Archive for 2022

MARK JUDGE: To understand the woke, you have to understand The Culture of Narcissism.

Having surrendered most of his technical skills to the corporation, [the contemporary American] can no longer provide for his material needs. As the family loses not only its productive functions but many of its reproductive functions as well, men and women no longer manage even to raise their children without the help of certified experts. The atrophy of older traditions of self-help has eroded everyday competence, in one area after another, and has made the individual dependent on the state, the corporation, and other bureaucracies.

When one observes the behavior of the new modern woke, [Christopher] Lasch’s words are stunningly prescient. The college kids literally screaming like toddlers when faced with a speaker they don’t like, the transgender people asserting that their truth is all that matters, the you-go-girl amateur psychologists helping mentally wobbly people to demand respect even if they haven’t earned it. This is the world The Culture of Narcissism predicted. These aren’t the old communists with their “dialectical materialism” and pseudoscience about the tectonic plates of evolutionary social change. These are babies with no secure sense of self throwing tantrums. A comment on a YouTube video I recently came across is very telling. The clip shows some colorful teenage dancers in a 1980s club from 40 years ago. Being in college at the time, I was actually scanning YouTube looking for my old self. Yet what caught my eye was a comment below the video, a remark left by what I assume was a younger viewer: “They all look so confident.”

The woke are not egotistical, assertive activists. They are those without a self, without history, and without confidence. More than 40 years after the publication of The Culture of Narcissism, Lasch’s screaming tyke is running the culture.

Related: The Dishonest and Dishonorable Disagreements of Former Friends.

THAT NARRATIVE DOESN’T ADVANCE ITSELF, YOU KNOW: It took me a second to realize why Twitter really wanted me to care about Jamie Lee Curtis and her, uh, daughters.

You see what’s going on here. Normally, a celebrity standing around with her children wouldn’t generate literal days-worth of top-tier placement on one of the busiest websites in the world. But one of those children is “transgender,” so they had to take the opportunity to virtual-signal the whole thing.

I’m not trying to be mean here. That’s just quite obviously what’s going on. And indeed, many of the comments underneath the tweets seem to back it up that this is not about Jamie Lee Curtis or her “daughters,” it’s about mainstreaming transgender ideology:

Okay, groomers.

DON’T START NONE, WON’T BE NONE:

Also, the French phrase for “Sod off, swampy.”

Related: Climate Activists Vandalize $84.2 Million Van Gogh Painting.

Two climate activists have defaced Vincent Van Gogh’s famous “Sunflowers” painting at the National Gallery in London.

Footage shows a pair of young women opening a can of Heinz tomato soup and pouring it over the artwork estimated to be worth nearly $84.2 million. Afterward, the duo glued their hands to the wall and lectured onlookers.

“What is worth more? Art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice?” they asked onlookers. “Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people? The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis. Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup.”

I do hope they’ll be serving at His Majesty’s pleasure for quite some time to come.

Earlier: Joel Kotkin: Environmentalism is a Fundamentalist Religion.

UPDATE:

OLD AND BUSTED: Google Glasses.

The New Hotness? 10 Cutting Edge Features to Expect From Apple’s Upcoming AR/VR Headset.

4K Micro-OLED Displays

Apple is using two high-resolution 4K micro-OLED displays from Sony that are said to have up to 3,000 pixels per inch. Comparatively, Meta’s new top of the line Quest Pro has LCD displays, so Apple is going to be offering much more advanced display technology.

Micro-OLED displays are built directly onto chip wafers rather than a glass substrate, allowing for a thinner, smaller, and lighter display that’s also more power efficient compared to LCDs and other alternatives.

Apple’s design will block out peripheral light, and display quality will be adjusted for peripheral vision to cut down on the processing power necessary to run the device. Apple will be able to reduce graphical fidelity at the peripherals of the headset through the eye tracking functionality being implemented.

More Than a Dozen Cameras

Apple is outfitting its AR/VR headset with more than a dozen cameras, which will capture motion to translate real world movement to virtual movement. It is said to have two downward-facing cameras to capture leg movement specifically, which will be a unique feature that will allow for more accurate motion tracking.

