I like a renegade - always have that X Ambassadors song running through my head when I see people like him. I'm from the punk generation, so it seems cool to me.
Wow, this is a very powerful essay in which you put into words the growing discomfort I've felt for most of my adult life. The "fetish" I have observed by both left and right is about what motherhood has become. We've been told that if we decide to have a baby---don't breastfeed! That's so unnecessary and will make your breasts unattractive; at 3 months, hand your baby over to a daycare provider whose values and morals we don't know; use hard plastic carriers because it's safer than carrying your baby! I could go on but the essence of your essay, Daniel, is the same. We as mothers have ignored our maternal ancestral wisdom to follow the fetished herd.
Thanks and that’s an interesting one that hasn’t occurred to me, but I see your point. Women have fallen hardest for the ‘new fetish’ in lots of ways, and the role of women has been deliberately attacked too. Imagine a culture that sees motherhood as a burden and abortion as an affirmation. Or that thinks that the most natural and beautiful status a woman can claim (just as fatherhood is the most natural and rewarding status a man may claim) can only be perceived as an imposition on her by malign men. It’s obviously a very recent, very shallow and in some ways evil way of looking at life as a woman.
Only just got to reading this, what with the endless sun, cricket and gardening.
What an extraordinary and acute take on the current ills afflicting the West - and I think you have it to a T. Reason, the gift (and curse) of the Enlightenment, has collapsed, on an individual and a societal level.
Thanks Jeremy. It seems more and more to me like The French Revolution was a preview clip of the way the whole of western society would go. It was the trailer for the movie. Especially in the way Enlightenment Reason became Radical Insanity.
In my lesser mind, I've been pondering the notion that America - and likely the UK, as well - is essentially a centrist nation where the majority share common values of working hard, following rules and being open and tolerant. In that regard, Trump - a former Democrat from NYC - may properly be seen as a centrist reaction, trying to reverse the tide of lunacy from the left. The patent lunacy of surrender abroad, open borders, accommodation to Islamist ghouls, gender transformation and a host of other lunacies, spawned Trump and MAGA. Had Democrats remained sane, Trump would still be a NY developer.
It's got to be some strong magic to make men in dresses look anything other than like Norman Bates (soooo creepy!)
Qanon Shaman - totally cool, good looking dude 🙌🏻
Certainly he looks cooler than them or most trans and cross dressers. He’d look and be cooler, for me, if he stuck to a coherent identity.
I like a renegade - always have that X Ambassadors song running through my head when I see people like him. I'm from the punk generation, so it seems cool to me.
You've ripped out the roots of our current craziness and exposed it to the light. Excellent post.
Thanks Carl 😀😀
Wow, this is a very powerful essay in which you put into words the growing discomfort I've felt for most of my adult life. The "fetish" I have observed by both left and right is about what motherhood has become. We've been told that if we decide to have a baby---don't breastfeed! That's so unnecessary and will make your breasts unattractive; at 3 months, hand your baby over to a daycare provider whose values and morals we don't know; use hard plastic carriers because it's safer than carrying your baby! I could go on but the essence of your essay, Daniel, is the same. We as mothers have ignored our maternal ancestral wisdom to follow the fetished herd.
Thanks and that’s an interesting one that hasn’t occurred to me, but I see your point. Women have fallen hardest for the ‘new fetish’ in lots of ways, and the role of women has been deliberately attacked too. Imagine a culture that sees motherhood as a burden and abortion as an affirmation. Or that thinks that the most natural and beautiful status a woman can claim (just as fatherhood is the most natural and rewarding status a man may claim) can only be perceived as an imposition on her by malign men. It’s obviously a very recent, very shallow and in some ways evil way of looking at life as a woman.
Daniel, how did you find this rabbit hole and took us deep? I just thought that the crazies took over and turned everything upside down.
Thanks Barry, well, that too. 😀
Daniel,
Only just got to reading this, what with the endless sun, cricket and gardening.
What an extraordinary and acute take on the current ills afflicting the West - and I think you have it to a T. Reason, the gift (and curse) of the Enlightenment, has collapsed, on an individual and a societal level.
Thanks Jeremy. It seems more and more to me like The French Revolution was a preview clip of the way the whole of western society would go. It was the trailer for the movie. Especially in the way Enlightenment Reason became Radical Insanity.
Indeed, Daniel. The French Revolution in reality never ended
Your mind never ceases to amaze, Daniel. Bravo.
In my lesser mind, I've been pondering the notion that America - and likely the UK, as well - is essentially a centrist nation where the majority share common values of working hard, following rules and being open and tolerant. In that regard, Trump - a former Democrat from NYC - may properly be seen as a centrist reaction, trying to reverse the tide of lunacy from the left. The patent lunacy of surrender abroad, open borders, accommodation to Islamist ghouls, gender transformation and a host of other lunacies, spawned Trump and MAGA. Had Democrats remained sane, Trump would still be a NY developer.