Sheltered

People don’t remotely understand civilizational differences. They are extremely sheltered and unaware of how easy it is to crumple and throw away the civilizational achievements that make this shelterdness possible.

Godlike Choices

On the subject of Glenn Greenwald’s sex tapes (which, by the way, he shared widely of his own free will), you can see people battle the very natural ick his behavior causes them because it conflicts with the neoliberal dogma.

But shouldn’t he be free to do whatever he chooses?

Consenting adults, so it must be good.

How would you feel if your sex life…

There’s terror in the thought that we could pass moral judgment because everything is supposed to be equal to everything else. Life is not a continuum but a collection of discrete segments that have no impact on each other. Every one of these segments is a trip to a supermarket filled with choices that are all equal in value and have no impact on anything else. There’s no sin, no evil worse than assigning a value and a consequence to the choices. They are godlike in their infallibility. You make choices so you can make more choices.

What’s Not a Marriage

This segment from the Matt Walsh Show features a clip from a podcast where Michelle Obama openly and simple-mindedly confesses that she was jealous of the attention her husband was receiving as president:

A marriage of this kind is not a marriage at all. The spouses have not melded into seeing themselves as an entity with joint interests and a shared emotional space. The best thing about a marriage, the togetherness, the wordless dialogue that never ceases isn’t here at all.

Of course, anybody can have mean, uncharitable feelings. You work on them, and that’s personal growth. But Michelle Obama clearly believes that envying her husband’s success is a normal thing. She’s not delivering the story as a narrative of a terrible personal flaw of hers that she battled and overcame. She is, instead, advertise this envious, begrudging attitude as a positive personal attribute.

I couldn’t care less about the success of the Obamas’ marriage. What bothers me is that both marriage and child-rearing have been emptied of all good content and turned into some sort of painful drudgery. And people don’t even realize what is wrong. They think marriage and children are causing unhappiness when what they see isn’t even a marriage on any meaningful sense. Relating to your husband like a sorority sister you are competing with is not a marriage.

Palantir

Palantir has secured over $113 million in federal contracts since Trump took office, with ongoing talks to expand its technology to the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, according to six government officials and Palantir employees.

Topic

I told you, folks, that JD Vance is not on our side and you didn’t believe me.

“But he says all the correct words!”

Yes, because words are all that matters. Enjoy the surveillance regime.

Inherited Love

It was only yesterday that I discovered that my obsession with garlic scapes is inherited. My maternal grandmother, who died when I was two, apparently loved them. In spring, she’d haunt their vegetable patch, snatching the scapes and stuffing them into her mouth.

I’m fascinated by genetics because I don’t remember this woman, yet I behave like she did in many ways.

She was also into eating watermelon with bread which I have now quit because of diabetes but used to love.

The Greenwald Perversion

The real perversion is referring to Glenn Greenwald as a journalist. He’s a hysterical fantasist exactly like Taylor Lorenz. And just as icky.

Spelling Bee

I understand what he’s trying to say. However. My 9-year-old has the vocabulary of a very advanced college student and spelling skills to match. But the likelihood of her participating in a spelling bee is nil. Just like the likelihood of her participating in anything alongside kids who look like this. I don’t mean their race, God forbid. I mean their general appearance and demeanor of kids whose parents are driving over them like armored vehicles. They are clinically uncool.

I actually once suggested a spelling bee, and she said, “I don’t read to be competitive, Mommy. I read because I love books. My enjoyment of books doesn’t need an additional goal. It’s a purpose in itself.” In other words, she refuses to marketize her enjoyment, and I’m very glad of it.

Replication Error

Republicans saw the Dems’ extraordinary success with young men and decided to replicate it:

Never underestimate the Republicans’ effectiveness at snatching defeat from the bloodied jaws of victory.

Let’s Move On

OK, fine, but then why is Europe dismantling itself over WWII? I’m ready to move on but nobody else is.

Forget WWII, why are we still apologizing to the tribes defeated centuries ago? Why are we constantly guilty over slavery?

No Place for Moodiness

Another viral video is of a woman who complains that she was waxing enthusiastically about a movie when her husband dismissed her enthusiasm with “it’s just a movie.”

The woman is an absolute douche for making a video about it. That’s obvious but I don’t want to discuss that because it’s very clear and boring. Posting the video is wrong, discussing this with strangers is wrong, but clamping down on such behavior is absolutely right. Shitting on people’s enjoyment and enthusiasm within a family is unacceptable. If you feel moody, show your moodiness to your boss at work. There’s no place for this emotional garbage at home.

Example. I was on my way to celebrate my husband’s birthday when I found out that my father was dying. We were very close and uneasy devastated. I stopped the car, got myself together, went to the celebration, celebrated sincerely and joyfully, and then went straight to the airport to see my father one last time. He would have been so proud of me because he dedicated his life to teaching me that you have to be stoic, you have to protect others from your emotional states. My husband deserved to have a nice birthday and he got it even though I was at the second lowest point in my life. At the lowest point of my life, I also protected him and he protected me. And this is why our marriage survived the worst tragedy that can befall a couple.

I have a very intense emotional life. I’m sensitive, believe it or not, I feel things deeply. I get angry, frustrated, sad, hopeless, etc a lot. But at home I’m always cheerful, loving and sweet. Nobody here knows what I look like “in a bad mood.” I don’t inflict moods on people I love the most in the world.

In the video, both people are emotionally incontinent and exercise no self-control. That’s not a road to happiness.