I am of an age that I remember, like it was yesterday, the joyful release we felt under President Reagan after the dreadful malaise and needless sacrifices to incompetence under Carter. You had to be in lower Manhattan during the Statue of Liberty Centennial to see America at its joyful best. Truly magical. No other way to describe it. Celebrating who we are with each other.
So maybe the real truth is “Being a woke Democrat: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Vote wisely this time. Being under the thumb of a vile, vindictive, senile imbecile is no way for a free people to live.
I was 24 when he was elected. I came out of my undergrad thinking communism was forever, and that high inflation and gas prices were part of our new reality, as espoused by Jimmy Carter.
While Reagan painted an entirely different picture, where communism isn't normal, and that we should feel proud of our country resonated with me, it was totally against everything I had just been taught (at Michigan) and it wasn't something I felt I could openly support.
40 years later, we're there again. We allowed our Academia/Democrats/Media to make us feel bad about our country, and treat all of our problems as a new reality. I'm hopeful that, beginning with the midterms, we'll turn that back.
I was about a decade older. Remember when all the Democrats preached to us that we had to get used to this new normal? That we were greedy and had to learn to sacrifice and live with less. And that self-important old Democrat gas bag, Clark Clifford, called President Reagan "an amiable dunce." Then, as now, they are lying and making excuses. All we need to restore America is to reverse everything the Democrats are doing. Want to have fun? Mock and deride Democrats for the fools they truly are.
July 1st is Canada Day and the CBC - our national broadcaster - was dutifully putting on guests saying we should not celebrate- that we should be embarrassed by our history - etc. Just chill out for one day - please.
My wife is Canadian, now a naturalized US citizen. She very definitely shares your dismay at the current state of affairs. Canada seems to have become a for-real fascist state, and the transition seemed so easy. Scary.
I don't think You have the slightest idea what fascism really is. I guess that's one huge "success" of the radical left. Now everybody calls everything he doesn't like "fascist" without even bothering to think what this word actually means. More sad than scary.
Arresting political opponents and enlisting corporations in your various scams and schemes is a pretty good beginning on the road to fascism. Happening in the regimes of the senile imbecile who rules the US and the fatuous poseur to his north. Full out leftist fascism? Not yet. But certainly heading that way
In the US, Canada and Europe, the growing totalitarianism is brilliantly camouflaged. It is not the Soviet Union or 1984. But it is the 2022 version of "Brave New World." Bernd, considering reading Brave New World if you haven't already to begin to understand why so many of us see the powerful beginnings of would could accurately be called fascism. What makes it so scary is its magnificent deception and nice-seeming facade.
Remember, we are banning free speech because our masters will tell us what can be said and written. And never hold a pro-America rally in any sizable American city because the local government will likely allow antifa and BLM and black bloc beat you up. Unsure about Canada, but I can't imagine there is much patriotism left there either.
Here's my prescription to all the woke morons in the US and Canada. If you hate yourself and your country so much - and are so humiliated and appalled by our shared history that you simply cannot go on - just leave all your worldly possessions to an indigenous organization or slave reparations scam or other such foolish swill and then mix yourself a large, fatal dose of fentanyl and say goodbye to it all. The collective sanity of our nations, as well as our IQs will rise and you'll be doing your part to save the planet. Sound like a plan?
Well I remember that too. We had "malaise" under Carter and it was real. I turned off the heat one winter because I could not afford the $300 bill. It was scary trying to figure out if you would have enough gas to get to work that week. Gas lines were blocks long and there was no guarantee there would be any when you finally pushed your car to the pump. The elderly, on fixed incomes that were vanishing thanks to inflation, were lucky to be able to afford a can of cat food for dinner. It was frightening.
I voted for Carter in 1976 and lived to regret it. Carter was a good and decent man, unlike the current occupant, but he was inept and incompetent and surrounded himself with incompetent people. You should never vote for utopians. Not ever.
Ronald Reagan was a breath of hope and cheer. He himself was a cheerful person full of charm and good will. With his grin, you always felt he was having fun. The country started to turn around quickly on his optimism. He was also competent and a realist.
And remember how the press pilloried Reagan relentlessly? Shows how we should never listen to them or their leftist masters. It was my first realization just how much hidden (at that time) bias there was against conservatism in journalism. I was young and naive enough at the time to think they were actually playing it down the middle. In some ways it was more insidious than today because they did everything they could to appear objective.
This is why they hate Trump so much. I've seen it numerous times; when one side gets used to abusing and treating the other side with disdain and the other side does not defend himself, it becomes the classic abuser-abused relationship. The Left has grown used to saying absolutely anything - in the vilest of words - about the Right, and the right responds archly, "We don't behave like that." And it's because the Left feels entitled to taking cheap shots without reprisal that they are seething and clutching their pearls.
Try that with The Orange Man. You'll find yourself sitting on the sidewalk, with a black eye. Fine. My new mantra (HT to Ben Shapiro) is, "I don't care about your feelings." It's liberating. Try it. You'll like it.
It’s actually “Facts don’t care about your feelings.” I love Ben Shapiro!
But your point is well taken. Until Trump, conservatives thought taking the high road would eventually shame the left into civil discourse. That ended with Trump. I like seeing leftists get a good dose of their own medicine.
Unfortunately they still don’t seem to get it. Only a decade in the wilderness for the Democrat party is going to teach them. I’m only too glad to help make that happen.
I think a lot at least now recognize how rigged the game has been. I see a lot more critical thinking about news amongst people who have a modicum of intelligence. Too much information out there to fool everyone.
I was angry for many years that so few saw the bias I did. I feel pretty vindicated now. 😊
Yeah eventually I thought it would never happen but The Democrooks are imploding from the top down they can’t seem to find anymore witnesses who sound plausible it’s one bullshit story after another
I agree with you in all but one thing. The people around Carter were, for the most part, quite competent, but committed to the wrong ideas. Zbigniew Brzezinski comes immediately to mind.
Committed to the wrong ideas implies the consequences of actions were not considered, or the people involved didn't have the capacity, either by clear vision or insight, to analyze the problem and reach logical conclusions.
If I am unable to analyze a situation and then extrapolate what the consequences might be, I am likely incompetent to be in that position.
Boy have you struck a nerve! I remember Carter's "malaise" speech so very well. America was in decline and we'd best get used to it and prepare. A depressing, almost hopeless era.
When Reagan took office - upbeat, hopeful, optimistic and forward-looking - for the longest time I thought he was blowing sunshine you-know-where. Then I realized that he really believed what he said about America, and best of all, he was RIGHT!!
I heard yesterday that Titular President Asterisk had opined that fuel prices would stay high "as long as necessary." Uh-huh - so we will be forced to buy electric cars that nobody can afford, nobody wants, and everyone understands cannot provide heat or cold to protect you in any meaningful way in an emergency.
Fortunately we have other failed nations as examples of how communist dictators take over, and with the help of supercilious old gasbags like Asterisk, Mad Maxine, Cryin' Chuck, and ignorant, arrogant striplings like The Barista, our gub'ment is attempting to follow the Marxist playbook to the letter.
We can stop this. The string-pullers are not stupid, and they know full well that while they are in trouble now, if they can cheat again in November, it's over. They win. Permanently. Do not in any way believe that they don't have a plan to do precisely that, and I wish I could say that stopping them is a matter of life and death, but in point of fact it is far more important than that because when you're dead, the suffering stops; if they win, it's just beginning.
You are so right. I loved Reagan. He made me a Republican. It's amazing how fast things can turn around, as we have lately watched in horrified fascination as this incompetent mannequin has taken us from a vibrant country to a demoralized country with no borders, runaway inflation, and an energy shortage.
Get Trump or DeSantis back in office and this can be turned around rapidly.
You wrote "We can stop this. The string-pullers are not stupid, and they know full well that while they are in trouble now, if they can cheat again in November, it's over. "
Yes, Jim, "it's over" but not in the way you fear. It will be over for them. It would be an honor to get the chance to die for my country. And, lest that meaning be unclear, if the Dems try to steal this election, the time for words will be over. I doubt I'm alone in this sentiment.
Your comment is a very serious one, which resonates greatly with me. I will search endlessly for ways to overcome the current tyranny. I agree, if the "huge red wave" is overturned by the trillion dollars and fifty cheat techniques they have developed, something will break in this country. I always wonder if the warriors of this country will let the US disappear. I wonder what I will be capable of doing. In the meantime, make sure your state has the best chance to stay sane. This is what I am doing in my new "Plan B" state of Nevada.
All kidding aside I wonder what our fellow citizens would do if they were presented with airtight proof that the Democrats stole the 2020 election. Would there be sheer hell to pay or would we simply accept it?
I have thought about the upcoming election quite a bit, and the cheat revolves around three things: voting computers, drop boxes, and eliminating Republican observers from the count itself.
We need to try as hard as possible to get rid of the machines; once a vote goes in, you have no idea what happens. And not only are they a tremendous source of cheating, they are unnecessary.
On the last two, I think it will just take aggressiveness. Locate any drop boxes, and park several observers there. All night. With cameras. Approach anyone dropping ballots after hours and ask their names and video them - especially their faces. And bring a firearm and at least one buddy. Supreme court now says you can.
Ditto the count. Refuse to be herded out of the proceeding. If they "stop the count" tell them you will be staying behind. Bring others with you. Set up a phone relay so as to bring dozens of others if there is a confrontation. Don't start anything but don't let them bully you.
I conquer with you exactly. I was in high school when we washed the grime of carter from our lives. I am in my 50s now and distraught that the democrats led us down the path to Hades again.
Ah, yes, Pres. Ronald Reagan, the beginning of the end for the middle class, where wages never kept up with productivity, and the productivity went to mint plutocrats, making us a plutocracy. The great Reaganomics: where the rich taxes were cut from 70% to 50% and the poor from 14% to 11%. Then Reagan decided the burden of 50% was still too much for the rich, so they lowered it to 20%. And just for good measure, he decided the poor needed to pay more, so for the first time in history, the top tax rate was reduced, and the bottom rate was increased while simultaneously decreasing social spending; after all, he didn’t want to spoil the poor. There were those who called his policy; voodoo trickle-down economics, which ended up being a golden shower for the poor. And let us not forget that Ronnie lowered capital gains taxes, and then the federal debt nearly tripled, making him number three for the largest increase in federal debt. Every time the Grinch thinks of Ronnie Reagan, it brings joy to his heart.
