This Blog: February 2017

I was in the elevator of a building where important people are known to frequent and I overheard an interesting conversation. Two men were talking about politics in a general way and one of them used the phrase “Cloud People.” In fact, he said “It is Cloud People versus the Dirt People and we will all have to choose sides.” The two men were unfamiliar to me and they did not have the look of important people. Although I have never been an important person, I have been in the same room with them and I can usually spot them.

I guess I was too obvious in my eavesdropping as it was clear to me they noticed I was listening, so I said, “I’m sorry, but I could not help but hear what you said. What did you mean by Cloud People?” The truth is, I don’t think anyone but me uses that term. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the whole Cloud People versus the Dirty People motif is my invention. But, you never know so that’s why I asked. That and I wanted to shift the focus from the fact I was listening to their conversation.

The guy who was doing the talking was quick to volunteer that he had picked up the phrase on Facebook from one of his friends, who he told me worked in politics. Why he volunteered the last bit is unclear, but my guess is he just assumes that’s the origin of the Cloud People stuff. Regardless, it was a funny moment for me. It is entirely possible that I have coined a phrase that is now getting some circulation in the wider world. These things have to start somewhere, but I’ve never put much thought into where or how they get going.

It did remind me that I have not posted a site update in a few months. In fact, it was back in November after the election. The readership keeps growing. According to the tool I use to estimate average monthly readership, I’m pushing 90,000 now, which is about ten percent increase since November. I’m never quite sure if that tool is correct, but it does seem to track with overall site traffic. In fact, traffic is way up setting daily records on a regular basis so maybe that’s why my pithy expressions are getting loose in the general public. I could be famous and not know it.

I am, of course, grateful that people take the time to read my posts and share them on social media. Facebook and Twitter continue to be big drivers of traffic. Gab is now starting to be a big source of traffic. Something I’ve noticed is I get a fair amount of links back to specific comments, meaning that part of the increase in traffic is the active and interesting comments here. I can’t help but notice that the volume of comments is way up too so that means more traffic and more new readers.

One thing I have noticed is that when I write about the Cloud People stuff, those posts get passed around a lot. This one broke a record for hits in a day. I thought it could be the Trump angle, but looking at the traffic numbers, the Cloud People/Dirt People topic is just more popular than I would have guessed. The great divide in America is never discussed in the popular press and even the hate thinkers tend to avoid it. My guess is the admonitions against class warfare from our betters is the reason few talk about it.

The plan going forward is more of the same. I have been looking at maybe doing a podcast or perhaps get on the GabTV ride. I listen to a lot of podcasts and internet radio, but I don’t know if I have the voice or the talent to actually do it. The video stuff has the advantage of being easy as the smart kids have worked out the technology to do it from a  phone or tablet. The downside is that all the ones I have seen look like hostage videos or really bad video dating examples. The result is I’m still mulling these options over.

The other bit of site news is I am working on a book. I’m looking at the self-publishing options mostly because I just want to see how it works, but also because I have no interest in dealing with publishers. I have a friend in the book game who says I am nuts and I’d have no trouble finding a publisher that would make the process simple. We’ll see about that, but I have to write the book first so that means I may stop posting on weekends in order to make time for the new project. We’ll see how that goes.

Otherwise, I thank everyone for reading and I’m grateful to those who pass the word and bring new readers into the fold via social media.

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Fred
Fred
7 years ago

I’ve told you this before and I’ll tell you again; Thank you for the free education.

Publish the book yourself – if we’re voting on it.

I see the terms cloud and dirt people around. Dude, you’re famous. Ha ha.

Continued success and God bless you.

Ivar
Ivar
Reply to  Fred
7 years ago

I hope you will stick with the written word. FWIW, I would buy your book in a heartbeat. Regarding Dirt People/Cloud People, I would have said, “Dirt People/Jumped-up Pretentious Pieces of Shit,” but it doesn’t scan.

