Ned Resnikoff, senior editor of the leftwing publication ThinkProgress, encounters a tradesman:
I had a plumber over to my apartment to fix a clogged drain. He was a perfectly nice guy and a consummate professional. But he was also a middle-aged white man with a southern accent who seemed unperturbed by [the election] news. And while I had him in the apartment, I couldn’t stop thinking about whether he had voted for Trump.
"I have no real reason to believe he was a Trump supporter or an anti-Semite, but in my uncertainty I couldn't shake the sense of potential danger. I was rattled for some time after he left... Even if Trump is gone in four years, I don't expect to ever reclaim that feeling of security. That's just one more thing you voted for, if you voted for him."
⊙_ʘ
Posted by: sH2 | January 09, 2017 at 22:53
He was a perfectly nice guy and a consummate professional. But he was also a middle-aged white man with a southern accent who seemed unperturbed by [the election] news.
I can’t help thinking the ‘but’ is doing an awful lot of work in that sentence.
Posted by: David | January 09, 2017 at 22:56
⊙_ʘ
Yes, Mr Resnikoff seems to be shifting blame for his own comical paranoia and unworldliness.
Posted by: David | January 09, 2017 at 23:01
I kinda those days back when all the village idiots weren't connected to each other via the series of lightspeed internet communication tubes.
Posted by: PiperPaul | January 09, 2017 at 23:03
Well, at least "Donald Trump and supporters" seems to have replaced "global warming" as the primary source of the neurotic left's self-absorbed fretting. It makes a nice change.
Posted by: ACTOldFart | January 09, 2017 at 23:12
That's just one more thing you voted for, if you voted for him
I wish I was a Yank so I could have voted for that too...
Posted by: MC | January 09, 2017 at 23:20
Mr. Resnikoff reminds me of a quote by Theodor Adorno, directed, I think, at Weimar Germany:
“A German is someone who cannot tell a lie without believing it himself.”
And mostly likely, also, many a denizen of ThinkProgress.
No Trump (nor Hillary) fan I, but I don't view a stranger in a MAGA hat as some sort of demon, much less a good natured plumber who is helping me with my pipes. ThinkProgress is swallowing its own propaganda, and once consumed it is a sort of paranoiac poison.
Posted by: Hippogryph | January 09, 2017 at 23:52
Is it just me, or are we seeing more of these breathless, my-eyes-glaze-over "Gorillas in Mist" articles in which some left-wing loon tries to explain blue collar America to the rest of the world? Good grief it's getting wearisome.
Posted by: R. Sherman | January 10, 2017 at 00:13
And then this same guy will, without the slightest sense of irony, unfailingly condemn others for "profiling."
Posted by: Hopp Singg | January 10, 2017 at 00:46
I think The Unperturbed sounds even cooler than being a Deplorable.
Posted by: WTP | January 10, 2017 at 00:58
Is it just me, or are we seeing more of these breathless, my-eyes-glaze-over "Gorillas in Mist" articles in which...
Probably, but it's hardly new. It's already been the subject of satire.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | January 10, 2017 at 02:38
Good Lord. Well, this guy had better set up a screening process for plumbers, so that only a plumber who voted the RIGHT way will ever tend to his pipes. Better vet all the service personnel in his life, and that means interviewing the waitresses at that adorable retro diner he goes to, too.
Posted by: Quint&Jessel, Sea of Azof, Bly, UK | January 10, 2017 at 02:59
Quint&Jessel,
How on Earth he got inside the cozy left-liberal bubble is a complete mystery.
Great merciful Zeus! What if there are more??? {o.O}
Posted by: Spiny Norman | January 10, 2017 at 03:15
I had a removalist over to my house to help me with my new fridge. He was a perfectly nice guy and a consummate professional. But he was a young, Arab man with a beard who spoke limited English and who seemed unperturbed by news regarding terrorist attacks. And while I had him in my house I couldn't stop thinking about whether he was a terrorist and women hater, whether he knew I was a woman, and how that knowledge might change the interaction we were having inside my own home.
Yep, that's real normal.
Posted by: juliaeryn | January 10, 2017 at 03:17
He ought to be relieved, it could have been a lot worse. This quietly simmering maniac could have been installing vinyl flooring - a well known racist trigger substance. Only recently 'The Guardian' published a searing study on the link between faux-marble laminates and fascist psychopathy.
Posted by: Kevin Riches | January 10, 2017 at 03:47
It's like an odd distaff version of Dorothy Parker's Who Goes Nazi, only the work of a moron and paranoiac.