What's truly astounding is that there are three other readers equally deranged as the pathetic "just me." Are there no longer dog catchers searching out the rabid threats to a sane society?
And all three have found me. I would have responded to Just me (what a handle to choose; false humility), but he makes up his own facts and is impervious to anything rational permeating his skull. He has the mind virus as so aptly described by Gad Saad.
These are Lefties who have joined this forum because there is no discussion or debate on their side. They are primarily attention seeking and the quickest way for them to get attention in the forums is to act badly, be nasty, and attack.
I have seen this before. There would be more of them but they expect everything for free and will not pay. This is fortunate because otherwise it would turn these forums into a Twitter like hell. I have seen this happen since I first got on the Internet in 1994 and joined several forums then. They destroy everything they touch.
You are so right, doug. I waste my time on an argumentative moron. This person is impervious to facts and insists on his own.
There is something to consider, though. Dan Bongino says when you try to explain things to a liberal/Lefty you aren't actually going to persuade them but you may persuade the people who may be listening.
So, what do you think? Is it worth it to make the attempt in the hopes that a rational argument and gentle persuasion may inform a third party person who may be listening?
I believe it depends on the others listening. Some could benefit, but I believe once someone is recognized as a rhetorical bully (real liberals are not), the best thing is to ignore them. If they have the skill, they use techniques that will result in endless debate with no good resulting. They will appear to make others look ignorant because they are not bound by honesty.
I once asked Harvard's Stephen Pinker if his mentor, Noam Chomsky, was the biggest rhetorical bully and he said yes.
Chomsky's and the other bullies' goals are simply to make their opponents look ignorant by throwing out so many items (that they call "facts") many obscure, at their opponents that it is impossible to defend oneself without going to the library. But their secret is simple, they have no conscience, so they can manipulate facts and makeup facts. Honest debaters are at a huge disadvantage.
I once took the time to research Chomsky's facts when he was debating Alan Dershowitz on Israel and seemed to be winning. I learned after the debate that he lied about the items I looked up or misrepresented a situation with an obscure quote that only sounded important. Even Dershowitz wasn't always able to respond effectively.
From my perspective it is much more a lefty thing because Marx made it clear that bourgeois values such as honesty should not be followed if it interferes with the revolution. And now, they have gained so much control.
Your sarcastic bigotry will complete the indoctrination of those who aren't already completely robotic wokesters. Good luck rebuilding a nation or even a community if you are unlucky enough to destroy America.
Doug, you called me a sarcastic bigot, I own up to being sarcastic, but in this instance, I’m not a bigot; facts aren’t prejudicial. You then proceed to be a sarcastic bigot by using a pejorative slur; “…wokesters…”. You were speaking of indoctrination. You are delusional if you don’t think you have a sectarian opinion, point of view, or principle. In fact, this Substack is a cesspool of indoctrination.
Of course, I called you a sarcastic bigot. You call your inane opinions facts. So you lie to promote your views, you don't use honest discourse. Thus you are intolerant of others' views - sounds like a bigot to me. I reread your last comment and could not find a fact but a great many opinions. I lived through the Reagan years, and grew my company to employ 900+ people after starting with $990. Your comments about Reagan show you believe in over taxing in order to re-distribute from the productive to the unproductive, over-regulation, and the squelching of human freedom and the denial of individual expression. so you are some kind of lefty bigot. I rarely use ad hominems but I cannot mince words with you.
And I loved the fun article and it is fun once in a while replying to you.
Since you call substack a "cesspool of indoctrination," it is obvious you are here just for some of us to have fun with you.
TRA-86 enacted 2 FIt rates 15% and 28%. Most Americans were ecstatic. Perhaps if you’s stop reading the comical Howie Zinn you might one day extract your head from your posterior.
Ronald Reagan ushered in the Neoliberal Order, with the help of Israel, by making a deal with the devil himself (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) to win his 1980 election. He believed in the laughable idea of supply-side economics and the Laffer curve. Ronnie cut regulations, slashed taxes, and lowered trade barriers. If you think it was a good idea for wages not to keep up with productivity, and ever-widening income equality, where the bottom 90% got less and less and the top 10% got more and more, by that estimation, he was a great president.
Frightening that you are as adult have not the least idea of economics. You really ought to read Thomas Sowell's "Basic Economics." You can also get Henry Hazlett's book on economics on Kindle for about 99 cents. You have about as much economics knowledge as AOC.
There was no deal with the Ayatollah. Reagan was very pointed that he does not make deals with barbarians. The hostages were released just prior to Reagan taking office as President because those barbarians were afraid of what Reagan might do if they didn't.
When regulations are cut, taxes are slashed and trade barriers are lowered companies, corporations and individuals have more money to invest, purchase and save. How dumb are you that you willfully refuse to see that?
If the government takes less of your money that means you have more. You might save it, or invest it, or spend it. Got that?
Brilliant, I can see a very sophisticated economically “If the government takes less of your money, that means you have more. You might save it, or invest it, or spend it. Got that?”, Is that like monetizing the economy?
This is a quote from Matthew Crawford's recent submission on his Substack. It explains you.
"There's only so much time you can spend on people whose interest seems to be in finding the one point you don't have an answer for or that they can feel like they're winning while ignoring the carnage around them. After his "loony" comment, I was spending the time not for him, but for others who would be reading the discussion."
Actually, Naomi (I sincerely hope I'm not one of the 'three Leftists you talked about), Reagan did preside over Iran Contra in the mid eighties - sort of like dealing with barbarians. Just my opinion, of course..
You are correct. This did happen under Reagan's watch. Ollie North used creativity to finance the anti-communists in Nicaragua, fighting the Sandanistas, by selling military parts to Iran for cash. It was done to circumvent Congress. It was unfortunate but no less disgraceful than "Fast and Furious."
There was never any proof that Reagan knew about or had anything to do with it. The press hated Reagan and did a deep dive so if there was anything to find they would have found it.
Some bad stuff came out of Iran Contra. You might want to read up on Mena Airport, or rather, airstrip, in Mena Arkansas.
You're insane. Please go piss up a rope. Anyone who was alive during the Reagan years will tell you they were materially better off than under Carter. Plus Reagan ignited prosperity and bequeathed a peace dividend to both Bush and Clinton with his vanquishing of the Evil Empire. You know only what you read in your leftist screeds. Which makes you laughable.
There was no deal with the Ayatollah. Read Bowden's book and get back to us when your head clears.
Bruce, I agree with you that life under Reagan was eventually better for the American taxpayer than living under the hapless Carter. However, one shouldn't forget that the first two years under Reagan were quite hard economically with interest rates at approx 20% with an ensuing recession. Fed chairman Paul Volcker was the architect of the pain that killed inflation, thus leading to the boon in '83 and beyond - Reagan's 'sunny' period that everyone on this thread remembers.
Of course, Volcker was a Democrat and nominated to the Fed chair by Carter. But I digress..
No disagreement with any of that. My first mortgage was at 16%. But let’s not forget that “the amiable dunce” had the wit to give Volcker free rein. As well as face down the Evil Empire. To digress….
Exactly. We'll have a lot of time to discuss it here and weigh out the pros and cons. I, for one, will NEVER vote for a Democrat (unless it is Tulsi Gabbard) again.
I will never vote for anyone with”democrat” after their name whether it is president or dog catcher. If you can sit in the same room as the likes of AOC and Pelosi you are not fit for any office period end of story
Are you aware she is a graduate of the WEF leadership program? Dan Crenshaw is as well. He acts it but she doesn't. She may have gone out of curiosity. Maybe someone will ask her about that.
Yes, she is a graduate. Dr. Malone had the list on his Substack a week or so ago. Senator Tom Cotton is also a graduate. I didn't review the list to see how many other names I knew. It's on Dr. Malone's Substack so I can peruse it at my leisure.
I love Trump but, to be perfectly honest, after a while I was getting tired of the constant drama.
Nope not even Tulsi and I love her but there is is no woman at the moment who can run America or the free world for that matter we have to think really seriously who we want in 2024 if we carrying on the way we are currently there will be nothing left for the younglings!
I was thinking more in the way of Secretary of the Army.
Currently the only one I can think of tough enough to take on the Deep State is DeSantis. I really appreciate what Trump did for the country but he lacks restraint when it's needed. However, if he is the 2024 candidate I will be delighted.
Perhaps another shot heard round the world? The globalist cabal hates and fears American liberty. It’s the last bastion of light in a world increasingly beset with lunacy.
I bought Desmet's book, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism." He believes we are reaching a breaking point due to the increased fear, anxiety and corruption of the bureaucracy.
Just as long as we don't ever go back to the 'vile, vindictive' individual who sat in the President's chair (and wanted to make it last for as long as possible..) before our current 'senile' occupant. Please.
On the Dem side I think they're doomed..I'm thinking that both Biden and Harris won't be on the ticket in '24. Unless suburban moms vote en masse this November because of the SCOTUS decision on abortion. All bets are off on that one.
If the GOP were smart ( a long shot) they would stay far away from the toxicity of Trump (I know, I know, lots here love him..) and go for someone who doesn't scare half the electorate. DeSantis, perhaps. I like Larry Hogan, if he's got the stomach for it.
The only one that scares me is Big Mike. As dumb as a box of rocks and as angry as a nest of bees, but checks all the boxes. Black, putatively female, loud mouth, hates her country - until recently, that is; now for the first time, she's "proud." Perfect. Trump might handle her as one would a child, but to some degree it would hurt him to be seen as as "picking on a girl" - er, so to speak.