Doug
Doug
Reply to  Fred
7 years ago

You got another customer Zman.
I’m sure you have a rich list of subjects, and in no doubt your critical thinking and observation skills deserve to get out there, but if your so inclined, write something about dirt people. If it is anything like your blog posts you will have a best seller.
In fact, I’ll bet dollars to donuts you have what it takes to write a masterpiece along the lines of or better than Professor Angello Codevilla’s ‘The Ruling Class and The Perils of Revolution’. You could be the Gary North of the dirt people.

Fred
Member
Reply to  Doug
7 years ago

If he writes a non fic i’ll buy it for sure. I hope it won’t be exclusive to kindle. No going there.

SamlAdams
SamlAdams
7 years ago

Use the “Cloud/Dirt” in conversation on a regular basis…living in the Cloud, but not being far removed from the Dirt, it is the most apt description I’ve come across. The term makes a lot of the recently arrived “Cloud” types here in NY very uncomfortable, they all want to un-remember any vestiges of their “dirt” past. That makes it all the more fun.

Doug
Doug
Reply to  SamlAdams
7 years ago

Here Here! Well said.

Member
Reply to  SamlAdams
7 years ago

I grew up as a dirt person. Poor, living in a remote part of northern Canada. I remember it well and I want to remember it …. so as to avoid slipping back down. I can’t say I live in the clouds, but rather something more like a gentle mist. Still grounded, but not sweating the rent.

Severian
7 years ago

I swiped “Dirt People / Cloud People” shamelessly (though usually with attribution!), and use them whenever I can… especially on campus, since it makes the Cloud People there squirm (Z Man, do we need a new name for the kind of person who is really really really invested in the idea that he’s a Dirt Person, but who is in fact the Cloud Person’s Cloud Person? For those of you who haven’t been in the ivory tower for a while, lots of the professoriate are utterly convinced that they’re ‘umble proles who spend their days uplifting their fellow Wretched of… Read more »

Larry Kephart
7 years ago

Your blog is the only place I’ve read the “Cloud People / Dirt People” term and it seems apt to me. The first time I saw the reference, I immediately thought of the Star Trek (original series) episode “The Cloud Minders”.

Matt Harris
Reply to  Larry Kephart
7 years ago

I thought it was a Star Trek reference as well.

Ganderson
Ganderson
Reply to  Matt Harris
7 years ago

Me three

Member
Reply to  Larry Kephart
7 years ago

Droxine remains one of the hottest women to appear in any Star Trek episode in any series…

John Derbyshire
Reply to  Larry Kephart
7 years ago

Cloud People / Dirt people; Goodwhites / Badwhites; Tutsis / Hutus; to clarify the message, we should settle on one style.

In fact the Alt Right badly needs a Style Book, like the ones newspapers have (used to have?) I still have a copy of the (London) Daily Mirror style book, edited by Keith Waterhouse. It’s a gem.

jim jones
Member
7 years ago

You`ll know you are famous when you get banned by Twitter

Jeannie
Jeannie
7 years ago

As a humble Dirt Person lodged in among the screaming horde of Cloud-ites (I live near UC Berkeley), thank heavens for your blog! This is where I come to breathe fresh air. The local SF newspaper overflows with shrill, snide vitriol against our sitting President. I once tried gently questioning the Pink Hats: but “did you _read_ the Podesta etc emails??” I am met with blank stares, and a sense that hostility might come my way. I have learned to keep my silence, or risk attack. The elevator conversation you overheard, a glimpse into a new common knowledge, fills me… Read more »

Ganderson
Ganderson
Reply to  Jeannie
7 years ago

I live near UMASS Amherst. Same story. My wife and I were out to dinner the other night and I asked ” xAm I the only Trump voter in this restaurant? I think you all know the answer.

orabilis
orabilis
Reply to  Ganderson
7 years ago

You’re just living in the wrong zip code. Wherever the state plants its “institutions of higher learning” there you will find the heavy force of group think and leftism in near lethal doses. It’s just a fact. Harvard, founded ca.1635, was intended as a school to instruct its students in the proper love of God, moral courage, and to prepare the clergy in their role of preserving the teaching of the Gospel among the citizenry. Tell that to Harvard graduates today, and they will likely spit in your face. Thankfully, “higher education” is localized. And “ordinary” Americans understand the evil… Read more »

