One of the interesting things about politics is that people suspend their normal understanding of the world when the topic shifts to politics. It is as if we have a separate brain that is only used for discussing current events. In our daily lives, our normal brain does the thinking and evaluating for us. It assesses people and decisions by weighing the facts against past practice. When the topic shifts to politics, the normal brain shuts down and the political brain fires up.
The easy example is the people in politics. Normal brain would never take advice from a stranger with no qualifications. If someone you do not know knocks on your door offering advice, you close the door, maybe call the cops. On the other hand, if that guy says he is running for office and wants to tell you what is best for your community, you take the time to listen. The guy could be naked, but if he is clearly talking politics, well, let us hear what naked guy has to say.
Few people in office are qualified for any job in the real world. The closest any of them come to real work is the law. More often than not, their legal experience was brief, just enough to get them some connections so they could run for office or maybe catch on at a government agency to network. There are a few flim-flam men from Wall Street who end up in politics, but banking is to work what tarot card reading is to science. For most, the only thing they have done is politics.
Political brain finds this perfectly normal. Normal brain, however, would pop out of our skull and run away before allowing the crazy guy in shipping to tell the accounting department how to close the month. Normal brain would never allow the guys in sales to tell production what to make next month. Normal brain expects the decisions to be made by people who are experienced and qualified. Even then, normal brain likes to see some proof before making a decision.
This is most obvious in the consensus building. In every meeting in our work life, normal brain is there reminding us that most of the people in the room are morons whose opinion should be ignored. Most of the room is people who are just going to say something so the boss notices them and thinks they are participating. Normal brain knows that most decisions, thankfully, are not made by committee, because normal brain knows all of us are dumber than most of us.
Political brain, on the other hand, takes the opposite view. Political brains says that we have to all come together and reach a consensus. We have to have long debates where everyone gets to make their voice heard. You cannot leave decisions to just one person as that is not how democracy works. No matter how many times the search for consensus results in the wrong answer, political brain insists that a room full of stupid people will find the right answer.
There is very little about politics, especially democratic politics, which makes any sense to our normal brain. In any other context, normal brain would recoil in horror at what political brain considers rational. It is, however, our political brain that tells us to trust unqualified and unscrupulous strangers. It is our political brain that tells us to give that weirdo a chance to speak. On the other hand, it is our normal brain that has to live with the consequences of what political brain has done.
For sites like this to exist, it requires people like you chipping in a few bucks a month to keep the lights on and the people fed. Five bucks a month is not a lot to ask. If you don’t want to commit to a subscription, make a one time donation via crypto. Or, you can send money to: Z Media LLC P.O. Box 432 Cockeysville, MD 21030-0432. You can also use PayPal to send a few bucks. Thank you for your support!
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 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.
This Week’s Show
Contents
- Soccer
- Politics
- Cows
- Democracy
Direct Download, The iTunes, Google Play, iHeart Radio, RSS Feed
Full Show On Spreaker
Full Show On Odysee
I liked Z’s emphasis on the personality trait of being convincing. And how with democracy it’s a dangerous magic swaying wand. I’ve always been fascinated with how certain people seem so honest and convincing. It will occur to you if you know a subject very well, and you hear an authoritative and “convincing” person totally bullshitting about it. KNOWINGLY bullshitting about it. Once you’re done being mad about it. You then have to sit back and wonder (admire?) on the magical talent for it.
Dixiesomething: “The line about Bush being “the guy you’d want to share a beer with” was pushed by the media during the campaign. Probably planted by Rove or some other PR douche.”
Not everything people feel is the result of it being “planted” in them. If you’re a guy listening to George Jr. talk, you do NATURALLY want to have a beer with him. Personality is a thing unto itself. Just like with actors, to get mega, a politician has got “IT” or they kinda don’t.
The two personalities that most often win are either The Everyman – Bush Jr, Clinton, Boris Johnson. Or The Charismatic – Mussolini, Kennedy, Castro, Randy Savage.
Clinton was an interesting mix of both.
Though they try hard, the media can’t “plant” in our minds that Dukakis, Liz Warren, Hillary, etc., are likable everyday people. Or that Marko Rubio is charismatic. They can fake it for a bit. Like with Kamala. But if overexposed, the masses quickly see through the fakes.
