August 17, 2024 Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars Luke Ford No sacred cows.

Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Luke Ford

David Hepworth writes in this 2017 book:

* Rolling Stone , once the organ of the alternative society, was about to move from San Francisco to New York in order to be nearer its real customers, the agencies that bought colour ads for cigarettes, drink and cars which were aimed at its free – spending thirty – something readership. The editorial had simultaneously smartened up to provide a more seductive environment. The photographers were more upmarket, which meant they brought with them their customary armies of stylists, make – up artists, hairdressers and miscellaneous ministers of the arts of vanity to make sure that their subjects looked reassuringly rich as well as edgily stylish. The look of 1976 was expensive and dissolute.
* THE GIRLS WHO shared Elvis Presley’s bed knew the drill. They had to listen for his breathing, which had on occasion seemed to stop in the night. If he got up to go to the bathroom they should knock on the door after a while and ask if he was all right. There were members of his personal entourage around the house at all times. Further staff, including a nurse who worked for his personal doctor George Nichopoulos, known to all as ‘Doctor Nick’, lived in trailers behind the house. Nonetheless the women he slept with were his last defence against the thing he feared most, loneliness.
Since he was a small child Elvis had hated to sleep alone. Once he was famous he no longer needed to. If he wasn’t with one of his longer – term girlfriends, willing women could be brought to him.
* Among the diminishing number of people who actually cared about Elvis Presley there was a feeling he was running out of road.
* Like all superstars Elvis alternated between utter certainty and crippling doubt, spending very little time in the region between the two where normal human beings live out their lives.
* Even when he was dead, Time magazine didn’t put him on their cover. Nor did People . They didn’t think he was big enough, in the sense that they felt he no longer reached into people’s hearts. Elvis was just a rock star who wasn’t hot any more. Then, as the days turned into weeks and the news programmes continued to run footage of distraught middle – aged people talking about what Elvis had meant to them, the reality began to sink in. The late Elvis, as opposed to the living Elvis, was the one thing they could agree on.
* IN 1963 AMERICAN journalist Michael Braun went to Sunderland to write about a new group called the Beatles. As he observed how these four men interacted with the world he began to recognize that their appeal went beyond just music. ‘I began suspecting,’ he wrote later, ‘that I was in the presence of a new kind of person.’
Over the years pop music has unwittingly introduced many new kinds of people to a wider world. From Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis through Pete Townshend and Janis Joplin to Lou Reed and Bob Marley, pop has introduced young people to personalities they might never have encountered any other way.
* [Robert] Plant was rebuilding his family life, which had been shattered not only by the loss of his child but also by an article his wife had read in an American music magazine which suggested that once on the road her husband was not faithful.
In those days before the death of distance it was possible for even world – famous musicians to be accompanied on tour by a species of ‘road wife’ without their actual wives getting to hear about it. The tabloids weren’t particularly interested in these people, the specialist press knew discretion was the price they paid for access, and the mobile phone and the internet were still the stuff of science fiction. Furthermore the dictionary of disapproval had not yet been developed. Drug users weren’t said to have substance issues. Heavy drinkers weren’t yet alcoholics. Rock stars who expected unfettered access to the bodies of any young women in their orbit weren’t yet deemed to have a problem with male entitlement.
* Poses are vital in rock. They are not some optional extra. Poses are what send the pulses of young men racing. There was a splendour about Led Zeppelin’s swagger. It was the apogee of a certain sort of rock dream. None of the hundreds of bands that came after them and tried to adopt the same shape were anything like as convincing. However, like everything else in show business, it was a trick based on confidence. Once Plant no longer believed he could get away with it, once the essential absurdity of it began to dawn on him, once he started to believe the things all those punks were whispering in his ear via the letters pages of the music papers, once he was no longer cocksure, the magic inevitably ebbed away. After all, he was an old man. He was thirty – one.
* Although he played the wild man on stage, in the real world Ozzy was as helpless and needy as a small boy. Sharon found this side of him attractive. Without her he simply couldn’t function. Together they flourished.
* There is a disorientation in the atmosphere around a rock band on tour which brings about a certain detachment from the elementary laws of physics and chemistry governing normal life. Even if none of the protagonists are particularly unhinged or suffering from the need to test the limits of their own mortality there is a tendency to do the ill – advised which would only rarely arise in everyday life. This was particularly the case in 1982 when artists didn’t yet employ people whose primary job was to protect them from themselves. The world in which these people lived and moved was attuned to extremes. Nobody was yet suggesting that exercise and abstinence might be the secret to surviving life on the road. They were all prone to thinking themselves indestructible. The touring life was sustained by drugs and drink. Very few didn’t partake. All these people were moved to go beyond the red line, to hang themselves over the precipice, with predictable consequences.
* In June [1982], James Honeyman – Scott, the guitarist with the Pretenders, was found dead of heart failure in a girlfriend’s flat. ‘Cocaine intolerance’ was blamed. This was only days after he had agreed that bassist Pete Farndon should be fired from the same group because of his own addiction to heroin. Farndon would be found dead in his bath less than a year later.
* 1982 seemed short on new rock stars but it was long on people who wanted to act like them. Rolling Stone ’s cover stars for that year were mostly actors and TV people – David Letterman, Robin Williams, Mariel Hemingway, Matt Dillon, Timothy Hutton and Warren Beatty – all affecting the casual drag and ‘we mean it’ looks of rock stars. On 5 March the comedian and actor John Belushi was found dead in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont, having ingested a speedball, a cocktail of heroin and cocaine. The woman who administered it to him, Cathy Smith, was a former associate of three members of the Band…
* On 30 April Lester Bangs, the rock critic whose words were as impressive in print as their author was unimpressive in person, whose reviews were a plea for acceptance from musicians and hipsters who wouldn’t spare him the time of day, who liked to say that rock and roll wasn’t so much a music as a way of living your life, finished the final draft of a new book he called Rock Gomorrah . His idea of celebrating completion was to take a number of Valium pills together with a strong cold remedy. He never woke up. He was thirty – three.
* Bands are like small political parties, presenting a united front to the outside world while a low – level internecine war is being perpetually waged within, a war in which nothing is forgiven or forgotten, nothing is openly discussed, and any person brave enough to propose a change of direction suffers the fate of being openly derided for doing what so clearly needs doing. This Is Spinal Tap captures the imperceptible heightening of tension and meaningful sidelong glances that greet any member apparently seeking the approval of anyone outside the group.
* rock industry: that it relies on the audience’s willing suspension of disbelief. Once you’re no longer swept along by the power of its grand illusion, once you begin to question the conventions to which it clings, once the wires along which it dances are plainly visible, once you actually glimpse the desperation in the musicians’ eyes as they see some piece of on – stage business begin to unravel, once the amplification fails and you hear them barking at each other like any bunch of workmen in crisis, then you are seeing the world through the lens of Spinal Tap.
* 1985 was the year the scale of rock changed the nature of rock. The bigger the show is, the more it’s about ritual rather than content.
* THE ROCK INTERVIEW is an artificial interaction. It’s primarily a business transaction, entered into by both parties for their mutual commercial benefit. At the same time form dictates that it must masquerade as a friendly, almost flirtatious exchange of ideas. It often takes months of negotiation to set up but then takes place as if it’s a chance meeting. It demands a display of outward nonchalance from both interviewer and interviewee. The former is flushed and excited but pretends to be relaxed. The latter is suspicious and guarded but pretends to be relaxed.
* By the mid – eighties the family structures of rock superstars had come to resemble those of all – powerful sovereigns or landed aristocrats of years gone by. Their success meant that they, and they alone, sat at the top of a pyramid of wealth, status and power. As they looked down from the summit they could see the serried ranks of their heirs, their heirs’ tow – headed dependents, the long – established courtiers who transacted their business for them, the vassals and liegemen who handled the tasks beneath their dignity or competence, the new mistresses and the old ones who always knew far more than they let on, even the fools and soothsayers whose job it was to calm their troubled mind…
* The most impressionable group in society are teenage boys. They have a touching readiness to believe that somewhere nearby a bunch of young men only slightly older than they are and certainly no more exceptional are living a life larger, louder and more licentious than any in human history and are getting paid a fortune for doing so.
* The golden rule in music is that the more people protest that it’s all about the music, the more certain it is that it’s all about something else entirely. The thing that mattered most in hard rock was not the rock or the hardness thereof; it was looking the part. And Guns N’ Roses did. They combined glamour and danger in just the right proportions. This is the quality that was impossible to contrive.
* when fashion editors think of a rock star they think of Axl Rose in 1987. Nobody has ever looked more the part.
* The mother of the singer James Taylor, who had watched this process at close quarters, sagely observed that where musicians are concerned ‘The work is always the last thing that goes because it’s the thing that holds their life together.’
Their counsellors had to deal with the toxic combination of arrogance and self – abasement that is often the lot of the rock star. Performing provided its own high, both in terms of the sheer satisfaction it brought with it and also the transformational effect it had on their status. When not performing they were prone to feeling that others had detected their inner worthlessness.
* As part of her treatment at the Betty Ford Center, where she was an in – patient with Tammy Wynette, [Stevie] Nicks had to write the words ‘I am not special: I am dying’ on a piece of paper. ‘That’s a serious thing to swallow,’ she reflected.
Ringo and Clapton were among the first wave of rock stars to change their ways with professional help. In time they would be joined by hundreds of others until it seemed that whenever you interviewed a musician over the age of forty they would volunteer their stories of how they’d stopped using drugs or alcohol. People who in the past were reluctant talkers would now hold forth at length with the practised ease of those accustomed to giving a detached account of their strengths and weaknesses. The confessional press interview became almost an extension of the process of therapy. Major retrospective features increasingly followed a standard arc: I flew high, I went too far, I crashed, I put myself back together with the help of a good woman/man/manager/therapist, and now what I want most of all from my public is forgiveness. Therapy saved the lives of a lot of rock stars, which is a blessing. It also diminished their mystique, which isn’t.
* After Madonna, stars had no secrets. What’s more, the technology that would eventually enable us all to be the stars of our own lives was already on its way.
* Gay people in the world of rock, which likes to congratulate itself on being an outrider for new ways of living, were no quicker to announce their sexuality than their counterparts in Parliament, business, sport or the movies.
* People in rock bands can’t afford to allow themselves to glimpse the preposterousness of what they do.
* Prince could do anything. In terms of all – round ability he was probably the most accomplished rock star of them all. He could play most instruments, he had written huge hit songs like ‘Purple Rain’ and ‘Little Red Corvette’, he could sing in a variety of styles…
* If in 1993 Michael Jackson had still been a member of the Jacksons rather than a solo performer, it’s possible that somebody in their circle would have told him that sharing his bed with thirteen – year – old Jordan Chandler was likely to be interpreted unsympathetically.

