The need to define fascism to see if it fits our current predicament is a perfectly liberal impulse to start dealing with a problem by defining it, which should lead to a plan of action. But every plan of action I've seen over the last several months has been the same: organize and resist, and yell at Democrats to fight harder. If the Democratic party has a plan beyond court moderate Republicans, they're holding it closer to their vest than Nixon did with his Secret Plan to end the Vietnam War. Remember that? Republicans have been lying to me my whole life.
When they speak to you (or anyone else) they are lying, yes. Been their whole life's works for decades. I've been wondering recently if their pathology has essentially ruined them for any human interaction with anyone, even trustable or loveable allies. Once the lies take hold there's precious little that remains outside the scope of the lie universe. So nothing but lies = nothing left of life.
A staunch but moderate (unless he got angry) Republican once explained politics to me as baseball. Team loyalty is the crucial element. If your team is having a bad season, you don't give up! You stay in the stands, you root them on, you stick it out, you be a loyal fan. And his team was the GOP.
In the moment, I pointed out that loyalty to the Cubs (say) does not come with a body count or shambled economy. And it frustrated him that I did not take his analogy as a big lightbulb-over-the-head moment.
But of course it was one: It lights up that we are not dealing with people who think in terms of real-world results, but in terms of their personal self-identity, an interior feeling tied to an urge to belong to a community. It is interesting that they probably think their interior feeling IS a real-world result, not an interior feeling, and interesting that (I believe) they have a harder time understanding our approach than we have grasping theirs. But yes. Asking them to admit Harris would be better for both of us and the human race and the force that binds the galaxy together is like asking a Boston fan to root against Boston in the World Series. I simply cannot do that, is the feeling, under any circumstance, because then who would I be?
Well, if politics is a game, you root for your team, right? Its a shame when a batter gets beaned and is out for the season, but that's the game, right? The disconnect of action and consequence has always been important to conservatism, but now its critical, because the consequences are breaking the world.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, fascism, whatever. Let’s get to the real issue: there is no beer in heaven? Say what? Your god is a monster then, yas, a MONSTER! You have something far more urgent to deal with than a mere mortal tyrant. This is ETERNITY WITHOUT BEER we are contemplating here!
My idea of Hell is pretty chill, though (not that it's especially original, there have been many suggestions that everybody you want to meet in the afterlife is there).
Another urgent question: Is it possible that Frankie Yankovic is really not related to Weird Al? I've worried about this for years!
I know you're kidding, but no, Frankie isn't related to Weird Al. He talked about it in his early days as the weird token accordion player, so it came up a lot.
I'm not exactly kidding about Al, I'm more just (sadly) wrong. He was already. pretty famous before I ever heard of him, so I missed the early discussion. So I wondered why nobody ever talked about his (non-)relationship to Frankie without realizing that was simply because they'd already talked about it enough.
I do love polka bands, though, and am glad of an opportunity to bring them forward/
Nice column! I need to revisit the Eco essay. I finally finished "Baudolino" last year. It took me 24 years . I remember having it on reserve at the library before it came out. I would get it and read about 2/3 and give it up. For no particular reason- I liked it ! Just couldn't bring it home. I know I did that four or five times.
In these days of fascist intrusions, I found the Clement Greenberg essay helpful for my understanding. My default seems to be" Fascists are stupid fucks. " It's quite a bit more than that.
Pretty cool dream, polished or not. Thanks.
The need to define fascism to see if it fits our current predicament is a perfectly liberal impulse to start dealing with a problem by defining it, which should lead to a plan of action. But every plan of action I've seen over the last several months has been the same: organize and resist, and yell at Democrats to fight harder. If the Democratic party has a plan beyond court moderate Republicans, they're holding it closer to their vest than Nixon did with his Secret Plan to end the Vietnam War. Remember that? Republicans have been lying to me my whole life.