. . . . . . When we look at political figures, the classic archetypes of the future are going to be Donald J. Trump and Bill Clinton. Just look at their names: a full-frontal full name assault from Donald J. Trump, in comparison with a homesy, folksy “jes Bill folks” for William Jefferson Clinton. Donald Trump is the master of the real (despite his infinite truth-distortions); while Clinton is the meister of fabricated feelings in the purely political vein.
. . . . . . . Born June 14, 1946, his birthday a scant 6 days before my website was birthed from my brow, Donald Trump rose to prominence on daddy’s coattails. According to his own testimony, he never really fit in with the Manhattan elite. Too earthy, too television-centered and not enough booksmart, Trump was a man after the people — if the people had a billion bucks to call their own. (Money = power. Fame = power-plus.) He seeks publicity not just for the purposes it objectively fulfills, but out of enjoyment of the whole process, as when he appeared on Wrestlemania to go mano-a-mano with Vince McMahon of WWE founder’s fame.
. . . . . . . Trump says it like it is — sorta. But then, don’t we all obfuscate to some degree? (I started out criticizing Ivanka’s choice of husband and then deleted that reference as irrelevant.)
. . . . . . . In Trump’s mouth, simple speech comes out with “Excuse me, excuse me” broad interruptions of his questioners followed by the statement at hand. And what do those statements concern? The greatness and grandeur of one Donald J. Trump. (He builds “the biggest.” “The best.” “Never been seen before, or likely will again.”) Occasionally, he’ll defer to the Bible or some such eminence in favor of The Art of the Deal, but the way he frames the concession makes it clear he thinks it’s close, a close comparison.
I’m a big fan of yours but this show suffered from your being drunk.
You think that was drunk? Not a big drinker, are you? One can’t get drunk on Guinness.
Unless you’re using it a a chaser.
Even then you’ll likely piss it out before anything affects you. Guinness is a waste of time for the purposes of getting hammered.
You know your stuff. I can tell as much.
I was not even close to drunk.
You should’ve for as long been for as it took you to make your point.
Trolls drawn out by the draughts.
My son and I were skiing recently, on triple chair a high school senior, male. Said he still wears his mask, feels more ‘comfortable’ even though they are no longer mandatory. When we joked about a flask, on the slopes, our young friend said he thought drinking and skiing should never go together.
A very wise young man. I have no doubt he will have an exciting life as a docile cog in the big wheel of life.
Meh.
A solid pint with one’s currywurst or venison chili during lunch at the outdoor alpenhaus bar on a bluebird day is one of skiing, and life’s great pleasures.
just ask Sonny Bono
Russia confirms it has launched at least one Kinzhal missile in Ukraine:
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/russia-says-hypersonic-kinzhal-missile-destroyed-ukrainian-weapons-bunker
There are some fascinating comments regarding the state of the US aerospace industry that align with my experiences and views others have expressed here.
Russia really is in a unique bind with this new form of warfare. Their tanks, planes, and artillery are smashing huge chunks of Ukraine, and yet, the Western media machine has somehow convinced the rest of the planet that they are losing badly. And a reality-based side effect of this psyop is that lots of naive idiots keep jumping into battle carrying AK-47s and trying to imitate Rambo. And no matter how many towns and villages get turned into rubble, the chickenhawk cheerleaders in the West keep shouting . . . “Go, lemmings, Go!!!” The Biden Administration is willing to sacrifice every last soul in Ukraine to the graveyard of industrial warfare.
Putin keeps trying to demonstrate that this nonsense will eventually drive the destruction and death toll into absurd overkill, but Potato Head’s handlers are dead set on existential annihilation. When the US escalated to high-tech drone tank killers, Putin upped the ante with hypersonics. This tit-for-tat ends in nukes. Get out of the city now.
I’ve read enough reports (not just apocalypse novels and movies) to have a general idea of what life would be like after a major nuke war. It’s not like we will hunker down a few days, then sweep off the front door step and get back to business as if nothing bad happened. Alas, it’s a bit more involved than that.
By all means retreat to your bolt-hole. I’d prefer to end it all very quickly being turned to plasma. Alas, contrary to what I’ve posted previously (“Walking distance to a secondary or tertiary strategic target”), I did a bit of research and am probably in a rural enough area that would survive an initial strike.
Call me defeatist if you like, but I take to heart whoever it was who said of the consequences of major nuclear war: “The living will envy the dead.” 🙁
Yep, that was a mistake, but no one will dare mention it in the media. Zelensky turned his entire civilian population into legitimate war targets with this stunt. On the other hand, it was a propaganda coup. Russia won’t be able to counter this.
