What I'd like to see more lamentations over - but I'm not getting my hopes up - is so many talking heads having a 98.1% chance of being full of shit. I'm using the Huffington Post because it's readily to hand, but it's far from unique. See spot run. Run spot run. See journalist spout "we simulated the election 10 million times" garbage-in-garbage-out nonsense, trying to look scientific because they have BIG NUMBERS! And yet being this wrong this close to the election.
Beyond the blatantly obvious things like "The Middle East will remain troubled", then, I should probably assume that any prediction more than a week out is even more of a blind guess.
We didn't this internet thing back then, but I distinctly recall very similar horrified reactions when "Ronny Raygun" was elected in 1980.
We were all doomed. Seriously. There was no doubt in their minds.
>_<
(I don't believe for a moment that Trump is the "next Reagan" - hell, many of Trump's supporters have loudly denounced Reagan as a "progressive liberal" (?) - but the absurdly over-wrought reactions are strikingly similar.)
Of course the Media, having completely botched their election coverage and predictions, will now expect us to pay great reference to their forthcoming "What It All Means" and "Whither America" articles.
So, looks like Trump won white working class, white college-educated, young whites, and old whites. #ElectionDay
Oh, you mean the majority of people who still get up and work for a living rather than trying to 'vote' themselves a share of their neighbor's earnings.
If Trump can reach so many working class voters despite his being stupid, uneducated and obnoxious, then why can't you do the same, with your superior intellects and expensive college degrees?
Or is it just too hard to appear sincere while dabbing your distainful nostrils with a scented handkerchief?
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly Oakland, California, seems to be leading the way, at east with the pillaging.
Up to 100 people were said to have gathered in downtown Oakland to protest the results. Many spectators had gathered on Telegraph Avenue and continue to march. BART has shut down the 12th street station in downtown Oakland as a result.
We are hearing reports of broken windows and cars on fire.
We didn't this internet thing back then, but I distinctly recall very similar horrified reactions when "Ronny Raygun" was elected in 1980.
Indeed. And this morning is one long Pauline Kael moment for/to our friends on the left.
Of course, if you want the tube, you'd know that the wall fell during Bill Clinton's presidency, to his credit, of course. There was an NBC 30 year anniversary special on the downing of the Berlin Wall and it mentioned Clinton something like 30 times, and Reagan not once.
When that's your worldview, then yeah, you're gonna get mugged by reality. A lot.
For Matthew Goreman, this is the "...end of the age of enlightenment".
Let me be contrarian (Trump has empowered the troll in me today) and suggest that that's actually a good thing!
The people who coined the term "Enlightenment" were engaged in propaganda. "Dark Ages" has now mostly gone out of use, and "Enlightenment" will hopefully follow it for much the same reason: it's shitty history to name your time periods thinly veiled versions of Age Of Stupid People followed by Age Of Smart People. Moreover...
"The enlightenment happened in the 18th century for a reason, education, facts!" said "It's embarrassing that we don't care about this anymore."
Another thing that happened around then, which fanboys of the "Enlightenment" don't like to talk about so much, was a lot of witch-burnings. Yes, those greatly increased in frequency after the end of the Middle Ages. (Various people put the end of the Middle Ages around 1453 for Byzantium, 1492 for Columbus, or 1500 for a round number - pick your poison, you won't find a high rate of witch-burnings before either one.) The Renaissance and the Enlightenment were the time when witches began to seem a lot more plausible, because alongside "reason, education, facts!" was an increasing amount of discovery of weird powers and mechanisms and forces. Tons of woo like mesmerism sprouted up in the 18th century, right alongside things which actually panned out like (the formal study of) magnetism. Proto-science, woo, witch-craft and witch-hunting largely grew up together.
(I would also like to say that "facts" probably doesn't mean what Goreman thinks it means. I'm sure he likes the word. But imagine Trump going "I have great facts, I have lots of facts, I have the best facts" a few times until you reach semantic satiation on facts, and you'll hopefully see that liking the word isn't really credit to team.)
Other things happening around then were the mass draft, the rise of state-nationalism (cue Napoleon), the use of "education" to foster nationalism, the rise of the Prussian education system designed to make soldiers rather than men of learning, and a bunch of other shit that led to a lot of people dead and a lot of borders forcibly redrawn.
Of course I greatly prefer the material technology of 2016 to that of 1699. But if I'm to consider the social order, 1699 being after the Peace of Westphalia that damped down religious war but before the great rise of ethnic war - well, on that score, what has the 18th century done for me recently? Because as I read it, the complaints against Trump are by and large about how he might upset the social order, not that he's a Luddite who wants to ban ipads and shut down silicon valley.
America was still Great at the time, too. Great Britain, that is.
A variety pack. From The Guardian. Should keep everyone going for a while. NB the touching appeal at the bottom: "More people are reading the Guardian than ever but far fewer are paying for it...."
From the comments at Jezebel, it would appear we've disappointed one of our betters:
FUCK man. What do we do. My mom is a poor immigrant immigrant. My mom and dad depend on the ACA. it saved my moms life. I’m a newly former drug addict that had hope seeing the scale down on the war on drugs. I’m an ex con that cares about the criminalization of poverty. I’m so, so disappointed. For the first time I shed tears ashamed of my country.