Member
7 years ago

The cloud people/dirt people metaphor is brilliant and works because it is a double-double (quadruple?) entendre. As a proud dirt person (Scots-Irish American Redneck), I both appreciate my dirt reference (feet on the ground, salt of the earth, etc.) and scoff daily at the ethereal nothingness of the cloud peoples’ ridiculous utopian dreams. Contrawise, I assume that a clueless cloud person would, even if they sensed there was an implied insult (which there is), nevertheless be compelled to view the cloud reference as a compliment (soaring above and all that) and the “dirt” moniker would immediately play into their existing… Read more »

Aggie
Aggie
7 years ago

I was at a Boston Red Sox game once long ago, as a kid (cutting school) and I remember starting up one of those clap cycles – you know, clapping at 1 – second intervals to get something going besides trash talk. It caught, and swept across the ballpark, and pretty soon the whole place was clapping; It peaked and then died a natural death, as these things do – one of those giddy mundane experiences that never completely leaves you. Don’t kid yourself. It came from you, there’s an iron-grounded truth and a wicked perceptive quality to what you… Read more »

Wayne Parker
Wayne Parker
7 years ago

I first heard the terms “Cloud People” and “Dirt People” back in 1996 when I lived in Washington D.C. and a friend of mine was making the same observations you are regularly making today, i.e. the growing gap between the 99% of people who don’t live inside the Beltway and the 1% who are constantly advocating for constituencies or a policy of one kind of another, whether as their way of making a living or simply because they are passionate about a cause. Doesn’t matter if you’re discussing the NRA or AIPAC or Planned Parenthood, inside the Beltway it’s all… Read more »

Dutch
Dutch
Reply to  Wayne Parker
7 years ago

I find DC a creepy place. All this fancy stuff around, with no way to detect how it has been paid for (of course, we all know who paid for it). And then the people who work there mostly act like they own the place. In the immortal words of Obama, “you didn’t build that”.

Doug
Doug
Reply to  Dutch
7 years ago

It’s the ruling cloud’s safe place.

Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
Reply to  Doug
7 years ago

not for much longer

Doug
Doug

You know, your more right than that in fact. It looks like it is NOT there safe space now. They are so ignorant of the paradigm shift which has happened, they don’t know it, yet.

Member
7 years ago

Angelo Codevilla has written about this subject extensively. His formulation is Ruling Class vs. Country Class. This essay, penned in 2010, is a thorough examination of the topic. It is also disturbingly prophetic.

https://spectator.org/39326_americas-ruling-class-and-perils-revolution/

El Eff
El Eff
Reply to  Roy Lofquist
7 years ago

Roy L: Thanks for posting this. Much more of his stuff on the “Claremont.org” web site.

meema
Member
7 years ago

Oh, just a bunch of thumbs up – for everything. I’ve done the publishing thing – mostly retired. If you need any help just holler. There’s no downside to putting the manuscript out for review with the ‘real’ publishers. Depends on how much time you want to spend waiting for rejections. Best way in to mainstream is to know someone who knows someone. Nevertheless, it’s way different than it used to be – Plan b is to self publish and I can give you some tips on that. Just do it!

Dutch
Dutch
7 years ago

All the best to you and well earned. Keep in mind that a book is a statement. Once it is done, it stares back at you, rigid and unmoving. I say this because one of the very valuable aspects of this blog is that it moves, it evolves, and the give and take between the blogger and the commenters is a big part of the value of the thing. I am proud to think that, in some small way, I contribute to the value of the thing with my dribblings. Certainly I get insights from the commenters as well as… Read more »

Guest
Guest
7 years ago

Hands down, this is the best blog on the interwebs right now–clear thinking, well-informed, fact-based, reasoned analysis. In my book, the only competition you have is Kakistocracy. Keep it up, Z-Man. Be prepared for the consequences if you write a book. You will be outed, ostracized from polite public company, and quite probably fired from your job and rendered unemployable in the Corporatocracy. It’s a big step. There may be a second career for you as an erudite Ann Coulter type of writer. You and Ann probably agree on 95% of the issues, but she’s had to dumb down her… Read more »

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  Guest
7 years ago

Maybe not the highest compliment. I like Ann fine for what she is, but please remember her crushes on Romney and Christie. Too much tool and not enough rule.