De Santis is about a hundred yards behind Trump insofar as What We Need, but if you aren't elected, none of it matters. He can beat Big Mike and anyone else. God, what am I saying?!
I wish vile and vindictive and his group were running the country right now. I am a surgeon we don’t need to be best friends for your knee to turn out perfect. If more people could get that through their head we wouldn’t be in this disgusting mess
Yip I agree with you HG at the moment our country is not well and in serious need of a surgeon who knows what he is doing and yes we didn’t have to love our previous surgeon we only needed to respect him and get behind him to move us forward the current surgeon has absolute no idea what is going on and continues to botch every operation he gets his grubby mitts on I really fear for all of us going to the midterms
Had this discussion with the A&P (airframe and powerplant) mechanic at my airport. An NY transplant to rural southern Virginia, about the only one who will use him or give him the time of day is me. We avoid politics, but in working together the topic comes up. His comment was that he just couldn't vote for someone as _____________________ (fill in the blank) as The Orange Man. My response was, "How can you allow your hatred of one man be so intense that it makes you vote against three hundred fifty million of your countrymen?"
Sure enough. But it would have helped had Trump understood that a peaceful transfer of power is better for the country than his rather self aggrandizing efforts to hold on to the Presidency at considerable cost. You take your lumps and fight another day. Unfortunately, Donald doesn't think that way.
I’ve been trying to improve my 8 year-old son’s reactions to negative emotion, and one technique has been to emphasize the necessary duality of happiness and sadness--there can be no mountain peaks without valleys in between.
One could make a similar claim about fun and seriousness. A hyper-politicized society is serious all the time, and ideas that appear to any sane person as cruel jokes--from closing playgrounds to the “Final Solution”--face no resistance.
Fun allows us to feel the distinction between what matters--what deserves seriousness--and what does not. As Elbert Hubbard admonishes us: “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.”
A delightful read! Top Gun Maverick was a great film! Fun is subversive, and in these autocratic times where authorities globally are asphyxiating the freedoms of people, perhaps fun is the only small way to fight the power.
Indeed, it is cleansing and liberating, lifts the spirit. Fun also clears the mind, and these days, allows us to realize how much we are giving away to authority, and how much we have lost.
This is why the Alt-Left hates humor, why it terrifies them.
What a great writer; glad for the introduction. We do live in a world of curmudgeons and miserable spinsters who absolutely endear Menken's remarks, and I don't wonder that our young people are in the shape they're in. Laughter and levity are out, victimhood and screaming are in. When I was quite young, I remember my normally diffident father muttering, "old battle ax!" after an encounter with an older and severe aunt. I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants.
"Laughter and levity are out, victimhood and screaming are in".
This is the byproduct of an overabundance of social "science" degrees. Convince everyone that they are victims and everything is awful to lend questionable credibility to this field.
Another real problem with the anger and despair is that it has very real effects on your health and longevity. I suppose the Alt-Left are good with that as "there are simply too many people!". I would answer "Then you'd better make damn sure you enjoy the time you have"
I have always been a connoisseur of fun. One of the great disappointments of my life was growing up and realizing how completely “not fun” adults are. My children gave me a respite, but alas, have grown into (mostly) responsible adults. Now I wait for grandchildren to be silly and goofy and just have fun
Or two! We got a couple of dachshund brothers that are hysterical to watch, and provide more unconditional love than you could imagine. And my daughters love them too, when they visit.
I've had dachshunds for most of my life and they are indeed hysterical to watch and provide so much unconditional love. They are also highly intelligent, have loads of personality and tend to be as stubborn as all get out, which is all part of why they have charmed me so over the years. My current one is named Mr. Bean. When I adopted him, he had the name Coffee Bean. I didn't particularly like it, so we started calling him Mr. Bean, which turned out to be very apt as he is a very silly guy. He makes me laugh and smile every day.
When my parents brought me home from the hospital in 1956, I had a standard, short hair, black/tan dachshund waiting for me. I believe that as kids, we 'imprint' with whatever dog we grow up with. I've had six dachshunds, two retrievers, a poodle and a chow, but the dachshunds always felt like the best fit. My current guys are Walter and Teddy (aka Theodorable)
We have a little beagle hound mix that turns into a cartoon character, whenever food is involved. She cracks us up! It's like having a toddler in the house. Dogs are the best.
So are cats. My cat, Simon, will run full speed ahead towards my other cat, Emma. He will then jump right over her like a hurdle. He’s having a blast and it’s super cute.
We also have an adorable cat, named Audrey. My middle son has joked that she's part Pokemon, lol. Animals are our comic relief and a great source of joy.
I relish my grandchildren for just that reason. We just have fun. We make messes, do things spontaneously, invent silly games and discard convention. We adore each other in the simplest and purest of ways. I am a child again!
When my daughter was two, her best friend told her, “Leslah [her rendition of my first name] is the silliest grownup ever.” Easily the best compliment I’ve ever gotten. Watching her and my daughter grow up? Easily the most fun I’ve ever had.
Grandchildren are the best my spiritual leader has a fantastic joke he always tells “why do grandparents and grandchildren get on so well together - they have a common enemy”🤣🤣you in for a treat Madjack I love my grandchildren we are best friends and when the time is up I give them back to their parents and I have had some real fun before the next sleepover or visit!
Nothing captured the oxymoronic idiocy of federal Covid policy than its #AloneTogether campaign. I can still hear some twenty-something with her chirpy voice telling me over the airwaves to commune with my family and neighbors by hunkering down in isolation. It crushed our collective souls. We as a nation need a doubled-over, breath-sapping, knee-slapping, pee-your-pants laugh.
'One thing I learned early about fun is that having it on command is hard.'
Well. this is where alcohol, drugs and hookers come in. They are the essence of fun on demand, but come with a price.
But his point is spot on. It took me a while to learn this, but much of what makes something fun, is when a fun experience is unexpected. A restaurant you visit where everything is just so perfect, and you have wait staff who are totally connected with you, twists on cuisine you haven't experienced. But when you go back, it's totally different.
Real fun, imho, also has a bit of serendipity, that can't necessarily be replicated.
We've also seen the fun of 'humor' become verboten if it has the slightest risk of offending someone's sensibilities. We now live our lives in fear of saying something that could be construed as a 'microaggression' and be branded as one of those 'ists'. Conversations are far less fun.
Growing up in the 60s/70s, I witnessed society moving from a Victorian prudishness, to a fun, uncensored period of expression, but now the pendulum seems to be swinging back hard. Who ever thought the young folks would be behind that shift.
Sounds like the Puritans described in the article. And, let's not forget how deadly they turned in Salem. Just like today, a national mass formation psychosis of woke repression.
"Who ever thought the young folks would be behind that shift."
I don't see it so much as the young *being* behind it so much as *getting* behind it. Their minds were hopelessly indoctrinated though academic Marxism, establishing a cynical worldview built on contrived racial (and now gender identity) "struggles", then sustained through the toxic echo chambers of social media -- a landscape aggressively policed and censored so as to only reinforce and never challenge their belief systems. They simply don't know any better.
Have young people though? It’s Big Tech and MSM who captured the air with their bullshit CNN for eg just carries on on everyday with the same crap has the previous hour yet they main relevant the same with ABC and MSNBC Fakebook and Twitter don’t help either it’s going to be hard to overturn this even President Reagan would have battled
No kidding. Last night at dinner, two "ladies" sashayed into the restaurant and were seated next to us. They were wearing skimpy, bikini type underwear - leaving little to the imagination - under see-through crocheted "dresses." Is this normal? Is this what families and children should be forced to see?
About a month ago my daughter and her friends wanted to go into a candy store next to the movie theater. Candy and stuffed animals were in the window display. Right past the candy counter inside were shelves lined with coffee mugs, T-shirts, tchotchkes covered in messages to F the patriarchy, F the transphobes, F everything, etc. You get the idea. Before exiting I said to the store employees “are you kidding me? What’s with this merchandise covered in foul language doing in a candy store? We were outta here and will never be back “.
All they can say is F this and F that because they've never done anything useful in their miserable lives and never will. Just like their muse who sneered," yo din't build dat", - knowing nothing about what it takes actually to build anything. The envy of the unaccomplished, the untalented and the unwashed is just so pathetic.
I agree. I don't like to eat around people who are half dressed. It feels unsanitary. I read an article some time back that when they tested movie theater seats the majority had ground-in urine and feces. I always wear long pants to the movie now!
And celebrated. I have friends, in their late 60's and early 70's, that post memes on Facebook talking about how cool kids grandparents were when they were young adults. "You'll never be as cool as your grandmother"...and grandma is celebrated for having smoked pot and for being half dressed...I don't think they see it the way I do. I don't think there's anything cool about boasting to your grandchildren, that you did these things, and think it's made you cool. My version of cool is very different.
ahh again. history. should be examined. alcohol consumption and drug use for pleasure as well are MILD compare to our historical times. humans will always seek mind altering for fun
Nor my family's. Glad my 3 sons grew up with different ideas of fun. It's tricky, as an adult, to find people to socialize with, who just want to socialize, without all the garbage.
I knew you were being funny. It just brought to mind many very real people, I know, that think this is how you chase fun. I'd rather be home and laugh with my genuinely funny sons!
I'm reminded of an incident in my high school biology class. The live frogs had arrived in a box and our teacher asked some students to help get them into the holding tank. Soon there were frogs jumping everywhere and bedlam ensued. "Shut the doors!" Some of the girls were standing on their chairs shrieking. Some of the kids were laughing and yelling. I was helping the boys catch the frogs. It was the most fun I had all sophomore year.
The great gateway to communal fun is of course music. The other night, after my daughter Kate got married, we had a small party at our house (yes, Kate is part of a growing trend of the engaged who have small services with a justice of the peace, then wait a year or so to have the huge celebration).
Music has become even more fun. Now, with an Alexa and a subscription to a music service like Spotify or Amazon, anyone in a group of people can instantly call up any song ever recorded. The fun begins when one song inspires another, then someone else is inspired to play another, and so on.
