Rummaging through his files, Newman recently discovered the lost tape of one of their luncheon conversations. "McLuhan was then in his 60s and had written most of his seminal studies of communication and the media, including The Medium is the Massage and The Gutenberg Galaxy,” Newman recalls. “This really was a conversation over lunch rather than a formal interview."
During that conversation, McLuhan makes a statement that, when I read it, just about knocked me over.
The successor to politics will be propaganda, not in the sense of a message or ideology, but the impact of the whole technology of the times. So politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favour of his image, because the image will be so much more powerful than he could ever be.
Remember, Marshall McLuhan is the guy who gave us the phrase the medium is the message, then twisted that phrase for the title of his book,The Medium is the Massage implying that we are soothed and relaxed by that which we see while at the same time it expands our horizons, possibly overwhelming us in the process. This, he warned, was not without danger: the media is easily manipulated, what we call spun. Would McLuhan be surprised by the newest extremes? Probably not.
We have become less discerning in our ability to separate truth from fiction. The fact-checking craze is testament to that. We need just about everything that comes out a political mouth to be vetted. I think this is a direct outgrowth of the massage, not the message.
But back to what McLuhan said: The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favour of his image, because the image will be so much more powerful than he could ever be.
We are seeing that play out in real time. Whether its President Felon's awkward dance moves or this insistence that the US will annex Greenland, or that he will take back the Panama Canal, the images we see flashing on the screen are attempts to get the audience to suspend their disbelief so that while what is said may be patently untrue, the audience accepts the premise presented.
During the past week, We, the People, have witnessed rapid fire, massive changes to our government: mass firings of inspector generals, pledges of mass deportations, massive repeals to parts of the social safety net putting millions of low income and middle class citizens at risk, and so on. The Constitution has been challenged in ways never before seen, as in the matter of birthright citizenship.
The Oval Office likes to talk about how other countries send us their violent criminals while releasing hundreds of violent seditionists back into the general population. He went even further requesting the DoJ drop all investigations into the actions on January 6th, 2021. Former federal prosecutor Alexis Loeb offered the observation that
These pardons suggest that if you commit acts of violence, as long as you do so on behalf of a politically powerful person you may be able to escape consequences, They undermine — and are a blow to — the sacrifice of all the officers who put themselves in the face of harm to protect democracy on Jan. 6.
That's a direct contradiction to the promises he made to be law enforcement's best friend, and that violent offenders would not be pardoned.
Jake Angeli-Chansley, the Q-Anon Shaman, upon his release from jail, announced on X just how he was going to celebrate:
I JUST GOT THE NEWS FROM MY LAWYER... I GOT A PARDON BABY! THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!!! NOW I AM GONNA BUY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!!! I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!! J6ers are getting released & JUSTICE HAS COME... EVERYTHING done in the dark WILL come to light![Well, if that doesn't warm the cockles of your heart, I don't know what will.]
It is becoming increasingly clear from the optics this guy presents that he is in no way interested in governing FOR the people.The only thing he wants is the spotlight. He is playing at being president, but not actually doing it. That job he's leaving to the surrounding sycophants. And those sharks are already eating each other as demonstrated by the rapid departure of Vivek Ramasmarmy. Despite claims he's gonna run for Governor of Ohio, the general consensus is that Elon Musty forced him out.
And no autopsy would be complete without mention of Elon. Some people wrote in accusing me of "fake news," but I'm not sure how that picture of Musty was fake news. Nor was I alone in my revulsion...one country even tried to ban him from entering ever again. As I told one of my faithful correspondents: It's all about the optics.
In a message posted on a variety of platforms today, his longtime buddy, Philip S. Low, wrote rather interestingly about his ex-friend. I have copied the post from LinkedIn and it's worth reading:
I have known Elon Musk at a deep level for 14 years, well before he was a household name. We used to text frequently. He would come to my birthday party and invite me to his parties. He would tell me everything about his women problems. As sons of highly accomplished men who married venuses, were violent and lost their fortunes, and who were bullied in high school, we had a number of things in common most people cannot relate to. We would hang out together late in Los Angeles. He would visit my San Diego lab. He invested in my company.Elon is not a Nazi, per se.He is something much better, or much worse, depending on how you look at it.Nazis believed that an entire race was above everyone else.Elon believes he is above everyone else. He used to think he worked on the most important problems. When I met him, he did not presume to be a technical person — he would be the first to say that he lacked the expertise to understand certain data. That happened later. Now, he believes he has all the solutions.All his talk about getting to Mars to “maintain the light of consciousness” or about “free speech absolutism” is actually BS Elon knowingly feeds people to manipulate them. Everything Elon does is about acquiring and consolidating power. That is why he likes far right parties, because they are easier to control. That is also why he gave himself $56 Billion which could have gone to the people actually doing the work and innovations he is taking credit for at Tesla. His lust for power is also why he did xAI and Neuralink, to attempt to compete with OpenAI and NeuroVigil, respectively, despite being affiliated with them. Unlike Tesla and Twitter, he was unable to conquer those companies and tried to create rivals. I fired him with cause in December 2021 when he tried to undermine NV.Elon did two Nazi salutes.He did them for five main reasons:1. He was concerned that the “Nazi wing” of the MAGA movement, under the influence of Steve Bannon, would drive him away from Trump, somewhere in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, rather than in the West Wing which is where he wants to be. He was already feeling raw over the fact that Trump did not follow his recommendation for Treasury Secretary and that the Senate also did not pick his first choice;2. He was upset that he had had to go to Israel and Auschwitz to make up for agreeing with a Nazi sympathizer online and wanted to reclaim his “power” just like when he told advertisers to “go fuck yourself”. This has nothing to do with Asperger’s;3. There are some Jews he actually hates: Sam Altman is amongst them;4. He enjoys a good thrill and knew exactly what he was doing;5. His narcissistic self was hoping the audience would reflect his abject gesture back to him, thereby showing complete control and dominion over it, and increasing his leverage over Trump. That did not happen.Bottom line: Elon is not a Nazi but he did give two Nazi Salutes, which is completely unacceptable.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch....
Four more hostages have been released. The women, given military uniforms for the "event," were unbowed. From The TImes of Israel
The four hostages released Saturday have told their families and friends that they determinedly showed Hamas, during the staged event the terror group had arranged for their handover, that they would not be humiliated, according to reports of their initial conversations.
The four young women — abducted IDF surveillance soldiers Karina Ariev, 20, Daniella Gilboa, 20, Naama Levy, 20, and Liri Albag, 19 — walked to the stage set up in a square in Gaza City calmly and confidently, and smiled and waved to the crowds of Hamas gunmen and Gazans.
Despite promises they would be released, no Bibases were on the list. This has given rise to greater speculation that 1) Shiri, the mom, Ariel, and Kfir are dead; 2) Hamas is not in possession of their bodies; 3) the fate of their dad, Yarden, at this writing, remains unknown.
The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Today is January 27th,
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
It didn't begin with the camps,
it began by separating the population into
desirable and undesirable groups.
Sound familiar?
It should.
May the memories of all who perished
forever be for blessings.
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