Member
Reply to  james wilson
7 years ago

James, her crushes on those two served a purpose to me. They showed she is human and not a borg. If not for those failings, I’d wonder. Her wit and snark are precious to me. I’d argue, if you look at Trump’s platform, especially of immigration when he announced, that we might very well owe the rise , the final rise of Trump to her and her book Adios. I could be wrong , but I’d bet that Trump has read, and taken in all of her books actually. I’m with you though, when she talked about Christie and Romney… Read more »

Tony Petracelli
Tony Petracelli
Reply to  Uncle_Max
7 years ago

adnit it, you have entertained carnal scenarios involving Anne.

JP Van Dorn
JP Van Dorn
Reply to  Tony Petracelli
7 years ago

Yes, Yes I have.

james wilson
james wilson
Reply to  Uncle_Max
7 years ago

I’m not a critic of Coulter. Her contributions are unique and we need more. There are reminders everywhere how difficult it is to not be pulled away from first principles because the world of politics and personalities throws so much dust in the eye.

Brian-guy
Brian-guy
Reply to  james wilson
7 years ago

Ann is definitely not afraid to “walk towards the fire” that’s for certain. (RIP Andrew) That is a tremendously courageous woman. She has more courage than any Conservative politician that I can think of minus my President. Perhaps courage is contagious. We shall see, I’m cautiously optimistic.

Tony Petracelli
Tony Petracelli
Reply to  Guest
7 years ago

“Be prepared for the consequences if you write a book. You will be outed, ostracized from polite public company, and quite probably fired from your job and rendered unemployable in the Corporatocracy. ” thanks for the encouraging words, dick head.

Guest
Guest
Reply to  Tony Petracelli
7 years ago

Fuck you, asshole.

Z-man’s Mokita post alone is more than enough to get anyone fired from any corporate or government job and render him unemployable. I don’t make the rules, fuckface.

Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
Reply to  Guest
7 years ago

hahaha what would Zman do without you advising him on everything obvious! “look out Zman, don’t walk in front of that approaching bus, it will hurt if it hits you!” you kinsey 6 you

alzaebo
alzaebo
Reply to  Guest
7 years ago

I upvoted him cuz I saw that as a friendly “dick head”.

Al from da Nort
Al from da Nort
7 years ago

Thanks so much for the work it no doubt takes to come up with insightful ideas day after day. To me, the attraction of the Cloud/Dirt metaphor is that it organizes a lot of seemingly disparate though-threads into an easily apprehend-able framework: The ‘aha moment’. I remember thinking, “Wow, that’s it in a nutshell.” It is one of those thoughts that nobody could explain simply before hand and everybody thinks is obvious after they apprehend it. The cloud aspect of the old Star Trek episode fits well* but the dirt (i.e. miner) equivalent from that episode actually does** not, IIIC.… Read more »

Ganderson
Ganderson
7 years ago

You and Sailer are my first daily stops. Althouse next. Thanks for all you do. If you ever get to Western Mass I owe you a beer.

Fuel Filter
Fuel Filter
7 years ago

So glad to see the numbers on your traffic and the notoriety you have garnered! You deserve every damn bit of it. WRSA picked up on the Dirt vs. Cloud very early on as have other counter-culture sites. (Isn’t it horrible that we, who are now in a position of having to defend traditional  Judeo-Christian values, are in that “underdog” position?) Although the up and down votes from the comments sections don’t jibe with the traffic. Wonder why? They should be far higher. (Please note, I’m not disputing your numbers. Just a curiosity.) Not that I read it any longer,… Read more »

Doug
Doug
Reply to  Fuel Filter
7 years ago

Sneeky Trolls voting.

eskyman
Member
Reply to  Fuel Filter
7 years ago

Zman, check out Castalia House; their books are available through their own website, hard & soft cover, and on Amazon. (Maybe more, that’s just off the top of my head.) Also- I. Want. To. Buy. Your. Book.

http://www.castaliahouse.com/

eskyman
Member
Reply to  eskyman
7 years ago

Also Zman, here’s John C. Wright talking about what makes a good editor on Vox Day’s site, that you may find of interest:

http://voxday.blogspot.com/2017/02/in-praise-of-moi.html

Sam J.
Sam J.
Reply to  eskyman
7 years ago

You would fit right in there and it might make a great book into a best seller.

