STARTING TOMORROW: Things Fallen Apart!

MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2021

Plato, Achebe described it: We foolishly thought we'd seen it all. Then we watched the first two hours of today's Morning Joe. 

Who knows what may have transpired during the program's third hour? That said, by roughly 7:52 A.M. Eastern, Joe Scarborough had us thinking of an earlier "red-faced shouter," MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

Matthews served at the top of this crackpot army in 1999 and 2000, when the war which brought Donald Trump to the White began within this guild. The lunacies he broadcast at that time were tolerated and ignored by one and all, year after year after year.

"Cable news" was much less extensive back then. That said, it was a major way to build careers, and Matthews was one of its gatekeepers. 

(In May 1999, he almost got one journalist killed. Everyone ignored that too.)

Matthews went on and on, for quite a few years, helping create a set of demonologies. Those demonologies allowed two Republican presidents to reach the White House in the narrowest possible ways, while losing the popular vote.

The second such president was Donald J. Trump. This morning, the red-faced shouting from the Morning Joe gang sounded almost as crazy as the lunacies Trump has been spewing since 2011, when he began his birther campaign.

We foolishly thought we'd seen it all. Then we watched Joe and Mika, and Kasie and Yamiche, and Jonathan and even Rick Wilson. 

At one tiny point, Joyce Vance may have suggested that the gang should consider toning their fervor down a notch. We think she may have done that. Taking notes, we weren't entirely sure, and MSNBC leaves no transcripts.

Last Wednesday, a mob of crazies entered the Capitol and taught an anthropology lesson. This morning, Joe Scarborough, a red-faced shouter, conducted a similar class.

It's an anthropology lesson in the limits of human discernment. According to anthropologists, our human discernment has never been especially strong—except in our flattering self-portraits, in which we tend to cast ourselves as "the rational animal."

The Morning Joe gang was crazy today, but the lack of discernment has been general over the guild in the past five days. We'll be discussing this problem all week.

Today, we'll start with Plato, then with Yeats. But first, we'll start with Achebe:

Who was the late Chinua Achebe? The leading authority on his life and work starts by telling us this:

Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), often considered his masterpiece, is the most widely read book in modern African literature....

"Things fall apart!" Achebe's title was a reference to Yeats' famous and famously gloomy poem, The Second Coming, which starts exactly like this:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand...

Full disclosure: The best do not "lack all conviction" today, though it's hard to be sure who they are.

Yeats thought he saw things falling apart—mere anarchy being loosed on the world—in the aftermath of World War I. He thought the best no longer cared, while the worst were on the prowl.

Achebe chose to refer to that poem when he wrote his widely acclaimed first novel. For whatever it may be worth, we all saw a great deal of intensity last Wednesday at the Capitol building—but also this morning, as a red-faced shouter and his followers explored the limits of careful, considered discernment. 

We'll link Achebe back to Plato as well. Achebe wrote about the cultural problems attendant upon European colonialism in Africa. The leading authority on his life reports this part of his experience:

When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation. The civil war that took place over the territory, commonly known as the Nigerian Civil War, ravaged the populace, and as starvation and violence took its toll, he appealed to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid. When the Nigerian government retook the region in 1970, he involved himself in political parties but soon resigned due to frustration over the corruption and elitism he witnessed...

Once again, it might be said that things were falling apart! We thought of Plato's Seventh Letter, in which Plato describes his experience as a young man after Athens' defeat in the Peloponnesian War produced an oligarchic revolution (404 B.C.). 

In Athens, a group called The Thirty ascended to power; they began to settle scores. Many years later, Plato described the disgust he felt at the human, all-too-human behavior he saw occurring around him (Professor Lee's translation):

PLATO: The existing constitution, which was subject to widespread criticism, was overthrown...and a committee of Thirty given supreme power.  As it happened some of them were friends and relations of mine and they at once invited me to join them, as if it were the natural thing for me to do. 

