furiosaofscythia

[furiosaofscythia]

Bernie is wrong. He has always been wrong and is still wrong. The flaw in his theory is what he deems the “wealthy elite” versus what everyday Americans consider them to be. Voters don’t see all billionaires as the elites. They see college-educated liberals on the coasts, some of whom are billionaires, as elites.

Bernie-style populism didn’t land because billionaires figured out long ago they could undermine it by being socially right-wing, and the working class would forgive their wealth and privilege. That’s why this same demographic is willing to make it rain for grifters like Joel Osteen and Pat Robertson. That’s why they worship the wealthiest man on the planet like a God and consider him some real-life Tony Stark. People dismissed Donald Trump as a shameless attention-hungry New York oligarch until he called Mexicans rapists. Then he shot up to the top of the GOP primary polls. The working class didn’t think much of Elon Musk until he said “pronouns suck.” Then he became their hero. A scion of working-class Pennsylvania lost his US Senate seat last week to a hedge fund manager from Connecticut. West Virginia elected their richest man to the Senate after electing him governor – as a Democrat and later a Republican. Ohio tossed out their longtime Democratic senator, known for his strong support of labor rights, for – literally, no joke – a used-car salesman.

You can’t tell me the working class in America thinks being a billionaire alone is what makes one a “wealthy elite.” There are significant factors at play here Bernie is either oblivious to or purposely ignorant of.

In college, a professor once told me that Communism never succeeded in the United States because we are too religious and proud as a country. Religion, traditions, and culture were never widely discredited the way they were in Europe and Asia, where the clergy and nobility kept the bourgeoisie in figurative chains for centuries. The relative ease of social mobility made America unique compared to its Western counterparts. Historically, American progressivism has been focused on expanding social mobility – initially limited to only white men – to identity groups who had been denied it at the start: blacks, women, and immigrants. We have done it, with various amounts of success. While it may seem counterintuitive, Americans pride themselves in being the nation that pioneered the idea that wealth and status can be achieved through ingenuity and hard work and not just based on a lucky roll of the genetic dice, as it was in the Old World. It doesn’t mean we don’t have generational wealth in our country; we do, but since it isn’t the sole way to achieve wealth and power, we don’t care nearly as much about destroying all of it. Further, we will happily endorse it if the oligarchs and the aristocrats vow to promote and protect the social values we care about and the social hierarchy that benefits us.

It’s one of the reasons I believe Bernie could never beat Trump. If you ask working-class people what they want: an anti-immigrant, anti-intellectual billionaire or a Vermont socialist backed by kids from Harvard and UC Berkeley who hate our traditions and customs, the working class will always back the billionaire.

–Nick Rafter, "Bernie Sanders Can Take a Seat"

[furiosaofscythia]

The Valar: sooo how’s defeating Sauron going

Saruman: everything is going according to plan, don’t worry about my giant fortress and the army I’ve amassed, they’re for an unrelated project

Radagast: I named this hedgehog Sylvester :)

Gandalf: I’ve started a side business making and selling fireworks

The Blue Wizards: 

[furiosaofscythia]

hot take incoming: revolt and revolution doesn't create a fair and equitable society. it creates a power vaccum, which is terrifying because it is incredibly fertile ground for all sorts of warlords, aspiring tyrants, paramilitary extremists, and imperial powers to swoop in and start doing atrocities over it. You can put a new society in a power vaccum, but so can anyone else, and most of those potential outcomes are going to be horrifying, not to mention to the hellscape interim period.

To create a fair and equitable society you need to know civics, administration, diplomacy, and yes, statecraft. Yes they're boring and unglamorous and icky and gross. But i promise that you need them. They are mandatory. Not optional.

[furiosaofscythia]

i am begging all of the 20something usamericans on this website to understand that “disillusioned with us politics” is a constant state of affairs. you still have to vote. you still have to keep the needle as far left as you can. there is literally no other option and every election has echoes of consequence. please please please just fucking vote

[furiosaofscythia]

TED LASSO 3.03 - 4-5-1

[furiosaofscythia]

Brett Goldstein appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert +

[furiosaofscythia]

[furiosaofscythia]

But until then, welcome Trent!

+ bonus

[furiosaofscythia]

10 Things Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein Can’t Live Without

[furiosaofscythia]

TED LASSO (2020- ) — roy kent & keeley jones

[furiosaofscythia]

TED LASSO - 3x03 ↪ 4-5-1

[furiosaofscythia]

#something something the ties that bind us #something something found family #something something the effect we have on each other

[furiosaofscythia]

will you be sharing your latest work with quinlan and obi-wan from twitter on here? (also hi!!!! I LOVE your art!!)

Hi~, I’m glad you like my drawings; I don’t know if I was going to put it here but if you ask me I’ll leave it here :)

[furiosaofscythia]

#cinematic parallels

[furiosaofscythia]

[furiosaofscythia]

#where does roy kent end and brett goldstein begin #i can’t even tell anymore

[furiosaofscythia]

TED LASSO — 1.03 “Trent Crimm: The Independent”.