Let’s Let T-Shirts Be Just What They Are
I have a plethora of t-shirts. I can’t help myself. I go somewhere and I buy one as memorabilia and grumble but reflect on the market forces that enchant me into a purchase and enrich the purveyor while both of us know that the exchange was an exercise in vanity and the brew pub or museum or whatever gets to pocket some cash and I cede a little more dresser space to a bit of fabric that will never again see the light of day.
The funny thing is that I only wear long -sleeve t-shirts. I have eight of them in addition to the billionty short sleaves I keep around for reasons, or eight and a half if you count the Gruet Brut Domaine from New Mexico that’s really a three-quarter sleeve. So maybe eight and three quarters. I have no idea why I like the long sleeves. I guess I feel underdressed in a short sleeve shirt and I’ll brook no arguments about a short sleeve versus the habit of rolling up the long sleeves, which I do. Almost always. I’m currently wearing my SMOD 2016 long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up. But it’s not a short sleeve shirt. Let’s be clear. That makes sense to me in a way that allows me to live my life and any arguments to the contrary are going to be filed away with claims that Tatum O’Neal carried Kristy McNichol which is insane. Like you’ve never seen Little Darlings.
I have a shirt that I’ve never worn and there is no way I can throw it away. My father in-law bought it for me. He died shortly after so I can’t.
I gave the shirt to my son. It’s red and has marching Kokopellis. They look like they have French horns but I’m not sure. He’ll outgrow it soon because apparently outgrowing things is his avocation. Then the shirt will make it back to my drawer. It got some use via my son, and I’m glad. I’ll not give it use any further. I’ll store it though.
It’s a rare thing that I would buy a shirt from the internet, but there have been occasions. One came with a sticker. It’s a really weird sticker. I don’t know if you have a kitchen notebook where you keep family recipes and whatnot. I do.
If I need a pizza dough or gazpacho the notebook is my friend. I put the sticker on the cover of the notebook so it says “Libertarian Country” and there’s a graphic of a snake but it’s cut up for reasons that escape me.
I fell in love with REM’s “Life’s Rich Pageant” when I was in high school. There’s a guy with a big forehead on the cover and maybe that made an impression. It may have influenced my purchase of a sticker-bearing internet t-shirt because it had a guy with a big forehead similar to the REM cover haircut. The t-shirt said (I guess it still says, but grant me license) “Let’s Make Orwell Fiction Again.”
I think it cost me $19.99.
“Let’s Make Orwell Fiction Again.”
So, I have another shirt that I’ll never wear unless it’s a hot summer night in lieu of pjs. It’s taking up space in my house for reasons I can’t come across with and it carries a slogan that’s cliquish and should bide it’s time waiting for moth destruction with the Orioles, McCall, and Steyn vs. the Stick shirts. But suddenly…
I’m gobsmacked.
I never considered that we would have a Ministry of Truth. That’s a small indulgence in that we are able to call The Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board the Ministry of Truth, at least for the moment. Welcome to Biden’s America, or at least the soon to be allowed version of such.
We get confused in arguments as to what constitutes free speech and what limits government restraint. The first amendment is law. Free speech is a concept. Regardless of law, I have a right to measure. I can take in information and regurgitate it as I see fit.
Speaking of fits, if one billionaire cedes his stakes to another billionaire that is less in favor with the governing body, the governing body gets to appease a small slice of writhing ninnies and impose on my right to collect information? We live in dangerous times.
I’ll not be conscribed. I’m not the only one with a dissenting t-shirt in the back of a drawer or a laissez faire pizza dough recipe. This is insane. It’s a bridge too far. Fuck you. Seriously. Fuck off and stop trying to tell me what I can and will consider.
Make it fiction again.
I put the sticker on the cover of the notebook so it says “Libertarian Country” and there’s a graphic of a snake but it’s cut up for reasons that escape me.
As a metaphor for the libertarian movement(s), it needs no explanation.Report
That is so sadly true. Lol.Report
U.S. Ministry of Truth Interrogates Man Who Shared Misinformation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FhCfRdISeU&ab_channel=TheBabylonBee
It’s amazing how far the rat hole we’ve gone in just a few short years. I do believe the pace has been accelerating more than in the past.Report
It’s the “DGB”.
Seriously, if I put that in a movie script, I’d be laughed out of the room.Report
there’s a graphic of a snake but it’s cut up for reasons that escape me
Is it the Join or Die snake?Report
After massive 4th amendment violations by our government, this is the straw that broke the camel’s back?Report
The DBG says:
“There have been no massive 4th Amendment Violations by our government. Any technical violations were small and immediately rectified. Slade the Leveller is engaging in deliberate disinformation.”Report
Time, place, and manner. (for you 1A afficionados)Report
The DBG says:
“This has nothing to do with the 1A. There is no Right to spread disinformation, let alone during particular hours, in particular places, or if you cross your fingers while you are doing it. Slade the Leveller is engaging in deliberate disinformation.”Report
Heh. We’ve had this all along, just not with a dedicated department.Report
The DBG says:
“Now we have a budget.”Report
That’s another way to slam the door after the livestock has escaped.Report
While I can appreciate just giving up, I can also appreciate complaining about things that one thinks are bad, even if one has stopped complaining about other things that one thinks are bad.