My feelings were what were to be expected in a young man: I thought they were going to reform society and rule justly, and so I watched their proceedings with deep interest. I found that they soon made the earlier regime look like a golden age. Among other things they tried to incriminate my old friend Socrates, whom I should not hesitate to call the most upright man then living, by sending him, with others, to arrest a fellow-citizen, and bring him forcibly to execution; Socrates refused, and risked everything rather than make himself a party to their wickedness. When I saw all this, and other things as bad, I was disgusted and withdrew from the wickedness of the times...

Already, things were falling apart; before long, things would get worse. When he saw those things, and others as bad, Plato said he was disgusted and "withdrew from the wickedness of the times."

We've long assumed that Donald J. Trump is some version of mentally ill. Tomorrow, as a point of reference, we expect to start with his niece's published account of his various "psychopathologies."

It's also true that we the humans, as a group, tend to have very poor discernment. We're strongly inclined to divide into tribes and march ourselves off to tribal war. A certain segment will always be prepared to rally behind The Thirty when things seems to be falling apart.

The reigning commander-in-chief seems to be crazy or ill. So too with the craziest of his followers. That much should be easy to see for people who live in Our Town.

That said, for at least the past thirty years, similar types have engaged in red-faced shouting all through the mainstream press corps. We actually thought we'd seen it all. Then we watched Morning Joe.

We focus on the press corps' behavior at this site. At present, they're teaching anthropology lessons through their excited behavior. We'll start that discussion tomorrow.

Our conclusion for today:

"The worst are full of passionate intensity?" For the record, we prefer to judge actions, not people.

But a group of people were very intense inside the Capitol building last week. The same can be said for the people we saw shouting agreement with each other on today's Morning Joe.

Their guild has been shouting for at least thirty years. The demon tales they constructed over the years played a very large role in placing Donald J. Trump where he currently is—and in creating the fever dreams inside insurrectionists' heads.

For everyone who lives in Our Town, it's easy to see that the one mob was wrong. But how about the other mob, the one on today's Morning Joe?


16 comments:

  1. "Last Wednesday, a mob of crazies entered the Capitol and taught an anthropology lesson."

    Crazies? Looked like perfectly ordinary folks to me, dear Bob. Humyns. Angry humyns, with perfectly clear, meaningful political demand -- unlike, say, "defund the police".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They were snowflakes, whining about how black people's votes being counted hurts their fee-fees.

      Delete
    2. It is a very hard situation when playing the lottery and never won, or keep winning low fund not up to 100 bucks, i have been a victim of such a tough life, the biggest fund i have ever won was 100 bucks, and i have been playing lottery for almost 12 years now, things suddenly change the moment i came across a secret online, a testimony of a spell caster called DR EMU, who help people in any type of lottery numbers, i was not easily convinced, but i decided to give try, now i am a proud lottery winner with the help of DR EMU, i won $1,000.0000.00 and i am making this known to every one out there who have been trying all day to win the lottery, believe me this is the only way to win the lottery. contact him via email: Emutemple@gmail.com call or whats app +2347012841542 Website: http://emutemple.website2.me/

      Delete
  2. “We focus on the press corps' behavior at this site.”

    Sure. My eyes just got done rolling into the back of my head.

    Somerby occasionally says this, but it isn’t true. He often says “we” (meaning “liberals”) are lazy, dumb, immoral, virtue-signaling elitists, etc. He clearly isn’t talking solely about the press. If he were, he wouldn’t have spent time criticizing Elizabeth Warren, for example.

    He claims his focus is the (mainstream) press, but then he has called Rachel Maddow a liberal “thought leader.” In other words, he often merges liberals with the (mainstream) press, so that his press criticism almost always is a proxy for criticism of liberals.

    It’s worth noting that he does not specify what Morning Joe were saying today. I happened to see a few minutes, and they were urging that Trump be removed and be held accountable for inciting the insurrection, along with other inciters like Giuliani, Cruz, and Hawley, and the mob who broke into the Capitol be held legally accountable also.