At approximately 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning following the imminent Donald J. Trump victory, University of Pittsburgh students began to riot on campus… The riots turned violent when participants started to deface public property such as construction signs and trash cans, throw objects at buildings, and drag barricades to block off intersections and roads. Police began to move in in these instances, though they didn’t engage the crowd directly… The rioters halted for a short time in the middle of an intersection to chant, “Our streets, our streets, our streets!”
However,
Along with the rioting, students created a “healing circle”
Being a progressive foot soldier is clearly hard work. The mental dissonance alone must be exhausting.
What a beautiful day! David, I can tip you soon. I had been holding off because of my coming Obamacare bill was going to be insanely huge. Repeal and Replace is going to happen thank goodness!
I don't think I've ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did a moment ago. She just couldn't understand why the voters would elect Trump when so many things are wrong in this country. "Don't the middle class care about us anymore?" she asked pitifully.
I sat down with her on the sofa and (as calmly as I could) tried to explain to her why the middle class seem to be abandoning their country. "Honey, I think That Fascist Demagogue Trump and His Lies just managed to make all those white people hate genderqueer siblings of color somehow... "
I tried to keep my voice steady, but it became increasingly difficult - the rage and feelings of helplessness were just too much. I think my daughter could tell something was wrong. I found myself at such a loss for words - nothing made any sense; nothing makes sense anymore. I finally had to admit, "Honey, I just don't know - I don't know what's going on in this country anymore..."
When I finished her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes began to fill with tears, "Daddy" she said, "why are the Republicans doing this to the country?" Well, that was it for me: I finally fell apart. She just fell into my arms and we both began sobbing for several minutes.
For once she had to comfort me and get me back on my feet. Sometimes I just think it's too much, but seeing the strength in my young daughter's voice helped me to get through.
Wait, I thought I read another progressive tweet where, among the F-bombs and expressed desires to perpetrate anal rape on half the US populace, Leftists were defined as the group of "love and inclusion." Am I missing something?
Could Trump's first health plan reform-related action be to offer free psychiatric care and personality disorder treatment (and maybe free medicinal marijuana) to leftists? Please? Soon?
Let me be contrarian (Trump has empowered the troll in me today) and suggest that that's actually a good thing!
The people who coined the term "Enlightenment" were engaged in propaganda. "Dark Ages" has now mostly gone out of use, and "Enlightenment" will hopefully follow it for much the same reason
One can hope, I suppose.
IMHO, if any period really deserves the term "Enlightenment" or "Renaissance", it would be the time from approximately 1050 to 1350, which did genuinely see a revival of learning, education and rational thought throughout Europe, till the Black Death and Little Ice Age came along and ruined everything.
You think the hysteria over Brexit was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet...
Some of the (millions of) tweets flying about this morning were absolutely identical to those on the morning after the Brexit vote, along the lines of "This was the day hate won, the day racism and misogyny won"
I was on CiF trying to patiently (and with no gloating*) explain that calling everyone racist and then misogynist all day every day was predictably losing it's effect as a political strategy.
But I was wasting my time with these rather distressed souls, who wear their contempt for others like a badge of honour. They're deeply invested in the whole game. Alas for them the game may be up.
*I'm not even particularly a Trump supporter, I'm just fed up with the type of politics I've just outlined.
I particularly liked the threat by comedian Chelsea Handler, whose talents had previously escaped my attention. “I did buy a house in another country,” says she. “Just in case.” And nothing sways the sympathies of the working class electorate like mentioning the fact that you can easily relocate to your second home in Spain.
[Reagan] was a “fascist god” according to happening pop combo Heaven 17.
They were 'Crushed by the Wheels of Industry', no doubt a corruscating critique of Fatcha, although they never struck me as your typical horny-handed sons of toil.
My favorite car forum features many lefties, including horrendously mal-informed global lefties, and the garment-rending will probably continue all day. Lovely. I can't imagine why, but I keep being reminded of Robert Chambers' The King In Yellow. Can't imagine why.
“This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with its beautiful stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth--a world which now trembles before the King In Yellow.”
Oh right, the hallucination, unraveling of reality, unending terror and disquiet, descent into madness, fear of nebulously pale things... that would be it. The King In Orange?
Every single time a conservative of even the most milquetoast stripe wins anything at the national level, we hear how frightening this is, how this is a physical danger to whichever identity groups are trendiest at that moment as well as to world peace at large, how democracy is in serious danger, and how even those who did not try to stop it (by having the gall to vote Libertarian or Green, this year) is complicit in racist sexist fascism.
Every single time, in every single Western democracy, for every single election of my life.
And if you suggest "you know, gratuitously insulting your opponents rather than realizing you can like and respect someone who disagrees with you is a losing strategy," most decent lefties (yes) will agree unconditionally but you will lose friendships from people who at least pretend to believe you're Julius Streicher. Then they'll call you a fear-monger.
At this point, all we can do is stick up for those decent lefties, vote for what we believe in, and laugh at the garment-rending maniacs.
Every single time, in every single Western democracy, for every single election of my life.
Meanwhile, the election result has left this fearlessly progressive young lady too traumatised to do her job today – i.e., shoehorning leftist identity politics into film coverage and thereby making it tedious and dogmatic. Apparently, she can’t even handle leaving the office: “I can’t face this alone.”
