Infantilization, loss of agency; the structure relies on those who enjoy that state because consumerism and little pleaser positions are offered to them as a narcotic, or because the brutality and dominance of it appeals. One is pleasing a bad daddy, one is pleasing a good daddy.. For both types there must be a permanent underclass to live as the oil soaked engine. Out of sight, in the mines, in the prisons.. And that underclass, not narcotized by consumerism or dominance, naturally seeks agency, but they are not allowed it, so they find their numbing salve in the “dirty” vices. Dirty as decided by the “upper” structures, which then completes the circle.
The observation on the ties between Protestantism and a cultural focus on mercantilism was interesting. The only counter-example I can think of at the moment is the Venetian Republic, which was firmly Roman Catholic (even baroquely so, although it was much more of a state religion than in other parts of Europe, more under the control of the doge than the bishop) and heavily focused on trade and mercantilism.
I'm sure the men leading the conquistadors were in debt - Spain itself was in debt - but most of the actual soldiers were men who had been fighting European wars for Spain and were now unemployed, signing on as mercenaries. They were using the indigenous people as foot stools and gutting them for fun; perfect employees for a looting expedition.
While Matt was reading that chapter of Moby Dick, I realized he might enjoy the game Sea of Thieves. The attention to detail they give the ocean and waves and how it and the wind interacts with your ship makes the primary gameplay mechanic of just moving the ship around pretty engaging and also aesthetically chill/captivating making the journey itself pretty awesome. Also The Return of the Obra Dinn which I have yet to finish is pretty cool premise-wise (time travel murder mystery) and vaguely old-ship-on-ocean-related and I'm told amazing in its conclusion. #digitalgrillpill
Love when Matt *pretended& he wasn't following the Taibbi controversy and then gave an excellent thorough response... and the Graeber conquistadors desperate times and desperate measures very good
His second article about White Fragility was good but the annoying thing about Taibbi's first article was it was just a centrist boomer rant about how rioting is bad garnished with "these are the sorts of ideas being censored by the big media groupthink" (hence why they were published in Rolling Stone)
8:55 I dunno how likely I think it is now I'm actually typing... but... I kinda think on the institutional and political level the real response is going to be "okay, so we'll just stop shooting black guys. The cops will just stop doing it and this will blow over." Because the right doesn't think it's a problem, the police as an institution were 'following orders', and the libs can't think about it in a way that would incriminate them or capitalism. So.... I kinda think the line is, even if it would never be explicit stated, "this isn't actually a problem that can't be technocratically fixed. We can just stop cops from killing black people, or at least scale it back to the degree people no longer care. Contradiction solved." And in other contexts, I would say that could work. As long as that underlying pressure isn't so great that it might snowball absent the coronavirus or other crisis, they might consider it worth the risk. Action in either direction is too terrifying and if this isn't actually a real problem why would you take that risk? Which is obviously dumb as fuck, since the world is turning into a sauna and the next fifty to a hundred years is going to be an ongoing series of escalating crises. But whatever. So that's my prediction, a big fat fucking goose egg. At least on a kinda 'higher order' level. On the level of politics and heights of capital. edit: I meant liberals won't blame themselves in the sense of recognizing their place in designing and maintaining the system as it is. The Chapo guys are right, they looove self flagellation on an individual level.
The only way to be sure to prevent police killing black people is to somehow instill in black men the idea that the American justice system no longer recognizes trial by combat.
There’s actually a lot of videos of Trump drinking water with two hands over the years. It’s weird but I’m not sure why this one in particular is blowing up. People must be bored :p
What's the material analysis of Ahab's obsession? Is it not akin to Scrooge, as an example of the embittering miserliness which the iron laws of competition enforce upon the bourgeois as Marx detailed? Which makes them hate their workers and their fellow humans and all natural beauties in general, inasmuch as they are prevented from enjoying the mere ownership and use of wealth they cannot consume out of fear and greed. And the intrinsic alienation of an industrialised Whaling, that is no longer peformed to feed tribe and family in nearby waters, but must be pursued on the other side of the globe, merely to stave off bankruptcy, at all costs to personal happiness, freedom, love, family, spirituality and longevity. Theme tune: Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain.
you definitely dodged a bullet with the Taibbi discourse considering the last tweet I saw about it was some bluecheck with 30k followers saying he's in the same lane as Red Scare, which is just completely fucking insane lmao
Ar the risk of abject hippie-ness. The outdoors is an excellent means of rehabilitation. A canoe and two-weeks worth of food. See you on the other end. Also smoked goose. I know that's impossible for you, but damn.
Crom! Maybe someone already mentioned this in the chat, but this chapter is clearly the inspiration for Conan's speech before the final battle in the Milius film.
As a former addict, there was a time where the “handcuffs” guy would have been more than welcome by me. And some of my other friends who were in deep during the oxy scourge of the ‘00s
maybe trumps hands suck because he has arthritis because hes 70? My hands are basically shot already at age 24 because Ive been doing carpentry for 6 years..
Ive been reading Rick Perelstein at your recommendation from the early days of Chapo, its pretty easy to get down but so far I cant say Ive gotten much useful out of it. about 400 pages in
