The Indignity Of Democracy

Note: The comments have been getting bombed by Ukrainian bots, which is why moderation has been so immoderate. This was part of the public relations campaign around the recent offensive. It is slowly abating, but for now moderation will remain tight to prevent a flood of nutty comments.


In the old television series MythBusters, there was a scene where the crew was doing something disgusting. The setup of the show was to explain the “myth” they were testing then follow them along as they set up their tests. A big part of the show was sight gags, so this meant putting the hosts of the show in foolish situations. In one of these setups, the camera is following one of the hosts and he looks at the camera and says, “there is no dignity in show business.”

It was a memorable moment because we live in an age where performers are treated like conquering heroes. For most of human history, performers were at the very bottom of the status ladder. They were treated worse than slaves in many societies, as it was assumed that people willing to humiliate themselves for the entertainment of others were people of low moral standards. If someone has no respect for himself, then he is unlikely to respect the standards of society.

Today the opposite is true. We worship celebrity. The Republican Party is running three celebrities in big elections this year. Hershel Walker, the former football star, is running for Senate in Georgia. Doctor Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. In both cases, their reason to be in the race is they are famous. In Arizona, Kari Lake was a local TV anchor before running for governor. Her party switching suggests she is willing to do anything for applause and your vote.

Of course, politics in a liberal democracy is just entertainment. It is like the talent shows where the viewers are asked to vote for the performer they liked best, but only after hearing the opinion of celebrity experts. Naturally, most people follow the lead of the celebrity experts, which is why they are there. Politics works exactly the same way, except the celebrity experts are called pundits. Their job is to shape public opinion around the two party system.

That line about there being no dignity in show business still applies. It is why our politicians look more like carny trash than serious adults. The coin of the realm is attention and eventually, you have to degrade yourself to get it. People who have no qualms about making themselves the object of mockery just to entertain the masses will be naturals in the political game. Politics in a democratic system naturally selects for people willing to trade their dignity for applause.

This is most obvious in the pundit class. These are people who dream of one day being an extra on a good television show. In other words, unlike the people who run for office, these people think even less of themselves. It is why their opinions can easily change from one election to the next. If this season the smash hit is angry black guy, then they will sign on for a role in angry black guy. If next season the show is strong female, then they will audition for that show.

You see this with so-called conservatives. Fifty pounds ago, S. E. Cupp played the role of naughty female libertarian on Fox. She would show a little skin, put on the glasses and repeat libertarian lines about socialism. That show closed so she is now playing the role of matronly MAGA hater on CNN. Many of the people in this

declaration of war against Trump voters switched to being Trump supporters. There is no dignity in show business, so they had no trouble with it.

There is a funny thing about a world of no standards. In addition to drawing in people willing to play any role just to get on stage, it seems to draw in people who seem to enjoy degrading themselves in public. Self-declared super genius Tom Nichols is probably the best example. He seems to get a weird thrill out of making an ass of himself in public. It does not appear to be just about getting attention. He really likes to humiliate himself on-line.

Just look at the first line of that Twitter post. “In forty years of studying Russia the thing I always struggled to get my arms around is that this remarkable and immense nation, a source of cultural and scientific genius, is also so riven by ignorance and insecurity that it is incapable of living in peace with the world.” This is a man who lives in a country that has been at war with the world for most of its existence. His cult is responsible for more dead people than Genghis Khan.

That whole series of posts is like someone had decided to lampoon the Trotsky cult we call neoconservatism by conjuring an absurd character that embodies an exaggerated version of its qualities. That ridiculous person then does ridiculous things to highlight the absurdity of his group. Tom Nichols is the Mr. Bean of neoconservatism and he is thrilled to play the part. One gets the sense that if Bill Kristol says the role could use some clown nose, Nichols is dressing as a clown.

It is possible that Nichols is so devoid of self-awareness that he does not see the absurdity in his act. In fact, this is a possible clue to why many celebrities seem to think highly of themselves, despite what they do for a living. Ocasio-Cortez, for example, thinks she is a world historical figure. It could be that a total lack of self-respect rests on a total lack of self-awareness. If you cannot tell when they are laughing at you rather than with you, then it does not matter.

The Founders never imagined that the country they were creating would one day lead to rule by circus freak, but they understood the risk of democracy. They knew that a system that relied on the shifting opinion of the masses would attract those who are good at appealing to the masses, but not good at governing. We see this today as our political system looks like a bad TV show. It is full of people who are good at getting public attention, but they are not good at anything else.

What no one anticipated is that rule by circus freak has degraded all of society, along with the people on the stage. To sit in the crowd, applauding as a man humiliates himself for your amusement, debases you as much as the performer. You cannot seek to raise yourself up from your base condition when you are simultaneously cheering for others to reduce themselves to their base condition. In a democracy, we all sink into the ooze together because there is no dignity in democracy.


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171 thoughts on “The Indignity Of Democracy

  1. I love the comment about people with no dignity rising to the top . It applies to every career I’ve had as well, but then again maybe dignity is just pride, and there’s a relationship to how much we can abandon and how much financial success or fame we achieve

  2. “Hershel Walker, the former football star, is running for Senate in Georgia. Doctor Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania. In both cases, their reason to be in the race is they are famous.”

