An interesting and intellectually honest observation I had about the United States was that I never got to experience what I presumably loved about the US. This made me realize I was being a bit hypocritical, because the US I experienced was anything but the US I was fighting for.
The US I loved was what I saw in television and was taught to me (either through parents, school, media, etc.). It's history, winning WWII, the nuclear family, truth justice, gallant country westerns, dashing heroes like James Bond (I know, British), John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, beautiful women like Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Doris Day, not to mention its entertainment culture be it jazz, comedy, fashion, etc. But that version of the US died around 1965 and I was born ten years after. The US I got to live in was practically the opposite.
Destroyed families, divorce, Volker Recession poverty, hideous 70's music, fashion, and entertainment. Harlots and sluts for female actresses and vocalists, masculine women, effeminate men, spoiled rotten children, bullies and bitches, idiotic teachers, increasing taxes, recessions, bubbles, and prisons masquerading as schools. And let's not forget a selection of women destroyed by feminism, bigotry against white males, a progressive credentialism that ensured your youth was wasted, bogus careers with false promises, and never ever coming close to achieving the American dream a la the 1940's.
No, the two were actually quite different and it forced me to conclude something.
I hate the United States. I loathe it.
Not the idea of America. Not the ideals the country was originally founded on, but what it has become and consequently the US I get to live in.
It's basically a decadent, dependent pile of spoiled rotten human filth.
This isn't to say there aren't good people in the US or that there aren't good aspects of the US, but what me, you, and everybody else has to do is wake up and realize is that the country no longer represents the ideals and ideas it was founded upon. While we naturally surround ourselves with people we like, we have to realize that in doing so we bias our perception of the country. And therefore while you play poker with fellow conservatives, libertarians, and self supporting people and think most people are hard working folk like you, you don't realize that the majority of the population are parasitical, have no desire to be honest hard working Americans, are brought up/brainwashed to hate the country, hate people who work hard and are successful, and whose purpose in life is nothing more than to live off of you.
If you step back, clear your eyes, and take a fresh look, you can see this "real" United States for what it is and realize this is what you've had to live in and endure:
Lena Horne vs. Madonna vs. Miley Ray Cyrus
Duke Ellington vs. Kanye West
Jimmy Stewart vs. Matt Damon
Dwight Eisenhower vs. Barack Obama
Women with decorum and class vs. feminist brainwashed arrogant lippy brats
Strong, independent men vs. wimpy, simpering obedient, emasculated "men"
Powerful classy cars vs. EPA compliant boxes
Traditional architecture vs. minimalist crap
This vs. that
Don Rickles vs. Margaret Cho
I can go on, but how can anybody champion such crap? How can you advocate the US in its current state?
The truth is you can't. Not unless you're one of the losers that is populating the new America. And so I'm done. I never got to experience a Andy Griffith Mayberry lifestyle. I never got to come out of high school with a job waiting for me. I don't know what it's like to have a population that wants to work with me, instead of villainize and live off of me. And I've never walked downtown to see every man and women dressed their best as they presented themselves in public. It's not that I'm 'sick of it,' I already am. I'm just no longer fighting for something that isn't. The US is not ideal. The people that populate it have no desire to bring it back to its former greatness. And the hell if I'm fighting for something that I've never gotten to enjoy.
Enjoy the decline!
35 comments:
Welcome to the New Enlightenment.
Fuck the U.S.A. I will never fight for this oligarchy that has declared me among its enemies after my years of sticking up for it to foreigners and my faithful adherence to its STUPID communism-inspired rules.
The foreigners were right.
I will fight for nothing less than autonomy among my own people, governed by OUR customs and OUR laws based on English common law and 2000 years of Greek wisdom, not Washington D.C.'s Cultural Marxism. Let them be bled to death by their parasitic pets.I care nothing for this worthless indefensible country.
It should have been allowed to split in half in 1860. I can't stand the idea of sharing a nation with so many moronic pussies. We are NOT the same people.
One group of us believes in saving,living within your means, working hard, playing hard, going for the gold,meritocracy,the traditional family and the other group is a bunch of disgusting lazy perverts with room-temperature IQ's crying about "micro-aggressions" as though anyone gives a DAMN about their FEELINGS.
