American media is gripped in a polarized culture war that is forcing journalism to conform to tribal, groupthink narratives that are often divorced from the truth and cater to perspectives that are not reflective of the broader public but instead a minority of hyper-partisan elites. The need to conform to highly restrictive, artificial cultural narratives and partisan identities has created a repressive and illiberal environment in which vast swaths of news and reporting either do not happen or are presented through the most skewed and reality-detached lens.

With nearly all major media institutions captured to some degree by this dynamic, a deep need exists for media that is untethered and free to transgress the boundaries of this polarized culture war and address a demand from a public that is starved for media that doesn’t play for a side but instead pursues lines of reporting, thought, and inquiry wherever they lead, without fear of violating cultural pieties or elite orthodoxies.

Glenn Greenwald
October 29, 2020
My Resignation From The Intercept
[We are in the midst of a mass delusion about the political reality of our country. When those suffering from this delusion are confronted with the evidence their delusion they attempt to suppress that evidence and those that present it.

Greenwald is taking a courageous but difficult path. Correctly perceiving reality is an extremely tough problem yet it appears Greenwald knows the path to the truth. He is going down that path even though those suffering from the mass delusion are putting formidable obstacles in his way.

Even though the path is difficult we should remember that no matter how many people insist on the validity of a falsehood, reality always triumphs in the end.—Joe]

My brain has left the building and all I have is the reactive mind

Vanessa Grigoriadis @vanessagrigor
Tweeted on September 22, 2020
[I wish more people were this self-aware and recused themselves from public debate and voting until they have recovered. The political climate would be dramatically different and far better.—Joe]

Western culture, which developed organically over at least the two and half millennia, starting from Greco-Roman philosophers, is not easy to duplicate. This culture requires thrift, honesty, hard work, liberty, individuality, dispassionate reason, objective justice, loyalty, honor, stoicism, a desire to rise above oneself, and many other factors that perhaps cannot be seen or isolated but must be absorbed subliminally in all their complex interactions. These are reflected in social, religious, and political structures of the West — the three independent branches of government, the rule of law, compassion for others, charity, family system, etc.

The West and East Asia, including China, comprise a mere 2.5 billion people.

“The Rest,” the Third World, comprises 5 billion out of 7.5 billion people on the planet. The cultural factors underpinning the West sound like clichés until one who gives up political correctness for the truth starts to see that the Third World, despite its several centuries of interactions with the West, simply fails to understand them.

The Third World is blind to what makes the West a civilization. It is as if the Third World cannot rise above animal instincts — craving for food, power over others, sex, and for the material.

Jayant Bhandari
June 24, 2020
The Decline of the Third World
[Via email from Chet.

I have three children. Each of them exhibited personality traits in the first few hours after birth that they still exhibit 30+ years later. I’ve seen an insane, counter productive, behavior by a mother regarded as profoundly brilliant by her children. Then as years passed this behavior gradually blossomed as self-destructive behaviors (literally culminating in multiple suicide attempts) by one of those children despite repeated attempts, over many years, by her spouse to get her professional help. The help was not only refused as unnecessary, it was vigorously asserted it was the spouse who was in need of professional help and behavior modification.

I’m convinced there are aptitudes and personality traits hardwired in the brain which destines certain genetic lines to aspire for, and literally reach, the stars. And other genetic lines which lack the capacity to grasp rational thought or fully understand numbers, let alone arithmetic and math.

These people can’t be reasoned with. They can’t be taught. If those who aspire for the stars are serious about their goals, or even avoiding being dragged into and out of sight into the mud, they must make some uncomfortable decisions very soon.—Joe]

I’ve said before that the left in the twenty first century seems to have a curious form of autism, in which groups are essential, and people who belong to groups are interchangeable widgets.

Not only that, but they have the duty of being interchangeable widgets. How else do you explain the left calling someone a race or gender “traitor” for not thinking exactly the thoughts the left assigned them?

This is a great part of their mind reading schtick. If you oppose them, they know that you wish for the exact opposite of what they claim to want, and therefore you must for sure want the opposite.

So, say you say something like “Sure, we should encourage girls, but we can encourage boys too.”  Because — being binary — by “encourage girls” they mean “promote female supremacy” they KNOW that you want to promote male supremacy.

…

Keep pushing, leftists.

The backlash from this is going to be epic.

And you’ll never see it coming.

Sarah A. Hoyt
June 10, 2020
The Binary Mind of the Left
[Interesting observation.

This is a least partially consistent with my claim the political left has all the characteristics of an individual with a personality disorder. In this case it’s the parts about them thinking they can read your mind and “black-and-white” thinking (“binary mind” in Hoyt’s post). That is common in Borderline Personality Disorder. Some of these other characteristics are a good match too:

• Markedly disturbed sense of identity
• Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment and extreme reactions to such
• Splitting (“black-and-white” thinking)
• Impulsivity and impulsive or dangerous behaviours
• Intense or uncontrollable emotional reactions that often seem disproportionate to the event or situation
• Unstable and chaotic interpersonal relationships
• Self-damaging behavior
• Distorted self-image^[3]
• Dissociation
• Frequently accompanied by depression, anxiety, anger, substance abuse, or rage

Here are some of the ones that really jump out at me:

People with BPD often engage in idealization and devaluation of others, alternating between high positive regard for people and great disappointment in them.

They “throw people under the bus” at the first hint of “betrayal”.

People with BPD act impulsively because it gives them the feeling of immediate relief from their emotional pain.

Riots anyone?

People with BPD tend to have trouble seeing a clear picture of their identity. In particular, they tend to have difficulty knowing what they value, believe, prefer, and enjoy.

Principles? They have no clue what your are talking about.

BPD is related to lower functioning and disability…

Look at the demographics. Poor, unemployed, and even unemployable.—Joe]

Strange times. You can do nothing and be a racist or you can burn down a market and NOT be an arsonist.

Adam Carolla @adamcarolla
Tweeted on June 8, 2020
[I would say the world has gone insane. But I think it’s more like the thin veneer of sanity has been peeled off.—Joe]