Really solid Suzy. Physical reality is a bitch, and despite the pieties of woke religious doctrine and the financial incentives of the caring industries that bitch will have her say. Putin said as much, he called post liberal America an “empire of lies”. We are truly the stupidest generation our grandparents the greatest generation would be ashamed of us.
Along with all sorts of words in the 'new' vocabulary, Culture Maker is not a word.
You don't make culture, like it's some kind of product or service. It doesn't work that way. Why is there this weird push to try and relabel everything these days?
The wondrous expanded connection to the world promised by small screen 50's T.V. is todays WEF/big tech/surveillance state horror. The depression filled anxiety ridden electronic chasm that tortures numbs and splits the psyche of American youth is a manufactured "gain of function" virus. Its purpose is to create spiritual and intellectual anomie and to make a profit doing it. It is in short: Soul murder.
It is a drug. The addiction is transparent. How many young people do you know who cannot live in their own skins without constant access to electronic or social media? Who, cannot sit in simple conversation, enjoy a meal with family or sit quietly and read a book? Or, whose identity and psyche has not been brutalized by the "woke" minions of totalitarian finance? How many "big tech" execs have you heard say that they do not allow their children on social media?
History is a living breathing reality. Removing statues of Lee or Grant does not change the fact that their lives are directly connected to our own. The terrorism cloaked in the false concern and morality of banning Twain or Steinbeck is merely an object lesson in power and an assault on Consciousness. Remember when the Patriot Act allowed the surveillance state to open the door to the intimidation of librarians. Do we remember the names of the women who stood up against it? As I recall it took weeks to burn the knowledge contained in the Library of Alexandria. Most youth today can not tell you who Grant, Lee, Twain or Steinbeck are.
With great effort we may be able to regain control of our Constitutional Republic and I sincerely believe subscription journalism can help power that possibility. But, continuing to believe that electronic space and time hasn't been weaponized by venal criminals and we haven't been poisoned by the drug is no different than the heroin addict sure he knows where the line is.
The real problem is we like to call ourselves stuff.....that we aren't......
Examples:
* Self Proclaimed: Super Power....but only willing to defend our title versus Third World militaries.
* Self Proclaimed: World's bastion of democracy and freedom......unless you have an opposing political viewpoint. Then we will ban you from Twitter.
* Self Proclaimed: Home of the World's brightest minds.......but the average 12th grader reads at a 6th grade level [exaggeration to make a point].
* Self Proclaimed: Systemic Racist Nation........says the Black President to the guilt ridden white electorate who voted him into office.
Any cause, no matter how far away, the Triangulum Galaxy [*Steven N.] or in Africa, as Suzy Weiss says.....needs to be understood first. I suggest this; you can be a drug addict jobless dirt bag and still support a good cause. You don't need to fix yourself first, there is no magical order of things to fix. Just understand without a doubt what you are for and what you are against. Don't believe until verified. If you can't verify.....pass on it.
Haven't the lies from Dr. Fauci, George W. Bush, LBJ, The NY Times, etc......taught us anything?
This is a fascinating piece, Suzy. We have now reached the point that many of us don't trust the news, don't trust politicians, don't trust the educational, medical and scientific establishment and the list goes on. All for good reasons. That leaves a huge gap.
What I came away with from this story was twofold: 1) How on earth did we get to the point that we're not batting an eye at teachers at a high school pulling kids out of instruction for 30 minutes to participate in some social justice presentation (which happened to turn out to be a scam)? And 2) since the dawn of social media there have been con artists out there creating fake narratives and content and they've only gotten more bold and sophisticated as the years have gone on.
"I'd love to change the world but i don't know what to do so I'll leave it up to you" as Ten Years After sang. With apologies for the Boomer era reference dating back to 1971. But it's an apt song for Suzy Weiss' excellent write-up, which hits the nail on the head. And it's a great song.
Whenever I get a request for support--usually financial--I ask a very simple question: what do you plan to do with the money? It's usually stupid: "we need it so we can get the message out.
Not much of an answer, is it? Why does it take money to get out a message? With the internet, you don't even have to pay postage, let alone buy envelopes, paper, or a printer. They usually hang up around that time.
If it's a phone call--which I usually will not answer--it will be something along the lines of "I'm calling on behalf of the the Fallen Police aAssociation Benefit fund to send their children to college." I can typically stop them right there with "are you part of that organization or are you soliciting on their behalf?" "....Uh, we're soliciting for them." "I see. And of every dollar you collect, how much goes to the organization itself?" "At least 12%." "I see. So, basically, you're thieves. Fuck you. Never call me again."
Been there, done that, don't wish to get conned again.
Another version of that is the $10,000 + tickets to an event held at a fancy hotel where everyone wears a tuxedo or an evening gown. The admin fees for these things are ridiculous and the people attending like to check the virtue signal box and get their picture in the paper. In my experience and opinion its more rewarding to pay for someone's son or daughter to attend trade school or contribute towards a known hardworking tradesman or housekeeper's vehicle or tools. Personal level stuff that 100 % helps someone. Imagine if 10 people went in together to pay for their school cafeteria worker's son to become a plumber or electrician? No public glory but the dividends to ALL of the involved souls can't be measured.
I was happy that the guy cracked up and ran around naked, it seems entirely appropriate.
Really solid Suzy. Physical reality is a bitch, and despite the pieties of woke religious doctrine and the financial incentives of the caring industries that bitch will have her say. Putin said as much, he called post liberal America an “empire of lies”. We are truly the stupidest generation our grandparents the greatest generation would be ashamed of us.