In the evening after the wedding, songs were being called and played, with the joy of recognition and the loosening of the “uptightness” gestaldt about which Mr. Kirn spoke.
Then the sweet spot hit. Kate’s friend Suze put on an anthem of their generation, “You Oughtta Know” by Alannis Morrisette. The mood all of a sudden became taut with a kind of disbelief, almost fear, like the pulling tight of the parachute. “No!” was cried by several millenials, as eyes locked. By the time the chorus came around, everyone was synchronized into one giant bubble of Superfun intensity, delirious yet focused, feeling Alannis’s angst together in an enormous collective catharsis.
Besides their political differences, fun is another dividing line between progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans. Generally speaking, radical progressives are angry about everything from systemic racism, income inequality, climate change activism, policing, criminal justice system, abortion, transgender issues, white privilege, threats to our democracy, ultra-MAGAS, Israel's settlements, etc. etc. Conversely, conservatives are happy, fun loving people who adore America and are proud of our history, entrepreneurial spirit and traditional values. Celebrate July 4th with friends and family at the backyard barbecue, enjoy the fireworks and have a big smile on your face knowing we live in the greatest country in the world. God bless America!
What a truly great and wonderful comment and yes we do America is the greatest country in the world unfortunately not so much the last 3 years though we have to turn it around god willing 🇺🇸🇺🇸Have a great 4th July!!
The best movies I ever saw in the theater were Fatal Attraction, Home Alone and My Cousin Vinny because the audience was completely engaged in either total fright, like at the end of F.A., or just laughing hysterically at the other two films. Seeing a great movie in the theater is such a wonderful experience that was lacking these last two years and I am so happy it’s back. Have a great weekend, everyone.
Was never allowed to see it (per your other post stating your age, I'm four years younger.) But I do remember Jaws and the damn shark coming right at me (and only me or so it seemed) in a very packed theatre. Later learning that it was all so fake was BEYOND disappointing....but still a favorite movie memory.
My girlfriend and I went the day it came out, and had to sit almost in the back because it was sold out. I'll never forget watching the whole audience (from the back) jumping in unison at the shocks! Incidentally, I just watched it again this week, and it still completely rocks--so, so, good. It made the dozens of possession knock-offs that have been a fixture of the horror genre since then look completely lame. Not a one can hold a candle to the original!
My parents were out of town, so I had to spend the night alone in my house. I heard movements in the attic all night. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life.
Despite being terrified of the movie I’ve read the book and it’s a good page turner. An interesting note is that Wm. Peter Blatty sued the NYT for leaving The Exorcist off of the best sellers list, which showed that the Times ignored books that were selling well if they didn’t think the book highbrow enough. Lol
Haven't we been taught from the age of language, around two, some of us more relentlessly than others, that selfishness is wrong? Maybe we should remember why it felt so good when we learned to shout “No!”
There is nothing more subversive and selfish than fun. Has the culture gone far enough down the slippery slope that we are starting to question the logic of the campaign that has been telling us since 1957 that Ayn Rand was wrong, Atlas is not Shrugging?
You may think this is a joke, but in 1966, my father handed me a thick book on a three-day loan from the New York Public Library, saying, “Here's a book by a crazy Russian lady you might enjoy.”
I had just returned from a summer in Cape Cod.
“1,086 pages! I can't read this in three days!”
“Don't worry about it!”
I was 19. Ayn Rand saved my life. If you do the math, you'll realize I'm now 75. My life was never the same. My handwriting changed. My mother never forgave my father.
So here I am this week in Washington, D.C., the belly of the beast at OCON 2022, the annual meeting of people who celebrate and study the works of Ayn Rand. Yes, the dreaded iconoclast, atheist, writer, and philosopher whom everyone hates and fears by proxy.
OCON is the acronym for Objectivist Conference. And I have to laugh when a tongue-in-cheek article says that fun is not individual, self-serving, and the fuel that spiced my days when I got old enough to distinguish between danger and imposed mores.
Nothing can be more subversive, more satisfying to the ego, and more life-affirming than fun. Maybe good sex or seeing a plan come together would also qualify.
The airport PA system announced on Thursday when we flew in that “Masks are now permitted to be optional.”
Masks “optional by permission” (LOL) just days after the 6-3 court majority overturned Roe, the one overt decision that saved my mental health when the draft killed, maimed, or deranged the young men of my generation. Back then, it was selfish to think self-sacrifice under government command was wrong.
Ayn Rand taught me to recognize right from wrong in 1966. Still no regrets. Maybe it's time for fun-starved humans to consider Atlas Shrugged with minds open to a different path, the path most of us abandoned when we were two, or indeed by school age (but that's another story).
Why was I receptive to Ayn Rand’s ideas? One reason might be my grandmother, “Nanny.” She never said no.
I could hang upside down on the monkey bars when I was four, and Nanny would qvell. When other kids' mothers scolded her, “How can you let her? She could fall!” I heard Nanny say, “She won't fall; she's a monkey.”
Life with Nanny was pure fun. I loved both my parents, but I used to play verbal tricks on them a lot. Nanny was the only person in the world I trusted completely.
Nanny died in 1961. By 1966, I was lost, confused, and engaged to a man who accused me of “using too many big words.” When I read The Fountainhead in Provincetown, I was not overly impressed. I didn't want to be an architect, and the sex scenes horrified me. But the first thing I did when I got home after Labor Day was to break my engagement.
When my father handed me Atlas Shrugged, I recognized the author’s name. I remember being impressed that Ayn Rand was a woman.
“The role of philosophy is to teach you how to enjoy yourself and live.”
--Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
That's what Ayn Rand did for me and is still doing.
I can completely relate. My dad gave me Atlas Shrugged when I was 17 and wouldn’t let up until I read it. We need less “nannies” in the world and more Nannys!!
This was me in 1995. I had been given Atlas Shrugged by a close family friend, who I was astounded to learn a decade later was a progressive. I’m not sure how she could have read that book and remained a progressive, but I digress. Ayn Rand’s writings expressed all of the things I had felt and observed in college, but couldn’t articulate. Over the 30 years since my first reading of Altas Shrugged, I have read it at least a dozen times along with Rand’s other works. Objectivism is the foundation of my life philosophy.
This was a fun read. And fun can come out of almost anything. Working a customer service shift at a big box store with a young woman 1/3 my age, we were absolutely slammed by a horde of people all needing something different NOW. It was dizzying at the same time it was overwhelmingly mindless. We had no time to think. We just did what we were trained to do. When the rush was quite suddenly over, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. My young co-worker turned to me smiling and said, “Well that was fun.” I laughed, my spirits immediately lifted. It WAS fun. Customer service is fraught with problems. Both customer and management must be satisfied. Doing a difficult job at high speed and knowing you did it right is satisfying and, taking a clue from my young co-worker, it became fun.
Thank you for this article. It cheered me up. It was fun.
I am of an age that I remember, like it was yesterday, the joyful release we felt under President Reagan after the dreadful malaise and needless sacrifices to incompetence under Carter. You had to be in lower Manhattan during the Statue of Liberty Centennial to see America at its joyful best. Truly magical. No other way to describe it. Celebrating who we are with each other.
So maybe the real truth is “Being a woke Democrat: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Vote wisely this time. Being under the thumb of a vile, vindictive, senile imbecile is no way for a free people to live.
I was 24 when he was elected. I came out of my undergrad thinking communism was forever, and that high inflation and gas prices were part of our new reality, as espoused by Jimmy Carter.
While Reagan painted an entirely different picture, where communism isn't normal, and that we should feel proud of our country resonated with me, it was totally against everything I had just been taught (at Michigan) and it wasn't something I felt I could openly support.
40 years later, we're there again. We allowed our Academia/Democrats/Media to make us feel bad about our country, and treat all of our problems as a new reality. I'm hopeful that, beginning with the midterms, we'll turn that back.
You captured it perfectly.
I was about a decade older. Remember when all the Democrats preached to us that we had to get used to this new normal? That we were greedy and had to learn to sacrifice and live with less. And that self-important old Democrat gas bag, Clark Clifford, called President Reagan "an amiable dunce." Then, as now, they are lying and making excuses. All we need to restore America is to reverse everything the Democrats are doing. Want to have fun? Mock and deride Democrats for the fools they truly are.
Yip and I’m having a wonderful time doing that it’s like having fun all over again
Or the NBA icon, LeBron, on his bended knee to China...... the only nation on earth still running concentration camps.
I wish a sports reporter would call him out on that.
Ah, but they buy sneakers in those concentration camps.
July 1st is Canada Day and the CBC - our national broadcaster - was dutifully putting on guests saying we should not celebrate- that we should be embarrassed by our history - etc. Just chill out for one day - please.
My wife is Canadian, now a naturalized US citizen. She very definitely shares your dismay at the current state of affairs. Canada seems to have become a for-real fascist state, and the transition seemed so easy. Scary.
I don't think You have the slightest idea what fascism really is. I guess that's one huge "success" of the radical left. Now everybody calls everything he doesn't like "fascist" without even bothering to think what this word actually means. More sad than scary.
Arresting political opponents and enlisting corporations in your various scams and schemes is a pretty good beginning on the road to fascism. Happening in the regimes of the senile imbecile who rules the US and the fatuous poseur to his north. Full out leftist fascism? Not yet. But certainly heading that way
"You can't use a gun for self-protection in Canada...that's not a right that you have, either in the constitution or anywhere else..." Justin Trudeau
Sounds like a good first step to fascism right there.
A gun for self protection doesn't do very well against an unseen shooter setting up an ambush on a rooftop..
In the US, Canada and Europe, the growing totalitarianism is brilliantly camouflaged. It is not the Soviet Union or 1984. But it is the 2022 version of "Brave New World." Bernd, considering reading Brave New World if you haven't already to begin to understand why so many of us see the powerful beginnings of would could accurately be called fascism. What makes it so scary is its magnificent deception and nice-seeming facade.
