Creative. Destruction

The mass freak-out following upon the election of The Donald to the highest office in the land continues unabated to this very day and hour. It’s been a little more than ten months; you’d have thought that the Hillary fans and the Bernie bros would have gained a bit of perspective, even a soupçon of philosophical acceptance. All contests, except for those held for elementary school-aged children where everyone gets a participation trophy, have winners and losers. But the political loss of the Dowager Duchess of Chappaqua to Donald Trump would appear to be the very first time that her loyal courtiers have ever experienced a tragedy of that magnitude, and so animus against Donald Trump and the people who voted for him continues unabated; loud, proud, 24-7 and ever more unhinged. (I’ve written before about this, here at Chicagoboyz and at NCO Brief.) It’s kind of hard to tell who the Hillary-adoring glitterati, entertainers, intellectuals and bureaucrats hate more; Donald Trump or the regular Joes and Josies who voted for him. And it’s not just the Trump-hate, but the continuing, relentless social justice warrior posturing about everything from gay marriage, transsexual privilege, to members of the black urban underclass having an unfortunately terminal encounter with the forces of law’n’order. It’s all become quite exhausting, even keeping track of who is supposed to be outraged by what.

This kind of hate and uncertainty can’t be good for a person, you know, but I’ll leave those people consumed by such feelings to worry about the condition of their own souls. Nothing I can do, write or say about the unwise and rampant politicization of practically everything will likely have any long effect on them … but there is one manner in which my actions, and the actions of others may already be having noticeable effects – and that is via the pocketbook.

Yes, we do not have to watch their movies, TV shows, or football games, or listen to their radio shows. We do not have to purchase comic books, regular books without illustrations, their magazines or newspapers. We do not have to purchase the cable package with ESPN or any other specialty channel, pay tuition to certain universities, attend their concerts or sign up for science fiction conventions which have been consumed from the inside by such politicization. Increasingly over the last months, and likely, the last few years – ordinary consumers of the right-of-center political and social persuasion are doing just that; turning off and dropping out. Look at the drop-off in movie attendance. The push for comic books to be trendily ‘woke’ and diverse – that looks to be affecting the market and not in a good way. The long-established and once-respected Worldcon science fiction convention looks to be spiraling the drain after the Sad Puppies fiasco. And now with the whole NFL ‘taking the knee’ during the national anthem, which has opened a new front in the cold civil war, and may very well take down the NFL into irrelevance. The usual perpetrators of jamming political correctness into every possible smidgeon of an opening may go on insisting that it is just, right and salutary to do so, and that they aren’t taking a hit from the audience because of it.

But the point of the matter is – the large part of an audience for a sports event, a movie, a book, a tv series or a comic – just want a bit of amusement, an enjoyable escape from the mundane and are resenting the heck out of getting a lecture instead. Ordinary people do not live, eat and breath social justice or political causes twenty-four hours in a day. By these stories linked and others too numerous to mention, I suspect they are tired beyond toleration of being hectored, lectured and beat about the head by those who do, and are voting with pocketbook. Your thoughts?

24 thoughts on “Creative. Destruction”

  1. Scott Adams made some amusing observations in his Periscope on Sunday … https://www.periscope.tv/ScottAdamsSays/1gqGvOolZMjJB?

    The kicker is that we’ve got people who see The Donald as an evil dictator, and they’re protesting said evil dictator … by kneeling.

    Now, most people would protest an evil dictator on their feet, and kneeling usually demonstrates reverence (ask the Catholics who become one with kneelers). So, people are protesting an evil dictator by giving him reverence? You just can’t make this stuff up :)

  2. Sooner or later you run out of things to abstain from.

    Sooner or later we kick the bastards in the teeth and tell them: no more. Or we lose it all, on our watch.

  3. Well, that’s the other part of it, Phil – supporting and investing in those creative or entertainment endeavors which do not routinely kick us in the teeth. Indy publishing is doing that in a big way, for starters.

  4. Scott Adams is a treasure. I began to read Dilbert years ago.

    Trump is a bit of a blowhard but he is on my side and I can tolerate quite a bit.

    I am rereading Pat Buchanan’s Nixon’s White House Wars., and it is delightful.