(For the record, I think that the DGB would work better if there was legalized marijuana at the Federal level.)Report
The problem is there is actually a constituency for this kind of nonsense, which is the reason it gets entrenched in the first place. It would be interesting to see who got in line first behind the idea of DHS.
Remember the Dept. of Fear account on Twitter?Report
I remember a time when libertarians were upset about the very existence of the Department of Homeland Security. How far we’ve come.
Now they don’t want its good name sullied and are using the work of one of the 20th century’s most well-known socialists to help ensure the DHS stays pure.Report
Yeah. “I’d oppose the TSA… but it’s got a Union!” they say. “I really support those!”Report
Oh, the libertarians love unions now, along with the DGB-less DHS? These are strange times.Report
I assume so.
I mean, you said that they like the DHS now.
Perhaps it has something to do with owning the Libs? Who, I presume, now oppose it?Report
Libs usually like or oppose it depending on who’s in charge of it.Report
Wait, is there *ANYBODY* who opposes it anymore?Report
Leftists.Report
Oh, jeez. We’re going to keep it forever.Report
Alas.Report
Which libertarians are OK with the DHS?Report
I’m mostly making a joke about the fact that they’re all on about this new tentacle when they used to complain about the whole monster.Report
“Oh, you’re complaining about the DHS expanding its scope? I remember when you were complaining about the DHS existing at all. Ironic.”Report
I haven’t seen DHS mentioned in any of these complaints. Mostly people complaining about the name, and giving it a nickname.Report
Ah, the old reverse “you’re still complaining about that?” technique.
Though I no longer identify as a Libertarian, I have the same complaints about taking off my shoes at the airport that I did after OBL got shot.
(For the record, I still think that “Homeland Security” has some weird Orwellian undertones but I understand that “complaining about names” is jejune so I hesitate to bring up all of my various problems… HEY WAIT A MINUTE.)Report
I think it’s less about being OK, and more about recognizing that there is no getting rid of that beast.Report
Even that seems like a sad change to American libertarianism, which, at least when it wasn’t merely a stand in for conservatives who don’t like taxes, was rarely limited to the straightforwardly practical within current political realities.Report
You spend all your time talking about idealistic changes to reduce the involvement of government, and people criticize you for being idealistic. You change gears towards pragmatism and practicality, and you are lamented for your loss of idealism.
Damned if you do…Report
As a leftist, I get that.
There’s a great exchange between two of my favorites, Adorno and Marcuse, on just such a subject, which might be of interest in its general arguments, though obviously not its particulars:
http://field-journal.com/editorial/theodor-adorno-and-herbert-marcuse-correspondence-on-the-german-student-movementReport
As someone long skeptical of the Soviet-sounding “Homeland” security apparatus I’m friendly to an argument in opposition to this new board.
To start with, what is its scope? What authority or enforcement power? Is there any new enabling legislative power needed?
Again, I assume this agency will soon be in the hands of the fascist party so I’m assuming a skeptical stance.
But it would be nice to start with an argument that doesn’t begin and end with its name.Report
But it would be nice to start with an argument that doesn’t begin and end with its name.
Hell, it would be nice to start with a point.Report
A flashback:
But this happened in a moment that was prior to The Eternal Present so there is no reason to believe that anybody who supports the DGB would remember it.Report
As long at it’s the CDC saying that all meat should be eaten medium-well, I’m ok(-ish) with some agency running around whacking-moles saying stuff like, ‘well, actually, inflation is only 7.1% if we use these metrics, but other metrics advocated by xyz suggest that inflation is closer to 7.9% and that’s because the first assumes this and the second that, but the consensus view is based on these metrics from this dept over here (link to history of why that dept and not xyz) which measures inflation at 6.7% as of April 30, 2022.”
I have absolutely no confidence that any agency with this remit would limit themselves thus. So basically, what’s our expected outcome? Or to put it with more force… what’s the point of an agency overseeing disinformation that can’t sanction disinformation?Report
As long at it’s the CDC saying that all meat should be eaten medium-well…
That’s the kind of disinformation that should have us questioning the legitimacy of the administrative state in its entirety.Report
Comment of the day!Report
I do my best.Report
Precisely.
Now imagine the CDC getting very very unhappy with Chez Panisse’s [opens up today’s menu] : Local halibut carpaccio with artichokes and preserved Meyer lemon
… and issuing sanctions for non-compliance.