Of course, if we believed the media, Russia is losing badly so they won’t care about the current bad PR, only survival after they surrender to Ukraine. Given reports from the media (and Congress) Putin will have to surrender himself to the International Court of Justice to answer for his war crimes.
I can just see it now—Zelensky receiving Putin as Caesar received a supplicant Vercingetorix after the battle of Alesia.
Myopic viewpoint! This conflict will SO affect Call Of Duty and competitors and the US gaming industry will improve gameplay a whole generation. We win! /s
I’ll summarize the ZH commentary: Millennials cannot build sophisticated hardware. Nearly their entire lives have been spent within safe, unchallenging environments. Online forever, they are utterly disabled when it comes to translating abstract screenshots into tangible things. 20% can be taught to some degree, but 80% are worthless meatspace. Millennials could not reproduce Kelly Johnson-Bill Rich’s genius SR-71 Habu if everything was handed to them.
The American future in terms of tech development is screwed for generations. Not so for Russia and China.
/end summary
I notice that the theme of most of Zed’s essays is about coming to terms with the idiocy of people. It strikes me that the whole of politics boils down to that single issue: how can a minority of intellectuals control a majority of idiots? I used to think it was all about one man’s reasons versus another’s but events of recent years have proven that an idiot’s reasons are no reason at all. Perhaps I have just graduated from dissident school.
Not to suggest that all dissidents have imperial ambitions (like Alaric in the banner picture, which I take to be a hint) but clearly reason will only go so far without control.
Intellectuals can’t control the idiots and they never will. It’s the sociopath charismatics who always have control, and they’re usually of average intelligence. They seem smart at times because they’re able to effectively adapt their personality to appeal to the crowd, but that’s more of a social cunning. Biden is a good example of this: I could never manage to accomplish what he did by kissing the right asses at the right times, but I’m absolutely certain I have twice even his pre-senility IQ.
You assume that “intellectuals” and “idiots” represent different groups of people.
Brief weekend observation about more petty nonsense from globohomo
There is a big tennis tournament going on but the ATP website (professional men’s tennis) has blanked out the Russian flag icon that goes next to a Russian player’s name. All there is is a rectangular outline where the flag used to be. Everyone else gets their country’s flag next to their name.
🙄
Not content with cancelling mixed drinks referring to Russia or Russians, or refusing to allow cats belonging to Russians to compete in cat shows, or fucking with sporting events as related by Falcone, the brainlessness has penetrated yet further, intruding into a supposedly prestigious international symposium.
https://www.rebelnews.com/yuri_gagarin_name_censored_from_space_symposium_conference
Are the governing authorities of this “Space Symposium” a group of 13-year old mean girls? So it would appear. Words fail. At least there was some pushback.
Paging Winston Smith, another priority editing job is waiting for your action.
@ZMan
Terrific show, Sir.
Next time, try a vintage Port with every other sip of Guinness (you can curse me or thank me later.)
I was thinking along the same lines e.g.,
Beer 1
Beer 2
Beer 3
etc.
On a given group, “normalcy” is the ordinary behavior adopted by the larger sub-group, which usually try (voluntarily or not) to extend that “normalcy” to the whole group.
As far as humans are concerned, there is no “normal” mind coexisting with a “political” mind.
There is only the ‘sane characters’ subgroup vs. the ‘deranged entities’ subgroup, and the latter is now the largest one, hence the current erratic “normalcy”.
The good news are the deranged will auto-euthanize (painfully, God willing, so that the few deranged left can think twice before acting and – most of all – to convince once and for all the mentally fit that it is a good practice to control the number of deranged and keep them under a tight leash);
the bad news are some decent folk will suffer badly until this comes to pass.
If thirty-five percent of Americans actually support a nuclear war, that’s an Imperial Japanese level of fanaticism. Terrifying, really, the stuff of Imperial Japanese officers with their wives, children tucked under their arms, jumping off the cliffs at Saipan.
Count me dubious, but not closed to it being real.
Fantastic podcast, Z. You strike me as someone I would gladly have a beer with, so I am eying AmRen for the first time.
Jack, sadly I cannot really doubt the truth of this, even though I am sure lots of polling is complete fabrication. the normies I deal with are completely unhinged on this subject. Most seem to believe ” they wouldn’t really do it” so we can do anything we want. but a significant number would push the buttons themselves if it “gave Putin what he deserves”
I acknowledge you could be right, and that 35 percent is a menace to mankind, but another poll asked if people would support a no-fly zone, and a slight majority would. The same group was then asked if they would support shooting down Russian plans and the vast majority would not. Granted, idiocy is dangerous, too, and probably has led to more deaths than fanaticism.
