The nervous virtue-signaling suggests to me that the upper-middle classes are now becoming economically insecure, at least to a greater degree than before. The professions are becoming proletarianised (subject to managerial supervision and providing less personal autonomy).
They are becoming conscious of the possibility of downward social mobility, escalating competition for opportunity and the threat of crime and social disintegration.
The upper middle classes are feeling pressured by the privileges and excesses of the true elite and the perceived mediocrity and vulgarity of their social inferiors. The display of so-called 'luxury beliefs' is reminiscent of Veblen's theory of the leisure class. It is a display of status, in this case a fraudulent advertisement of social assurance that disappeared a while ago. The bourgeois parody of Maoism is a survival strategy.
Though I have nothing interesting to add, I just want to acknowledge how damn good you are! I thoroughly appreciated this most precise ethical and aesthetic dissection of woke garbage.
The closing paragraphs are lovely- just a wonderful reiteration of the kind of uplifting common sense that seems to be in short supply. Actually, it may not be, but many good people are bullied into keeping their mouths shut.
Nov 21, 2022·edited Nov 21, 2022Liked by Mark Bisone
One of the reasons I left Minneapolis. No shortage of signs like that all over the city, though Minneapolis is one of the most unequal cities in America. I wasn't about to wait for bio-weapon 2.0 and liberals telling me I can't leave my house without getting jabbed every other month.
What I did in my time in my house and garden in the city though, was to plant 20 fruit trees and 200 species of plants and mushrooms, food for me, birds and bees. I once after taking out most of the grass produced 200lbs of potatoes. I built a greenhouse out of used sliding glass doors and reclaimed lumber, that the city fined me $2500 for because I didn't pull a permit. Then when I filed for the permit they declined it, fined me some more and said they were going to tear it down, until I got local media involved. I had a stack of letters a foot tall about this, that and the other fucking thing, from the 16 years I lived there.
Then I sold it 6 seconds before the market collapsed this spring, and the new owners ripped up most of the plants and filled in the pond with the garden beds...to plant virtue signaling turf grass.
I feel fortunate there's only one like that in my neighborhood. All the neighbors understand these people are kooks and treat them accordingly. They also have a sign by the door, "no stupid people allowed." Self awareness is very rare in these types.
"In the best case scenario, what Woke ornaments advertise is how easily the decorators can be emotionally manipulated by agitprop, and/or their fears of losing social status if they don’t join the chorus." This is what i assume whenever I see one of those signs.
"If possible, load your yard up with topiary and bonsai trees. Stick a marble birdbath out there, or a Japanese koi pond." This is what we have done with our property. A birdbath and lots of interesting flowers, a bird sanctuary in the back yard (or maybe a squirrel sanctuary it's not clear who reaps the greater benefit).
Spot on about white antiracists. I think I mentioned it here in this substack, or else one of the closely aligned substacks, but I'll repeat. I'm kind of beige -- white if you're not paying close attention, but if you look at me closely you can detect something "ethnic" but hard to pinpoint. My middle name gives a clue what it is. One of my dissertation committee members always seemed butthurt that I didn't want to get involved in all of the special events for disadvantaged minorities, but I had no need because I considered myself basically a white guy with an olive complexion. She was fundamentally committed to helping those poor disadvantaged minorities even if they didn't want or need her help. It took me 15 years to figure out what was really going on. I am 100% certain she grew up in one of the worst kinds of racist households. Obviously it still bothers me, otherwise I wouldn't have posted twice about it.
I finally dragged myself out of the kitchen (I was cooking/baking literally all day) and your article was the first thing I read. I laughed out loud at least three times, and I am *duly impressed* by your use of the word 'synecdoche'!
Also: "Also not pictured," 6 ft. x 2 ft. porch banner that says "Vaccinated . . . because we're not idiots." (I actually saw these while traveling, in several places between Southern California and Eastern Michigan, in addition to hundreds of the pathetic Skittles banners.)
As for the lawn, we live IN THE DESERT so when my husband and I bought our house in 2006, we said, "The grass has got to go." We worked with a local designer who specializes in *landscapes for people who live in the desert* (see, I didn't shout that time, so proud of myself, no rainbow necessary). We added a Mission fig tree that is now producing hundreds of figs every year, and two big vegetable garden beds. Nature makes beautiful art.
