Before a months-long hiatus, we visited upon the legal workings of Obamacare. You know, the law the GOP was going to repealreplaceamend live with. The more things change…
1,820 posts later and the fun continues! Thank you all for all of your support. Here’s to another six great years.
The ravings will resume shortly… Have a great remainder of your weekend!
I was just interviewed by two Temple journalism students, Amelia Burns and Erin Moran, and though they appeared very bright and enterprising, with Erin already landing a job that pays all her bills, I feel for these young ladies, for this is a horrible time to make and sell words, of any kind, and the situation will only get worse. We’re well into postliteracy.
With widespread screen addiction, hardly anyone buys books or newspapers anymore. My local newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer (Inky), no longer has a book review section. Its retired editor, Frank Wilson, was never replaced. Frank had three of my books reviewed, Night, Again, Fake House and Blood and Soap, but the last was in 2004.
We’re both right, kind of, about books sales. I say the sales are up. They are, or were the last time I checked, by the numbers. He’s right in that the quality of WHAT is sold has utterly collapsed. I think most buy the books now to have something to rest those screens on. Newspapers are dying.
Missed this the other day. The world’s favorite cartoon cat turned 40 on Tuesday.
And, Jim Davis says he’s “still trying to get it right.” So, if you’re having problems with a project, consider that the best selling comic creator in the world is having the same issues, four decades in.
The trend in the US and much of the world is towards lower IQs. The US is also witnessing a steep decline in the quality of education. Something like half the population is functionally illiterate. Thus, it is somewhat surprising that, over the past few years, more and more folks are reading or at least buying books.
What are they reading? A giant percentage of book sales fall among adult coloring books (yeah) and romance novels. The latter category does require the minimal mental synthesis of words. But, what do those words mean? If you’ve browsed the stacks in a coffee shoptoy store bookstore lately, then you’ve probably noticed the mass emergence of “postmodern literature.” Simply put, this involves the use of big words, without context, to wow the simple-minded and smugly reassure the nuevo elite trash. Much is said, nothing is communicated. Perfect for the Twitter Age.
The main theme of von Ludwig’s[2] essay on socialist
realism is the dialectic, and eventually the absurdity, of postcapitalist
class. In a sense, Sontag promotes the use of Debordist situation to modify and
challenge language. Many theories concerning a self-fulfilling totality may be
revealed.
“Class is part of the futility of consciousness,” says Lacan; however,
according to Cameron[3] , it is not so much class that is
part of the futility of consciousness, but rather the genre of class. It could
be said that Sontag’s analysis of socialist realism holds that the raison
d’etre of the writer is significant form, but only if art is distinct from
truth; if that is not the case, Debord’s model of cultural situationism is one
of “patriarchial narrative”, and thus responsible for elitist perceptions of
society. If presemioticist construction holds, we have to choose between
Debordist image and capitalist objectivism.
It even adds footnotes. Use it to impress your boss. You’ll feel smarter, smugger instantly.
Got a business? Ever get a (maybe undeserved) bad review? The owner of a diner in St. Pete got a little revenge – albeit after he closed it down:
I remember a bar where the owner used to try insulting everyone that walked in the door. Made him semi-famous and very popular. Maybe a little fire with fire is the way to combat the bad reviews. One notes from the TBT story that everyone loves a good review.
If you’re in Greenville, SC, drop by and see the Pipers – down by the river, kind of in between the hotels and the trolls under the bridge (which, in retrospect, might have been ducks…). Fantastic art and! with even the smallest purchase, you get a glass of Chardonnay from the proprietor. At least I did; it really helped me through a hot afternoon of shopping and duck dodging.
Five Stars!
meredithpiper.com
I also recommend Smoke on the Water – just down Main from artist’s row. The brisket with potato ball thing.
Those are your free gifts de jour. Happy Father’s Day!
It’s not your imagination. People are really getting dumber.
Over the weekend I started a draft on a similar subject, something I noticed. Here and now, I finish it with a few changes. Those were brought about by several stories which surfaced yesterday, which largely validated what I was suspecting all along.
Young people’s IQ scores have started to deteriorate after climbing steadily since Wold War Two, a new study has found.
The fall, which equates to about seven points per generation, is believed to have begun with those born in 1975, according to the first authoritative study of the phenomenon.
“Wold” War Two is likely a plain, old error and not an example of the point…
It’s true. But it’s not technology causing the trend. It’s not the fish or lack thereof. And it is not some nebulous social “force.” There are three causes:
1) Smarter people are having fewer children, passing on fewer genes. This has particularly dire consequences for the West. This works in conjunction with the other two.
2) Lower-IQ peoples are increasing in number, passing on their genes.
3) Modern Western immigration is geared toward the importation of non-Western peoples from countries with populations known to correspond with number two, immediately above.
What prompted my drafting earlier is immaterial. Last fall I reported on the various national IQs and the world average (86). Then, I wrote:
“I’m a little surprised the USA came in as high as it did. I would not be surprised if that number (and the global average) slips a little with each coming decade and/or generation. …”
Back then I had it in my head that the US was somewhere in the mid-90’s, I’d have settled for 95 (and this wasn’t via random guessing). 98 is just too high. More likely, it’s around 94.5. It’s not that big of a difference but, as its a point on a downward trend, it’s especially troublesome.
Last year I quipped: “98 will have trouble returning to the moon. 86 will not go the first time. 72 might have trouble finding the thing with a telescope.” This principle applies to all areas of society. Space travel is one thing. Running water, indoor plumbing, electricity, gasoline refinement, and relative judicial stability are others.