All of which proves Z’s main point about democracy, of course.
Perhaps I need to buy some Guinness. I hate democracy as well. Long live our republic, if we can save it!
Yes, democracy and all forms of Potemkin-democracy must go and with them all those who have vied for it.
“65
Taoist rulers of old
Did not enlighten people
But left them dull.
People are difficult to govern
Because they are very clever.
Therefore,
Ruling through cleverness leads to rebellion. Not leading through cleverness
Brings good fortune.
Know these two things
And understanding the enduring pattern. Understand the enduring pattern: This is called original Te.
Original Te goes deep and far. All things reverse
Return and reach the great headwaters.”
Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu (translation by Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo, 1993)
Sane minds will rule once more.
And lose it again they will.
Unmitigated hunger rules the known universe.
The Everlasting Dissatisfaction
It seemed to take you a suspiciously short time to pour a Guinness perfectly.
Years of practice.
Great podcast, really enjoyed the parables of the Zman.
Also, you have a very understated sense of humor. The part about assuring us that you had had far more than 3 beers cracked me up, I almost had to explain my crimethink to my coworkers I was laughing so loud.
This was a quite insane rant. Nonetheless I understood ever word. I’m befuddled.
Having just listened to the podcast, all I can say is…. good show, but Z Man, how’s your head this morning buddy?
G*da**it I’m at work and craving a Guinness now. Da** you Z Man!
Rarely has dark humor been so uplifting. This has been like a smooth draught of Guinness after a bad day at work.* And in one hilarious hour, Zman has confirmed that he is indeed a man I’d like to have a beer with. Sláinte!
*(Disclaimer: This listener enthusiasm is not accepted at the bank. Deal with it.)
Pingback: DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » Guinness Hates Democracy
OK, I can’t resist.
Z, I don’t know if you’ve trademarked your “Z” brand yet, but Putin is trying to steal it. If this keeps up, you could become the next president of Russia.
Putin is running my marketing now. https://gab.com/TheZBlog/posts/107960838916839348
Seriously, invading Ukraine just to promote your blog, that’s a little much. How do you sleep at night?
Gotta keep those green door subs coming.
Picking people at random to be in congress is stupid. My much better system would involve taking cute dogs and dressing them up in little politician outfits. Then you have voice actors doing accents that match the breed of dog, so the shiba talks like a samurai and the husky has a Russian accent, etc. You film that, put it on youtube, its family friendly and thus monetized, and bang: government that produces wealth instead of pissing it away.
then selling paintings of the little fellows, on black velvet.
Here’s a cartoon take on doggy costumes, with only one offensive word, despite the site’s dire warning 😀
http://www.oglaf.com/kibble/
The Apostle Paul sought consensus when he agreed with James, the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, to go to the temple and show that he had credentials – that Paul still recognized the law of Moses. See Acts 21. This was a really bad idea, and James was wrong to do this, and Paul was wrong to go along with it, but it is understandable. The lesson to learn is this: if you try to get along with the current establishment, you are going to be burned. Do not compromise with anyone who supports the kingdom of this world. If someone worships Satan, they are bad. And you are bad if you make allowances for them.
I guessed right! Though I did grow up on a dairy farm.☺
Roughly approximate the volume of a cow-shaped cylinder with the formula πr^2h. The density of beef is approximately 1 g per cm^3. Easy peasy. I used to grift the carnies at fairs by guessing the weight of the fat lady with sufficient accuracy to win the prize.
I have always found politics to be the most ridiculous form of human interaction. There seems to be an agreed upon perception that politicians (especially those running for the first time) are honest, sincere individuals, with the good of “the people” as their highest priority. There is a carnival atmosphere to the whole process, especially at the higher level contests. And while in real life, people would tend to hold off on their judgement about another person, as far as honesty, intelligence, compassion work ethic, etc., in politics, the normies will conclude that a five minute interaction with a candidate, wherein the candidate smiles, laughs at their jokes, pats them on the back, and promises to always do the right thing, is enough time to form an opinion about someone. Not to mention wearing ridiculous hats and ribbons, putting signs in their yard, going to conventions and cheering and clapping for sloganeering that they would normally recognize as complete bullshit.
