Interesting about books being noticeably easier to find in certain airports. A delightful topic. I still give Gatwick Airport props for selling a book as literary and dark as Laszlo Krasznahorkai's Satantango. Too bad my experience is a bit too sporadic, it's a fascinating topic in and of itself. (Finding Nathalie Sarrautes Martereau at SFO was another high point) Was thinking of reading the Fauci book since I detest the guy, but investment in the fate of America dwindles by the year. What's the coolest book you've found in an airport?
RFK's appeal is interesting in that sense, and I can see how Dems who have woken up to the Woke insanity or intense Party corruption view him as a salvation. Although if a Party is as screwed up and power-lusting as the Democrats are now it seems like his position is as flawed as that of the Reform Communists in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s; what they wanted was just a "better" version of the same rot. (They were "lucky" enough to have a Soviet Invasion wake them up from their delusions) What you said about the Dems ignoring debates altogether may disturb you now. But back in 2020 the Party routinely avoided bringing Biden out in public: there was even a term on the Internet, "put the lid" on him, as if he was Oscar the Grouch. (or the Puppet Man in Jay Reatards song of the same name) It was shocking how little he appeared in public, and it was a surprise they even brought him out for the debates at all. It's no wonder people were appalled at the outcome: it wasn't just because of Trump, and Jan 6, and evil right-wingers, and yada yada. Biden's victory also represents the victory of a no-campaigning presidency, of which the American people gave their approval. (Ironically, while crying to the skies about democracy dying) And while it may feel like a great victory to Dems because they vanquished the evil orange man it was, in reality, a victory for unthinking, uncritical, unadulterated tribalism such as you mention with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
What's happening here with the eschewing of debates is only the next logical step - 2.0 if you will - from what was started in 2020. Imagine how it will look in 2028. I've been too broke in life to be a betting man: but if I was, I'd bet that they start calling out for the nomination phase itself to be thrown away: why waste time watching Dem nominees bicker and look bad in front of the "evil Republicans" when we can just choose "the best one" from the start and get it over with? Besides, competition is a form of Whiteness. (That now-famous Smithsonian pamphlet on Whiteness made that argument, so somewhere in the Dem psyche that belief is already accepted)
Interesting about books being noticeably easier to find in certain airports. A delightful topic. I still give Gatwick Airport props for selling a book as literary and dark as Laszlo Krasznahorkai's Satantango. Too bad my experience is a bit too sporadic, it's a fascinating topic in and of itself. (Finding Nathalie Sarrautes Martereau at SFO was another high point) Was thinking of reading the Fauci book since I detest the guy, but investment in the fate of America dwindles by the year. What's the coolest book you've found in an airport?
RFK's appeal is interesting in that sense, and I can see how Dems who have woken up to the Woke insanity or intense Party corruption view him as a salvation. Although if a Party is as screwed up and power-lusting as the Democrats are now it seems like his position is as flawed as that of the Reform Communists in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s; what they wanted was just a "better" version of the same rot. (They were "lucky" enough to have a Soviet Invasion wake them up from their delusions) What you said about the Dems ignoring debates altogether may disturb you now. But back in 2020 the Party routinely avoided bringing Biden out in public: there was even a term on the Internet, "put the lid" on him, as if he was Oscar the Grouch. (or the Puppet Man in Jay Reatards song of the same name) It was shocking how little he appeared in public, and it was a surprise they even brought him out for the debates at all. It's no wonder people were appalled at the outcome: it wasn't just because of Trump, and Jan 6, and evil right-wingers, and yada yada. Biden's victory also represents the victory of a no-campaigning presidency, of which the American people gave their approval. (Ironically, while crying to the skies about democracy dying) And while it may feel like a great victory to Dems because they vanquished the evil orange man it was, in reality, a victory for unthinking, uncritical, unadulterated tribalism such as you mention with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
What's happening here with the eschewing of debates is only the next logical step - 2.0 if you will - from what was started in 2020. Imagine how it will look in 2028. I've been too broke in life to be a betting man: but if I was, I'd bet that they start calling out for the nomination phase itself to be thrown away: why waste time watching Dem nominees bicker and look bad in front of the "evil Republicans" when we can just choose "the best one" from the start and get it over with? Besides, competition is a form of Whiteness. (That now-famous Smithsonian pamphlet on Whiteness made that argument, so somewhere in the Dem psyche that belief is already accepted)