The psycho-sexual violent fantasies of overweight, over-paid and overly sheltered middle-aged white guys who’ve never thrown a punch or put themselves in danger are genuinely disgusting. This is some sick shit.
I am glad you brought that up, the pyscho-sexual aspect. Other components include deeply suppressed homo-eroticism (see Sparta-like fantasies), I would guess, which align with toxic misogyny (see Paul Gosar), and a dose of low-grade, everyday sadism to make up a nasty brew for bros. (Our little village holds a scarecrow competition every year: one of the entries for 2021 included a caricature of AOC holding an axe and wearing a white dress with red lettering that said « Axe the rich. »)
"The wargame foresees that Federal and local law enforcement officials will have “meetings with Google, Facebook, and Twitter..." There it is again, the "social" media prion, eating away...
This organizational meeting was held in AUSTIN (just up the road from me) last October? Why was there nothing mentioned about it? I really am curious about how this terrorist group was able to brazenly assemble, coordinate war games, and plan for a coup right in the middle of this state's capital. Where were the FBI? Where were the local police? Where were the investigative journalists? Where was the bright light of media? I am reminded of the group from New Braunfels that tried to run the Harris' campaign bus and accompanying vehicles off IH35. To my knowledge, nothing at all happened to them. This is scary stuff - not just to read about, but to know that it is literally going on a few miles away. And as I write this today, Wurstfest in New Braunfels has apparently been taken over by white supremacists this year.
Your finding commonality between the Weather Underground and what you (appropriately, I think) call the "Weather Aboveground" is insightful. I'll preface what I'm about to write with a statement of belief: I am firmly on the side of those who seek a more just and equitable social and economic order. I don't think it contradicts this to say that I believe there are disturbing parallels between the zeitgeist of some - not all, TCinLA - of the 1960s counterculture and the MAGA devotees of today. Principally, I'm thinking of complete distrust of government - fueled by the lies that were being told about Vietnam - and of "elites" seen as justifying the war (read Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest), as well as being complicit in a technocratic order inimical to the aspirations and dignity of working people.
Agreed, Claude Scales, but as I noted above, what the Aboveground and the Underground have strikingly in common is their whiteness and their maleness, which I do believe is not unrelated to their adventurism and their divorced-from-reality-ness.
The Weather Underground was mostly, but not entirely, male. I'm thinking of Bernardine Dohrn, Kathy Boudin, Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson, and Diana Oughton, whose promising young life was cut short after she turned to violence and died in the accidental explosion of a WU "bomb factory." The wider Sixties counterculture, most of which shared distrust of government, elites, and technocracy, also included Angela Davis and the Black Panthers.
Truth. By the time I came along, however, at the very end of the 1960s, there were two distinct tendencies in the (mostly) white "counterculture": the hippies and the politicos. The hippies came to demonstrations and the politicos bought weed (etc.) from the hippies, but the differences were striking. In subsequent decades I got annoyed when commentators lumped us all together as "hippies."
Superb newsletter Lucian! And horrid story. I am stunned, but should not be since my Proud Boy neighbor here in Michigan screamed similar threats at me on January 4th, as he prepared to drive to DC. I called our local Sheriff Department to report him and was met with "Why?" I insisted they visit him and then relay identifying information to the State Police, which they reluctantly did. My rabid neighbor went to Washington, but didn't make it to the Capitol itself, and came back. Until the next call.
Our rural sheriffs and deputies, for the most part, aligned with the t-rumpers when these groups attacked our Michigan Capitol, (one sheriff south of here even led an armed group), so they don't see these behaviors as all that bad. They also asked "Why" because they saw his threats as a mental health problem, not theirs. But of course, as a community mental health nurse I already knew there was no psych/social work team that would accompany them or go on a Sunday night emergency visit. It wasn't until I told them that he had guns and ammunition that they agreed to go.
"I am going to Washibgton to stop the man who wears ashes on his forehead from killing babies." Quoted violent things he'd read on-line. Raging, he told me and 2 other neighbors to go to hell, which he had never said in 20 "neighborly" years here. History of "going postal" when he worked at a post office, no one was hurt, but he is not allowed guns or ammunition and somehow had both...
And how much of the destruction, looting and burning during the summer of 2020 during the BLM protests were in fact right-wing individuals or groups attempting to undermine the peaceful protests and to instigate rioting and looting.
