This analogy is like Yarvin's oligarchy narrative in that it is vastly superior to the conventional wisdom but does have a few (perhaps unavoidable) flaws. One issue here is that wrestling is 98% fake while (US) politics is only 80 or 90% fake. They didn't kill Kennedy for nothing.
And of course, in other countries, politics is not fake at all, as we are learning as our muppets go up against people like Mr. Putin. I enjoyed the comments earlier this year by "oligarch" Mikhail Fridman, who got caught up in the anti-Russian sanctions, saying effectively "why are you sanctioning me, I have no control over Putin". Like, that's how YOUR system works that's not how our system works. I think he was honestly surprised that western policymakers didn't understand.
Moreover, politics will presumably become less fake as living standards continue to decline. Normally I would say the regime is pretty good at keeping living standards high enough to keep doing what they're doing, but I actually think they may have managed to fill their own ranks with so many poor/misaligned decision makers that we are headed towards real crisis. I have also noticed that the GenX generation of certain groups is garbage (such as Tony Blinken, Victoria Nuland), perhaps providing further evidence of looming rough seas as the RBG/Garland generation becomes decrepit and dies off.
It really shocks me how bad the Gen X generation is. Bari Weiss is smart. I don't know what so many others are doing. How can one not see the ground shifting under one's feet?
One other comment. The regime coordinates via process and narrative egregores. It's an egregarchy (this is what Yarvin either doesn't understand or doesn't explain well). But an egregore isn't real... it's sort of a demon? Surely riding a demon is at least as bad as riding a tiger. If the demon runs loose they can't easily stop it. Are Harvard and the New York Times still strong enough to control what they have created?
After reading Eric Weinstein's articles and hearing his comments about Kayfabe (which I recommend, even for the right), It's great to hear a prominent content creator from the right address this. Something that I find troubling is the tendency to embrace a very naive approach to politics. I was aware of Machiavelli's work as a young adult, but found the concepts so obsolete and antithetical to my beliefs that I never bothered to read it. AA, your commentary on Machiavelli (and your new book) encouraged me to embrace it.
Definitely recommend you folks check out Weinstein's comments on Kayfabe, regardless of what you think of him.
This is a useful piece in light of the way the midterm elections were held in America. The sheepdogging that goes on in order to push everyone back into their Dem v Republican establishment teams is intense and the info-sphere is pumped full of clickbait stories about roving mobs of negro youths, pizzagate style atrocities and post birth abortion aimed at herding recalcitrant reactionaries back into the Mitch McConnel Republican team or stories about Russian viagra rape gangs, Racist militias mustering for the final battle royale in DC with Donald Trump leading on a black horse, or the coming ban on abortion of any kind for any reason to keep the pearl clutching liberal librarrians and their pink haired sons in Team Dem.
Wasn’t expecting to enjoy an article about pro-wrestling but this was excellent.
This analogy is like Yarvin's oligarchy narrative in that it is vastly superior to the conventional wisdom but does have a few (perhaps unavoidable) flaws. One issue here is that wrestling is 98% fake while (US) politics is only 80 or 90% fake. They didn't kill Kennedy for nothing.
And of course, in other countries, politics is not fake at all, as we are learning as our muppets go up against people like Mr. Putin. I enjoyed the comments earlier this year by "oligarch" Mikhail Fridman, who got caught up in the anti-Russian sanctions, saying effectively "why are you sanctioning me, I have no control over Putin". Like, that's how YOUR system works that's not how our system works. I think he was honestly surprised that western policymakers didn't understand.
Moreover, politics will presumably become less fake as living standards continue to decline. Normally I would say the regime is pretty good at keeping living standards high enough to keep doing what they're doing, but I actually think they may have managed to fill their own ranks with so many poor/misaligned decision makers that we are headed towards real crisis. I have also noticed that the GenX generation of certain groups is garbage (such as Tony Blinken, Victoria Nuland), perhaps providing further evidence of looming rough seas as the RBG/Garland generation becomes decrepit and dies off.
It really shocks me how bad the Gen X generation is. Bari Weiss is smart. I don't know what so many others are doing. How can one not see the ground shifting under one's feet?
One other comment. The regime coordinates via process and narrative egregores. It's an egregarchy (this is what Yarvin either doesn't understand or doesn't explain well). But an egregore isn't real... it's sort of a demon? Surely riding a demon is at least as bad as riding a tiger. If the demon runs loose they can't easily stop it. Are Harvard and the New York Times still strong enough to control what they have created?
After reading Eric Weinstein's articles and hearing his comments about Kayfabe (which I recommend, even for the right), It's great to hear a prominent content creator from the right address this. Something that I find troubling is the tendency to embrace a very naive approach to politics. I was aware of Machiavelli's work as a young adult, but found the concepts so obsolete and antithetical to my beliefs that I never bothered to read it. AA, your commentary on Machiavelli (and your new book) encouraged me to embrace it.
Definitely recommend you folks check out Weinstein's comments on Kayfabe, regardless of what you think of him.
I would be interested to know if Japanese wrestling has suffered equally in the last twenty years..?
This is you at your best AA good stuff!
This is a useful piece in light of the way the midterm elections were held in America. The sheepdogging that goes on in order to push everyone back into their Dem v Republican establishment teams is intense and the info-sphere is pumped full of clickbait stories about roving mobs of negro youths, pizzagate style atrocities and post birth abortion aimed at herding recalcitrant reactionaries back into the Mitch McConnel Republican team or stories about Russian viagra rape gangs, Racist militias mustering for the final battle royale in DC with Donald Trump leading on a black horse, or the coming ban on abortion of any kind for any reason to keep the pearl clutching liberal librarrians and their pink haired sons in Team Dem.
Are Putin and Xi Jinping the equivalent of Ted Turner?
Excellent article.