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Everything and Less: The Novel in the Age of Amazon

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Luke Ford

Mark McGurl writes in this 2021 book:

* all fiction is genre fiction in that it caters to a generic desire.
* With its by – all – accounts absolute requirement of a happy ending for it to even receive recognition as a member of the genre by its devotees, the romance’s unforgivable sin is that it flagrantly satisfies the “imaginative needs of the community”… What other genres do indirectly, or even “critically,” it does shamelessly in the open and in resourcefully new ways.
From Pamela to the present, the novel in the English – speaking world has developed alongside and within a capitalist economy increasingly oriented toward consumer enjoyment and, if only implicitly, has been telling the story of that economy the whole time. What we now label the “romance” novel is the reflexive expression of the novel’s original appeal: not only is it written for the satisfaction of the imaginative needs of the reader, but it is about that satisfaction in the figure of the heroine and her mate, who always get what they want, and who in getting what they want reassure their readers of the legitimacy and continuity of the social order.
* Entering through the eyes as a succession of words, the novel is transformed into a series of affectively charged mental images of people and places.
* It would be for Norman Holland, whose classic Dynamics of Literary Response (1968) argues that the better part of what we do when we read is to activate emotional resonances between the text and our unacknowledged fantasies of return to pre – oedipal pleasures.
In his view, the conferral of interpretive meaning on the literary text is a form of defense against the unruliness and unspeakability of those pleasures, which are nonetheless the text’s primary raison d’être and source of generic appeal. In this sense, and never more so than when it is utterly obscene “adult entertainment,” all literature is children’s literature at its core.
* In the mostly unconscious act of introjection, which converts words into psychic events, the reader finds (or feels) analogies between the text’s fantasy material and their own. I have added an additional “basement” level, representing something like the Lacanian or Lovecraftian Real — that is, the substratum of utter indifference to human well – being from which literary and all other forms of fantasizing are obsessively repeated attempts to recover. The literary text is in this sense a therapeutic processing of that indifference as a pleasurable sensation of narrative meaning, and each distinct genre a quasi – algorithmic form of doing so.

