Posted over on the porch
Author: J. Arthur Bloom
Lindsey Graham: The neoreactionary candidate
Because democracy is a polite name for anarchy, we men of the right hate to vote. Voting is to power what porn is to sex; both are shameful and to be avoided.
Because democracy is fitful, however, every now and again it presents an opportunity, like a ray of sunlight piercing a violent storm, to restore stable and orderly government. Often this occurs when formerly respected institutions are breaking down, like the rule of law. In Chile, for example, military rule was legitimized by the lower house of their legislature, after Salvador Allende refused to enforce the rulings of the Supreme Court.
Given the current president’s penchant for governing by executive fiat and ignoring the duly enacted laws of this country — such as the fourth and fifth amendments, or immigration law (a full account of the administration’s crimes is beyond the scope of this article) — you should not need convincing that we are in a similar situation.
Only one man appreciates the need to bring military power to bear against feckless politicians, and he is expected to announce his campaign for president on June 1. If your goal is to hasten the demise of degenerate American democracy and bring about government by the strong and the virtuous, there is only one man in the 2016 presidential race for you; that man is Lindsey Graham. The senator is already frustrating other Republican hopefuls’ attempts to make inroads in his domain of South Carolina.
We want government to run like a business. There is only one man who has stated a willingness to sell cabinet appointments; that man is also Lindsey Graham. He let on recently that he may have the “first all-Jewish cabinet in America because of the pro-Israel funding.” It would be shortsighted to allow anti-semitism to get in the way of what would be the largest step in history towards running America like a joint-stock corporation.
His record indicates a capricious authoritarianism worthy of Caligula, and there would be no better pretext for crushing dissent at home than a new war with Iran.
The never-married senator has been hounded about his dainty patois, earning nicknames like “Miss Lindsey” and “Huckleberry Closetcase.” To his credit, he has let the rumors stay rumors, no doubt with an aristocrat’s sense that, no matter how baroque one’s sexuality, best to keep it private and don’t frighten the horses — or in his case, Carolina baptists and a casino tycoon. God may expect better of him; we mortals should not question our betters.
If you harbor lingering doubts about the act of voting, bear in mind that detractors could be punished in the new regime. Consider it an oath of fealty. Those who find him distasteful can be reassured that a man who talks like that won’t last long in a military government.
Vote for a coup, vote Lindsey Graham.
This is the #OfficialNeoreactionaryPosition.
Of course Buzzfeed is pro-shaming culture, they make piles of money from it
I haven’t read Jon Ronson’s new book about shaming culture. But I suspect this Buzzfeed reviewer is giving it short shrift, since she thinks political correctness is such a risible concept that it belongs in scare quotes. Here’s the crux of Jacqui Shine’s review:
What makes this book an uncomfortable, if distant, cousin of GamerGate and men’s rights activist logic is that it, too, relies on a series of false equivalencies and muddy distinctions in order to elevate being shamed on social media to epic proportions. These sorts of distortions are dangerous because they minimize — and even threaten to erase — far more systematic and serious problems that have taken years to even reach the public consciousness. Based on the premise that everyone shares Ronson’s worst nightmare — an undeserved public flogging on Twitter — So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed shows a total disinterest, even disdain, for social and interpersonal power dynamics. Ronson seems to see every kind of public shaming as equivalent, no matter the audience (a handful or hundreds of thousands), platform (a courtroom, Twitter, a prison, a hotel conference room, newspapers and media websites), the identity of the shamer (a judge, a freelance journalist, an entire publication, a bunch of strangers), or even the cause (racist jokes, off-color photos, plagiarism, kinky sex, abuse of political office, sundry felonies).
She criticizes him for comparing the cases of Justine Sacco and Adria Richards, the donglegate shamer, for showing too much equanimity and failing to say, unequivocally, that one is bad and the other is good. That equanimity is, of course, “a major strategy of aggrieved white dudes, like men’s rights activists.” The last line is similar:
In a world where people who have historically been powerless have a new means with which to fight back — or at least make their voices heard — it’s important to notice when this empowerment is made out to be dangerous.
Perhaps shaming culture would be worth defending if it really was the social media equivalent of shooting kulaks. That seems to be what she’s saying. But when that sentiment is expressed on a site that makes piles of money by stoking these online mobs, it seems rather self-serving and unreflective.
