Some thoughts on your "Independence" post: yes, you absolutely have the freedom to post anything you like, including stuff your audience doesn't want to hear. I respect you for it! I respect you far more than some Substackers I could mention, who started out really interesting and thoughtful but gave in to audience capture and now their comment threads are a cesspit.
With that said, on to criticizing you for your "Independence" post!
You said that you "hate" the United States, which, of course, you're free to do. Just, I disagree with it strongly. I became a U.S. citizen by choice as an adult, so naturally I'm coming from the standpoint of "the U.S. on net is more good than it is bad," so take that for what it's worth.
When you say you "hate" something/someone, that means you feel it is on net a bad thing/person, and you want it/them to fail. Hating Putin means "I think he's evil, I think he's made the world a worse place, and I'll dance a happy dance if I hear that he's had a fatal fall down a staircase."
Do you honestly want the United States to fail? I get that lots of countries (Canada, New Zealand, Western European countries) are much, much better than the U.S. in many ways: gun violence, health care, strong social safety net, less flagrant inequality, lower per capita CO2 emissions, etc. etc. But none of these countries have any chance of being a global hegemon the way the U.S. is. If the U.S. were to fall, what would you like to take its place?
a) no countries, no governments, a Post-Nationalist Workers' Utopia for All! --> HAHAHALOLNOPE
b) a One World Government, run by... um... uh... --> HAHAHALOLEVENMORENOPE
c) a global hegemon who is not the United States, so, realistically, China --> that will be brilliant for human rights and freedom of speech, I can tell
Boy, that Douthat article is so intense and feels so distinctly New York. I live in a fairly HCOL city and hang out with old friends from my (only top 30) college but there is nothing like that level of status-obsessed stuff happening in my life.
I don't know why Douthat continues to submit himself to the torture of being the shitrag NYT's token conservative. It inspires a feeling of pity in me, because I know he can do so much better.
https://youtu.be/baJ5LsCn358
He was one of those dogged old men who live in the past telling stories you don’t want to know/
About how it was then- the hunger, the hardship, the hopes and the struggles of so long ago/
And we must have looked bored for like sparks in the cinders his eyes glowed with anger, his words seemed to burn-/
He said “I will be heard, for my life is not over! I’ve something to say yet, and you’ve something to learn!”/
He said “You, who have nothing at all to believe in! You, whose motto is ‘Money comes first’!/
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted and all that we fought for has turned into dust…?/
I was only a lad when we read that in Russia the workers- the Soviets- had taken all power/
And the man they called Lenin who led them was our inspiration; his triumph was our finest hour/
And I’ll never forget how fear shook the wealthy like thieves who have just been caught out in their crime/
And we who’d known only war and the workhouse rejoiced that a new world was born in that time/
You can’t know what it meant and the pride that we felt to know working people, people like us/
Could shake off the shackles, could topple the palaces! Remake the world without ruler or boss!/
It was this kept us going, this dream of a new world, through all those dark years of defeat and despair/
While we who were proud to proclaim ourselves communists fought for a world free from hunger and fear/
It was ‘Down with the means test! The cuts to our wages! We want three pounds a week and a seven hour day!’/
And there wasn’t a thing that we had but we fought for it- don’t you know bosses give nothing away?/
The strikes and the marches, and the battles to beat off the bailiffs and coppers when hope was still young/
Hot heads and hot hearts as we tested our power; ‘The Workers Triumphant!’, that was our song!”/
For a time he was silent and lost in his memory, then but more softly his words came again/
“Perhaps we hoped for too much, perhaps the cost was too much; there are things I know now that I couldn’t know then/
We believed revolution was just round the corner and we were the vanguard to bring it about/
And the other left parties we classed as class traitors- bourgeois social fascists- of that we’ve no doubt!/
And then the times changed and we campaigned for the Popular Front- the old line might never have been/
But we led the workers in combatting fascism- Mosley in London and Franco in Spain…/
We believed we were history’s chosen, and Soviet Russia our future, our heart and our soul/
Their Five Year Plan was a vision of plenty for us who’d lived half of our lives on the dole/
Oh we knew of the trials and purges of course, and were shocked when we heard those old comrades confess/
But yes we defended the first worker state in the face of the slander and lies of the press!/
And you who have nothing at all to believe in! You, whose motto is ‘Money comes first’/
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted and all that we fought for has turned into dust…?/
You may think we were duped, well, we paid for our dream- broken lives, broken marriages, jobs lost in jail/
Some lost heart and left, some betrayed us for medals- there are always some turncoats whose souls are for sale/
But the best of us never surrendered our vision and we kept the faith through the bleakest defeats!/
Do you think that was easy, surrounded by hatred? The sneer of indifference? The hurt of deceit?
But our lives were made rich by the cause that we fought for, the friendship and fellowship, sharing one pain/
To transform society and end exploitation! That day will come yet but not in my time…”/
And again he was silent, and what could we tell him? That the world now was different, that he’d had his day?/
That an old man’s dreams were not our concern? But still there was something he wanted to say-/
“Now when I look back, I can see what we fought against- homelessness, hunger, injustice, and war/
But what did we fight for? What dream did we strive for? I used to know once, now I’m no longer sure…/
But you who have nothing at all to believe in! You, whose motto in ‘Money comes first’!/
Who are you to tell us that our lives have been wasted and all that we fought for has turned into dust…?”/
He was one of those lonely old men who live in the past, telling stories you don’t want to know/
About how it was then- the hunger, the hardship, the hopes, and the struggles of so long ago…/
Hi Freddie,
Some thoughts on your "Independence" post: yes, you absolutely have the freedom to post anything you like, including stuff your audience doesn't want to hear. I respect you for it! I respect you far more than some Substackers I could mention, who started out really interesting and thoughtful but gave in to audience capture and now their comment threads are a cesspit.
With that said, on to criticizing you for your "Independence" post!
You said that you "hate" the United States, which, of course, you're free to do. Just, I disagree with it strongly. I became a U.S. citizen by choice as an adult, so naturally I'm coming from the standpoint of "the U.S. on net is more good than it is bad," so take that for what it's worth.
When you say you "hate" something/someone, that means you feel it is on net a bad thing/person, and you want it/them to fail. Hating Putin means "I think he's evil, I think he's made the world a worse place, and I'll dance a happy dance if I hear that he's had a fatal fall down a staircase."
Do you honestly want the United States to fail? I get that lots of countries (Canada, New Zealand, Western European countries) are much, much better than the U.S. in many ways: gun violence, health care, strong social safety net, less flagrant inequality, lower per capita CO2 emissions, etc. etc. But none of these countries have any chance of being a global hegemon the way the U.S. is. If the U.S. were to fall, what would you like to take its place?
a) no countries, no governments, a Post-Nationalist Workers' Utopia for All! --> HAHAHALOLNOPE
b) a One World Government, run by... um... uh... --> HAHAHALOLEVENMORENOPE
c) a global hegemon who is not the United States, so, realistically, China --> that will be brilliant for human rights and freedom of speech, I can tell
d) Something else?
Conley's book is indeed a good introduction! Afterwards, one is ready for Geo. Kennedy's tomes on the subject.
Boy, that Douthat article is so intense and feels so distinctly New York. I live in a fairly HCOL city and hang out with old friends from my (only top 30) college but there is nothing like that level of status-obsessed stuff happening in my life.
I don't know why Douthat continues to submit himself to the torture of being the shitrag NYT's token conservative. It inspires a feeling of pity in me, because I know he can do so much better.
By the way - you probably already know by now, but Greenwald mentioned your excellent article about woke terminology on his show recently. Congrats!