These dudes are organized, filled with hatred, heavily armed and sexually confused while believing that Democrat leaders abuse dead or dying babies.. How many are waiting for the word from Q to start blasting away with their AR15s ? A dozen? A thousand? Ten thousand? More? And then what? Hostages? Snipers at Gay bars?
In the good old days, terrorists were Jihadis from the Middle East. We decimated their leaders with drone strikes. These home grown guys are in a different league willing to foment anarchy and hang people like Mike Pence. WTF?
The mere act of preparing such a plan reveals a mind-boggling level of corruption. They want to hold the reins of power so that they can remove even the mildest restraint on the ability to amass money by selling appointed positions which, in turn, sell other subordinate positions and so on down to the point where we must pay a bribe to get any service from our government officials. (Paranoid? Me?)
Somewhere in the distance Eric Hoffer and Eric Sevareid and maybe Art Buchwald are cheering you. You have a superb skill and pure grasp of facts. What is tragic is that there are too many men and women who have enough money but nothing important to do. The United States encourages fantasy culture and Donald Trump lit up millions with his delusions. Tragically it appears Republican leaders have tapped into malevolent fantasy and hope to use them to stay in power. One wonders the reaction when millions of Republicans realize the grift and what fools they have been.
not bad…. for a war game, but next year there be no need for more war games. dems will do what dems do best, loose elections, and the next day biden and harris vill be impeached for any reason they want. so, who wanna play?
I had the same reaction, TCinLA: the Port Huron Statement did NOT lead directly to the Weather Underground (RYM-1, wasn't it? or was it RYM-2?). SDS was a legit, fairly reasonable lefty group through most of the 1960s. They *were* overwhelmingly -- but definitely not exclusively -- white and male, but bomb builders they mostly weren't.
The psycho-sexual violent fantasies of overweight, over-paid and overly sheltered middle-aged white guys who’ve never thrown a punch or put themselves in danger are genuinely disgusting. This is some sick shit.
I am glad you brought that up, the pyscho-sexual aspect. Other components include deeply suppressed homo-eroticism (see Sparta-like fantasies), I would guess, which align with toxic misogyny (see Paul Gosar), and a dose of low-grade, everyday sadism to make up a nasty brew for bros. (Our little village holds a scarecrow competition every year: one of the entries for 2021 included a caricature of AOC holding an axe and wearing a white dress with red lettering that said « Axe the rich. »)
Apt. Crap.
"The wargame foresees that Federal and local law enforcement officials will have “meetings with Google, Facebook, and Twitter..." There it is again, the "social" media prion, eating away...
This organizational meeting was held in AUSTIN (just up the road from me) last October? Why was there nothing mentioned about it? I really am curious about how this terrorist group was able to brazenly assemble, coordinate war games, and plan for a coup right in the middle of this state's capital. Where were the FBI? Where were the local police? Where were the investigative journalists? Where was the bright light of media? I am reminded of the group from New Braunfels that tried to run the Harris' campaign bus and accompanying vehicles off IH35. To my knowledge, nothing at all happened to them. This is scary stuff - not just to read about, but to know that it is literally going on a few miles away. And as I write this today, Wurstfest in New Braunfels has apparently been taken over by white supremacists this year.
Your finding commonality between the Weather Underground and what you (appropriately, I think) call the "Weather Aboveground" is insightful. I'll preface what I'm about to write with a statement of belief: I am firmly on the side of those who seek a more just and equitable social and economic order. I don't think it contradicts this to say that I believe there are disturbing parallels between the zeitgeist of some - not all, TCinLA - of the 1960s counterculture and the MAGA devotees of today. Principally, I'm thinking of complete distrust of government - fueled by the lies that were being told about Vietnam - and of "elites" seen as justifying the war (read Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest), as well as being complicit in a technocratic order inimical to the aspirations and dignity of working people.
Agreed, Claude Scales, but as I noted above, what the Aboveground and the Underground have strikingly in common is their whiteness and their maleness, which I do believe is not unrelated to their adventurism and their divorced-from-reality-ness.
The Weather Underground was mostly, but not entirely, male. I'm thinking of Bernardine Dohrn, Kathy Boudin, Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson, and Diana Oughton, whose promising young life was cut short after she turned to violence and died in the accidental explosion of a WU "bomb factory." The wider Sixties counterculture, most of which shared distrust of government, elites, and technocracy, also included Angela Davis and the Black Panthers.
