There is nothing less interesting than collegiate toddlers getting their grass-fed brains rattled by police batons. I am neither excited nor shocked by such occurrences. Rhetorical pathways that makes disagreement suspect leads to absolute moral certitude leads to people incapable of changing their mind or changing the subject. People like that are going to get hit with something, at some point. That doesn’t mean I’m great with American1 citizens being brained for protesting by the police2, who are, in their own way, also the agents of a foreign power. Trouble in the Provinces oft finds its way into the Imperial Heartland, albeit in a performative manner.
I am hearing far more about Andrew Tate in my Notes Feed than is to my liking. People like to have strong opinions about him. On the one hand, people remind us that in the Imperial Brazil Future, the ability to let things fall off the back of a truck will be of great use. If the Oligarchs will have us be criminals for exercising the rights of citizens, then we must be prepared to put a toe on the wrong side of Regulations. They can’t punish us all. That is not to say that I find Tate’s Pimp Politics particularly persuasive. Coleman’s summation/challenge of him is as accurate a take as anyone is like to come up with. We don’t need to fuss about him, or concern ourselves that young man think him a guru. They’ll outgrow him the way they outgrew Stone Cold Steve Austin. He’s got about as much staying power.
I realize that I am coming across as a Negator, nose in the air, telling you sheeple to Wake Up. It’s an unavoidable effect of my current politico-social mood, so let me take ownership of it and acknowledge that You have Every Right to Care about whatever Foreign Nonsense strikes a chord within you. Yes, they’re shoving it into your face so that you React, yes, this is curated to your socioeconomic status and your stated preferences. And being told this doesn’t take the sting away. I get it. I sympathize. That’s why I don’t tell any of you when I don’t like your takes. That’s why I don’t turn my nose up at anyone remotely in Our Thing. I am your ally all: anarchists, monarchists, nationalists, all flavors, all kinds. Only bugmen and Buckleyites deserve contempt. The rest of you, keep going, I will be your friend if you are mine. The ugly truth is, we are nowhere near seeing the day that we are in power. We are only beginning to work up the moral courage to stare the hardest truth in the face. This truth is not what They have done.
The extent to which any of them are being a purely notional statement.
I assume they performed the edgery of protests-into-riots, the political BDSM brat-play that becomes Govern Me Harder, Daddy! No doubt some rocks got thrown. Tin soldiers and Nixon’s calling and all that.