I used to go to movies, have season tickets to the Atlanta Broadway series and season tickets to the Atlanta Symphony. I quit them all because the appallingly glaring political slant.
Two weeks ago I was gifted tickets to “Hadestown” a Tony award winning musical. The politics were so obvious. There was a song about a wall and how bad it …
I used to go to movies, have season tickets to the Atlanta Broadway series and season tickets to the Atlanta Symphony. I quit them all because the appallingly glaring political slant.
Two weeks ago I was gifted tickets to “Hadestown” a Tony award winning musical. The politics were so obvious. There was a song about a wall and how bad it was to keep us safe inside and the others out! In the play the devil worked hard and the heroes thought they were above working. Oh, and climate change was what made them poor and hungry sending them to hell to work. Craziest play. What a birthday gift. Rogers and Hammerstein please come back!
Bottom line. I’m done with the arts. And I’m sad about that. Someday someone will see that there are a lot of people who would support art. Just art. No politics. I’m going to donate to the ballet theater mentioned in the piece.
We used to donate to several arts organizations, but no longer do so because of the politicization of those organizations. I would love to hear about groups that will support the arts without any regard for political/social standards. I would donate to them to support groups that will not concede to the social dictators. Are there groups that will offer grants to the arts without social considerations?
Ditto on all the replies here. But it’s not just movies, theaters, etc. it’s simpler forms of creativity too such as podcasts! Before that infamous summer of 2020 I had so many non-political podcast favorites! I love story telling. They all became unbearable. I haven’t listened in almost 3 years. Everything has been ruined for those of us who do not subscribe to race essentialism.
As a Kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, I saw it all decline. I decided no more shows for our field trips. We put on our own plays in the classroom and I played classical music, as well as Miriam Makeba and son cubano. The generation coming up will be culturally illiterate.
Interesting you bring them up, since they were practically canceled after criticizing Bush and the Iraq war. Another instance of artists not toeing the line, even though in their case it was voicing opinions unrelated to their music at the time. Which is also fine. I don’t even know their songs but conservatives can’t critique woke cancel culture and then celebrate the cancelling of the Dixie Chicks.
I agree with you completely - canceling them was absolutely not something to celebrate.
Their capitulation isn’t either. Bending over for the woke totalitarians was, I think, a combination of backlash against their critics, and a practical recognition that no one is immune from the woke mob.
(I was responding to the earlier comment that said:
“ It would be the death of country if it ever went woke - ever hear of the Dixie Chicks 🤣🤣🤣”)
Interesting. We are play goers in San Diego but I got tired of every work being twisted to political motivation.. Just went back after a two year hiatus and saw "The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci". While not a great piece I left happy they didn't find a way to make it political!
They could have their cake and eat it too, if they weren't hacks.
Anyone played the video game Red Dead Redemption 2? Several subplots touch on slavery and treatment of indigenous peoples.
These subplots were personal & nuanced - the characters felt like people, not stand ins for particular groups. And guess what? Some of these stories actually made an impact on me.
It used to be fine when the communists just made all of the ugly looking sculptures, but now they run the Fortune 500 and the DOJ so it’s kinda not great.
Same with fashion and culture. I stopped reading Vogue and Vanity Fair long before the summer of ‘20. I’ve stopped watching my favorite TV show, CBS’s Sunday Morning. On and on. Nothing but propaganda. Flip through an issue of Teen Vogue and it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up - molding good little Marxist’s under the cover of the latest make-up trends.
I did the same re: Vogue and Vanity Fair. The New Yorker, too. And I loved those publications and got a lot of pleasure out of them... until they became so biased and political. What a shame.
There is something I posted sometime ago on a small site 'm a member of (the Right Reasons.net), that I think applies to today'
Culturally, Politically seeing less & less room for live and let live...lose today, there another battle tomorrow. The tribes are sorting themselves out. The Tribes are not Left/Right, Rich/Poor/Republican/Democrat, Minority/Majority, Religious/Non-Religous. Not sure how to describe Our Side from Their Side, but of this I am sure there are US & THEM. I am fairly sure who is an US and who is a THEM. The way I have been looking at politics/culture may not be valid anymore, or are becoming Less Valid.
________________________________________________
"There's Something Happening Here, What It Is Ain't Exactly Clear."
Stephen Stills (For What Its Worth 1966).
Being just a little to the Right of Attila The Hun I should NOT be giving money to Bari Weiss. Yet...Here I Am.
I'm not one to use Twitter but it saved me, literally SAVED me, during Covid. The only place where I could find people who were sane about the pandemic (well, until they got banned.)
