I really enjoyed this. I wonder if you have considered the phenomenon of 'shifting baselines' and how various minorities are forced to feel that they must reinvent the wheel...
Yes. Certainly I, like Mr. Pink, whip out the world's smallest micro violin to play for those who suffer microaggression. But my perennial gripe is that I cannot live in the world of my grandparents, the one whose moral parameters were relatively fixed. When a black man can afford to wear a suit and tie like Sidney Poitier, suddenly the elites all tell us that it's Casual Friday and that Kendrick Lamar is the artiste. Having gone through the trouble to understand calculus, I am told that 'thousands of unarmed black men are murdered by racist white cops every year', as if I can't count.
It's sad to integrate into a nation of degenerating standards. The mainstream seems like a ghetto. So, yes the wheel has to be reinvented. History still needs to be studied. People still need to hear that the earth isn't flat. I'm not sure I mind picking the flag out of the garbage, but I shake my head about the necessity.
Ah, I didn't explain very well -- one of the troubles with shifting baselines is that they tend obscure the achievements of any minority who doesn't fit the current elite narrative (whatever that current narrative happens to be). Look at the example of Nathan Green and Jack Daniels - - when he was alive, the company definitely knew who helped with the process etc. He was their first master distiller. His role became lost (a marketing campaign in the 1970s really put the final nail in) and then it was rediscovered in 2017 -- several of the descendants did point that Jack Daniels had treated the family well (the sons and grandsons also worked for the company). Or indeed that two of the first business management books were written by African-Americans (they were also the first books to be published by African Americans -- Tunis Campbell's is on how to run a hotel efficiently and is time-motion several decades before Henry Ford or indeed Frederick Taylor). Campbell is vaguely known for his work with the Freedman's Bureau during reconstruction, but no one really asks why he was able to do what he did (basically had a genuis for organizing)
History is wonderfully messy and no one is omniscient and can make a window into men's souls as it were to find out the true motivations. I personally find the people who don't fit the narrative the most interesting. It is fun/interesting to uncover those people who are actively erased (still totally intrigued about the part jazz played in the Indian independence movement and the African-American musicians who opened so many eyes to the possibilities of freedom and liberty on the subcontinent) and to realize that most of the prevailing narratives which indulge in sweeping generalisations are wrong.
And yes, it is annoying when people use hyperbole and easily proved to be wrong stats to make certain points.
Ah. I have taken up matters of humanity in other threads, but what you observe is certainly salient. The more interesting question to me is whether or not in our journey of self-discovery we have the courage to defy pride. The pride of belonging is accessible to those who will wear the appropriate fashion. Acceptance and denial are both transitory as is the fashion, but we always belong to humanity - humanity is mostly dead and beyond us, with history as the gateway. Furthermore there is the imagination of humanity, that which propels us into the realm of unrealized possibility.
The difficulty of what stands before us is the swiftness with which markets are made for those of simple imagination - how few it takes to create a national narrative here in the US. Kanye West can do it all by himself, today. Who are we to gain unmarketable wisdom from outside of that? Who are we to claim belonging outside of the implacable narrative of race? Even sampling a bit of Uncle Nearest's finest spirits is a fashion sustained by a market. Should I take pride in that?
The dissonance of shifting baselines is inevitable for all of us. Even the Ruling Class must reconcile their willfulness with their rivals or fall from power. I'm sure it consumes them. I think that all we can do is to perfect ourselves when we have time so that in contact with other humans we are at our best. The dear price of living free like a king (the point of the American experiment) is that we are burdened with responsibility of our nobility in the eyes of history. But the myth of race separates us from that responsibility. We can pretend there is some predestination, some fate that rescues us from that awesome responsibility, some inheritance that gives us an excuse to shortcut that work. To be or not to be.
Wow. Beautifully put. You have a clear, precise voice that showcases deep study on these issues and great empathy for humanity.
I just listened to your podcast on FBT and came here to subscribe. I loved the honesty with which you shared your journey. I also love FBT, which has been an oasis for me during these horrifying times of polarization. I never thought I would see days like this in the US. As a vet, it saddens me that the core ideals of the US for which I was willing to lay down my life (still am) are so derided now, so villified and twisted by both the populace and various government entities. As a free thinker and maverick, these ideals spoke to me on a deep level and were my lifeline and my hope during a seriously traumatic childhood.
