Excellent article Morgoth. The what-could-have-been of Trump surrounded by the folk of Dolly's smoky mountains with the harsh what-is of Howard "The Lowborn" Lutnick and Mark "The Stereotype" Levin glowering over his shoulder in every photo and press conference was masterful. A harsh image, but one masterfully painted. Bravo.
Someone posted a clip of Barbara Walters interviewing Dolly Parton. Walters is not-so-subtly hostile to Parton. Walters effectively says to Parton, 'What do you think about someone like me and where I am from looking down on you and calling you a rube?' Two thousand years and some things never change. After Parton replies, giving a masterclass in aristocratic Southern dignity and decorum, Walters follows up asking, in essence, if Ms. Parton had such large breasts at the age of 12 or 13. One wonders if Bahbwa was in the flight logs.
What is interesting is the aristocratic dignity and confidence that Ms. Parton, (as we Southerners would call her being true to the decorum demanded of all Southerners of any class), displayed in her reply. One person, with all of the power couldn't wield it in service to the people, but had to lord it over them. Ms. Parton displayed what still exists in parts of the South, but is slowly fading.
That was the period of the empire where the Ellis Island conquerors barely kept the mask on. Even then it wasn't very subtle. Just 30 years later we have Paul Krugman openly cackling as he says what power the rubes still have will go away as we are replaced, and 40 years later calling for the destruction of the MAGAns after Trump. I wonder
It hasn't been easy living as a nation in exile as the empire imports new nations and hands them our wealth and what few opportunities they are creating. Most don't yet realize that this is what we are. But, that realization is coming with increasing speed. It is best we recognize it so we can deal with it. We can restore our confidence, dignity and grace along with our people to rise above the chethonic snakes and vipers who rule us. We will be building strength as we stoically deflect the venom and abuse they have in store for us. Someday we will carve our home out of this exile.
It is not going to be easy. But a remnant will make it happen. Something new will be born.
Another corker, Morgoth. Oddly enough, I lived in the state of Tennessee for a time, with my American wife, a proud daughter of the South. We got married in Sevier County, where Dolly Parton hailed from. Even then, the 'good old boy' culture was in full retreat. I used to admire and respect the US, but I haven't for quite some time now, and it is difficult to imagine ever doing so again. I find it toxic, now. You're right about Trump, I think. RIP Dolly.
Burt Reynolds in his Firebird laughing across the American South was as close as I got, and that was good enough. The America I grew with watching in films was a wonderland.
That mythic vision of 'Burt Reynolds era' America is one, I suspect, still shared by many. There was just something about that time and place that was fascinating to me as a young lad in the north of England. Bradford was nowt like Nashville or Tallahassee.
That 80s optimism, the wounds of the 70s and Vietnam healing over, it become nigh-on perfect cultural formula to export as soft power. If we were to be cynical about it.
Who could Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields? Or Marty McFly or Ghostbusters.
I hope you’ll be able to eventually make it to the states one of these days. Even to just cruise around and see the countryside. There’s still spots I want to check out.
It'd be nice, but everyone is being blocked from travelling around these days or being hauled into a cubicle for a ten-hour workout session, with devices snatched and so on.
Heritage Americans rightfully feel that the last marrow is being sucked from the bones of (formerly) their nation. The South generally and Appalachia particularly have been under relentless assault for 160 years but nothing has done more damage to them than Yankees flooding into their lands as foreigners conquer theirs. Men like Trump make bank on both ends as the culture is destroyed and the people replaced; those like him who falsely profess sympathy have been more destructive than the Wokies holding the door open for the aliens who disrupt the lives of all. The grief over Dolly is not performative but its over-the-top, Third World-like pubic display in part reflects an innate but unvoiced understanding that more than a cultural icon is gone or going. Maybe the American version of Young Turks will emerge but that's not the way to bet.
Here's to hoping Britain and continental Europe see what is unfolding here and are able to step away from the abyss.
ETA: That is a briliant point about Madonna being an early version of Woke. As with Trump, a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I noticed the left having a go because she supported Trump, and the right having a go because she pushed the vaccine. I've always had a soft spot for her and can forgive her most things. "Down from Dover" is my favourite of hers and quite possibly the saddest song I've ever heard. RIP Dolly, I think you're right Morgoth, something more than a remarkable woman died this week
Trumpenstein grew up very wealthy, surrounded by the New York Jewish mafia. His father was an associate of the NY Jewish mafia. He is as he ever was, and won’t have ever considered a world beyond those narrow confines. Lowering the flags in honour of Dolly Parton is merely a gesture to the ‘White goyim trash’ he intends to keep exploiting.
This is a good tour of his childhood neighborhood. If he’ll let this happen to his childhood home, it explains a lot about what he is letting happen to us.
Excellent article Morgoth. The what-could-have-been of Trump surrounded by the folk of Dolly's smoky mountains with the harsh what-is of Howard "The Lowborn" Lutnick and Mark "The Stereotype" Levin glowering over his shoulder in every photo and press conference was masterful. A harsh image, but one masterfully painted. Bravo.
