Agreed! Humor is our secret weapon. They own the culture, education, media, and corporations, but we have humor, wisdom, truth, integrity, and resilience, which gives us the edge in my mind :-)
And they are utterly humorless. None of their comedians are funny. At all.
They've resurrected Jon Stewart, who was great when he was on Bush II back in the day, but even he has now devolved into an establishment mouthpiece.
Pathetic.
тАЬMen, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.тАЭ
~ Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, 1841
InterestingтАФJon Stewart had been showing some signs of rationality and appeared to be distancing himself from the growing insanity. Sad to hear he succumbed.
Just ordered the Charles Mackay audiobook as it sounds right up my ally! Just finished Gustave Le BonтАЩs тАЬThe Crowd: A Study of the Popular MindтАЭ and am working my way through тАЬThe Psychology of RevolutionтАЭ now.
Dave Smith had a Part of the Problem podcast on him awhile ago, eviscerating him.
MacKay is fantastic. One of the few the cliche "it should be required reading" is actually apropos.
Have not read Le Bon yet, but it is in the pile.
I recently managed to finally secure, at some expense, a copy of Walter B. Pitkin's *A short Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity". Simon and Schuster 1932. Rather gratifying that it was stolen from Michigan State University, which used stolen money to publish it.
A quick killer read is Etienne de La Bo├йtie's, Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, 1548
A money shot:
Plays, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts, medals, pictures, and other such opiates, these were for ancient peoples the bait toward slavery, the price of their liberty, the instruments of tyranny. By these practices and enticements the ancient dictators so successfully lulled their subjects under the yoke, that the stupefied peoples, fascinated by the pastimes and vain pleasures flashed before their eyes, learned subservience as naively, but not so creditably, as little children learn to read by looking at bright picture books. Roman tyrants invented a further refinement. They often provided the city wards with feasts to cajole the rabble, always more readily tempted by the pleasure of eating than by anything else.
The most intelligent and understanding amongst them would not have quit his soup bowl to recover the liberty of the Republic of Plato. Tyrants would distribute largess, a bushel of wheat, a gallon of wine, and a sesterce: and then everybody would shamelessly cry, тАШLong live the King!тАЩ The fools did not realize that they were merely recovering a portion of their own property, and that their ruler could not have given them what they were receiving without having first taken it from them.тАЭ
It just occurred to me that perhaps we could trigger the lunatic left even more by using "LGB" as an acronym.
I mean, given they've added like 27 letters it should be back up for grabs, right?
*lol* I did have to look twice when I saw that acronym used for the first time and thought it might cause some amusing confusion!
I remain convinced we will prevail if we do not lose our sense of humor and instead use it to maximum advantage.
The left has become truly ridiculous.
That is their weakness.
Agreed! Humor is our secret weapon. They own the culture, education, media, and corporations, but we have humor, wisdom, truth, integrity, and resilience, which gives us the edge in my mind :-)
And they are utterly humorless. None of their comedians are funny. At all.
They've resurrected Jon Stewart, who was great when he was on Bush II back in the day, but even he has now devolved into an establishment mouthpiece.
Pathetic.
тАЬMen, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.тАЭ
~ Charles Mackay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, 1841
;-)
InterestingтАФJon Stewart had been showing some signs of rationality and appeared to be distancing himself from the growing insanity. Sad to hear he succumbed.
Just ordered the Charles Mackay audiobook as it sounds right up my ally! Just finished Gustave Le BonтАЩs тАЬThe Crowd: A Study of the Popular MindтАЭ and am working my way through тАЬThe Psychology of RevolutionтАЭ now.
Dave Smith had a Part of the Problem podcast on him awhile ago, eviscerating him.
MacKay is fantastic. One of the few the cliche "it should be required reading" is actually apropos.
Have not read Le Bon yet, but it is in the pile.
I recently managed to finally secure, at some expense, a copy of Walter B. Pitkin's *A short Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity". Simon and Schuster 1932. Rather gratifying that it was stolen from Michigan State University, which used stolen money to publish it.
It is over 500 pages and was printed in 1932.
The second edition would probably be 5000 pages.
Move Le Bon to the top of the pile pronto! тАЬThe CrowdтАЭ is a quick read, and every sentence is chillingly relevant.
тАЬA Short HistoryтАЭ looks like quite a findтАФespecially considering how much itтАЩs going for at Amazon! YouтАЩre right about the 2nd ed. ЁЯШЖ
Will do.
A quick killer read is Etienne de La Bo├йtie's, Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, 1548
A money shot:
Plays, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts, medals, pictures, and other such opiates, these were for ancient peoples the bait toward slavery, the price of their liberty, the instruments of tyranny. By these practices and enticements the ancient dictators so successfully lulled their subjects under the yoke, that the stupefied peoples, fascinated by the pastimes and vain pleasures flashed before their eyes, learned subservience as naively, but not so creditably, as little children learn to read by looking at bright picture books. Roman tyrants invented a further refinement. They often provided the city wards with feasts to cajole the rabble, always more readily tempted by the pleasure of eating than by anything else.
The most intelligent and understanding amongst them would not have quit his soup bowl to recover the liberty of the Republic of Plato. Tyrants would distribute largess, a bushel of wheat, a gallon of wine, and a sesterce: and then everybody would shamelessly cry, тАШLong live the King!тАЩ The fools did not realize that they were merely recovering a portion of their own property, and that their ruler could not have given them what they were receiving without having first taken it from them.тАЭ
100% agreed re: тАЬThe Politics of ObedienceтАЭтАФwhich is why I featured it prominently in тАЬCOVID IS OVER! тАж If You Want ItтАЭ (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/covid-is-over-if-you-want-it) ЁЯШБ
Remind me again why I read you?
Had not yet gone that far back...
;-)