James LePore
Member
7 years ago

I have been hoping a book was coming. I wish you many quiet and productive weekends.

Member
7 years ago

Zman – Been meaning to chime in every time you do one of these posts. I have some technical insight for you, really low-hanging fruit that’s very worthwhile. You may be well aware of all this—others will learn something either way. First, a simple change to your site would have a dramatic effect on visibility long-term: Semantic URLs. For example yesterday’s post would look something like thezman.com/wordpress/somewhere-eichmann-smiles. This is a simple flip of a switch in WP settings. Easily configurable with dates, categories, or other data if desired. URLs contain SEO data of top-level importance, up there with and the… Read more »

Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

Settings > General > Site Address (URL)

^^ To change the nominal ‘directory’ (or lack thereof) shown in link text / URL.

Settings > Permalinks > Common Settings

^^ To change URL-writing rules.

Easy breezy!

Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

Blocking most IPs from Asia… kind of genius in its simplicity. Can’t believe it never crossed my mind. I just did a cursory search and the top results are all saying the same thing basically. I’m going to do it now. It’s amazing how much web form spam I get from Asia. Even more amazing that Google + Akismet fail to catch so much of it.

Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

That’s great, thank you.

Hell since you’re on Apache and comfortable editing .htaccess, the things I suggested will be child’s play for you. Could do 301 redirects and/or rewrites if anything doesn’t behave as expected.

Member
7 years ago

Good luck with the book Z. One of the questions on which way to go with it will be will it be a one-off, or the first in a series.. heh. Love the blog and the clarity of thought you write and in the comments. Z, you write well enough, I’d enjoy historical fiction from you too,… you are creative and appear to me to have a good grasp of life, so… you never know. Anyhow, good luck. I can’t imagine how you write as much as you do here, and then to be writing a book on the weekends…… Read more »

Member
Reply to  Uncle_Max
7 years ago

Wow, I really wished you good luck , like 3 times in there! Sad!

Rich Whiteman
Rich Whiteman
7 years ago

You definitely introduced the terms, and I hear them more an more outside the ‘net too. It is the most concise way of describing the current situation that has come along!
It’s fun watching you grow. Thanks, and good luck.

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

My friends and I in the contracting world like the blog, and totally buy the Cloud/Dirt People construct. No where is it as obvious as it is in the Capital City of the Empire.

Doug
Doug
7 years ago

When you first wrote about the dirt people and cloud people Zman it sure hit a cord in me. I feel nothing exemplifies what is going on, for me as a dirt person as, as this. With that one thing, dirt people, you destroyed the disenfranchise us dirt people have endured too long. You shattered the bigotry and hate the clouds have for us. Maybe or maybe not somebody else coined it before you, but nobody defined like you. That’s everything in my book. What you said also made me feel proud and my life and activities as a dirt… Read more »

Clark Cooper
Clark Cooper
7 years ago

Consider Castalia House, where Vox Day is an editor, as an alternative to self publishing.

jbaxter
jbaxter
Reply to  Clark Cooper
7 years ago

I second Vox and Castalia House. Worth checking out.

Tony Petracelli
Tony Petracelli
Reply to  Clark Cooper
7 years ago

voxday has commented on — and linked to — at least one zman article.

Phoenix
Phoenix
7 years ago

Zman…I’ve only seen the sky vs the earth people on your blog….and I have to admit that I used the terms in a political discussion with my wife. She immediately stopped me mid-sentence at the time for a “translation” for dirt/cloud people. When she asked where I’d heard it and I explained, she loved it! The descriptions are succinct, accurate, and pragmatic, considering the present cultural context. Keep them coming, and write that book! We both look forward to it…

Richard Whitney
Member
7 years ago

Zman…I enjoy your blog immensely, and I retweet it often. I am happy but not completely surprised that your Cloud/Dirt coinage is gaining currency. Brand it! Sell a T-shirt or hat with “Member: Dirt People”
I have wanted to start my own blog for about 2 years now. I think I am a pretty good writer, and editor. But you often express the same thoughts I have, on the same topics I consider, and you do it regularly and so eloquently, it is somewhat intimidating.