Remember, we are banning free speech because our masters will tell us what can be said and written. And never hold a pro-America rally in any sizable American city because the local government will likely allow antifa and BLM and black bloc beat you up. Unsure about Canada, but I can't imagine there is much patriotism left there either.
Here's my prescription to all the woke morons in the US and Canada. If you hate yourself and your country so much - and are so humiliated and appalled by our shared history that you simply cannot go on - just leave all your worldly possessions to an indigenous organization or slave reparations scam or other such foolish swill and then mix yourself a large, fatal dose of fentanyl and say goodbye to it all. The collective sanity of our nations, as well as our IQs will rise and you'll be doing your part to save the planet. Sound like a plan?
Please God this is an absolute disaster currently - as Bruce described Brandon vile senile vindictive old man get them out!
Maybe you’ll find some fun somewhere this time. :)
Not sure if you mean when I said 'We' in the last paragraph, as I can't find a 'royal' me that would fit your comment.
Well I remember that too. We had "malaise" under Carter and it was real. I turned off the heat one winter because I could not afford the $300 bill. It was scary trying to figure out if you would have enough gas to get to work that week. Gas lines were blocks long and there was no guarantee there would be any when you finally pushed your car to the pump. The elderly, on fixed incomes that were vanishing thanks to inflation, were lucky to be able to afford a can of cat food for dinner. It was frightening.
I voted for Carter in 1976 and lived to regret it. Carter was a good and decent man, unlike the current occupant, but he was inept and incompetent and surrounded himself with incompetent people. You should never vote for utopians. Not ever.
Ronald Reagan was a breath of hope and cheer. He himself was a cheerful person full of charm and good will. With his grin, you always felt he was having fun. The country started to turn around quickly on his optimism. He was also competent and a realist.
And remember how the press pilloried Reagan relentlessly? Shows how we should never listen to them or their leftist masters. It was my first realization just how much hidden (at that time) bias there was against conservatism in journalism. I was young and naive enough at the time to think they were actually playing it down the middle. In some ways it was more insidious than today because they did everything they could to appear objective.
This is why they hate Trump so much. I've seen it numerous times; when one side gets used to abusing and treating the other side with disdain and the other side does not defend himself, it becomes the classic abuser-abused relationship. The Left has grown used to saying absolutely anything - in the vilest of words - about the Right, and the right responds archly, "We don't behave like that." And it's because the Left feels entitled to taking cheap shots without reprisal that they are seething and clutching their pearls.
Try that with The Orange Man. You'll find yourself sitting on the sidewalk, with a black eye. Fine. My new mantra (HT to Ben Shapiro) is, "I don't care about your feelings." It's liberating. Try it. You'll like it.
It’s actually “Facts don’t care about your feelings.” I love Ben Shapiro!
But your point is well taken. Until Trump, conservatives thought taking the high road would eventually shame the left into civil discourse. That ended with Trump. I like seeing leftists get a good dose of their own medicine.
Unfortunately they still don’t seem to get it. Only a decade in the wilderness for the Democrat party is going to teach them. I’m only too glad to help make that happen.
Excellent comment!
It’s Liberating you right and I don’t care President Trump was the best President we ever had he would never have put up with crap!
Do you think we have grown up yet?
I think a lot at least now recognize how rigged the game has been. I see a lot more critical thinking about news amongst people who have a modicum of intelligence. Too much information out there to fool everyone.
I was angry for many years that so few saw the bias I did. I feel pretty vindicated now. 😊
Yeah eventually I thought it would never happen but The Democrooks are imploding from the top down they can’t seem to find anymore witnesses who sound plausible it’s one bullshit story after another
I agree with you in all but one thing. The people around Carter were, for the most part, quite competent, but committed to the wrong ideas. Zbigniew Brzezinski comes immediately to mind.
Committed to the wrong ideas implies the consequences of actions were not considered, or the people involved didn't have the capacity, either by clear vision or insight, to analyze the problem and reach logical conclusions.
If I am unable to analyze a situation and then extrapolate what the consequences might be, I am likely incompetent to be in that position.
Excellent comment! The old "But they meant well" is just a dodge for screwing up.
Naomi! Great to get your insights. Glad we are still in same circles!
We are!!! I feel as though I have made quite a few friends, and picked up a couple of trolls, on these threads.
Boy have you struck a nerve! I remember Carter's "malaise" speech so very well. America was in decline and we'd best get used to it and prepare. A depressing, almost hopeless era.
When Reagan took office - upbeat, hopeful, optimistic and forward-looking - for the longest time I thought he was blowing sunshine you-know-where. Then I realized that he really believed what he said about America, and best of all, he was RIGHT!!
I heard yesterday that Titular President Asterisk had opined that fuel prices would stay high "as long as necessary." Uh-huh - so we will be forced to buy electric cars that nobody can afford, nobody wants, and everyone understands cannot provide heat or cold to protect you in any meaningful way in an emergency.
Fortunately we have other failed nations as examples of how communist dictators take over, and with the help of supercilious old gasbags like Asterisk, Mad Maxine, Cryin' Chuck, and ignorant, arrogant striplings like The Barista, our gub'ment is attempting to follow the Marxist playbook to the letter.
We can stop this. The string-pullers are not stupid, and they know full well that while they are in trouble now, if they can cheat again in November, it's over. They win. Permanently. Do not in any way believe that they don't have a plan to do precisely that, and I wish I could say that stopping them is a matter of life and death, but in point of fact it is far more important than that because when you're dead, the suffering stops; if they win, it's just beginning.
You are so right. I loved Reagan. He made me a Republican. It's amazing how fast things can turn around, as we have lately watched in horrified fascination as this incompetent mannequin has taken us from a vibrant country to a demoralized country with no borders, runaway inflation, and an energy shortage.
Get Trump or DeSantis back in office and this can be turned around rapidly.
You wrote "We can stop this. The string-pullers are not stupid, and they know full well that while they are in trouble now, if they can cheat again in November, it's over. "
Yes, Jim, "it's over" but not in the way you fear. It will be over for them. It would be an honor to get the chance to die for my country. And, lest that meaning be unclear, if the Dems try to steal this election, the time for words will be over. I doubt I'm alone in this sentiment.
Your comment is a very serious one, which resonates greatly with me. I will search endlessly for ways to overcome the current tyranny. I agree, if the "huge red wave" is overturned by the trillion dollars and fifty cheat techniques they have developed, something will break in this country. I always wonder if the warriors of this country will let the US disappear. I wonder what I will be capable of doing. In the meantime, make sure your state has the best chance to stay sane. This is what I am doing in my new "Plan B" state of Nevada.
And I’m certain you don’t call it NeVAHda. Lol
All kidding aside I wonder what our fellow citizens would do if they were presented with airtight proof that the Democrats stole the 2020 election. Would there be sheer hell to pay or would we simply accept it?
We have to stop the second steal of our elections that’s it we have to pull out all the stops we can’t be distracted or disrupted in anyway!!
I have thought about the upcoming election quite a bit, and the cheat revolves around three things: voting computers, drop boxes, and eliminating Republican observers from the count itself.
We need to try as hard as possible to get rid of the machines; once a vote goes in, you have no idea what happens. And not only are they a tremendous source of cheating, they are unnecessary.
On the last two, I think it will just take aggressiveness. Locate any drop boxes, and park several observers there. All night. With cameras. Approach anyone dropping ballots after hours and ask their names and video them - especially their faces. And bring a firearm and at least one buddy. Supreme court now says you can.
Ditto the count. Refuse to be herded out of the proceeding. If they "stop the count" tell them you will be staying behind. Bring others with you. Set up a phone relay so as to bring dozens of others if there is a confrontation. Don't start anything but don't let them bully you.
Just my .05.
I conquer with you exactly. I was in high school when we washed the grime of carter from our lives. I am in my 50s now and distraught that the democrats led us down the path to Hades again.
Where is our Reagan ?
Ah, yes, Pres. Ronald Reagan, the beginning of the end for the middle class, where wages never kept up with productivity, and the productivity went to mint plutocrats, making us a plutocracy. The great Reaganomics: where the rich taxes were cut from 70% to 50% and the poor from 14% to 11%. Then Reagan decided the burden of 50% was still too much for the rich, so they lowered it to 20%. And just for good measure, he decided the poor needed to pay more, so for the first time in history, the top tax rate was reduced, and the bottom rate was increased while simultaneously decreasing social spending; after all, he didn’t want to spoil the poor. There were those who called his policy; voodoo trickle-down economics, which ended up being a golden shower for the poor. And let us not forget that Ronnie lowered capital gains taxes, and then the federal debt nearly tripled, making him number three for the largest increase in federal debt. Every time the Grinch thinks of Ronnie Reagan, it brings joy to his heart.
What's truly astounding is that there are three other readers equally deranged as the pathetic "just me." Are there no longer dog catchers searching out the rabid threats to a sane society?
And all three have found me. I would have responded to Just me (what a handle to choose; false humility), but he makes up his own facts and is impervious to anything rational permeating his skull. He has the mind virus as so aptly described by Gad Saad.
These are Lefties who have joined this forum because there is no discussion or debate on their side. They are primarily attention seeking and the quickest way for them to get attention in the forums is to act badly, be nasty, and attack.
I have seen this before. There would be more of them but they expect everything for free and will not pay. This is fortunate because otherwise it would turn these forums into a Twitter like hell. I have seen this happen since I first got on the Internet in 1994 and joined several forums then. They destroy everything they touch.
Naomi, all you are doing is blathering, and you say I make up my own facts, prove it!
Naomi, I had some fun with" just me," but I will not reply to him again.
Much more important matters, we have a country to save!
Something you’re lacking in, Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
You are so right, doug. I waste my time on an argumentative moron. This person is impervious to facts and insists on his own.
There is something to consider, though. Dan Bongino says when you try to explain things to a liberal/Lefty you aren't actually going to persuade them but you may persuade the people who may be listening.
So, what do you think? Is it worth it to make the attempt in the hopes that a rational argument and gentle persuasion may inform a third party person who may be listening?
I would appreciate your thoughts on this.
