Look, I've been caught out not being able to distinguish reality from parody at least half-a-dozen times since June 2020, and this is not a sensation I enjoy.
I acquired my non-fiction literary reputation by writing funny columns for the Spectator. I know how to make people laugh, at least in print (I doubt I could do stand-up). So when I can't tell the difference between what's real and what's meant to be for shits and giggles, I start to feel very strange indeed. High without weed, or something.
I know what you mean. I've been doing due diligence for a few years now, but always with the assumption that an outlandish post was most likely parody. Now I do it with the assumption that it's most likely earnest. Which is....sobering, not to deliberately take the inverse of your metaphor, ha ha.
In the US, the competing political camps have been divergent on what constitutes the Greek term "Eudaimonia" for quite a long time. The divergence has grown wider, not narrower. When we are so glaringly different on the fundamentals, I don't see how a reconciliation can ever be possible.
Orwell had been through his Communist period in the Spanish Civil War when he wrote 1984 in 1948 (You'll never guess whey the publisher titled it that, will you?). Read "Witness" by Whitaker Chambers, and you get the feel for the dynamics of communism with its 'struggle sessions', its awaiting THE TRUTH from the almighty oracle of the god of Communism On Earth, and then changing all their opinions to match whatever the new "truth" might be.
We've been living through the "Western World's" communist phase for some time now. The only problem is we're missing the almighty avatar of THE TRUTH like Uncle Joe Stalin or Big Brother. So the miserable strivers for the ever-receding utopia of communism have to find oracles where they can.
Just remember that The Emperor's New Clothes is older than the current media/government complex.
As per the old Chinese curse, we truly live in interesting times. There is a sense in which the distinction between civilization and barbarism is getting harder and harder to see. I’m grateful for voices like yours that are calling attention to it and making sure that any who have ears to hear know what’s coming.
Yeah, the anti-semitism on display is truly terrible.
However, I would posit that the denial of reality because of one’s personal beliefs isn’t anything new. Consider the NYT coverage of the Holodomor back in the 20s/30s. Millions were being killed through induced famine by communists, but the lefties in the US were doing their best to cover all that up. There are still people today who will deny the existence of the gulags and the Holocaust, depending on what their beliefs are.
Twitter just lets us see it all happen in real time.
I must say,I was wrong-so wrong. I was one of those people who said “People are people wherever they are. We have much more in common than not.” This and the transgender shit have opened my eyes and I cannot unsee. These are people that have little in common with decent moral human beings. I am not always decent or moral but I mostly try to be. These subhumans wouldn’t even know those were attributes to aspire to. I think shunning or giving the cut direct should be used on all of this ilk. Why waste a second on any of them?
I just banned someone who was pretending to believe that a military response to an invasion and the mass rape and slaughter of civilians constitutes "genocide" and also for whom the NYT admitting that Hamas uses human shields isn't enough evidence. I'm not wasting anymore time on anymore of these Jew haters. Jew hatred is a symptom. They never, ever, ever stop once they've filled the ovens with Jews. They come for the rest of us next. Unlike some people, I can read a history book as well as code and do math.
I don't believe you're asking in good faith because I've avoided this media for weeks and even I have seen Hamas using human shields. The New York Times, who have staffers threatening to quit over alleged "support" for Israel, has admitted that Hamas uses human shields and stores their weapons in schools and hospitals going back over a decade. Just say that you don't think Israel should be allowed to exist. You're lying in my comments and I resent it.
“Collective punishment of genocide.” And who, pray tell, is doing that? And what do you think an “appropriate “ response would be to a country on one’s border who defied a recent ceasefire and came across the border in droves to commit horrific violence against their neighbor? With an expressed wish to annihilate said neighbor? I have little desire to even talk to you.
This person is not commenting in good faith. That Hamas uses human shields and stores their weapons in hospitals and schools is not remotely in dispute by anyone other than the atrocity deniers for whom livestreamed rape, on video, isn't "substantive evidence." I avoid this stuff now, for my mental health, and even I have multiple images seared into my brain of 6-9 year olds on Hamas tanks. The only way to object to Israel's military response is if you think the only morally acceptable response for Jews is to line up to die quietly. I'm sick of pretending this is about anything other than Jew hatred. It's Cluster B writ large. Hamas is a psychopath society and the DARVO is strong with the Jew haters.
Someone I thought was a friend actually tried a similar line of bullshit on me. "Should the military have razed your neighborhood to get to your parents when you were a kid? Would that be ok?" The answer to that question is that someone should've killed my parents, yes, and if they had been psychopathic enough to kidnap a hundred children to use as human shields, if the government did their best but some of those kids were killed in the process of capturing and killing my parents, my parents should've been charged with murder for each one. Yes. Correct. Hamas is responsible for many, many, many civilian deaths. No society can afford to set the precedent that using children as human shields means you can commit terrorism at will. That's checkmate, civilization over, set up the Caliphate. Muslim fundamentalists who raise their kids to be eager to die for Islam will conquer the whole planet within one month of that becoming an accepted norm.
