In the meantime, an American participant in the “No Kings” protest did this:
I would love to hear what our liberal readers have to say about this.
Author: Clarissa
A Drunk Robot
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the Russian humanoid robot that was unveiled with great pomp today looks and acts very drunk:
A (neo)Liberal
I never listened to Ben Shapiro before but, in view of the recent upheavals, I watched several episodes of his show. As a result, I can now say with confidence that Ben Shapiro is a very typical neoliberal. Neoliberalism is a variety of liberalism, as the name demonstrates. Shapiro, unfortunately, doesn’t have the intelligence to notice that there’s not much difference between his “just move” and a more self-aware liberal’s “just change your pronouns.” The underlying worldview in both cases is that human beings are endlessly malleable and fluid and that any form of grounding, rootedness and attachment is bad because it puts constraints on human freedom.
Individual freedom as the greatest value is at the core of liberalism. Again, it’s in the name. This is why a neoliberal is always ultimately a liberal, no matter which momentary obfuscation around this term Ronald Reagan created back when I was a toddler.
People get upset when I contradict political self-identification of individuals. But I’m only being consistent. Self-ID is meaningless to me both in terms of biological sex and in terms of politics. Self-awareness is the rarest of traits. If a dude proclaims liberal beliefs, what is it to me that he’s unaware he’s doing it?
Do you believe that any constraints on the human freedom to remake oneself and refashion reality are bad?
You are a liberal.
Do you believe that objective reality should cede to the force of human desire?
You are a liberal.
Do you believe that any sacrifice of individual desire and will to the interests of the community is bad?
You are a liberal.
Do you react more positively to the word rights than to the word obligations? Do you react negatively to the words limits, duty, and constraints? Do you believe that you are the way, the truth and the life?
Liberal, liberal, liberal.
Yes, it’s a very seductive way of seeing the world until the exact second when the unbending reality of frailty, infirmity, or age hits you smack dab in the kisser. Then it becomes less fun to “just move”. But that’s a whole other discussion.
Other than the fact that he’s a sincere, unclouded neoliberal, Ben Shapiro is a great dude.
Never Question
Yes, move. And then move again, and then keep moving. Whatever you do, never question the neoliberal dogma that you are the cause and the solution for everything.
I can’t believe we are still at the “just move” stage of the discussion.
Rabbi Was Right
The mind works in the strangest ways. I perceived the editing of my book as being extremely hard. Every day I had to force myself to do it because it was just so very painful.
But now I’m also writing an article which is much harder. Editing the book has become my way of avoiding the difficult article and it feels so easy. All I want to do is edit, edit, edit. The article is on hybrid warfare in two novels, and there’s very little place for neoliberalism in it. I mean, there obviously is neoliberalism but I’m poring over military theory and it’s really not my strong suit.
I am discovering that military theorists really know their shit and were predicting the rise of hybrid warfare thirty years ago. They were saying that human conscience has become postmodern (which is a synonym for neoliberal) and warfare will follow the same path.
In any case, what I’m saying is that I’m living the joke about a rabbi and a goat, and it’s all true.
Quote of the Day
The monsters of our times are not an emanation of the sleep of reason but, rather, of the ego that is excessively awake to its own whims.
Q&A about Housing
Do you, readers, think it’s possible?
I want to be optimistic but I believe that without very specific efforts to disempower private equity this won’t happen. Blackrock and others are vacuuming up properties like crazy. But if anybody sees a positive path forward, please share your thinking.
Speaking about housing, year 2008 called and wants its market crash back:
Meme of the Day
To contribute to the ongoing discussion, I found a great meme about the groyper right:
What I Do and Don’t Like About Women
One thing I really really hate about women is this:
Women are great but this one thing annoys the living bejesus out of me. I only want to be around women who are congenitally incapable of being in thrall to some imaginary critical voice that might not fully approve of their actions.
I have no idea how one develops this debilitating need to please some imaginary authority and the attending belief that if there’s one person on the planet who doesn’t fully approve of your actions you are going to drop dead immediately. But I do find it very annoying.
This is clearly why I have no friends.
At work, though, I prefer to collaborate with women. Women always have somewhere else they need to be. I love colleagues who want to be elsewhere because so do I. Lightning-fast meetings where everybody sprints towards the door the second there appears a small pause in the discussion are my thing. Women are great for that. I was on an all-female committee last week where we all arrived with very different proposals. In under 40 minutes, we discussed, agreed, and worded a joint proposal. Then we stomped towards the door like we had a newborn each far away, screaming for food. It was glorious.
The Winner
Of the guys on display, the one I like is the author of the text because he’s funny.
Clarissa's Blog 