White hat
White hat
Reply to  Richard Whitney
7 years ago

Do it, you could always do a sailer and fill it in with – cut/paste/comment if you get a little light on inspiration.

LetsPlay
LetsPlay
Member
7 years ago

I too will add both my thanks and congratulations to you, Zman, for your hard work, and success. One can tell you really enjoy doing this and I hope the enjoyment only increases. I would also like to thank the many commenters on your site. The content and contributions here are definitely a “cut-above” the rest in the blogosphere. The range of comments from folks with technical and medical backgrounds, business people, lawyers, care givers, manufacturer’s, traveler’s, well, the diversity is awesome and very educational. Simply put, I learn so much and I enjoy learning about all kinds of things.… Read more »

Member
7 years ago

I’ve been using the Cloud People – Dirt People model since I read it here, both in conversation and in various posts.. It has terrific power of explanation.

Here’s an interesting observation. When I talk to people, especially my Trump volunteers, the Dirt People grasped it without requiring a single word of explanation. The few Cloud People I used the model with had to have it explained. Then they rejected it.

SamlAdams
SamlAdams
7 years ago

Book? Yes!

Cederq
Cederq
Member
7 years ago

I too am a recent viewer of your blog and one of the first to read in the morn’ You always have a informative view and take on current events. A book would be a nice addition to your repertoire.

John Rivers
John Rivers
7 years ago

You should definitely write a book.

notsothoreau
notsothoreau
7 years ago

I see your blog linked on Lew Rockwell fairly frequently and I know the Diplomad reads it as well. I’ve seen some phrases similar to Cloud People/Dirt People, but I have always thought the phrase originated here. Maybe you’ll be like the Flight 93 post guy and get a gig with the Trump Administration 😉

Doug
Doug
Reply to  notsothoreau
7 years ago

Hell ya. 🙂
Henry Dampier wrote a piece called ‘About the Corporate Slave Class’. He doesn’t come out and say dirt people, but it is a sublime rich indictment on the clouds. I read it frequently, it grounds the provincial dirt person in me.
http://www.henrydampier.com/2015/04/about-the-corporate-slave-class/

Xennady
Xennady
Reply to  Doug
7 years ago

Thanks for that link, Doug.

And thanks for sharing your writings with the world, Zman. It’s become a regular stop for me.

Doug
Doug
Reply to  Xennady
7 years ago

Your very welcome.

Sluf
Sluf
7 years ago

Well I started reading your blog daily back in late October, once I say it featured a bunch of time on Doug Ross @Journal. It has become an absolute every day read for me. Please keep up the great work. If you write a book I’m gonna want an autographed copy. (Providing you actually do the dead tree thing with it.)

Roulf
Roulf
7 years ago

The phrase certainly captured my attention. After following a link in a comment section to this site I became a regular reader last year. The first reference to the Cloud People I see from ZMan is from back in early 2015 when he gave his initial descriptive overview. Good reading for those who may have missed it.

“The global elites are the cloud people. They float above us, detached from language, culture and history…”

http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=3689

Doug
Doug
7 years ago

Tell you what dirt person means. It began in the spring, all through the summer working in the garden, tending the critters, after reading about us dirt people, i wore bare feet like when we where little, it some how felt good to these old bones, that connection to the dirt, it seemed proper. Plant potatoes…dirt people, plant peas and bean, set onion rows, tend the tomatoes, feel the dirt between the toes walking along the rows guiding the seeder planting cane and the great food and other makings that it promised. My farmer neighbor and best friend asks me… Read more »

eskyman
Member
Reply to  Doug
7 years ago

Carrots taste a lot different when you’ve grown them from seed you’ve planted, watered & tended them, kept the critters off of ’em, and then finally! You get to pull one out of the ground, brush the dirt off, and bite a chunk off. It hardly needs chewing, and just bursts into your mouth like technicolor. Oh man!