I really don’t understand the seeming shutdown of logic and honest communication with some people. I feel like Im living in an alternate universe that i woke up in about 3 years ago. They are not honest about what their response would be in the same situation. Absolutely disingenuous.
It's because Jews aren't people to them. The same dynamic that let people defend speech delayed toddlers being forcibly masked -- those kids aren't really human to them, not really.
I have had three or four of these Jew hating morons send me email about an IDF soldier who raped a Palestinian teenager. Talk about a self-own. What did Israel do? Make him a hero and pay his family a stipend? No. Celebrate and cheer and parade the victim's body in public? No. Israel put him on trial, convicted him, and incarcerated him. That story is, in and of itself, proof that there is no moral equivalence. At all.
In philosophy the continuum from realism to idealism crosses a critical threshold when pure idealism completely takes leave of physical reality and tips over into solipsism where the idealist walks in front of the bus completely certain that everything is just fine. It is helpful and delightful to see just how clearly this important fatal transition can be expressed mathematically. Helpful because the job of sane people is to notice when they have deluded themselves and 'effing stop it. Right there, right then -vand turn around and head back down the slope in the direction of the real no matter how unpleasant it feels.
Thank you for all your writing and attention today. My favorite line:
“-I like it when psychopaths self-diagnose, in public.”
I couldn’t agree more. We should all be grateful.
I find myself trying to tell young people in my life that it’s ok to judge people who tell you they are psychopaths. In fact, it’s essential. They are showing and telling you who they are proudly. It’s time to believe them.
Unfortunately, the next step is to fight them, and I can certainly understand the reluctance to fight. After all, that fight involves rejecting the narrative of their teachers, their favorite artists, the entirety of broadcast and print “journalism”, their friends, Hollywood, the government, and on and on. I think it’s important to remember this is what they are faced with even as we recognize that not wanting the fight isn’t going to prevent it. It’s here now. It’s fight or flight.
I happen to have re-upped this morning! Looking forward to another year of insight and inspiration. My investment in the HMN Substack a year ago is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Christ on a skateboard.
Right? It's like...what else is there to say?
Look, I've been caught out not being able to distinguish reality from parody at least half-a-dozen times since June 2020, and this is not a sensation I enjoy.
I acquired my non-fiction literary reputation by writing funny columns for the Spectator. I know how to make people laugh, at least in print (I doubt I could do stand-up). So when I can't tell the difference between what's real and what's meant to be for shits and giggles, I start to feel very strange indeed. High without weed, or something.
I know what you mean. I've been doing due diligence for a few years now, but always with the assumption that an outlandish post was most likely parody. Now I do it with the assumption that it's most likely earnest. Which is....sobering, not to deliberately take the inverse of your metaphor, ha ha.
It's a strange new world, for sure. Awesome essay. Salute!
In the US, the competing political camps have been divergent on what constitutes the Greek term "Eudaimonia" for quite a long time. The divergence has grown wider, not narrower. When we are so glaringly different on the fundamentals, I don't see how a reconciliation can ever be possible.
You are right, I believe we are quite fucked.
Emily Hand was Irish Israeli. Initially her father thought she was dead. Here's what he said. It's heartbreaking
https://youtu.be/_Bn20jGQW5w?feature=shared
I saw that. I hope they have access to the right kind of mental health help for her. It's going to be a very long road back.
It made big news here in Ireland yet there were pro Palestine protests just after the Hamas attack. Embarrassed to be Irish
Orwell had been through his Communist period in the Spanish Civil War when he wrote 1984 in 1948 (You'll never guess whey the publisher titled it that, will you?). Read "Witness" by Whitaker Chambers, and you get the feel for the dynamics of communism with its 'struggle sessions', its awaiting THE TRUTH from the almighty oracle of the god of Communism On Earth, and then changing all their opinions to match whatever the new "truth" might be.
We've been living through the "Western World's" communist phase for some time now. The only problem is we're missing the almighty avatar of THE TRUTH like Uncle Joe Stalin or Big Brother. So the miserable strivers for the ever-receding utopia of communism have to find oracles where they can.
Just remember that The Emperor's New Clothes is older than the current media/government complex.
As per the old Chinese curse, we truly live in interesting times. There is a sense in which the distinction between civilization and barbarism is getting harder and harder to see. I’m grateful for voices like yours that are calling attention to it and making sure that any who have ears to hear know what’s coming.
Yeah, the anti-semitism on display is truly terrible.
However, I would posit that the denial of reality because of one’s personal beliefs isn’t anything new. Consider the NYT coverage of the Holodomor back in the 20s/30s. Millions were being killed through induced famine by communists, but the lefties in the US were doing their best to cover all that up. There are still people today who will deny the existence of the gulags and the Holocaust, depending on what their beliefs are.
Twitter just lets us see it all happen in real time.
These people are, excuse my language, fucking despicable.
Fucking right they are.
