbors legitemaate needs before that of (the strategically-unimportant-to-North America) Ukraine; where mutilation of children becomes the interest of the state and the medical professionals that swore to-do-no-harm etc etc.
Thank you Chris for exposing this insanity - again!
It’s just the old Marxist idea of “false consciousness” with a new coat of paint. If a significant number of people disagree with you, it’s never because your ideas are bad or because you’ve done a bad job presenting them. They’re just brainwashed, poor things. (Never mind who brainwashed them, or how.)
These techniques are as much to comfort themselves as to convince others, or perhaps more so at this point.
The ORF video made me cry a little bit. It wasn't the song. It was people's reactions. You have recently suggested that all of this wears you down (and your readers as well), but that video gives me hope that sane people, like you, are making headway and we're not quite as far gone as we think. Keep it up. People like you (and ORF) are anchors in the storm.
I read a survey somewhere that said that liberal-leaning people displayed a high level of trust in certain media (NPR/NYT etc.) while generally distrusting completely "conservative media" like Fox News, (of course.) Conservatives basically thought all the news was pretty untrustworthy, but trusted some more than others. Liberals believing that "only THOSE people OVER THERE would lie to me" has got to lead to a life of being endlessly ripped off.
This isn't hard.
Folks on the left see folks on the right as benighted, dishonest, boorish, morally inferior or some combination of these. They must do this to avoid engaging on the merits of a given argument. They love to borrow high sounding terms (epistemic closure) to add a pseudo-intellectual veneer to their statements. Ever heard of "stochastic terrorism"?
"They’re losing a country they’ve never met". Succinctly tells it all. Oliver Anthony sings a Dylan-esque ballad, and these people react like this?
The left thinks all politics on the right is seeded talking points and astroturfed popular movements because all politics on the left *is* seeded talking points and astroturfed popular movements.
🙄 I wish these people would piss off and stop trying to tell me what I think and feel.
When one accounts for the insularity and arrogance of the managerial class one can simply work backwards from the theories advanced in their media to their actual method of operation. They believe in nothing as such; expressions of beliefs are signals sent to those more powerful (“I agree with you!”) and less powerful (“here is the new party line.”). All beliefs are fashions and all fashions are top-down manufactured phenomena that serve the interest of the powerful. “Rich Men North of Richmond” for them must be the right wing version of an astroturfed, autotuned, pop song because what else could it be? For our managerial class, there are no accidents, no organic movements, no culture apart from mass culture, which they control. Any threats to that order must necessarily mirror it. Matt Walsh is Kathleen Kennedy and Oliver Anthony is Greta Thunberg in the same way Iraq was Texas.
Projection is the opposite of imagination.
To state the obvious, Chris, Anthony's anthem was neither blue nor red. It was for the working classes of all colors. I wrote about that here:
https://bracingviews.substack.com/p/the-rich-have-no-sympathy-or-use
My dad, underpaid and overworked in the factory in 1940, knew exactly what Anthony is singing about in 2023.
But the MSM sells it as a "conservative" anthem that only Trump followers can love. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Re: "They’re losing a country they’ve never met, sitting in a mental basement and constructing their own shadows into something they feel pretty sure is a picture of the world."
Well said. That's exactly what I see around me. Many old friends and colleagues are still reading the NYT assuming it's the Oracle of Truth. And these are the same people who happily took their Pfizer and/or Moderna jabs, and they're going to get more. This chunk of society is crumbling. It's just taking time, and it's heartbreaking to watch.
She was badly underrated as an actress by people who associated her only with *Murder, She Wrote.* Anyone who saw her work in *The Manchurian Candidate* and *Gaslight* (interesting coincidence) marvels at her ability to be so utterly convincing as someone she (I hope) was not.
Wow, that last sentence says it all. Great summation of the insularity of these people.
When the "news" started filling up with reporting on things happening on Twitter - what people were saying about events rather than the events, themselves - I knew we were in trouble. But Twitter has exposed for all to see how people with power operate - through tribalism, gossip, hearsay, and with maniacal control - in real time. And while it feels crazy to be in a world where this insanity is becoming obvious, I think it will ultimately be for the good. Now that we see it plainly, we can change course.
The giant blind spot derives from the Left’s overwhelming brilliance, which subsumes the lesser light of mere mortal deplorables. In other words at a certain point everything is self referential. If they didn’t think of it, and they don’t agree with it, it can’t be. I think, therefore you aren’t.
The bien pensant cruise liberalism of today and the crackpot neoconservative messianism of the Bush years share so much. The liberals have turned the permanent war inward, domestically, to a greater extent than the neocons managed, but it's the same basic mentality.
i dont understand how we ended up here again after the iraq and afgan wars. go to a meme or video site and its nothing but war propaganda. its like the younger generation learned nothing from our failures
Right on !! Another brilliant analysis of he multiple dimensioned world we live in - where decency and yearning become Putenesque brainwashing; where putting your neighbors legitemaate needs before that of (the strategically-unimportant-to-North America) Ukraine; where mutilation of children becomes the interest of the state and the medical professionals that swore to-do-no-harm etc etc.
Thank you Chris for exposing this insanity - again!
It’s just the old Marxist idea of “false consciousness” with a new coat of paint. If a significant number of people disagree with you, it’s never because your ideas are bad or because you’ve done a bad job presenting them. They’re just brainwashed, poor things. (Never mind who brainwashed them, or how.)
These techniques are as much to comfort themselves as to convince others, or perhaps more so at this point.
The ORF video made me cry a little bit. It wasn't the song. It was people's reactions. You have recently suggested that all of this wears you down (and your readers as well), but that video gives me hope that sane people, like you, are making headway and we're not quite as far gone as we think. Keep it up. People like you (and ORF) are anchors in the storm.
I read a survey somewhere that said that liberal-leaning people displayed a high level of trust in certain media (NPR/NYT etc.) while generally distrusting completely "conservative media" like Fox News, (of course.) Conservatives basically thought all the news was pretty untrustworthy, but trusted some more than others. Liberals believing that "only THOSE people OVER THERE would lie to me" has got to lead to a life of being endlessly ripped off.