Note: The Monday Taki post is up. This week I use the expression “of course” far too many times. Of course I do. There’s also new content behind the green door. I’m watching Deep Space Nine and not liking it very much.
It is easy to forget, but one of the predictions about the post-scarcity, technological age was that it would result in a great leveling of society. Class it was argued, was the result of there never being enough for everyone. Once there was plenty, there would be no need for some to horde at the expense of others. Of course, the high-tech society would abandon the silliness of class distinctions. Everyone would wear gray Lycra jumpsuits and happily perform their roles in society.
Like so much that comes from the Utopians, the class-less society assumed things about people that could never be true. Hierarchy is an essential part of the human condition, which means signaling status is a feature, not a bug. The rich guy driving the expensive car is signally his status in the same way a chieftain would signal his status with ornamental weaponry. Even in a world where everyone can rely on having plenty of the essentials, status and status signally still matter.
In fact, they probably count for more in a rich society than a poor one. A guy who is worth fifty million can do a lot of signaling. He can have a supercar, a big house in the country, expensive tastes. The billionaire can have all of those things, of course, and that is a big problem. How does the billionaire show he is a bigger fish than the guy worth fifty million? He needs to have other stuff like political access, cultural influence, and global attention. His status is measured in attention.
Attention as currency is not confined to the plutocrats. This is one distinguishing feature of the media age that arose with the American empire. Before WW2, the super-rich would build mansions and fund public projects like theaters, colleges, and museums, but this was always what the top of society did to reinforce public virtue. In the medieval period, the elite built churches, and cathedrals. In the Renaissance they supported great artists and later they supported the sciences.
The world changed after the war as material progress suddenly accelerated with the spread of American-style capitalism. Material excess first took root in America and with it the growth of the attention society. Popular culture, after all, is about getting public attention in some way. In the early phase of pop culture, people got famous through some talent for entertainment. Now people get attention by being unusually freakish, deranged, or hysterical. The crazier the better.
This is why so many people now experience the world with their mobile device held up in front of their face. They are mining their daily experience for the currency of the age, which is often a viral video or a lot of likes on the social media platform. It is also why the super-rich are fond of supporting increasingly deranged social fads. If the freak show is the cathedral of the modern age, the super-rich must show their status by building bigger and better freak shows for the people.
One result of the giant freak show is that the culture is becoming less rational as it becomes more bizarre. The governor of New York, for example, gets a pass for murdering old people through ineptitude, but he could end up in jail for upsetting a gentle lady in his employ. Of course, that gentle lady could very well have an OnlyFans account and be in favor of mutilating children, so crazy people can pretend that sex is an imaginary part of the patriarchy.
In other words, the attention seeking society is one in which you can be both a vulgar degenerate and an intolerant prude. The media is awash in messages to young women saying they can only fulfill their purpose in life by being a slut. On the other hand, if a man treats a woman like a slut, he gets chased by an angry mom of sluts. You can be certain that the women claiming Cuomo hurt their delicate feelings are mouthy advocates for every vulgar item on the feminist to do list.
Morality is the software of every human society. It is the unwritten set of rules, the habits of mind, that allow strangers to navigate their way around one another. Morality must have a point and that point is reflected in the organization of society. In a warrior society, the qualities of the warrior are the goals of society. In an aristocratic society, privilege, duty, and honor bound the moral code. The morality of this age is wrapped around the desire for public attention, usually public outrage.
Another aspect of the new morality is that it is arbitrary and random. This is true of the carny world, where stardom is usually dumb luck. The world is full of waitresses that look great and can act. Those that get their big break are those who tick the right box at the right time for some reason. This sense that life and death, success and failure are controlled by the fickle gods of fate is the carny code. It is now becoming the America creed, as we embrace the carny culture.
This is clear in the Cuomo story. The reason Andrew Cuomo is governor is he is the son of a famous mobster. He won the lucky sperm contest. The Covid panic was another big break for him. He got to carry on like a hero, despite the fact he was recklessly putting the lives of old people in jeopardy. The fates were kind to Cuomo, until another turn of the wheel brought him low. Like the tragic figures popular in the carny world, he will be ruined because he made a small mistake, not a big one.
It turns out that the post-scarcity world is like a giant carnival tent. The only thing holding people together is a desire for attention. They need the crowd in order to get the attention of the crowd. Semi-retarded basketball players become billionaires because they are the best performers in the human flea circus. Dingbat barmaids become congressmen because they are good at getting attention. Post-scarcity America is carny world, a freak show celebrating the worst humanity has to offer.
A new year brings new changes. The same is true for this site as we adjust to the reality of managerial authoritarianism. That means embracing crypto for when the inevitable happens and the traditional outlets are closed. Now more than ever it is important to support the voices that support you. Five bucks a month is not a lot to ask. If you prefer other ways of donating, look at the donate page. Thank you.