Meanwhile, the election result has left this fearlessly progressive young lady too traumatised to do her job today – i.e., shoehorning leftist identity politics into film coverage and thereby making it tedious and dogmatic. Apparently, she can’t even handle leaving the office: “I can’t face this alone.”
I'm Canadian and there was nothing like this when Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister. It's curious how one part of the political spectrum has disproportionately got shit to do on a Wednesday.
"you have people putting children to bed tonight, and they're afraid of breakfast" might be the greatest thing I've ever heard
Also wtf is a whitelash, does he think the normal word is "blacklash"
I'll have to come tomorrow to read the rest of the comments but may I say I'm absolutely loving all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, it almost makes the whole thing worthwhile - and it's gonna last for four years!
Last time around I was one of those people who thought the US president was literally Hitler. I've changed my views since - this time around I can just sit back and enjoy it. Cheers, everyone!
On 11-2-16, a comment of mine was posted elsewhere. It included this:
My goal in this election was to do my small part to prevent the Wicked Witch from winning the state's electoral votes. So I voted for the Buffoon. We'll see how it turns out.
We have seen how it turned out. I'm not thrilled that the Buffoon won, but I'm thoroughly pleased that the Wicked Witch lost.
@Geezer: It was nearly a year ago that I commented somewhere that Trump was a clown, but was filling the role of being able to say what no-one else would. In other words, talking back to the king: a court jester. If the clown is the only one who can act fearlessly - he typically has a chance to win.
I've also tended to think of Trump as the Lethal Joke Candidate.
I thought this might be worth passing on- it's a repost of a repost (I read it BTL over at The Spectatorin a piece by Matthew Parris), but it sums up nicely why the "liberal consensus" (how's that for an oxymoron, anyway) seems to be out of favour with the electorate:
"1. STOP, for the LOVE of GOD, STOP peddling identity politics. Trump voters - working class people - despise it. They know what you're doing - it's obvious.
2. STOP treating ethnicity, gender, sexuality and religion as a proxy for class warfare; you are trying to displace them by creating a new under-class and stoking ethnocentrism, gynocentrism and tribalism for the purpose of manufacturing a new electorate and a globalised, supranational governance that NO-ONE wants.
3. STOP speaking about groups, start speaking about individuals (you know, actual liberalism).
4. Stop polarising ALL debate. Just because you aren't rabidly pro-feminism, it doesn't make you a misogynist. Just because you aren't rabidly in favour of the EU, it doesn't make you a fascist. Just because you don't support black lives matter, it doesn't make you a white supremacist. Just because you don't support SSM, it doesn't make you a homophobe.
5. Stop pushing mass immigration for the purposes of creating a new electorate. They know what you're doing. Every minority group in the UK is opposed to mass immigration. Even Hispanics are opposed to mass immigration, and are more conservative - on a policy basis - and religious than white males.
6. Stop preaching cultural relativism; if you oppose something for one identity, oppose it for ALL identities. Murder doesn't suddenly become more acceptable because the perpetrator is Islamic; sexism doesn't become more acceptable because the perpetrator is female; racism doesn't become more acceptable because the hatred is being spewed at white men.
Get it? Until all of this STOPS, until we start to assign rights and responsibilities at the level of the individual and not the group, until all of the incessant shaming, self-loathing and guilt-tripping subsides, this will get infinitely worse."
Well, of two equally off-beam candidates, one of them had to win. That was sort-of predictable, wasn't it?
As I'm not a precious-snowflake-SJW, the US election result didn't send me into disfunctional melt-down. However, I do feel vaguely disquieted. There's no way that, for instance, a President Trump can "bring jobs back to America" -- not in significant enough quantities, anyway. What is going to happen when his supporters living in the rust belts discover that?
Now, over to our foreign correspondent:
Here in Yurrup, the otherwise charming owner of the local café was bending my ear today about Trump's character failings. Back in June, she was equally affronted about the Brexit vote. And I had no hand in either outcome!
As I'm not a precious-snowflake-SJW, the US election result didn't send me into disfunctional melt-down. However, I do feel vaguely disquieted. There's no way that, for instance, a President Trump can "bring jobs back to America" -- not in significant enough quantities, anyway. What is going to happen when his supporters living in the rust belts discover that?
The question, of course, is whether you want to pay the cost of bringing the jobs back. Crank up the tariffs on finished goods, incentivize domestic manufacturing, heck maybe even throw some subsidies around, and the factories will re-open... but it won't be free.
It can be done, but like every other choice it comes at a price. Economically it doesn't make sense. Socially, well, if Donald Trump became the American Charles de Gaulle, stranger things have happened...
I doubt I’m alone in thinking that the level of outrage we’ve seen today – the indignation, bewilderment and various online meltdowns - implies both parochialism and a sense of entitlement.
Has anyone told Lena Dunham?
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2016/04/25/lena-dunham-100-percent-chance-im-moving-to-canada-if-trump-wins/
Posted by: sk60 | November 09, 2016 at 07:05
Meghan Murphy, the feminist publisher who thinks a “curfew for men” and “an end to masculinity” are urgently necessary, has also figured out the real reason for last night’s events.