    This echoes what Democrats are saying. But Somerby has already signaled, as I mentioned yesterday, that “crazy” people shouldn’t be held responsible for their actions. Notably, Somerby calls Trump crazy, and implies here that many of the insurrectionists were “crazy” too. Thus, if the Democrats demand accountability for these people, Somerby has already deemed that that is “tribalism”, a desire to “put the Others in jail”, so this is an implicit criticism of Democrats/liberals.

    He should just drop the pretense that this site is principally press criticism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Last Wednesday, a mob of crazies entered the Capitol and taught an anthropology lesson."

      No, a large group of Trump supporters entered the Capitol building in an attempt to overthrow the election and keep Trump in power.

      Delete

    2. LOTTO, lottery,jackpot.
      Hello all my viewers, I am very happy for sharing this great testimonies,The best thing that has ever happened in my life is how I win the lottery euro million mega jackpot. I am a Woman who believe that one day I will win the lottery. finally my dreams came through when I email believelovespelltemple@gmail.com and tell him I need the lottery numbers. I have spend so much money on ticket just to make sure I win. But I never know that winning was so easy until the day I meant the spell caster online which so many people has talked about that he is very great in casting lottery spell, . so I decide to give it a try.I contacted this great Dr Believe and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers. But believe me when the draws were out I was among winners. I win 30,000 million Dollar. Dr Believe truly you are the best, all thanks to you forever








      LOTTO, lottery,jackpot.
      Hello all my viewers, I am very happy for sharing this great testimonies,The best thing that has ever happened in my life is how I win the lottery euro million mega jackpot. I am a Woman who believe that one day I will win the lottery. finally my dreams came through when I email believelovespelltemple@gmail.com and tell him I need the lottery numbers. I have spend so much money on ticket just to make sure I win. But I never know that winning was so easy until the day I meant the spell caster online which so many people has talked about that he is very great in casting lottery spell, . so I decide to give it a try.I contacted this great Dr Believe and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers. But believe me when the draws were out I was among winners. I win 30,000 million Dollar. Dr Believe truly you are the best, all thanks to you forever

      Delete
  3. If you don't understand what happened last Wednesday (as Somerby does not), then you won't understand why Democrats are calling for Article 25 and impeachment.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Somerby calls Joe and Mika histrionic and then he himself quotes from Yeat, The Second Coming, which is about the apocalypse! He is no one to judge who is over-wrought.

    And he entirely misses the fact that things didn't fall apart. The congress and their aides were whisked to a safe location while Trump's supporters engaged in petty vandalism. One brave police office led the mob away from the Senate so they could escape. And then the National Guard made everyone go home. Now, they are using those selfies and social media to mop up the co-conspirators, including our President.

    Somerby may be upset precisely because things are not falling apart. The House is trying to hold Trump accountable for what he did. That is the rule of order, not disorder. Meanwhile, Somerby thinks Joe and Mika are over the top because they are calling for consequences for Trump. That is how law and order works, how things do not fall apart.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Plato's described Committee of 30 is more equivalent to the mob of Trump supporters who were trying to overthrow Biden's lawful election -- they were not the "existing constitution" any more than Trump is the lawful successor to his present term.

    Trump tried to overthrow law. That makes him part of the group that Plato and Socrates would not join. His corruption is arguably greater than that during Plato's time.

    So, what is Somerby's point? That we should have laid down before the insurgent Committee of 30 last Wednesday? Joe and Mika are arguing that the insurgency should be punished so that it will not happen again. I happen to agree with that. It is not frothing at the mouth, as Somerby wishes to portray it, but the way insurgents should be treated.

    And what on God's green earth is the point of referring to civil war in Nigeria and Plato's troubles? We are not entering a period of civil war (much as Trump's supporters might wish it) and we have again demonstrated the stability of our government BECAUSE THE INSURGENCY FAILED, as it should have, despite Trump's collusion with law enforcement to overthrow legitimate succession by Biden.