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The Rise of Writing: Redefining Mass Literacy

Posted on August 17, 2024 by Luke Ford

Deborah Brandt writes in her 2014 book:

* Writing has always been used for work, production, output, earning, profit, publicity, practicality, record-keeping, buying, and selling. Increasingly, writing itself is the product that is bought and sold, as it embodies knowledge, information, invention, service, social relations, news – that is, the products of the new economy. At the turn of the twentieth century, knowledge workers represented 10 percent of all employees. By 1959 this proportion had increased to more than 30 percent of the workforce, and by 1970 it was 50 percent. In 2000, knowledge workers were estimated to account for 75 percent of the employed population, with the biggest gains found among highly educated professional
and technical workers in government and service-producing industries (Wyatt and Hecker 2006). If, as Thomas Stewart (1998) asserts, “Knowledge has become the primary ingredient in what we make, do, buy, and sell” (p. 12), then writing has become a dominant form of labor as it transforms knowledge and news into useable, shareable form.
* The status of writing as a dominant form of labor in the US economy puts an unusual degree of pressure on people’s scribal skills, as their writing literacy is pulled deeply into manufacturing, processing, mining, and distributing information and knowledge. Writing is a time-intensive form of labor that tends to follow people home.
* So rapacious are the production pressures on writing, in fact, that they are redefining reading, as people increasingly read from the posture of the writer, from inside acts of writing, as they respond to others, research, edit, or review other people’s writing or search for styles or approaches to borrow and use in their own writing. Reading is being subordinated to the needs of writing…
* the idea that a text belongs to the person who writes it is not the only concept of authorship that can be found in current US copyright law. When it comes to writing undertaken within the scope of employment – in other words, the writing done by most people in society – copyright turns inside out: under a provision called “Work Made for Hire,” the law is careful to sever writers from ownership claims over the texts that they write at work.
* In the eyes of the law, the employer is the author of their texts. As individuals, workplace writers are not allowed to profit individually from the writing they do. Even the knowledge they may produce in their heads as a result of the writing they do at work is technically not theirs to benefit from. Further, workaday writers are not legally entitled to express their own views through their workplace writing. They can be fired for doing it, and they won’t get much support from the courts if they appeal. According to the Supreme Court, people do not really write at work as citizens or free beings but rather as willingly enlisted corporate voices. At least in their official capacities, workaday writers don’t write as themselves at work, according to the Court. They are not individually responsible for what they are paid to say. Consequently, they don’t really mean what they say. In fact, according to the Court, people who write for pay can’t really mean what they say. Their speech rights are corrupted and, hence, inoperable. From this perspective, writing starts to look a lot less romantic and a lot more feudal.
* copyright is reserved for texts that are considered creative or artistic, or that otherwise promote learning, or have some other enduring social utility…
* teachers and academics still enjoy this privileged exemption and, by dint of long-standing tradition, retain rights to their own writing and other intellectual property even when done on an employer’s premises.
* Constitutional scholar C. Edwin Baker (1989) has written most compellingly of what happens to a citizen’s voice once it is put into paid service – when it becomes (someone else’s) rented property. Such coerced speech necessarily loses its free-speech protections because it is no longer self-directed: “Once a person is employed to say what she does, the speech usually represents not her own self-expression but, at best, the expression of the employer” (p. 54 ). Baker elaborates:
“The First Amendment protects a person’s use of speech to order and create the world in a desired way and as a tool for understanding and communicating about the world in ways
he or she finds important. These uses are fundamental aspects of individual liberty and choice. However, in our present historical setting, commercial speech reflects market
forces that require enterprises to be profit-oriented. This forced profit orientation is not a manifestation of individual freedom or choice. Unlike the broad categories of protected speech, commercial speech does not represent an attempt to create or affect the world in a way that has any logical or intrinsic connection to anyone’s substantive values or personal wishes.”
* speech made pursuant to official duties receives no First Amendment protection. Like private employers, government may control its employees’ speech in order to protect and promulgate its own interests.
* workaday writers are legally severed – economically, ethically, and politically – from the words they write on the job.
* writing – particularly literary writing but not exclusively so – enjoys its own prestige. Through the sometimes convoluted history of literacy in this culture and the ideologies it produces, writing is associated with creativity, talent, intellect, sensibility, knowledge – in a word, authority. In general, writing is a desirable skill, a somewhat scarce skill, respected for its difficulty and the achievement it represents, particularly when it results in publication. Writing benefits most of all from the cultural prestige of reading. Because many forms of reading over time have been marked with high cultural value, this value has come to extend to those who can write in those forms. In this climate, then, writing may bequeath its high status to an individual who engages in it. One can “make a name” through writing. Writing is also its own verifiable record of a powerful engagement with literacy and all of its goodness – including the human growth that is presumed to be entailed in an artistic or intellectual experience. This achievement of the writing per se certifies the writer and warrants the reading. Writing, then, can be an independent source of social value and power and, with some exceptions, it enhances the stature of anyone who claims authorship.
* Legal ghostwriting also collides with the custom of the court to be lenient with self-represented litigants.
* the Internet seems to be favoring a less original form of writing: creation by citation, sampling, cutting and pasting, the blurring of the roles of writers and readers.
* writing is wrapped in yearning and sometimes titanic ambition, tantamount to chasing a dream…
* Just as these young people were well aware of the high prestige afforded the successful artist or published author, they were also well aware of the precariousness of the occupation and the difficulty or unlikelihood of making a viable living as an independent writer…
* a writing orientation can create wariness toward reading, particularly toward its association with passivity and conformity.
* Another predicament of authorship… had to do with managing relations between one’s life and one’s work. …authorship could bring a heightened sense of confusion
and vulnerability, especially in the vicinity of friends and family. …misattribution, parody, estrangement, charges of libel, self exposure, the need for a pseudonym – these are all uncomfortable experiences that can attach to people who write yet rarely enter writing instruction as a focus for exploration and learning.
* reading is largely an internalizing process… writing per se is action in the world. It is an externalizing experience, and so its effects, as we have seen, can come back at writers from the outside. Thoughts can stay private during reading, but they are relentlessly externalized during writing. …bring more wear and tear, more trouble, more risk. Writing risks social exposure, political retaliation, legal blame.
* in the twenty-first century, citizens are more likely to run afoul of the courts not because they are able to read too little but because they choose to write too much. Prosecutors and defense attorneys scour the online writing of prospective jurors, including blogs, Facebook entries, and tweets, to look for predispositions and biases. Several criminal convictions have been overturned in recent years after jurors were discovered writing online about their jury experiences (Grow 2010). Freewheeling personal expression associated with social media is in friction with the court’s traditional ways of protecting the rights of defendants by controlling the speech of jurors.