I subscribe to CNN & MSNBS/ABC/ect. youtube channels. Often in watching them I have to ask not are we living in the same country, but are we living on the same Planet?
Town & Country, too? Oh my goodness! Have you ever read Air Mail, the weekly digital newsletter/magazine that's edited by Carter Graydon, who used to edit Vanity Fair. I think it's all right compared to the woke garbage other magazines now offer. Airmail subscriptions can be had for as little as $20 per year when they run specials. I think it's pretty good.
Yes. Several decades ago, I went to the midnight screening of Pink Flamingos and the Rocky Horror Show. Those movies were campy and tacky delights designed to make you laugh at their silly outrageousness. But today, the left wing world has turned into those two movies, but without any humor. And if you dare laugh at the ridiculous creatures on display, it's off to the Gulag with you.
Same. Was disgusted. Allrecipes seems to have stayed away from wokeness for the most part, but the second they fall into the trap I'm cancelling that too.
Editors of Teen Vogue are Men with Women's names and they've been all in with writing about Trans Ideology for years. It must be the ultimate sexual high for the fetished but not good for teen girls.
Lucy Diavolo is the News + Politics News Editor for Teen Vogue. She helped found the Transfeminine Alliance of Chicago and facilitates its regular meetings. She also plays bass in the Chicago-based band The Just Luckies."
I used to love VF, reading Hitchens and Dominic Dunne, etc. Those guys would turn over in their graves if they saw what has happened to this magazine. Shame on the new cabal of writers and editors.
I used to enjoy CBS Sunday Morning, too. But there have been some good segments by David Sedaris, which can be watched on YouTube. (I recommend the Honestly podcast episode with him as well, from December.)
He is SO FUNNY. I got an Audible subscription only to listen to David Sedaris books because you need to hear him tell the stories. He's a national treasure.
I quit two of my favorite comedy outlets, Cracked and The Onion, when they turned into nonstop bashing of conservatives. Coincidentally, also became uncreative and not funny at the same time.
Everything is politically woke today. Free Press commenters are often largely in agreement on FP's reporting on the disasters in every US institution. And it is good that so many of us have stopped supporting these now-woke entities.
But I believe FP must provide more leadership going forward. The brave people who are standing up to the woke tyranny need more help. There are a few politicians who will fight for them, but this political leadership must be known to us. FP - please find and show us any brave leader who will help lead the fight against the woke tyranny.
I'm moving to Florida because I've been looking for that leader for years and DeSantis is the best I've found. But I agree, I've read far too many articles complaining about the situation, and none giving me any kind of actionable advice on what to do about it.
Moved to Florida in 2021 for similar reasons. You are probably going to be very happy here (as most everyone is). DeSantis strikes me a a once in a generation (or generations) leader who exemplifies the old adage: Watch what they do, not what they say. He is not a blowhard pol seeking votes but rather initiates real action. I suspect that soon Florida and Texas will be the new NY and CA in terms of quality education, innovation, and arts.
The governor represents the voting population who elected him. People leaving states like Washington and California aren't leaving because they dislike their particular governor, but because a majority of their populations keep electing them and other politicians like them. Florida just reelected DeSantis by a landslide. That says something about other politics in general in Florida. It's got me looking into moving there. And I love the west, where I was born and lived most of my life. He had me at Martha's Vineyard.
You explained it yourself, MM: you moved to Florida not JUST because DeSantis is governor, but for a variety of reasons. That makes sense. Moving to another state solely because of who the governor is, doesn't. Politicians come and go too quickly to be the only reason to pick up and move.
For instance: would you move to South Dakota or New Jersey if DeSantis became governor of those states? I wouldn't think so.
Seriously, though, I asked it this way to see if DeSantis himself was the attraction, or if other reasons came into play. All the responses told me it's the latter, with the DeSantis political culture--not only the man himself, but what he represents--the icing on the cake.
I'm glad you found what you're looking for in a political culture. It's why we have 50 states, there's a culture to suit everyone.
I haven't moved yet. But I likely will. And - to your main point - there would be other reasons involved. Our daughter did just recently move there. But her and her husband's reasons were entirely political. They had both been working hard in Washington, and investing their surplus money in rental real estate. After Washington suspended the rule of law regarding their rights as landlords to evict deadbeat tenants they sold all their property and moved. I'm not talking about people stressed by COVID job loss and such, I'm talking about being forced to take section 8 tenants by law and then being unable to get them out after more than a year of nonpayment. Oregon just passed a similar law and expect there will be a similar exodus there as a result.