Truth. By the time I came along, however, at the very end of the 1960s, there were two distinct tendencies in the (mostly) white "counterculture": the hippies and the politicos. The hippies came to demonstrations and the politicos bought weed (etc.) from the hippies, but the differences were striking. In subsequent decades I got annoyed when commentators lumped us all together as "hippies."
Superb newsletter Lucian! And horrid story. I am stunned, but should not be since my Proud Boy neighbor here in Michigan screamed similar threats at me on January 4th, as he prepared to drive to DC. I called our local Sheriff Department to report him and was met with "Why?" I insisted they visit him and then relay identifying information to the State Police, which they reluctantly did. My rabid neighbor went to Washington, but didn't make it to the Capitol itself, and came back. Until the next call.
What threats were they, that you reported to the sheriff?
Our rural sheriffs and deputies, for the most part, aligned with the t-rumpers when these groups attacked our Michigan Capitol, (one sheriff south of here even led an armed group), so they don't see these behaviors as all that bad. They also asked "Why" because they saw his threats as a mental health problem, not theirs. But of course, as a community mental health nurse I already knew there was no psych/social work team that would accompany them or go on a Sunday night emergency visit. It wasn't until I told them that he had guns and ammunition that they agreed to go.
"I am going to Washibgton to stop the man who wears ashes on his forehead from killing babies." Quoted violent things he'd read on-line. Raging, he told me and 2 other neighbors to go to hell, which he had never said in 20 "neighborly" years here. History of "going postal" when he worked at a post office, no one was hurt, but he is not allowed guns or ammunition and somehow had both...
Yikes!
And how much of the destruction, looting and burning during the summer of 2020 during the BLM protests were in fact right-wing individuals or groups attempting to undermine the peaceful protests and to instigate rioting and looting.
they were particularly easy to spot - on camera - in Minniappolis
We are running out of time to get our act together.
Eric Hoffer would applaud your essay, an application of his “True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.” Bravo Lucian!
Brilliant column, Lucian! Bravo!
These dudes are organized, filled with hatred, heavily armed and sexually confused while believing that Democrat leaders abuse dead or dying babies.. How many are waiting for the word from Q to start blasting away with their AR15s ? A dozen? A thousand? Ten thousand? More? And then what? Hostages? Snipers at Gay bars?
In the good old days, terrorists were Jihadis from the Middle East. We decimated their leaders with drone strikes. These home grown guys are in a different league willing to foment anarchy and hang people like Mike Pence. WTF?
The mere act of preparing such a plan reveals a mind-boggling level of corruption. They want to hold the reins of power so that they can remove even the mildest restraint on the ability to amass money by selling appointed positions which, in turn, sell other subordinate positions and so on down to the point where we must pay a bribe to get any service from our government officials. (Paranoid? Me?)
Somewhere in the distance Eric Hoffer and Eric Sevareid and maybe Art Buchwald are cheering you. You have a superb skill and pure grasp of facts. What is tragic is that there are too many men and women who have enough money but nothing important to do. The United States encourages fantasy culture and Donald Trump lit up millions with his delusions. Tragically it appears Republican leaders have tapped into malevolent fantasy and hope to use them to stay in power. One wonders the reaction when millions of Republicans realize the grift and what fools they have been.
We need more Art Buchwald. Thanks for reminding me of a great writer and a really good guy.
And…there’s fear of MS13 gangs??? The world heats up in myriad ways. Terrifying.
not bad…. for a war game, but next year there be no need for more war games. dems will do what dems do best, loose elections, and the next day biden and harris vill be impeached for any reason they want. so, who wanna play?
Can we get Lebowski's view?
Seriously, when you mentioned K.T. McFarland I got shivers. She was a regular contributor on Imus years ago.
That is one smart and very dangerous cookie who bears watching.
I had the same reaction, TCinLA: the Port Huron Statement did NOT lead directly to the Weather Underground (RYM-1, wasn't it? or was it RYM-2?). SDS was a legit, fairly reasonable lefty group through most of the 1960s. They *were* overwhelmingly -- but definitely not exclusively -- white and male, but bomb builders they mostly weren't.
So glad to hear that TC.