I have been a naive, superficial thinker with a poor understanding of both systems and the left and its goals, fearing only the right with its dogmatic religious screeds and anti-woman philosophies. (I dropped out of a full free ride (ROTC) to Syracuse U to pursue my own path - much like you. The downside is that although gifted, I lack a basic grounding in the humanities. Luckily, I am an auto-didact, so that somewhat offsets this lack and current events have galvanized my reading to a point where I am achieving a more sophisticated perspective.) I used to wonder why, with so many smart people in the world, there was so much conflict. I now understand that feeding ego and procuring power is a priority pursuit of most of our gifted, regardless of their political stripe. And the left wants absolute control due to fear and self-righteousness, just like the right.
I have read Sowell and agree with him to a great degree (although I vehemently disagree with him on minimum wage - capital will always try to screw labor and would make slaves of all if they could get away with it. I remember a headline in the WSJ - something to the effect that rising fortunes on main street was bad for Wall Street - implying that only the rich deserve to get ahead and the little people must stay little on behalf of elite well-being. Capital has no conscience and must be regulated. In that sense, I will always champion the interests of the working class against the wealthy who have no problem dehumanizing people when it suits their purposes. And they are smart enough to package this dehumanization in glib, sophisticated language that persuades many weak minds of their nobility.) particularly when it comes to the lack of accountability for negative impacts of our chattering classes, the problems of model minorities, the fact that life is filled with trade-offs and that we need to work and earn and build things to be fulfilled. Humans turn into lumps when they are given everything without any of their own effort involved. Sowell definitely expanded my universe. An incisive thinker, even when I disagree with him.
Thank you for cutting across all of the BS that is out there and speaking straight and clear. That takes guts these days, but we need truth-tellers now more than ever lest we lose our way so completely, that we can never find our way back to creating a more perfect union. I fear that we are very close to that perilous outcome at present. We have poor and cowardly leadership - people who lack coherent vision - at all levels of government, institution, and corporation. We have savage, irrational activism fighting tooth and nail for harmful, unrealistic rights and policies. Our institutions are overwhelmed with schaedenfreude and hate, distrust and grift, lies presented as facts. The social contract and the rule of law is fraying and the center is cracking.
“The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true.” The Fellowship of the Ring
To me, you and others speaking out (of every stripe) are the true Americans. I will continue to support FBT for as long as you keep it going. Thank you for the hope.
I hope to cover my concerns and aspirations for what I am calling the Deep Country (at the moment). There is a continuing and non-trivial baseline set of requirements for liberty. It is like oxygen rich fresh air. Once you breathe it, you will righteously fight from drowning, while fools march straight into the ocean. I am confident that the spirit of liberty will survive in America even as these fools march and I hope to explain why and how. Thank you for your support and your attention.
"I think that all we can do is to perfect ourselves when we have time so that in contact with other humans we are at our best."
> Well said!
"The dear price of living free like a king (the point of the American experiment) is that we are burdened with responsibility of our nobility in the eyes of history."
> So true. Not many want that responsibility. Just wanna live free like a king. I was lucky in my misfortunes, myself.
"But the myth of race separates us from that responsibility."
> *Great* point.
"We can pretend there is some predestination, some fate that rescues us from that awesome responsibility, some inheritance that gives us an excuse to shortcut that work."
> It seems the easiest shortcut is to never admit One could be wrong.
I had a conversation with Victoria Smith who is a prominent UK feminist about the concept of shifting baselines and the erasure of people who did not fit the narrative and she agreed -- yes it happens a lot. It means people keep feeling that they need to reinvent the wheel and thus are more tempted to stay in the preassigned lane as it were.
It can be really hard to go against the accepted norm, but if you know someone has blazed the trail before you, it can be easier to follow your dreams.
It would be interesting to hear you comment in the context of Woke Racism concerning the recent actions of some members of the Los Angeles City Council and the slicing and dicing they did among "people of color". The woke apparently are not unified in their attitude of unity and have their own internal racial animus.
I listened to the tapes one morning in bed. I wasn't particularly shocked. This is how political antagonists deal with each other, catty bastards. I was inclined to believe that there was something real behind the complaint of an undisciplined brat kid. What I did not know was that the ever obsequious Bonin was half of a gay couple and that the kid was adopted.
I happened to be on Bonin's email list because several years ago he pledged to put all of the city budgets in a very transparent system. I attended a couple of his meetings and determined that he was merely 10 years behind the industry standard and star-struck by IBM interns. That makes him better than most pols, but I couldn't be bothered.