Fair enough. But I think the comment by the OP was not just about DeSantis as governor but about the zeitgeist of a state that is all in on DeSantis as a leader and the future of the country.
I believe 300k people moved to Florida. I don't believe they moved there just because DeSantis is governor. They moved there for lower taxes, brighter sun, cheaper housing, a political philosophy that suits them, and alligators in their swimming pools.
My proof is that they will all stay in Florida after DeSantis leaves office. Wait and see.
Shane, if we do not support DeSantis and others willing to fight the woke tyranny, the rest of our freedoms and rights will be gone. By denying the value of the work of DeSantis, one simply lays down for the tyrants.
I'm not denying the value of DeSantis, at least to those who share his philosophies. I'm questioning why anyone would move to a state *solely* because they admire the current governor. When DeSantis loses an election--as they all do--what would be the draw of the state without him?
I believe people moving to Florida like it that DeSantis is their governor, but they have many other reasons to be there, not just the name of the governor.
Ok that's worth a response. I spent the whole pandemic watching the policies and reactions of world leaders to see who held to American values and had reasonable policies. I'm horrified by what the Democrats did and do not ever want to live in a place ruled by them again.
My decision was based on a statement DeSantis released, eloquently written, essentially saying COVID was being used as a tool for globalists to consolidate control and Florida would resist. He has delivered on that promise and on real action to eradicate the scourge of "social justice" Marxism from the culture.
That's what I want to join. A place where I can trust the leaders, connect with other intelligent Republicans, and join the efforts to hold to American values as the world evolves.
People are not all of sudden moving to Florida and Texas more than any other states; and leaving CA, NY and IL in larger numbers than any other states because they just discovered they want warmer weather and mosquitos. This now 3 yr old trend has been spurred on by politics which includes policies of lower taxes, less regulations and support for the police. And they do not mind at all that the woke tyrants are to a larger degree, held in check.
All true, of course. But DeSantis is the strong driver of the "political philosophy that suits them". And the election results say that is right up there among the reasons.
During the riots of 2020, I made a decision to buy another home in a more conservative state. That state now has a much more conservative governor, and I am happy with that. There are very few politicians as courageous as DeSantis. You are wise to move to Florida. I have many friends who have left Calif for Florida. I believe the FP must go further than simply providing an endless supply of essays on the destruction of our institutions and the brave people who try, always in vain, to fight back.
As of now the march to a cruel society that will affect all of us appears inevitable. Leadership is desperately needed.
And the Left either can’t understand satire and irony or they just censor it as they did on Twitter - Wokeism is the most humorless political religion ever
And - I expect - this is what will happen throughout the arts. Most people will stop paying money to see it. They'll probably stop attending it even when it's free. Then the people making a living in it will look for increasing government support - and support from the private foundations that are into this kind of non-performative discrimination. It will end up like art was back in the old Soviet Union.
I once knew a Russian pianist who had escaped from there. She turned me on to a Russian pianist - Maria Yudina - one of the most famous inside the Soviet Union, she said, but almost unherd of outside, where she had never been allowed to travel. Stalin loved to hear her play. But there was a problem. She was a devout Orthodox Christian, which was illegal under his regime. And when she performed she always wore a cross pendant on a necklace. This was at a time where public thumbing your nose at Stalin and his government was a ticket to a gulag camp. In her case, he let it go, making a joke about it. Lucky her.
Shostakovitch went for years without audiences after refusing to write his ninth symphony the way Stalin wanted (grandiose and patriotic).
It would be great to have an art review section here. I’d love to know about more organizations that remain true to their art and to merit. I plan to buy tickets for an ACB performance next time I visit LA.
Nothing racist or wrong with saying "black" or "whites."
I find it interesting that we don't extend that to other skin colors. We don't say browns, reds, or yellows. Or even brown people, red people, or yellow people. I wonder why that is, and why whites and blacks are socially acceptable but the others are not?
Agree, Shane. Nothing wrong with blacks and whites.
It's a good question. It might be that "Black" (capital B) stands in for a distinct ethnic-cultural group that is different from people whose skin just happens to be black (or dark brown in most cases, really, right?) If I recall back that far, Negro was usually capital N. So just as we can say, "the Irish", we could say "the Blacks", referring only to Americans descended from African slaves. Talking of Africans, we wouldn't say "the Blacks" because they aren't/weren't slaves in the Western Hemisphere, even though they cheerfully and avariciously sold their brethren into that slavery. The are "the Nigerians", "the Somalis", "the South Africans". And for them we could say, "black (not Black) South Africans", "colored (i.e., mixed race) South Africans", and "white South Africans" (or Boers, I suppose.) Specific tribes and languages, like "San" and "Zulu" take upper-case, but not black to describe them generically.