Someone posted a clip of Barbara Walters interviewing Dolly Parton. Walters is not-so-subtly hostile to Parton. Walters effectively says to Parton, 'What do you think about someone like me and where I am from looking down on you and calling you a rube?' Two thousand years and some things never change. After Parton replies, giving a masterclass in aristocratic Southern dignity and decorum, Walters follows up asking, in essence, if Ms. Parton had such large breasts at the age of 12 or 13. One wonders if Bahbwa was in the flight logs.
What is interesting is the aristocratic dignity and confidence that Ms. Parton, (as we Southerners would call her being true to the decorum demanded of all Southerners of any class), displayed in her reply. One person, with all of the power couldn't wield it in service to the people, but had to lord it over them. Ms. Parton displayed what still exists in parts of the South, but is slowly fading.
That was the period of the empire where the Ellis Island conquerors barely kept the mask on. Even then it wasn't very subtle. Just 30 years later we have Paul Krugman openly cackling as he says what power the rubes still have will go away as we are replaced, and 40 years later calling for the destruction of the MAGAns after Trump. I wonder
It hasn't been easy living as a nation in exile as the empire imports new nations and hands them our wealth and what few opportunities they are creating. Most don't yet realize that this is what we are. But, that realization is coming with increasing speed. It is best we recognize it so we can deal with it. We can restore our confidence, dignity and grace along with our people to rise above the chethonic snakes and vipers who rule us. We will be building strength as we stoically deflect the venom and abuse they have in store for us. Someday we will carve our home out of this exile.
It is not going to be easy. But a remnant will make it happen. Something new will be born.
Another corker, Morgoth. Oddly enough, I lived in the state of Tennessee for a time, with my American wife, a proud daughter of the South. We got married in Sevier County, where Dolly Parton hailed from. Even then, the 'good old boy' culture was in full retreat. I used to admire and respect the US, but I haven't for quite some time now, and it is difficult to imagine ever doing so again. I find it toxic, now. You're right about Trump, I think. RIP Dolly.
Burt Reynolds in his Firebird laughing across the American South was as close as I got, and that was good enough. The America I grew with watching in films was a wonderland.
That mythic vision of 'Burt Reynolds era' America is one, I suspect, still shared by many. There was just something about that time and place that was fascinating to me as a young lad in the north of England. Bradford was nowt like Nashville or Tallahassee.
That 80s optimism, the wounds of the 70s and Vietnam healing over, it become nigh-on perfect cultural formula to export as soft power. If we were to be cynical about it.
Who could Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields? Or Marty McFly or Ghostbusters.
She was the American QE ll. When Clint Eastwood goes it's really over.
Just so, Morgoth. The ideal soft-power export. And it was.
I hope you’ll be able to eventually make it to the states one of these days. Even to just cruise around and see the countryside. There’s still spots I want to check out.
It'd be nice, but everyone is being blocked from travelling around these days or being hauled into a cubicle for a ten-hour workout session, with devices snatched and so on.
I just can't be arsed with that.
Lovely essay Morgoth.
Thank you Morgoth. Brilliant as always 🙏
“The older order changeth, yielding place to new”.
A “little island of beauty” has indeed gone from us.
And we rightfully mourn.
Heritage Americans rightfully feel that the last marrow is being sucked from the bones of (formerly) their nation. The South generally and Appalachia particularly have been under relentless assault for 160 years but nothing has done more damage to them than Yankees flooding into their lands as foreigners conquer theirs. Men like Trump make bank on both ends as the culture is destroyed and the people replaced; those like him who falsely profess sympathy have been more destructive than the Wokies holding the door open for the aliens who disrupt the lives of all. The grief over Dolly is not performative but its over-the-top, Third World-like pubic display in part reflects an innate but unvoiced understanding that more than a cultural icon is gone or going. Maybe the American version of Young Turks will emerge but that's not the way to bet.
Here's to hoping Britain and continental Europe see what is unfolding here and are able to step away from the abyss.
ETA: That is a briliant point about Madonna being an early version of Woke. As with Trump, a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I noticed the left having a go because she supported Trump, and the right having a go because she pushed the vaccine. I've always had a soft spot for her and can forgive her most things. "Down from Dover" is my favourite of hers and quite possibly the saddest song I've ever heard. RIP Dolly, I think you're right Morgoth, something more than a remarkable woman died this week
I understand the point you are making and you make it well. However, when crunch time came Ms. Parton sold out.
Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine.
Trumpenstein grew up very wealthy, surrounded by the New York Jewish mafia. His father was an associate of the NY Jewish mafia. He is as he ever was, and won’t have ever considered a world beyond those narrow confines. Lowering the flags in honour of Dolly Parton is merely a gesture to the ‘White goyim trash’ he intends to keep exploiting.
This is a good tour of his childhood neighborhood. If he’ll let this happen to his childhood home, it explains a lot about what he is letting happen to us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZTJSgONaqY