“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Meet the Liberal Elite
Here's a nice little video sent to us by brickbt. Hotmail put it in our spam and we nearly missed it
"We made a big mistake in the sixties thinking the hippies and counter-culture were just a bunch of drug addled freaks. We missed our opportunity to cleanse them."
And here I thought you were a semi-sane human being, Blue.
I'm disappointed.
The hippies grew up, went to work for IBM, bought station wagons and homes in the suburbs, and looked back on their tie-dye days with amusement.
What do we have for a counter-culture now?
We don't. And it's really rather a shame. Especially since there were elements of libertarianism contained within it.
What we have are sprawling Stepford Villages, big box stores, and reality TV.
Speaking of which, I assume no one else here is experiencing the...hmmmm...odd occurrence of having visions from their dreams appear in freeze-frame on the television.
"One of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left out side."
"Exclusion is no accident; it is the essence."
“As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left.
Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain."
I have to agree with Trish. Some of Deuce's comments lately have been a little over the top.
The problem is, with him being an international man of mystery, one doesn't know when he is joking, using hyperbole, or has succumbed to the pressure and gone bat-fuck crazy like some of the cats he attempts to herd here.
Sorry I confuse with my attempt at dry irony in my bemused but askance view of the world... I will try and tread further with a slightly adjusted tone.
In person, I laugh more than I scowl. I am confident but self deprecating. I enjoy the twists and turns of events big and small and amused at our collective and transparent pettiness.
I have a dimpled smile and expressive eyes that when absent from my comments are missed. Maybe I should reconsider emoticons?
In person, I laugh more than I scowl. I am confident but self deprecating. I enjoy the twists and turns of events big and small and amused at our collective and transparent pettiness.
I have a dimpled smile and expressive eyes that when absent from my comments are missed. Maybe I should reconsider emoticons?
Damn. There's no way around it. You just gotta love this guy.
gotta luv straw men - makes you feel so good when you knock 'em down.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Pelosi and Co are for self-determination and transparency in Govt
ReplyDeleteWe'll find that out after they get all their reams of laws and regulations passed.
"We'll have to pass the bill(s) so we can find out what's in it"
"We made a big mistake in the sixties thinking the hippies and counter-culture were just a bunch of drug addled freaks. We missed our opportunity to cleanse them."
ReplyDeleteAnd here I thought you were a semi-sane human being, Blue.
I'm disappointed.
The hippies grew up, went to work for IBM, bought station wagons and homes in the suburbs, and looked back on their tie-dye days with amusement.
What do we have for a counter-culture now?
We don't. And it's really rather a shame. Especially since there were elements of libertarianism contained within it.
What we have are sprawling Stepford Villages, big box stores, and reality TV.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, I assume no one else here is experiencing the...hmmmm...odd occurrence of having visions from their dreams appear in freeze-frame on the television.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't need to tell you what the vision was, do I?
ReplyDeleteThe silence is maddening. And predictable.
Bob could at least do me the favor of spitting out a cryptic poem in response.
"Especially since there were elements of libertarianism contained within it."
ReplyDeleteAlso authoritarianism, hatred, violence, and self-loathing.
But I digress.
"One of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left out side."
ReplyDelete"Exclusion is no accident; it is the essence."
“As long as you are governed by that desire you will never get what you want. You are trying to peel an onion: if you succeed there will be nothing left.
Until you conquer the fear of being an outsider, an outsider you will remain."
CS Lewis
The Inner Ring
I'm having the experience of having my daughter jump through my dreams on horseback.
ReplyDelete:)
when she was young
ReplyDeletejust a philly
she made the old man go nuts
quite silly ---
how's that?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteQuirk said...
.
I have to agree with Trish. Some of Deuce's comments lately have been a little over the top.
The problem is, with him being an international man of mystery, one doesn't know when he is joking, using hyperbole, or has succumbed to the pressure and gone bat-fuck crazy like some of the cats he attempts to herd here.
Doug on the other hand...well...
Doug is Doug.
.
ReplyDeletehow's that?
I'd like my money back.
.
.
ReplyDeleteCS Lewis
The Inner Ring
Sounds like something he would have Aslan saying.
.
