That first paragraph. I'll be quoting the shit out of different bits of that for the foreseeable future.
re: that Carl Sagan quote, well fuck me that sounds 100% accurate.
This Friday blog is exceptional, nothing we didn't all sort of know already, but rolled up in a very digestible, articulate way that helps us get this shit right and organised in our brainboxes, (which is one of the hard boring bits we have to do). Well done JB. You've earned a very good gin with this one.
Australia can’t rest on its laurels (see what I did there?) because I’ve seen a lot of discourse on the ibterwebz about getting rid of preferential voting and ‘election interference’ which is just mainlined from Sky and Fox.
The JVL article is excellent and this is a great follow up.
The prevailing wisdom among too many journalists and commentators since 2015 is that Trump is tapping into justifiable grievances/suffering. The argument follows that ‘sure he’s all sorts of terrible, but [insert justifications for voting for him anyway].
It’s almost all bullshit. The sad truth is that tens of millions of adult aged US citizens are inclined to behave and vote like bored, aimless children. The absence of real struggle has encouraged them to think that they need never grow up.
All developed countries have a bit of this, but somehow the US has a much more extreme version of this cultural rot.
The mesmerising beauty of Tucker Carlson’s seeping and pulsating cloaca is surely proof of intelligent design, so I don’t think we need to worry too much.
The Carl Sagan observation is certainly prescient. I'm reading the comments on Bluesky which include further grist for this mill "Andrew Lawrence - arguing against birthright citizenship in front of the supreme court while at the same time pitching a netflix show where immigrants compete for citizenship is such a perfect microcosm of America right now that it feels fake".
The Republic failed not because its abandoned the values that made it great, but because its political system failed to constrain powerful men, men steeped in Republican values, values that shaped the early centuries of Empire, the pax Romana that followed the fall of the Republic.
The political system of the Republic across the sea is struggling to constrain a powerful man, but one who cares little for the values that made his Republic great - the Constitution, the rule of law, checks and balances, a free press, free and fair elections, free markets, limited government, individual rights and freedoms, etc.
It is hard to see Trump transforming that Republic into a great empire precisely because (unlike the "big men" of the Roman Republic) he cares little for the values that made his Republic great.
Mustn't forget quite number of civilisations, in the Middle East and South America for example, collapsed due to climate change. Couple our climate situation, newly minted insane political class and the devolving humans that seem to be emerging [homo interwebus? ] and collapse seems inevitable.
The meme is a little harsh yet as I see again and again here on substack, so many people whinging and losing it when it was plainly obvious civil society in the US was on life support. And sadly things will have to get a lot worse before the overweight couch potatoes rise up from their Laze-Boy chairs to shout and wave placcards at protests.
If they were serious, they would start watching the film Michael Collins to see how the Irish successfully got rid of the British Empire in a few short years. But they won't.
"...whether the American public still possesses the moral fortitude to govern itself,,,"
Seems a bit rich to blame the public itself for this state of affairs, when there is a bad faith actor (the Republican party) that has explicitly sought to bring this about - through rigging the rules, jerrymandering, disenfranchising voters, propaganda and rejecting the rule of law, to undermined and weakened the American public in this way.
Much of the commentary, for some reason, seems to be more comfortable in the passive ("oh how could this have occured") without asking who did this and acknowledging that there are actors and institutions that explicitly want this state of affairs.
Otherwise I'm completely onboard with everything else
Mick Ryan from Futura Doctrina <mickryan@substack.com> published an article which runs with your hypothesis, positing that much of the social decay of trust networks in the liberal west is down to active informational warfare campaigns by the 'Authoritarian Alliance' (Putin, Xi, Kim and the Ayatollahs) as part of a campaign to paint the liberal world in its worst light by deliberately spreading racism, social disharmony, and discontent. Ukraine is just part of this war, as is their magnificent Trump coup - all designed to make the people of the west so disengaged that they don't resist when their most vital interests are threatened.
Clausewitz, Sun Tzu and Mattis all know that the greatest victories come from battles that you never have to fight.
The Ukraine campaign is the equivalent of Hulegu's sack of Baghdad in 1258 - it's just a massive show of barbarism and bloodlust designed to show young western men the folly of military service. The real goal is to have the citizens of the west so disgusted with the legal systems that trap them socially and financially, the obscenely wealthy who make a mockery of the Protestant Work Ethic that led to the capitalist miracle, and the political 'leaders' who are so blatantly corrupt that we no longer even make a murmur of discomfort when one takes a $400 million dollar bribe and brags about it on the news.
Since we're doing apocalyptic quotes, here's Yeats:
1) I love the Bulwark, especially JVL's ' it's the voters, stupid ' outlook, but the balance of Sarah's optimism is great too
2) we & Canada had the benefit of seeing what the vulgar orange lunatic did to America for 3 months before our elections & the great benefit of having opposition leaders who played temu trump. &
3) Carl Sagan was a genius & a savant & bloody prescient!
Can't wait to hear all about your books & that thing you did 🤣🤣🤣
American voters also had the benefit of seeing what the vulgar orange lunatic did to America... for four years (2016 to 2020). They squibbed it... turned a blind eye to his crimes, lies, stupidity, his promise to be a dicktator, his sexual proclivities, and proven lack of ability for the role. The US empire is dying from the inside and most of them either can't (or refuse to) see it, or are too comfortable to care.
Wow, that Sagan quote is scarily accurate! It's almost as prophetic as The Simpsons.
That first paragraph. I'll be quoting the shit out of different bits of that for the foreseeable future.
re: that Carl Sagan quote, well fuck me that sounds 100% accurate.