It does raise the larger question of blacks and Mexicans in LA and parts east. Apparently there's some serious squabbling going on. I will visit the issue after I get into the city a bit more by Spring.
It's sad if this is the way standard political conversations go in 2022. As for kids, having had a son who abused drugs but who straightened out in the end, I do not automatically blame the parent for any child's transgressions, because then I'd be pointing three fingers back at myself -- pointlessly. And, given the situation, Bonin was being criticized for his teenage child's presence and behavior on a float for an MLK celebration. If his child listened to the adults on the float, then that's a big plus -- and that's what they are saying happened. If I wanted to throw down a race card, I'd say they were complaining about the child's race, not the child's behavior. Heh.
Transparency only happens when the materials are widely available and free to view. It doesn't matter about the technology used to achieve that, unless modern day adults can't read to the point where voice translation is a must. But we aren't there yet, and I'm happy the transparency brought these Councilmembers to their knees.
As for his note, to me it looks like the standard stuff my Culver City City Council is sending out. My council supported 4-on-a-lot and one of those is going up on the lot right behind my house. These woke people were the ones who wanted permit parking so the workers from up the street couldn't park and walk to work, and boy are they going to be surprised when quadruple-density, with no parking requirements on-the-lot, come home to bite them. This densing is supposed to be welcoming of minority buyers and renters, and is supposed to remedy race-based restrictions found unconstitutional 60 years ago, but I can't imagine any minority buyer paying full price for 1/4th of a lot without on-site parking, which seems to be what the real estate agents are now touting.
Newly retired, I'm seriously considering the "white flight" thing and moving to a place with serious acreage, where I will not be subjected to invasions of privacy by ultra-tall 4-on-a-lot buildings. I'll try to choose a place where I know noone from the Culver City City Council is thinking of moving.
"who responds to the alter calls of the Wokish"
altar is a flat surface for religious rituals. alter is something seamstresses do.
Heh. Good catch. I am compelled to leave it with the new interpretation, needling as the Wokies are.
So pleased to have found this publication. You write with fearless eloquence & profound depth.
I really enjoyed this. I wonder if you have considered the phenomenon of 'shifting baselines' and how various minorities are forced to feel that they must reinvent the wheel...
Yes. Certainly I, like Mr. Pink, whip out the world's smallest micro violin to play for those who suffer microaggression. But my perennial gripe is that I cannot live in the world of my grandparents, the one whose moral parameters were relatively fixed. When a black man can afford to wear a suit and tie like Sidney Poitier, suddenly the elites all tell us that it's Casual Friday and that Kendrick Lamar is the artiste. Having gone through the trouble to understand calculus, I am told that 'thousands of unarmed black men are murdered by racist white cops every year', as if I can't count.
It's sad to integrate into a nation of degenerating standards. The mainstream seems like a ghetto. So, yes the wheel has to be reinvented. History still needs to be studied. People still need to hear that the earth isn't flat. I'm not sure I mind picking the flag out of the garbage, but I shake my head about the necessity.
Ah, I didn't explain very well -- one of the troubles with shifting baselines is that they tend obscure the achievements of any minority who doesn't fit the current elite narrative (whatever that current narrative happens to be). Look at the example of Nathan Green and Jack Daniels - - when he was alive, the company definitely knew who helped with the process etc. He was their first master distiller. His role became lost (a marketing campaign in the 1970s really put the final nail in) and then it was rediscovered in 2017 -- several of the descendants did point that Jack Daniels had treated the family well (the sons and grandsons also worked for the company). Or indeed that two of the first business management books were written by African-Americans (they were also the first books to be published by African Americans -- Tunis Campbell's is on how to run a hotel efficiently and is time-motion several decades before Henry Ford or indeed Frederick Taylor). Campbell is vaguely known for his work with the Freedman's Bureau during reconstruction, but no one really asks why he was able to do what he did (basically had a genuis for organizing)
History is wonderfully messy and no one is omniscient and can make a window into men's souls as it were to find out the true motivations. I personally find the people who don't fit the narrative the most interesting. It is fun/interesting to uncover those people who are actively erased (still totally intrigued about the part jazz played in the Indian independence movement and the African-American musicians who opened so many eyes to the possibilities of freedom and liberty on the subcontinent) and to realize that most of the prevailing narratives which indulge in sweeping generalisations are wrong.
And yes, it is annoying when people use hyperbole and easily proved to be wrong stats to make certain points.