Promotions: We have a new addition to the list. Havamal Soap Works is the maker of natural, handmade soap and bath products. If you are looking to reduce the volume of man-made chemicals in your life, all-natural personal products are a good start. If you use this link you get 15% off of your purchase.
The good folks at Alaska Chaga are offering a ten percent discount to readers of this site. You just click on the this link and they take care of the rest. About a year ago they sent me some of their stuff. Up until that point, I had never heard of chaga, but I gave a try and it is very good. It is a tea, but it has a mild flavor. It’s autumn here in Lagos, so it is my daily beverage now.
Minter & Richter Designs makes high-quality, hand-made by one guy in Boston, titanium wedding rings for men and women and they are now offering readers a fifteen percent discount on purchases if you use this link. If you are headed to Boston, they are also offering my readers 20% off their 5-star rated Airbnb. Just email them directly to book at sales@minterandrichterdesigns.com.
Once American society began their fetish for black entertainers and athletes, there was no limit to the freakiness. Remember the seventies Jive Turkey? When whites began competing for attention with those avatars of degeneracy, the safety net of common sense disappeared from every aspect of white culture. We’re still in free fall.
8
“Once American society began their fetish for black entertainers and athletes, there was no limit to the freakiness…We’re still in free fall.”
True words
1
I know woman that hired a painter. She told me how handsome he was which was weird. I didn’t know why until I met him and saw that he was an over perfume black man. Not handsome but I’m not attracted to black guys or PC so I can say that. He ended up ripping her off. She had given him her credit card numbers, stupid, so she changed those but didn’t do anything else because she was scared of him. I still see his signs all over this very wealthy neighborhood and I know he’s ripping other people off but they are all scared to say anything about the sacred black man. pathetic
3
Did the lady not have a husband who could have done the painting? Or better yet, advised her not to hire a negro as a painter. During one of my walks in London some months ago, I saw a black decorator and had a chuckle to myself… this is the first black decorator I have ever seen. It only then occurred to me how rare this was.
3
“You can be certain that the women claiming Cuomo hurt their delicate feelings are mouthy advocates for every vulgar item on the feminist to do list.”
You have given me shudders by making me realize that if Cuomo is cretinous and unbearable, then in fact this must be doubly true for these women. I pity any man who has to come into contact with such creatures. It’s shudders all the way down.
How does Carny World differ from Clown World? Or may they be used as synonyms?
5
I think carny world is the world we are all living in now. Clown world is a particularly bizarre sphere inhabited by the true crazies of the Left.
But that’s just a guess.
4
My wife has been living with her boyfriend for 15 years, so I have a great excuse not to get involved with women. Today’s women are insane and vengeful!
You got to show a woman your fangs. Get loud, angry, break something.
Every now and then
Put a little fear in them. And you know it’s working when you hear them on the phone with their girlfriend, all proud that their man got mad and did something stupid. They eat that stuff like ice cream.
My two cents
2
I’m pretty sure they are the same thing. After all, where do clowns hang out if not the carnival?
This is what I remember about the carnivals from my youth that used to set up on some weedy piece of land outside town each summer: tacky thrill rides of questionable safety, rigged ring toss type games where the skeletal greasy “carnie” would lend cute girls some nickels to pretend to play (and so he could lear at them longer), actual freak shows, the smell of rancid oil and sugar, the carnival barker/rock music/hurty gertie cacophony, and a general sense of transience, furtiveness and dirt. A perfect metaphor for the current year in other words.
Carnival world incorporates the lack of standards of Clown world and adds a darker, more menacing aspect. Very grim indeed.
Cuomo’s first accuser, Lindsey Boylan, tried to primary Jerry Nadler from the left and failed miserably. It sounds like one of her top concerns was the rise white nationalism. Nadler represents that hotbed of white nationalism the upper west side and part of Brooklyn.
4
“Cuomo’s first accuser, Lindsey Boylan, tried to primary Jerry Nadler from the left and failed miserably.”
https://freestateofv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/6e7155581369d1a7399c7a163abf2457.jpg
The Road Back (cont)
Part-time parasite.
Dementia Joe commands us to unify for the good of the “children” and who can resist this humane entreaty. A clear majority of our natural-born and “visiting” citizenry are now on the dole in some form or another, but those pesky stoics who refuse to play along are slowing the descent into insolvency. It’s time to reunite the masses, if only on a pretend part-time basis. Yes, it’s possible that some of us will be seduced into welfare addiction as a result, but that’s a sacrifice we must make for the greater glory of the hive. Get in line now and board the gravy train with everyone else. Suck on that Federal teat until it goes dry and thereby put an end to the bribery leverage that keeps voting scam viable.
1
1
I guess the question is how many seasons this freak show can stay on the air? Not only are there the usual lowlife scabs scrabbling for their 15 minutes of fame, such as the gorilla using gorilla glue in its “hair”, but the ruling class have more than their fair share of the same. Sober mindedness no longer exists in enough quantity in enough people. The degradation continues apace.