    I try to keep multiple books going at the same time. I have that one on Kindle and highly recommend it. The section I was reading last night was about Agnew and Buchanan and their war on the media. Buchanan loved Agnew and they had a lot of fun. Nixon protected them from the White House lefties and enjoyed their scrapes with the Media, which he hated.

    Sadly, Agnew finally got tripped up by stuff he did as Governor of Maryland.

    Agnew had accepted payments from contractors during his time as a Maryland official, and the payments had continued into his time as vice president. After denying his guilt for months, Agnew negotiated a plea agreement that would involve his resignation from office. On October 10, 1973, Agnew pled no contest to a single felony charge of tax evasion, resigned his office, and was replaced by House Minority Leader Gerald Ford. Agnew spent the remainder of his life quietly, rarely making public appearances, and wrote a novel and a memoir defending his actions. He died in 1996.

    Lyndon Johnson was basically a creature of Brown and Root , which funded all his campaigns and was rewarded with massive government contracts. including Vietnam bases and the Johnson Space Flight Center. But he was a Democrat.

    Buchanan was at Agnew’s funeral in 1996. He was one of very few.

    The media and the Democrats (and FBI) finally got to Nixon and Agnew and we have had to wait for Trump.

  5. Amazing to think that 20 years ago there was universal derision towards an NBA player who refused to stand for the anthem, including (even especially) from Muslim groups. Now we have Army veterans being forced to apologize for standing. Down is up, up is down.

    I believe ESPN was at the forefront of urging Mizzou to commit institutional suicide a couple of years ago. I don’t think they’ve ever shown the slightest bit of introspection or regret for the massive damage they helped cause.

    It seems that most sports reporters today don’t actually like sports, and wish they were political commentators. Given the events of the past week, the slightest tinge of attraction for pro sports I have is gone (I had mostly drifted away since almost all sports is on cable nowadays, and I don’t want to pay their crazy fees, plus as an adult with kids I have far more important things to do on weekends). I look at them all like pro wrestling, a silly diversion left in the past.

  6. plus as an adult with kids I have far more important things to do on weekends).

    Friends of mine in Tucson raised three boys who are terrific and one thing they did was stop all TV.

    They had TV for video games but that was limited. The boys used to love to come over to our house as we had TV but that was twice a month.

  7. The 60’s called. They wanted their decade back until they’d seen what we had done to it. Those pot smoking, dipshit, bananarama good time goobers could not credit even to Orwell what we have allowed to “evolve.”

    Given my color, my religion, my ancestry, my, for the love of God, my very toes, I am trapped in a no-Xi’s land of users with nary a producer to be seen.

    Interesting times in which we live, if we survive these interesting times.

    Oh, given my pedigree, I will kneel before the throne of God and not before.

  8. > It seems that most sports reporters today don’t actually like sports,

    Funny, that. I also get the impression that many religious leaders don’t believe in G*d. The Episcopal Church hierarchy, for instance.

  9. “I look at them all like pro wrestling, a silly diversion left in the past.”

    After watching Harvey Levin interview Hulk Hogan the other night I have a newfound appreciation for wrestlers. At least they appreciate their audience and understand what they’re there to do.

    I was souring on pro football anyway because defense is no longer allowed. All the rules now are designed to ensure Tom Brady passes for 300 yards per game until he’s well into his 50s. And all the linemen should have plenty of practice taking a knee since they spend most of the game doing not a whole lot.

    I still like baseball. Unlike all these publicly financed football stadiums and special legal exemptions for football teams, the Cubs had to pay for the renovations to their ballpark themselves. They also fought legal battles for years against neighborhood yahoos. The owners are Republicans.

  10. “The 60’s called. They wanted their decade back until they’d seen what we had done to it.”

    Decade? We took over, and your precious god worshiping country is not too far from end of it’s tenure. Self destruction as a finisher, is just icing.

    My kids had no TV till they were in their teens. Seemed like a good idea. They both are doing well, my son very well, making their living from their art.

    Me, I’m old and enjoy my hobbies. I’ve been playing video games since the 90s and enjoy them a great deal. It’s art with a story, and is deeper than literature on some levels.

    I’m playing Morrowind right now a masterpiece of strangeness and racism. Great fun and I’ve just joined House Telvanni. The
    rules of House Telvanni:

    “If you steal from another Telvanni, but still live, then clearly you deserve whatever you stole. Murdering your opponents by magic or treachery is the traditional way of settling disputes. If you win, then clearly your argument has more merit. You may be expelled as in any other Great House, but most Telvanni will not care or even know about it.”