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Invasion is a structure not an event (8-16-24)

Posted on August 16, 2024 by Luke Ford

Adam Kirsch writes in the WSJ:

The most frequently quoted sentence in the literature of settler colonialism is from the Australian scholar Patrick Wolfe: “Invasion is a structure, not an event.” Wolfe was referring specifically to the British settlement of Australia, but the principle applies equally to the United States and Canada, which were also created by dispossessing the peoples living there when Europeans arrived. That fact is hardly unknown—everyone who grows up in these countries learns about it in elementary school.
What is new in Wolfe’s formula is the idea that this original injustice is being renewed at every moment through various forms of oppression, some obvious, others invisible. The violence involved in a nation’s founding continues to define every aspect of its life, even after centuries—its economic arrangements, environmental practices, gender relations. Because settlement is not a past event but a present structure, every inhabitant of a settler colonial society who is not descended from the original indigenous population is, and always will be, a settler, rather than a legitimate inhabitant.
For the academic discipline of settler colonial studies, the goal of learning about settler colonialism in America and elsewhere is not simply to understand it, as a historian would, but to dismantle it. That process is known as decolonization, and the increasing currency of this term is an index of the rising influence of what might seem a merely academic idea. The command to “decolonize” has become almost faddish; guides have been written on how to decolonize your diet, your bookshelf, your backyard, your corporate board, and much more.

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Inculcating An Attitude Of Gratitude & Reverence For The USA (8-15-24)

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Luke Ford

06:30 The Real Reason for the Rise in Rape – and Why Feminists Won’t Mention It., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unmz-nuSS_I
11:30 Swoooon! Why is Harris Media Coverage Like This? | Mark Halperin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xCB1J0SOk
31:25 95% of journos badly want Trump to lose
33:20 WP: Why the disinformation brigade has utterly failed to weaken Trump, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/15/trump-fact-checking-truth-falsehood/
37:00 The Feminisation of Academia – Amy Wax, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhMGU-rExbE
40:00 You want a safe space? Build a family, make friends, join a strongly identifying in-group and hang out there
44:00 My last place finish in a 1984 triathlon, NBC: Last-place (female) finisher in Olympic marathon delivers a first-class Olympic moment | Paris Olympics
54:30 Andrew Schulz – INFAMOUS (2022), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZkp023MdY
53:00 January 6 comedy
54:00 Andrew Schulz misses Trump as president
1:04:00 Kip joins to praise Louise Perry, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Perry
1:05:45 Animal rescue
1:08:00 At what age should men stop having kids?
1:15:00 It’s not good to fool mother nature
1:19:00 Amy Wax says women experience unwanted sex as dysphoric
1:21:00 WSJ: For Years, an Esteemed Law Professor Seduced Students. Was He Too Important to Fire?, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/joshua-wright-student-relationships-c6377572
1:24:00 Amy Wax: Inculcating An Attitude Of Gratitude & Reverence For The USA
Exposing Channel 7’s secrets | Four Corners, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2y5VbC4WCo
Guardian: ‘I’m not sure Israel is a democratic state any more’: Yair Golan’s mission to save his country, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/12/im-not-sure-israel-is-a-democratic-state-any-more-yair-golans-mission-to-save-his-country?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Guardian: As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed by my recent visit to Israel, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/13/israel-gaza-historian-omer-bartov?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Did women in academia cause wokeness?, https://www.noahsnewsletter.com/p/did-women-in-academia-cause-wokeness?r=7bj1z
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/history-of-ugly-laws-america-disability

Posted in America, Feminism, Journalism | Comments Off

WEHT To Matt Drudge? (8-14-24)

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Luke Ford

01:00 NYT: Monkeypox and the Gay Community, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/briefing/monkeypox-gay-community.html
08:00 WEHT to Matt Drudge?
12:20 What Tucker Carlson did to get blacklisted by Matt Drudge, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-matt-drudge/id1726181351
18:00 Why Drudge turned against Trump, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-drudge-turned-on-trump/id1726181351?i=1000647362894
30:00 Elites vs regular Americans, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7tJPnS8vJE
32:00 We don’t live in a media-run state contra to NS Lyons, https://substack.com/@theupheaval/note/c-65320115
37:30 Climate change
46:00 Did women in academia cause wokeness?, https://www.noahsnewsletter.com/p/did-women-in-academia-cause-wokeness?r=7bj1z
1:00:30 Exposing Channel 7’s secrets | Four Corners, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2y5VbC4WCo
1:05:00 The history of ugly laws,
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/history-of-ugly-laws-america-disability

Transcript.

Podnotes summary: The World Health Organization has raised concerns about a monkeypox epidemic. While the disease itself is concerning, there’s something even worse: stigma. Stigma around behaviors that transmit monkeypox, like certain sexual activities among gay men, can be more harmful than the disease by perpetuating discrimination.

Monkeypox primarily affects sexually active men in the LGBTQ+ community but isn’t exclusive to them; it’s not a “gay disease.” It spreads through close contact and while it disproportionately impacts gay men engaging in frequent sexual encounters, stigmatizing this behavior could hinder efforts to combat the virus.

HIV-positive chefs in Toronto held an event to fight against stigma associated with infectious diseases. Randy Davis believes education is key to alleviating fear and ignorance which fuel such stigmas.

Stigmatization doesn’t just affect those who are reckless; during the AIDS crisis, innocent people suffered due to a few individuals’ actions. This shouldn’t be repeated with monkeypox—we must follow science instead of falling into discriminatory traps.

Misinformation online has led doctors to correct homophobic narratives surrounding monkeypox transmission—it’s not limited by sexuality or behavior alone.

The story shifts focus onto Matt Drudge of Drudge Report fame—a once-conservative figure who turned against Donald Trump for reasons unknown—showing how quickly allies can become adversaries based on personal biases or changing political winds. Former associates describe Drudge as sensitive and unpredictable—a drama queen prone to cutting ties over minor slights.