    Man, I get a lot of hate in normiecon circles when I remind them that Walker’s only marketable skill is “runs very fast.” Thou shalt not dis the black conservative!

  3. “The comments have been getting bombed by Ukrainian bots, which is why moderation has been so immoderate. This was part of the public relations campaign around the recent offensive.”

    But how do you know it’s not a secret operation by Putin posting pro-Uke comments to clog up the sites of right thinking Men of The West?

  4. “In forty years of studying Russia the thing I always struggled to get my arms around is…”

    Maybe his problem is he’s using his arms instead of his mind.

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  5. Modern democracy is just a large, interlocking circle of bribery. Everyone must be bought, from the very top to the very bottom. Which is why, as John Adams mentioned, it bankrupts itself. He also mentioned that it dies a “violent death.” I do believe that our death will be violent. Nearly every man woman and child in the country, regardless of age, has come to depend on this system for their very sustenance. For instance, millions have been literally born into this world because of programs like WIC that wouldn’t have ordinarily been born into the world. Despite Planned Parenthood, a natural reaction of the clown elite in society attempting to keep a lid on democracy’s dysgenic nature, the programs in place have created a culture, of all races by the way, that literally can’t survive outside this clown show system.

    Democracy will die violently because when the public debt based free lunches stop, many will be at Haitian living standards, they’re going to be soooooo pisssssed. Including former middle class boomer who thought he could ride Medicare into the grave, maybe they won’t be at Haitian levels, but something like Guatemalan or Mexican. Everyone will be upset.

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    • It’s going to be a while. Eventually we will be like Argentina, but I think it will take another 50-100 years. I could be wrong, one never knows, but we are in for a much more tumultuous time.

  6. S.E. Cupp was always trying to imitate Kennedy who already had the lock on sassy Libertarian who was photographed naked on a Motorcycle in the 90’s. The fact that Kennedy is a déclassé bohemian was part of her selling feature. Cupp couldn’t compete. Like Quiznos trying to compete with Subway.

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    • “Like Quiznos trying to compete with Subway.”

      Wny the Quiznos hate? They both suck, of course, but I always found Q to be way better than Subway; their “fixin’s” look like they pay homeless people to harvest them from dumpsters. Also, didn’t their commercial mascot (talk about shameless performers) turn out to be a child molester?

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      • It doesn’t matter. Subway already had the hammer lock and they both suck. Subway hit critical mass and dominated. Despite hiring a Jewish child molester as a mascot.

      • “Why the Quiznos hate? They both suck, of course.”

        We get it. You don’t have prole tastes or anything, of course.

    • That’s a good reminder that it’s been current_year for a long time. When Kennedy said she wasn’t voting for Clinton in ’92 it was a media-world-shaking controversy that went on for years. In ~1996-7, when she was the most famous music media personality, friends of mine in popular bands were afraid to get *caught* talking to her.

      • Yes, Quiznos was the first to have that roll-through oven. And then what? Subway put in ovens to toast their garbage food and goodbye Quiznos.

  7. Our leaders are a reflection of ourselves in many ways, or perhaps it might be better to say they reflect on our culture. And a lot of this is our fault as dissidents. We let this happen. If we don’t do something, these clowns will go to far, and be swept aside by a strong man, either from the left or the right… and it will be possible that won’t be good for any of us…

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    • I was born into this going sh t show. It just gets worse every year. When I was a baby looking up at powder blue bell bottoms, I said to myself, okay, It should get better from here….

      • The people we are up against will not stop. They are psychopaths and lunatics that will have to BE stopped.

        We can do it ourselves as reasonable adults… or we can let them run until an even more brutal lunatic comes along to stop them for us. The body counts only go up from here…

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        • Yup.

          There is plenty of evidence for this out in the open.

          I just watched a breakdown of the Australian government’s plan to use climate change as an excuse to stage an endless series of plandemics with the end goal of injecting as much mRNA and other junk into people as they possibly can.

  8. She averred to GQ she was none too sure of living till the end of this month, i.e. September 2022. I’ve seen politicians make blustery forecasts, especially ahead of an election, and engage in all the typical football-coach puffery, but why say something *so* likely to be thrown back in your face later? What’s the theory? And don’t the dirty evangelical doomsday preachers earn scorn for this too (despite rehearsing a much-needed recurring role to our Harvey Weinsteinian media’s design)? I guess I could be the rube who doesn’t appreciate grand press strategery as performed here by Mx. Cortez— I could see her getting the meeting from some Madison Avenue political consultant, “This season normal GOTV ploys don’t work, you have to predict your own death” and her deliberating over this among other options.

    Also, if her primary audience in Gentleman’s Quarterly was other young women (and numerically insignificant but culturally influential gays)— well, duh, they tend to have a higher threshold and acceptance for everyday drama and not hold any excessively emotionalized utterances against each other, as long as the statement serves in-group solidarity and has a quantum of poetic truth. Shelby Steele writing on St. Trayvon observed of poetic truth, that it has the same relation to actual truth as poetic justice does to actual justice.

