Still Squinty
A Woke Post-Mortem and what's next.
Somebody asked me if I had read The Souls of Black Folks, and the answer is no. What’s strange is that I had just written about not having read it recently. In that similar vein we mentioned Coleman Hughes who has just been promoted to a featured podcaster by The Free Press. While I was chilling over the weekend in Northern Cal and also celebrating my niece’s graduation from medical school, some crowd of knuckleheads clashed with LAPD in my hometown.
It was two years ago this week when I wrote I’m Squinty in which I describe my interests and position on the Culture Wars and the Woke mind virus.
TLDR:
So Why Squint?
Because it rhymes with flint. Rub me wrong and there’s gonna be sparks. Leave me alone in the dirt and I’m just fine. I cannot think of a better metaphor for not being Woke or Anti-Woke especially because I consider those to be sideshows. I also cannot think of ‘squint’ without thinking of Clint Eastwood. My aim is to be good, but not saintly. Clearly the Woke are bad and the Anti-Woke are ugly, but their factionalism is just another manifestation of their trudging and squabbling through the same muddy streets, all below the sea level of reasoned rhetoric, culturally admirable behavior and democratically enabling debate, to say nothing about Truth or Beauty.
That remains the case, but today I looked at some of the riots taking place over the complaint about illegal immigration and I noticed that I hadn’t noticed. In fact, I a bit more upset that I didn’t realize this weekend was the 24H at LeMans, something else I missed in realtime.
Mostly Peaceful
I don’t think we have a horrible shorting of police officers in the USA although I can see that some fraction of them are either demoralized and defensive, or idiotic and arrogant. At least that’s what our media bring us. But it occurs to me that the footage I watched over lunch was a disappointing reminder that people still take to the streets to engage kinetically rather than do what I and my pals do, which is gain perspective, breathe deeply and consider what we ought to see if our politics were less reactionary and more informative.
Both civilians and police officers have access to basic paintball guns which I think are marvelous non-lethal and supremely annoying tools. Last year when the typical rabble-rousing astroturfed dork mercenaries infiltrated street takeovers when the Dodgers won the World Series, LA Sheriffs and PD used tactical pickup trucks with teargas and paintball guns to pacify the rowdies when it was time for them to go home. I was impressed by this particular tactical development, not least because armed mobile units in Toyotas is thematic around the globe. We’ve come up with a kinder and gentler approach that doesn’t require horses or jiu jitsu. Safer for the officers, still intimidating for the scofflaws. This is especially the case when you can get paintball ammo with pepper spray in them.
This time around, the little non-democratic circus seemed to involve no more than 500 mostly peaceful protesters. I know the people you will read will remind you of the First Amendment but in no reasonable universe is throwing rocks at police officers a democratic process.
The Weak American
I forget why the ‘Ugly American’ was ugly, but I think I understand why the weak Americans are angry and out it the street. That is because like many strong Americans, they have had their faith in the integrity and competence of various American institutions dented in a way that won’t buff out. The difference is that the strong Americans will find agency somewhere other than in the streets. You see we are now in an age where every kind of mass communication is cheap. What’s cheap can go viral, regardless of ideology.
It’s cheap for me to speak, and so I have been for decades. I’m not going to get a pepper paintball in the face. I’m much more invested in actual democratic processes, more still in the informed debate that should drive them. My frustration is just as real, but I don’t aim to be a street fighter with nothing to lose. More’s the pity for the weak who confuse their ‘authentic voices’ for the sort of gangsta rap chants that always accompany such clashes. I am sad that Americans have that kind of weakness. Their memes of defeat and defiance will not die any time soon. So I’ll repeat myself.
In no reasonable universe is throwing rocks at police officers a democratic process.
Stepping off that curb into that street will always be chaotic. Ask yourself if you think Ferguson MO, has a better government today than it did when its residents burned it down.
The Droids You Are Looking For
I was pleased to see that young Mr. Hughes has earned and kept his large and literate audience. When I met him, I told him so. I don’t have the patience to be a raceman so very often as he has. In fact, I don’t know what he’s talking about these days. Yet so long as we are in that dark era of populist and identity politics, Americans weak and strong will continue what they see is their role in cultural conflict. What passes as the ‘Culture Wars’ is economic, political, class and racial. The stew has a lot of ingredients but it still has to have one name. I don’t have one, yours will suffice. I just know it’s not proper democratic processes or reasoned deliberation for the common good. So long as we don’t nurture those skills, we are going to fail in this nation, as surely as we have failed to make cars as good as the Japanese. As surely as we have failed to have tool & die experts like the Chinese have.
So I’m still squinting and not choosing sides in this ongoing Culture War. I am paying attention to how I can help facilitate better democratic processes. I am paying attention to what art brings that is superior to manufactured entertainment. These will be my themes. I am paying attention to mammalian intelligence with an aim towards re-orienting Americans towards that as contrasted with the overproduction of the artificial kind. There’s a lot to look forward to.
I’m still squinty, but it’s a different kind of squint, not so much like Clint, but more like Obi Wan’s glint.
What About Woke?
What indeed. What about DOGE? What about that generation of journalists that dream of authoring the scoops on the next hyphen-gate? What about the manufacturing economy? What about the Federal debt? Woke was an unfortunate tangent away from rationality and perspective. There remain many Americans who want that to be a hardball game. They will reserve their strength for the next opportunity, like with the current state of Season Two of The Last of Us, they will obsess over their plans for revenge regardless of the cost. One day they will meet their real enemy. Sucks to be them.
I can’t remember the last time I wrote about Woke? Can you? Well I’m done with it. I’ve got other fish to fry. Let me know when there are buildings on fire, maybe I can come in handy with a few mind tricks.
The Ugly American was actually ugly, but he was a whiz with low-tech pumps, which is how we found himself in Sarkhan helping out the locals and eventually being targeted by the Communists.* Later, in some kind of Bugs Bunny nimrod inversion, the phrase got applied to annoying tourists.
*Yeah, I read that book growing up as a service brat during Vietnam. It was a best-seller back when that was actually a mark of quality.