I believe it depends on the others listening. Some could benefit, but I believe once someone is recognized as a rhetorical bully (real liberals are not), the best thing is to ignore them. If they have the skill, they use techniques that will result in endless debate with no good resulting. They will appear to make others look ignorant because they are not bound by honesty.
I once asked Harvard's Stephen Pinker if his mentor, Noam Chomsky, was the biggest rhetorical bully and he said yes.
Chomsky's and the other bullies' goals are simply to make their opponents look ignorant by throwing out so many items (that they call "facts") many obscure, at their opponents that it is impossible to defend oneself without going to the library. But their secret is simple, they have no conscience, so they can manipulate facts and makeup facts. Honest debaters are at a huge disadvantage.
I once took the time to research Chomsky's facts when he was debating Alan Dershowitz on Israel and seemed to be winning. I learned after the debate that he lied about the items I looked up or misrepresented a situation with an obscure quote that only sounded important. Even Dershowitz wasn't always able to respond effectively.
From my perspective it is much more a lefty thing because Marx made it clear that bourgeois values such as honesty should not be followed if it interferes with the revolution. And now, they have gained so much control.
Something you’re lacking in, Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.
Shocking, I say, just shocking; five others liked my comment about Ronald Reagan. Bruce, why do you consider facts a threat to a sane society?
Go soak your head. Debating with you is a waste of time.
What’s there to debate? The facts are the facts!
Your sarcastic bigotry will complete the indoctrination of those who aren't already completely robotic wokesters. Good luck rebuilding a nation or even a community if you are unlucky enough to destroy America.
Doug, you called me a sarcastic bigot, I own up to being sarcastic, but in this instance, I’m not a bigot; facts aren’t prejudicial. You then proceed to be a sarcastic bigot by using a pejorative slur; “…wokesters…”. You were speaking of indoctrination. You are delusional if you don’t think you have a sectarian opinion, point of view, or principle. In fact, this Substack is a cesspool of indoctrination.
Of course, I called you a sarcastic bigot. You call your inane opinions facts. So you lie to promote your views, you don't use honest discourse. Thus you are intolerant of others' views - sounds like a bigot to me. I reread your last comment and could not find a fact but a great many opinions. I lived through the Reagan years, and grew my company to employ 900+ people after starting with $990. Your comments about Reagan show you believe in over taxing in order to re-distribute from the productive to the unproductive, over-regulation, and the squelching of human freedom and the denial of individual expression. so you are some kind of lefty bigot. I rarely use ad hominems but I cannot mince words with you.
And I loved the fun article and it is fun once in a while replying to you.
Since you call substack a "cesspool of indoctrination," it is obvious you are here just for some of us to have fun with you.
"What’s there to debate? The facts are the facts!"
Is that circular reasoning or a tautology? Begging the question? When the answer to the 'question' is presumed by the question.
I just read a little about that. The technical term is "conclusory allegation." Great stuff.
Kjmac, I was not an English literature major, but I think you’re correct; it is a tautology.
Dogs bark. The caravan moves on.
TRA-86 enacted 2 FIt rates 15% and 28%. Most Americans were ecstatic. Perhaps if you’s stop reading the comical Howie Zinn you might one day extract your head from your posterior.
Gosh I remember that. He also started IRA's.
Ronald Reagan ushered in the Neoliberal Order, with the help of Israel, by making a deal with the devil himself (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) to win his 1980 election. He believed in the laughable idea of supply-side economics and the Laffer curve. Ronnie cut regulations, slashed taxes, and lowered trade barriers. If you think it was a good idea for wages not to keep up with productivity, and ever-widening income equality, where the bottom 90% got less and less and the top 10% got more and more, by that estimation, he was a great president.
Frightening that you are as adult have not the least idea of economics. You really ought to read Thomas Sowell's "Basic Economics." You can also get Henry Hazlett's book on economics on Kindle for about 99 cents. You have about as much economics knowledge as AOC.
There was no deal with the Ayatollah. Reagan was very pointed that he does not make deals with barbarians. The hostages were released just prior to Reagan taking office as President because those barbarians were afraid of what Reagan might do if they didn't.
When regulations are cut, taxes are slashed and trade barriers are lowered companies, corporations and individuals have more money to invest, purchase and save. How dumb are you that you willfully refuse to see that?
If the government takes less of your money that means you have more. You might save it, or invest it, or spend it. Got that?
Brilliant, I can see a very sophisticated economically “If the government takes less of your money, that means you have more. You might save it, or invest it, or spend it. Got that?”, Is that like monetizing the economy?
This is a quote from Matthew Crawford's recent submission on his Substack. It explains you.
"There's only so much time you can spend on people whose interest seems to be in finding the one point you don't have an answer for or that they can feel like they're winning while ignoring the carnage around them. After his "loony" comment, I was spending the time not for him, but for others who would be reading the discussion."
https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/data-epistemology-vs-vaxsplaining?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Actually, Naomi (I sincerely hope I'm not one of the 'three Leftists you talked about), Reagan did preside over Iran Contra in the mid eighties - sort of like dealing with barbarians. Just my opinion, of course..
You are correct. This did happen under Reagan's watch. Ollie North used creativity to finance the anti-communists in Nicaragua, fighting the Sandanistas, by selling military parts to Iran for cash. It was done to circumvent Congress. It was unfortunate but no less disgraceful than "Fast and Furious."
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-iran-contra-affair-4175920
There was never any proof that Reagan knew about or had anything to do with it. The press hated Reagan and did a deep dive so if there was anything to find they would have found it.
Some bad stuff came out of Iran Contra. You might want to read up on Mena Airport, or rather, airstrip, in Mena Arkansas.
You're insane. Please go piss up a rope. Anyone who was alive during the Reagan years will tell you they were materially better off than under Carter. Plus Reagan ignited prosperity and bequeathed a peace dividend to both Bush and Clinton with his vanquishing of the Evil Empire. You know only what you read in your leftist screeds. Which makes you laughable.
There was no deal with the Ayatollah. Read Bowden's book and get back to us when your head clears.
Bruce, I agree with you that life under Reagan was eventually better for the American taxpayer than living under the hapless Carter. However, one shouldn't forget that the first two years under Reagan were quite hard economically with interest rates at approx 20% with an ensuing recession. Fed chairman Paul Volcker was the architect of the pain that killed inflation, thus leading to the boon in '83 and beyond - Reagan's 'sunny' period that everyone on this thread remembers.
Of course, Volcker was a Democrat and nominated to the Fed chair by Carter. But I digress..
No disagreement with any of that. My first mortgage was at 16%. But let’s not forget that “the amiable dunce” had the wit to give Volcker free rein. As well as face down the Evil Empire. To digress….
Bruce, all your indignation doesn’t negate what the neoliberal order has done to the ordinary worker; like it or not, facts are facts!
I’m voting for you Bruce or if not you I will be taken my next vote very seriously and doing a lot of homework before I make my final decision
Exactly. We'll have a lot of time to discuss it here and weigh out the pros and cons. I, for one, will NEVER vote for a Democrat (unless it is Tulsi Gabbard) again.
I will never vote for anyone with”democrat” after their name whether it is president or dog catcher. If you can sit in the same room as the likes of AOC and Pelosi you are not fit for any office period end of story
Naomi that's my exception as well.
Are you aware she is a graduate of the WEF leadership program? Dan Crenshaw is as well. He acts it but she doesn't. She may have gone out of curiosity. Maybe someone will ask her about that.
Tulsi doing WEF is a very Serious concern. I do hope the GOP nominee is DeSantis. But If it is Trump, I will support him. Following the essay, I
Like to mention his name just for fun. I sincerely hope I am
Not being offensive. There I go again denying my right to FUN!
I love Trump there I have said it out loud if anybody is having a good laugh enjoy happy 4th
Yes, she is a graduate. Dr. Malone had the list on his Substack a week or so ago. Senator Tom Cotton is also a graduate. I didn't review the list to see how many other names I knew. It's on Dr. Malone's Substack so I can peruse it at my leisure.
I love Trump but, to be perfectly honest, after a while I was getting tired of the constant drama.
I never knew she was a Klaus Schwab disciple that’s not good but I don’t view her in the top dog position
I don't know if she is a disciple. Have you never gone to something that turned out to be entirely different from what you thought?
She may have also been scoping out the enemy.
Nope not even Tulsi and I love her but there is is no woman at the moment who can run America or the free world for that matter we have to think really seriously who we want in 2024 if we carrying on the way we are currently there will be nothing left for the younglings!
I was thinking more in the way of Secretary of the Army.
Currently the only one I can think of tough enough to take on the Deep State is DeSantis. I really appreciate what Trump did for the country but he lacks restraint when it's needed. However, if he is the 2024 candidate I will be delighted.
Thanks but I’m too damned old. DeSsntis is my guy.
Absolutely
"...needless sacrifices to incompetence..." This phrase captures today's misbegotten era perfectly. Resentment is building.
One can only hope.
Perhaps another shot heard round the world? The globalist cabal hates and fears American liberty. It’s the last bastion of light in a world increasingly beset with lunacy.
I bought Desmet's book, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism." He believes we are reaching a breaking point due to the increased fear, anxiety and corruption of the bureaucracy.
Okay, Bruce.
Just as long as we don't ever go back to the 'vile, vindictive' individual who sat in the President's chair (and wanted to make it last for as long as possible..) before our current 'senile' occupant. Please.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
Cheers..
Any suggestions who might replace Brandon in 2024 I’m very interested to read who it might be Dem or Republican
Desantis
On the Dem side I think they're doomed..I'm thinking that both Biden and Harris won't be on the ticket in '24. Unless suburban moms vote en masse this November because of the SCOTUS decision on abortion. All bets are off on that one.
If the GOP were smart ( a long shot) they would stay far away from the toxicity of Trump (I know, I know, lots here love him..) and go for someone who doesn't scare half the electorate. DeSantis, perhaps. I like Larry Hogan, if he's got the stomach for it.