Death to America,long live the Republic of Dixie.
Feel better now?
Alright, good. Here's the truth:
The America that you consider "ideal" never existed. It's a figment of imagination from old Hollywood or bygone media. It's nostalgia from previous generations who wanted to remind their own children how much harder their life was. The people in this country have always been moronic, ignorant, and unenlightened. This is why the "Founding Fathers" hated the concept of "Democracy" and chose "Republic." They knew it and now so do you. Welcome to the human condition. Wanna know what else? I've been around the world and guess what? Yup. The people in every country I've visited have been moronic, self-interested, ignorant and unenlightened.
I would agree with you, but there is actual decay. Divorce and dysfunctional families were not as prevalent, the media was much better and higher quality, our celebrities were higher quality, and the people were indeed better.
Not saying they weren't ignorant, but given who and what we celebrate today is a downgrade from yesteryear.
Hemingway hated what he knew the U.S. and its People would become, but late in life realized it was the land itself (principally the american west) that he actually loved -- and of course the masculinity that existed for a short time in the untamed west.
We share a concern about the downfall of our country. As a long time blog fan of yours, (and book buyer: "Housing Crash") I hope your still able to find some enjoyment in "enjoying the decline".
With respect...sometimes I wonder if your so pissed off that it may handicap yourself. Good health, ethics, high intelligence, an online following and dance skills can go a long way in the US. Your posts are full of truth, yet seem more and more negative. I'm hoping you still see some positives.
Of course I may just be recalling some critical posts (and had a few beers) so, I maybe off base here.
I at one time wanted very badly to become an American. Not anymore. The move from an individualistic to a socialist point of view is real and to those of us who escaped the Sovietski Soyuz (USSR) the shift in attitude is heartbreaking to observe.
Contrary to what a previous commenter stated, the USA was indeed what Cappy said it was.
The US is destroying itself and it seems as if nobody is doing anything about it.
This post is not only spot-on but it reminds me of the movie Soylent Green, specifically the part where Edward G. Robinson was dying in the euthanasia center and Charlton Heston looks at the way the world used to look. Robinson asks Heston, "Can you see it Thorne?" In Heston's face, you can see that Heston realizes the degree of deterioration that had happened to the world. This post has struck me with the same impact (the "this" versus "that" was especially telling). It is especially depressing for older people. The younger people do not feel it because they have not seen the beauty of the US so they do not see our present-day ugliness. But older people have so it is especially depressing and painful, like watching a loved one slowly die from cancer.
Let's put our suffering in context in an intellectually honest way, Aaron.
Let us look at the men and women that built the version of the USA that you loved and lost.
They were born in the early 1920's. During the Dirty Thirties they endured the Great Depression and often went cold and hungry. Fathers road around on the roofs of trains looking for work; Mom stayed home and tried to keep going any way she could. Kids worked and handed any cash they made over to Mom. People starved to death in those days.
When they hit their 20's they were just in time for WW2. No, the vast majority of young men did not become glamorous fighter pilots - they humped rifles and fought in the most vicious wars imagineable. If they survived, they got home - and the women were doing their former jobs and the economy had tanked. It would not recover well into the 50's when opulence returned: the average Joe on good wages could afford a 700 sq. ft. house and maybe a car. The high rollers might have a television set in the home.
Boys, the USA is not that piece of crap in the Whitehouse, or the femc#nts at Jezebel, or the usual collection of gay hipsters, elderly hippies and hairy chested feminists that control the media.
The USA is what YOU make it. You have had a lot better breaks than the young men and women of WW2. Stop whining - you have some demolition work to do and then the hard labour of rebuilding afterward. The old adage applies today just as when Churchill said it: Winners never quit, and quitters never win.
I was born in 1961 and grew up in an earlier era, just as the decline was beginning. It was a different country then. No, it was not perfect but at least our aspirations and cultural heroes reflected ideals to be proud of and worth fighting for. I recall in elementary school how it was pounded in our heads that we were individuals and the greatness of our country came from our strong individualism. Can you imagine this being taught today? Everything my kids bring home from school is geared toward working collaboratively in groups and the power of the community. This is a strong reflection of the liberals that are running our schools and an indicator of where we are headed.