We don't need to say "brown people, red people, or yellow people" because they all have more accurate ethnic descriptions. To you, a "brown person" might by a Latino or Hispanic. To me, he is a South Asian -- that's what Indians in Canada call themselves in personal ads (lower-case b always, as in "married brown girl seeks same for afternoon mtgs.") Healthy Native Americans don't actually have red skin -- the name comes from vermilion war paint worn by some -- and yellow people come from distinct countries all over the west Pacific rim. But there is really no other expression for American descendants of African slaves, except Black. African-American is cumbersome and never caught on except in exquisitely woke circles.
I personally can't bring myself to capitalize names of colours unless it's somebody's surname, like Joe Black. So for me, it's blacks and whites especially when some officious prick wants me to use capital B...or to say "black people." If they can call me "Whitey" or "settler", then I can call them anything I want.
Whites! There I've said it. Does it make anybody uncomfortable. It does me. I am squirming in my seat. How could I have said such a thing? Please forgive me!
Hi Ben, thank you for trying to help. The thing is - language is always a moving target and no one can stay on top of it. I remember when I referred to people as "black" at work some years back and some people were mad at me because the right word was "African American" (it might have been white liberal people and not black coworkers - I can't remember - I was so startled.). My parents remember when using an N word was the right /polite word, as in the United N College Fund. So, if "blacks" sounds disparaging now and "whites" does not - the problem is still what is in people's hearts, right? I try to pay attention to what the intention of a person is - whether they mean to give offence or not. And, I truly hate phrases like "dog whistle" where people pretend to know what others intend.
Anyhow, I am only a substacker over the Trans Travesty - but I think that CRT leads kids to want to identify as anything not "advantaged" - hence the hundreds of genders leading to drugs and mutilation with Gender Ideology. So many profit off of that - making lifelong patients.
Oh so if the woke left goes too far, it's our fault for not using the right shibboleths that you prescribe? Really, Ben.....I think we have other methods to rein in the Left.
I don't care if you think I'm a racist. It's a term I just don't give uptake to. It's an accusation for which there is no defence: stating it is to convict the person you accuse, in your mind. So why bother responding to it? It's like calling me ugly. Or fat. Or disrespectful. I can't prove I'm not any of those things, so there is no point being upset when someone like you accuses me. Simple. Much simpler than remembering to say "people" every time I say "black."
I used to go to movies, have season tickets to the Atlanta Broadway series and season tickets to the Atlanta Symphony. I quit them all because the appallingly glaring political slant.
Two weeks ago I was gifted tickets to “Hadestown” a Tony award winning musical. The politics were so obvious. There was a song about a wall and how bad it was to keep us safe inside and the others out! In the play the devil worked hard and the heroes thought they were above working. Oh, and climate change was what made them poor and hungry sending them to hell to work. Craziest play. What a birthday gift. Rogers and Hammerstein please come back!
Bottom line. I’m done with the arts. And I’m sad about that. Someday someone will see that there are a lot of people who would support art. Just art. No politics. I’m going to donate to the ballet theater mentioned in the piece.
We used to donate to several arts organizations, but no longer do so because of the politicization of those organizations. I would love to hear about groups that will support the arts without any regard for political/social standards. I would donate to them to support groups that will not concede to the social dictators. Are there groups that will offer grants to the arts without social considerations?
Ditto on all the replies here. But it’s not just movies, theaters, etc. it’s simpler forms of creativity too such as podcasts! Before that infamous summer of 2020 I had so many non-political podcast favorites! I love story telling. They all became unbearable. I haven’t listened in almost 3 years. Everything has been ruined for those of us who do not subscribe to race essentialism.
As a Kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, I saw it all decline. I decided no more shows for our field trips. We put on our own plays in the classroom and I played classical music, as well as Miriam Makeba and son cubano. The generation coming up will be culturally illiterate.
But they'll know all about those ancient African empires, mostly made-up. And I don't mean Egypt.
My sister and I went to see Madonna in 2004 and we wore shirts that said, "Madonna Rocks, Bush Rules." If looks could kill........
Oh, man...I love stuff like that!
Breaching.
Country music might be an outlier.
It would be the death of country if it ever went woke - ever hear of the Dixie Chicks 🤣🤣🤣
Too late - no more Dixie Chicks... they've gone woke, too...