The cameras will be able to map the environment, detecting surfaces, edges, and dimensions in rooms with accuracy, as well as people and other objects. The cameras may also be able to do things like enhance small type, and they’ll be able to track body movements.

I thought the Apple Watch was red-lining the geek-ometer. Will the Apple googles succeed where the Google Glasses failed?

MARK PERRY IS A TREASURE:  He is a one-army against wokeness.  I’ve lost count of how many Title VI and Title IX complaints he has filed.  They aren’t all successful.  (This is the Biden Administration, you  know.)  But even during the worst of times, he scores some wins.  Ithaca College Scrubs Minorities-Only Medical Education Program After Complaint.

DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: New York congressional candidate makes porn video in order to show ‘Sex Positive’ campaign.

In a grunt for attention, third-party Congressional candidate Mike Itkis has released a sex tape to highlight his sex positive campaign platform. The 53-year-old Army cyber operations officer is bound to lose to Rep. Jerry Nadler in Manhattan’s 12th Congressional District. But he posted the 13 minute video to a popular online porn site of him having sex with porn performer Nicole Sage as “a conversation piece,” he told City & State. “If I would just talk about it, it wouldn’t demonstrate my commitment to the issue. And the fact I actually did it was a huge learning experience, and it actually influenced items on my platform.” His issues include legalizing sex work, and making sexual rights explicit – “do NOT rely on privacy or free speech rights,” his campaign site reads, where sex positivity is one of just three campaign issues, which are all thin on details. Itkis, whose bio identifies himself as “Not married. No kids. Not celibate. Atheist.” also seems to take aim at child support payments, writing that “men should not be required to support biological children without prior agreement.”

Itkis said the video “Bucket List Bonanza” in 2021 was his first time having sex on camera, and insisted he’s not an exhibitionist. “I’m very much an introvert,” the “very liberal” registered Democrat said. “I’m kind of a nerd who doesn’t like to be the center of attention if I can avoid it. But I thought the issues I’m trying to address are so important… I wanted to have my issues talked about in some way.”

“I’m kind of a nerd who doesn’t like to be the center of attention if I can avoid it,” but watch my sex video and vote for me to oust Jerry Nadler.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): To be honest, he had me at “oust Jerry Nadler.”

MARK JUDGE: To understand the woke, you have to understand The Culture of Narcissism. “In its clinical definition, narcissism is not self-love — it’s the opposite. The narcissist isn’t full of ego. Rather, he has no real sense of self. Where the self would be is emptiness, which results in a mad effort to fill the psyche with meaning. Lacking a stable and confident sense of identity, the narcissist hunts for meaning in therapy, self-help, sex, or radical politics. None of these can give meaning to empty lives.”

RURAL NORTH CAROLINA JUDGE SENDS POTENTIAL JUROR TO JAIL — WITH NO BOND — FOR REFUSING TO WEAR MASK:

The Harnett County Clerk of Court, Renee Whittenton, said potential jurors were told of Gilchrist’s requirement upon check-in, and told WRAL-TV:

You can go into any District courtroom without a mask. You can come into the Clerk of Superior Court’s office without a mask. You can go to the District Attorney’s office without a mask.

After Hahn communicated his unwillingness to wear a mask to Whittenton, he was sent to Gilchrist’s courtroom. According to Hahn, Judge Gilchrist said, “I understand that you don’t want to wear a mask?” To which Hahn replied, “That’s correct, sir.” Gilchrist asked, “May I ask why?” Hahn replied, “There is no mask mandated in the courthouse, in the county, or in the state.” Gilchrist then asked:

“Let me ask you again. are you refusing to wear a mask in my courtroom?”

Hahn said:

“Yes, I am.”

Hahn was then sentenced to 24 hours in the Harnett County Jail, handcuffed, and taken to the jail. He informed the judge that he was a single father and asked to call his child, but says Gilchrist refused.

* * * * * * * *

As Hahn noted, Gilchrist was not wearing a mask while holding Hahn in contempt, and there was no mask mandate at the Harnett County Jail. So what, exactly, was the point of him holding Hahn in contempt of court and putting his child at risk?

Earlier: The last of the Covidians — how should we treat those who refuse to acknowledge the pandemic is over?