I just reread 1984 for my library's book club. It still comes across as prophetic in some ways, but yeah - the closest Orwell gets to the Clown World feeling is when he has some guy in a cafeteria bellowing out meaningless nonsense (aka duckspeak).
Philip K. Dick nailed the Clown World feel pretty good - the oppressive feeling of being trapped in a squalid world with malignantly stupid denizens.
I know it's not a book, but Mike Judge's movies Idiocracy and Office Space. Combine them, and you pretty much have an accurate picture of our current GAE cultural and ecconomic leadership.
Great article, and one that really nails the underlying issues of our crazy clownworld era.
With 1984, at least the Inner Party was competent. They were vicious psychopaths, but at least they were competent at their villainy. Getting evil psychopaths who are also drooling idiots, enabled by moronic hordes of NPC voters, is insult added to injury. Instead of Big Brother, we got Bozo the Clown watching us. (Which honestly makes me wonder sometimes about the underlying spiritual reality of our world, given how everything seems to be so insanely backwards and upside-down.)
Very true, but something similar could be said of President Comancho: he conformed to traditionally male gender roles and did not apologize for his masculinity. If Idiocracy was made today, the President would be someone like Dylan Mulvaney, a grown man cosplaying as a 6-year-old girl. And Joe Bowers, instead of being mocked for sounding like a fag (as in the courtroom scene), would be ridiculed for not sounding gay enough.
You probably already know where my sympathies lie in that regard. If not, I'm working on part-four of "The Devil Incarnate", which will likely illuminate it.
That woke shift came out of left field (literally). I don't think anybody saw that coming, especially not in 2005. I suspect the woke bullshit was pushed so heavily to keep Occupy Wall Street from ever happening again. But "literally demons" is also a plausible hypothesis, especially when you see this: https://twitter.com/Not_the_Bee/status/1637791530978095104?s=20
Apr 6, 2023·edited Apr 6, 2023Liked by Mark Bisone
Thanks a ton for the shoutout!
Strange times we live in for sure. It's tough when you watch your "president" respond to a mass shooting by talking about his fridge stocked full of ice cream, or watch the VP make Selina Meyer look competent, or watch KJP regularly bumble through talking points with all the sophistication of a 10 year old. I forget where I read this, but "Although the Biden administration may be an admin full of 'firsts', it certainly isn't one of 'bests.'" That super creepy... uh... "lady" general comes to mind.
But...
> In light of that, perhaps our little family motto of "Average is stupid” was only a fleeting insight into the sort of tumult that precedes any renaissance, rather than a dark prophecy of what’s to come.
B's-hiring-C's-hiring-D's-hiring-F's-style governance and management can only go on for so long before it crashes headlong into the wall that is reality. I think post-Covid, the winds have started to shift. Independent media/journalism is thriving, while the corporate press sinks further and further into obscurity. Most people I interact with day-to-day are pretty reasonable, and some of them are even hopeful. Elon buying Twitter and exposing the censorship industrial complex was another huge step in the right direction.
As Grant pointed out over on H2F, optimism is the rational choice. We're America, goddamit! We've got a long way to go to get our country and society back on the right track, and we still could veer off course in a devastating way, but you could very well be right that we're in the tumult before the renaissance. I hope so!
People are much smarter than it may appear. Substack is more reflective of reality. Billions have dollars have been spent to make it seem like we're alone, like a few fuckfaces at Google can control what we think and how we vote. The perception they have skillfully crafted drifts ever further from reality. Reconciliation is inevitable. It is as heartening to see your expression of optimism in the face of the apparent madness as it is to be on this side of history with you brother.
Yeah, I agree there is a blowfish aspect to it. They get that seeing stupidity appear to loom everywhere is demoralizing. But 9nly to a point, and only if the comm lines get cut. Which is why they’re so invested in that project now.
As it happens, the second installment of the series you liked has been tough to finish, because I've become sidetracked by an IRL obligation that is both more important than writing right now and dovetails with some of your Harrison Bergerson observations. I will probably write about this experience soon, because I believe it highlights one of the reasons why it's important for humans to challenge themselves to do difficult, exacting, and potentially dangerous activities like flying airplanes. We have come dangerously close to surrendering to a flight sim culture that replaces real and objectively measurable achievement with no-consequences squandering of time and talent. But I see signs of pushback.
I hear you, man. I'm fact, I'm at the point where I AM offended by it, which is a patch of Earth I never thought I'd be standing on. So much for pride in one's armor.
🗨 A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s. it’s just basic human nature. excellence seeks to surround itself with excellence that it may achieve and mediocrity seeks to surround itself with sub-mediocrity that it may prevent itself from being supplanted.
1,000,000% correct. (I know that's not mathematically possible, but your comment is so correct and well-phrased that it deserves an exception to the rules!)
I just reread 1984 for my library's book club. It still comes across as prophetic in some ways, but yeah - the closest Orwell gets to the Clown World feeling is when he has some guy in a cafeteria bellowing out meaningless nonsense (aka duckspeak).
Philip K. Dick nailed the Clown World feel pretty good - the oppressive feeling of being trapped in a squalid world with malignantly stupid denizens.
Agreed. Whenever Dick was in the zone, his stuff was practically a time machine.
I know it's not a book, but Mike Judge's movies Idiocracy and Office Space. Combine them, and you pretty much have an accurate picture of our current GAE cultural and ecconomic leadership.
