“I’m a reasonable guy, but, I’ve just experienced some very unreasonable things.” – Big Trouble in Little China
An Antifa member, a communist, and a guy living in his mom’s basement walk into a bar. He orders a drink.
“That’s it, I’m going to have to stop,” The Mrs. said.
John Wilder: “Stop what? I mean, please don’t stop gourmet* night.”
The Mrs.: “No. The news. I’m going to have to stop reading it. I’m just so mad I can’t see straight.”
I agreed with The Mrs. I usually do: she knows where most of the shooting irons are, and I sleep pretty heavy. The Mrs. had been following the news of our current national situation, which is usual. But in this case, The Mrs. had been getting pretty mad.
It was fairly obvious. The Mrs. often talked politics with me when I got home, but this week it was different. Her voice was louder, and she was visibly angry. This wasn’t like her at all, unless I had forgotten to install that hardwood flooring I’d promised to put in. Five years ago.
“If it bleeds, it leads” was first used in 1989 to describe the practice in journalism of focusing on the most horrific story possible. Even though the phrase was new in 1989, the practice wasn’t: there’s a reason that we got into a war with Spain, and it didn’t have a lot to do with the U.S.S. Maine.
Really, this was like picking on that one kid whose parents dressed him in a collared shirt and tie for school.
But back in 1989, news was different and less available: there was the evening news, newspapers, for the first five minutes on the top and bottom of the hour on the radio, and monthly magazines. Sure, if you had CNN®, you could get a constant stream of news.
In practice most people didn’t hook into the news. They spent time living their lives. You’d think that would make it easier for tyranny to take root. Not so. But more on that later.
Back in 1989 the news simply occupied a much smaller place in public consciousness. I think that 9/11 was what changed Americans (I can’t speak to other countries) for good, and addicted us to a continuous stream of atrocity and terror, as we all waited for the next event that would transform our lives.
I still miss Weekly World News. Wonder what ever happened to batboy?
Now news is created and brought into our lives constantly. We’re never more than a click away from news. And news is crafted to trigger our brains. Which parts? Not the parts that glow or fizz or sparkle or whatever it is a brain does when we’re happy. No, the news is crafted to stimulate an easier and more powerful set of emotions: rage and fear.
The news is extreme. And since we now have news that casts a net across the world, you can see:
- Time-tested principles and values tossed in a heap weekly,
- New divisions in society delivered daily,
- And new outrages, fed straight to your smartphone hourly.
It seems like too much. And it is. Tyranny seems to love this situation. The important portions of news are buried in the static. When we watched half an hour of news, we had to focus on the important parts. Certainly it was easier to bury things from the American public back when news was less a part of our immediate lives, but now the news is a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour source of distraction, how often are we so inundated we can’t sort the out the important threads from the millions of false leads?
We don’t have to live like this.
Wait until he reads what the mice are up to.
Scott Adams, Dilbert® cartoonist mentioned in one of his articles that he didn’t watch scary or sad movies. He avoided them because he didn’t want to watch things that made him unhappy. It wasn’t a casual choice for him – it was a rule.
Mr. Adams probably wouldn’t do so well in our house, since we consider Predator to be kid friendly. Heck, when Pugsley (then about 9) saw me field dressing a deer I was worried that he’d be squeamish. Nope. Pugsley was ready to put it on the grill.
I think Mr. Adams is probably a bit on the extreme side. I’m not criticizing, the special sauce on his burger is working out pretty well for him. You don’t have to remove yourself that far from the reality of the situation.
But like The Mrs., you can step back for a bit, too.
Sure, things are rough in this minute if you watch the news. You can only control so much, and can’t (at all) control the actions of Leftist big city governments in Seattle or Minneapolis or in dozens of other cities across the country.
Beer is probably a good start with your preps. Don’t forget to rotate the stock!
None of this is telling you not to prepare. You should. If we’re this far down and you don’t have a Plan B? Shame on you. Work on that. But the news won’t help you prepare for 2021 when the aliens show up. Shut out the noise, step back, and think. If you want to prepare by stocking up on food, do that now. If you want to prepare by stocking up on ammo, do that now. And if you plan to bug out at friend’s place when things go bad? You’d better toss him some money now so you’re showing up to your supplies that he’s keeping for you, and not expecting that he has planned for 34 of his closest friends to show up and eat his preps.