Posted by: Sporkatus | January 10, 2017 at 04:34
How on Earth he got inside the cozy left-liberal bubble is a complete mystery.
Tells us how comprehensive the bubble normally is. Yes, this guy is a melodramatic fool, but even the mere possibility of a single person breaching the bubble a single time was at least notable to him. He normally goes all day, every day, meeting only like minds.
And as we all know, like-minded groups can so easily turn into pissing matches that make them a little more extreme each day....
Posted by: Hopp Singg | January 10, 2017 at 05:56
This is what happens when you convince yourself that you are part of the majority and then find out that actually you are just a nastly minority.
Posted by: Ray | January 10, 2017 at 05:56
I think The Unperturbed sounds even cooler than being a Deplorable.
One of the things that’s grimly funny is that Mr Resnikoff doubtless imagines himself as the one who’s enlightened, sophisticated and not at all prejudiced. And yet he veers towards hysteria based on nothing whatsoever except the race and presumed social class of a visiting plumber. And note that the plumber’s reticence on political matters – i.e., his professionalism and good manners – is viewed by Resnikoff as suspect.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 06:38
I'm having trouble with the "anti-Semite" label. Aren't we all supposed to be Zionist neocons? It would be nice if they could at least keep the slanders straight.
Wait, expecting them to stay straight is probably homophobic.
I know, I know, the correction booth...
Posted by: Daniel Ream | January 10, 2017 at 07:04
And remember, this is the kind of effete meltdown that Ms Resnikoff felt important to share publicly with his peers, if only to establish his ‘progressive’ credentials.
Of course, now I’m itching to hear the plumber’s account of his visit.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 07:11
I thought Frasier was a sitcom.
Posted by: Min | January 10, 2017 at 08:31
In case anybody else is wondering the same thing: the communist that Elaine dates on Seinfeld is Ned Isakoff.
So it would appear this isn't satire.
Posted by: Matthew McConnagay | January 10, 2017 at 08:43
Of course, now I’m itching to hear the plumber’s account of his visit.
Not a chance.
I had a plumber over to my apartment to fix a clogged drain. He was a perfectly nice guy and a consummate professional.
Ask any plumber about a memorable clogged drain, and then wait for the stare into infinity, followed by Well, if the check didn't bounce, howinthehell 'm I gonna remember one clogged drain from another?
Posted by: Hal | January 10, 2017 at 09:00
ThinkProgress is swallowing its own propaganda, and once consumed it is a sort of paranoiac poison.
It’s hard to tell where role-play ends and conviction begins, but yes, the ‘progressive’ narrative does appear to leave one unmoored from reality.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 09:36
in my uncertainty I couldn't shake the sense of potential danger. I was rattled for some time after he left... Even if Trump is gone in four years, I don't expect to ever reclaim that feeling of security. That's just one more thing you voted for, if you voted for him.
Translation: It's your fault I'm a basket case.
Posted by: John D | January 10, 2017 at 10:03
Translation: It’s your fault I’m a basket case.
Certainly, there’s an odd undertone, not entirely unlike the theatrical paranoia of many feminists. In this case, the dynamic is sort of, “I feared that, despite his civility and professionalism, this broad-shouldered prole might at any moment sense my disdain for his kind, rise up in a rage, and then strangle me with his big, unmoisturised hands.”
Yes, I’m exaggerating, but not by much.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 10:18
This just has to be satire. Beautifully presented & all, but still satire. Doesn't it ?
Posted by: david morris | January 10, 2017 at 10:37
I've always found people in the Southern States to be extremely polite and welcoming, but leftists have spent so many decades demonising them as rednecked, sister shagging, inbred, bigoted, hate-fuelled morons that they actually believe their own propaganda.
Posted by: Jonathan | January 10, 2017 at 11:45
Some of the comments above (not to mention the article itself) had me laughing out loud. My only concerns, when I call someone to fix something, are that (a) s/he arrives more or less on time, (b) the problem gets solved, and (c) the charge is reasonable. I couldn't care less about their sex/ethnicity/religion/politics -- I'm not viewing them as a potential life-partner. In turn, I'm sure their sole concern about me is that I pay promptly. Please, let's keep life simple!
Posted by: Lisboeta | January 10, 2017 at 12:12
Lisboeta’s being calm and rational. We must chase her from the village.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 13:18
A footnote from Instapundit:
The Doug Laycock article can be found here.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 13:45
Speaking of ideological bubbles, Berkeley, California has had its first murder of the year. It's a famously leftist college town, so things are never "normal", but here, even the reporting is a bit weird.