I remember during Bush II’s first term a friend of mine actually said that Bush seemed like the type of guy you could share a beer with at a barbecue. I couldn’t help thinking that that was the exact image his masters wanted Bush to exude to the masses. So, after we get 9/11 and invade Afghanistan and Iraq, at least we have a president we could drink a beer with, if you could ever get within 10 miles of him. I think the absolute absurdity of the political process has become obvious to more people since the Trump administration. And Biden has taken it to a whole other level. Whereas before, Americans thought that governance was too complicated to trust to themselves. And that is why they allowed political parties to select who the anointed would be. The political parties would only select the “best” candidates to represent us. And they would do the best job they could in an impossibly complicated process. Now we know that the whole process is a grift and designed to transfer all our wealth to other individuals, while the lying scum that we elect get ten percent of that grift for their participation in the scam. George Washington warned about political parties, but within a few years after his inauguration, they existed to the point that the actual legislative process was designed around political parties. And, since Trump and Biden, the illusion that they operate in our interest has been shattered. But, that doesn’t stop people from getting involved in the shitshow. Unfortunately, its going to take famine, devastating war IN America, or a SMOD to cure the problem. The ticks don’t want to be separated from their hosts.
The line about Bush being “the guy you’d want to share a beer with” was pushed by the media during the campaign. Probably planted by Rove or some other PR douche.
So your buddy was just parroting the propaganda that was fed to him..
” The ticks don’t want to be separated from their hosts.”
THIS is the problem that the Western Gentile has been dealing with for the last millennia. We must become parasite-proof, and make our societies a place where parasites cannot survive.
Fauxcahontas thought she could be “the (add pronoun) you’d want to share a beer with”. “Oh husband ……… “
What is the difference between a qualified person and an expert who (based on his qualifications) says that face diapers and lockdowns are good ideas?
Was using “Where the Streets have No Name” as the intro music at all related to Nancy Pelosi reading a poem she claims was written by Bono yesterday? I was hoping it would come out that Nancy got hoaxed and a dissident satirist sent her the poem, but it is so cringe, it probably was written by the ultimate globalist stooge from U2.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/17/nancy-pelosi-bono-poem-st-patricks-day-ukraine
I heard a joke once: how many Bonos does it take to change a light bulb? Just one – he holds the bulb in place and then the world revolves around him.
Southpark had Bono’s number, a long time ago…
How many U2 fans does it take to change a light bulb? Five. One to change the bulb and 4 to stand around and talk about how great the old bulb was.
You can say what you want about Bono, but in my opinion he was brilliant in Police Academy
This was the breaking bad “fly” episode in podcast format.
I don’t know, Plato says the exact opposite. You don’t want a turnip farmer or a cobbler ruling. So how do we get the best rulers? Its not from the slime. But are our rulers being trained well? Is democracy, or whatever our system is, the best way to chose the best rulers?
Clearly no
there just might not be any good candidates
*at all* right now.
Democracy, even if imperfect, can work if accountability is immediate and decisive. Yes, there will be lots of turnover until a good leader surfaces, but after a few iterations, the weak and stupid will steer clear of the process. This is a version of evolutionary fitness selection and it’s worked pretty well for all life forms going back about a billion years.
The turnip farmer would be representative given the high number of Americans who are vegetables.
Douglas Adams said it best: The people who want the job are precisely the ones who under no circumstance should be allowed to have it.
As the resident Nietzsche pimp, Thus Spake Layabout 🙂
Nietzsche was definitely against liberal democracy. His ideal government was probably closer to the nobility or aristocracy found in late middle age Europe. Personally, I find his “Superman” (Ubermensch) idea rather far-fetched, but not so his respect for the noble, the superior man who lives by his own code and not for others. I can’t recall that he recommends the best way to pick leaders, but he was against creating a society of “herd animals”.
Wow – that was hilarious – and so true, when you stop and think about it. Normal vs. political. Looking forward to the podcast – the short, worded intro is great. Re the stout beer, I coincidentally enough, had a Guinness with the nitro the other day and it seemed a little “thin” to me. TJ’s has had one I believe -maybe seasonal – that’s more of a chocolate stout (can’t remember name) that has more body imo.
Today’s post is transcendent wisdom of the ages. Several sentences should be carved into granite and displayed in the public square. That said, here is my 2 cents.
