In Palin’s case, it’s an emotionalappeal to a romanticized, mythical past of “real America.” And that’s why I think the fixation people have on Palin’s complete policy incoherence and ignorance is missing the point. Her policy ignorance isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Palin is conceptually and intellectually poor because her politics are not about policies, but a romantic restoration of the ‘real’ America to its rightful place.

Because you, fuckers, have completely abandoned the toolbox of nation-building. These people can do whatever they want with the tools that you dropped in your eagerness to demonstrate how comfortable you are with fluidity. Who was publishing the idiotic screeds denouncing Thanksgiving and 4th of July? Pushkin? Or was it the same bunch of losers who are now stunned that this has been turned against them?

Finally somebody says something worthwhile about the UK’s terror attacks. From Kenan Malik’s blog:

The influence of institutions that once helped inculcate people with a sense of obligation to others, from the church to trade unions, has declined. So has that of progressive movements that gave social grievance a political form. The rise of identity politics has fragmented society and narrowed our sense of attachment and belonging. The social and moral boundaries that act as firewalls against inhuman behaviour have weakened.

Malik is absolutely right. National governments neither can nor want to do what they are supposed to be doing, which is to guarantee our welfare. Instead, they try to distract us and prop up their fading legitimacy by endless talk about security. While economic insecurities grow unchecked, the weakened national governments that are eagerly rolling over for liquid capital are displacing the conversation to the realm of increased policing and surveillance. 

As Malik correctly states, however, the kind of terrorism that is battering the UK cannot be legislated away. 

The real problem lies in the atomization of consumerist societies where people can see nothing deserving of greater allegiance than their stupid little “identity.” That’s why I’m so angry at the spectacle of Evergreen’s students. No, of course, they aren’t going to engage in terrorism. But it’s a milder symptom of the same disease: I’m convinced that there is nothing more important than my pouty little sense of grievance and to hell with anything that stands in the way of me expressing it. 

It’s the same with Trump voters and all of those people who can’t quit bashing Bernie supporters. Which is not to say that there is anything wrong with criticizing Bernie, of course. It’s the lack of solidarity with people who are just like you that bugs me. 

This identity obsession is the best gift neoliberalism could have hoped for. While we are distracted by barking at each other, our pockets are being emptied. 

You can set your watch by the functioning of a small child’s body. Eating, sleeping – everything runs on an iron-clad schedule. 

To think that we were all this healthy once. . .

So the Portland murderer was a Bernie supporter?? OK, folks, this can only mean he was totally bonkers. Supporting Bernie while being a white supremacist is beyond deranged. 

Obviously, this doesn’t excuse his horrible crimes. Do I even need to say it?

What these little shits at Evergreen, Middlebury, Berkeley and Co are doing is especially offensive because they utilize as a weapon the very real suffering caused by racism. The little shits have no knowledge of or respect for that suffering. They hide behind the real victims because it’s entertaining and relieves the boredom. 

And we all allow them to do it. 

If instead of being feted and rewarded (see my recent post about the awards given to the little shits at Yale), the narcissistic tantrums of the little shits were greeted with universal disgust and opprobrium, they’d stop. If the nasty little twerps knew that screaming like an unhinged maniac at a professor or administrator would mean never getting hired for a decent job or being automatically turned down by every grad program, I promise you, the twerps would find a way to control their outbursts fast enough. 

Remember the woman who posted racist comments about Africa while on an airplane? Remember what awaited her when she disembarked? The little dweebs at Middlebury and Co are doing the exact same thing. 

Every time a bored little twat at Evergreen or wherever throws a tantrum about “racism”, it becomes that much more difficult to bring the conversation back to actual racism. This crucial and painful subject is degraded by outbursts about Halloween costumes and cafeteria meals. 

It’s not ok, we shouldn’t tolerate it. 

It’s not ok.

Klara understands synonyms . 

“Klarochka, can you say ‘kiss’?”

“Mwah!” she replies. 

A sad day: a new act of terror in the UK and Juan Goytisolo died in Marrakech.

Let’s see what other news the past week brought us. 

A great (if incomplete) summary of Trump’s pro-Russian activities. Unfortunately, the author choose the craziest medium to deliver her message. Who can read this kind of text? 

Here is a much better format for this crucial information. 

It’s beyond annoying how every dumb little starlet immediately screams sexism whenever anybody is not 100% welcoming to her money-making schemes. 

I agree with Bob Basil that what’s happening in Evergreen is an absolute disgrace. This is what happens when you begin to treat students like customers and promote a consumerist vision of higher ed. I especially recommend the video of the head manager, aka the school’s president, allowing angry consumers, aka students, to throw tantrums in his face as he licks their consumerist shoes. 

A completely deranged plan on how to “improve” secondary education. If you don’t have time to read the whole insane rant: this teacher thinks that the perfect school has students sitting in cubicles doing online exercises. 

A 1949 media diet: a fascinating experiment.

Trump’s meeting with religious leaders. It’s absolutely hilarious. 

A brilliant response to Ted Cruz and Joyce Chaplin who are making idiots of themselves on Twitter. 

A beautiful quote on hard work and knowledge. 

So how did we get from liberalism, which rests on the beautiful belief that all people are equal in value and should be respected, to something as nasty and perverted as neoliberalism? (And if you don’t think it’s nasty, please make sure you get in the shade and drink plenty of water.)

In a famous Soviet sci fi / fantasy novel, scientists engineered a creature who was 100% satisfied in all his needs. Once they activated the creature, he grabbed all of the material objects he could reach, and then warped the time dimension in an attempt to possess it as well.

Liberalism’s respect for an individual can easily be steered towards respect towards a desiring individual. As we know from Econ 101, there is no natural limit on human needs. People will devour all resources, the whole planet, and each other if there’s nothing to place a limit on their desires. And it’s very easy for a creature like the one in the famous Soviet novel to say, “If you respect me and my rights, you’ve got to respect my right to consume.” 

Neoliberalism uses the vocabulary of the great liberal revolution to extract more profit. People are so disarmed by the talk of individual rights that they fail to notice that the only right that neoliberalism grants them is the right to keep buying.

N and I are celebrating, at a very adult restaurant, the 10th anniversary of the day we met.

This isn’t the actual anniversary, though. We’ve been celebrating in stages because a love story like this deserves to be celebrated. 

The actual anniversary is Tuesday. Then there will be the anniversary of the second time we met and when we actually started living together. 

Also, prominent among the things that annoy me is the weird belief that you can only find real Mexican food in Mexico, real Indian food in India, etc.

When I make borscht in Southern Illinois, it is as real as the borscht somebody is making in Kiev right now. If I had my heart set on using the same canned tomatoes or tomato paste that the person in Kiev is using, I could easily do that. (I don’t because I don’t see any great difference).) I’ve cooked tons of very authentic Soviet dishes here in the US. You taste them and it’s like you are in the USSR in 1986. There’s no need to time travel to taste this food.