They?
Posted by: Spiny Norman | January 10, 2017 at 13:53
From the Doug Laycock article, linked above:
As he says, the encounter could have been “a wonderful story about the best of America: two strangers who disagree on practically everything, ignoring differences of politics, sex, and social and economic class, cooperating in the wilderness to solve a serious problem faced by only one of them.” Instead, in the mind of Professor Brown, it became something very different.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 14:08
In other news a real world sighting of the legendary Ouroboros:
Many thousands of women are expected to converge on the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington the day after Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. Jennifer Willis no longer plans to be one of them.
Why could this be?
Ms. Willis, a 50-year-old wedding minister from South Carolina, had looked forward to taking her daughters to the march. Then she read a post on the Facebook page for the march that made her feel unwelcome because she is white.
The post, written by a black activist from Brooklyn who is a march volunteer, advised “white allies” to listen more and talk less. It also chided those who, it said, were only now waking up to racism because of the election.
“You don’t just get to join because now you’re scared, too,” read the post. “I was born scared.”
Oh.
In response, a New Jersey woman wrote: “I’m starting to feel not very welcome in this endeavor.”
Posted by: Jonathan | January 10, 2017 at 14:09
Interesting, but revealing, that the original writer felt strongly enough to write a post about how terrified he was, but not strongly enough to insist that the 'potentially dangerous' man left.
Obviously his plumbing is more important than his morals.
Posted by: Stuck-Record | January 10, 2017 at 14:18
What possesses liberals to share so many of their own unfortunate pathologies?
To me, Little Ned's post should be titled "I'm 30 and I Still Wet My Pants." Or "Mommy, Did That Scary Person Leave Yet?"
I'd be embarrassed for this twerp weakling, except I know, as a true leftist apparatchik, he'd be at our throats in an instant if he thought he had the upper hand. So in fact, I'm kinda happy hearing him whine and cower like a five-year-old.
Carry on, Little Ned, carry on!
Posted by: Burnsie | January 10, 2017 at 14:26
Interesting, but revealing, that the original writer felt strongly enough to write a post about how terrified he was, but not strongly enough to insist that the ‘potentially dangerous’ man left.
Ah, but the pantomime of being distressed is what grants Mr Resnikoff his all-important victim status, and is what, in the eyes of his peers, makes him virtuous by default. At what point the hyperbolical role-play becomes actual paranoia, I couldn’t say. But even the role-play, the chronic dishonesty, is halfway to madness.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 14:31
However heroic the working class may be in the abstract, its members are a perpetual disappointment to many academics. They do not believe what academics believe,
'The University of Maryland is hosting a lecture series in which professors will claim that Donald Trump's victory is a direct result of "spiritual depravity" and "a commitment to white supremacy" among the working class.'
http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=8614
Posted by: sk60 | January 10, 2017 at 15:29
Heh. I was just about to highlight that.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 15:31
Good lord.
Growing up, my favorite 'uncle' wasn't actually a relation, but he was vastly preferred to the actual brothers of my father. His being Jewish was just another different religion, like the Catholic family across the street. People went to different churches, that's all.
Nice, avuncular guy, children (like me) just liked him from the start.
And, it turned out, he carried a rifle in the US Army from D-day +2 all the way to Berlin. And never said a word about it.
Uncle Norm was what you called an 'all-round great guy'. Or a 'mensch', if you were Jewish.
What Uncle Norm would have to say about Ned Resnikoff I can only imagine.
Posted by: Sort-of-Mad Max | January 10, 2017 at 17:23
10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Black Trump Voter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZPapHk0kjk
Posted by: [+] | January 10, 2017 at 17:50
He was a perfectly nice guy and a consummate professional. But he was also a middle-aged white man with a southern accent who seemed unperturbed by [the election] news.
"Othering" doesn't count when lefties do it.
Posted by: Mags | January 10, 2017 at 19:14
“Othering” doesn’t count when lefties do it.
Again, it’s those conveniently non-reciprocal principles.
Posted by: David | January 10, 2017 at 19:19
Plumbers who show up for jobs visibly perturbed by political events probably don't stay in business very long, so...
