On my Third Paradigm YT channel, I’ve set up 32 new playlists. Who knew there was a tab for that? I thought I had to cram everything into the 12 they allotted me on the home page. But this has been a lot of fun to put my work from the last two years into new configurations, where they have interesting juxtapositions.
In this 9-video playlist On Whites & Wokes, I look at the ways in which white people have also been defrauded, demeaned and drugged, particularly focusing on the history of Appalachia where I’m from. I also look at Santa Cruz, where I’ve lived for 40+ years, which is the woke capital of the world, with the exception of Oakland/ Berkeley.
And I explore the ways in which our love is being used against us. I began my channel by responding to Russell Brand’s long-form interviews on his former Luminary podcast Under the Skin, so many feature him. Here’s the list, which is around 2 hr 20 min if you go to the playlist, or pick and choose. Enjoy!
Matt Taibbi interviewed Alex Moyer, whose documentary TFW No GF (The Feeling When No Girlfriend) looks at the alienation of young white men. In Taibbi's comments thread, I posted about Appalachia vs. Santa Cruz where two young white males who drove over a Black Lives Matter sidewalk mural are being villified. This sparked a lively discussion about white trash racism, or liberal racism against what's perceived to be white trash. I discuss Naive Do-Gooders and their role enabling the Great Reset and Ukraine, including dispossession of Dutch farmers and a tragic story from my Appalachian town. I look at the practical objections in the last episode, The Economics of Anarchy, to giving students both free education and living stipends. And I end with the lyrics from Appalachia by Josiah & the Bonnevilles.
Russell Brand did an interview of Noam called ‘Anarchy and Ideas for Change.’ I look at three ways that Noam's ideology keeps us stuck in moral superiority rather than anarchy and blaming others instead of ideas for change. I examine the concepts of a need-based economic system, youth and activism—particularly environmentalism and Greta Thunberg—the inherent justice of toddlers, and whether it's possible to treat the symptoms and cure the disease at the same time.
How Whites Were Trashed
I respond to Russell Brand's interview of Tim Pool on critical race theory and Occupy Wall Street. I look at the history of Appalachia, where I was born and Tim has moved, as the trashing of "hillbillies and rednecks" to move them off mining and logging land. I answer Tim’s allegation that the US is slipping into civil war by seeing all wars as empire vs. sovereignty, citing the Spanish "civil war" in example. And I end by suggesting that we secede from the real government—Wall Street not DC.
It's Mother's Day, when better to talk about abortion? This episode goes from a personal story to postmodernism and rationalism to the definition of federalism. It covers Glenn Greenwald's article, "The Irrational, Misguided Discourse Surrounding Supreme Court Controversies Such as Roe v Wade" and the impassioned comment thread it sparked. The question is raised, "Is this a leak or a planned distraction?" The issues of abortion, gay marriage, pandemic response and censorship are examined, not for what we think but for who should decide over how many people.
Recorded on the eve of my 65th birthday, I do a side-rant on the privatization of Medicare before launching into the opioid infliction, as I call it. I cite stories from my hometown in Appalachia in which, prescribed for medical emergencies, withdrawal was worse than the crisis. I ask if pharma profits are just a side hustle with something more insidious going on. Joseph Mercola seems to think so in his article, Another Layer of Scandal in the Opioid Corruption. Robert Malone gives a snapshot of unprecedented overdose and suicide rates in the pre-pandemic decade. I voice suspicions about Fentanyl being more than just a street drug problem. And I end with a commenter named GAN (not Gar, as I say--that's what I get for not wearing my glasses!) He talks about intoxicants and games being a way of quelling the masses, but that Rat Park shows we won't need them when there's meaning and community in our lives.
Russell Brand has a vigorous debate with Candace Owens where they jest, they joust, they hold hands and they redesign the system on a yellow pad. Russell's next interview, Kehinde Andrews, calls Candace contradictory, wrapped around a bubble, an empty void, like talking down a hole, belongs on a plantation, crazy ideas, dangerous nonsense, irrational, ridiculously delusional, and a black face on white racism. Who's right? I present their positions and solutions, and then show how we could enable Kehindeville, Russelltopia and Candaceland, along with my own system of community reciprocity.
Liberal Hate Speech & Local Media
Examines a local op-ed called Eulogy for the Unvaccinated Republican as both spiteful and misinformed wishful thinking. Cites Matt Taibbi's review of Ben Shreckinger's book, The Bidens, and Glenn Greenwald's article on the 1/6 Committee as a way to bring the War on Terror home. Quotes from Julius Ruechel's "The Snake Oil Salesmen and Covid Zero" on immunity as a subscription service, and The European Journal of Epidemiology for why the author's grave-dancing may be premature. Particularly makes the point that local media is encouraging hate speech with publication while censoring peer-reviewed analysis from the government's own data.
Manufacturing Contempt
I take a close look at a July 2020 study on 'persuasive messaging' for a vaccine not yet released. The Naked Emperor fulfilled my wish for details on what triggers compliance and scorn for those who don't. I examine some of the repercussions citing a tender and emotional comment thread. I question if persuasive messaging on Ukraine has been similarly tested, quoting Matt Taibbi's article, Give War a Chance. I end with the advice to be kind to ourselves and generous to other people, even when we're the target of their contempt. Let go of accomplishment, we're on a bullet train and we're all getting somewhere without doing anything.
Is Our Love Being Pimped for Profit?
In Russell Brand's interview of ex-Navy SEAL Jocko Willink, he asks, "Is our beauty being harnessed for nefarious ends." I rephrase that by asking "Is our love being pimped for profit?" Are all of us being monetarily raped and economically drafted into servicing the empire? I differentiate between the work we do and the job we're paid for, and quote John Cusack on sugar daddy politics and Arundhati Roy in defense of self-defense. I suggest that we sell our bodies but keep our hearts and minds free, and explain why Russell is my favorite hooker in the YouTube brothel.
Thanks for sharing this retrospective journey with me!
Chomsky hits a specific resonance for me. I'm disgusted with his activism for a similar reason related to arrogance vs humility.
I"ve always worked in speech and language, and I always respected Noam as a humble scientist. His pet theory is that the structure of language is a built-in part of our brains. This was always obviously correct, even with the knowledge available 100 years ago, and with recent MRI info it's even more obvious. Noam has fought off constant attacks from the tabula rasa behaviorists and meritocrats who insist that nothing is innate, everything can be shaped by the behaviorists. In these arguments Noam was always properly humble and objective, always ready to listen to opponents.
When he strayed outside his field, he became just plain STUPID. He defends the behaviorist side without seeming to realize it.
I’ve only scanned so far, but a book that blew my mind (I listened and did not read) is White Trash: the 400 year untold history of class in America. I recommend to everyone, not in a way to diminish racism, but to add to what we know about history and our society.