It’s become a vicious cycle – and yes, 1975 would be about the time it should have started manifesting itself. A crazed and deteriorating culture drives brighter people to work longer and harder while embracing the selfish and the trivial and delaying or foregoing starting families. They pay taxes to support the others, who keep having children. This is, obviously, not sustainable. Those on the right tail of the curve are increasingly squeezed by those in the shifting middle.
And, societally, it’s the middle, the average that really counts. If you’re reading this and understanding it, you’re above average. Surely you have noticed the decline of late during your interactions with the masses. It’s real. And it’s a real problem.
Others have noticed as well. Vox Day on the subject yesterday:
Vox Day/Youtube.
By the way – related good news here: Youtube assigns “related” channels to a particular creator. How? I’m not exactly sure. Regardless, I now have three related channels:
Vox appeared last night. It’s an honor to be algorithmically included in his and Stefan’s company. Banshee Moon was a prepper-esque channel. Now it’s more a bikini lifestyle channel – which I am also proud to associate with…
Note: the decline in the schools does not really factor into the general lowering. It fits with the general decline, however. Children with less base intelligence have less need for real education.
A California high school valedictorian was abruptly cut off when she tried to speak about sexual assault during her graduation speech, according to reports.
“I felt like I was worthless,” recent Petaluma High School grad Lulabel Seitz told CNN about the incident.
The 17-year-old began her speech on June 2 recalling the students’ first days as freshmen, then went on to talk about devastating wildfires, teacher strikes and her own family’s struggles.
But when it seemed like she was about to bring up her own sexual assault, which allegedly happened on school grounds — her mic was cut off.
In a video of the incident, the teen is visibly upset as she yells inaudible words to someone off camera.
Moments later, her peers and people in the crowd started chanting, “Let her speak! Let her speak!”
After nearly a minute of silence, she returns to her seat.
Seitz — a member of student government who played trumpet in jazz band and maintained a GPA of over 4.0 — said administrators warned her not to “speak against them” in her speech.
But the night before commencement, as she watched Martin Luther King Jr. speeches, she was inspired to speak out.
“When they cut my mic, I was appalled at them,” Seitz told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. “I thought this is a public school with freedom of speech.”
Seitz, who is heading to Stanford in the fall, decided to post the uncensored version of her speech on YouTube.
That speech contains the line: “Even learning on a campus where some people defend perpetrators of sexual assault and silence their victims, we didn’t let that drag us down.”
The teen said she reported her assault, but that the school did nothing about it.
The definitional best student at this “school” was assaulted (I’ll just take her word) and the school did nothing (for her). They did do something against her, shutting her speech down following intimidation. Double abuse. This case is reminiscent of an episode in Florida wherein a middle school girl as abused on campus. Her school did nothing. Frustrated, she reached out to local talk radio for support and help. The school responded – by suspending her.
Our valedictorian by no means should feel worthless. That sentiment is rightfully reserved for her failed school. Thank God she’s moved beyond their reach. Of course, they did nothing about the abuse! They’re in the same business themselves.
She now surely knows that public “schools” and freedom, of speech and otherwise, do not go together. She’s going to be fine. She’s one of those high IQ students who simply cannot be held down, no matter who tries. She’ll do well at Stanford. She’ll be a success.
The “school” won’t. It isn’t. It cannot claim any responsibility for the success of those who happen to excel despite the torment. I don’t even need to consult with one of those services that tell just how bad the schools are; I know this one is failed. Abolish it. Now!
I’m sure they did warn her not to “speak against them.” Her disregard speaks to her fortitude. I’ll also speak against them. Damn you morons to hell! Stop harming children. How’s that?
This is pathetic. It is also the norm these days. As these are our children, can we really continue to tolerate this? I think not.
And, by fiction, for once I don’t mean a goofy political poem. A short, short story:
It was as delightful a late-October afternoon as anyone could want, cooler and quieter than most. Wendell “Dell” Hubbard looked out the office window as the leaves shimmered in a breeze, their autumnal transformation slowly proceeding. It was a great afternoon, a great Friday afternoon. So far as Wendell knew he was the last man in the building. Friday’s usually meant leaving a little early. And now it was a little late – five past five. ‘No rush,’ he thought as his gaze returned to the stack of files on his desk. His blushing bride and her sister were held up at the family beach house for the weekend. He could afford to take it easy. Stay a little longer. Get a little more done. Later, perhaps, a cigar and a little Scotch was in order.
Last week’s TPC column on high schools and its predecessor generated heavy readership and commentary. The people, some of them having direct experience in the government prison schools, raised a myriad of issues even I hadn’t thought of – from expenses to parent disinterest to fidget spinners. All seemed willing to explore options in search of real education.
Of course many parents choose homeschooling as a means of protecting their children from federal education “reforms” such as Common Core. Other parents are motivated by a desire to protect their children from the cultural Marxism that has infiltrated many schools.
The spread of cultural Marxism has contributed to the dumbing down of public education. Too many government schools are more concerned with promoting political correctness than ensuring that students receive a good education. Even if cultural Marxism did not dumb down education, concerns that government schools are indoctrinating children with beliefs that conflict with parents’ political, social, and even religious beliefs would motivate many families to homeschool.
Even when government schools are not intentionally promoting cultural Marxism or other left-wing ideologies, they are still implicitly biased toward big government. For example, how many government schools teach the Austrian economics explanation for the Great Depression — much less question the wisdom of central banking — or critically examine the justifications for America’s hyper-interventionist foreign policy?
…
Another installment of TPC cometh tomorrow – and of a totally different make than the usual. Stay tuned.
PERRIN LOVETT 
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