Ten bucks for 176 pages . . . kind of steep for a Not Prodigious Fixed Income Guy (NPFIG) like me. But
Counter-Revolution: Liberal Europe in Retreat by Jan Zielonka is not available at either the public library or the University of Louisville library or the Bellarmine University library . . . and judging from the review I just read (by "Dr. Sean," on the WordPress blog Dr Sean's Diary1), I might need this book, so I'd better start shaking down my sofa.
For one thing, I think it will--probably by implication and analogy rather than by direct means--help to explain why Trump happened. 2 And my soul craves more sustenance on this topic. It's the meal which will help me to stave off the starvation of misanthropy and cynicism.
Counter-Revolution: Liberal Europe in Retreat by Jan Zielonka is not available at either the public library or the University of Louisville library or the Bellarmine University library . . . and judging from the review I just read (by "Dr. Sean," on the WordPress blog Dr Sean's Diary1), I might need this book, so I'd better start shaking down my sofa.
For one thing, I think it will--probably by implication and analogy rather than by direct means--help to explain why Trump happened. 2 And my soul craves more sustenance on this topic. It's the meal which will help me to stave off the starvation of misanthropy and cynicism.
But Liberals? My Liberal friends have shown me how close-minded and even stupid they can be on a regular basis. Like the friend who regularly says, "If you're a Republican, you're either mean or stupid. " And that's not meant as a joke. And don't even get me started on (many of) the Liberal news anchors. I truly think that they go out of their way to willfully misunderstand what is being said so that they can get more mileage out of their bullshit machinations.
And here are a few bits from the aforementioned review on this topic:
"Liberals, Zielonka says, should in any case, ask themselves why so many people started to hate them."
Which is pretty fuckin' funny, really, but also raises a point worth considering. Sure, some people are going to hate just because that's what they do . . . but does that explain the hatred that many Conservatives seem to feel for Liberals these days? I doan tink zo.
And here's a bit (again, from the review) which really clicks with me:
"It means not trying to fight their fake news with our fake news."
That's what I'm fuckin' talkin' 'bout.
Just gimme some truth, man.
And some money, if you've got any to spare. My sofa is not giving it up in any appreciable quantity.
1 Which you can find at https://drseansdiary.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/the-world-turned-back-upside-down/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
2 If you act now, you can get this t-shirt
at the special introductory price of $20.
2 comments:
I'm reading The Third Chimpanzee and thinking about tribalism and this blog post. We are so hard-wired for belonging, being in the in-group, that I wonder if we can overcome it.
Here's Jared Diamond:
"Possessing the 'right' religion or race or political belief, or claiming to represent progress or a higher level of civilization, is a second traditional justification for doing anything, including genocide, to those possessing the wrong principle."
The smug self-righteousness of liberals is just as rank as the other team swearing allegiance to each other. I've come to appreciate--not quite embrace--the animosity rural people feel towards sanctimonious, enlightened, urban elites. I hear things now that are jarringingly ignorant but would have seemed obvious and true to me years before. Bill Maher, though he often makes me laugh, frequently displays this toxic effect. If you don't live in the city, consort with people in suits and accept liberal dogma, you're an unevolved idiot. It's UK vs UL with much higher stakes.
Or much higher steaks--have you read Death of the Liberal Class? Great book, lays out plainly the fecklessness of the left, but now for Hedges you can't eat meat or you're a heathen. Goddamn.
Seems it's really hard to live and not consider yourself one of the chosen saved.
Grateful for you and others who think as individuals. After all, it's our team who's going to heaven!
Bro C
They Are Damned, We Are Saved, for sure. Thanks for the vote of confidence. (I cast one for you, too.) It's hard to keep your head when all about you are losing theirs. I've not read either Chimpanzee or Death, but will. Matter of fact, I haven't read Chris Hedges since The Chicken Incident, so maybe it's time for me to swallow his pride and appreciate the better angels of his nature. I did love him once.
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