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  9. I hadn’t heard of Alex Stein, so I took a quick look on YouTube. This is just a guy in a clown suit, who does that familiar routine of an upset customer, whipping out the smartphone, demanding to speak to the manager, and verbally abusing the employee. It’s the kind of humor that does not last long, and won’t advance anything.

    A better option is to find some way to get mediocre intellects like Eyepatch Crenshaw and AOC to do something close to the right thing, even when they don’t want to.

    • The more he gets these people to make fools of themselves, the less anyone is going to take them seriously. Crenshaw becomes Pirate McCain instead of Mister War Hero, and AOC is Big Booty Latina instead of Miss Champion of the Proletariat.

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      • Mockery is a highly effective weapon.

        That’s why they hate it so much and try to make it impossible for the plebes to express themselves in this way.

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    • The problem is that they’re incapable of “doing the right thing”. It’s not in their nature. So, now what?

    • “A better option is to find some way to get mediocre intellects like Eyepatch Crenshaw and AOC to do something close to the right thing, even when they don’t want to”

      Oh great, post the link to where youre following this obviously superior strategy! Oh… so you dont have one actually? So you’re not actually doing anything? Too hard? No idea how to start? Never put in the work to build a public presence like Stein has?

      Dont be the fat guy on the couch with the cheeto stained shirt talking about how the bronze medalist boxer sucks because he doesnt throw the jab enough. We’ve got precious few people stepping forward to do ANYTHING, much less publicly and under their own name. That’s hard enough without people ostensibly on the same side constantly throwing peanuts from the sidelines.

      • There’s no need to pick on Stein who doesn’t pretend to be something beyond an entertainer. I do think some DR are gulled into this suburban-college-liberal mindset of “Entertainment celebs & Jon Stewart are our truest leaders and ego-bearers”–might work for them, doesn’t work for us. Limbaugh the accomplished entertainer was a negative for dirt people since he pushed the agenda of crappy Mitch Daniels types onto us as component product. In fact, politicians are garbagemen brought on for a time-limited job, not anointed metrosexual priests for the bi-flock.

        By the way, back in the Obama years I remember the Con Inc. sites tried to imitate The Daily Show with their own strained take on this inherently metro-lib, overproduced theatre format actually invented as a means of pandering to ad men–becoming White Liberal Church was just a happy accident for it. It’s difficult to justify this as a landmark disgrace for Con Inc. because the perpetrators surely realized they were doing efficient “satire” corn-slop for the pigs and were merely grifting accordingly.

  10. Appears railroad labor unions and management have an agreement so at least whoever is driving the clown car (or locomotive) seems to have swerved away from that ditch. Joe can continue to ride the Amtrak rails.

  11. “No Dignity in Democracy” Zman, you should slap that on a bumper sticker and sell it.

    In close connection with the democratic mindset, the proliferation of mass media seems to have facilitated an environment in which many of humanity’s worst flaws get plastered across and/or rewarded on the public stage. It has likely always been that way to one extent or another, given the propensity of freaks to draw eyeballs. Mass media nearly amplify the phenomenon to heretofore unprecedented levels. Global “celebrity” is largely a modern-era perversion.

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  12. There is a newspaper front page lampooning Trump; it is a photoshopped image of Trump with a clown nose and clown makeup on. The title is “CLOWN THROWS NOSE INTO THE RING.”

    Although Trump was a performer, the media ably assisted him in his job. Even hostile papers like the above example were assisting him, giving him free publicity, opening the door a little wider for him to go through.

    The media seemed to be ambivalent about Hillary Clinton because, although she was a liberal and they were liberals, they didn’t want to spend 8 years looking at an ever-aging grandma. Lookism at work. Trump is pleasant enough to look at, and can be entertaining. That beats grandmaism.

    In the future, look for more Trumps to come out of the woodwork, especially from blunt breeding-grounds like New York City. It’s only a matter of time.

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  13. The Founders would also be astonished that the people advising the President, neocon think tank members, and ‘brilliant’ political analysts all probably have intense difficulty screwing in a light bulb. Neocons look at a screwdriver or other tool and probably think it came from another galaxy.

  14. In Michigan, the Republican Party is running some spokesmodel no one has ever heard of for governor. Ten years ago, she was doing low budget horror.

    We’ve gone full retard.

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    • Of the three legitimate (to voters) Republican gubernatorial candidates, two had their ballot petitions thrown out when state election officials miraculously gained the ability to spot “forged” signatures, and right before the primary the leading and best candidate was dawn-raided by the feds for some Jan 6 crap.

      Michigan is a laboratory of Our Democracy.

    • “Ten years ago, she was doing low budget horror.”

      Well, at least her career is taking off. Now she’s doing high-budget horror.

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    • Spartan: “In Michigan, the Republican Party is running some spokesmodel no one has ever heard of for governor. Ten years ago, she was doing low budget horror.”

      How precisely will she be necessarily worse than the likes of Bitch McConnell, Clit Romney, Cuck Ryan and Kevin McCrafty?

      After all, it was the clairvoyance of Horror Master John Carpenter which gave us the epic sociological masterpiece, known as, “THEY LIVE”.

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      • grinchey whitchmer is a monster who destroyed many lives and killed many people because putting covid patients in nursing homes resulted in exactly what anyone but her and Cuomo knew it would . her lockdowns and their enforcement of them were the longest and most sever in the country. George Soros himself would be better .