The only one that scares me is Big Mike. As dumb as a box of rocks and as angry as a nest of bees, but checks all the boxes. Black, putatively female, loud mouth, hates her country - until recently, that is; now for the first time, she's "proud." Perfect. Trump might handle her as one would a child, but to some degree it would hurt him to be seen as as "picking on a girl" - er, so to speak.
De Santis is about a hundred yards behind Trump insofar as What We Need, but if you aren't elected, none of it matters. He can beat Big Mike and anyone else. God, what am I saying?!
We can disagree about Trump. Doesn’t make me think less of you.
Likewise, sir..
:)
I wish vile and vindictive and his group were running the country right now. I am a surgeon we don’t need to be best friends for your knee to turn out perfect. If more people could get that through their head we wouldn’t be in this disgusting mess
Yip I agree with you HG at the moment our country is not well and in serious need of a surgeon who knows what he is doing and yes we didn’t have to love our previous surgeon we only needed to respect him and get behind him to move us forward the current surgeon has absolute no idea what is going on and continues to botch every operation he gets his grubby mitts on I really fear for all of us going to the midterms
Had this discussion with the A&P (airframe and powerplant) mechanic at my airport. An NY transplant to rural southern Virginia, about the only one who will use him or give him the time of day is me. We avoid politics, but in working together the topic comes up. His comment was that he just couldn't vote for someone as _____________________ (fill in the blank) as The Orange Man. My response was, "How can you allow your hatred of one man be so intense that it makes you vote against three hundred fifty million of your countrymen?"
Like I said, we don't talk politics much.
Sure enough. But it would have helped had Trump understood that a peaceful transfer of power is better for the country than his rather self aggrandizing efforts to hold on to the Presidency at considerable cost. You take your lumps and fight another day. Unfortunately, Donald doesn't think that way.
Three do. And I have the ultimate citation: Tony Hendra, Nat Lamp
I’ve been trying to improve my 8 year-old son’s reactions to negative emotion, and one technique has been to emphasize the necessary duality of happiness and sadness--there can be no mountain peaks without valleys in between.
One could make a similar claim about fun and seriousness. A hyper-politicized society is serious all the time, and ideas that appear to any sane person as cruel jokes--from closing playgrounds to the “Final Solution”--face no resistance.
Fun allows us to feel the distinction between what matters--what deserves seriousness--and what does not. As Elbert Hubbard admonishes us: “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.”
A delightful read! Top Gun Maverick was a great film! Fun is subversive, and in these autocratic times where authorities globally are asphyxiating the freedoms of people, perhaps fun is the only small way to fight the power.
Indeed, it is cleansing and liberating, lifts the spirit. Fun also clears the mind, and these days, allows us to realize how much we are giving away to authority, and how much we have lost.
This is why the Alt-Left hates humor, why it terrifies them.
Thank you, Mr. Kim, for all the reminders
Loved Maverick!
What a great writer; glad for the introduction. We do live in a world of curmudgeons and miserable spinsters who absolutely endear Menken's remarks, and I don't wonder that our young people are in the shape they're in. Laughter and levity are out, victimhood and screaming are in. When I was quite young, I remember my normally diffident father muttering, "old battle ax!" after an encounter with an older and severe aunt. I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants.
"Laughter and levity are out, victimhood and screaming are in".
This is the byproduct of an overabundance of social "science" degrees. Convince everyone that they are victims and everything is awful to lend questionable credibility to this field.
Another real problem with the anger and despair is that it has very real effects on your health and longevity. I suppose the Alt-Left are good with that as "there are simply too many people!". I would answer "Then you'd better make damn sure you enjoy the time you have"
Today your Dad would have been cancelled it’s totally sick with what is going on around us
I have always been a connoisseur of fun. One of the great disappointments of my life was growing up and realizing how completely “not fun” adults are. My children gave me a respite, but alas, have grown into (mostly) responsible adults. Now I wait for grandchildren to be silly and goofy and just have fun
Get a puppy.
Or two! We got a couple of dachshund brothers that are hysterical to watch, and provide more unconditional love than you could imagine. And my daughters love them too, when they visit.
I've had dachshunds for most of my life and they are indeed hysterical to watch and provide so much unconditional love. They are also highly intelligent, have loads of personality and tend to be as stubborn as all get out, which is all part of why they have charmed me so over the years. My current one is named Mr. Bean. When I adopted him, he had the name Coffee Bean. I didn't particularly like it, so we started calling him Mr. Bean, which turned out to be very apt as he is a very silly guy. He makes me laugh and smile every day.
When my parents brought me home from the hospital in 1956, I had a standard, short hair, black/tan dachshund waiting for me. I believe that as kids, we 'imprint' with whatever dog we grow up with. I've had six dachshunds, two retrievers, a poodle and a chow, but the dachshunds always felt like the best fit. My current guys are Walter and Teddy (aka Theodorable)
My wife and I have already decided that we'll share our lives with a Dachshund, before it's over. Their faces are so expressive!
We have a little beagle hound mix that turns into a cartoon character, whenever food is involved. She cracks us up! It's like having a toddler in the house. Dogs are the best.
So are cats. My cat, Simon, will run full speed ahead towards my other cat, Emma. He will then jump right over her like a hurdle. He’s having a blast and it’s super cute.
We also have an adorable cat, named Audrey. My middle son has joked that she's part Pokemon, lol. Animals are our comic relief and a great source of joy.
I relish my grandchildren for just that reason. We just have fun. We make messes, do things spontaneously, invent silly games and discard convention. We adore each other in the simplest and purest of ways. I am a child again!
When my daughter was two, her best friend told her, “Leslah [her rendition of my first name] is the silliest grownup ever.” Easily the best compliment I’ve ever gotten. Watching her and my daughter grow up? Easily the most fun I’ve ever had.
Grandchildren are the best my spiritual leader has a fantastic joke he always tells “why do grandparents and grandchildren get on so well together - they have a common enemy”🤣🤣you in for a treat Madjack I love my grandchildren we are best friends and when the time is up I give them back to their parents and I have had some real fun before the next sleepover or visit!
“It’s a form of forgetting”
I like that observation. Fun is truly enjoying the present moment without the future or the past weighing on your conscience like they usually do.
lol I guess you have a point. I've been accused of overthinking things before.
Same here :) But, it's natural for me.
Nothing captured the oxymoronic idiocy of federal Covid policy than its #AloneTogether campaign. I can still hear some twenty-something with her chirpy voice telling me over the airwaves to commune with my family and neighbors by hunkering down in isolation. It crushed our collective souls. We as a nation need a doubled-over, breath-sapping, knee-slapping, pee-your-pants laugh.
No we needed a Revolution. And instead we got a demented Biden.
I wonder how though why would even leftists have voted him in its bizarre
'One thing I learned early about fun is that having it on command is hard.'
Well. this is where alcohol, drugs and hookers come in. They are the essence of fun on demand, but come with a price.
But his point is spot on. It took me a while to learn this, but much of what makes something fun, is when a fun experience is unexpected. A restaurant you visit where everything is just so perfect, and you have wait staff who are totally connected with you, twists on cuisine you haven't experienced. But when you go back, it's totally different.
Real fun, imho, also has a bit of serendipity, that can't necessarily be replicated.
We've also seen the fun of 'humor' become verboten if it has the slightest risk of offending someone's sensibilities. We now live our lives in fear of saying something that could be construed as a 'microaggression' and be branded as one of those 'ists'. Conversations are far less fun.
Growing up in the 60s/70s, I witnessed society moving from a Victorian prudishness, to a fun, uncensored period of expression, but now the pendulum seems to be swinging back hard. Who ever thought the young folks would be behind that shift.
Sounds like the Puritans described in the article. And, let's not forget how deadly they turned in Salem. Just like today, a national mass formation psychosis of woke repression.
"Who ever thought the young folks would be behind that shift."
I don't see it so much as the young *being* behind it so much as *getting* behind it. Their minds were hopelessly indoctrinated though academic Marxism, establishing a cynical worldview built on contrived racial (and now gender identity) "struggles", then sustained through the toxic echo chambers of social media -- a landscape aggressively policed and censored so as to only reinforce and never challenge their belief systems. They simply don't know any better.
Amen Bro....precisely my take as well,
Have young people though? It’s Big Tech and MSM who captured the air with their bullshit CNN for eg just carries on on everyday with the same crap has the previous hour yet they main relevant the same with ABC and MSNBC Fakebook and Twitter don’t help either it’s going to be hard to overturn this even President Reagan would have battled
No kidding. Last night at dinner, two "ladies" sashayed into the restaurant and were seated next to us. They were wearing skimpy, bikini type underwear - leaving little to the imagination - under see-through crocheted "dresses." Is this normal? Is this what families and children should be forced to see?
About a month ago my daughter and her friends wanted to go into a candy store next to the movie theater. Candy and stuffed animals were in the window display. Right past the candy counter inside were shelves lined with coffee mugs, T-shirts, tchotchkes covered in messages to F the patriarchy, F the transphobes, F everything, etc. You get the idea. Before exiting I said to the store employees “are you kidding me? What’s with this merchandise covered in foul language doing in a candy store? We were outta here and will never be back “.
All they can say is F this and F that because they've never done anything useful in their miserable lives and never will. Just like their muse who sneered," yo din't build dat", - knowing nothing about what it takes actually to build anything. The envy of the unaccomplished, the untalented and the unwashed is just so pathetic.
I agree. I don't like to eat around people who are half dressed. It feels unsanitary. I read an article some time back that when they tested movie theater seats the majority had ground-in urine and feces. I always wear long pants to the movie now!
aww you are no fun. LOL. the word is an ancient one. there is a great video on the history of swear words. Netflix.
Balance. I am of a similar mind. I'm not a fan of either.
Definitely, the pendulum swung too far, and I now appreciate that what we all wanted back then, was not good for us as a society.