Curse the Pale Male Hegemon.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 07:25
I wonder if the Saudis are going to ask for a refund...
https://twitter.com/iowahawkblog/status/796241499587485696
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 07:52
Rose McGowan's Twitter is good for a laugh. Won't someone think of the poor Hollywood actresses ?
Posted by: Jamie | November 09, 2016 at 08:00
Dewey Defeats Truman!
https://twitter.com/BIZPACReview/status/796182829302321152
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 08:06
Dewey Defeats Truman!
Heh. I can’t help feeling it’s a tad symbolic.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 08:20
Melissa Fabello’s other half seems to be having some kind of episode.
Perhaps a nap will help.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 08:31
some kind of episode
The melodrama, it's delicious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqZhadwvG0
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 08:45
So much lamentation.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 08:48
Midterms “optional” due to students’ emotional trauma.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 08:52
Yuge.
Posted by: Liz | November 09, 2016 at 08:57
Oh dear. A brief visit to Facebook alerted me to the fact that my normally rational sister is having a bit of a meltdown herself.
I think I'll steer clear for a while. {o.O}
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 09:13
More students distraught and triggered.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 09:15
And Julia has a point.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 09:17
Midterms “optional” due to students’ emotional trauma.
I'm sure they did the same for Republican students after Obama won.
Posted by: rjmadden | November 09, 2016 at 09:19
When does the raping and pillaging begin?
Posted by: Joan | November 09, 2016 at 09:30
I guess we will see a lot of SJW meltdowns for a while. Tee hee ... .. ...
Posted by: David Curtis | November 09, 2016 at 09:31
DonaldsPresident Trumps reaction?Posted by: Jonathan | November 09, 2016 at 09:46
Posted recently: https://twitter.com/HuffingtonPost/status/795663593689808896 (backed up on http://archive.is/tJ22H in case of deletion)
What I'd like to see more lamentations over - but I'm not getting my hopes up - is so many talking heads having a 98.1% chance of being full of shit. I'm using the Huffington Post because it's readily to hand, but it's far from unique. See spot run. Run spot run. See journalist spout "we simulated the election 10 million times" garbage-in-garbage-out nonsense, trying to look scientific because they have BIG NUMBERS! And yet being this wrong this close to the election.
Beyond the blatantly obvious things like "The Middle East will remain troubled", then, I should probably assume that any prediction more than a week out is even more of a blind guess.
Posted by: Microbillionaire | November 09, 2016 at 09:59
I guess we will see a lot of SJW meltdowns for a while. Tee hee ... .. ...
You think the hysteria over Brexit was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet...
Posted by: The original Mr. X | November 09, 2016 at 10:03
Jonathan Freedland, in the Guardian, seems upset about something.
Posted by: Jonathan | November 09, 2016 at 10:22
We didn't this internet thing back then, but I distinctly recall very similar horrified reactions when "Ronny Raygun" was elected in 1980.
We were all doomed. Seriously. There was no doubt in their minds.
>_<
(I don't believe for a moment that Trump is the "next Reagan" - hell, many of Trump's supporters have loudly denounced Reagan as a "progressive liberal" (?) - but the absurdly over-wrought reactions are strikingly similar.)
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 10:31
"Didn't have..."
Preview is only effective when one actually reads what one wrote.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 10:38
I distinctly recall very similar horrified reactions when “Ronny Raygun” was elected in 1980.
He was a “fascist god” according to happening pop combo Heaven 17.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 10:51
Somewhat related,
Hence, psychodrama.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 11:09
This was Gil Scott-Heron's view. Much. much funkier than Heaven 17. Equally as wrong.
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | November 09, 2016 at 11:11
Got someone mention Trump was like Reagan today.
I mentioned he ended the cold war as winner.
Not sure if all this debating means the smackdowns are just too hard and quick. No sport.
Posted by: ac1 | November 09, 2016 at 11:13
MSNBC is taking it well.
https://twitter.com/JCinLDN/status/796234581758410756
Posted by: Alice | November 09, 2016 at 11:20
And then of course there’s Laurie.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 11:23
Of course the Media, having completely botched their election coverage and predictions, will now expect us to pay great reference to their forthcoming "What It All Means" and "Whither America" articles.
Posted by: R. Sherman | November 09, 2016 at 11:27
Never let it be said that are not deep thinkers among those lamenting:
Yes, that would describe the demographic that is called "the majority of Americans", see also, "how elections work".
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 09, 2016 at 11:29
So, looks like Trump won white working class, white college-educated, young whites, and old whites. #ElectionDay
Oh, you mean the majority of people who still get up and work for a living rather than trying to 'vote' themselves a share of their neighbor's earnings.
Posted by: Darleen | November 09, 2016 at 11:32
Golly, this one also seems a tad unhappy with the results.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 09, 2016 at 11:43
For Matthew Goreman, this is the "...end of the age of enlightenment".
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | November 09, 2016 at 11:44
Question for left-wing politicos:
If Trump can reach so many working class voters despite his being stupid, uneducated and obnoxious, then why can't you do the same, with your superior intellects and expensive college degrees?
Or is it just too hard to appear sincere while dabbing your distainful nostrils with a scented handkerchief?
Posted by: Horace Dunn | November 09, 2016 at 11:45
When does the raping and pillaging begin?