  15. I think it’s important to keep in mind that the indignities we see are only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface is a great trail of humiliations and sellouts, willingly undertaken, in order to just get to the stage of visibility.

    Over the past decade, whenever I view an actor in an entertainment product I eventually ask myself, “What did that person have to do to get there?” After all, for every actress or actor on the screen, there are a thousand others, equally attractive or talented, who vied for the same role (and mind you, both qualifications have been in decline for a long time). In such a marketplace, why is any individual given the coveted role?

    Obviously, it’s what they were willing to give in return. Actresses submitting to the casting couch goes without saying; but doubtless most actors, too, have a record of intimacy with a certain circumcised organ.

    Since 2015, it’s been clear to me that the same is true of American politicians. They too are merely cast for the roles they play, and must be willing to put out in order for the party and donor endorsement. For the older generation perhaps the humiliation had a more financial aspect; for the younger, it’s almost certainly more lurid. (The Rubio or AOC jokes write themselves.)

    I take this as a matter of faith now: that if a pol is on TV, getting attention, in office— he/she is bought and paid for. Maybe a change is coming, but that’s how it is now. In Hollywood and the media (I forgot to mention them), this will be the norm forever.

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    • “In Hollywood and the media (I forgot to mention them), this will be the norm forever.”

      Assuming an unfailing and universal supply of electricity, which Californicate doesn’t have. And pretty soon … well …

    • “After all, for every actress or actor on the screen, there are a thousand others, equally attractive or talented, who vied for the same role.”

      Nope. Clueless.

    • This person is new to me. SE is a whole new Cupp size. (doong!)

      From her Wiki: (not including her ballet is evil because I had an eating disorder bit)

      “In 2000, Cupp graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history. While attending Cornell, she worked for The Cornell Daily Sun. In 2010, she earned a Master of Arts degree from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University with a concentration in religious studies.[6]”

      This is a great quote: For over twenty years, Cupp has been an atheist, but has consistently stated that she is open to theism,[24][25][26] and once said in an interview with C-SPAN, “I really aspire to be a person of faith some day.”

      Her husband is Head of Communications for The Weather Channel. Talk about a clown show. A channel that reports the weather: a) shouldn’t need any public facing persona – just post the weather as text and graphics b) needs a Communications department?

      Good Lord Almighty! Oh wait, I am not ready for that yet. Maybe on my death bed I will find religion.

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  16. Lots of great comments here, Mr. Z attracts some great ones. One thought that I have had, inspired by the writings of Robert Heinlein, is that we should limit the voting franchise to people with a demonstrated stake in society’s future. Examples include restricting voting to property owners, married couples with children, military veterans or even those who can pass a critical thinking test. The details are less significant than the principle of participation in politics being an earned privilege.

    Also, the Uke bots are after you Mr. Z just because of your name since the Moscow Rus uses Z as a logo.

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      • Monarchy doesnt need a justification, it worked effectively for thousands of years. Democracy is an occasional aberration that spectacularly flames out in rapid fashion (as its currently doing).

        Even in “democracy” the choices usually tend to be between the last guys wife and the last guys son or brother or nephew etc… really showing how deep the republican impulse goes.

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        • ” … really showing how deep the republican impulse goes.”

          AND now fond people are of freak shows.

      • Heinlein wrote copiously about “earned” suffrage in his books, especially memorable, Starship Troopers. Indeed, the recruiting posters for the military encouraged joining and “earning citizenship”. Monarchy to my knowledge was not mentioned as an alternative or better solution. All folks were welcome to take a shot at earning “citizenship”. Most people were content not to earn such right, and they made up the bulk of the population in Heinlein’s world.

        We’ve mentioned such here as well. The situation for the last 100+ years has been to expand the franchise, as in everybody has an equal stake, an equal say, or an equal ability to understand issues and make good decisions concerning society. Of course, most here would deny that “reality”.

    • ” military veterans or even those who can pass a critical thinking test”

      Well there we have too mutually exclusive groups.

  17. Quantifying the duration of S.E. Cupp’s political journey with the phrase “Fifty pounds ago…” is a master stroke. I’m still laughing.

    Thanks, Zman.

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  18. The ninth commandment about bearing false witness, lying, was why in a more religious past actors were spurned. But the point of a natural fit with politicians still applies.

  19. One look at Fetterman and I think of the character “Karl Childers” in the movie Sling Blade. Except, Karl is much smarter and can work a job.

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    • I can only hope Fetterman throws out a “Mmmhmmm, I like them French fried potaters.” in the midst of a stump speech.

      “Some folks call it a Sling Blade, I call it a Kaiser Blade.”

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    • Fetterman has a bit of Anton LaVey going on as well, no?
      As I pointed out to my 14 y.o. when Hochul took over from GrammaKillah – “The Lieutenant Governor is ALWAYS the BIGGEST toady in the organization.”

  20. “The Republican Party is running three celebrities in big elections this year. “

    There is also Mark Ronchetti, a TV weatherman who is the GOP nominee for governor of New Mexico

  21. Wow! Everyone’s comments today provide some great laughs. Very good pillories of our clown world. Well done everyone. (That Crenshaw clip looks like it is fully staged.)

