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Nicholas G Browne's avatar

If you are interested in a voice from what remains of the materialist left, Guy Rundle's articles on the rise of the knowledge class are worth reading: https://www.crikey.com.au/author/guyrundle/

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Ed West's avatar

Thanks. Will check out

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Jeremy Poynton's avatar

Shame we no longer have a "Wisdom Class"...

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A. N. Owen's avatar

Another topic that somewhat touches on the Yawn observation is that an overlapping demographic also seems to seek to make themselves as ugly as possible. Who, in their right mind, would think that septum piercings are attractive? And we can also talk about the explosion of tattoos, and how it went from discreet to having multiple large tattoos, often of the oddest things, all over the body. And certain fashion styles and hair cuts. And it's always among the same demographics.

We did have the goth generation, but there's something distinctly ideological about a subset of the woke progressives that seem to seek to be as unattractive as possible, as if they are rejecting beauty as an oppressive social norm or ideal? It would certainly fit in with the larger picture that they reject any standards.

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A. N. Owen's avatar

Good morning from a pleasant summer day in Maryland. The next few days are going to be an oddity, London is hotter than Maryland! In July! But I do remember stifling hot London days too, where no one has air conditioning and the narrow terraces can't breathe in the way the open American houses can, and there isn't the shady canopy of large trees blanketing every neighborhood outside the most dense urban core. All make a significant difference. You have my sympathy. But I can also tell in a few days you'll plunge right back to the 70s while we are sweltering as usual.

If looking for a good voice on the socialist life, I can recommend Freddie de Boer. Has a hugely popular substack. A confirmed socialist, but a pragmatic one too, and clearly recognizes the woke left as a problem. I don't always agree with him but I respect his views and he's written a number of good articles about the glorification of mental problems and how it's actually hurting people (with an implications for certain protected groups in today's word)

I found the uproar over the Canadian institutional schools lacking perspective (are we surprised? And should we also be surprised as more information trickled out that the situation wasn't quite what it was alleged to be at the onset, in short, that most of the "mass graves" were hypothetical). Nonetheless, residential schools were very common in the 19th century and not just for the Native Americans, but orphanages were everywhere, schools for the deaf/blind were everywhere, and of course, military academies and boarding schools for well-off children. In those days, influenza or other sicknesses could easily sweep through a dormitory. But death was also a fact of life. Even in the relatively more modern 1920s, the son of President Coolidge died from a blood infection from scraping his knee while playing on the White House tennis court.

But it also tells us how we have become much harsher and judgmental in understanding history, while at the same time also being very selective in what we get upset about. History is now less about the glorification of civilization, but the judging of civilization. Any great advancements made by a culture is not as important as the moral failures of that culture. Oh well.

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Ed West's avatar

yeah I read FdB, he's very good.

My dad recalled how children did occasionally die when he was at school in the 30s. We really do owe Alexander Fleming a great deal!

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English Dogs's avatar

Hi Ed, on the promotional note, are you endeavouring to appear in more online shows? I've only seen you on Triggernometry recently.

Apparently, all the cool kids spread themselves about online now... I mean, look at Douglas Murray. He's fast becoming second only to pornography for online ubiquity...

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Ed West's avatar

I did Alex Kaschuta's podcast last week and I'm doing Razib Khan's this coming week. Don't know when they're out, but will include it in my weekly round up if and when my voice or even my face appears anywhere.

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Jeremy Poynton's avatar

Rabbit Proof Fence a must see. And a must see again for me as I haven't seen it since it came out.

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Harbinger's avatar

New topics? Well, following on from your references to grandmotherly commonsense, rooted in a lifetime's experience of human nature, and the nature of things at large, may I suggest an article giving us an historical perspective on why sexual behavior between males has commonly been sanctioned amongst different cultures and across different eras. With the monkey pox following on from HIV this could be timely, if a little risky for the author.

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Ed West's avatar

sanctioned in which sense? one of those English words that means two opposite things.

My only take on monkey pox is that governments deliberately exaggerated the risks of heterosexual HIV and this has never really been acknowledged. It is very hard for a man to catch HIV from heterosexual sex, and I wonder if this led to complacency towards chlamydia (which is very contagious, about a 50% of catching it from someone who has it, compared to about 0.1% for HIV). But maybe too spicy!

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Harbinger's avatar

...yes, a muddling word sorry. I was suggesting there's been a spectrum of social and legal proscriptions against M2M behavior in the past, some of which may have been grounded in real health risk considerations.

Another historical consideration may have been moderation of the feminization at large which is observable in times of peace and plenty. The excellent Mary Harrington tells us in her The Critic article last Xmas that we should get used to the female ascendency. But arguably that's where wokeness comes from, with its preference for subjective mercy ahead of/instead of, objective justice. In the Daoist world view of course, from Yin comes chaos, which is surely what we have now.

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Harbinger's avatar

....but not trying to get you into trouble btw.

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Keith's avatar

I’ve seen this a great deal, the ‘why would you even care about that?’

I once hear Douglas Murray and Sam Harris say almost those exact words when discussing IQ and race. Douglas, who I like a lot, seemed to think there was something nasty about even reading such material. My own thoughts were that if there really are racial differences in IQ then perhaps they, rather than racism, might be why all races don't end up in the same place. It would also suggests that the expensive programs that are set up to close the race gap are doomed to fail. Surely this is a good reason to care about it?

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Anthony's avatar

'I’d be very interested in more from liberal or socialist writers, as I don’t want this to become just an endless stream of Right-wing takes.'

Great to hear!

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Russell Hogg's avatar

Small point but I think the book review wasn’t actually by Scott but as part of the competition he is running on his blog. And I’m thinking of trying to do a podcast with the writer (maybe I should ask the reviewer??) but it’s very daunting!

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Akiyama's avatar

No, that review is by Scott Alexander. The book review contest reviews on his blog all have the title "Your Book Review: (book title), Finalist #n in the Book Review Contest".

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Russell Hogg's avatar

Oh! As I was typing a small voice was whispering’It wouldn’t hurt to check . . .’ Didn’t listen 😕

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English Dogs's avatar

Ah, the small voice... lovely and terrifying.

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Jul 17, 2022
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Ed West's avatar

I’m not a fan, since the Scruton business, but I’m not a fan of any of them except Badenoch

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