But what stands out most to me is the sense of freedom we had. We did things that I cannot imagine kids doing today. Disappearing for the entire day to roam the local woods and neighborhoods with friends. Even organizing our own baseball or football games without adult supervision. We even went so far as to ride in cars without a seat belt or, heaven forbid, in the back of a pickup truck! These things could get a kid picked up by the police today and end up with a visit to the parent from the county Child Protective Services Department. I think back on those days, arriving home muddy, and bloodied from play without a complaint other than "I'm hungry" and compare it to the whining about micro aggression and every other imagined grievance by our youth. This is not just nostalgia but is a very sad indicator of our decaying society.
About the only way to bend over and smile despite the conditions and people of the US? Go somewhere else for a while. Nothing, but nothing makes all the annoyances come into perspective more than rediscovering that the frivolous nature of our problems comes from how much better things are here compared to elsewhere. Using the continuous smell of human excrement as a metric, most of the world lives with it- when is the last time that was the most pervasive smell on your street? Dramatic examples aside, I suppose I'm lucky to travel for work. Seeing where the rest of the world lives (as opposed to where they set aside places for you to spend money) makes coming home more palatable.
Misanthropy is understandable, but, yeah, there's a hefty vein of it here. Most folks just act in what they believe is their best interest. Considering that being only of average intelligence is disturbingly ignorant, it's worth remembering that half the population is dumber than that.
Beam me up, Scotty!!
Peggy Noonan wrote about this last year in the Wall Street Journal. She said Americans were losing their love of country, and great nations can't survive without that love. More Americans than just the Captain are feeling this way.
Do your best to find SOME positives, Cappy, for the sake of your mental and physical health. Optimists live longer, healthier lives. I've been fortunate enough to have been to 34 OTHER countries (on business / working, not as a tourist) and have yet to find one I'd relocate to except MAYBE Australia or New Zeland ... MAYBE. When I was your age working my ass off post-Vietnam when Jimmah Cahtah was Prez I felt just as defeated and hopeless as you now feel, but it changed on a dime - on a freakin' dime! - when Reagan got elected. I remain optimistic that we can and will revert to our norm after this Obungler debacle.
It's been a LONG, c-c-c-cold, crappy winter ... head south, catch some rays, chillax, give your mind and body some time away from all this northern crap. The REAL America is NOT in the cities, it's in the rural south and west ...recharge your batteries there for awhile.
Davers6
The decline did start circa 1965. The country had a choice in 1964 between Goldwater and Johnson and took the wrong road. I was a child then. All the kids in my neighborhood had married parents. There were no single moms. All the dads worked. Crime was low and no one worried about being a victim of it. There was a bad part of town you stayed out of but it was small. Now the bad part of town is most of the city. Instead of looking clean and well maintained like back then, everything looks run down and decayed. The destruction caused by the policies starting in the sixties is unbelievable.
Hey, Anon 10:43, I've never been around the world but I have been around the block and Cap is absolutely right. Our country was better 50 years ago, our people were better, our culture was better. As it stands now, I HATE this country. Regrettably, I came to this conclusion some years ago. I would never put my life on the line for it. I haven't always felt that way.
John Adams saw it coming: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
Welcome to 2014, everybody! Enjoy the decline.
As a Canadian and frequent visitor to the U.S. I have a different point of view. Admittedly I deal with either business people or visit as a tourist so I see the better parts of your country.
The America I see is full of decent people who are easy to do business with, or service providers who are eager to please.
I've always loved travelling in the U.S. and you still have a lot to be proud of.
I'm old enough to remember the days when nobody locked their doors.
I am in my late 50s. I have been reading your blogs for a long time. Recently purchased "Decline" and BPE.
I suspect that most of your readers are in their 20s and 30s. Younger folks don't realize how much freer we were and how much more liberty there was. It is sad that you won't be able to experience that.
Compared to when I was growing up the US has become a veritable police state.
