'Remember: The vast majority of Twitter users never post at all. What you see on the bird app is posted by a handful of weirdos. Only 22 percent of U.S. adults are on Twitter. Ten percent of users post 80 percent of all tweets. If you rely on Twitter for political information, you are being informed by pundits (and bots) residing within 2.2 percent of the population. This small group tends to be the most politically extreme.
Reading political news makes you dumber. But reading political tweets lowers your IQ even more.'
"So the only way some workers can enjoy the pleasure inherent in positions of high status is if others are willing to bear the dissatisfactions associated with low status."
This is basically the argument I make about why there's nothing wrong with "everyone gets a trophy" - or a certificate or a cookie - in competitions. The only way for the most successful competitors to be that is for there to be a lot of other competitors willing to be unsuccessful but keep playing, often at considerable expense. So just give them a trophy or something.
The American Supreme Court recently ruled against the EPA, which set the usual suspects on the left howling about global warming and racism and DEI and just about everything except what the ruling actually was about. It transpires that the EPA, the American environmental agency, was creating its own legislation and the court ruled it was unconstitutional for only the actual legislative body, aka Congress, has that power. In short, the bureaucracy does not have the power to create its own power, which it had been doing.
Perhaps that is the real problem facing the Western world: death by bureaucracy. The way unelected, entrenched, permanent bureaucratic growth seeps everywhere and into everything and eventually strangleholds what it is meant to serve or protect. We saw this in both the UK and Europe with the EU, despite repeated votes among the electorate, the EU bureaucracy simply went ahead and did what it wanted to do.
The left loves bureaucracy, as we all know. It allows the left to bypass pesky elected bodies, especially when the wrong party is in power. It, through death by a thousand cuts, battles back attempts at reform (aka the Tories and immigration or new housing). And it is extremely susceptible to ideological takeover - as we see with the new Wokes. Washington, DC, home of the US Federal bureaucracy, is also one of the staunchest Democratic towns, with something akin to 95% voting for Democrats. Are we surprised? No. Nor are we surprised that the left are in the sway of the cult of the unelected bureaucratic expert.
How did rebels against authority turn into the staunchest defenders of authority? While the staunchest defenders of authority turn into rebels against authority? That is the situation in 2022 America! But while Europe may be a lost cause (regrettably), I do think there are green shoots of rebellion in the US, not just with the recent SCOTUS but greater awareness among the American electorate and shifting voting alignments. It is giving new life to American conservatives too. Something I admit cannot be said for the Tories (yet).
Have a great weekend! Off to much on backyard barbecues in sweltering semi-humid weather of the American summer. Anecdotal observation you my find interesting: being the 4th weekend, many houses are flying the flag. About half have the US flag alone. A quarter have the US flag with the rainbow flag or Ukrainian flag or all three. A quarter have just the rainbow / Ukrainian flags. Which probably reflects the sentiments of the American electorate with some degree of accuracy.
Realised recently that half of the things that make me feel crazy are American cultural trends. I justify blathering on about them because ‘what happens in America rarely stays in America’ but I’d like to ween myself off this.
Another Rob Henderson recommendation (if you haven't seen it/written about it before):
https://robkhenderson.substack.com/p/words-you-can-mute-on-twitter-to ($)
'Remember: The vast majority of Twitter users never post at all. What you see on the bird app is posted by a handful of weirdos. Only 22 percent of U.S. adults are on Twitter. Ten percent of users post 80 percent of all tweets. If you rely on Twitter for political information, you are being informed by pundits (and bots) residing within 2.2 percent of the population. This small group tends to be the most politically extreme.
Reading political news makes you dumber. But reading political tweets lowers your IQ even more.'
"So the only way some workers can enjoy the pleasure inherent in positions of high status is if others are willing to bear the dissatisfactions associated with low status."
This is basically the argument I make about why there's nothing wrong with "everyone gets a trophy" - or a certificate or a cookie - in competitions. The only way for the most successful competitors to be that is for there to be a lot of other competitors willing to be unsuccessful but keep playing, often at considerable expense. So just give them a trophy or something.
The American Supreme Court recently ruled against the EPA, which set the usual suspects on the left howling about global warming and racism and DEI and just about everything except what the ruling actually was about. It transpires that the EPA, the American environmental agency, was creating its own legislation and the court ruled it was unconstitutional for only the actual legislative body, aka Congress, has that power. In short, the bureaucracy does not have the power to create its own power, which it had been doing.
Perhaps that is the real problem facing the Western world: death by bureaucracy. The way unelected, entrenched, permanent bureaucratic growth seeps everywhere and into everything and eventually strangleholds what it is meant to serve or protect. We saw this in both the UK and Europe with the EU, despite repeated votes among the electorate, the EU bureaucracy simply went ahead and did what it wanted to do.
The left loves bureaucracy, as we all know. It allows the left to bypass pesky elected bodies, especially when the wrong party is in power. It, through death by a thousand cuts, battles back attempts at reform (aka the Tories and immigration or new housing). And it is extremely susceptible to ideological takeover - as we see with the new Wokes. Washington, DC, home of the US Federal bureaucracy, is also one of the staunchest Democratic towns, with something akin to 95% voting for Democrats. Are we surprised? No. Nor are we surprised that the left are in the sway of the cult of the unelected bureaucratic expert.
How did rebels against authority turn into the staunchest defenders of authority? While the staunchest defenders of authority turn into rebels against authority? That is the situation in 2022 America! But while Europe may be a lost cause (regrettably), I do think there are green shoots of rebellion in the US, not just with the recent SCOTUS but greater awareness among the American electorate and shifting voting alignments. It is giving new life to American conservatives too. Something I admit cannot be said for the Tories (yet).
Have a great weekend! Off to much on backyard barbecues in sweltering semi-humid weather of the American summer. Anecdotal observation you my find interesting: being the 4th weekend, many houses are flying the flag. About half have the US flag alone. A quarter have the US flag with the rainbow flag or Ukrainian flag or all three. A quarter have just the rainbow / Ukrainian flags. Which probably reflects the sentiments of the American electorate with some degree of accuracy.
"a certain California-based blogger who every conservative writer secretly reads"
Really funny quote from Steve Sailer about this, from Curtis Yarvin: "If you don't know who Steve Sailer is, you're not going to like Stever Sailer."
thanks Ed. I enjoyed this. If we’re going to Hell in an Hand-basket may as well enjoy the ride
Realised recently that half of the things that make me feel crazy are American cultural trends. I justify blathering on about them because ‘what happens in America rarely stays in America’ but I’d like to ween myself off this.
Labour clearly going on hard on regaining the Red Wall, the Twitter at the end saying....
The Labour Party will:
Ban all conversion therapy
Protect and uphold the Equality Act
Require employers to create workplaces free from LGBT+ harassment
Bring in tougher sentences for LGBT+ hate crimes
Modernise the outdated Gender Recognition Act
Missing "The Labour Party will do whatever it can to ensure it is unelectable, even with the worst Tory government in history being in power"
Blair => Brown => Miliband => Corbyn => Kneeler
What a total shower....
(First time I’ve actively disagreed with you - Mr Freedman is really not all that. )
Kind of ironic that France values hierarchy so much isn’t it? Égalité, fraternité, and all that