Hey Mark! Back on the subject of the egregores, I just read a new book by Jonathan Cahn (hadn't heard of him before, but he's a Jewish Evangelical pastor) called Return of the Gods. He makes a convincing case that the USA is possessed by three demons: Baal, Ishtar, and Moloch. Yeah, I know. You have to read it. As a Catholic, I was already convinced a) that pagan gods were just demons, and b) that countries / civilizations can be possessed, but Cahn dives into the subject from a Jewish perspective with a historian's reading of the ancient cultures that were possessed by these demons the first time around. You will be astonished by the evidence he provides. Even explains why the rainbow became the woke flag. I had assumed it was a deliberate corruption of God's promise to Noah, but turns out there is more to it than that, going back to ancient Sumer. Highly recommended to everyone with an interest in the subject and an open mind. We have to KNOW what we're fighting in order to stand against it effectively.
I used to live in Cambridge, Maskachusetts, where these multicolored slogans were everywhere. My favorite was businesses with "All are welcome here!" signs next to "No mask, no service!" or "Not vaccinated, wear a mask!" The brainwashing ran so deep that there was no hope of even explaining the contradiction (cf. ACLU saying that "vaccine" passports enhance freedom).
Further to my previous comment, it occurred to me that we are, in a sense, being unfair to the privileged wokerati or the sophistocastrati. Were they to be candid (as elites have traditionally been), they would act as a lightning rod for discontent.
If the upper middle classes were to acknowledge the reality of crime, they would have to take responsibility for retreating into safety while allowing the cities to rot or burn. Were they to champion the traditional forms of family life, they would draw attention to the fact that chronic economic insecurity now erodes discourages family formation, promotes family fragility and suppresses fertility for those less fortunate. The unacknowledged social Darwinism of the emerging Western model would be exposed as would the Sado-Malthusian agendas behind all the pseudo-therapeutic rhetoric.
Take away everything that made Jenny Holzer interesting and than garify it. The aesthetic is definitely late 80s I-just-moved-in-my-own-apartment wall art. So you can pinpoint to whom this drek appeals and why.
So many great nuggets in here, but the best is the insinuation that the Woke's lifeblood and nectar is Diet Pepsi. Most of these homeowners were probably born during Pepsi's "The Choice of a New Generation" years. Indeed it was.
I love this! They're putting a target on them in a way that will stay there even after the sign is down. Also, people must realize the sign isn't going to change hearts and minds, except maybe in a negative way. Anyways, excellent piece! I like the way you mind works and grateful you share it with us!
I don't mind the rainbow signs, just like people still wearing masks, it lets the idiots self-identify. Which is....useful.
I avoid displaying anything in my front yard or my windows. I like being left alone.
A great piece and very insightful.
The nervous virtue-signaling suggests to me that the upper-middle classes are now becoming economically insecure, at least to a greater degree than before. The professions are becoming proletarianised (subject to managerial supervision and providing less personal autonomy).
They are becoming conscious of the possibility of downward social mobility, escalating competition for opportunity and the threat of crime and social disintegration.
The upper middle classes are feeling pressured by the privileges and excesses of the true elite and the perceived mediocrity and vulgarity of their social inferiors. The display of so-called 'luxury beliefs' is reminiscent of Veblen's theory of the leisure class. It is a display of status, in this case a fraudulent advertisement of social assurance that disappeared a while ago. The bourgeois parody of Maoism is a survival strategy.
Though I have nothing interesting to add, I just want to acknowledge how damn good you are! I thoroughly appreciated this most precise ethical and aesthetic dissection of woke garbage.
The closing paragraphs are lovely- just a wonderful reiteration of the kind of uplifting common sense that seems to be in short supply. Actually, it may not be, but many good people are bullied into keeping their mouths shut.
One of the reasons I left Minneapolis. No shortage of signs like that all over the city, though Minneapolis is one of the most unequal cities in America. I wasn't about to wait for bio-weapon 2.0 and liberals telling me I can't leave my house without getting jabbed every other month.
What I did in my time in my house and garden in the city though, was to plant 20 fruit trees and 200 species of plants and mushrooms, food for me, birds and bees. I once after taking out most of the grass produced 200lbs of potatoes. I built a greenhouse out of used sliding glass doors and reclaimed lumber, that the city fined me $2500 for because I didn't pull a permit. Then when I filed for the permit they declined it, fined me some more and said they were going to tear it down, until I got local media involved. I had a stack of letters a foot tall about this, that and the other fucking thing, from the 16 years I lived there.
Then I sold it 6 seconds before the market collapsed this spring, and the new owners ripped up most of the plants and filled in the pond with the garden beds...to plant virtue signaling turf grass.
I feel fortunate there's only one like that in my neighborhood. All the neighbors understand these people are kooks and treat them accordingly. They also have a sign by the door, "no stupid people allowed." Self awareness is very rare in these types.
There's probably not much of a market for counter programming flags. Maybe there should be, but like on the internet, trolls are best ignored.
