“Certainly the most destructive vice if you like, that a person can have. More than pride, which is supposedly the number one of the cardinal sins - is self pity. Self pity is the worst possible emotion anyone can have. And the most destructive. It is, to slightly paraphrase what Wilde said about hatred, and I think actually hatred's a subset of self pity and not the other way around - ' It destroys everything around it, except itself '.
I think it's one of things we find unattractive about the american culture, a culture which I find mostly, extremely attractive, and I like americans and I love being in america. But, just occasionally there will be some example of the absolutely ravening self pity that they are capable of, and you see it in their talk shows. It's an appalling spectacle, and it's so self destructive.”
American culture, like it's people, is incredibly diverse. Just have to say, there are various musical styles either imported or home grown that I have seen, that I find actually painful. We are all different. I have no problem with other people enjoying them, because why would I? That's their 'damage', not mine. But over time, the bulk of the music we make ranges from pretty good to great!
One genre of music that might seem like self pity, is 'The Blues', but it is not. It is about sharing your grief, your depression so that you can get past it.
However, I agree politically the people who do the most 'self pity' seem to be the ones who bring the most hate, and that is never good.
I actually have a former neighbor who painted the interior of his house gold and painted all sorts of concrete statuary gold for his backyard, which is mercifully fenced in. We went for a cocktail party and marveled at the destruction of the interior of his house. His wife had been gone serveral years; she would be appalled. He's also had a bad face lift well into his 80's.
I'm sure my neighbor would like to think he lives next door to the White House. He will also endlessly tell you that he had a private meeting with Pope Benedict.
Over the weekend, I began to hear rumblings that the WH lunatic's attempt to horn in on the country's 250 anniversary with his own ego boosting musical event was in trouble. Following the cancelation of numerous artists who were snookered into thinking the event was non-partisan I was elated when I read Paul's announcement that the sham concert has been trashed.
Okay, that's a good start. Now let us get the cancel culture balls rolling to cancel the WH ballroom/gallroom, cancel the faux copy of Paris's Arc de Triomphe, cancel the $1.776b slush fund for J6 felons, cancel the push to have the lunatic's mug on the $250 bill, cancel the effort to federalize mail voting announced last week, cancel his name on the Kennedy Center...I could go on but you get the idea.
I saw one episode of one of Trump's 'Apprentice' shows.
The contestants were supposed to 'throw a fund raising party' for a charity.
One fellow did everything he could to not only boost the charity he was assigned to, he built a rolodex and other tools so the charity could reproduce the even in future years, giving them a foundation to grow on.
The other guy used every high pressure, slimy sales tactic to bring in the bucks, and did in fact bring in a bit more than the first guy.
Guess who got the prize... I decided I knew everything I needed to know about the show, and Trump.
This guy thinks he’s a DJ, and serves up those sick beats every chance he gets. Remember those back-to-back “Ave Maria” numbers? But now that he’s a-feudin’ with the Pope, those might be off the mixtape. So it’s Lee Greenwood and… and…
I have never voted for a Republican in my life & I was born when Truman was president. But I have enjoyed both Yellowstone & Landman, both of which show corruption, by ranchers & by the oil industry. Costner's character gets to be governor of Montana and he's a murderer who only ran for governor for his ranch, no thought whatsoever of serving the people of Montana. Yes Billy Bob defends the oil industry, pass the smelling salts! Newsweek is upset because no one on the show corrects Billy Bob's rant.
Rather than stick our heads in the ground how's about we listen to Billy Bob's rant & figure out how to refute it rather than attacking a rather enjoyable show. Dems as stuffy party poopers is not a good look!
Jack, you might check out Bill McKibben's The Crucial Years on Substack. A climate-change pioneer who's still kickin' it, and could refute Billy Bob in one post. "Every party needs a pooper that's why we invited you [Dems]" as the song goes.
See I'd like to win elections & I ain't saying we need to embrace fossil fuels. I was talking about coming across as scolds who just have to put down popular, enjoyable shows if they aren't sufficiently liberal.
During Trump's first term, I was going through a stack of old Bon Appetit magazines and came to one that looked at various decades. I was struck by a picture of Donald and Ivana at Mar a Lago, surrounded by a large, uniformed staff in an overly decorated and gilded room that was a monument to bad taste trying too hard. The caption noted that at the end of the decade, the Trumps would be divorced and Trump went bankrupt. He has always had expensive bad taste, but now he is inflicting it on all of us.
Donald Trump is nothing but a white trash tinpot "leader." Nobody but has-beens would've signed on to the narcissistic "birthday party," and when they realized it would be taken as pro-MAGA, they canceled the gig. Trump has rotten taste in everything, is full-blown crazy and this big extravaganza is going to sink like the Titanic.
This is like a birthday party for a little kid when the clown does a no-show. Or maybe he’ll claim it’s eating into his nap time or some other stupid excuse for as stupid excuse for a man.
“Certainly the most destructive vice if you like, that a person can have. More than pride, which is supposedly the number one of the cardinal sins - is self pity. Self pity is the worst possible emotion anyone can have. And the most destructive. It is, to slightly paraphrase what Wilde said about hatred, and I think actually hatred's a subset of self pity and not the other way around - ' It destroys everything around it, except itself '.
