Clear as day. We need a revolution. Our govt is a monster robbing us and taking its failures out on the rest of the world. Decadent. Dangerous. Mediocre. Bankrupt people.
That was a rich, provocative discussion that got my mind going. Peter hit on the waning American reach globally, but of course, Karim and the guests spoke of how much power the empire still wields.
One strong sense that wonderful chat had on me was how all four participants address global issues in a pro forma, leaders, nations, wars, and human treachery context. Across the world, with very few exceptions, states have become subsumed by obscenely wealthy, illegitimately empowered individuals who own the processes of states and control their relationships to their publics. This reality, I think complicates discussions. It makes real politic purveyors like John Mearsheimer look like a comedian of a bygone era.
From where I sit, liberalism is dead, and democracy will only have a lifeline in socialist states committed to strong anti-imperialist, anti-fascist policies and relationships. My use of the term democracy may sound contradictory to some who associate that concept with the liberal state, but I’m referencing a broader, more fundamental meaning of the term. Singapore and China are viewed by many westerners as intolerant authoritarian regimes, but any westerner calling anybody intolerant is living in their past. To borrow from Yanis Varoufakis, the U.S. currently is an authoritarian, techno- feudal state. People in America today are being arrested for expressing compassion and empathy for Palestinians. Legal citizens are being deported and stripped of due process. I repeat, liberalism is dead.
This leads me to an unthought out conclusion: the point of all of the constructive podcasts and information on social media (the only place where constructive podcasts and information are available) is to convince their audiences that their governments are despicable. I would venture to suggest that nobody among the viewers would dissent.
Karim’s insertion of the Chinese TikToker was awesome. I would like to insert a link to a video that I recently viewed, and that I think presents a perspective that isn’t particularly new, but is germane. Shahid Bolsen is an American expatriate who pontificates on American dirty dealings around the world. He converted to Islam, and sees the reordering of the world as a necessary and inevitable correction in millennial terms. He despises American butchery and tries talking directly to the American public which he castigates. He refers to the OCGFC which is https://shahidkingbolsen.org/ocgfc/
This is the video which is a trenchant description of a feckless society that is clueless as to its worldview (they think their government is the center of the universe.) Bolsen, like the TikToker, exhorts the Americans to grow a couple brain cells.
I think most, if not all of what Bolsen calls the OCGFC are a handful of criminals that care nothing of body counts or heinous atrocities. The world needs to come together and identify the enemy, and make the fight transnational. Americans need the world more than the world needs America. Understatement?
I followed Bolsen for a long time and he has excellent monologues. But he celebrates MBS of Saudi Arabia, and has really weird takes on that country and its leader. I lost all my interest in the man at that point.
In one video he celebrated BlackRock buying up Malaysia, another very weird take. The gist of the video was that some corporations are too big to have as an enemy so the Global South can better be friends with them.
I told him that that is pure neo-colonialism, maffia capitalism: ‘protection money’. He told me that I am a Zionist and needed to piss off.
I can’t say that I’m surprised. He’s an intellectual promoter for a religion. Monologues are his favorite way of communicating, which is more than slightly suspect. But I do agree that he is a gifted speaker on provocative topics. And I also concur with your assessment of his policy endorsements. He uses confrontational rhetoric in his podcasts, but doesn’t appear to be open to discussing his positions. That will probably keep his potential followers limited in number.
He seems to be allergic to people disagreeing with him, indeed. Which is a clear sign of narcissism. But agreed, his monologues are fantastic (and I am sure he loves watching himself doing them).
He has a verbal talent that sounds to my ear like learned. Perhaps it’s a gift that has no connection to intellectual inquiry, but I don’t find that plausible.
Slick sales people know to strike the right note, how to stir feelings in others. They are intelligent, no doubt about it, but that does not make them intellectuals.
Definition of "intellectual": person who engages in critical study of society, and by propounding solutions in the public sphere gains authority.
Bolsen does not come up with any solutions, he just puts his finger on some sore spots and manages to make a strong discussion point of it.
I too was impressed by him, but then something started to bother me. Reading others' comments in this thread I feel I was right, though for at that point undefined reasons.
Clear as day. We need a revolution. Our govt is a monster robbing us and taking its failures out on the rest of the world. Decadent. Dangerous. Mediocre. Bankrupt people.
The Chinese guy in the beginning was excellent. Said it exactly how it is...