In politics and media alike, relationships are often fragile; alliances built one day may crumble the next as interests diverge—much like nations might betray their own spies for broader strategic gains—as suggested by reports of U.S.-Iranian dealings regarding Israeli agents involved in assassinations. These complex dynamics underscore human fallibility and shifting priorities rather than inherent malice or betrayal.

Ultimately, understanding why figures like Drudge pivot politically remains speculative at best—with various insiders offering theories from policy disagreements to personal dislikes—but what’s clear is that attention-seeking individuals will always seek relevance amidst changing landscapes.

To dodge monkeypox, simply avoid certain gatherings such as gay piss orgies.

Charlie Kirk tweeted about monkeypox being a lesser concern compared to other issues. The Jerusalem Post reported on Tehran’s assassination list linked to Iran targeting Assad agents. Car insurance has spiked by 55% during the Harris-Biden administration due to less law enforcement leading to more reckless driving and higher insurance claims.

A young girl is forced into marriage with an older Muslim man, raising questions about cultural integration versus diversity needs. This practice, along with slavery, persists in modern Islam, reflecting underdevelopment and brutality in some parts of the Arab-Islamic world.

The term “fascism” lacks a clear definition; it varied across regions as a counter-response to communism without a central doctrine or headquarters. After research, one way to prevent monkeypox seems avoiding specific events.

A fabricated story accused Israeli soldiers of raping Palestinians but was debunked after medical exams showed no evidence of assault—just an attempt at smuggling contraband via concealment.

Scott Rasmussen discussed polling differences between elites (those earning over $150k/year with postgraduate degrees living in dense areas) and average Americans regarding trust in government and individual freedom—the elite often favor more control than what public policy reflects.

Many elites believe most Americans share their views even when they don’t align with public sentiment—a disconnect influencing political toxicity and voter disenchantment within America’s polarized society.

Polls show close elections can lead to legitimacy disputes among voters who distrust results not aligned with their beliefs—with both sides having history disputing election outcomes.

As for polls’ accuracy during elections: while skepticism exists due to changes like those seen during COVID-19-related voting adjustments, overwhelming evidence suggests presidential vote counts are generally reliable despite right-wing media casting doubts through selective reporting.

An attorney for Detroit explained that the windows were partially covered during voting to protect voter privacy. Official observers and hundreds of party challengers were present, alongside dozens of reporters. Despite objections to the 2020 count’s legitimacy, analyses debunking these claims are more convincing; no reputable lawyer would support Trump’s rigged election claims due to facts like a suburban shift towards Biden.

Noah Carl suggests academia’s leftward shift is influenced by an influx of women who tend to be less supportive of free speech and more in favor of censorship—often seen as protective but potentially contributing to a culture less open to controversial discourse.

ABC Australia documentary Four Corners reports: Channel 7 faced allegations ranging from using sex workers and drugs for interviews, workplace bullying, discrimination, and harassment. Many employees signed NDAs upon leaving or being fired under various circumstances such as maternity leave or after filing complaints about their treatment at work. These agreements often silence them from discussing their experiences publicly.

The text also mentions how certain jobs can be tough on everyone but claims there’s an expectation that men will endure silently while women might not tolerate such conditions well. It discusses the impact this has on industries like journalism where competition is fierce and economic stability is waning.

Employers often hesitate to hire women who might become pregnant or people from groups they perceive as less desirable workers, prioritizing their interests. Similarly, employees aim to maximize earnings while minimizing effort, and employers seek the most work for the least pay. We’re conducting a Zoom interview with a woman who risks speaking out even anonymously about management’s tactics.

At Channel 7, she was told to sift through staff emails that could be used against them. Asked how she felt about this task, she now feels sick; it reflects a broader issue where many have had to do distasteful things at work. The idea is that employment equates to choosing your “slave owner”—a harsh view of reality.

She criticizes the abuse of internal policies meant for ethical purposes but notes self-interest is common among all people—men and women, employers and employees. Everyone can claim victimhood; surrounding individuals may feel wronged by those same complaining parties. Life involves inadvertently harming others while pursuing one’s goals.

Elliot Blatt urges us to recognize these realities—wake up and smell the eucalyptus.

Posted in America, Australia, Feminism, Journalism | Comments Off

Musk-Trump’s 40 Minute Delay – Persecution Or Incompetence? (8-13-24)

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Luke Ford

01:00 WP: Musk’s chat with Trump was a peek inside the right-wing bubble, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/13/musks-chat-with-trump-was-peek-inside-right-wing-bubble/
03:00 Axios: Trump’s alternative reality campaign, https://www.axios.com/2024/08/13/trump-election-ai-harris-biden-campaign
15:20 Kamala Harris is waiting for her pollsters to tell her what policies to embrace
https://outsidethebeltway.com/the-gift-of-f-a-i-l-ure/
21:00 The growing enshitification of the internet
https://outsidethebeltway.com/he-sounded-like-a-disoriented-racist-daffy-duck/
35:30 Fake politics, fake news
37:00 100 IQ uninformed people saw Joe Biden’s senility years before the high IQ well-informed liberal elite
47:00 What happened to proud English identity?
52:45 Kip joins to talk about building up a happy life outside of politics and the internet
57:00 The Father Factor
1:06:00 Kip’s history of competing with women
1:07:00 My golden years of blogging
1:13:00 I Turned Against Cyber Currencies In May of 2021, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=146163
1:17:00 The Long Con – Mail-order conservatism, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=147766
1:29:20 Low Supplies Of Western Weapons To Israel – Michael Oren
1:33:00 Chiropractors push autism cure scams, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1PqcbB2P4U
1:36:00 The Evolutionary Psychology Of Love, Lust & Cheating – Dr Anna Machin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn7-d04m664
1:40:00 Guest Elon Gold on the podcast We Think It’s Funny, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guest-elon-gold/id1732222323?i=1000663983159
1:45:00 Elon Gold and his wife are Orthodox Jews and virgins to the world
1:47:00 Mark Schiff, Jerry Seinfeld stay away from other women
1:49:00 Mark’s friends don’t get divorced, don’t fool around

Posted in America | Comments Off

The Two-Tier Society aka Some Identities Are Sacred (8-11-24)