My normal life is normal because it can be no other way. What passes for my political life is similar to my attitude about what you should do to your TV as opposed to rubbing feces into your eyes and ears on a regular basis. My default presumption with all politicians is that they are a disease cell. And I don’t think that exposing yourself to disease is a good thing. Participating in a political function is the equivalent of bathing in excrement. Only the insane look for cesspools to hop into. Politics won’t improve until the electorate is limited to only sane men with skin in the game. Just sayin’.
it isn’t cost free to view toxic material. but many here regularly do, and it shows in their comments.
Agreed. Watching TV actively kills brain cells.
“Normal brain would never allow the guys in sales to tell production what to make next month….”
———————————-
Excuse me? Errmmmm… that’s exactly what they are supposed to do. That is part of their job.
In my experience:
If ‘tell’ = forecast, not so bad (but know your forecaster)
If ‘tell’ = dictate, bad things happen
nope. for a start, they don’t generally know what’s already in inventory :). sales people are important, but they are also very “slippery”…
Depends what kind of sales you’re talking about Karl.
Companies (not all I grant) generally find that if they aren’t listening to their sales guys, they aren’t listening to their customers either.
That depends upon where in the process the sale happens.
For shelvable products, which includes most consumer goods, the product is produced, warehoused and then sent out for distribution and sale. The sale is the end point of the process.
For bespoke products and services, the sale happens first and then the product or service is built to the specifications of the buyer.
Enter the Woman.
It’s why, even with the plethora of morons in the biz world, things ran smoothly.
the first line of your comment can be parsed (at least) two ways 😛
If she’s in HR, she may well have a vacancy that I would like to fill. Alternately, if she is a prospect, I can think of a number of positions she might assume. 🙂
It’s good to know I’m not the only man here whose mind (such as it is) is often in the gutter. Oops, nope, it’s just slid into the storm sewer… 😀
Mayor of DC, prison, mayor of DC. But that ‘b’ set him up!
Of all the political scumbag morons, there are only two worth a vote.
Paul Gosar and Neil Kumar. It would be remarkable if Kumar could pull off a victory in Arkansas.
Great podcast today.
“Mayor of DC, prison, mayor of DC. But that ‘b’ set him up!”
File it under “He’s an SOB but he’s OUR SOB.”
Melissa: Kumar can say all the ‘right’ things, but if I still voted I would not support him. Totally aside from his ethnicity (which always matters), the mere fact that he’s chosen to enter politics tells me all I need to know about his character and ambition.
3g4me:
I understand your sentiments about politicians. Douglas Adams said “it is well known that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.”
Kumar’s father is Indian but his mother is English/Scottish.
Jared Taylor interviewed him a while back and Kumar was phenomenal.
Adams stole that from Plato, who first made that argument in The Republic.
‘I would rather be governed by the first 1,000 people listed in the phone book than by the faculty members from an Ivy League University’. William F. Buckley
Correct quote. I remember him saying Harvard though.
Stout rankings:
1. Beamish
2. Murphy’s
3. Guinness (in the nitro can)
4. Left Hand Nitro Stout (also in the nitro can, and American!)
5. Victoria Nuland
6. Every other “stout”
I cannot find Beamish around here. I don’t care for Murphy’s, to be honest. Guinness in the nitro can is the best I can get and I’m not complaining.
Just remembered way back when I would get a few cans of Bodingtons ale with nitro ball. Not too shabby. English ale though.
Guiness is English stout-they just copied the recipe.
I like the reds, Killians etc.
Every now and then I can find a Murphy’s. Beamish is the hardest to find here in the US. That’s probably why I like those two more than Guinness.
There’s a brew called Caffrey’s which is part stout and part bitter, and it’s the nectar of the Gods. Whenever you’re in the UK or maybe Canada, try it.
Stout rankings:
1. Left Hand Nitro Stout (Thanks for the recommendation, my new favorite)
2. Murphy’s (Tried it last week, my old new favorite.)
3. Guinness (Didn’t like a long time ago, but will have to try, now that I more mature,)
0 Beamish, (Will look for.)
0. Every other “stout”
-1. Victoria Nuland: Will not try, but will save the last bullet for myself.
Those are all “baby” stouts. For a real man’s stout, reach for a RUSSIAN Imperial stout. Old Rasputin RIS from North Coast Brewery in Ft Bragg, CA is one of my favorites along with anything from the YETI series at Great Divide Brewery in Denver. The bourbon barrel- aged ones are especially delicious and will knock your d*** in the dirt. Three Floyds out of Munster, IN makes some great RIS, too.