Closest taste to heavenly that I’ve ever encountered. Thanks for bringing that memory back, Doug.

I’ve been living in the city for too damn long!

LetsPlay
LetsPlay
Member
Reply to  eskyman
7 years ago

Same goes for home grown beef steak tomato’s or jalapeno pepper’s. My Dad would grow some that were so hot, your fingers would tingle just from touching them. And the taste … phenomenal!

Doug
Doug
Reply to  LetsPlay
7 years ago

I’ll bet your Pop put the chicken manure to them peppers. That makes them peppers, and garlic real hot. Hey, next time he grows those peppers, take them and remove the seeds and stems, puree them bad boys it your blender, then get a half gallon mason jar, put those that pepper mash in it with some sea salt, leave the lid on just enough to let the pressure out while it ferments. Takes 1-2 months. Give it a shake once in awhile. You will have the best pepper sauce in the world. And about 80%+ of the heat goes… Read more »

Doug
Doug
Reply to  eskyman
7 years ago

Oh ya, you said it, heaven, fresh peas right out of the pod! Candy. Ever bite into an ear of corn the second you pick it? Or a cantaloupe picked on the spot? Beautiful. A neighbor traded me cane seeds for some real Tabasco pepper seeds. Randy has an old cane squeezer we resurrected, we planted it late, but managed to realize 15 gals of cane juice, and an incredible 24 gals of seeds for next year. But that cane juice, oh lord it is like a milk, super sweet with a green earthy taste. We boiled it down like… Read more »

El Eff
El Eff
7 years ago

FWIW, your post on 5 March 2016 entitled “The Master’s Servants” is the one that “did it” for me. IMHO you should repost that one every now and then as it conceptualizes the current situation to a T. And of course, congratulations on your success. I look forward to reading your stuff every day.

random observer
Member
7 years ago

Well I have only been here less than a year but I can’t say I heard the terms Cloud People and Dirt People anywhere before that, or really on most or any other similarly-minded blogs I visit. Unless directly citing this site, maybe. So I’ve always thought of it as a Zman coinage. It’s a useful one, though, so great if it’s becoming a meme. Beyond that, certainly looking forward to this site going from strength to strength. Some days it soothes my soul. Like today. It’s hard to defend a DJT press conference in general or argue against the… Read more »

Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
7 years ago

Wear one of those V For Vendetta masks (Gguy Fallkes’ face) then the voice will naturally be muffled.

will you be auditioning a side kick?

Trimegistus
Trimegistus

Better yet: wear a Burger King mask.

Ganderson
Ganderson

I’ll audition. I’ll be Steele to your Grace

Doug
Doug

A pepe mask. That would fry some brains. Can you say instant noteriety?

White hat
White hat
7 years ago

I like this blog because Z has such sensible and clear perspectives which draw on history and culture. Also gets the comments are part of the blog not a necessary evil and clearly sees himself as one of the dirt people which I really appreciate. Also the commenters listen and reply in a spirit of comradary without the usual scoring of point and trying to get over on each other.

When I heard the terms cloud / dirt people I thought of Goethe’s poem Prometheus….to the cloud people (who really were gods) he said ,Du mich beneidest’

http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/goethe-prometheus-from-german.html

ArtHouseForOurHouse
ArtHouseForOurHouse
7 years ago

If you’re headed for the big time, get a copy editor. Every post has at least one typo, missing word or syntax problem that is difficult to explain when I print and send to my mother.