    Oh yeah, Dowager means widowed. Nice slam. ;)

  11. Just saw a Facebook post about Nov !2, which is the Veteran’s day holiday this year, as a total boycott NFL day. This whole business started out as a BLM thing, but has now morphed into a much wider protest action by these players and teams.

    Fine.

    It will be interesting to watch what happens to them and their high-priced kid game when ordinary people start protesting their lack of respect for the flag and the country.

    Purely academic for me, though, as I lost interest in football of any kind decades ago. For some people, this will be a very difficult and wrenching experience, like trying to quit smoking. Wonder how many will kick the habit and find something else to do on Sunday or Monday evening.

  12. I see Aaron Rodgers is now promoting the “unity” scam. Everyone, including the fans, is supposed to join arms “kumbaya” style during the National Anthem. That begs the question, unity with whom? Overpaid crybabies who disrespect the flag and promote lying slanders of white police officers? I don’t think so. I grew up in Wisconsin during the Lombardi era, and have been a “yuge” Packer fan ever since. No more. I won’t watch football, buy tickets, or wear football colors. As Sgt. Mom says, the regressive Left is out to politicize every aspect of the culture. Now they’ve succeeded in politicizing football. So be it. They can politicize to their hearts content, but they can’t force me to buy tickets to watch them do it.

  13. Exactly, Helian – they can politicize their hearts out – but they can’t make us buy tickets.
    The interesting part of the creative destruction is what will we go and watch, and buy tickets for, and subscribe to, then? New and interesting stuff; cutting edge and retro all at the same time, because it hasn’t been sliced, diced, politicized and SJW-ied… the ultimate rebellion, as it were.
    After all – rebellion against the status quo is cool, isn’t it?

  14. The real test for the NFL is not season ticket holders as many are corporations which have no guts. The collapse of TV viewership is going to bit hard and soon.

    A lot of advertising is based on ratings and there are almost certainly ratings guarantees.

    When advertising firms start to ask for refunds based on performance, you will see the pain take hold.

  15. The 60’s called. They wanted their decade back until they’d seen what we had done to it.

    Decade? We took over, and your precious god worshiping country is not too far from end of it’s tenure. Self destruction as a finisher, is just icing.

    IDK who we is but here in the good, old US of A Nixon whupped McGovern 520 to 17. Was it differnt in Canadia? And is the North American Norden far from it is tenure? Gonna’ release yer gummint health care against Putin when he comes rollin’ in?

    That’ll stop him. God knows there’s nothing more powerful than a bunch of lily white atheists. Just look at Sweden. Or Germany.

  16. “Funny, that. I also get the impression that many religious leaders don’t believe in G*d. The Episcopal Church hierarchy, for instance.”

    I’m currently reading a book about that topic: What’s Going on Among the Lutherans?, by Patsy A. Leppian & J. Kincaid Smith http://tinyurl.com/yd55s89b

    Obviously slanted toward the intra-Lutheran squabbles, this is a good resource for how Christianity has changed in the US. Perhaps the most valuable part is their Position A/Position B comparison of conservative/liberal positions on nearly 20 topics in chapter 1 (each topic is fully explored in later chapters). They’ve done a very good job of outlining how liberal positions in some foundational topics have led to the chaos that we have today.

  17. “That’ll stop him. God knows there’s nothing more powerful than a bunch of lily white atheists. Just look at Sweden. Or Germany.”

    Still circling the wagons, several centuries later.

    We, the hippies offered you a better way of life, remember the 50s? You rejected that, so we poisoned your society. A slow acting poison that is obviously effective as you just elected an actual clown, to lead you.

    Yeah, I like Sweden and Germany, they are similar in many ways to my country.

  18. Aaron Rodgers is a damn fine quarterback. As for his efforts at leading a “unity” campaign, I would just like to remind everyone where he played college ball. UC Berzerkly! Kinda fits now don’t it?

  19. Rodgers is a closeted homo, and is just pissed he has to (sort of) hide his preferences.

    he’ll be able to indulge his anus to his heart’s content once the NFL is reduced to a half-time show at MSL games.

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