Well, I’ve had a haircut this morning and am looking pretty good. So… whenever suits, really.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 11:47
Did someone say, 'Huffington Post'?
Posted by: PiperPaul | November 09, 2016 at 11:52
...then why can't you do the same, with your superior intellects and expensive college degrees?
Because:
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 09, 2016 at 11:52
When does the raping and pillaging begin?
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly Oakland, California, seems to be leading the way, at east with the pillaging.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 09, 2016 at 12:02
Just in case you were wondering, this is the typical basis on which a lot of these women were voting.
Catastrophic for America that they lost, I'm sure you'll agree.
Posted by: Tim Newman | November 09, 2016 at 12:36
@Spiny Norman
We didn't this internet thing back then, but I distinctly recall very similar horrified reactions when "Ronny Raygun" was elected in 1980.
Indeed. And this morning is one long Pauline Kael moment for/to our friends on the left.
Of course, if you want the tube, you'd know that the wall fell during Bill Clinton's presidency, to his credit, of course. There was an NBC 30 year anniversary special on the downing of the Berlin Wall and it mentioned Clinton something like 30 times, and Reagan not once.
When that's your worldview, then yeah, you're gonna get mugged by reality. A lot.
Posted by: billdehaan | November 09, 2016 at 12:41
For the Guardian’s Deborah Orr, it was all about the genitals.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 12:42
Catastrophic for America that they lost, I'm sure you'll agree.
One where those 45% don't share there creme brulees ?!? #heartlessbyotches
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 09, 2016 at 12:45
Let me be contrarian (Trump has empowered the troll in me today) and suggest that that's actually a good thing!
The people who coined the term "Enlightenment" were engaged in propaganda. "Dark Ages" has now mostly gone out of use, and "Enlightenment" will hopefully follow it for much the same reason: it's shitty history to name your time periods thinly veiled versions of Age Of Stupid People followed by Age Of Smart People. Moreover...
Another thing that happened around then, which fanboys of the "Enlightenment" don't like to talk about so much, was a lot of witch-burnings. Yes, those greatly increased in frequency after the end of the Middle Ages. (Various people put the end of the Middle Ages around 1453 for Byzantium, 1492 for Columbus, or 1500 for a round number - pick your poison, you won't find a high rate of witch-burnings before either one.) The Renaissance and the Enlightenment were the time when witches began to seem a lot more plausible, because alongside "reason, education, facts!" was an increasing amount of discovery of weird powers and mechanisms and forces. Tons of woo like mesmerism sprouted up in the 18th century, right alongside things which actually panned out like (the formal study of) magnetism. Proto-science, woo, witch-craft and witch-hunting largely grew up together.
(I would also like to say that "facts" probably doesn't mean what Goreman thinks it means. I'm sure he likes the word. But imagine Trump going "I have great facts, I have lots of facts, I have the best facts" a few times until you reach semantic satiation on facts, and you'll hopefully see that liking the word isn't really credit to team.)
Other things happening around then were the mass draft, the rise of state-nationalism (cue Napoleon), the use of "education" to foster nationalism, the rise of the Prussian education system designed to make soldiers rather than men of learning, and a bunch of other shit that led to a lot of people dead and a lot of borders forcibly redrawn.
Of course I greatly prefer the material technology of 2016 to that of 1699. But if I'm to consider the social order, 1699 being after the Peace of Westphalia that damped down religious war but before the great rise of ethnic war - well, on that score, what has the 18th century done for me recently? Because as I read it, the complaints against Trump are by and large about how he might upset the social order, not that he's a Luddite who wants to ban ipads and shut down silicon valley.
America was still Great at the time, too. Great Britain, that is.
Posted by: Microbillionaire | November 09, 2016 at 12:46
A variety pack. From The Guardian. Should keep everyone going for a while. NB the touching appeal at the bottom: "More people are reading the Guardian than ever but far fewer are paying for it...."
Posted by: Richard Powell | November 09, 2016 at 12:52
the dark night of fascism is always descending in the United States and yet lands only in Europe.
Posted by: TDK | November 09, 2016 at 12:54
This is what a mental breakdown in an echo chamber looks like: https://twitter.com/maybekatz Don't ask me how I found it. You don't want to know.
Posted by: Captain Nemo | November 09, 2016 at 12:58
Lamentations? Sure. http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501382650/clinton-backers-gather-at-wellesley-college-to-watch-returns
Posted by: Arkadiy | November 09, 2016 at 13:50
From the comments at Jezebel, it would appear we've disappointed one of our betters:
FUCK man. What do we do. My mom is a poor immigrant immigrant. My mom and dad depend on the ACA. it saved my moms life. I’m a newly former drug addict that had hope seeing the scale down on the war on drugs. I’m an ex con that cares about the criminalization of poverty. I’m so, so disappointed. For the first time I shed tears ashamed of my country.
Posted by: R. Sherman | November 09, 2016 at 14:00
This is what a mental breakdown in an echo chamber looks like
Blimey. She’s a charming and rational person.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 14:15
Meanwhile:
However,
Being a progressive foot soldier is clearly hard work. The mental dissonance alone must be exhausting.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 14:25
What a beautiful day! David, I can tip you soon. I had been holding off because of my coming Obamacare bill was going to be insanely huge. Repeal and Replace is going to happen thank goodness!