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/story/2022-07-15/the-chicks-now-dixie-free-are-on-tour-with-a-new-grooming-protocol-for-their-new-band-no-armpit-hair
Interesting you bring them up, since they were practically canceled after criticizing Bush and the Iraq war. Another instance of artists not toeing the line, even though in their case it was voicing opinions unrelated to their music at the time. Which is also fine. I don’t even know their songs but conservatives can’t critique woke cancel culture and then celebrate the cancelling of the Dixie Chicks.
I agree with you completely - canceling them was absolutely not something to celebrate.
Their capitulation isn’t either. Bending over for the woke totalitarians was, I think, a combination of backlash against their critics, and a practical recognition that no one is immune from the woke mob.
(I was responding to the earlier comment that said:
“ It would be the death of country if it ever went woke - ever hear of the Dixie Chicks 🤣🤣🤣”)
Interesting. We are play goers in San Diego but I got tired of every work being twisted to political motivation.. Just went back after a two year hiatus and saw "The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci". While not a great piece I left happy they didn't find a way to make it political!
They could have their cake and eat it too, if they weren't hacks.
Anyone played the video game Red Dead Redemption 2? Several subplots touch on slavery and treatment of indigenous peoples.
These subplots were personal & nuanced - the characters felt like people, not stand ins for particular groups. And guess what? Some of these stories actually made an impact on me.
Given your fussiness over "black" vs "black people", I am not surprised that they did, Ben.
Good point! But you meant to say "eat their cake and have it too".
It used to be fine when the communists just made all of the ugly looking sculptures, but now they run the Fortune 500 and the DOJ so it’s kinda not great.
Also, your local school board and the big cities people used to want to go to.
Same with fashion and culture. I stopped reading Vogue and Vanity Fair long before the summer of ‘20. I’ve stopped watching my favorite TV show, CBS’s Sunday Morning. On and on. Nothing but propaganda. Flip through an issue of Teen Vogue and it will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up - molding good little Marxist’s under the cover of the latest make-up trends.
I did the same re: Vogue and Vanity Fair. The New Yorker, too. And I loved those publications and got a lot of pleasure out of them... until they became so biased and political. What a shame.
Marxcissists
What do "woke" clothes look like?
And W Magazine and Town and Country (which is truly virtue signaling)
Substack has saved us! No glitzy photos but that’s OK!
There is something I posted sometime ago on a small site 'm a member of (the Right Reasons.net), that I think applies to today'
Culturally, Politically seeing less & less room for live and let live...lose today, there another battle tomorrow. The tribes are sorting themselves out. The Tribes are not Left/Right, Rich/Poor/Republican/Democrat, Minority/Majority, Religious/Non-Religous. Not sure how to describe Our Side from Their Side, but of this I am sure there are US & THEM. I am fairly sure who is an US and who is a THEM. The way I have been looking at politics/culture may not be valid anymore, or are becoming Less Valid.
________________________________________________
"There's Something Happening Here, What It Is Ain't Exactly Clear."
Stephen Stills (For What Its Worth 1966).
Being just a little to the Right of Attila The Hun I should NOT be giving money to Bari Weiss. Yet...Here I Am.
I have a small sign that I keep nearby:
There is no Left
There is no Right
There is only Tyranny and Freedom
I would have gone out of my mind without substackk.
I'm not one to use Twitter but it saved me, literally SAVED me, during Covid. The only place where I could find people who were sane about the pandemic (well, until they got banned.)
I subscribe to CNN & MSNBS/ABC/ect. youtube channels. Often in watching them I have to ask not are we living in the same country, but are we living on the same Planet?
Town & Country, too? Oh my goodness! Have you ever read Air Mail, the weekly digital newsletter/magazine that's edited by Carter Graydon, who used to edit Vanity Fair. I think it's all right compared to the woke garbage other magazines now offer. Airmail subscriptions can be had for as little as $20 per year when they run specials. I think it's pretty good.
https://airmail.news/
Yes. I'm tired of seeing male models with beards and pushup bras and 300 pound women in the pages of these fashion rag sheets.
Then there's the Netflix version of Jane Austen's Persuasion in which half the actors are black. I guess I missed that in the book.
Yup - and it's believed that Jane Austen never even saw a black person but heard about them from her seafaring brother....nutso-ville culture today
Yup - the circus has come to town 🤡
Yes. Several decades ago, I went to the midnight screening of Pink Flamingos and the Rocky Horror Show. Those movies were campy and tacky delights designed to make you laugh at their silly outrageousness. But today, the left wing world has turned into those two movies, but without any humor. And if you dare laugh at the ridiculous creatures on display, it's off to the Gulag with you.
Hell, you can't even read Bon Appetit anymore. It's filled with "woke" articles.
Same. Was disgusted. Allrecipes seems to have stayed away from wokeness for the most part, but the second they fall into the trap I'm cancelling that too.