This Friday blog is exceptional, nothing we didn't all sort of know already, but rolled up in a very digestible, articulate way that helps us get this shit right and organised in our brainboxes, (which is one of the hard boring bits we have to do). Well done JB. You've earned a very good gin with this one.
Australia can’t rest on its laurels (see what I did there?) because I’ve seen a lot of discourse on the ibterwebz about getting rid of preferential voting and ‘election interference’ which is just mainlined from Sky and Fox.
Expecting to see Cloaca climbing up the googled words ranking and a new appreciation of monotremes. Love the work JB
I’ll come back with a serious comment later, but for now all I’ll say is that a Eureka flag toga would look fucking awesome.
Fuck yeah!
The JVL article is excellent and this is a great follow up.
The prevailing wisdom among too many journalists and commentators since 2015 is that Trump is tapping into justifiable grievances/suffering. The argument follows that ‘sure he’s all sorts of terrible, but [insert justifications for voting for him anyway].
It’s almost all bullshit. The sad truth is that tens of millions of adult aged US citizens are inclined to behave and vote like bored, aimless children. The absence of real struggle has encouraged them to think that they need never grow up.
All developed countries have a bit of this, but somehow the US has a much more extreme version of this cultural rot.
Appalling education helps 👍
I don’t suppose Mr Sagan said anything about who’d win the 2025 Cox Plate?
The mesmerising beauty of Tucker Carlson’s seeping and pulsating cloaca is surely proof of intelligent design, so I don’t think we need to worry too much.
The Carl Sagan observation is certainly prescient. I'm reading the comments on Bluesky which include further grist for this mill "Andrew Lawrence - arguing against birthright citizenship in front of the supreme court while at the same time pitching a netflix show where immigrants compete for citizenship is such a perfect microcosm of America right now that it feels fake".
The Republic failed not because its abandoned the values that made it great, but because its political system failed to constrain powerful men, men steeped in Republican values, values that shaped the early centuries of Empire, the pax Romana that followed the fall of the Republic.
The political system of the Republic across the sea is struggling to constrain a powerful man, but one who cares little for the values that made his Republic great - the Constitution, the rule of law, checks and balances, a free press, free and fair elections, free markets, limited government, individual rights and freedoms, etc.
It is hard to see Trump transforming that Republic into a great empire precisely because (unlike the "big men" of the Roman Republic) he cares little for the values that made his Republic great.
Mustn't forget quite number of civilisations, in the Middle East and South America for example, collapsed due to climate change. Couple our climate situation, newly minted insane political class and the devolving humans that seem to be emerging [homo interwebus? ] and collapse seems inevitable.
"Thirst Trap Hunger Games"?
Already there.
https://bsky.app/profile/thedailybeast.bsky.social/post/3lpao55dnus2b
May the odds be ever in your favour...
The meme is a little harsh yet as I see again and again here on substack, so many people whinging and losing it when it was plainly obvious civil society in the US was on life support. And sadly things will have to get a lot worse before the overweight couch potatoes rise up from their Laze-Boy chairs to shout and wave placcards at protests.
If they were serious, they would start watching the film Michael Collins to see how the Irish successfully got rid of the British Empire in a few short years. But they won't.
"...whether the American public still possesses the moral fortitude to govern itself,,,"
Seems a bit rich to blame the public itself for this state of affairs, when there is a bad faith actor (the Republican party) that has explicitly sought to bring this about - through rigging the rules, jerrymandering, disenfranchising voters, propaganda and rejecting the rule of law, to undermined and weakened the American public in this way.
Much of the commentary, for some reason, seems to be more comfortable in the passive ("oh how could this have occured") without asking who did this and acknowledging that there are actors and institutions that explicitly want this state of affairs.
Otherwise I'm completely onboard with everything else
Mick Ryan from Futura Doctrina <mickryan@substack.com> published an article which runs with your hypothesis, positing that much of the social decay of trust networks in the liberal west is down to active informational warfare campaigns by the 'Authoritarian Alliance' (Putin, Xi, Kim and the Ayatollahs) as part of a campaign to paint the liberal world in its worst light by deliberately spreading racism, social disharmony, and discontent. Ukraine is just part of this war, as is their magnificent Trump coup - all designed to make the people of the west so disengaged that they don't resist when their most vital interests are threatened.
Clausewitz, Sun Tzu and Mattis all know that the greatest victories come from battles that you never have to fight.
The Ukraine campaign is the equivalent of Hulegu's sack of Baghdad in 1258 - it's just a massive show of barbarism and bloodlust designed to show young western men the folly of military service. The real goal is to have the citizens of the west so disgusted with the legal systems that trap them socially and financially, the obscenely wealthy who make a mockery of the Protestant Work Ethic that led to the capitalist miracle, and the political 'leaders' who are so blatantly corrupt that we no longer even make a murmur of discomfort when one takes a $400 million dollar bribe and brags about it on the news.
Since we're doing apocalyptic quotes, here's Yeats:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
1) I love the Bulwark, especially JVL's ' it's the voters, stupid ' outlook, but the balance of Sarah's optimism is great too
2) we & Canada had the benefit of seeing what the vulgar orange lunatic did to America for 3 months before our elections & the great benefit of having opposition leaders who played temu trump. &
3) Carl Sagan was a genius & a savant & bloody prescient!
Can't wait to hear all about your books & that thing you did 🤣🤣🤣
American voters also had the benefit of seeing what the vulgar orange lunatic did to America... for four years (2016 to 2020). They squibbed it... turned a blind eye to his crimes, lies, stupidity, his promise to be a dicktator, his sexual proclivities, and proven lack of ability for the role. The US empire is dying from the inside and most of them either can't (or refuse to) see it, or are too comfortable to care.