For most people reading this, in this moment you have every physical need met. The troubles you have already conquered are in the rearview mirror. You’ve done great. Congratulate yourself.
The troubles you may face aren’t certainties. There’s no need to fear them now. Prepare yourself? Certainly. But do it cheerfully. Tomorrow will be a great day. The Sun has yet to go out of business.
Turn off the news and your cell phone. Enjoy this day, and prepare for the rough days ahead. You’re up to the challenge.
*Gourmet Night was inspired by the ABC® television show Hannibal. Hannibal was a series about Hannibal Lecter, the character from Silence of the Lambs, but portrayed by Danish actor Mads Mikklesen, who does even better than Hopkins with the character. But the show itself has some wonderfully creepy scenes where Hannibal is cooking a fancy dinner and you have no idea if he’s cooking pigs or people. Oddly enough, this inspired The Mrs. to cook intricate dishes for dinner like beef Wellington or ribeye with crème sauce. Hence, gourmet night, which has been a success at our house.
But wherever does The Mrs. get such tender meat?
Happy culture warriors stay in the fight longer.
6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.”
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.”
Indeed. She’s feeling better now.
One of the troubles with food preps is items become outdated so you HAVE to institute a FIFO for everything. Easy when the pantry is small, but as supplies increase, eating becomes more of “What is at threat of going bad ?” rather than ‘What am I REALLY wanting to eat now ?” I’m easy to please, but my Daughter would rather not eat that and make her own foods when she is ready. Now if I can only convince her to clean the implements and dishes she got dirty.
Baby steps – I know. Actually proud of her, many teenagers won’t even learn how to cook on their own and when done, just package meals. Daughter likes to cook from scratch – that is a plus. And she is turning out to be a helluva cook.
Excellent! Scratch-made food is always the best. Unless I cook it. I did a cake from scratch once. It was about an inch thick. It was three layers.
The other part of the journalistic phrase “If it bleeds, it leads…” was “If it thinks, it stinks…”.
Saying that IIB,IL as a phrase was first coined in 1989? That date is the typical take…
http://evaluatingconversations.weebly.com/if-it-bleeds-it-leads.html
…from its popularization in this New York magazine article…
https://i.imgur.com/5OzZ6iW.jpg
But THE TRUTH is IIB,IL was in print even earlier in 1982, and an industry maxim well before that…
https://i.imgur.com/huPCHyn.jpg
Don’t believe everything you read! Always dig on your own to verify facts!! ANYBODY can be pushing Fake News!!! ESPECIALLY guys that publish economic statistics in bikini graphs!!!! 🙂
John, your advice to chill a little on news consumption is very good advice, and advice I need to follow.
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE !!!!! AND THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW IT!!!
https://www.fff.org/2020/06/22/fear-in-the-jfk-assassination-part-1-of-2/
https://www.fff.org/2020/06/23/fear-in-the-jfk-assassination-part-2-of-2/
The 24/7 news cycle didn’t start in 2001. The 1st Gulf War was when we started obsessing over the news. We had just gotten cable, and CNN was part of the package. I watched, and was so nervous, that I started an afghan (I called it my Afghan afghan). It did help calm me down.
But, even at work, we were glued to the news – in the teachers’ lounge, there was little conversation, just passive consumption of the talking heads opinions.
You’re absolutely correct – thankfully it died down after that and we could ignore CNN again . . . except for the OJ chase.
Great advice, and great links. It’s amazing how the narrative changes sometimes even just a few hours later . . . .
John –
You said (about Scott Adams) “You don’t have to remove yourself that far from the reality of the situation.” But actually, it’s the UNREALITY of the situation that he’s removed from. I agree with him: Hollywood has to explore the darkest recesses of their writers minds to find something that still holds people’s attention. Murder? yawn. Serial murder? yawn. Serial murder with cannibalism?… I really, really don’t want to know what comes crawling out next.
https://babylonbee.com/news/black-lives-predicted-to-matter-until-november
Have you all noticed that BL didn’t M in 2019? Apparently, as racist and violent as we’ve always been, we went a whole year without an incident worth protesting (per Wikipedia’s timeline of BLM actions). Of course, there were other things to worry about in June 2019, such as the US women winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and ongoing protests in Hong Kong. (Wikipedia has a second draft of history; just enter the year.)