Agree! I do miss Gourmet! BA was a pale substitute, but occasionally solid. Then completely wokeified. I canceled last year.
Editors of Teen Vogue are Men with Women's names and they've been all in with writing about Trans Ideology for years. It must be the ultimate sexual high for the fetished but not good for teen girls.
Here's one of the fetished guy editors over at Teen Vogue:
https://www.them.us/contributor/lucy-diavolo
"Lucy Diavolo
Lucy Diavolo is the News + Politics News Editor for Teen Vogue. She helped found the Transfeminine Alliance of Chicago and facilitates its regular meetings. She also plays bass in the Chicago-based band The Just Luckies."
I used to love VF, reading Hitchens and Dominic Dunne, etc. Those guys would turn over in their graves if they saw what has happened to this magazine. Shame on the new cabal of writers and editors.
It's a struggle session now.
Stopped reading VF about 8 years ago and haven’t missed it -
I used to enjoy CBS Sunday Morning, too. But there have been some good segments by David Sedaris, which can be watched on YouTube. (I recommend the Honestly podcast episode with him as well, from December.)
He is SO FUNNY. I got an Audible subscription only to listen to David Sedaris books because you need to hear him tell the stories. He's a national treasure.
I quit two of my favorite comedy outlets, Cracked and The Onion, when they turned into nonstop bashing of conservatives. Coincidentally, also became uncreative and not funny at the same time.
There was a time Cracked was my most-visited site. It stopped being funny or interesting around 2015-ish when it clearly became biased.
Wow, you quick both about 10 years after most people haha. I had no idea Cracked still exists
Everything is politically woke today. Free Press commenters are often largely in agreement on FP's reporting on the disasters in every US institution. And it is good that so many of us have stopped supporting these now-woke entities.
But I believe FP must provide more leadership going forward. The brave people who are standing up to the woke tyranny need more help. There are a few politicians who will fight for them, but this political leadership must be known to us. FP - please find and show us any brave leader who will help lead the fight against the woke tyranny.
I'm on the lookout for "woke" ballet dancing.
I'm moving to Florida because I've been looking for that leader for years and DeSantis is the best I've found. But I agree, I've read far too many articles complaining about the situation, and none giving me any kind of actionable advice on what to do about it.
Moved to Florida in 2021 for similar reasons. You are probably going to be very happy here (as most everyone is). DeSantis strikes me a a once in a generation (or generations) leader who exemplifies the old adage: Watch what they do, not what they say. He is not a blowhard pol seeking votes but rather initiates real action. I suspect that soon Florida and Texas will be the new NY and CA in terms of quality education, innovation, and arts.
You're moving to Florida because DeSantis is the governor? Srsly?
The governor represents the voting population who elected him. People leaving states like Washington and California aren't leaving because they dislike their particular governor, but because a majority of their populations keep electing them and other politicians like them. Florida just reelected DeSantis by a landslide. That says something about other politics in general in Florida. It's got me looking into moving there. And I love the west, where I was born and lived most of my life. He had me at Martha's Vineyard.
Yep, and so did I (among other reasons). I would love to hear why you find that so hard to understand.
You explained it yourself, MM: you moved to Florida not JUST because DeSantis is governor, but for a variety of reasons. That makes sense. Moving to another state solely because of who the governor is, doesn't. Politicians come and go too quickly to be the only reason to pick up and move.
For instance: would you move to South Dakota or New Jersey if DeSantis became governor of those states? I wouldn't think so.
You're nitpicking. Saying one is moving because of DeSantis is a kind of shorthand.
I collect nits as a hobby :-)
Seriously, though, I asked it this way to see if DeSantis himself was the attraction, or if other reasons came into play. All the responses told me it's the latter, with the DeSantis political culture--not only the man himself, but what he represents--the icing on the cake.
I'm glad you found what you're looking for in a political culture. It's why we have 50 states, there's a culture to suit everyone.
I haven't moved yet. But I likely will. And - to your main point - there would be other reasons involved. Our daughter did just recently move there. But her and her husband's reasons were entirely political. They had both been working hard in Washington, and investing their surplus money in rental real estate. After Washington suspended the rule of law regarding their rights as landlords to evict deadbeat tenants they sold all their property and moved. I'm not talking about people stressed by COVID job loss and such, I'm talking about being forced to take section 8 tenants by law and then being unable to get them out after more than a year of nonpayment. Oregon just passed a similar law and expect there will be a similar exodus there as a result.
Fair enough. But I think the comment by the OP was not just about DeSantis as governor but about the zeitgeist of a state that is all in on DeSantis as a leader and the future of the country.