Posted by: JerryC | January 10, 2017 at 20:23
More Clown Quarter completely impartial events:
Dear all,
With apologies for cross-posting, please find below details of our Screen Seminars at Glasgow events for the coming semester. These will all take place in Gilmorehill Halls at the University of Glasgow
5.30pm Monday 23 January: Public Symposium: Trump and Television
Speakers
Dr Zoe Colley (Dundee): 'From Nixon to Trump: Historical Trends in Presidential Campaigns'
Dr Michael Higgins (Strathclyde): 'The Donald: a guide to Pseudo-politics in America'
Dr Lisa W. Kelly (Glasgow): 'CEO of Me, Inc.': Trump, Reality TV and Entrepreneurs of the Self'
James Nixon (Glasgow): 'Comedy's Trump Problem'
I think we can all guess the tone of the evening.
Posted by: Dr Cromarty | January 10, 2017 at 21:22
Plumbers. Well, I used to be one. All worn out these days. Probably not so much the physical end. More like attempting to explain the mechanics to the betters.
Probably should write a book. Cowboy poetry. Illustrated, for the wayward.
It would involve installing custom closets for forlorn housewives with a small fortune in shoes. And clogged pipes.
And glaring at the children. Those damned kids are the future, no?
Cheaper, faster, better. Best to veer off and pay no more attention than should be reaquired.
Of course, that is a hell of a deal. If stuff stayed fixed, that would upset managed markets.
Posted by: neal | January 10, 2017 at 22:13
Posted by: Dr Cromarty
Their psychic powers are strong indeed, to understand all of American politics and the support base of Trump so deeply, never having been outside lefty bubbles in another country. Or they've just made a long string of witless assumptions based on fetid US media coverage, either or.
Couldn't possibly be a rejection of the change from above model of "benevolent oppression", oh no. What those rubes need, gosh darn it, is still more control because they're just so fuckin' stupid, too stupid to take correction.
Posted by: Sporkatus | January 10, 2017 at 22:17
And glaring at the children. Those damned kids are the future, no?
Our children are our future.
Posted by: Ted S., Catskill Mtns., NY, USA | January 10, 2017 at 23:59
In his book Excellent Sheep, William Deresiewicz shared an anecdote about his plumber, which originally appeared in this article:
Deresiewicz, to be fair, isn't a fainting-couch leftist, and as evidenced here, is well aware of the bubble a Yale professor inhabits. But this genre -- white-collar professionals struggling to comprehend these strange blue-collar creatures in their midst -- has great comedic potential. (See also: the surge of elite media attention paid to J.D. Vance's memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. Nothing at all against Vance, but it's clear that a significant amount of the attention is due to the elite amazement that one of "those" people has learned to enter their culture and communicate with them in their language.)
Posted by: Turk Turkleton | January 11, 2017 at 00:52
Those bastards were probably packing, too. Both the NRA guy and the plumber. Their kind frequently does.
Posted by: Randy | January 11, 2017 at 04:14
Kevin Riches: This quietly simmering maniac could have been installing vinyl flooring - a well known racist trigger substance.
Ya never know... Michael Totten was astonished to discover that the tradesman who refinished his wood floors was a former terrorist. (Scroll down to "Thursday, February 20, 2003".)
Posted by: Rich Rostrom | January 11, 2017 at 04:39
By the way, can we briefly address the elephant in the room?
Which is that the plumber probably charged him north of $100 to either (a) pour $5 worth of draino down the sink or (b) apply half-a-minute's elbow-grease with a $10 plunger. Or, worst-case scenario, (c), popped out his plumber's snake - get your mind out of the gutter - and, inserting it deep into the hole, moved it about with some vigour for a few short minutes at best until he was satisfied - I said get your mind out of the gutter!
By all means correct me if I'm wrong, but unblocking a drain is not some strange voodoo that only the poor and desperate know of. You might as well call an electrician to change a lightbulb.
In and out in five or ten minutes, getting paid a hefty clip to perform an elementary task - who's the real simpleton here?
Posted by: Matthew McConnagay | January 11, 2017 at 05:55
In this case, the dynamic is sort of, “I feared that, despite his civility and professionalism, this broad-shouldered prole might at any moment sense my disdain for his kind, rise up in a rage, and then strangle me with his big, unmoisturised hands.”
That.
Posted by: Karen M | January 11, 2017 at 07:14
That.
Well, it’s not unreasonable to wonder to what extent Mr Resnikoff’s display of paranoia betrays his own hostility and disdain. If his professed feelings are even remotely sincere, maybe it’s because he assumes his own sentiments must be mutual.
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 07:41
Not entirely unrelated.