Can’t beat a Three Floyd’s Dark Lord if you can get your hands on one.
IMO, Americans no longer have common sense and clear thinking in most things and are like the person who has some slight medical symptoms but convinces themselves it’s nothing and will be okay and takes some OTC pill for relief…but 3 years later it’s 4th stage cancer and has metastasized.
Your analogy is OK, for a large segment of the population. Unfortunately, the other half have become a quite different patient. They are the ones who have rather mild cold symptoms, but go on the internet and convince themselves (thanks to a few “expert” sites) that they have terminal cancer and are doomed.
Neither patient is able or willing to deal with the actual problems.
I am completely baffled that the half the country, who spent the past two years hiding under their beds from a bad cold, are now foaming at the mouth to wage nuclear WW3 against Russia.
I simply can’t process how so many can be that far detached from reality.
Pink Floyd explanation:
…You rearrange me till I’m sane. You lock the door and throw away the key and there’s someone in my head but it’s not me…
The best takeaway for me is that the NPC, the addict, the mentally ill, will always choose their personal delusions over reality. Best not to be in their path.
Like the “markets”. The signals are of little value in terms of anchoring to reality or settling on some paradigm that orders the chaos.
But you take some small portion of the noise relative to the momentum – and then make a bet. Staying well clear of all the chatter and institutionalized insanity that attempts to get you to purchase a “strategy”; to join the herd.
The value of the 50% of perpetual foamers is not in understanding the various afflictions that drive them toward the cliff, but in reminding ourselves that a significant portion of our fellow Americans are somewhere between unreliable and outright dangerous and so we are best focusing our efforts with the few capable and savvy already on our side to stay well clear of the stampede.
But it’s still a lot of castles in the sand. Even on our “side” I am struck by those who can say “they stole the election in 2020 so we must vote them out in 2022” without a smirk.
Or “Russian aggression must be stopped or else the Soviet Union will rise again and by the way Russia are losing badly ” or whatever the second smartest man on the internet is bludgeoning his simps with lately.
That reminds me of one of my favorite jokes: Louise and Norma are having dinner at a country club, and Louise complains, “Norma, all this food tastes terrible, except for the stuff that tastes bland,” to which Norma replies, “yes, and such small portions, too!”
Wild Geese: And half of those (who hid under their beds and are now shouting their full throated support of super patriot Zelensky) are putatively on the right side of the political spectrum – some loosely part of the HBD or DR. And, if signs are to be trusted, they will soon be back under their beds again. Will their Zelensky fervor outlast their coof terror? The world waits with bated breath . . .
Cuck/NPC: Covid may kill me!!!!
Cuck/NPC: Let’s all die in a nuclear war with Russia to show our virtue!!!!
Most of the country is too deranged to justify their existence.
TV. Opiate of the masses. Ignorance is strength.
Anyone who doubts you should google and YT search “Black Salve” or “chiropractic y strap”
“Normal brain knows that most decisions, thankfully, are not made by committee, because normal brain knows all of us are dumber than most of us.”
I like you Z, but OBVIOUSLY you’ve never been in a meeting where someone has trotted out the new chestnut “Teamwork makes the Dream Work.” 🙄
“In every meeting in our work life, normal brain is there reminding us that most of the people in the room are morons whose opinion should be ignored. Most of the room is people who are just going to say something so the boss notices them and thinks they are participating.”
However, I suspect you’ve been in many of the same meetings I have. 😏
“Political brains says that we have to all come together and reach a consensus. We have to have long debates where everyone gets to make their voice heard.”
Sadly corporate world seems to be falling into this more and more. I wonder why?
Way back when I was starting out, I got put into a job for which I was wholly unqualified. My bosses needed to the fill the job and I happened to be available. Not knowing any better, I figured I should actually find out what I was supposed to be doing, so I went around to all the managers and asked them what they wanted from me. Most would mention something they brought up in prior meetings. My predecessor loved meetings.
Eventually, I got one guy to tell me what he needed. I gave it to him. All of a sudden, all of them were making requests, almost all of which were sensible. I never had any meetings. Instead I’d go around and talk to people, which I later learned was something called management by walking around. Everyone suddenly became more productive. Dumb luck and ignorance is often the bets teacher.
Walk around, ask your clients what they need, and deliver it to them?