You would be astonished...believe it or not 300,000 people have done so recently. Must know something you don't?
I believe 300k people moved to Florida. I don't believe they moved there just because DeSantis is governor. They moved there for lower taxes, brighter sun, cheaper housing, a political philosophy that suits them, and alligators in their swimming pools.
My proof is that they will all stay in Florida after DeSantis leaves office. Wait and see.
Shane, if we do not support DeSantis and others willing to fight the woke tyranny, the rest of our freedoms and rights will be gone. By denying the value of the work of DeSantis, one simply lays down for the tyrants.
I'm not denying the value of DeSantis, at least to those who share his philosophies. I'm questioning why anyone would move to a state *solely* because they admire the current governor. When DeSantis loses an election--as they all do--what would be the draw of the state without him?
I believe people moving to Florida like it that DeSantis is their governor, but they have many other reasons to be there, not just the name of the governor.
Ok that's worth a response. I spent the whole pandemic watching the policies and reactions of world leaders to see who held to American values and had reasonable policies. I'm horrified by what the Democrats did and do not ever want to live in a place ruled by them again.
My decision was based on a statement DeSantis released, eloquently written, essentially saying COVID was being used as a tool for globalists to consolidate control and Florida would resist. He has delivered on that promise and on real action to eradicate the scourge of "social justice" Marxism from the culture.
That's what I want to join. A place where I can trust the leaders, connect with other intelligent Republicans, and join the efforts to hold to American values as the world evolves.
There are other personal reasons as well.
People are not all of sudden moving to Florida and Texas more than any other states; and leaving CA, NY and IL in larger numbers than any other states because they just discovered they want warmer weather and mosquitos. This now 3 yr old trend has been spurred on by politics which includes policies of lower taxes, less regulations and support for the police. And they do not mind at all that the woke tyrants are to a larger degree, held in check.
All true, of course. But DeSantis is the strong driver of the "political philosophy that suits them". And the election results say that is right up there among the reasons.
During the riots of 2020, I made a decision to buy another home in a more conservative state. That state now has a much more conservative governor, and I am happy with that. There are very few politicians as courageous as DeSantis. You are wise to move to Florida. I have many friends who have left Calif for Florida. I believe the FP must go further than simply providing an endless supply of essays on the destruction of our institutions and the brave people who try, always in vain, to fight back.
As of now the march to a cruel society that will affect all of us appears inevitable. Leadership is desperately needed.
You are absolutely correct.
Agree on Cracked, but I think the Onion is still good.
The Babylon Bee replaced and exceeded them.
And the Left either can’t understand satire and irony or they just censor it as they did on Twitter - Wokeism is the most humorless political religion ever
Bazaar (fashion) magazine has become ‘Ebony’ magazine, Part 2. It’s ridiculous.
I figured Sunday Morning would go downhill after Charles Osgood left. Always loved the “see you on the radio” sign off.
And - I expect - this is what will happen throughout the arts. Most people will stop paying money to see it. They'll probably stop attending it even when it's free. Then the people making a living in it will look for increasing government support - and support from the private foundations that are into this kind of non-performative discrimination. It will end up like art was back in the old Soviet Union.
I once knew a Russian pianist who had escaped from there. She turned me on to a Russian pianist - Maria Yudina - one of the most famous inside the Soviet Union, she said, but almost unherd of outside, where she had never been allowed to travel. Stalin loved to hear her play. But there was a problem. She was a devout Orthodox Christian, which was illegal under his regime. And when she performed she always wore a cross pendant on a necklace. This was at a time where public thumbing your nose at Stalin and his government was a ticket to a gulag camp. In her case, he let it go, making a joke about it. Lucky her.
Shostakovitch went for years without audiences after refusing to write his ninth symphony the way Stalin wanted (grandiose and patriotic).
Now, most TV shows are spoiled by Woke as well. It's pretty excruciating if you try to watch anything you once liked.
I can't like this but thanks for the insight.
Go woke, go broke
If it were only true! But what generally happens is "Go woke, go government grants"
Or go Ford and Gates Foundation
Already happened with the humanities in general.
Similar story about Prokofiev
Yeah, that's right; he did get deplatformed for some years. He died the day I was born (as did Stalin).
👍for those art focused and interested, the last line is the thing—vote with your dollars, contributions and tickets.
Same goes for tv- turn it off
It would be great to have an art review section here. I’d love to know about more organizations that remain true to their art and to merit. I plan to buy tickets for an ACB performance next time I visit LA.