When not teaching its readers how to perform anilingus via cartoon, a major source of content on the serious news outlet known as Buzzfeed is offensive stuff people are saying on social media. It’s one of those standbys that can be adapted for any media event people are tweeting racist stuff about. The reviewer says Ronson’s book “shows a total disinterest, even disdain, for social and interpersonal power dynamics.” Is a company seeking to profit from these shame-mobs part of those power dynamics?
For the sake of argument, I’ll grant that some people have it coming. Perhaps we could even come up with a set of agreed-upon rules, a celestial privilege abacus, by which we could decide the amount of shaming a person deserves given their social position. That’s not realistic, though, and in practice it falls to people like Shine to improvise them. When those people are writing for websites that make lots of money from the encouragement of public shaming, do you think we can expect them to do that in a fair way?
Feast of the English Martyrs
Collect from the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham:
O Merciful God, who, when thy Church on earth was torn apart by the ravages of sin, didst raise up men and women who witnessed to their faith with courage and constancy: give unto thy Church that peace which is thy will, and grant that those who have been divided on earth may be reconciled in heaven and may be partakers together in the vision of thy glory; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Holy Martyrs, pray for us.
Litany for the English Martyrs:
Lord have mercy on us.
Christ have mercy on us.Lord have mercy on us.
Christ hear us. Christ graciously hear us.God the Father of Heaven,
have mercy on us.God the Son, Redeemer of the World,
have mercy on us.God the Holy Ghost,
have mercy on us.Our Lady of the Precious Blood,
pray for us.Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs,
pray for us.Saint John Haughton,
intercede for us.Saint Robert Lawrence,
intercede for us.Saint Augustine Webster,
intercede for us.Saint Richard Reynolds,
intercede for us.Saint John Stone,
intercede for us.Saint Cuthbert Mayne,
intercede for us.Saint Edmund Campion,
intercede for us.Saint Ralph Sherwin,
intercede for us.Saint Alexander Briant,
intercede for us.Saint John Payne,
intercede for us.Saint Luke Kirby,
intercede for us.Saint Richard Gwyn,
intercede for us.Saint Margaret Clitherow,
intercede for us.Saint Margaret Ward,
intercede for us.Saint Edmund Gennings,
intercede for us.Saint Swithun Wells,
intercede for us.Saint Eustace White,
intercede for us.Saint Polydore Plasden,
intercede for us.Saint John Boste,
intercede for us.Saint Robert Southwell,
intercede for us.Saint Henry Walpole,
intercede for us.Saint Philip Howard,
intercede for us.Saint John Jones,
intercede for us.Saint John Rigby,
intercede for us.Saint Anne Line,
intercede for us.Saint Nicholas Owen,
intercede for us.Saint Thomas Garnet,
intercede for us.Saint John Roberts,
intercede for us.Saint John Almond,
intercede for us.Saint Edmund Arrowsmith,
intercede for us.Saint Ambrose Bartlow,
intercede for us.Saint Alban Roe,
intercede for us.Saint Henry Morse,
intercede for us.Saint John Southworth,
intercede for us.Saint John Plessington,
intercede for us.Saint Philip Evans,
intercede for us.Saint John Lloyd,
intercede for us.Saint John Wall,
intercede for us.Saint John Kemble,
intercede for us.Saint David Lewis,
intercede for us.V. I shall go unto the altar of God.
R. Unto God. Who giveth joy to my youth.Let us Pray.
O God, in Whom there is no change or shadow of alteration,
Thou didst give courage to Thy holy Martyrs
through the unfathomable graces of the immemorial Mass.
Grant unto us. we beg Thee,
through their intercession,
the wider restoration of this sacred rite of Mass,
that we may rejoice in the consolation of its graces
and be strengthened to serve Thee
in imitation of the courage
and fidelity of these holy Martyrs.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Thy Son, Who being God,
liveth and reigneth with Thee
in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
for ever and ever.Amen.
Also, the St. Thomas More Society of America is having a gala dinner in a couple of weeks at the Army Navy Club in DC, check it out here.
Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew
Localist linkfest, and guest hosting Mike Church Show next Thursday
Weekly links over on the porch
Also, I’ll be filling in again for Mike Church on Thursday, 6-9 AM on Sirius XM Patriot. Tune in. I’ll post guests here when I confirm them.
Video of Jack Ross’s book release at the National Press Club
Here’s the whole event, videotaped for your convenience by the Freda Utley Foundation:
Here’s a link to the text for my bit. I’ll collect other transcripts here if they are posted online. Go like the book on Facebook too, and if you’re in the Midwest, check out his speaking dates out your way in the next week.