Posted by: Heather | November 09, 2016 at 14:25
David, I can tip you soon.
Bless you, madam. May your smalls retain their shape after many, many washes.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 14:28
Now Laurie Penny is “ashamed to be white.”
Of all the things for which she might feel shame, she picks that.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 14:35
https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/796359749352701952
This one!
Posted by: ac1 | November 09, 2016 at 14:38
This one!
I… don’t think I can top that.
Have some cake.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 14:44
Time to break out an old favorite, I think.
http://crankyinsomniac.blogspot.co.uk/2006/06/who-is-cheche.html
I don't think I've ever seen such a look of misery and dejection on the face of my daughter as I just did a moment ago. She just couldn't understand why the voters would elect Trump when so many things are wrong in this country. "Don't the middle class care about us anymore?" she asked pitifully.
I sat down with her on the sofa and (as calmly as I could) tried to explain to her why the middle class seem to be abandoning their country. "Honey, I think That Fascist Demagogue Trump and His Lies just managed to make all those white people hate genderqueer siblings of color somehow... "
I tried to keep my voice steady, but it became increasingly difficult - the rage and feelings of helplessness were just too much. I think my daughter could tell something was wrong. I found myself at such a loss for words - nothing made any sense; nothing makes sense anymore. I finally had to admit, "Honey, I just don't know - I don't know what's going on in this country anymore..."
When I finished her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes began to fill with tears, "Daddy" she said, "why are the Republicans doing this to the country?" Well, that was it for me: I finally fell apart. She just fell into my arms and we both began sobbing for several minutes.
For once she had to comfort me and get me back on my feet. Sometimes I just think it's too much, but seeing the strength in my young daughter's voice helped me to get through.
Posted by: Sporkatus | November 09, 2016 at 14:47
Blimey. She’s a charming and rational person.
Wait, I thought I read another progressive tweet where, among the F-bombs and expressed desires to perpetrate anal rape on half the US populace, Leftists were defined as the group of "love and inclusion." Am I missing something?
Posted by: R. Sherman | November 09, 2016 at 14:48
The above turned into something of a snowclone at Ace's place back in the day, with good reason.
Posted by: Sporkatus | November 09, 2016 at 14:49
Could Trump's first health plan reform-related action be to offer free psychiatric care and personality disorder treatment (and maybe free medicinal marijuana) to leftists? Please? Soon?
Posted by: PiperPaul | November 09, 2016 at 15:23
@ Microbillionaire:
Let me be contrarian (Trump has empowered the troll in me today) and suggest that that's actually a good thing!
The people who coined the term "Enlightenment" were engaged in propaganda. "Dark Ages" has now mostly gone out of use, and "Enlightenment" will hopefully follow it for much the same reason
One can hope, I suppose.
IMHO, if any period really deserves the term "Enlightenment" or "Renaissance", it would be the time from approximately 1050 to 1350, which did genuinely see a revival of learning, education and rational thought throughout Europe, till the Black Death and Little Ice Age came along and ruined everything.
Incidentally, you may be interested in this article: http://web.maths.unsw.edu.au/~jim/renaissance.html
Posted by: The original Mr. X | November 09, 2016 at 15:30
More on-topic, it looks like there's at least one pundit who managed to call the election accurately:
http://shanghaiist.com/2016/11/07/monkey_picks_trump.php
Posted by: The original Mr. X | November 09, 2016 at 15:31
@DavidLeeOrr
"We're going to need a refund"
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 09, 2016 at 15:58
You think the hysteria over Brexit was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet...
Some of the (millions of) tweets flying about this morning were absolutely identical to those on the morning after the Brexit vote, along the lines of "This was the day hate won, the day racism and misogyny won"
I was on CiF trying to patiently (and with no gloating*) explain that calling everyone racist and then misogynist all day every day was predictably losing it's effect as a political strategy.
But I was wasting my time with these rather distressed souls, who wear their contempt for others like a badge of honour. They're deeply invested in the whole game. Alas for them the game may be up.
*I'm not even particularly a Trump supporter, I'm just fed up with the type of politics I've just outlined.
Posted by: Henry | November 09, 2016 at 16:12
Are their bags packed?
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/catherinedunn/2016/09/08/these-10-celebrities-say-theyll-leave-the-country-if-trump-is-elected-n2215391
Posted by: Mags | November 09, 2016 at 16:31
Somewhat unbelievably, this is the top rated comment at the Guardian:
Posted by: Jonathan | November 09, 2016 at 16:41
Are their bags packed?
I particularly liked the threat by comedian Chelsea Handler, whose talents had previously escaped my attention. “I did buy a house in another country,” says she. “Just in case.” And nothing sways the sympathies of the working class electorate like mentioning the fact that you can easily relocate to your second home in Spain.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 16:42
[Reagan] was a “fascist god” according to happening pop combo Heaven 17.
They were 'Crushed by the Wheels of Industry', no doubt a corruscating critique of Fatcha, although they never struck me as your typical horny-handed sons of toil.
Posted by: Trevor | November 09, 2016 at 16:45
Naturally, leftists have reacted with their usual good grace:
Shitlords, however, seemed jubilant:
Posted by: Jonathan | November 09, 2016 at 16:56
My favorite car forum features many lefties, including horrendously mal-informed global lefties, and the garment-rending will probably continue all day. Lovely. I can't imagine why, but I keep being reminded of Robert Chambers' The King In Yellow. Can't imagine why.