I think it's one of things we find unattractive about the american culture, a culture which I find mostly, extremely attractive, and I like americans and I love being in america. But, just occasionally there will be some example of the absolutely ravening self pity that they are capable of, and you see it in their talk shows. It's an appalling spectacle, and it's so self destructive.”
-Stephen Fry
American culture, like it's people, is incredibly diverse. Just have to say, there are various musical styles either imported or home grown that I have seen, that I find actually painful. We are all different. I have no problem with other people enjoying them, because why would I? That's their 'damage', not mine. But over time, the bulk of the music we make ranges from pretty good to great!
One genre of music that might seem like self pity, is 'The Blues', but it is not. It is about sharing your grief, your depression so that you can get past it.
However, I agree politically the people who do the most 'self pity' seem to be the ones who bring the most hate, and that is never good.
I actually have a former neighbor who painted the interior of his house gold and painted all sorts of concrete statuary gold for his backyard, which is mercifully fenced in. We went for a cocktail party and marveled at the destruction of the interior of his house. His wife had been gone serveral years; she would be appalled. He's also had a bad face lift well into his 80's.
Is your current address 1608 Pennsylvania Avenue SW?
I'm sure my neighbor would like to think he lives next door to the White House. He will also endlessly tell you that he had a private meeting with Pope Benedict.
Also tea with Jesus.
Over the weekend, I began to hear rumblings that the WH lunatic's attempt to horn in on the country's 250 anniversary with his own ego boosting musical event was in trouble. Following the cancelation of numerous artists who were snookered into thinking the event was non-partisan I was elated when I read Paul's announcement that the sham concert has been trashed.
Okay, that's a good start. Now let us get the cancel culture balls rolling to cancel the WH ballroom/gallroom, cancel the faux copy of Paris's Arc de Triomphe, cancel the $1.776b slush fund for J6 felons, cancel the push to have the lunatic's mug on the $250 bill, cancel the effort to federalize mail voting announced last week, cancel his name on the Kennedy Center...I could go on but you get the idea.
I saw one episode of one of Trump's 'Apprentice' shows.
The contestants were supposed to 'throw a fund raising party' for a charity.
One fellow did everything he could to not only boost the charity he was assigned to, he built a rolodex and other tools so the charity could reproduce the even in future years, giving them a foundation to grow on.
The other guy used every high pressure, slimy sales tactic to bring in the bucks, and did in fact bring in a bit more than the first guy.
Guess who got the prize... I decided I knew everything I needed to know about the show, and Trump.
This guy thinks he’s a DJ, and serves up those sick beats every chance he gets. Remember those back-to-back “Ave Maria” numbers? But now that he’s a-feudin’ with the Pope, those might be off the mixtape. So it’s Lee Greenwood and… and…
Dickie Dee and the Crewcuts
Building monuments, glorifying a cult leader — a corrupt enterprise enshrining a dictator.
I have never voted for a Republican in my life & I was born when Truman was president. But I have enjoyed both Yellowstone & Landman, both of which show corruption, by ranchers & by the oil industry. Costner's character gets to be governor of Montana and he's a murderer who only ran for governor for his ranch, no thought whatsoever of serving the people of Montana. Yes Billy Bob defends the oil industry, pass the smelling salts! Newsweek is upset because no one on the show corrects Billy Bob's rant.
Rather than stick our heads in the ground how's about we listen to Billy Bob's rant & figure out how to refute it rather than attacking a rather enjoyable show. Dems as stuffy party poopers is not a good look!
Jack, you might check out Bill McKibben's The Crucial Years on Substack. A climate-change pioneer who's still kickin' it, and could refute Billy Bob in one post. "Every party needs a pooper that's why we invited you [Dems]" as the song goes.
See I'd like to win elections & I ain't saying we need to embrace fossil fuels. I was talking about coming across as scolds who just have to put down popular, enjoyable shows if they aren't sufficiently liberal.
I get it!
During Trump's first term, I was going through a stack of old Bon Appetit magazines and came to one that looked at various decades. I was struck by a picture of Donald and Ivana at Mar a Lago, surrounded by a large, uniformed staff in an overly decorated and gilded room that was a monument to bad taste trying too hard. The caption noted that at the end of the decade, the Trumps would be divorced and Trump went bankrupt. He has always had expensive bad taste, but now he is inflicting it on all of us.
Donald Trump is nothing but a white trash tinpot "leader." Nobody but has-beens would've signed on to the narcissistic "birthday party," and when they realized it would be taken as pro-MAGA, they canceled the gig. Trump has rotten taste in everything, is full-blown crazy and this big extravaganza is going to sink like the Titanic.
Thanks for the laughs. I enjoy reading about drumpf only in Andy Borowitz's posts, but you made my day.
This is like a birthday party for a little kid when the clown does a no-show. Or maybe he’ll claim it’s eating into his nap time or some other stupid excuse for as stupid excuse for a man.