Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Don't be so certain about what you think you know. This is how you wound up with 2016. I knew Hillary was going to win. I was not humble. Hank was the only one who said, "You might be wrong." I suspect most of us made fun of him. Who was right?

Actually I believe Thurgreed was sharing some "this is going to be close" stuff on the old FB. Trying to get those non-voters to vote and get the third partiers to not.

[Hank Chinaski]

NYC/political question- my wife and I were talking about going to Jean Georges- she really doesn't want to go anywhere near a Trump building or its businesses. I'd not go to a Trump restaurant for a lot of reasons. But JG rents and can hardly be blamed for not moving out now that Trump is fully ugly.

T/Icky/GWIN any rule of thumb about stepping into a building that happens to rent from the man?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

News from the Biden front, fwiw. (I wouldn't read too much into this, but it relates to stuff we've been talking about.)

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

NYC/political question- my wife and I were talking about going to Jean Georges- she really doesn't want to go anywhere near a Trump building or its businesses. I'd not go to a Trump restaurant for a lot of reasons. But JG rents and can hardly be blamed for not moving out now that Trump is fully ugly.

T/Icky/GWIN any rule of thumb about stepping into a building that happens to rent from the man?

You didn't ask me, but I wouldn't have any qualms about going to an independent business that rents its space from a Trump organization.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

One of Ty’s points, thru a very dark lens: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/o...ers-chaos.html

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

You didn't ask me, but I wouldn't have any qualms about going to an independent business that rents its space from a Trump organization.

I focused on NYers because I asked the same question on FB and got lectured from Atticus's friend from Berkeley. Most of the businesses in Trump Tower I have no interest in walking into. JG is not a restaurant I'd got to frequently, so I have never thought about the question- probably most NYers have never really thought it through?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I just hope everyone in Alabama is going to be alright.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

I focused on NYers because I asked the same question on FB and got lectured from Atticus's friend from Berkeley. Most of the businesses in Trump Tower I have no interest in walking into. JG is not a restaurant I'd got to frequently, so I have never thought about the question- probably most NYers have never really thought it through?

People in Berkeley have an obligation to lecture the rest of us regularly, or they have to turn in their Party ID card.

Also, this explains some of my posts on the early boards.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

One of Ty’s points, thru a very dark lens: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/o...ers-chaos.html

That's an interesting article. One question it prompts for me is, when people like that talk about "burning it all down," what do they mean? I think very few of them mean that literally, so what *do* they mean? I suspect it's the violence of rhetoric rather than the rhetoric of violence -- they thrill from saying such things. Also, I think the article talks a lot about social media, which really just means that anyone can publish stuff now that other people can see, instead of needing an expensive printing press or broadcasting license -- i.e., the supply side -- but it misses the demand side -- that the technology powering Facebook and Google and others lets you choose how you're informed, and a lot of people would rather get information that makes them happy than information that is accurate or new to them.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

That's an interesting article. One question it prompts for me is, when people like that talk about "burning it all down," what do they mean? I think very few of them mean that literally, so what *do* they mean? I suspect it's the violence of rhetoric rather than the rhetoric of violence -- they thrill from saying such things. Also, I think the article talks a lot about social media, which really just means that anyone can publish stuff now that other people can see, instead of needing an expensive printing press or broadcasting license -- i.e., the supply side -- but it misses the demand side -- that the technology powering Facebook and Google and others lets you choose how you're informed, and a lot of people would rather get information that makes them happy than information that is accurate or new to them.

I suspect it's people who feel like if the systems were erased, they'd have a chance to succeed. I think this thinking runs alongside conspiracy theories because both provide people with a narrative about why they haven't gotten what they think they deserve out of life.

Like Little Bill at the end of Unforgiven, they've not yet grasped that randomness is a big part of life, and "deserve's got nothing to do with it."

I think a sense of fairness infuses a bit of it. That's where the Bernie and Warren people meet the Trump people. They all feel like there is something unfair in the system. They're right. Show me your zipcode at birth, and I'll show you some pretty solid odds on where you'll wind up in the social hierarchy.

This is why I think Warren, and anyone who talks "fairness," has legs.

Mix this up in a stew with accelerating income inequality and you have a delightful powder keg of crazy.

But wait... I'm not done yet. Because here's what I think is the most important connection this author overlooks: Evangelical obsession with apocalypse. Evangelicals love the concept of "end times," of catastrophic events changing humanity. All the kooky Old Testament horseshit. The biggest link this writer missed is between the Need For Chaos crowd and the Megachurch Crowd. There's a direct link between the people who want to burn it all down and the tens of millions who made books like the Left Behind series long running best sellers. Rotating the connections between evangelicals and NFCers is beyond my pay grade. Some anthropologist needs to do that analysis. But I do know that's a significant connection, and this article needs a follow-up linking the two. Because this might explain Trump's evangelical following.

And it might explain why religious types with political leanings have started calling Trump an "imperfect vessel" from which biblical change will emanate. (I'm not kidding... I've heard that from a few devout conservatives.)

We've only begun to scratch the surface of Trump Nation, Bernie Nation, perhaps Warren Nation, I think. But I suspect these factions will align more in the future as inequality accelerates even more. I'm a bit afraid of it. I don't think the alleged "elites" have control anymore. I think they're buying land in New Zealand for good reason. And the one silver lining in a "burn it all down" scenario - grabbing assets cheap and making outsized gains when the govt props everything up to save the economy - might not be available next time around.

Then again, as Lemmy said when given a terminal diagnosis, "Fuck it... I've had a good run." Never be greedy. We've all been quite lucky. Mathematically, statistically, insanely lucky.*

______
* On top of what's stated in the following quote, we happened to be born in the wealthiest nation on Earth, and found ourselves somewhat near the upper echelons of its hierarchies:

“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?” - Richard Dawkins

How dare I whine I might have to drink a lesser gin, or eat second tier lox?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

People in Berkeley have an obligation to lecture the rest of us regularly, or they have to turn in their Party ID card.

Also, this explains some of my posts on the early boards.

I love the people who show up nude at city council meetings and just scream crazy shit.

[Hank Chinaski]

Watching Joe Biden on the climate town hall. This man will not hold up to the devil. We need to move past him.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

I focused on NYers because I asked the same question on FB and got lectured from Atticus's friend from Berkeley. Most of the businesses in Trump Tower I have no interest in walking into. JG is not a restaurant I'd got to frequently, so I have never thought about the question- probably most NYers have never really thought it through?

On the one hand, I wouldn't have any qualms about going just because they rented from Trump. On the other, I'd be kind of worried about who I might run into - you don't want to end up having to talk with Alan Dershowitz or something.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Watching Joe Biden on the climate town hall. This man will not hold up to the devil. We need to move past him.

I'm increasingly thinking this is the case. I'm uncommitted as of yet, but I think it's looking like it will be a choice between Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I'm increasingly thinking this is the case. I'm uncommitted as of yet, but I think it's looking like it will be a choice between Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

I am also starting to think that Harris's moment is over and it's going to come down to Biden, Bernie and Warren. Among them, Warren is an easy choice for me.

But there's a long way to go.