Brian-guy
Brian-guy
7 years ago

No. You’re not allowed to stop posting on the weekends. 7 days a week is mandatory with an 8th post doubled up in there somewhere. We folks in Wisconsin have had a long running nickname for our mostly unwelcome neighbors to the south. (IL) FIBs. Fuckin Illinois Bastards. 25 plus years ago behind the wheel of my semi somewhere down around Stoney Island I’ve got dickheads mouthing off on the cb. So at that moment and totally off the cuff I come up with FISH. Fuckin Illinois Shit Heads. Sorry Al!! : ) That apparently circulated enough to get back… Read more »

soapweed
soapweed
7 years ago

Sir: thanks for your thoughts, writing and a willingness to share them with us. As far as the concept of “dirt people, I need to git the wranglers off which are splattered with green alfalfa calf projectiles which in time will turn into quite fertile dirt. LOVE being involved in the dirt manufacturing process. Calves also produce
“clouds” but they are quite aromatic…….Soapweed

MadMax1861
MadMax1861
7 years ago

I thought I started hearing the terms “Cloud People” and “Dirt People” after the movie “Elysium” came out a few years ago. I came to this blog after seeing your blog posts on “The Burning Platform”.

Paha poika
Paha poika
7 years ago

Eloi and Morlocks
Elysians and Earthlings
And now Cloud People and Dirt People.

A nice updated term for the conflict between the ruling class and the rest of us 🙂

Love the blog, please keep writing and look forward to the book

Doug
Doug
Reply to  Paha poika
7 years ago

comment image

Matt
Matt
7 years ago

Self publishing is the way to go. Amazon in particular has made it quite easy.

A.T. Tapman (Merica)
A.T. Tapman (Merica)
Member
7 years ago

Hi Z, congrats on your success and may you continue to succeed. The Zblog has been my first stop of the day for the past couple of years. The cloud/dirt thing is a stroke of brilliance and also rolls from the tongue like warm honey. Write the book and prepare to be outed, I was outed and survived by refusing to apologize having “good size” and little patience for fools. Keep in mind those who thrive on exposing different-thinkers are usually quite easy to physically intimidate, and this adds to the fun.

CaptDMO
CaptDMO
7 years ago

For SOME reason, my first “mental image” of cloud/dirt people, as I first read here, was of the nice folks in the movie “Zardoz”.
Of COURSE it’s firmly implanted in my brain now, with the exception of unrelated “cloud people”
whose entire essence is ensconced in their co-dependent relationship with their “smart” phone.

Member
7 years ago

To offer yet more unsolicited advice, this time on content, I think a revision of your Mokita page, or simply a less prominent placement in your site, would be a good thing. I’ve been reading you every day for well over a year and I think there’s some stuff in there that doesn’t reflect your outlook very well. Perhaps I’m way off base and it does so perfectly but either way the summarized nature of it gives a very abrasive introduction to you. Then again, shit, maybe that filter is the key to the uniquely amicable commenters. Some of it… Read more »

RWinNoVA
RWinNoVA
Reply to  tamaleman
7 years ago

With me it’s a toss up; either this site or the weather first thing each morning. Glad to see the well-deserved increase in traffic. Reading through the comments about spam it struck me that you rarely have trolls – a blessing. I enjoy reading the regular commenters, too. Thanks for what you do. Write the book(s). Best regards, R

Backwoods Engineer
Reply to  tamaleman
7 years ago

tamaleman, time to check your biases. You may have cloud-people sympathies. If you know lesbians and homosexuals– and I have since high school– you know this to be true. You know gay men are mostly jerks who are unhappy except when they are getting some (was told by one that “it’s really all about the sex, nothing else”). You know lesbian women either dress like men or like women who dress like men, and that they are unhappy. The whole point of Z-man’s Mokita post, as I read it, was to state certain truths that must not be mentioned in… Read more »

Ishmael
Ishmael
7 years ago

Your blog, and James Lafonds site are read first, before breakfast even! My stomach usually comes first.

Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
Solomon Honeypickle, proud octaroon
Reply to  Ishmael
7 years ago

call me

Ishmael
Ishmael
7 years ago

I started using it after I read your first blog, what a spot on term!

Matt
Matt
7 years ago

Zman, seeing some writing on NeoLibCons recently. How would you differentiate Cloud People from NeoLibCons?

Doug
Doug
Reply to  Matt
7 years ago

If you can stomach it, read Bill Kristol and his Weekly Standard, always best to know ones enemy.

Tony Petracelli
Tony Petracelli
Reply to  Doug
7 years ago

fukk bill kristollnacht, the alchy shithead.