I am a boomer but still one of the productive ones. I am still working to support the rest of my entitled generation. I see what a complete mess my generation have made of things. I am not sure of how the generation of "do your own thing" have become the most tyrannical busybodies ever.
Although I do not live in the US I can see the very same happening here in Ireland. I was born in the early 70's and can see the progression here, although we probably lag about 10 years behind you, time lag decreasing all the time. The media here paints the 40's and 50's here as some kind of dark ages. My father turned 81 recently, he worked his way up creating a very successful business. People knew how to make a deal then, didn't need to go to some university to understand profit. They lived off their wits, if you didn't do a good deal you didn't eat. Nothing like the threat of hunger to keep your mind sharp.
All I hear and see now are families breaking up, single mothers getting hand outs from the gov, the EU dictating our lives, some sort of retarded socialism and feminism seeping into everyday living. My grandfather fought the English to gain freedom for this country and now I don't feel any attachment to it any longer.
Well said, Cap, I'm right there with you.
I'm only a few years older than you, but I grew up in a completely different America. The changes have been astounding.
I think "winning WWII" was part of the problem. But of course, we're not allowed to entertain such thoughts.
Let it burn. I'll be poolside.
I grew up in the 60's and 70's. We were a generation of doers. We invented the home computer, the cell phone, the internet. We were The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Aerosmith. We went to the moon, built space stations, and sent our machines to the explore the solar system and beyond. We created epic movies like Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and TV shows that made you think, not rot your brain. Today everything is just a derivative knock off of something that's already been done before. Nobody has any ambition. Everybody wants something for nothing. People criticize the things that make their very way of life possible. Profit is evil, let's shut down all the power plants and save the earth, let's get the government to pay for everything and we'll all be fine. But if you try to point out the absurdity to liberals they look at you like you're insane and start calling you names. All you can do is let them have their way and watch it all collapse around them. Of course they won't learn anything from this, it won't be their fault, it's your fault because you didn't want it to work, because we didn't spend enough money on it, because conservatives are evil. I'm just sorry that my kids have to grow up in this mess. I'm trying to give them now what I know they won't have a few years from now. A little bit of happiness. And trying to get them to learn to enjoy the decline.
You should read (or watch) some Bill Whittle.
Common sense stuff without the pessimism we all tend to fall into.
The United States and prevailing bourgeois decadence in the present-day society of the rootless masses
Some illuminating quotes on the subject:
*"The disappearance of the heroic ideal is always accompanied by the growth of commercialism. There is a cause-and-effect relationship here, for the man of commerce is by the nature of things a relativist; his mind is constantly on the fluctuating values of the marketplace, and there is no surer way to fail than to dogmatize and moralize about things." - Richard M. Weaver
*The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire. - Hermann Hesse
*If you want to make use of the advantages of civilisation, but are not prepared to concern yourself with the upholding of civilisation—you are done. In a trice you find yourself left without civilisation. José Ortega y Gasset
*The mass-man of today [has] two fundamental traits: the free expansion of his vital desires, and therefore, of his personality; and his radical ingratitude towards all that has made possible the ease of his existence. These traits together make up the well-known psychology of the spoilt child. José Ortega y Gasset
*The man of culture finds the whole past relevant; the bourgeois and the barbarian find relevant only what has some pressing connection with their appetite. Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences (Chicago: 1948)
*False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing. - Joseph de Maistre
*The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than a man who reads nothing but newspapers. Thomas Jefferson
*Nietzsche said the newspaper had replaced the prayer in the life of the modern bourgeois, meaning that the busy, the cheap, the ephemeral, had usurped all that remained of the eternal in his daily life. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind
*Rock and the intellectual Left must both be interpreted as parts of the cultural fabric of late capitalism. Their success comes from the bourgeois’ need to feel that he is not bourgeois. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind
*Marxism is essentially a product of the bourgeois mind. Joseph A. Schumpeter
*Richard Weaver declared that thhe "The Old South was “the last non-materialist civilization in the Western World.”