    A few episodes ago I posted that the Republican party was going to be more femmy and BIPOC than the Dems. I had that on a 5-10 year timeline. I was wrong. It is already here. I donated a bit of money to DiSantis a while back and am just hammered with emails and bot calls from Con Inc. In the last 4 days I have gotten messages from them like:

    – An email from the Republican’s historic youngest ever woman elected to Congress from NH if we just give her enough money. It went on to inspire me with comparisons with AOC and how she could be even younger than AOC was when she was elected.
    – An email from Daily wIsRaEL with a hunking black guy special ops warrior leading a group of white guy special ops warriors. I didn’t bother to read it.
    – Emails from multiple emergent black conservatives begging for campaign contributions – their platform seems to be they are hated by the left for being black and conservative. This is the new grift – it has morphed from handout seeking poor black guy shunned by society to suited up, handout seeking poor black “conservative” shunned by The Left.
    – Emails from multiple emergent Hispanic Women(TM) who are going to fight against The Left and destroy the country they came here (probably illegally), to enjoy.

    It is already here. The Republican party is more Democrat than the Diverse and Inclusive Democrat party of the Leftist’s most pitched diverse fever dreams.

    How many votes will these guys procure from the Dem Diversity Political Machine? None. They will just obtain the votes of now replaced heritage Americans.

    In more clown news, the Chip act web site is a good one to look at. It seems the biggest part of that Act (pun intended), is a photo op for hoody wearing black youth posing as scientists and doctors operating state of the art equipment while a forlorn white girl operates a soldering iron and a couple of white women fill out spread sheets. I didn’t realize that the ranking congressman on science and technology is a black female former RN. On the site it also lauds that we are fighting climate change. No mention of semi conductors – much mention of fighting climate change. Not a single Asian in the literature nor a single white man.

    It is almost as if China wrote this legislation and gave it to the Black and Green caucus to promote.

    Well, while others are posing in photo shoots and role play race swapping let’s get smarter and better and make our kids smarter and better too. Someone needs to design and build the next gen clown cars and equipment used to present it. This is a great time to turn off the TV and bury ourselves in skill development for building the future.

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  22. Those who have read the patristic theologians and works such as the Apostolic Constitutions will know that in the Early Church, actors were forbidden membership in Christian assemblies.

    Actors were specified in writing. They were forbidden both instruction and baptism. They were not allowed to convert without first abandoning their theatrical lives totally and permanently.

    And this proscription was rigidly enforced.

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    • I stayed at the Lizzie Borden bed and breakfast a few times. Our tour guide told us that actors were considered to be the lowest of the low in those days. They had it right the first time.

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      • In medieval England, actors were ranked below prostitutes…apparently because prostitutes didn’t pretend to be someone they weren’t…

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        • ” … apparently because prostitutes didn’t pretend to be someone they weren’t…”

          Unless, of course, they got paid to do it.

      • That’s true. Back in the day in L.A. apartment houses posted signs that read “No Dogs or Actors allowed.”

      • So “Maniac” stayed at the Lizzie Borden Arms. I wish I could give you more than one upvote just for that.

    • On the other side of the scale, we have John Wilkes Booth. Surely we shouldn’t be so hard on all those who trod the boards?

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      • I am not so sure. If Lincoln had lived, given his stated goal to reserve all of the West specifically for our people and what consumed a lot of his time after the war, Liberia would have had a higher population that would be their problem not ours. It is something I think about from time to time.

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        • Could have done the same without 600k dead americans… and for all the criticism the constitution gets without its early teen angst amendments it wouldnt be half bad. Jaffa was in that sense right, Lincon was responsible for a second founding on principles that Jaffa’s tribe was very amenable to.

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        • I somehow doubt a single African would have been repatriated. The Emancipation Proclamation was a big hint that the goal was actually to flood the South with freed slaves who would vote Republican. Nowhere does it mention that “freeing” the slaves was a precursor to expelling them from the country.

        • Why should he have told the truth about that?
          Here’s an exercise for you:
          Make a list of all the material lies he told.
          Make a list of all the material truths.

      • “On the other side of the scale, we have John Wilkes Booth. Surely we shouldn’t be so hard on all those who trod the boards?”

        Except that his greatest performance was not acting. AND he brought to vivid life the old theatrical saw “Break a leg!”

        So, yeah, I’m with you.

  23. Kari Lake worries me. There is something off about her. Maybe it’s because she seems a little too polished, like an actress playing a former TV news anchor. I don’t trust her, but we shall see.

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    • Probably because it is the same tired playbook that started with Sarah Palin- present yourself as a rootin’ tootin’ tough mama from the West with a pistol strapped to your hip. Bonus points when you do a sexy pose on a horse, or at the range with an AR. Basically, it is the white woman equivalent of the Black Conservative the Vichy Right loves so much, along with the Wounded Warrior, that they hire from central casting.
      Plus, you should never trust a woman with a stripper name.

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    • Kari has the advantage of running against a Cabal bot who refuses to even debate her…But give Kari credit..she wants to close the border and get rid of electronic voting machines…

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      • Yep. There are the bad tell-tales for Lake. However, many of us are converts too, and she could be legit. Of all of the new gen Cons, she is by far the best at putting the media in its place – ironically enough.