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Luke Ford

01:00 Kamala Harris’s trajectory, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uORV3iWiLu4
08:00 Whoever was running Youtube in 2018 would have been forced to censor as Susan Wojcicki did, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Wojcicki
09:45 Do you support order or radical riots?
11:00 Expanding Rights For One Group Usually Comes At The Expense Of Other Groups, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=156852
20:00 David Starkey: Mass migration has destroyed the Britain I knew, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwD3zn5nA5I
27:45 Two-Tier Keir Starmer
53:30 Colin Liddell joins the show to discuss UK rioting
55:00 Colin Liddell analyzes GBNews, Spiked, TalkTV
1:00:00 Elite media vs tabloid media
1:05:00 Why did the MSM miss Joe Biden’s obvious senility?
1:13:30 The soft approach vs over-statement
1:19:00 Refugees vs the white working class
1:27:20 Tommy Robinson
1:37:00 The feminization of the UK
1:45:30 Stephen J. James on the UK riots
2:01:00 Sargon of Akkad
2:17:00 Kip joins to talk about the world going to hell once countries left the gold standard
2:56:00 The Conservative Human Rights Revolution: European Identity, Transnational Politics, and the Origins of the European Convention, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=156870
3:06:00 Middle East analysis
3:16:00 Melanie Phillips: Britain chooses Labour – will the West Choose SURVIVAL?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Lh56l03Lw
3:18:00 The Left Is Horrified By Revenge, https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=156903
3:26:00 Most academics are not interested in public writings, https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus/
3:32:00 Self-help books
3:34:30 Atomic habits
3:37:00 Dr K aka Healthy Gamer, Andrew Huberman
3:39:00 WP: A pastor said his pro-Trump prophecies came from God. His brother called him a fake., https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2024/trump-prophecy-josiah-jeremiah-johnson-alabama/

Transcript.

YT comment:

Another great show Luke. I appreciate all the effort you put into your research and the videos you show provide high quality information from leading academics and experts. This show has a little bit of everything and the callers add a touch of variety to the livestreams. I like how some (if not most) of your world view is shaped around self-help/AA. Which is interesting because I feel what self-help/AA tries to get you to do is to confront your own ego. A problem we have on the right is how everyone wants to be unique as possible and refuses to work with others because we are all natural born contrarians. No wonder many of us don’t have good relationships with our family and friends, as we are ready to burn bridges at the drop of a hat if someone dares bring any harm upon our volatile emotions.
This show is a hidden gem and I always leave feeling happy, informed and centered. For the record my world view lines up closely to yours and Steve Sailor’s. I can’t stand the rampant pessimism, hatred and bickering which goes on the DR and this is a show where I can get my views said back to me and sometimes even challenged or confronted. I appreciate your normal and fair approach to charged topics like race, immigration and the Israel/palestine conflict. It tells me you have a social life.
I used to before just say every far right opinion I had and if someone had a problem with it then good one less weak willed, immature person out of my life. I like how you pull from mainstream news sources, even though sometimes it must feel like wading through mud to find pearls because I before had completely written off news websites before you shared a Richard Hanania article about how mainstream news sites are not all that bad and the article you share about the jealous pastor’s brother was very intriguing and provided a fascinating look into the world of end times obsessed Christian fundamentalists even though the journalist is most likely a giga shitlib. I could tell behind her faux neutrality she loathed all the people involved in the article.

Podnotes summary: Kamala Harris has been on the rise in recent weeks, with increasing poll numbers and support from both sides of the political spectrum. Despite previous doubts by Democratic elites who considered replacing her as vice president due to fears she might falter off-script, Harris has run a tight campaign that’s garnered media backing.

She’s now ahead of Donald Trump by four points in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This leaves Republicans searching for ways to counter her momentum.

Kamala Harris’ team is top-notch; they’re strategic and she follows their lead well—unlike Trump who often deviates from planned messages. Questions about his cognitive ability at age 78 have surfaced among Republicans.

There are concerns within the Harris campaign regarding potential scandals or controversies that could emerge. Tim Walls’ National Guard service portrayal has come under scrutiny, which may distract from Harris’ state tours if amplified by opponents like Trump.

At a rally in Michigan, when confronted by protesters accusing her of supporting genocide, rather than addressing their claims directly, Harris warned them not to help Trump win with such accusations.

Harris also hinted at potential policy changes towards Israel during a private meeting before the rally—a topic that remains sensitive for many voters.

In terms of societal commentary:

– YouTube’s content restrictions reflect pressures from advertisers more than individual decisions.
– The feminist movement aims at removing constraints on female sexuality while restricting male sexuality.
– Societies tend toward feminism until challenged by patriarchal forces; this shift impacts various social dynamics including dating and marriage norms.

The balance between choice and discipline is crucial: too much freedom can be overwhelming whereas structured limitations can guide productive behavior.

As we navigate these complex issues around gender politics and societal expectations, it’s clear there’s no one-size-fits-all answer but an ongoing dialogue about our evolving values and behaviors is essential.

Some women cope with insults to their femininity by turning to hobbies like gardening or arts and crafts, while others express anger through political activism. A few seek revenge on society due to feeling displaced from the dating scene.

Childlessness can deepen despair as it reduces opportunities for nurturing, impacting both personal fulfillment and societal stability. Commentary suggests that masculinity is about invasion, while femininity is about invitation; mistakes made by each gender are influenced by these traits.

The UK faces social media crackdowns following riots sparked by misinformation. Prime Minister K Star warns of arrests for sharing riot footage online. The unrest began after a tragic incident at a children’s dance event led to the wrongful vilification of an immigrant suspect on social media.

Nigel Farage discusses divisions in British cities, blaming unchecked immigration and identity politics for eroding national identity and fueling violence. He criticizes government responses during COVID-19 lockdowns, advocating free speech over censorship on social media platforms like Facebook.

David Starkey highlights ethnic tensions in Britain, noting how multiculturalism has led to differential treatment by police towards certain groups. This approach often exempts historically marginalized communities from criticism but stokes resentment among those who feel excluded from such protections.

In conclusion, divisive issues related to immigration, policing practices, and freedom of speech are intensifying debates within the UK as leaders grapple with maintaining order amid rising discontent.

Tim Walz’s a joyful, effective communicator with an impressive background. Even as a conservative, I acknowledge that. However, the media critical of him focus on his liberal policies in Minnesota and warn against the financial implications if he gains more power.

Tim Walz is known for being progressive and not moderate within his party. His selection has been controversial; critics label him extreme and blame him for unrest in Minnesota.