Ah. I have taken up matters of humanity in other threads, but what you observe is certainly salient. The more interesting question to me is whether or not in our journey of self-discovery we have the courage to defy pride. The pride of belonging is accessible to those who will wear the appropriate fashion. Acceptance and denial are both transitory as is the fashion, but we always belong to humanity - humanity is mostly dead and beyond us, with history as the gateway. Furthermore there is the imagination of humanity, that which propels us into the realm of unrealized possibility.
The difficulty of what stands before us is the swiftness with which markets are made for those of simple imagination - how few it takes to create a national narrative here in the US. Kanye West can do it all by himself, today. Who are we to gain unmarketable wisdom from outside of that? Who are we to claim belonging outside of the implacable narrative of race? Even sampling a bit of Uncle Nearest's finest spirits is a fashion sustained by a market. Should I take pride in that?
The dissonance of shifting baselines is inevitable for all of us. Even the Ruling Class must reconcile their willfulness with their rivals or fall from power. I'm sure it consumes them. I think that all we can do is to perfect ourselves when we have time so that in contact with other humans we are at our best. The dear price of living free like a king (the point of the American experiment) is that we are burdened with responsibility of our nobility in the eyes of history. But the myth of race separates us from that responsibility. We can pretend there is some predestination, some fate that rescues us from that awesome responsibility, some inheritance that gives us an excuse to shortcut that work. To be or not to be.
Wow. Beautifully put. You have a clear, precise voice that showcases deep study on these issues and great empathy for humanity.
I just listened to your podcast on FBT and came here to subscribe. I loved the honesty with which you shared your journey. I also love FBT, which has been an oasis for me during these horrifying times of polarization. I never thought I would see days like this in the US. As a vet, it saddens me that the core ideals of the US for which I was willing to lay down my life (still am) are so derided now, so villified and twisted by both the populace and various government entities. As a free thinker and maverick, these ideals spoke to me on a deep level and were my lifeline and my hope during a seriously traumatic childhood.
I have been a naive, superficial thinker with a poor understanding of both systems and the left and its goals, fearing only the right with its dogmatic religious screeds and anti-woman philosophies. (I dropped out of a full free ride (ROTC) to Syracuse U to pursue my own path - much like you. The downside is that although gifted, I lack a basic grounding in the humanities. Luckily, I am an auto-didact, so that somewhat offsets this lack and current events have galvanized my reading to a point where I am achieving a more sophisticated perspective.) I used to wonder why, with so many smart people in the world, there was so much conflict. I now understand that feeding ego and procuring power is a priority pursuit of most of our gifted, regardless of their political stripe. And the left wants absolute control due to fear and self-righteousness, just like the right.
I have read Sowell and agree with him to a great degree (although I vehemently disagree with him on minimum wage - capital will always try to screw labor and would make slaves of all if they could get away with it. I remember a headline in the WSJ - something to the effect that rising fortunes on main street was bad for Wall Street - implying that only the rich deserve to get ahead and the little people must stay little on behalf of elite well-being. Capital has no conscience and must be regulated. In that sense, I will always champion the interests of the working class against the wealthy who have no problem dehumanizing people when it suits their purposes. And they are smart enough to package this dehumanization in glib, sophisticated language that persuades many weak minds of their nobility.) particularly when it comes to the lack of accountability for negative impacts of our chattering classes, the problems of model minorities, the fact that life is filled with trade-offs and that we need to work and earn and build things to be fulfilled. Humans turn into lumps when they are given everything without any of their own effort involved. Sowell definitely expanded my universe. An incisive thinker, even when I disagree with him.
Thank you for cutting across all of the BS that is out there and speaking straight and clear. That takes guts these days, but we need truth-tellers now more than ever lest we lose our way so completely, that we can never find our way back to creating a more perfect union. I fear that we are very close to that perilous outcome at present. We have poor and cowardly leadership - people who lack coherent vision - at all levels of government, institution, and corporation. We have savage, irrational activism fighting tooth and nail for harmful, unrealistic rights and policies. Our institutions are overwhelmed with schaedenfreude and hate, distrust and grift, lies presented as facts. The social contract and the rule of law is fraying and the center is cracking.
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/how-to-serve-white-victims-discriminatory-social-workers-training-crime-racism-california-f7fb7502
“The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true.” The Fellowship of the Ring
To me, you and others speaking out (of every stripe) are the true Americans. I will continue to support FBT for as long as you keep it going. Thank you for the hope.