        Maybe it is best if the strong men are in the background for a bit longer. Then when the financial storms wash ashore, the men step forward. We’ll see if she is legit or if she is there to neuter other folks who are on our side are emergent.

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        • What choice did one have wrt Lake? Her primary opponent was a billionaire Republican machine candidate who bombarded the media day and night touting her credentials, which were *none*, just the endorsement of the machine left behind by McCain.

          McCain and Flake ran the show here for years and personally hand picked candidates for election in this State. McCain was the deciding vote to *keep* Obama Care—that after repeatedly voting for repeal when Obama was vetoing all such laws. That’s the old guard.

          They ran Martha McSally against Sinema, then they had her appointed to replace McCain after she lost to Sinema. That’s why we have two Dem Senators.

          There is a revolt going on in AZ. A split between the old guard, neocon, Repub’s and the new Trumpians. Lake is a professed Trumpian. You don’t trust her. Why trust any pol these day’s? But the mood is to ignore/reject pol’s with an elected record and go with someone not in the belly of the beast.

          • The best you can do is elect the populist every time.
            If they don’t deliver, they’ll be primaried and gone.
            There’s a pretty good track record now of dumping the RINO’s, it will only get better.

            If S Carolina had stayed home for Linda Graham after one term 30 years ago, the world would be a better place.

      • Let us be clear.

        She says these things. You don’t really know what the intent actually is.

        Did you miss her photo ops with the drag show?

        Its another 4 year football Charlie Brown and lets give Lucy the benefit of the doubt again.

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        • When in the losing position you take the allies you have and adjust as necessary. Purity spiraling is one of the deep practical weaknesses of the right (although like most others it probably comes from a good impulse).

          The left has space for rapist muslims, man hating feminists, woman hating men in dresses, white hating mulattos, black hating mestizos, and a dozen more clown cars filled with natural enemies… they all get under one tent and they all agree to take your country away first and then maybe kill each other later at their leisure

          They know how to build coalitions and this is how they win.

          13
          1
          • It works for the enemy as it is destructive, so the type of destruction does not matter. They all work towards the same nihilism outcome in their way.

            The building and maintaining requires a narrow tent as it must pull in the same direction.

            The issue is not purity, it is the RINO issue of fake or controlled representatives that take up the space that could be occupied by real ones and run out another 4 years before anyone notices.

            You don’t think the repeated historical pattern of co-opting and inserting their own players into orgs is not being done for this current movement?

            A sudden promotion in the media for a person that was part of the main enemy of the population for 20 years seems extremely suspicious to me.

            Actors act, it is what they do on camera.

            3
            1
    • I think we need a little more to go on than “something off” about her”. Let’s give her a chance. Who else is there? I can count on one hand, not including my thumb.

      8
      1
      • Agreed. She is the only pol who not just supports questioning the election, her counter-attacks on journalists who attack her on it are very poised yet vicious. She could be a great ally. I remember where I came from and where I am now. She is a force. If we push potential friends away with purity spiraling we’ll forever be alone at the margins. Let’s see.

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  24. There be no dignityin democracy, but there is money and power for those willing to degrade themselves.

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  25. Speaking of people with no dignity, Ace of Spades is reporting a rumor that Fatty Williamson is leaving National Review for the Dispatch to join Jonah Goldberg and David French. This has to be a financial move, and he was already getting grossly overpaid at NR. Across the political spectrum, among both candidates and pundits, I keep asking, who is paying to put these people in influential positions?

    https://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=400931

    10
    • There is a Persian underwriting the Dispatch and The Bulwark. I am pretty sure the Wilkes Brothers paid Sloppy Williamson for his anti-Trump screeds back in 2016. It was obviously a pen-for-hire deal. I would not be shocked to learn that they are now paying the Trotskyites too. There’s Koch money in there too. Of course, the MIC throws money at these guys.

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      • The curious thing is not who is paying for these “influencers” but who could they possiblt be influencing? I’ve never met the actual receptive audience for any of it. Boomer cons hate these people and no one younger has even heard of them except as the butt of jokes (david french anyone).

        If theyre not intended to actually influence anyone, what function are they paid to perform?

        • To act as the media foil.

          They are there to occupy the space in the media landscape an opposition would.

          By doing this they control both sides and always get fed the correct lines in the script for the next step forwards.

  26. The same is true in academia where the participants are even more craven. But “though this be madness, yet there is method in it.”
    “What do I need to say or do to achieve my goals?”
    Debase yourself.
    “Okay.”

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  27. Maybe he didn’t start out as a celebrity but this Fetterman character running for PA senate is a another level of idiocracy. Even after All I have seen, read and experienced this one astonishes me. And seriously, what is that thing on his neck? I have seen the funny memes but really, what is it?

    22
    1
    • I agree. I have been on this one for a while because it is reaching a level of absurdity that even I thought was unattainable. “Our democracy” is offering up a TV clown from Turkey and a brain damaged stroke victim who still lives with his parents.

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      • All of these actors and actresses were chosen to play the roles they are playing in this artificial unnatural surrealistic soap opera.

        And they were chosen precisely because of the nature of their personalities.