I never see this: Because Iran has the second-largest Jewish community in the Mideast, it offers a RIVAL way of looking at Jewish questions to Israel.
https://substack.com/@ferande/note/c-109768394?r=5c52n&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
This is urgent!
That was a rich, provocative discussion that got my mind going. Peter hit on the waning American reach globally, but of course, Karim and the guests spoke of how much power the empire still wields.
One strong sense that wonderful chat had on me was how all four participants address global issues in a pro forma, leaders, nations, wars, and human treachery context. Across the world, with very few exceptions, states have become subsumed by obscenely wealthy, illegitimately empowered individuals who own the processes of states and control their relationships to their publics. This reality, I think complicates discussions. It makes real politic purveyors like John Mearsheimer look like a comedian of a bygone era.
From where I sit, liberalism is dead, and democracy will only have a lifeline in socialist states committed to strong anti-imperialist, anti-fascist policies and relationships. My use of the term democracy may sound contradictory to some who associate that concept with the liberal state, but I’m referencing a broader, more fundamental meaning of the term. Singapore and China are viewed by many westerners as intolerant authoritarian regimes, but any westerner calling anybody intolerant is living in their past. To borrow from Yanis Varoufakis, the U.S. currently is an authoritarian, techno- feudal state. People in America today are being arrested for expressing compassion and empathy for Palestinians. Legal citizens are being deported and stripped of due process. I repeat, liberalism is dead.
This leads me to an unthought out conclusion: the point of all of the constructive podcasts and information on social media (the only place where constructive podcasts and information are available) is to convince their audiences that their governments are despicable. I would venture to suggest that nobody among the viewers would dissent.
Karim’s insertion of the Chinese TikToker was awesome. I would like to insert a link to a video that I recently viewed, and that I think presents a perspective that isn’t particularly new, but is germane. Shahid Bolsen is an American expatriate who pontificates on American dirty dealings around the world. He converted to Islam, and sees the reordering of the world as a necessary and inevitable correction in millennial terms. He despises American butchery and tries talking directly to the American public which he castigates. He refers to the OCGFC which is https://shahidkingbolsen.org/ocgfc/
This is the video which is a trenchant description of a feckless society that is clueless as to its worldview (they think their government is the center of the universe.) Bolsen, like the TikToker, exhorts the Americans to grow a couple brain cells.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D8Ad2kzAzak
I think most, if not all of what Bolsen calls the OCGFC are a handful of criminals that care nothing of body counts or heinous atrocities. The world needs to come together and identify the enemy, and make the fight transnational. Americans need the world more than the world needs America. Understatement?
I followed Bolsen for a long time and he has excellent monologues. But he celebrates MBS of Saudi Arabia, and has really weird takes on that country and its leader. I lost all my interest in the man at that point.
In one video he celebrated BlackRock buying up Malaysia, another very weird take. The gist of the video was that some corporations are too big to have as an enemy so the Global South can better be friends with them.
I told him that that is pure neo-colonialism, maffia capitalism: ‘protection money’. He told me that I am a Zionist and needed to piss off.
I can’t say that I’m surprised. He’s an intellectual promoter for a religion. Monologues are his favorite way of communicating, which is more than slightly suspect. But I do agree that he is a gifted speaker on provocative topics. And I also concur with your assessment of his policy endorsements. He uses confrontational rhetoric in his podcasts, but doesn’t appear to be open to discussing his positions. That will probably keep his potential followers limited in number.
He seems to be allergic to people disagreeing with him, indeed. Which is a clear sign of narcissism. But agreed, his monologues are fantastic (and I am sure he loves watching himself doing them).
> He’s an intellectual promoter for a religion.
“intellectual” or just a slick salesman? I'd go for the latter.
He has a verbal talent that sounds to my ear like learned. Perhaps it’s a gift that has no connection to intellectual inquiry, but I don’t find that plausible.
Slick sales people know to strike the right note, how to stir feelings in others. They are intelligent, no doubt about it, but that does not make them intellectuals.
Definition of "intellectual": person who engages in critical study of society, and by propounding solutions in the public sphere gains authority.
Bolsen does not come up with any solutions, he just puts his finger on some sore spots and manages to make a strong discussion point of it.
I too was impressed by him, but then something started to bother me. Reading others' comments in this thread I feel I was right, though for at that point undefined reasons.