When they speak to you (or anyone else) they are lying, yes. Been their whole life's works for decades. I've been wondering recently if their pathology has essentially ruined them for any human interaction with anyone, even trustable or loveable allies. Once the lies take hold there's precious little that remains outside the scope of the lie universe. So nothing but lies = nothing left of life.
A staunch but moderate (unless he got angry) Republican once explained politics to me as baseball. Team loyalty is the crucial element. If your team is having a bad season, you don't give up! You stay in the stands, you root them on, you stick it out, you be a loyal fan. And his team was the GOP.
In the moment, I pointed out that loyalty to the Cubs (say) does not come with a body count or shambled economy. And it frustrated him that I did not take his analogy as a big lightbulb-over-the-head moment.
But of course it was one: It lights up that we are not dealing with people who think in terms of real-world results, but in terms of their personal self-identity, an interior feeling tied to an urge to belong to a community. It is interesting that they probably think their interior feeling IS a real-world result, not an interior feeling, and interesting that (I believe) they have a harder time understanding our approach than we have grasping theirs. But yes. Asking them to admit Harris would be better for both of us and the human race and the force that binds the galaxy together is like asking a Boston fan to root against Boston in the World Series. I simply cannot do that, is the feeling, under any circumstance, because then who would I be?
Well, if politics is a game, you root for your team, right? Its a shame when a batter gets beaned and is out for the season, but that's the game, right? The disconnect of action and consequence has always been important to conservatism, but now its critical, because the consequences are breaking the world.
And baseball? Really? I mean it looks to me like the goppers have gone straight to calvinball.
Apologies to Calvin and also to Hobbs.
Something tells me Watterson doesn't mind seeing it turn up as a metaphor.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, fascism, whatever. Let’s get to the real issue: there is no beer in heaven? Say what? Your god is a monster then, yas, a MONSTER! You have something far more urgent to deal with than a mere mortal tyrant. This is ETERNITY WITHOUT BEER we are contemplating here!
Sorry, I don't make the rules. https://youtu.be/4HlKpWdrq-4?si=u2hb5oNfUDzxVUTB
My idea of Hell is pretty chill, though (not that it's especially original, there have been many suggestions that everybody you want to meet in the afterlife is there).
Another urgent question: Is it possible that Frankie Yankovic is really not related to Weird Al? I've worried about this for years!
Great minds think alike. Though I would have gone with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRVosIEhdHQ
I know you're kidding, but no, Frankie isn't related to Weird Al. He talked about it in his early days as the weird token accordion player, so it came up a lot.
Jeez that's some wonderful tape, thanks!
I'm not exactly kidding about Al, I'm more just (sadly) wrong. He was already. pretty famous before I ever heard of him, so I missed the early discussion. So I wondered why nobody ever talked about his (non-)relationship to Frankie without realizing that was simply because they'd already talked about it enough.
I do love polka bands, though, and am glad of an opportunity to bring them forward/
Here's a better Frankie version, with the proper central Europeanpseudo-rondo structure https://youtu.be/fXGIGIa-UNc?si=JgojGuLKCKWPHidJ
Yankoviches contains multitudes!
Nice column! I need to revisit the Eco essay. I finally finished "Baudolino" last year. It took me 24 years . I remember having it on reserve at the library before it came out. I would get it and read about 2/3 and give it up. For no particular reason- I liked it ! Just couldn't bring it home. I know I did that four or five times.
In these days of fascist intrusions, I found the Clement Greenberg essay helpful for my understanding. My default seems to be" Fascists are stupid fucks. " It's quite a bit more than that.
They are stupid fucks though.
https://bpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/sites.uci.edu/dist/d/1838/files/2015/01/Greenberg-Clement-Avant-Garde-and-Kitsch-copy.pdf
Great piece - thanks.
You might recall I made the Mr Magoo connection long ago
We're well past defining it, in sore need of doing something about it
Vivid recollection ...
I don't remember, but I don't have any trouble believing you. It's a good one, too.