        It’s all scripted, and all controlled by Central Casting.

        5
        1
        • “It’s all scripted, and all controlled by Central Casting.”

          Dear God, I certainly HOPE so!

      • Which begs the question, is Fetterman the best they have? Really??

        I guess it could be worse. We could have a brain damaged stroke victim in the White House.

        Oh, wait….

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        • People really underestimate how much a stroke wipes people out, even small ones. You’re never going to be the same person again, no matter how good your recovery was. Add this to the fact these guys weren’t that bright to begin with, the extra 10-20 point drop in IQ is going to put you at having difficulty with simple tasks.

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          • “the extra 10-20 point drop in IQ is going to put you at having difficulty with simple tasks.”

            But it’s a sure-fire vote-getter. And remember: The subject here is democracy.

        • This is a good example of the difference between Democrat primary voters and republican primary voters. Democrat primary voters are the far-left and they want the good narrative. Give them the good narrative and they will never question it. Fetterman kitted himself out as a working man, learned how to talk like a working man and adopted the working man message that is in the mythologies of the Left. That is why they never bothered to look beyond the narrative.

          Republican primary voters tend to be the mostly moderate middle-class types who care more about bread and butter issues like taxes, but want a soft message. Middle-class white people have been conditioned to never offend the Left on the “moral issues” so they go for what they are told is the electable option. There are exceptions, but this usually occurs in states where the Democrats run the system or when there is no electable moderate option.

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        • Yes. He (like Biden) is perfect for the role he performs. They both reinforce the idea that the time of the old order is through.

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          • “They both reinforce the idea that the time of the old order is through.”

            What they both reinforce is that democracy is now in its full flower.

        • I don’t think people have realized that it is intentional to put up the worst possible while still getting under the wire.

          They are a distraction for the endless news cycle and a giant wall of retard you can never get over to actually get anything done. The goal is to infuriate and exhaust people at the same time.

          Meanwhile the real players keep on steering the ship as they see fit.

      • It’s possible that the more multi-cultural a society becomes, the more such clownish behavior of public figures is a feature of civic life. It allows different ethnic groups to take pot shots at one another and mitigates any one group – ethnic or otherwise – feeling especially humiliated.

        Of course, our society has been none-to-subtly encouraged to debase ourselves as the morality of postmodern age has supplanted the morality of the prior culture. Anglo-dominant Heritage America and Europe valued decorum (see the lavish praise for Elizabeth II) but the new movers and shakers have tagged decorum as oppressive and opprobrious. Taking pride and care in one’s appearance and behavior is old-fashioned, nationalistic even, but taking care not to step on the toes of novel identity groups is the currency of the new realm.

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      • With respect, Dr Oz didn’t need to end up as a clown. At the risk of doxxing myself, maybe you will trust me that I ran across his path in school. That’s the bigger tragedy. Our system now takes people who could have been serious men and encourages them to be clowns (e.g. Oz) or turns them into clowns (e.g. Ted Cruz). Of course, they are responsible for their individual actions. But at a systemic level, it’s a failure.

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        • “But at a systemic level, it’s a failure.”

          It’s prostitution is what it is.

          I suppose that at least theoretically there could be such a person as a dignified whore, but Dr Oz and Ted Cruz don’t rise to that level, theoretical though it be.

      • I’m actually not surprised. Just look at the retards amongst us. The next time you’re out and about, take a few minutes to look around and observe.

        For instance, I’m in a car dealership waiting room and I see two retards wearing paper masks. There are probably 50 people in the room with customers and staff and no one is wearing a mask. Yet these people believe that a paper diaper is “keeping them safe”. The level of stupid has proven too much for me to handle at this point.

        This is why we have people like fetterman getting elected. This is why allowing retards to “vote” will never work in a healthy society.

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        • Dr. Lexus, “Hey brah, nothing to be ashamed of. You can lead a long and fruitful life being a ‘tard. My ex-wife’s a ‘tard. She’s a pilot now.”

          10
        • The number of young and in some cases not so young women voting this year because “Republicans want to take away your birth control” will be significant. In 2012, Obama tended to avoid even local news media in swing states and instead did interview with the local hip hop radio station in order to help his get out the vote operation. This certainly helped him edge out Romney in states like Ohio.

          4
          2
          • Fake news. Women want to make their own moral decisions like they want low SES suitors. Every woman short of the “I wanted to get pregnant just so I could have an abortion and feel it die” kind breathed a sigh of relief at the men finally taking back a “choice” she never wanted to have in the first place.

        • “For instance, I’m in a car dealership waiting room and I see two retards wearing paper masks. There are probably 50 people in the room with customers and staff and no one is wearing a mask. Yet these people believe that a paper diaper is “keeping them safe”. The level of stupid has proven too much for me to handle at this point.”

          I would like to think that maybe someday we can get back to the more “Asian” habit of wearing masks when you yourself are sick. It’s a courtesy to those around you that you wear one when you have a cold or flu, but still need to go out and do things. Nowadays though, I just assume they are idiots who think wearing a mask will make them immortal.

          4
          12
          • No. Masks are a dehumanizing tool that have no effect on the general spread of respiratory viruses. They pit people against each other, thus distracting from the real cause at hand.