    The best thing to come out of last Wednesday's failed coup may be that Republicans and the Republican media may start telling the truth, for a change. And that is a good thing -- not the doom and gloom Somerby summons up by misusing Achebe's work. I wonder if Somerby has even read it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. A group of people attempted to overthrow Biden's election but Somerby thinks the problem is intensity? That is the weirdest thinking I've seen in ages.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is past time for Republicans to be forced into becoming adults and taking responsibility for their own actions, instead of being given a pass from people like Bob Somerby with statements like “he’s crazy” or “the Dems/libs/media made me do it.”

    ReplyDelete
  8. ARTICLE I INCITEMENT OF INSURRECTION:

    "Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States."

    ReplyDelete

  9. Getting your lover or your ex back has been made more easy by this powerful spell caster called Dr Odion. I am Rose by name and i am from canada, the only reason why i am on this site is to thank this powerful spell caster called DR. Odion and you can improve your relationship success by contacting him through these details (wisdomspiritualtemple@gmail.com Or call +2348136482342) This powerful spell caster did me a huge favor by helping me get my lover back to me within the speed of light and since then my relationship has been perfect.

    any problem of yours.He is specialized in the following:

    (1)Spell for protection from danger
    (2)Spell for magic
    (3)Spell for same sex love
    (4)Spell for healing
    (5)Spell for invisibility
    (6)Spell for riches and fame
    (7)Spell to get a good job
    (8)Spell for strong love and relationship
    (9)Spell to bring your ex back
    (10)speII for Lottery
    This man has great powers and is incredibly generous.You can contact him on
    (wisdomspiritualtemple@gmail.com)

    ReplyDelete
  10. How I Got My Ex Husband Back. Am so excited, All Thanks goes to Dr Prince i was married to my husband, and we were living fine and happy. it come to an extend that my husband that use to love and care for me, doesn't have my time again, until i fined at that he was having an affair with another woman, I tried to stop him all my effort was in-vain suddenly he divorce me and went for the woman. he live me with two of our kids, I cried all day, I was in pains, sorrow and looking for help. I read a comment on how Dr Prince helped a lady to brought her husband back, after 2yrs , He helped people with his Magic spell love and reuniting spell. so I decided to contact him and explain my problems to him, he did a love spell that made my husband to come back to me and never think of the woman. this man is God sent to restore heart break and reunite relationship. may the lord be your strength and continue to use you to save people relationship and any problems contact him for help on princemagicspell@yahoo.com You can also contact him through his WhatsApp +19492293867. Contact him now for love spell to bring back your ex lover he is the best spell caster and he is the best solution to all relationship problems…

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks to Dr OSAGIE for helping me increase the size of my Penis. I have been married for 10 years and due to my small Penis I was unable to satisfy my wife and that made us childless and my wife planned to leave me I was really disappointed with myself and I was also having weak erection I thought all my hope was gone not until I saw a testimony on how the same Dr OSAGIE helped someone increase his Penis size. I was desperate to do anything to regain my sex life back and I contacted him and he promise to help me so he gave me a herbal mixture which i was using and after three days I began to experience changes. I am writing this testimony not only because he has helped me increase the size of my Penis, I can now satisfy my wife and my wife is three months pregnant. All thanks to Dr OSAGIE if you are having a weak erection problem or small Penis size contact him with his email:drosagiesolutionhome5 @ gmail. com or whats app him +2347035866588.  

    ReplyDelete

  12. LOTTO, lottery,jackpot.
    Hello all my viewers, I am very happy for sharing this great testimonies,The best thing that has ever happened in my life is how I win the lottery euro million mega jackpot. I am a Woman who believe that one day I will win the lottery. finally my dreams came through when I email believelovespelltemple@gmail.com and tell him I need the lottery numbers. I have spend so much money on ticket just to make sure I win. But I never know that winning was so easy until the day I meant the spell caster online which so many people has talked about that he is very great in casting lottery spell, . so I decide to give it a try.I contacted this great Dr Believe and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers. But believe me when the draws were out I was among winners. I win 30,000 million Dollar. Dr Believe truly you are the best, all thanks to you forever

    ReplyDelete