Contrastingly, Trump confidently faced the media while Harris avoided it. She briefly engaged with press questions but should face more to provide unscripted answers.

The discussion shifted to riots in the UK and their dynamics influenced by racial tensions and new right-wing outlets like GB News funded by foreign interests possibly aimed at sowing division.

Debates also touched on low fertility rates driving immigration and multiculturalism despite resistance from some who prefer understanding over emotional responses.

Media outlets sensationalize news for attention but elite media balance this with maintaining status among certain demographics or advertisers’ support—highlighting Joe Biden’s cognitive decline was avoided due to civility norms despite its obviousness to many outside elite circles.

Lastly, discussions turned to two-tier policing where different communities receive varied police treatment highlighting disparities without much mainstream effort to understand white working-class frustrations compared to other groups’ riots.

The British government has a policy of multiculturalism and has been dispersing refugees across the nation to cut costs and encourage assimilation. This, however, leads to increased housing prices in poorer areas due to contracted private landlords raising rents. The government believes spreading migrants out prevents isolated communities from forming and speeds up assimilation.

In an unrelated incident, I witnessed a father with his children dangerously close to traffic. It raised questions about when it’s appropriate to intervene with strangers who may be at risk.

Regarding political figures like Tommy Robinson and David Starkey, opinions vary on their influence and credibility. Trust in commentators is hard-earned since they often speak outside their expertise.

Domestic politics are equally contentious; Labour’s majority doesn’t reflect its popularity or connection with the white working class. Japan’s societal differences also come into focus when comparing it with Britain regarding optimism for the future despite modern comforts.

Finally, media coverage of politicians requires scrutiny as it influences public perception without necessarily providing substance or encouraging accountability in potential leaders.

I often wonder, if foreign support for a political cause is good or bad. The African National Congress accepted Soviet aid and I can’t blame them—they needed help. But does accepting foreign assistance mean we’re part of the problem?

In Britain, I want my country to improve but worry about foreign influence like Russia’s backing of extreme groups. Are they trying to destabilize us? Arrests during riots make me question the freedom to observe protests.

Our prosecutor-turned-leader seems too eager to punish rioters harshly, with no bail and quick prison sentences. It deters people but also punishes those caught in the moment—like the young man jailed for stealing from a bakery.

Stephen: Discussing politics, I don’t trust mainstream media; instead, I follow independent voices online who dare speak out against current issues. People are apolitical in real life; they accept gender equality on the surface but avoid discussing sensitive topics openly due to fear of repercussions.

Online speech restrictions have grown significantly though people still speak freely in private settings. There’s a class divide in political correctness adherence—with working-class individuals less influenced by it than middle- or upper-class ones.

The UK has its own set of problems: work environments without English speakers, healthcare access issues, housing shortages—all affecting deprived communities who feel overlooked by media and elites.

Humor is restricted; feminism isn’t prominent among everyday folks who focus more on practical matters than ideology. Political correctness awareness exists yet doesn’t dominate casual conversations as much as one might think.

As for sexual divides and relationship dynamics among youth—it varies across social classes with different attitudes toward sex and relationships evident between age groups and backgrounds.

Luke: Despite having its issues, England’s government still provides a better quality of life than most people in history or the world today. While it may not be as prosperous as neighboring Luxembourg, it holds up well compared to other nations. However, our perception of the world is often biased by our own attitudes – optimists see positive news while pessimists focus on doom and gloom.

The media feeds into these biases with their stories. For instance, I’ve observed that society has become too comfortable pressing the “easy button,” losing resilience in the process. It seems like genuine grit is dwindling as more people rely on external support systems rather than internal strength.

Kip: Financial concerns have grown even for those who are technically millionaires due to inflation eroding what was once considered wealth. The concept of community and culture feels audacious now; there’s an overwhelming sense that we’re spiraling down into madness.

Financially speaking, debt levels are alarming. As interest rates rise from 3.9% to 4.1%, worries about economic stability increase alongside them. Observing spelling bees reveals how immigrant children outperform native ones, suggesting a decline in homegrown excellence.

Luke: In education too, passion-driven learning seems rarer among local students compared to their Asian counterparts who excel through rote learning and pragmatic approaches—yet innovation typically emerges from those willing to explore beyond test material.

Kip: Concerns also extend to regional banks struggling with low-interest loans and potential bailouts by governments which could lead us further towards dependency on state assistance rather than self-reliance.

Looking at global dynamics, countries like Saudi Arabia have begun questioning long-standing agreements like oil trade in US dollars—a sign that America’s influence might be waning as others grow tired of playing by rules set predominantly for US benefit.

The accumulation of gold by Asian governments contrasts sharply with sales in America over the past decade; this shift signals a possible transfer of wealth and power Eastward despite America’s military might keeping it dominant—for now.

Finally, discussing whether another country could challenge American dominance remains speculative but highlights underlying shifts away from traditional power structures toward something new yet undefined.

In the past, the English Tory party was seen as self-worshipping and undeserving of its own admiration. England’s history is marked by significant advancements such as increased life expectancy, prosperity, health improvements, and mass literacy—all starting here. Yet now we face a unique situation with unprecedented levels of migration since 1997 that surpass even ancient population movements in scale.

Mass immigration began modestly post-World War II but has since escalated dramatically. This surge has had profound impacts on society and has occurred alongside suppressed public debate—a combination that exacerbates problems.

Turning to human rights discourse, historically it was conservatives who championed these ideals in Europe after World War II—not the left as commonly assumed today. Conservatives saw human rights as a means to protect democracy from tyranny—whether from majoritarianism or totalitarian ideologies within socialism or fascism.

After WWII, British Protestant conservatives valued time-tested institutions over popular sovereignty while Catholic French conservatives sought corporate structures reminiscent of medieval times. Both groups were skeptical about universal rights applications; instead, they favored liberties tailored to specific historical communities.

The conservative push for a European human rights court aimed at protecting individual freedoms against expansive state power reflects this tradition. However, they did not extend these protections universally across all peoples—a notion still debated today regarding European identity amidst growing diversity.

Nowadays in Europe and America alike, there’s contention over how much authority courts should wield versus elected bodies—a reversal from past perspectives where conservatives once advocated for judicial oversight over executive actions.

The complex legacy of conservative involvement in shaping modern human rights continues to influence contemporary politics amid discussions around immigration policy and national identity within an increasingly diverse Europe.