Sorry I confuse with my attempt at dry irony in my bemused but askance view of the world... I will try and tread further with a slightly adjusted tone.
ReplyDeleteIn person, I laugh more than I scowl. I am confident but self deprecating. I enjoy the twists and turns of events big and small and amused at our collective and transparent pettiness.
I have a dimpled smile and expressive eyes that when absent from my comments are missed. Maybe I should reconsider emoticons?
No, you mostly know how to handle me.
don't need to tell you what the vision was, do I?
ReplyDeleteYes.
.
ReplyDeleteIn person, I laugh more than I scowl. I am confident but self deprecating. I enjoy the twists and turns of events big and small and amused at our collective and transparent pettiness.
I have a dimpled smile and expressive eyes that when absent from my comments are missed. Maybe I should reconsider emoticons?
Damn. There's no way around it. You just gotta love this guy.
.
"Also authoritarianism, hatred, violence, and self-loathing."
ReplyDeleteBut mostly they were just goofy sonsofbitches.
Ayn Rand wrote a piece on Woodstock that I couldn't bear to read now.
Contra Rand, it was an effing, open-air rock concert with a lot of drugs and grimy young people.
It was not the beginning of the end of western civilization.
On another note, Aslan my friend: Get what I want?
Get what I want?!
Insert howls of laughter.
And only a talking lion would lecture a seasoned outsider on outsider-dom. I wouldn't know the inside if it bit me in the ass.
But I assume you're addressing me.
It was the colloseum in Rome.
ReplyDelete(I rather shudder to think about it - fraught, it is - though the dream itself was...not unpleasant.)
I've spelled it three ways now and still can't get it right.
I'll be damned if I'm looking it up.
Go ahead. Say it.
I'm going bat-shit insane.
Except I don't think I am.
.
ReplyDeleteInsider.
Outsider.
Doesn't matter to an Adept of the Rosy Cross.
Your money is good here.
.
I never did like Ayn Rand. But it's Deuce's blog.
ReplyDeleteI like Evelyn Underhill a hell of a lot better.
And Melody of course.
And strawberries.
ReplyDeleteI'm eating some strawberries.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOn the Wenaha
ReplyDeleteWhere the eagles
Eat well
I came on the true ease of myself
It wasn't Detroit
It wasn't Philly
It wasn't Ayn Rand
It was all by myself
.
ReplyDeleteOn the Wenaha...
I came on the true ease of myself...
It was all by myself
Keep it on the Wenaha Bob.
Pee Wee Herman got busted for that shit.
.
Tonight features a Christmas song by The waitresses
ReplyDeleteC'mon…every one sing along. It has nothing to do with the bottle of wine I just drank.
"I have a dimpled smile and expressive eyes that when absent from my comments are missed. Maybe I should reconsider emoticons?"
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should just flip little blue picture of yours and all will be answered.
"Maybe you should just flip little blue picture of yours and all will be answered."
ReplyDeleteThat'd be one helluva picture.
Questions. I've got questions.
Mostly I'm just smart enough not to ask.
On the Wenaha...
ReplyDeleteI came on the true ease of myself...
It was all by myself
Keep it on the Wenaha Bob.
Pee Wee Herman got busted for that shit.
Honest to God you are a demented man - just as I first expected.....
Nice music, Melody.
Quirk jerks off in prison.
ReplyDeleteQuirk laughs for three or four hours about some poor kids in iron lungs.
ReplyDeleteQuirk thinks he's a big hot shot.
ReplyDeleteHe tried to put Allen down, a better man by far than he.
Quirk tries to advertise himself.
ReplyDeleteHe took classes in that, you know.
Quirk couldn't change the oil in my combine.
ReplyDeletegood nite
Thank you for the music, Melody.
.
ReplyDeleteJeez-o-peet Bobbo.
Don't hold back. Tell us what you really think.
:)
.
That IS what I really think.
ReplyDeleteYou spewed your white stuff over my little pome, you son bitch.
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ReplyDeleteThe true artist cares little for what critics think or say. He creates his work for his own satisfaction.
I had expected a little witty repartee in response. A jest, some light banter. Instead you give me a vindictive scree.
Disappointing on a number of levels.
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