You subversive! You’re supposed to follow the approved channels! What’s wrong with you? 😏
(Goodness forbid you actually, y’know, talk to people plainly and figure out what’s needed. Besides, you can’t get a catered lunch out of it.) 😄
“Dumb luck and ignorance is often the bets teacher.”
If you like. But your story bespeaks a high degree of common sense, too.
That has been the key to the success in my career.
I get out of my chair and do face to face individual meetings.
People respond to one on one face to face interaction.
It also helps if you talk to corporate big wigs in short sentences and no more than 30 second in length explanations of very complex problems.
Most corporate executives have the attention span of a gnat.
Zman: My husband avoids meetings like the plague. He is not directly privy to upper management decisions, even in his smaller private company, because he has made clear his unwillingness to take part in endless meetings (although the occasional private dinner with his boss helps keep him in the loop). He just wants to be left alone to do what they pay him for – making profits – and he tries to keep track of what matters while avoiding any and all drama. He does this without screwing over anyone else, or fudging numbers, or ripping off his customers, but he keeps mental track of his margins and never forges his basic principles. In short, he’s a good employee and more importantly, a good man.
Hell, I once got confused on dates and rooms and walked into a meeting—just starting—that I had no right to be in. But since I was known to a bunch of the people in the room, they assumed I had been assigned to the group.
Lot of interesting stuff and it took me a bit of time to realize I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but would look pretty foolish if I got up and left, so I just sat there and once in a while commented on discussion.
Finally the meeting was adjourned and the chair asked if this time as good for the next meeting. We all answered yes and began to leave. He was looking at his list of committee members and then looked at me and said, “(name) what the hell are you doing here?” I responded, “Hell, I made a mistake and walked into the wrong meeting.” We both laughed. Then he said seriously, “Will, you be back next week?”
Gawd, I miss the University! 😉
Brawndo!
It’s what plants crave!
“Best.” Unless you were apprentice to a professional gambler. 🙂
It does sound like it was a rewarding job. I wish I could say the same for any of mine.
Does anyone actually say those things in the real world who is an adult?
I understand HR has this sort of stuff, as its unicorns, magic dirt and hamster squealing, but really how could anyone who has to actually work for a living say that with a straight face.
Looks like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays!
“I believe you’d get your ass kicked sayin’ something like that, man.”
Oh yes, I’ve heard men AND women say it in meetings, even this week.
Wouldn’t post it if it’s not true.
That said we beat the Nazis and the Japanese, built the strongest industrial base in the world, and built the largest economy in the world with guys who had three martini lunches, smoked cigarettes, ate red meat, and called women broads and addressed them as “Honey” or “Sweetie”.
And we built supersonic fighters, jumbo jets, and got to the moon with guys who chain smoked cigarettes and mainlined coffee.
Now we have Twitter and Facebook.
Mack – See that’s the thing. The tribe was in charge in mid century america just like they are now. But why are they screwing things up more than they used to?
They think their messiah is coming soon. It’s time to kill off the goyim, shove em down the cattle chute. Jeworldorder, brought to you by phizer.
I might note that all this was before the Feminist movement. Coincidence? I think not.
From what I gather from my friends in globocorp is that a good portion of “work for a living” is actually being able to say that sorta stuff with a straight face.
Now ask again, this time leading off with your pronouns and what you have been doing this week to acknowledge your privilege.
I wouldn’t believe it, but over the last few years I have spent time on a couple of projects with graduates of one of the best MBA programs in the universe and other than their conversations being littered with conspicuous consumption status signaling and stonk-transaction-deal conquests, it is almost identical to the conversations I suffered through when I had a part time gig at a yoga studio. Or Junior high. If the 80’s were more gay and retarded.
The inane, feminized, social posturing language is off the charts. And this is from male “ballers” making high 6 and 7 figs extracting value from the system.
Its either that world or grillers talking final four bracketology or the latest Netflix binge.
As a doctor (on TV), all I can say to them is: “You talk like a fag, and your shit’s all retarded.”
On the topic of Political Brains – I was on a long drive last evening and happened to listen to an interview with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. He said “that he has not been briefed by Nancy Pelosi even once on the Iran deal. ” I thought, OK what will he do? And he never disappoints – he said ” he has written a Letter to Nancy”, and it’s quite harshly worded. WOW – that will stop her.
Exactly what republicans have always done. Not a damn thing.
And rumor is he doesn’t even mention the word ‘please.’
Just like the Gimp from Janesville, McCarthy doesn’t disappoint.
I often wonder what dirt they have on these guys.