1
“Sober mindedness no longer exists in enough quantity in enough people. The degradation continues apace.”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-mouse-utopias-1960s-led-grim-predictions-humans-180954423/
1
This stuff can go on WAY longer than most people think, IMHO.
I chart its beginning with election of Bill Clinton. That’s maybe not perfect but close enough
That was 1992, or 28 years ago and essentially a generation
If I had to guess, I sense we got easily another four years of clown world left because of Biden. So that’s 2024. And the election following will be just as ridiculous. So 2028
I’m getting tired of thinking about just by typing about it, So I think the world begins tiring of clown world by 2030 or so. Unless of course a major war breaks out and trannies corpses are pilling up and we get rid of the carny folk in quick order
This is so dangerous, this time of ours. We will be lucky to survive it.
4
I think that we will.
I’ve long maintained we live in the bizzaro world of the Superman comisc. In that construct, where everything is backwards, Earth becomes Htrae, an even more obvious anagram for ‘hater,’ which seems rather appropriate, given the rules under which bizarro world operates: “Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!”
Sadly, I’m afraid no Superman can save us from the bane of living in this world, it’s going to take some serious bizarro-kryptonite to do the job.
2
Who, whom.
Nipply Andy was getting too uppity, and got it in his head to run against Kameltoe when they take either the 25th or the pillow to Mumbly. Or the powers that be think NY needs a less cis-white-male gov.
Cuomo dismissed his own anti-corruption commission when he figured where it would inevitably lead. The closet skeletons are legion.
2
DS9 gets better after season 3. If you don’t like that show, you really won’t like Picard and Discovery. I’d recommend watching them & consulting the Major Grin and Nitpicking Nerd YouTube channels, then comparing those shows with DS9. What I found most shocking was the almost complete lack of racial animus in DS9 compared with the Kurtzman BLM Trek, even though DS9 was very diverse.
NuTrek deliberately makes all villains White males and POC females the lead roles; there is a sadistic lack of regard for human life; it’s nihilistic and depressing; it’s nothing but action schlock filled with subtle references to “mansplaining” (a phenomenon whereby Millennials don’t want to be told they don’t know everything).
Unz also had a good article on what Star Trek was before it went woke: a means for White males to pretend they’d have a future in the coming diverse America through meritocracy (nope). NuTrek makes it clear you don’t have a place. In fact, you’re now the villain in a property created by your people and intended for your viewership.
Compared to the new stuff, inexplicably renewed for a fourth season despite disastrous ratings, DS9 is as least watchable. Picard was just unbearable. Shame on Patrick Stewart for doing that. Discovery isn’t quite as bad, but it’s still the second worst entry into the franchise.
2
“Post scarcity” may be a temporary condition. Something that people on the Dissident Right should ponder is that the myth of perpetual progress that underlies the ideology of both left and right establishments is a story without supporting evidence. True, there has been fantastic material progress over the past 300 years due to the exploitation of fossil fuel energy. However, at some point the party is over, if only because you can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet. Scarcity will require a different set of behaviours than those favoured by the current left wing circus. The DR is perfectly situated to provide an alternative vision to the soon to fail myth of perpetual progress.
Here is a good place to start
https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2021/02/24/191-the-map-unrolled/
I anticipate that some people will reject this on emotional grounds. Remember, the promise of “progress” is one of the most insidious, and deep seated, scams that the progressives have brought about. Don’t play their game!
“Post scarcity” is a temporary condition, but not because of peak oil or peak natural resources. It’s a temporary condition because once the morons take over, we either forget or destroy the knowledge that permitted our lifestyles in the first place.
Technological progress has pretty much stopped already. The best we can do now is to tweak stuff to get more short-term pleasure and surveillance out of it.
1
Hasn’t stopped enough where a sudden return to scarcity won’t be solved by Bill Gates feeding people lab created hamburgers and steaks
We have a long long way to go before starvation is a thing again. It may become a fashionable pretense among weird people but I don’t see it happening. And the government has been planning for it obviously hence people like Bill gates trying to grift on the lab diet and purchasing up so much land
The Clown world extends into the military culture as standards continue to get watered down or dropped completely. Serious Nations do not reserve 10 parking spots for expectant mothers in front of jet squadrons. Or require hours and hours of diversity training when, looking around lately, the minority group is becoming more and more white.
Also, Gorilla Glue probably would not be a top news story in a serious nation.
4
Is no one asking why cuomo is out of favor? The media could disappear this story. Something is afoot.
Post scarcity combined with loss of a serious threat, such as USSR
I’m no prude, but I remember being offended by Bill Clinton who thought it ok to talk about his underwear. It wasn’t the underwear. It was that he was willing to take part in such a low level conversation while also running for highest office in the land.
And soon thereafter Washington DC and Hollywood merged. I remember before Clinton that DC people tended to keep Hollywood people at arms length. Even during Reagan who was a former actor.
When those two camps joined forces, all hell broke loose. And it happened fast.
1