You are absolutely correct!! The movies are the unreal element. And your analysis of BLM is spot on. But have they awoken something they can’t control???
To re-cap at the top of the hour:
Famed Internet commenter known only as ‘LargeMarge’ protests continual news cycle by donating television set to saint Vincent de Paul sometime last century, claims ‘zero interest in televisionprogramming’, refuses to listen to radioprogramming, gets all news via local free marxist weekly newspaperprogramming by reversing the intent of propaganda-disguised-as-articles.
According to rumors, the favorite pasttime of the elusive self-proclaimed ‘spokes-model for self-authority’ is watching reporters interview reporters about reports from other reporters.
PS:
Hi, Bison!
Say ‘howdy’ to the NOL!
They do that!!! And I saw one story today where the reporter had a bias in every other line in a nearly fact-free story. Thankfully, she was pummeled in the comments.
John – – Thanks for the angle on “prepping”. So many who have had their needs met for quite some time are complacent. They suffer from “Normalcy Bias” by thinking that tomorrow’s tomorrows will be just like yesterday’s yesterdays. Their negligence toward preparing for their future will soon force them to learn the hard way that they should have become a prepper, setting extra supplies aside, while/when they had the opportunity.
Here is a link to another Freed Reed article; this one is on our current racial divide and how he sees our nation devolving given the current un-educated “useful idiots”, all with new college diplomas to prove the purity of their opinions far removed from facts. As, usual, Fred rankles many but always with an underlayer of truths: https://www.amren.com/commentary/2020/06/a-country-not-salvageable-fred-reed/
Regardless of whether one subscribes to anything in Fred’s article or just one point or none, our Nation will never heal its racial wounds without non-accusatory dialog. But that will not be allowed to happen.
The propaganda media only wants to keep stirring the pot, so honest dialog is not in their template of ideas to be sold to the Sheeple.
The Democrat leadership only want to keep stirring the pot for their short-term political advantage, as in next November’s elections.
Meanwhile, the Nation burns and we are destroying our society and our peace loving culture. This is only going to lead to more anguish and suffering for all of us and does not advance the ability for dialog and solutions one whit.
I fear that we are now beyond the point where we can heal the wounds ……..a pity, a tragedy, a disaster, since the only result will be a fractionalization of this nation.
Some say it will be a Balkanization after a horrendous civil war (as in Kosovo times Rwanda). I don’t know, but that is the only result they and I can see. Below hints at what is about to appear and, IMHO, mandates prepping by all who want a chance to survive the coming “bad times”.
THE WRATH OF THE AWAKENED SAXON
by Rudyard Kipling
It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late,
With long arrears to make good,
When the Saxon began to hate.
They were not easily moved,
They were icy — willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the Saxon began to hate.
Their voices were even and low.
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show
When the Saxon began to hate.
It was not preached to the crowd.
It was not taught by the state.
No man spoke it aloud
When the Saxon began to hate.
It was not suddently bred.
It will not swiftly abate.
Through the chilled years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the Saxon began to hate.
Yup. That’s my Monday post . . .
1989 was about the time that the 24-7 agitprop “news” started. I put on headphones and listen to the Black Crowes or Allman Brothers at high volume when fam puts on that Bolshevik commie crap of Criminals In Action owned media.
We are living in a hologram of disinformation and delusion. Only certain www pages can be trusted and the comments section is usually a good place to ferret out the truth.
Remember delegitimizing has consequences and the comrades are setting up their own demise by plotting the downfall of YT.
Egalitarian pipe dreams, multiculti horsesh1t and magic soil are fairytales and utopia is banished forever.
Well said. And the story is very rarely what it seems at first glance, especially given the filters that it passes through . . . .
My wife often tells me to worry about the things I can change, stuff around here and in our own home. Coming to the realization that we can’t fix what is happening can be a black-pill for sure. Look around at young White kids, especially younger White girls, and it is awfully depressing. Many or most aren’t going to make it. I can’t fix that. So I try to worry about what I can fix in my own very limited sphere of influence. That doesn’t mean I stop speaking out about the problems we face, I just do so with a heaping dose of realism.
The Mrs. and I had a similar conversation. Civilization needs good women.