Which is where most older voters end up,
I could be wrong, but believe the intent was “Alcohol, drugs and hookers” is a misdirectioned search for fun, not an advocacy
And celebrated. I have friends, in their late 60's and early 70's, that post memes on Facebook talking about how cool kids grandparents were when they were young adults. "You'll never be as cool as your grandmother"...and grandma is celebrated for having smoked pot and for being half dressed...I don't think they see it the way I do. I don't think there's anything cool about boasting to your grandchildren, that you did these things, and think it's made you cool. My version of cool is very different.
ahh again. history. should be examined. alcohol consumption and drug use for pleasure as well are MILD compare to our historical times. humans will always seek mind altering for fun
Nor my family's. Glad my 3 sons grew up with different ideas of fun. It's tricky, as an adult, to find people to socialize with, who just want to socialize, without all the garbage.
I had the same reaction. "Alcohol, drugs and hookers" are anything but fun, and the lingering aftereffects are unpleasant in the extreme.
drowning, gambling addiction, broken limbs ( not tree). LOL. all dangerous pursuits of fun.
Humor G, I know it's rare anymore, but some of us still fall back on it.
I knew you were being funny. It just brought to mind many very real people, I know, that think this is how you chase fun. I'd rather be home and laugh with my genuinely funny sons!
I'm reminded of an incident in my high school biology class. The live frogs had arrived in a box and our teacher asked some students to help get them into the holding tank. Soon there were frogs jumping everywhere and bedlam ensued. "Shut the doors!" Some of the girls were standing on their chairs shrieking. Some of the kids were laughing and yelling. I was helping the boys catch the frogs. It was the most fun I had all sophomore year.
And today, those girls standing on chairs and shrieking are 'influencers' who are quoted in yahoo News articles.
I need to release my inner hamster!
now that is a "fun" comment
Oof! Made me think of Richard Gere!
The great gateway to communal fun is of course music. The other night, after my daughter Kate got married, we had a small party at our house (yes, Kate is part of a growing trend of the engaged who have small services with a justice of the peace, then wait a year or so to have the huge celebration).
Music has become even more fun. Now, with an Alexa and a subscription to a music service like Spotify or Amazon, anyone in a group of people can instantly call up any song ever recorded. The fun begins when one song inspires another, then someone else is inspired to play another, and so on.
In the evening after the wedding, songs were being called and played, with the joy of recognition and the loosening of the “uptightness” gestaldt about which Mr. Kirn spoke.
Then the sweet spot hit. Kate’s friend Suze put on an anthem of their generation, “You Oughtta Know” by Alannis Morrisette. The mood all of a sudden became taut with a kind of disbelief, almost fear, like the pulling tight of the parachute. “No!” was cried by several millenials, as eyes locked. By the time the chorus came around, everyone was synchronized into one giant bubble of Superfun intensity, delirious yet focused, feeling Alannis’s angst together in an enormous collective catharsis.
It was fun.
Morrisette and fun?
Right?
just be sure to unplug that demon device later. LOL
Besides their political differences, fun is another dividing line between progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans. Generally speaking, radical progressives are angry about everything from systemic racism, income inequality, climate change activism, policing, criminal justice system, abortion, transgender issues, white privilege, threats to our democracy, ultra-MAGAS, Israel's settlements, etc. etc. Conversely, conservatives are happy, fun loving people who adore America and are proud of our history, entrepreneurial spirit and traditional values. Celebrate July 4th with friends and family at the backyard barbecue, enjoy the fireworks and have a big smile on your face knowing we live in the greatest country in the world. God bless America!
What a truly great and wonderful comment and yes we do America is the greatest country in the world unfortunately not so much the last 3 years though we have to turn it around god willing 🇺🇸🇺🇸Have a great 4th July!!
So true! Happy 4th of July!
Your comment reminded me of this article. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/why-conservatives-find-life-more-meaningful-than-liberals/566105/
Thank you for making me smile, reading this was fun.
The best movies I ever saw in the theater were Fatal Attraction, Home Alone and My Cousin Vinny because the audience was completely engaged in either total fright, like at the end of F.A., or just laughing hysterically at the other two films. Seeing a great movie in the theater is such a wonderful experience that was lacking these last two years and I am so happy it’s back. Have a great weekend, everyone.
I saw the Exorcist when I was 16 in a packed theater. The entire sold out venue was thoroughly terrified and entertained at the same time.
Was never allowed to see it (per your other post stating your age, I'm four years younger.) But I do remember Jaws and the damn shark coming right at me (and only me or so it seemed) in a very packed theatre. Later learning that it was all so fake was BEYOND disappointing....but still a favorite movie memory.
My girlfriend and I went the day it came out, and had to sit almost in the back because it was sold out. I'll never forget watching the whole audience (from the back) jumping in unison at the shocks! Incidentally, I just watched it again this week, and it still completely rocks--so, so, good. It made the dozens of possession knock-offs that have been a fixture of the horror genre since then look completely lame. Not a one can hold a candle to the original!
The Omen was close, but agree, nothing compares to The Exorcist.
I’m still afraid of that movie! Lol I heard people passed out in the theater.
My parents were out of town, so I had to spend the night alone in my house. I heard movements in the attic all night. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life.
Despite being terrified of the movie I’ve read the book and it’s a good page turner. An interesting note is that Wm. Peter Blatty sued the NYT for leaving The Exorcist off of the best sellers list, which showed that the Times ignored books that were selling well if they didn’t think the book highbrow enough. Lol
I read the book in one day, and saw the movie the next. Being 16 at the time, the word around HS was that it was a true story.
I'm guessing that's as close to the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds was to ordinary listeners.
It’s based on a true story that happened to a boy in the ‘40s.
“Fun is self-serving.”
Haven't we been taught from the age of language, around two, some of us more relentlessly than others, that selfishness is wrong? Maybe we should remember why it felt so good when we learned to shout “No!”
There is nothing more subversive and selfish than fun. Has the culture gone far enough down the slippery slope that we are starting to question the logic of the campaign that has been telling us since 1957 that Ayn Rand was wrong, Atlas is not Shrugging?
You may think this is a joke, but in 1966, my father handed me a thick book on a three-day loan from the New York Public Library, saying, “Here's a book by a crazy Russian lady you might enjoy.”
I had just returned from a summer in Cape Cod.
“1,086 pages! I can't read this in three days!”
“Don't worry about it!”
I was 19. Ayn Rand saved my life. If you do the math, you'll realize I'm now 75. My life was never the same. My handwriting changed. My mother never forgave my father.
So here I am this week in Washington, D.C., the belly of the beast at OCON 2022, the annual meeting of people who celebrate and study the works of Ayn Rand. Yes, the dreaded iconoclast, atheist, writer, and philosopher whom everyone hates and fears by proxy.
OCON is the acronym for Objectivist Conference. And I have to laugh when a tongue-in-cheek article says that fun is not individual, self-serving, and the fuel that spiced my days when I got old enough to distinguish between danger and imposed mores.
Nothing can be more subversive, more satisfying to the ego, and more life-affirming than fun. Maybe good sex or seeing a plan come together would also qualify.
The airport PA system announced on Thursday when we flew in that “Masks are now permitted to be optional.”
Masks “optional by permission” (LOL) just days after the 6-3 court majority overturned Roe, the one overt decision that saved my mental health when the draft killed, maimed, or deranged the young men of my generation. Back then, it was selfish to think self-sacrifice under government command was wrong.
Ayn Rand taught me to recognize right from wrong in 1966. Still no regrets. Maybe it's time for fun-starved humans to consider Atlas Shrugged with minds open to a different path, the path most of us abandoned when we were two, or indeed by school age (but that's another story).
Why was I receptive to Ayn Rand’s ideas? One reason might be my grandmother, “Nanny.” She never said no.
I could hang upside down on the monkey bars when I was four, and Nanny would qvell. When other kids' mothers scolded her, “How can you let her? She could fall!” I heard Nanny say, “She won't fall; she's a monkey.”
Life with Nanny was pure fun. I loved both my parents, but I used to play verbal tricks on them a lot. Nanny was the only person in the world I trusted completely.
Nanny died in 1961. By 1966, I was lost, confused, and engaged to a man who accused me of “using too many big words.” When I read The Fountainhead in Provincetown, I was not overly impressed. I didn't want to be an architect, and the sex scenes horrified me. But the first thing I did when I got home after Labor Day was to break my engagement.
When my father handed me Atlas Shrugged, I recognized the author’s name. I remember being impressed that Ayn Rand was a woman.
“The role of philosophy is to teach you how to enjoy yourself and live.”
--Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
That's what Ayn Rand did for me and is still doing.
http://ileneskeen.com
I can completely relate. My dad gave me Atlas Shrugged when I was 17 and wouldn’t let up until I read it. We need less “nannies” in the world and more Nannys!!
You might be interested in my video channel, http://ileneskeen.com.
🤣🤣
This was me in 1995. I had been given Atlas Shrugged by a close family friend, who I was astounded to learn a decade later was a progressive. I’m not sure how she could have read that book and remained a progressive, but I digress. Ayn Rand’s writings expressed all of the things I had felt and observed in college, but couldn’t articulate. Over the 30 years since my first reading of Altas Shrugged, I have read it at least a dozen times along with Rand’s other works. Objectivism is the foundation of my life philosophy.
I read it as a teenager and it had a profound and lasting effect on me. I was glad to see my son reading Atlas Shrugged when he was in high school.
This was a fun read. And fun can come out of almost anything. Working a customer service shift at a big box store with a young woman 1/3 my age, we were absolutely slammed by a horde of people all needing something different NOW. It was dizzying at the same time it was overwhelmingly mindless. We had no time to think. We just did what we were trained to do. When the rush was quite suddenly over, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. My young co-worker turned to me smiling and said, “Well that was fun.” I laughed, my spirits immediately lifted. It WAS fun. Customer service is fraught with problems. Both customer and management must be satisfied. Doing a difficult job at high speed and knowing you did it right is satisfying and, taking a clue from my young co-worker, it became fun.
Thank you for this article. It cheered me up. It was fun.
God bless you for working customer service.....in this selfish, immediate gratification culture!
Thank you!