“This is the thing that troubles me, for I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. I pray God will curse the writer, as the writer has cursed the world with its beautiful stupendous creation, terrible in its simplicity, irresistible in its truth--a world which now trembles before the King In Yellow.”
Oh right, the hallucination, unraveling of reality, unending terror and disquiet, descent into madness, fear of nebulously pale things... that would be it. The King In Orange?
Posted by: Sporkatus | November 09, 2016 at 16:56
Of course, if you want the tube, you'd know that the wall fell during Bill Clinton's presidency, to his credit, of course.
1989 was during Bill Clinton's presidency? Wut?
There was an NBC 30 year anniversary special on the downing of the Berlin Wall and it mentioned Clinton something like 30 times, and Reagan not once.
Which is utterly bizarre, since the final demolition of the Wall was completed in 1992 - before Clinton was actually elected.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 17:16
Every single time a conservative of even the most milquetoast stripe wins anything at the national level, we hear how frightening this is, how this is a physical danger to whichever identity groups are trendiest at that moment as well as to world peace at large, how democracy is in serious danger, and how even those who did not try to stop it (by having the gall to vote Libertarian or Green, this year) is complicit in racist sexist fascism.
Every single time, in every single Western democracy, for every single election of my life.
And if you suggest "you know, gratuitously insulting your opponents rather than realizing you can like and respect someone who disagrees with you is a losing strategy," most decent lefties (yes) will agree unconditionally but you will lose friendships from people who at least pretend to believe you're Julius Streicher. Then they'll call you a fear-monger.
At this point, all we can do is stick up for those decent lefties, vote for what we believe in, and laugh at the garment-rending maniacs.
Posted by: Lord Bob | November 09, 2016 at 17:22
Every single time, in every single Western democracy, for every single election of my life.
Meanwhile, the election result has left this fearlessly progressive young lady too traumatised to do her job today – i.e., shoehorning leftist identity politics into film coverage and thereby making it tedious and dogmatic. Apparently, she can’t even handle leaving the office: “I can’t face this alone.”
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 17:32
Meanwhile, the election result has left this fearlessly progressive young lady too traumatised to do her job today – i.e., shoehorning leftist identity politics into film coverage and thereby making it tedious and dogmatic. Apparently, she can’t even handle leaving the office: “I can’t face this alone.”
I'm Canadian and there was nothing like this when Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister. It's curious how one part of the political spectrum has disproportionately got shit to do on a Wednesday.
Posted by: Lord Bob | November 09, 2016 at 17:39
Farnsworth,
Golly, this one also seems a tad unhappy with the results.
Her attitude was somewhat different earlier in the evening.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | November 09, 2016 at 17:42
"...we hear how frightening this is..."
Is it Soviet-era agitprop-level though, or just from the same sort of people?
Posted by: PiperPaul | November 09, 2016 at 17:46
This man's jimmies are somewhat rustled:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/nov/08/us-election-2016-polls-trump-clinton-live?page=with:block-5822fef6e4b0199b93895114#block-5822fef6e4b0199b93895114
"you have people putting children to bed tonight, and they're afraid of breakfast" might be the greatest thing I've ever heard
Also wtf is a whitelash, does he think the normal word is "blacklash"
I'll have to come tomorrow to read the rest of the comments but may I say I'm absolutely loving all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, it almost makes the whole thing worthwhile - and it's gonna last for four years!
Last time around I was one of those people who thought the US president was literally Hitler. I've changed my views since - this time around I can just sit back and enjoy it. Cheers, everyone!
Posted by: Dr. Chinstrap | November 09, 2016 at 17:52
Meanwhile, the election result has left this fearlessly progressive young lady too traumatised to do her job today...
I, for one, am at a loss to know how the world will continue without the enrichment brought by an unknown blog.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | November 09, 2016 at 18:02
On 11-2-16, a comment of mine was posted elsewhere. It included this:
We have seen how it turned out. I'm not thrilled that the Buffoon won, but I'm thoroughly pleased that the Wicked Witch lost.Posted by: Geezer | November 09, 2016 at 18:02
In this election we pulled the emergency brake. Let us hope it does some good.
Posted by: fnord | November 09, 2016 at 18:09
@Geezer: It was nearly a year ago that I commented somewhere that Trump was a clown, but was filling the role of being able to say what no-one else would. In other words, talking back to the king: a court jester. If the clown is the only one who can act fearlessly - he typically has a chance to win.
I've also tended to think of Trump as the Lethal Joke Candidate.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LethalJokeCharacter
Posted by: Sporkatus | November 09, 2016 at 18:12
I thought this might be worth passing on- it's a repost of a repost (I read it BTL over at The Spectatorin a piece by Matthew Parris), but it sums up nicely why the "liberal consensus" (how's that for an oxymoron, anyway) seems to be out of favour with the electorate:
"1. STOP, for the LOVE of GOD, STOP peddling identity politics. Trump voters - working class people - despise it. They know what you're doing - it's obvious.
2. STOP treating ethnicity, gender, sexuality and religion as a proxy for class warfare; you are trying to displace them by creating a new under-class and stoking ethnocentrism, gynocentrism and tribalism for the purpose of manufacturing a new electorate and a globalised, supranational governance that NO-ONE wants.