I hope to cover my concerns and aspirations for what I am calling the Deep Country (at the moment). There is a continuing and non-trivial baseline set of requirements for liberty. It is like oxygen rich fresh air. Once you breathe it, you will righteously fight from drowning, while fools march straight into the ocean. I am confident that the spirit of liberty will survive in America even as these fools march and I hope to explain why and how. Thank you for your support and your attention.
"I think that all we can do is to perfect ourselves when we have time so that in contact with other humans we are at our best."
> Well said!
"The dear price of living free like a king (the point of the American experiment) is that we are burdened with responsibility of our nobility in the eyes of history."
> So true. Not many want that responsibility. Just wanna live free like a king. I was lucky in my misfortunes, myself.
"But the myth of race separates us from that responsibility."
> *Great* point.
"We can pretend there is some predestination, some fate that rescues us from that awesome responsibility, some inheritance that gives us an excuse to shortcut that work."
> It seems the easiest shortcut is to never admit One could be wrong.
"To be or not to be."
> Ah! TYTY, Sir!
That *was* interesting about India. Other than that, You informed me a great deal. TYTY, Ma'am.
I am pleased you thought so.
I had a conversation with Victoria Smith who is a prominent UK feminist about the concept of shifting baselines and the erasure of people who did not fit the narrative and she agreed -- yes it happens a lot. It means people keep feeling that they need to reinvent the wheel and thus are more tempted to stay in the preassigned lane as it were.
TY again. Hafta ponder that.
It can be really hard to go against the accepted norm, but if you know someone has blazed the trail before you, it can be easier to follow your dreams.
I agree. Really enjoyed. TYTY.
It would be interesting to hear you comment in the context of Woke Racism concerning the recent actions of some members of the Los Angeles City Council and the slicing and dicing they did among "people of color". The woke apparently are not unified in their attitude of unity and have their own internal racial animus.
I listened to the tapes one morning in bed. I wasn't particularly shocked. This is how political antagonists deal with each other, catty bastards. I was inclined to believe that there was something real behind the complaint of an undisciplined brat kid. What I did not know was that the ever obsequious Bonin was half of a gay couple and that the kid was adopted.
I happened to be on Bonin's email list because several years ago he pledged to put all of the city budgets in a very transparent system. I attended a couple of his meetings and determined that he was merely 10 years behind the industry standard and star-struck by IBM interns. That makes him better than most pols, but I couldn't be bothered.
So I got the longest email ever from him this past week. (https://www.evernote.com/shard/s6/sh/8ad284b0-fc92-44a4-b7e3-80a12b514eb1/92582d6498e0d87fd3e7851ac09c0edf) It's full of handsome black pols I have never heard of before with pithy quotes about who should be qualified for City Council. The swords of race will always be radioactive. Bonin is getting his licks in.
It does raise the larger question of blacks and Mexicans in LA and parts east. Apparently there's some serious squabbling going on. I will visit the issue after I get into the city a bit more by Spring.
It's sad if this is the way standard political conversations go in 2022. As for kids, having had a son who abused drugs but who straightened out in the end, I do not automatically blame the parent for any child's transgressions, because then I'd be pointing three fingers back at myself -- pointlessly. And, given the situation, Bonin was being criticized for his teenage child's presence and behavior on a float for an MLK celebration. If his child listened to the adults on the float, then that's a big plus -- and that's what they are saying happened. If I wanted to throw down a race card, I'd say they were complaining about the child's race, not the child's behavior. Heh.
Transparency only happens when the materials are widely available and free to view. It doesn't matter about the technology used to achieve that, unless modern day adults can't read to the point where voice translation is a must. But we aren't there yet, and I'm happy the transparency brought these Councilmembers to their knees.
As for his note, to me it looks like the standard stuff my Culver City City Council is sending out. My council supported 4-on-a-lot and one of those is going up on the lot right behind my house. These woke people were the ones who wanted permit parking so the workers from up the street couldn't park and walk to work, and boy are they going to be surprised when quadruple-density, with no parking requirements on-the-lot, come home to bite them. This densing is supposed to be welcoming of minority buyers and renters, and is supposed to remedy race-based restrictions found unconstitutional 60 years ago, but I can't imagine any minority buyer paying full price for 1/4th of a lot without on-site parking, which seems to be what the real estate agents are now touting.
Newly retired, I'm seriously considering the "white flight" thing and moving to a place with serious acreage, where I will not be subjected to invasions of privacy by ultra-tall 4-on-a-lot buildings. I'll try to choose a place where I know noone from the Culver City City Council is thinking of moving.