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 08:00
Similar Sentiments
Posted by: R. Sherman | January 11, 2017 at 14:15
Similar Sentiments
I wonder when we’ll reach maximum saturation. If “white male” were to become the go-to pejorative among enough of the broader population, would this be considered an achievement? Would it be progress...?
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 16:30
Something tells me presidential press conferences are going to be unusually entertaining for the next few years.
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 17:59
We must chase her from the village
David, I accept that I transgressed. But it's cold out here. Please can I come back inside?
Posted by: Lisboeta | January 11, 2017 at 18:24
Please can I come back inside?
Is that booze? Yes, of course.
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 18:25
presidential press conferences are going to be unusually entertaining for the next few years
That much is already clear. But will these (sporadic?) press conferences ever be informative, or just the verbal equivalent of a 140-character tweet? The world must now learn to live with Trump as US president. More pertinently, will Trump learn to live with the responsibilities of his office?
Posted by: Lisboeta | January 11, 2017 at 18:57
Similar Sentiments
Miss Byerley seems to have missed the efflux from California to Texas and South Flyoverlandia of businesses of late, and that the likes of Mercedes, BMW, VW, Airbus, nigh every Japanese and Korean auto manufacturer, Boeing all have all chosen to locate in the sticks rather than San Fransisco, which boasts more needles and human feces on the streets than any other US city.
Of course we miss out on the wonders of data and call centers, but the benefits of those would just be lost on us gap-toothed rubes.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | January 11, 2017 at 19:10
By the way, can we briefly address the elephant in the room?
By introducing another elephant? If the plumber charged him north of $100 to either (a) pour $5 worth of draino down the sink or (b) apply half-a-minute's elbow-grease with a $10 plunger. Or, worst-case scenario, (c), popped out his plumber's snake, you are forgetting the costs of:
1) Fuel/oil/wear and tear on the truck the plumber showed up in.
2) Depreciation on said truck independent of #1
3) Salary/expenses for the dispatcher
4) Health insurance, etc. as may be mandated by the gov't (this likely being in a blue state) for dispatcher and plumber
5 through x-1) things I'm anyone here who is or at one time was a real plumber would know that I don't
x) (Probability that the customer is a PITA and will require another trip out to resolve a different problem which the plumber, wanting to ensure his reputation, will address at no cost) * (average cost of a second trip)
Not included but may be added on at discretion of plumber, dumb-ass charge specially allocated for servicing dilettante men who can't do such simple things for themselves that their equally dumb-ass Richie Rich daddies should have taught them.
Posted by: WTP | January 11, 2017 at 19:13
Neddykins is a bigot and a snob. Would he be more comfortable with Mark-1 Plumbing?
http://i.imgur.com/nJok3BB.jpg
Posted by: Ramspace | January 11, 2017 at 19:30
We especially don’t want to live in states where the majority of residents are still voting for things that are against their own interests just because they don’t want brown people to thrive.
That sentence was truly a marvel. At once, she praises her own wisdom in presuming to know what the best interests are for the millions of people between the Sierra Nevada and Appalachians, while implying those people don't. Or, if the proles do know then they are evil incarnate. Naturally, no examples or evidence are adduced for this proposition.
Posted by: R. Sherman | January 11, 2017 at 19:46
wtp is right. to pretax net just 1000 / week, the plumber has to gross something close to 4000. you price tools, trucks, work clothes lately? 4000/5 = 800 / day.
on the rare occasions i need pro plumbing help, i expect to pay 200-300 / hour with a 150 minimum. (although i do live in a high cost-of-living area.)
Posted by: Fred the Fourth | January 11, 2017 at 20:01
...presuming to know what the best interests are for the millions of people between the Sierra Nevada and Appalachians...
More like between US101 and I-95.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | January 11, 2017 at 20:17
still voting for things that are against their own interests
Says the woman who presumes to know what those interests are, in detail, in tens of millions of cases, while displaying her own economic ignorance, and her cultural parochialism, and while sneering at those same people, the ones who dare to disagree, as “backwards” Untermenschen.
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 20:28
If you'll excuse me, I need to completely recorder my life as I begin my quest for the coveted "Melinda Byerly Tweet of Condescending Approval."
Posted by: R. Sherman | January 11, 2017 at 20:41
In other news, I just glanced up at the TV, which was muted, being ignored and on some random channel, and saw four words I didn’t expect to see. “Screenplay by Chuck Norris.”