Pure folly in any direction other than benign indifference.Report
My first reaction was “eh, whatever”. The name is awful, but there’s no indication that this board has any scope, budget, or enforcement authority. Most every government agency publishes reports and maintains a media presence to correct what they perceive as errors.Report
This is kinda my position.
It has the potential for great harm, but at this moment it ranks about 99th on my Top 100 Things To Be Outraged About.Report
But if you hammer on the 99th item out of 100, you can preen as a champion of whatever without any risk of upsetting anyone who matters or can hurt you. Gets trickier as you go higher up the list.Report
The person chosen to head the group believed that Hunter Biden’s laptop was disinformation, so that’s not promising. And she’s apparently defended the Steele dossier or something.Report
She can belt out a good tune. Not touching the laptop thing.
We can probably add FISA courts as another thing Americans should have been in the streets about.Report
If you (or Chip or CJ) feel like being outraged about it here is my theory on how you foreseeably could become so in the future if you would like. There are many, many, relatively toothless offices of federal agencies in the sense that they do not have any express power to impose fines or punish anyone. However, their existence often becomes its own mission and they have a tendency to find things to do or other government authorities that do have some power they can attach themselves to. So maybe it can’t do anything but it starts setting standards for the FCC or the FTA or some other agency that can. Beware leviathan, etc.
That is my best hypothetical shot at outrage.Report
I don’t believe it! Every government effort ends in nothing but success for the betterment of all!Report
Really meant FTC not FTA but I suppose there could be misinformation impacting transit safety as well in some Orwellian way.Report
Everything including FTD flower delivery could be the basis for government overreach.Report
“We live in dangerous times.”
Man, you got that one pegged right but I think you’re looking at the wrong sign. To each his own.Report
To elaborate on my initial comment:
Authoritarian regimes aren’t erected by a single agency or entity. It doesn’t matter what the scope and agenda and enabling legislation of this DGB is, it is toothless and harmless without:
An authoritarian heading it, appointed by-
An authoritarian executive who was-
Elected by a large group of people demanding authoritarianism and-
Enabled by a supine legislature acquiescing to authoritarianism and given the blessing of-
A Judicial branch dedicated to authoritarianism.
But of course, given all the components of authoritarianism, an agency like DGB isn’t even necessary, since there are easily a dozen other avenues to suppress inconvenient thoughts, as we are witnessing all around the country right now.
So my outrage isn’t triggered by a single minor agency within the massive governmental structure.
My outrage is triggered by the fact that about a third of our voters have eagerly voted for all of the components of authoritarianism listed above.Report
I sat in a room, last year, while reporters had footage erased.
Authoritarianism isn’t needed for the government to perform censorship.
It will do so, and sometimes it’s even a good idea…
(My anti-authoritarian friend works as a spook. He’s gotten things out when no one else could).
I doubt you really wanted to hear more about that shooting anyway.
You’re the one voting for the brownshirts. Supporting BlackLivesMatter, which is the new… Democratic paramilitary organization.Report
Here’s from the other day when they were arguing this in the Senate.
The fun begins around 50 minutes in when Rand Paul (yes, *THAT* Rand Paul) starts questioning about “Disinformation”.
At 50:11, Rand Paul asks the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas whether the Steele Dossier contained Russian Disinformation.
You can read the transcript here, if you prefer. (But it’s uncorrected closed captions, so it’s not guaranteed to be a perfect transcript.)
Like, here’s a sample of the transcript (and it’s all caps):
So you may wish to listen to it instead. Again: the fun starts at 50:11.Report
How did he miss Hunter’s laptop?Report
I think that using the Pentagon Papers and Iran-Contra, his point is stronger.
Making it about something that happened a couple of years ago? Heck, there are people out there who still argue that the emails might be real but that doesn’t mean that the laptop wasn’t a plant anyway.
But Iran-Contra? Force defenders of the DGB to consider what would happen with the DGB were it to fall into the hands of their enemies.Report
Supporters of the DGB should consider what Rand Paul’s reaction would be if lets say, a sitting President were to refuse to abide by an election and instead, use the DGB as a tool to spread propaganda about election fraud.
Oh, here Rand is, conveniently demonstrating his value as a mouthpiece for authoritarian government propaganda:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sen-rand-paul-continues-making-false-claims-2020/story?id=75446712
Huh. Maybe the DGB isn’t even necessary, if the propaganda is being spread by Senators. Why duplicate the effort?Report
I was being glib to highlight the Steele inclusion. His other examples are excellent.
I looked up his voting record on nation security, and, I gotta say, he puts his money where his mouth is.
Which is not to say he isn’t BSC on other matters. See Chip above.Report
It’s been disbanded.
Report
I still think this was intended to be 4 people in an office producing FAQ’s about homeland security. I mean, the press is so lazy that it could have had some influence, but as a source for <1% of Politifact's "investigations". Even factoring bureaucratic self-justification, there was no way it was going to be a ministry of truth.Report