Great article, and one that really nails the underlying issues of our crazy clownworld era.
With 1984, at least the Inner Party was competent. They were vicious psychopaths, but at least they were competent at their villainy. Getting evil psychopaths who are also drooling idiots, enabled by moronic hordes of NPC voters, is insult added to injury. Instead of Big Brother, we got Bozo the Clown watching us. (Which honestly makes me wonder sometimes about the underlying spiritual reality of our world, given how everything seems to be so insanely backwards and upside-down.)
Yep. And not just Office Space and Idiocracy either. Judge was aptly named, if the defendant is Clown World's king.
Which it just might be. Consider that two different actors won an Oscar inside a decade for playing the same evil clown.
Very true, but something similar could be said of President Comancho: he conformed to traditionally male gender roles and did not apologize for his masculinity. If Idiocracy was made today, the President would be someone like Dylan Mulvaney, a grown man cosplaying as a 6-year-old girl. And Joe Bowers, instead of being mocked for sounding like a fag (as in the courtroom scene), would be ridiculed for not sounding gay enough.
You probably already know where my sympathies lie in that regard. If not, I'm working on part-four of "The Devil Incarnate", which will likely illuminate it.
That woke shift came out of left field (literally). I don't think anybody saw that coming, especially not in 2005. I suspect the woke bullshit was pushed so heavily to keep Occupy Wall Street from ever happening again. But "literally demons" is also a plausible hypothesis, especially when you see this: https://twitter.com/Not_the_Bee/status/1637791530978095104?s=20
Thanks a ton for the shoutout!
Strange times we live in for sure. It's tough when you watch your "president" respond to a mass shooting by talking about his fridge stocked full of ice cream, or watch the VP make Selina Meyer look competent, or watch KJP regularly bumble through talking points with all the sophistication of a 10 year old. I forget where I read this, but "Although the Biden administration may be an admin full of 'firsts', it certainly isn't one of 'bests.'" That super creepy... uh... "lady" general comes to mind.
But...
> In light of that, perhaps our little family motto of "Average is stupid” was only a fleeting insight into the sort of tumult that precedes any renaissance, rather than a dark prophecy of what’s to come.
B's-hiring-C's-hiring-D's-hiring-F's-style governance and management can only go on for so long before it crashes headlong into the wall that is reality. I think post-Covid, the winds have started to shift. Independent media/journalism is thriving, while the corporate press sinks further and further into obscurity. Most people I interact with day-to-day are pretty reasonable, and some of them are even hopeful. Elon buying Twitter and exposing the censorship industrial complex was another huge step in the right direction.
As Grant pointed out over on H2F, optimism is the rational choice. We're America, goddamit! We've got a long way to go to get our country and society back on the right track, and we still could veer off course in a devastating way, but you could very well be right that we're in the tumult before the renaissance. I hope so!
💬 1984, Brave New World and Farenheit 451
...A Clockwork Orange and The Trial. Coming soon near you: Make Room! Make Room! (aka Soylent Green).
So it goes ™ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Decadence is fun until it ain’t no more.
But also the Bergeron family, surely.
Unfair remark just about to snap my cap 😝
Please don't snap your cap, daiva! It is nicely decorated.
"Snap my cap" sounds better than "blow my stack!" https://youtu.be/NdCAUbqgFPw
WTF did you just subject me to, Daniel? This is Jurassic Park, if all the resurrected dinosaurs were instead species of cringe.
🗨 O×17+H×5⅓ Kablamatie-blam 🤣
People are much smarter than it may appear. Substack is more reflective of reality. Billions have dollars have been spent to make it seem like we're alone, like a few fuckfaces at Google can control what we think and how we vote. The perception they have skillfully crafted drifts ever further from reality. Reconciliation is inevitable. It is as heartening to see your expression of optimism in the face of the apparent madness as it is to be on this side of history with you brother.
Yeah, I agree there is a blowfish aspect to it. They get that seeing stupidity appear to loom everywhere is demoralizing. But 9nly to a point, and only if the comm lines get cut. Which is why they’re so invested in that project now.
Thank you so much for your kind mention!
As it happens, the second installment of the series you liked has been tough to finish, because I've become sidetracked by an IRL obligation that is both more important than writing right now and dovetails with some of your Harrison Bergerson observations. I will probably write about this experience soon, because I believe it highlights one of the reasons why it's important for humans to challenge themselves to do difficult, exacting, and potentially dangerous activities like flying airplanes. We have come dangerously close to surrendering to a flight sim culture that replaces real and objectively measurable achievement with no-consequences squandering of time and talent. But I see signs of pushback.
I hear you, man. I'm fact, I'm at the point where I AM offended by it, which is a patch of Earth I never thought I'd be standing on. So much for pride in one's armor.
🗨 A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s. it’s just basic human nature. excellence seeks to surround itself with excellence that it may achieve and mediocrity seeks to surround itself with sub-mediocrity that it may prevent itself from being supplanted.
h/t ‘nother cat—not zizactly bad—that never got lost --> boriquagato.substack.com/p/the-glorification-of-sub-mediocrity
What do F's hire?
Asking for a friend in Chicago.
Loris & Brandons, natch 🤸
1,000,000% correct. (I know that's not mathematically possible, but your comment is so correct and well-phrased that it deserves an exception to the rules!)