To that end, support the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC - they cast blacks but in ways that make sense, not placing them in roles gratuitously.
Everyone's having a perfectly reasonable conversation, then somebody calls black people "blacks" and we all suddenly look like secret racists
Just say black people, saying "blacks" is so weird and borderline disrespectful
Nothing racist or wrong with saying "black" or "whites."
I find it interesting that we don't extend that to other skin colors. We don't say browns, reds, or yellows. Or even brown people, red people, or yellow people. I wonder why that is, and why whites and blacks are socially acceptable but the others are not?
Agree, Shane. Nothing wrong with blacks and whites.
It's a good question. It might be that "Black" (capital B) stands in for a distinct ethnic-cultural group that is different from people whose skin just happens to be black (or dark brown in most cases, really, right?) If I recall back that far, Negro was usually capital N. So just as we can say, "the Irish", we could say "the Blacks", referring only to Americans descended from African slaves. Talking of Africans, we wouldn't say "the Blacks" because they aren't/weren't slaves in the Western Hemisphere, even though they cheerfully and avariciously sold their brethren into that slavery. The are "the Nigerians", "the Somalis", "the South Africans". And for them we could say, "black (not Black) South Africans", "colored (i.e., mixed race) South Africans", and "white South Africans" (or Boers, I suppose.) Specific tribes and languages, like "San" and "Zulu" take upper-case, but not black to describe them generically.
We don't need to say "brown people, red people, or yellow people" because they all have more accurate ethnic descriptions. To you, a "brown person" might by a Latino or Hispanic. To me, he is a South Asian -- that's what Indians in Canada call themselves in personal ads (lower-case b always, as in "married brown girl seeks same for afternoon mtgs.") Healthy Native Americans don't actually have red skin -- the name comes from vermilion war paint worn by some -- and yellow people come from distinct countries all over the west Pacific rim. But there is really no other expression for American descendants of African slaves, except Black. African-American is cumbersome and never caught on except in exquisitely woke circles.
I personally can't bring myself to capitalize names of colours unless it's somebody's surname, like Joe Black. So for me, it's blacks and whites especially when some officious prick wants me to use capital B...or to say "black people." If they can call me "Whitey" or "settler", then I can call them anything I want.
Why is it bad to call a Chinese a Chinaman but OK to call a Frog a Frenchman or a Limey an Englishman.
Have I upset enough people with this post? I hope so.
Whites! There I've said it. Does it make anybody uncomfortable. It does me. I am squirming in my seat. How could I have said such a thing? Please forgive me!
Well the fact is, some people don't care if you say blacks and some do.
Nobody cares if you say black people though. So just say black people. Simple.
I'm not calling anyone a racist, I'm just trying to prevent you all from looking like racists.
If you actually care about keeping the left from going too far, then this should make sense to you.
Hi Ben, thank you for trying to help. The thing is - language is always a moving target and no one can stay on top of it. I remember when I referred to people as "black" at work some years back and some people were mad at me because the right word was "African American" (it might have been white liberal people and not black coworkers - I can't remember - I was so startled.). My parents remember when using an N word was the right /polite word, as in the United N College Fund. So, if "blacks" sounds disparaging now and "whites" does not - the problem is still what is in people's hearts, right? I try to pay attention to what the intention of a person is - whether they mean to give offence or not. And, I truly hate phrases like "dog whistle" where people pretend to know what others intend.
Anyhow, I am only a substacker over the Trans Travesty - but I think that CRT leads kids to want to identify as anything not "advantaged" - hence the hundreds of genders leading to drugs and mutilation with Gender Ideology. So many profit off of that - making lifelong patients.
Oh so if the woke left goes too far, it's our fault for not using the right shibboleths that you prescribe? Really, Ben.....I think we have other methods to rein in the Left.
I don't care if you think I'm a racist. It's a term I just don't give uptake to. It's an accusation for which there is no defence: stating it is to convict the person you accuse, in your mind. So why bother responding to it? It's like calling me ugly. Or fat. Or disrespectful. I can't prove I'm not any of those things, so there is no point being upset when someone like you accuses me. Simple. Much simpler than remembering to say "people" every time I say "black."
The definition of a racist is anyone who wins a debate with a leftist.
Let me amend that, anyone who disagrees with a PC/Woke Dem/Soc.
So, I should modify my speech just to please some left wing loon? I don't think so.
I can tell you didn't read what I wrote.
I did read it. " I'm just trying to prevent you all from looking like racists."
I could give a shit if a PC asshole thinks I'm a racist. I know I'm not and that is all that counts.
OMG...YOu did not capitalize "blacks". Neither did I. So there!