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 21:20
Apparently, it’s the 1985 Cannon Films classic, Invasion USA.
Posted by: David | January 11, 2017 at 21:23
Racism and anti-gentilism.
Posted by: dearieme | January 11, 2017 at 21:47
More like between US101 and I-95.
As a resident of California east of US101, your precision is appreciated. Thanks, Farnsworth.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | January 11, 2017 at 22:15
Fred,
on the rare occasions i need pro plumbing help, i expect to pay 200-300 / hour with a 150 minimum. (although i do live in a high cost-of-living area.)
Why having some rudimentary plumbing skills (like unclogging a drain or repairing a dripping faucet - and having them stay fixed) comes in very handy.
Posted by: Spiny Norman | January 11, 2017 at 22:19
More like between US101 and I-95.
Perhaps we should add "North of the Potomac River," as well.
Posted by: R. Sherman | January 11, 2017 at 22:37
"More pertinently, will Trump learn to live with the responsibilities of his office?"
Jesus Christ on rollerblades. How about waiting to find out? I should think that a person who has run multiple businesses would have a better grasp of such than a former community organizer, but I'm funny that way.
Posted by: Richard Cranium | January 11, 2017 at 22:54
Perhaps we should add "North of the Potomac River," as well.
I-95 goes from the Canada-Maine border to Miami, everything east of it north of Norfolk and south of Jupiter FL is Byerelyland.
Spiny Norman:
My pleasure, I've spent enough time there to realize there are two Californias. What always annoys me are the county level election maps that show seas of blue, but fail to take into account things like San Bernardino County being bigger than Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined, but outside of San Bernardino, there are more lizards than people.
Posted by: Farnsworth M. Muldoon | January 12, 2017 at 00:38
Spiny,
Yes. For the cost of one pro plumber visit, one could buy tools and parts to fix 80% of household plumbing problems. Assuming one has been taught or otherwise learned how to use them...
- and can tolerate the risk of breaking something
- and can cope with the occasional mess
- and the smell
The biggest barrier, I've found, to blokes doing their own repairs, is the fear of breaking something. Overcome that, and the rest is easy.
Posted by: Fred the Fourth | January 12, 2017 at 01:56
Farnsworth & Spiny:
Back when I was at UC Berkeley, it was easy to think the Berkeley ideology was universal. Unless one took the occasional trip a mere 10 miles east into the Livermore valley, where one started to see roadside signs like "Get US out of the UN". the ultraliberal fringe is much fringier than it seems from the emanations of Hollywood and the MSM.
Posted by: Fred the Fourth | January 12, 2017 at 02:00
I can change a washer and replace a faucet. But, when it comes to sticking my snake into a shit encrusted hole. I'd rather pay someone else to do it. Conversation with said someone else is entirely optional.
Posted by: Mr Andrew D Rowe | January 12, 2017 at 02:34
...and the hits just keep coming. I love America. It's Americans I hate.
The author of this mess is one Tim Kreider who is, "...an essayist and cartoonist. He divides his time between New York City and an Undisclosed Location on Maryland's Chesapeake Bay.[one cannot imagine my surprise] His latest collection of essays is We Learn Nothing."
At least he got that title right.
Posted by: Farnsworth M. Muldoon | January 12, 2017 at 03:10
From Kreider: Others wonder whether it isn't a misguided strategy to extend the benefit of the doubt and give fair hearing to people who have never once done the same for us.
I sincerely hope Trump bears this in mind when he takes office.
Posted by: MC | January 12, 2017 at 05:35
What always annoys me are the county level election maps that show seas of blue, but fail to take into account things like San Bernardino County being bigger than Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island combined, . . . .
. . . . Back when I was at UC Berkeley, . . .
Oh, yes, quite as previously discussed . . .
Posted by: Hal | January 12, 2017 at 09:13
I first saw the attitude neatly summed up by Sir Pterry:
There were plotters, there was no doubt about it. Some had been ordinary people who'd had enough. Some were young people with no money who objected to the fact that the world was run by old people who were rich. Some were in it to get girls. And some had been idiots as mad as Swing, with a view of the world just as rigid and unreal, who were on the side of what they called 'the people'. Vimes had spent his life on the streets, and had met decent men and fools and people who'd steal a penny from a blind beggar and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he'd never met The People.
People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness. And so the children of the revolution were faced with the age-old problem: it wasn't that you had the wrong kind of government, which was obvious, but that you had the wrong kind of people.
Posted by: TomJ | January 12, 2017 at 12:21