Posse Incitatus

The coming economic reckoning will cripple political correctness

For people of a certain age, the political behavior of businesses these days is utterly nonsensical.  Once upon a time it was understood that the point of a business was to make money.

To do this, businesses were usually utterly apolitical and insofar as their officers or owners took political positions, they were purely based on what was good for their business.

The notion of purposely striking a controversial position was simply absurd.  Whenever anti-capitalist extremists threatened a boycott, the company public relations department would usually offer a tepid response and reiterate that they sell to everyone.

All that's gone away.  Now you have major retailers falling over themselves to piss off core customers.  The whole "get woke, go broke" syndrome is an actual thing.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in entertainment. 

Hollywood has always leaned to the left, but it had enough common sense to also produce products for middle America.  For every "Murphy Brown," there were two or three detective shows, or apolitical sitcoms.

The same was true of movies.  Hollywood has always had a fetish for "niche" or "prestige" films that raked in awards and got praise from the wine and croissants crowd, but the understanding was that these were diversions.  The studios knew that they still needed mass-appeal movies to pay the bills.

No longer.  The television industry recently witnessed two otherwise inexplicable acts: the cancellation of Last Man Standing and the resurrection and immediate execution of the rebooted Roseanne.

Both of these shows performed well.  That is to say, they found an audience and made money.

And in both cases, the network executives decided they didn't want that money.

Better to take a financial loss that make a show that icky people might like.

The situation in the movie industry is even worse.  Disney paid something like four billion dollars for Star Wars and they are systematically dismantling both the franchise and its fan base.

Who does that?  Who makes a major investment and then blows it up?  It's like Gomez Addams trying (and failing) to lose money in the stock market.

Apparently the shareholders are starting to notice and while Disney and the other megacorps still have a lot of cash to burn, they're reaching the point where the bottom line is starting to be affected.

The key thing to remember in dealing with progressives is that they will never sacrifice the slightest convenience for their beliefs.  The richer they are, the more this holds true.  The saps in the aspiring middle class will put up with composting, but not the elites.  Even the fixation on fair trade, organic or whatever food is based on the fact that they can afford it.  It's just another form of conspicuous consumption.

Star Wars as a franchise is dead in the water and the executives that killed it are completely unrepentant.  It's the money men who will force the changes.

Never forget that Harvey Weinstein was above all things a guy who made money.  Hollywood is famously tolerant of pervs, but they're not going to whore their daughters out for pennies.

 

The new common culture cuts both ways

The alternate title for this post would be a riff on Kurt Schlichter's "Liberals May Regret Their New Rules" theme, but the actual inspiration was this post by Andrew Klavan.

Before getting into quotes, I will first provide some original content.

My generation is probably the youngest one that can still remember what used to be called "decency."  There were things that people simply didn't say.

My grandparents didn't smoke, drink or swear - limitations that seem quaint today but were still common in my youth.  A political candidate who had an extra-marital affair was immediately disqualified from holding office, which is why those that did took great pains to keep it secret.

No one wrote these rules out, it was just understood that certain things were off limits.

In my youth, those limits were under assault by smarty-pants liberals who liked to poke fun at them.  There's nothing inherently wrong with that of course - people have made fun on societal conventions since they had societal conventions, but the difference was that this was all mean-spirited humor.  Liberals viewed the conventions as stupid and wrong, and wanted sweep them away. 

As this process unfolded, the defenders of the old values tried to resist, but they were hampered by their adherence to those values.  To refer back to a personal example, my grandparents believed it was deeply wrong to insult people.  Because of this, they put themselves at a disadvantage against those for whom insult and ridicule were the the go-to weapons.

This was a major factor in the degeneration of their church, the United Methodists.  Despite the howlings of the progressives, the old-timers didn't hate gay people, and they recoiled from repeated insult and abuse.  Their opponents exploited this advantage and so the Methodists effectively purged the people who were once the pillars of their faith.

The same dynamic was in play in the broader society.  Gangsta rap, increasingly pornographic-style sex scenes in movies, ultra-violence being glorified for its own sake, and the common theme that conventional values were worthless hypocrisy made a remorseless advance across the cultural landscape.

In 1988, Gary Hart's political career was destroyed by the revelation of an affair.  By 1992, Bill Clinton was able to survive the scandal by saying it was in the past.  By 1998, he was able to survive an affair consummated in the Oval Office by arguing that personal character no longer mattered.

This progression was essentially how we got President Trump.

After decades of losing and watching their values get trashed, the cultural conservatives came to understand that adhering to the rules of decency was a sucker's game.   We learned that our grandparents tactics were self-defeating.

To be clear, most conservative people never changed their views on appropriate tactics.  The change came because the old generation passed away and the new generation grew up with the rules as they saw them.

A Christian conservative born in 1925 would never in a million years have voted for Trump, but one born in 1980 can do so with glee.