I must say,I was wrong-so wrong. I was one of those people who said “People are people wherever they are. We have much more in common than not.” This and the transgender shit have opened my eyes and I cannot unsee. These are people that have little in common with decent moral human beings. I am not always decent or moral but I mostly try to be. These subhumans wouldn’t even know those were attributes to aspire to. I think shunning or giving the cut direct should be used on all of this ilk. Why waste a second on any of them?
I just banned someone who was pretending to believe that a military response to an invasion and the mass rape and slaughter of civilians constitutes "genocide" and also for whom the NYT admitting that Hamas uses human shields isn't enough evidence. I'm not wasting anymore time on anymore of these Jew haters. Jew hatred is a symptom. They never, ever, ever stop once they've filled the ovens with Jews. They come for the rest of us next. Unlike some people, I can read a history book as well as code and do math.
I don't believe you're asking in good faith because I've avoided this media for weeks and even I have seen Hamas using human shields. The New York Times, who have staffers threatening to quit over alleged "support" for Israel, has admitted that Hamas uses human shields and stores their weapons in schools and hospitals going back over a decade. Just say that you don't think Israel should be allowed to exist. You're lying in my comments and I resent it.
You know what? If you're dumb enough to think that a population going up by over 500% constitutes "genocide" I'm not wasting time on you. Bye.
“Collective punishment of genocide.” And who, pray tell, is doing that? And what do you think an “appropriate “ response would be to a country on one’s border who defied a recent ceasefire and came across the border in droves to commit horrific violence against their neighbor? With an expressed wish to annihilate said neighbor? I have little desire to even talk to you.
This person is not commenting in good faith. That Hamas uses human shields and stores their weapons in hospitals and schools is not remotely in dispute by anyone other than the atrocity deniers for whom livestreamed rape, on video, isn't "substantive evidence." I avoid this stuff now, for my mental health, and even I have multiple images seared into my brain of 6-9 year olds on Hamas tanks. The only way to object to Israel's military response is if you think the only morally acceptable response for Jews is to line up to die quietly. I'm sick of pretending this is about anything other than Jew hatred. It's Cluster B writ large. Hamas is a psychopath society and the DARVO is strong with the Jew haters.
I’m left with that same conclusion. It’s sickening.
Someone I thought was a friend actually tried a similar line of bullshit on me. "Should the military have razed your neighborhood to get to your parents when you were a kid? Would that be ok?" The answer to that question is that someone should've killed my parents, yes, and if they had been psychopathic enough to kidnap a hundred children to use as human shields, if the government did their best but some of those kids were killed in the process of capturing and killing my parents, my parents should've been charged with murder for each one. Yes. Correct. Hamas is responsible for many, many, many civilian deaths. No society can afford to set the precedent that using children as human shields means you can commit terrorism at will. That's checkmate, civilization over, set up the Caliphate. Muslim fundamentalists who raise their kids to be eager to die for Islam will conquer the whole planet within one month of that becoming an accepted norm.
I really don’t understand the seeming shutdown of logic and honest communication with some people. I feel like Im living in an alternate universe that i woke up in about 3 years ago. They are not honest about what their response would be in the same situation. Absolutely disingenuous.
It's because Jews aren't people to them. The same dynamic that let people defend speech delayed toddlers being forcibly masked -- those kids aren't really human to them, not really.
Israel has committed no barbaric atrocities. Hamas has. There is nothing before October 7. Nothing. Your contextualizing is for crap.
I have had three or four of these Jew hating morons send me email about an IDF soldier who raped a Palestinian teenager. Talk about a self-own. What did Israel do? Make him a hero and pay his family a stipend? No. Celebrate and cheer and parade the victim's body in public? No. Israel put him on trial, convicted him, and incarcerated him. That story is, in and of itself, proof that there is no moral equivalence. At all.
In philosophy the continuum from realism to idealism crosses a critical threshold when pure idealism completely takes leave of physical reality and tips over into solipsism where the idealist walks in front of the bus completely certain that everything is just fine. It is helpful and delightful to see just how clearly this important fatal transition can be expressed mathematically. Helpful because the job of sane people is to notice when they have deluded themselves and 'effing stop it. Right there, right then -vand turn around and head back down the slope in the direction of the real no matter how unpleasant it feels.
Thank you for all your writing and attention today. My favorite line:
“-I like it when psychopaths self-diagnose, in public.”
I couldn’t agree more. We should all be grateful.
I find myself trying to tell young people in my life that it’s ok to judge people who tell you they are psychopaths. In fact, it’s essential. They are showing and telling you who they are proudly. It’s time to believe them.
Unfortunately, the next step is to fight them, and I can certainly understand the reluctance to fight. After all, that fight involves rejecting the narrative of their teachers, their favorite artists, the entirety of broadcast and print “journalism”, their friends, Hollywood, the government, and on and on. I think it’s important to remember this is what they are faced with even as we recognize that not wanting the fight isn’t going to prevent it. It’s here now. It’s fight or flight.
I happen to have re-upped this morning! Looking forward to another year of insight and inspiration. My investment in the HMN Substack a year ago is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
❤️❤️❤️