Very profound!
Well done, Ms. Weiss!
Excellent piece. Thank you
So you joined a cult? Interesting...
Our openhearted society has been played for fools on "trans".
https://pitt.substack.com/p/free-the-press-we-need-real-reporting?s=r
Along with all sorts of words in the 'new' vocabulary, Culture Maker is not a word.
You don't make culture, like it's some kind of product or service. It doesn't work that way. Why is there this weird push to try and relabel everything these days?
I am so glad I subscribed to Common Sense
Absolutely fantastic article! Thank you Suzy for sharing.
The wondrous expanded connection to the world promised by small screen 50's T.V. is todays WEF/big tech/surveillance state horror. The depression filled anxiety ridden electronic chasm that tortures numbs and splits the psyche of American youth is a manufactured "gain of function" virus. Its purpose is to create spiritual and intellectual anomie and to make a profit doing it. It is in short: Soul murder.
It is a drug. The addiction is transparent. How many young people do you know who cannot live in their own skins without constant access to electronic or social media? Who, cannot sit in simple conversation, enjoy a meal with family or sit quietly and read a book? Or, whose identity and psyche has not been brutalized by the "woke" minions of totalitarian finance? How many "big tech" execs have you heard say that they do not allow their children on social media?
History is a living breathing reality. Removing statues of Lee or Grant does not change the fact that their lives are directly connected to our own. The terrorism cloaked in the false concern and morality of banning Twain or Steinbeck is merely an object lesson in power and an assault on Consciousness. Remember when the Patriot Act allowed the surveillance state to open the door to the intimidation of librarians. Do we remember the names of the women who stood up against it? As I recall it took weeks to burn the knowledge contained in the Library of Alexandria. Most youth today can not tell you who Grant, Lee, Twain or Steinbeck are.
With great effort we may be able to regain control of our Constitutional Republic and I sincerely believe subscription journalism can help power that possibility. But, continuing to believe that electronic space and time hasn't been weaponized by venal criminals and we haven't been poisoned by the drug is no different than the heroin addict sure he knows where the line is.
In both cases you can end up dead.
GOT CONSTITUTION?
The real problem is we like to call ourselves stuff.....that we aren't......
Examples:
* Self Proclaimed: Super Power....but only willing to defend our title versus Third World militaries.
* Self Proclaimed: World's bastion of democracy and freedom......unless you have an opposing political viewpoint. Then we will ban you from Twitter.
* Self Proclaimed: Home of the World's brightest minds.......but the average 12th grader reads at a 6th grade level [exaggeration to make a point].
* Self Proclaimed: Systemic Racist Nation........says the Black President to the guilt ridden white electorate who voted him into office.
Any cause, no matter how far away, the Triangulum Galaxy [*Steven N.] or in Africa, as Suzy Weiss says.....needs to be understood first. I suggest this; you can be a drug addict jobless dirt bag and still support a good cause. You don't need to fix yourself first, there is no magical order of things to fix. Just understand without a doubt what you are for and what you are against. Don't believe until verified. If you can't verify.....pass on it.
Haven't the lies from Dr. Fauci, George W. Bush, LBJ, The NY Times, etc......taught us anything?
This is a fascinating piece, Suzy. We have now reached the point that many of us don't trust the news, don't trust politicians, don't trust the educational, medical and scientific establishment and the list goes on. All for good reasons. That leaves a huge gap.
What I came away with from this story was twofold: 1) How on earth did we get to the point that we're not batting an eye at teachers at a high school pulling kids out of instruction for 30 minutes to participate in some social justice presentation (which happened to turn out to be a scam)? And 2) since the dawn of social media there have been con artists out there creating fake narratives and content and they've only gotten more bold and sophisticated as the years have gone on.
"I'd love to change the world but i don't know what to do so I'll leave it up to you" as Ten Years After sang. With apologies for the Boomer era reference dating back to 1971. But it's an apt song for Suzy Weiss' excellent write-up, which hits the nail on the head. And it's a great song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSYFJB7o9ZQ
Whenever I get a request for support--usually financial--I ask a very simple question: what do you plan to do with the money? It's usually stupid: "we need it so we can get the message out.
Not much of an answer, is it? Why does it take money to get out a message? With the internet, you don't even have to pay postage, let alone buy envelopes, paper, or a printer. They usually hang up around that time.
If it's a phone call--which I usually will not answer--it will be something along the lines of "I'm calling on behalf of the the Fallen Police aAssociation Benefit fund to send their children to college." I can typically stop them right there with "are you part of that organization or are you soliciting on their behalf?" "....Uh, we're soliciting for them." "I see. And of every dollar you collect, how much goes to the organization itself?" "At least 12%." "I see. So, basically, you're thieves. Fuck you. Never call me again."
Been there, done that, don't wish to get conned again.
Another version of that is the $10,000 + tickets to an event held at a fancy hotel where everyone wears a tuxedo or an evening gown. The admin fees for these things are ridiculous and the people attending like to check the virtue signal box and get their picture in the paper. In my experience and opinion its more rewarding to pay for someone's son or daughter to attend trade school or contribute towards a known hardworking tradesman or housekeeper's vehicle or tools. Personal level stuff that 100 % helps someone. Imagine if 10 people went in together to pay for their school cafeteria worker's son to become a plumber or electrician? No public glory but the dividends to ALL of the involved souls can't be measured.
“We’re raising awareness” is a popular but useless line.