As Klavan puts it:

The left wants us to reel in shock that Donald Trump chased women or praised Russian strong men? Who was it who defended the infidelities and possible rapes of Bill Clinton? Who was it who turned a blind eye to Barack Obama consorting with terrorists and hate-mongers like Farrakhan?

That last passage reminds me of the time the Obama White House hosted a rapper whose album featured a dead judge.  The future Quisling Never Trumpers clicked their tongues, but the rest of us took note that this was now the new normal.  Obama had just formally endorsed making fun of dead judges.

I mention this specific example because one can't help but notice how much of the progressive agenda and The Resistance is being advanced by judicial overreach.  Should (God forbid) an activist judge get the same treatment meted out to the GOP Congress at baseball practice, I'm sure that album photo will get prominent placement in right-wing media and that the left will completely ignore it.

I was interested to see that my co-blogger's post got linked by Fark and - as one would expect - the two comments they left consisted of a personal insult and a pathetic straw man.  Such is the intellectual rigor of our opponents.  (Our resident troll - as usual - offered a link rather than coming up with an original argument on his own.)

Turning back to Klavan's quote, the long-suppressed photo of Barack Obama grinning with Louis Farrakhan carries particular import in our tempestuous times.  Within hours of the school shooting (which the FBI could have stopped, but didn't), the mainstream press was speculating that a white nationalist did the dirty need.  Law enforcement subsequently said there's no evidence of this, but progressives got their smear out there, so mission accomplished.

The problem for them is that the cry of "racism" has lost its power and again, this is not because conservatives became suddenly bigoted but because the left has been showing their own bigotry non-stop for the last decade. 

The younger generation has come of age steeped in anti-white rhetoric and at the same time knows that black nationalism is treated as a positive good.  Another cultural more has been destroyed.

Great job, progressives.

I miss the old culture - the campy conventions where people used euphemisms and clever insults rather than dropping f-bombs all over the place.  The movies were better, the music was better and society was better.

Back then, people of goodwill across the political spectrum were working towards racial reconciliation.  Don't tell me the 80s were a nightmare of segregation and bigotry when the three most popular people were Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby.

Despite a more diverse population, race relations are now the worst I've ever seen, and that's because the left made it okay to hate.  They thought that exception only applied to them, but the common culture cuts both ways.

Schlichter is right - liberals are going to hate the world they created.

 

Getting Egypt wrong

Since I’m convinced that our administration is likely to make a total hash of whatever happens in Egypt, I offer the following scenarios of what may happen, and how the Obama administration will screw it up.

SCENARIO 1 - MUBARAK STAYS IN POWER:  This is not unlikely, given his decades of experience and long-term skill in managing crisis.  Under this scenario he manages to outfox the protesters, uses the Army to seemly be an honest broker while undercutting the opposition.  Token reforms ensue, a designated strong-man successor takes over in the fall, and the repression continues.

How Obama will screw this up:  By misjudging the political momentum and trying to make up for its earlier caution, the administration may cause the inadvertent collapse of the regime and essentially hand the keys of the largest Arab nation to a bunch of radicals.

What he should do:  Emphasize the danger of the Muslim Brotherhood and how revolution is not the way to bring about change.  Behind the scenes he should reassure other allied regimes that we will stand by them no matter what, but that we expect something in return for our support.  The downside of this plan is that we look bad, and we’re still stuck with dictators.  The upside is that we forestall revolution and don’t look feckless.

SCENARIO 2 – GRADUAL TRANSITION:  Under this scenario, Mubarak has decided to transition to democracy ala Pakistan and the Philippines and is merely seeking an orderly way to hand over power while preventing an Islamist takeover.

How Obama will screw this up:  By increasing demands for an immediate transition, which would create a power vacuum and lead to divisions both within the government and without.  In such an event, many of the regime’s hardest cases may throw in their lot with the Muslim Brotherhood, just as Saddam’s goons made common cause with the Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists, despite being ostensibly secularist.  The end result is a tottering caretaker government that collapses into anarchy with the Muslim Brotherhood playing the Bolshevik/Khomeinist role.

What he should do:  Announce that the US accepts the offer of Mubarak to step down and will assist in the development of genuine democracy and fair and free elections.  To keep the Army on board, announce that all future aid will be subject to Egypt meeting these benchmarks.   If elections are not free, the US will embargo the regime and several all ties.  This has the advantage of relieving some of the pressure, and gives the pro-democracy groups a chance to organize.  It also gives the Muslim Brotherhood a chance to overplay their hand and be stepped on by the Army and the secularists.

SCENARIO 3 – SUDDEN COLLAPSE:  Within days, the Army could join the general uprising, Mubarak could flee the country and the nation could be plunged into anarchy.  With factions competing for power and legitimacy, the Muslim Brotherhood could step into the vacuum thanks to is organization and willingness to coopt former enemies in the Army and security agencies.  Indeed, they could make a powerful case that only under their leadership can Mubarak’s chief enforcers escape mob justice.