"In the best case scenario, what Woke ornaments advertise is how easily the decorators can be emotionally manipulated by agitprop, and/or their fears of losing social status if they don’t join the chorus." This is what i assume whenever I see one of those signs.
"If possible, load your yard up with topiary and bonsai trees. Stick a marble birdbath out there, or a Japanese koi pond." This is what we have done with our property. A birdbath and lots of interesting flowers, a bird sanctuary in the back yard (or maybe a squirrel sanctuary it's not clear who reaps the greater benefit).
Spot on about white antiracists. I think I mentioned it here in this substack, or else one of the closely aligned substacks, but I'll repeat. I'm kind of beige -- white if you're not paying close attention, but if you look at me closely you can detect something "ethnic" but hard to pinpoint. My middle name gives a clue what it is. One of my dissertation committee members always seemed butthurt that I didn't want to get involved in all of the special events for disadvantaged minorities, but I had no need because I considered myself basically a white guy with an olive complexion. She was fundamentally committed to helping those poor disadvantaged minorities even if they didn't want or need her help. It took me 15 years to figure out what was really going on. I am 100% certain she grew up in one of the worst kinds of racist households. Obviously it still bothers me, otherwise I wouldn't have posted twice about it.
I finally dragged myself out of the kitchen (I was cooking/baking literally all day) and your article was the first thing I read. I laughed out loud at least three times, and I am *duly impressed* by your use of the word 'synecdoche'!
Also: "Also not pictured," 6 ft. x 2 ft. porch banner that says "Vaccinated . . . because we're not idiots." (I actually saw these while traveling, in several places between Southern California and Eastern Michigan, in addition to hundreds of the pathetic Skittles banners.)
As for the lawn, we live IN THE DESERT so when my husband and I bought our house in 2006, we said, "The grass has got to go." We worked with a local designer who specializes in *landscapes for people who live in the desert* (see, I didn't shout that time, so proud of myself, no rainbow necessary). We added a Mission fig tree that is now producing hundreds of figs every year, and two big vegetable garden beds. Nature makes beautiful art.
Bless their virtue signaling hearts.
Hey Mark! Back on the subject of the egregores, I just read a new book by Jonathan Cahn (hadn't heard of him before, but he's a Jewish Evangelical pastor) called Return of the Gods. He makes a convincing case that the USA is possessed by three demons: Baal, Ishtar, and Moloch. Yeah, I know. You have to read it. As a Catholic, I was already convinced a) that pagan gods were just demons, and b) that countries / civilizations can be possessed, but Cahn dives into the subject from a Jewish perspective with a historian's reading of the ancient cultures that were possessed by these demons the first time around. You will be astonished by the evidence he provides. Even explains why the rainbow became the woke flag. I had assumed it was a deliberate corruption of God's promise to Noah, but turns out there is more to it than that, going back to ancient Sumer. Highly recommended to everyone with an interest in the subject and an open mind. We have to KNOW what we're fighting in order to stand against it effectively.
I used to live in Cambridge, Maskachusetts, where these multicolored slogans were everywhere. My favorite was businesses with "All are welcome here!" signs next to "No mask, no service!" or "Not vaccinated, wear a mask!" The brainwashing ran so deep that there was no hope of even explaining the contradiction (cf. ACLU saying that "vaccine" passports enhance freedom).
Further to my previous comment, it occurred to me that we are, in a sense, being unfair to the privileged wokerati or the sophistocastrati. Were they to be candid (as elites have traditionally been), they would act as a lightning rod for discontent.
If the upper middle classes were to acknowledge the reality of crime, they would have to take responsibility for retreating into safety while allowing the cities to rot or burn. Were they to champion the traditional forms of family life, they would draw attention to the fact that chronic economic insecurity now erodes discourages family formation, promotes family fragility and suppresses fertility for those less fortunate. The unacknowledged social Darwinism of the emerging Western model would be exposed as would the Sado-Malthusian agendas behind all the pseudo-therapeutic rhetoric.
It’s Schuld, goddammit. The Swedes are terrible spellers, always have been.
Take away everything that made Jenny Holzer interesting and than garify it. The aesthetic is definitely late 80s I-just-moved-in-my-own-apartment wall art. So you can pinpoint to whom this drek appeals and why.
So many great nuggets in here, but the best is the insinuation that the Woke's lifeblood and nectar is Diet Pepsi. Most of these homeowners were probably born during Pepsi's "The Choice of a New Generation" years. Indeed it was.
Thank you for sparing Diet Coke.
I love this! They're putting a target on them in a way that will stay there even after the sign is down. Also, people must realize the sign isn't going to change hearts and minds, except maybe in a negative way. Anyways, excellent piece! I like the way you mind works and grateful you share it with us!