The United States and prevailing bourgeois decadence in the present-day society of the rootless masses
Some illuminating quotes on the subject:
*"The disappearance of the heroic ideal is always accompanied by the growth of commercialism. There is a cause-and-effect relationship here, for the man of commerce is by the nature of things a relativist; his mind is constantly on the fluctuating values of the marketplace, and there is no surer way to fail than to dogmatize and moralize about things." - Richard M. Weaver
*The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire. - Hermann Hesse
*If you want to make use of the advantages of civilisation, but are not prepared to concern yourself with the upholding of civilisation—you are done. In a trice you find yourself left without civilisation. José Ortega y Gasset
*The mass-man of today [has] two fundamental traits: the free expansion of his vital desires, and therefore, of his personality; and his radical ingratitude towards all that has made possible the ease of his existence. These traits together make up the well-known psychology of the spoilt child. José Ortega y Gasset
*The man of culture finds the whole past relevant; the bourgeois and the barbarian find relevant only what has some pressing connection with their appetite. Richard Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences (Chicago: 1948)
*False opinions are like false money, struck first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime without knowing what they are doing. - Joseph de Maistre
*The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than a man who reads nothing but newspapers. Thomas Jefferson
*Nietzsche said the newspaper had replaced the prayer in the life of the modern bourgeois, meaning that the busy, the cheap, the ephemeral, had usurped all that remained of the eternal in his daily life. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind
*Rock and the intellectual Left must both be interpreted as parts of the cultural fabric of late capitalism. Their success comes from the bourgeois’ need to feel that he is not bourgeois. Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind
*Marxism is essentially a product of the bourgeois mind. Joseph A. Schumpeter
*Richard Weaver declared that thhe "The Old South was “the last non-materialist civilization in the Western World.”
What you're talking about reminds me of a mistake I made about how to interpret Roman history. I saw Julius as the root of decline and admired Cato's conviction to fall on his sword rather than live in a world lead by Caesar. My mistake was not seeing how the republic was already beyond repair, beacons like Cato were the exception, not the rule. The collapse was made inevitable well before Caesar was born. These events occurred before Rome peaked. Your date 1965 is closer to the American peak, personally I think 1971, is the peak, it was the peak individual energy consumption and saw the Apollo program, America's single greatest achievement, draw towards a close. I see FDR as America's Julius Caesar and the point of no return before he was born, even before the civil war. The truth is far more depressing than the self righteous anger of knowing we used to be great and blaming modern players when those people don't actually matter, they are mearly being cast in a role that was written for them long ago. Just as if Julius had been defeated by Pompey, another would have come along to fill the role of Caesar.
I'd be happy just to go back to the 80s.
I was reminded of this, when I saw somebody snarking at a clip from Diehard: smoking in the airport, not butt-search to get onto the plane, pregnant women debating whether they'd have half-a-glass of wine (no, it doesn't harm the baby you ninnies: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1318054/Glass-wine-pregnancy-does-harm-baby.html ).
THE HORRORS!
Now we live in this police state where our every habit is regulated, and the government keeps track of our porn-usage in case they need to blackmail us. Everybody's a terrified wuss, who constantly begs authority to make the world less scary.
I'm moving up a goddamned mountain.
The answer is you don't advocate on behalf of the United States. You advocate for what comes after.
An American was never a person from a specific place, but a person with specific values. America was always just an idea and that idea will live on in other forms when the United States is gone.
When I first went on sabbatical to PSU in 1999-2000 from Canada, I was much impressed by the townspeople. The faculty were, of course, mostly the usual clever human trash - I much preferred talking to the cleaning and maintenance staff. Among our new friends we saw how much work went into charities and good works - it was hard being an American, like that. They obviously felt that if they did well they should give something back. Kind and friendly they certainly were. Many of them are gone now, more the pity. Subsequent visits have not been quite so positive, but "Happy Valley" is still a good part of the world. Getting back to Canada was something like putting on an old pair of worn slippers - easier, but not in such a good way.
Last year we went on one of the Victor Hanson tours. Most of our fellow tour members were American, most of them from California. The men were mostly ex-military, one retired CIA officer; and an impressive lot they were. These were the sort that made America great. Unfortunately the youngest was about 50 years old, and there were plenty of canes among the others!