How Obama will screw this up:  By mouthing platitudes to democracy, expressing willingness to work with the Muslim Brotherhood and downplaying the ties of key actors to Islamic terrorism while at the same time urging restraint upon the Army if it acts to restore order and establish a strong man.

What he should do:  Call for the Army to restore order and refuse to recognize any government influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood.  Use long-standing contacts with the Egyptian military to facilitate the creation of a “caretaker” government that will honor elections in the fall, and blame violence on militant Islamic extremists.  Yes, this is also unsavory but geopolitics are not for the faint of heart.

Of course there are other possibilities, but these three seem most likely to me.

Wherein the Posse discusses the music of Britney Spears & etc.

We don’t do much music criticism on this blog, which is kind of strange since I’m very much into music. Admittedly, my tastes are somewhat more exacting than most (just as I’m a notoriously picky movie-watcher), but having high standards shouldn’t be a disqualifier.

I don’t drive much (what with living close to work) but when I do, the radio comes on and I hop from station to station looking for something decent. During this process I came to hear “Womanizer” by Britney Spears.

Let there be no mistake, I don’t think Spears will ever go down as a great musical talent. She is, as the phrase goes, a “pop tart,” but for all that, she’s a good one.

That is to say, her tunes tend to have excellent production values. I recall an earlier song by her – “Toxic,” I think, that basically used a string/guitar riff right out of a 60s James Bond score by John Barry. Her vocals were essentially irrelevant. Indeed, I have no idea if the woman can sing. But for overproduced pop, it’s pretty good. Better than the Kelly Clarkson shriekfests that seem overpopulate the airwaves. Clarkson is Celine Dion with the accent.

Speaking of female vocalists, I’ll put a plug in for Jo Stafford, who passed away this summer in her 90s. I’ve got her Christmas/Winter album and it is outstanding. My grandparents had “Ski Trails,” on vinyl, and we listened to it every year on Christmas Day – usually late in the day as the guests were leaving and things were winding down.

“Ski Trails” wasn’t strictly a Christmas album, but rather a bunch of winter songs – a genre that has pretty much disappeared these days. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is still heard from time to time, but “Moonlight in Vermont” and “By the Fireside” are much neglected. Indeed, some aspiring diva should cover booth of these – Nora Jones would do a good job – and sell a few million copies. I will warn our readers that “By the Fireside” pretty much requires a low-burning blaze, an armchair – and, if possible - a partner.

Blog becomes convention-free zone

I haven't watched the Dem convention and can't really bring myself to start.  Besides, it's what everyone else is blogging about.

So, as an alternative, I offer...Johnny Cash singing Trent Reznor.

Sithkitten has been on a big Nine Inch Nails kick of late, so she's the one who tracked this down. I'm old enough to remember when "Head Like a Hole" hit the scene and it was very popular in my crowd in high school, but I'd kind of lost track of Reznor in the years since. I guess he's doing well and judging from what my nephew says, has a new following amongst the young folks.

My thoughts on this are that Cash now owns this tune, just as Whitney Houston took "I will always love you" from Dolly Parton. Great stuff.

Death from above!

As a former bando with eight years’ marching experience, I can deeply respect the military musicians who remained at attention as a parachutist crashed own on the low brass section.

The great thing about this article is that it lists the damaged instruments before the human toll.

Two tubas were destroyed, said Mike Keating, assistant chief of the post's Fire Department. MacDonald said a trumpet was also damaged.

Harsh.  I know I speak for music-lovers everywhere when I say:  Couldn’t you have landed on the saxophones?

Band member Sgt. Rachel Boggs was knocked unconscious and had a fractured jaw, hospital spokeswoman Lisa Medrano said. Sgt. Andrew Spinazzolla suffered minor neck and head injuries and had a fractured ankle, Medrano said. Staff Sgt. Mark Lucero sustained what Medrano called a minor leg injury.

Damn.  The parachutist wasn’t hurt – apparently because he landed on these guys’ heads.

Anyhow, my sympathies – and admiration – to the Army musicians who got these rather unusual Line of Duty injuries. 

You Call This a Bounce?

Robert Musil has the goods on the non/negative Kerry "bounce."

The Posse isn't surprised by this news at all: Kerry has all the raw passion of a warmed-over corpse. His campaign seems to think the answer to every question is: "I served in Vietnam."

We will not be surprised if Bush opens a double-digit lead heading into October. Kerry has shot his bolt, he's thrown everything he has at this point and it hasn't worked.

As the election drags on, expect the looney Dems to start breaking from the Kerry campaign's program of discipline and go on the all-out irrational attack. The simmering hatred barely held in check last week will uncontrollably boil over as the prospects of a Bush re-election solidify.

At this point, the Kerry train wreck will only accelerate. Candidate Kerry will be forced to fight two fires at once: distancing himself from his rabid and insane supporters while trying to bring Bush down to his level.

Kerry won't manage to do either, but will continue to straddle and prevaricate, losing even more support.

The Bush landslide looks even more probable.