Keir Starmer was a staunch leftist, unchanged over time. Unlike Jeremy Corbyn, who supported Marxist dictators and terrorist groups, Starmer’s alignment is different. He believes in the human rights culture that many Western critics of Israel subscribe to—a culture now questioned by some on the right who see it as undermining social cohesion.

Human rights have become politicized; conservatives once supportive now see them hijacked by progressive agendas. This divide affects global standards and national interests, with each side prioritizing either security or personal liberties.

The United Nations Human Rights Council and associated organizations champion human rights but are seen by some as biased against Israel. Critics argue that universities chase popularity rather than truth, often ignoring flawed science for fame or funding—mirroring issues found in corporations and governments alike.

In academia and media, incentives encourage networking over honesty; criticism can jeopardize one’s standing within an institution or community. The quest for evidence-based self-help is challenging since what works varies from person to person without clear scientific backing.

Finally, discussions about addiction treatment highlight how complex clinical advice gets oversimplified online for mass appeal—reflecting systemic pressures across platforms promoting easily digestible content at the expense of nuanced accuracy.

WP: Jose gazed at the wall sign that read, “In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus,” and pondered how his brother Jeremiah was using Christianity to gain fame. With a large social media following, Jeremiah spread far-right beliefs claiming Trump was chosen by God. Jose’s frustration grew as he saw his brother twist religion for political gains.

Jeremiah led a church and school preparing for end times, sold e-courses on prophecy, and shared supposed divine messages about American politics online. Meanwhile, 37-year-old Jose struggled with dead-end jobs to support his small ministry in Alabama.

Their father always sided with Jeremiah which pained Jose who felt compelled to speak out against false prophets leading believers astray. Despite knowing it could cause family strife or attract public criticism from strangers labeling him delusional or worse.

Finally deciding to act, Jose posted a message challenging religious fabrications on Facebook. He knew morality sometimes meant speaking up even if it risked conflict with those closest to you.

The story illustrates complex dynamics within families where success contrasts sharply with struggle; how personal narratives must adapt when faced with such disparities; and the tension between loyalty and truth amidst differing interpretations of shared experiences.

Addressing broader issues like gender roles in combat or cultural oppression claims underscores societal debates over equality versus recognizing inherent differences among groups—highlighting that liberal perspectives often prioritize some harms over others depending on ideological stances.

Posted in America, Conservatives, Human Rights | Comments Off

The Left Is Horrified By Revenge

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Luke Ford

Dennis Prager points out that all punishment contains revenge.

People on the right are not as horrified by revenge as people on the left because the right wants to strongly punish norm violators.

Other distinguishing features of the right include a reflex that traditional ways of people (such as the nuclear family) are better than untested ways, and more comfort with hierarchy and inequality.

David Remnick writes in The New Yorker:

Amos Harel, a military and political analyst for Haaretz, said that one of the most dispiriting aspects of the current nightmare is the way Sinwar was able to provoke the Netanyahu government into a state of horrific and ruinous fury. “The sense in Israeli society is that we are going down the drain, and Sinwar has helped drag us there,” Harel told me. “When we justify things we never would have justified before, we are in the moral gutter. Words like ‘revenge’ used to be heard only among the Bezalel Smotrichs and the Itamar Ben-Gvirs of the world”—two particularly reactionary ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet. “Now military units and mainstream colonels are using terms like nekama, revenge. It’s almost part of the norm now. I am not sure it was part of Sinwar’s great plan, but that is where we are.”

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Zombie Anti-Zionism

Posted on August 11, 2024 by Luke Ford

Izabella Tabarovsky writes for Tabletmag July 30, 2024:

Herbert Aptheker, a senior member of the American Communist Party (CPUSA) and influential scholar of Marxism, argued for framing the Arab-Israeli conflict in terms of “imperialism and colonialism versus national liberation and social progress,” as well as through the lens of racial oppression. Contrary to Israeli rulers’ claims, he declared, the greatest threat facing Israel came not from Arabs but from Israel’s own extremist right-wing government, which had turned Israel into the “handmaiden of imperialism and colonialist expansionism.” He equated Israel with Nazi Germany by referring to the recent Six-Day War as a blitzkrieg, a quintessentially Soviet propaganda term meant to evoke Hitler’s invasion of the USSR. Today, said Aptheker, it was Jews who were “acting out the roles of occupiers and tormentors” of the oppressed. He called on the audience to work tirelessly to unmask “the horror of the June war and its aftermath.” So closely did Aptheker’s speech follow the anti-Israel logic and idiom of Soviet propaganda that it may well have been written for him in Moscow.
The two documents the conference unanimously adopted—the “Appeal to the Conscience of the World” (reportedly signed by 100 members of the Indian parliament) and a “Declaration”—conveyed similar messages with even more bombast. Evoking classic antisemitic tropes, they accused Israel of having cynically violated all “standards of human decency,” and declared that it had made “a mockery of all human moral values.” They dubbed Palestinian terrorism—aka “resistance”—as “righteous and justified.” In an attempt to make the Middle Eastern conflict more relatable, they equated it with the central cause animating the Western left at the time: the war in Vietnam. They called for all the people on the planet to resist “imperialist-Zionist propaganda” and expressed appreciation for the “progressive and peace-loving” Soviet Union and other socialist states and Non-Aligned countries that “supported the Arab cause.”
The message echoed throughout the global leftist universe. The CPUSA, which was almost wholly subsidized by the Soviet Union, published Aptheker’s speech and both statements in full in its theoretical journal Political Affairs. The African Communist, the Soviet-financed quarterly organ of the South African Communist Party (SACP), which was deeply intertwined with the African National Congress (ANC), ran a piece titled “Zionism and the Future of Israel,” closely reflecting the language of the New Delhi conference, complete with the word blitzkrieg. Its author, who claimed to be a South African living in Tel Aviv, accused Zionist “fanatical zealots” of exploiting the biblical concept of Jewish chosenness to fan the flames of Jewish supremacy (“chauvinism” in the language of the day), while equating Israel with apartheid South Africa.
What’s so interesting about this half-century-old Soviet propaganda is how precisely it mirrors the language emanating from the anti-Israel left since Oct. 7. Today’s left, too, speaks of Israel as a racist, imperialist, and colonialist state; equates it with Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa; disparages Jews for having turned into oppressors; and proclaims Palestinians’ inalienable right to resist their colonial oppression by any means necessary.

Posted in Anti-Semitism | Comments Off