Islam is a very socially conservative religion. Your criticisms of the present-day US are in fact the criticisms that radical Islam makes of the US. They fear the US, not for its military power (which Obama is destroying anyway) but for its corruption. In Islam, Satan is the great seducer, who whispers in the hearts of men. They fear the sexual indiscipline exported through movies and television; they fear the drug culture. Some Muslim countries have severe drug problems - David Goldman singles out Iran in particular. Most are experiencing plummeting birth rates.And hence jihad. They view themselves as fighting for their lives. Nor have they experienced the prosperity which might serve as a compensation, at least until this generation sees itself out of this world.
I disagree with the methods of Islamic jihad, because to me mass murder is profoundly immoral. It is also counter effective - Islam would make more conversions if it were less violent. But the reasons for it are absolutely no mystery.
It is likely, IMHO, that Islam will obtain many converts in the US and Europe. After all, it emphasizes respect for men, and proper behaviour among women. Men are men (and naturally you can carry a gun); and women are women.
It will prove very attractive, as it already has among blacks.
Radical Islam is the sovereign remedy for feminism.
PS I am a Christian, not a Muslim.
It wasn't imagination. You got married and it was settled. Even in the Depression there was no Frivorce. You got a job and they trained you while you earned. Taxes were low, but we still had decent bus lines and streetcars in even moderate sized cities, public parks were spacious and manicured, building were ornate and lavished with marble and fancy woodwork. Each 800 sq. ft. house had the unique smell of that stay at home mom's cooking. Mom and dad put a little away each week for outfitting the house into a home before the kids came along, and the furniture store put their order in the store attic until the lay-away was paid in full, then they had furniture that'll last a lifetime, not the 5 year expected life of pressed cardboard crap people buy on credit today. There were no wild street gangs preying on everyone and turning neighborhoods into Beruit/Detroit. If you live a decent life you avoided the pitfall of Organized Crime. You could sleep in a hammock on the enclosed back porch away from the mosquitoes if summer made the house too hot to sleep in pre-a/c days, and know you'd not get assaulted. People became famous by conquering enemy armies, going to space, making vaccine, making discoveries, not by being notorious. If a singer sat naked on a wrecking ball and licked a hammer she'd be put away, not on the cover of every magazine.
If you're familiar with the television series "Firefly", you may remember the part about "the Earth that was" ...
Apparently Earth was turning into a decaying hell pit in the Firefly version of the future. The best thing that could be done with Earth was to expend its energy in making sure humanity and as many species as could be carried off it wound up making it into space.
Your problem can be neatly summarised as nostalgia for "the America that was" ...
So Comrade Cappy Cap, when are you going to get on board one of the ships?
Also, James Robers said:
"Everything my kids bring home from school is geared toward working collaboratively ..."
I'm assuming you mean this in the Vichy French sense. :-)
Well said Cappy. So whaddaya gonna do about it? What action of self interest will you take? When will you stop talking about dropping out of America and actually drop out?
Move someplace where you can live happy on a fraction of what it costs here. Here's my idea:
http://retirecheap.asia/
At breakfast this morning with some of by buds, I said that I detest this government. I detest this government because they have destroyed the ideals and freedoms we had in order to pursue their own interests of power and wealth.
I am in the very front end of the baby boomers. I grew up in the 50's and came of age in the 60's (but not in the drug culture or the "free speech movement". There is no question we have lost a significant amount of our freedoms and privacy. At this point, we expect our politicians to lie to us and the politicians have no shame when they are caught. It really is depressing.
America today, let me introduce you to 1800's China: ruled by foreigners, a shell of its former self, hopeless and rotten to the core. China today, let me introduce you to 1800's America: wild and developing westward and copying everyone's shit... oh and 1800's Briton: polluted as sin
Astounding. I have had precisely this thought for a number of years. I live in Europe, and I find it so frustrating when people constantly frame US culture (as it were) in terms of today's crap that you and I both loathe...all the vile trends, vile music, etc. Sinatra, Jonas Salk, Eisenhower...it's all a long time ago now.
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