            From Substack, German Covid contrarian Eugyppius had a good piece on Tuesday, Masks Are Not A Small Thing. If any of Z’s commenters think they’re the only ones who feel a disgust and hate when they see the masked, you can rest assured you’re not alone.

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            1
      • Is it me alone that finds the “Fetterwoman” comical because “fetter” means “to chain”? That was my first thought when I saw this slogan being unveiled.

        • Reminds me of this snippet from the Book pf Proverbs:

          “I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is nets and snares.”

          Don’t know why your post brought that to mind, but it did.

      • So how did these people navigate the talent show of candidate selection by the donors and party hierarchy prior to them being pushed out to the public?

        Its obviously intentional for some other reason.

        • “Its obviously intentional for some other reason.”

          That’s easy: humiliation. It is easier to oppress people who are humiliated and dispirited.

          • “That’s easy: humiliation. It is easier to oppress people who are humiliated and dispirited.”

            Jack Dobson wins teh innert00bz for Thursday, September 15, 2022.

    • Oh, Strokey was playing the role long before he hit the national stage. He was a minor celebrity in Pittsburgh, playing the Yinzer to rapturous applause by the local media outlets, who never failed to showcase the then mayor of Braddock at every opportunity as a true working class hero.
      That was the audition, and it led to Strokey being chosen as Lt. Governor in Tom Wolf’s Administration of Misfit Toys, who also gave the country the gift of Admiral Dick Levine.

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      • Fetterman looks like the illegitimate offspring of anton lavey and an ape. He looks like someone who would steal power tools out of your garage.

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          • Mulattos exist.
            As do quadroons and octoroons.
            One drop.
            Steal power tools out of your garage. Lol made my day.

        • ” He looks like someone who would steal power tools out of your garage.”

          Nailed it as far as appearance–that’s spot-on, but stealing is hard work for a dude like Strokey.

          Pennsylvania is a state that is a total enigma. It elects people who piss on them gleefully (“clinging to their guns..”). Then again, this seems to be a White trait.

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          • Pennsylvania makes more sense, politically, when you understand that the Democrat city machines of Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh control the state’s politics. The lack of talent in the Pennsylvania Republican Party, even before it morphed into the Vichy Party, was and is a problem. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have voted solidly Democrat since 1933, and that 90 years of electoral dominance has ensured no young, ambitious, or talented politician in Western Pennsylvania has ever joined the Republican Party, as it is a dead end. Why play for the political equivalent of the Pittsburgh Pirates when the only way to make it to The Show is through the Democratic Party?
            That talent drain means there is no populist politician from the rural counties of Pennsylvania who can literally come out of Penn’s Woods and represent the Dirt People. Hence, conservative Pennsylvanians get Dick Thornburgh, Tom Ridge, Pat Toomey…Vichy to the core.

            Pennsylvania is not an enigma if you think about it as an occupied territory, ruled by three city states in the east, center and west. The Whiskey Rebels were right.

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          • @PR:

            Given the United States as a whole is an occupied country now, that explanation at a state level makes perfect sense. Thanks. I still cannot wrap my head around folks voting for people who hate them, but I never conflated politics with religion like leftists do and the situation you described puts the Left and their enablers in the cat bird’s seat.

        • I’d never seen him before and someone on Fedi linked to a video I was like “cool, they got this guy who does roofing when he’s not strung out on pot to introduce the gubernatorial candidate…..why is he still talking and not introducing the candidate?”

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      • “That was the audition, and it led to Strokey being chosen as Lt. Governor in Tom Wolf’s Administration of Misfit Toys, who also gave the country the gift of Admiral Dick Levine.”

        STOP, okay?

        Just … don’t

        It’s cruel and unusual.

        Well, cruel, anyway.

        Now I’ll have that mental image in my head all day.

  28. It’s always amusing to see the people who take the moniker of a clown, and don’t have the self-awareness to realize they are a clown. Another example is Crenshaw’s schtick. He really believes himself to be this tough guy veteran who says things how they are, and consistently makes of fool of himself. The contrast is pretty stark when you have a person who is fully aware he is playing the clown, and still comes across more serious than the person he is mocking.

    It won’t be long before someone says point blank to his face that he wishes the IED finished him off, to riotous applause.

    Exhibit A: Alex Stein and Crenshaw, part deux
    https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX/status/1570214602482544641

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    • My first thought upon reading today’s essay was Stein’s work exposing these goofballs, particularly Eyepatch McCain. Alex isn’t likely on our side of the great divide but he’s doing a great job humiliating people who are very much our enemies, so kudos to him. His technique of accusing them of their nastiest misdeeds while simultaneously laughing in their face and giving them no chance to catch their breath and respond is really effective. In just the last few weeks he’s got both AOC and Eyepatch McCain to completely lose their cool. One of these days he’s going score a really big hit when he causes some carny or other to have a public meltdown.

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      • The fact Crenshaw thought it would redound to his benefit to post this clip speaks volumes. Eyepatch McCain apparently hasn’t gotten the memo that even conservatards are sick of the armed forces. We’ve lived to see Our Holy Military, led by Uncle Lloyd and Miss Milley, as loathed and despised as the rest of Clown World. Praise God.

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