3. STOP speaking about groups, start speaking about individuals (you know, actual liberalism).
4. Stop polarising ALL debate. Just because you aren't rabidly pro-feminism, it doesn't make you a misogynist. Just because you aren't rabidly in favour of the EU, it doesn't make you a fascist. Just because you don't support black lives matter, it doesn't make you a white supremacist. Just because you don't support SSM, it doesn't make you a homophobe.
5. Stop pushing mass immigration for the purposes of creating a new electorate. They know what you're doing. Every minority group in the UK is opposed to mass immigration. Even Hispanics are opposed to mass immigration, and are more conservative - on a policy basis - and religious than white males.
6. Stop preaching cultural relativism; if you oppose something for one identity, oppose it for ALL identities. Murder doesn't suddenly become more acceptable because the perpetrator is Islamic; sexism doesn't become more acceptable because the perpetrator is female; racism doesn't become more acceptable because the hatred is being spewed at white men.
Get it? Until all of this STOPS, until we start to assign rights and responsibilities at the level of the individual and not the group, until all of the incessant shaming, self-loathing and guilt-tripping subsides, this will get infinitely worse."
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | November 09, 2016 at 18:52
Oops. Just read up thread.
Damn.
*Pretends to read a message on phone as a way of avoiding eye contact*.
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | November 09, 2016 at 18:55
Trump wins!
COMMENCE THRENODY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=IFb_AERKha8#t=39
Posted by: Dr. Chinstrap | November 09, 2016 at 18:56
Not to worry, Lancastrian (if I may.) It was worth repeating.
Posted by: witwoud | November 09, 2016 at 19:15
Well, of two equally off-beam candidates, one of them had to win. That was sort-of predictable, wasn't it?
As I'm not a precious-snowflake-SJW, the US election result didn't send me into disfunctional melt-down. However, I do feel vaguely disquieted. There's no way that, for instance, a President Trump can "bring jobs back to America" -- not in significant enough quantities, anyway. What is going to happen when his supporters living in the rust belts discover that?
Now, over to our foreign correspondent:
Here in Yurrup, the otherwise charming owner of the local café was bending my ear today about Trump's character failings. Back in June, she was equally affronted about the Brexit vote. And I had no hand in either outcome!
Posted by: Lisboeta | November 09, 2016 at 19:17
We have seen how it turned out. I'm not thrilled that the Buffoon won, but I'm thoroughly pleased that the Wicked Witch lost.
As I told my wife this morning, I'm happy but I'm not happy about it.
Posted by: wtp | November 09, 2016 at 19:30
As I'm not a precious-snowflake-SJW, the US election result didn't send me into disfunctional melt-down. However, I do feel vaguely disquieted. There's no way that, for instance, a President Trump can "bring jobs back to America" -- not in significant enough quantities, anyway. What is going to happen when his supporters living in the rust belts discover that?
The question, of course, is whether you want to pay the cost of bringing the jobs back. Crank up the tariffs on finished goods, incentivize domestic manufacturing, heck maybe even throw some subsidies around, and the factories will re-open... but it won't be free.
It can be done, but like every other choice it comes at a price. Economically it doesn't make sense. Socially, well, if Donald Trump became the American Charles de Gaulle, stranger things have happened...
Posted by: Lord Bob | November 09, 2016 at 19:31
A metaphor?
Posted by: Jonathan | November 09, 2016 at 19:45
Martin Shkreli trolls celebs:
https://twitter.com/martinshkreli/status/796217621649772545
Posted by: Jonathan | November 09, 2016 at 19:57
Oops. Just read up thread.
As noted, it bears repeating.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 20:21
The Lamentations Of The Women
. . . and others, as noted . . .
Posted by: Hal | November 09, 2016 at 20:25
By the way, hereabouts, this is one of the longer threads to follow a two-word post.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 20:33
The Lamentations Of The Women
Morning, all.
Commentary at the time on the 2015 General Election.
Posted by: Hal | November 09, 2016 at 20:37
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Jessica Valenti
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/09/donald-trump-president-jessica-valenti-daughter
Posted by: Jugra | November 09, 2016 at 20:37
"You think the hysteria over Brexit was bad? You ain't seen nothing yet..."
I hope the Democrats don't try to pull that stunt the Remainers did and demand a re-vote...
Posted by: champ | November 09, 2016 at 20:52
More on-topic, it looks like there's at least one pundit who managed to call the election accurately:
Weeeelll, there is Scott Adams since about August of 2015, about when Trump started to surface as a candidate . . .
Posted by: Hal | November 09, 2016 at 21:02
By the way, hereabouts, this is one of the longer threads to follow a two-word post.
Clickbait smarter, not harder.
Posted by: Lord Bob | November 09, 2016 at 21:07
Clickbait smarter, not harder.
I should try this more often. Let you heathens do all the work.
[ Rubs chin, sips wine thoughtfully. ]
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 21:12
I doubt I’m alone in thinking that the level of outrage we’ve seen today – the indignation, bewilderment and various online meltdowns - implies both parochialism and a sense of entitlement.
Which takes us full circle, I think.
Posted by: David | November 09, 2016 at 21:47