USA Politics

[Karl Henning]

So...uhh...networking?

How are you, playing with others?

[greg]

I think if you're really dedicated and talented then you need mentors to challenge you

You really don't.
Having as much information as possible is a good thing. But ultimately the answers lie within.

you need relationships that can deepen your practice and performance and that can encourage you to explore various paths to beyond.

Never been necessary for me. Never a bad thing, of course, but ultimately unnecessary.

How are you, playing with others?

That's a really open question so I don't know how to respond but I prefer to do as much as possible myself.

And you can do waaaaaaaay much more nowadays with music alone than what was possible before. All you need is time and money.

[greg]

I know this is off-topic... sorry... just wanted to finish some thoughts here.

People just learn differently. Teachers may or may not be required. I've gotten to a place I'm satisfied with (and I do set the bar very high for myself) guitar playing and music composition, without ever having taken lessons with either one.

I think this sometimes extends to other fields, as well. When I did my programming class (the one that lasted over a year), my friend's big complaint was that the teacher wasn't teaching enough, which was very true. However, after I finished, I let him copy my work to help him finish the class. The lack of lectures helped free up more time for me to figure stuff out- learning by doing.

So yeah, the idea of needing a teacher for education-related stuff is not really relatable... so it's hard to feel supportive of things that are not going to give people a good ROI and just impoverish the next generation of Americans, when they could just learn on their own, even if that isn't their natural style of learning...

[krummholz]

To follow up on your off-topic thoughts... 

I agree that you can do a lot by yourself, but I'm not sure training and education are completely unnecessary. I finished up a student work this year and wrote another lengthy piece completely from scratch, using notation software. I was pleasantly surprised at how well both turned out and really credit being able to hear something played back immediately as being a huge game-changer... but I cringe to think how awful they would have been without my teachers (in theory and composition), even though that was years ago. And having a professional musician (a local violist) to consult with has helped me to find and fix passages that couldn't be played, and to polish up a score to perhaps get it performed, once the pandemic is over. Help like that is really invaluable.

Now a composer working on a DAW, with no intention of getting something performed by humans, might have a different calculus.

I can't comment on the guitar as I do not play one, but I should think a performer (any instrument) would need professional training even more. Of course, if you're just playing for yourself, that's a different story.

[greg]

And having a professional musician (a local violist) to consult with has helped me to find and fix passages that couldn't be played, and to polish up a score to perhaps get it performed, once the pandemic is over. Help like that is really invaluable.

For sure. If others will be performing your music, you gotta check with them to make sure it's playable.

I can't comment on the guitar as I do not play one, but I should think a performer (any instrument) would need professional training even more. Of course, if you're just playing for yourself, that's a different story.

I don't know about classical guitar, but for electric guitar it isn't uncommon for highly skilled players to be self-taught.

I also think the internet helped raise the general ability of guitarists worldwide the last 10+ years...

[SimonNZ]

The 2020 presidential election will be the first in 40 years to take place without a federal judge requiring the Republican National Committee to seek approval in advance for any "ballot security" operations at the polls. In 2018, a federal judge allowed the consent decree to expire, ruling that the plaintiffs had no proof of recent violations by Republicans. The consent decree, by this logic, was not needed, because it worked.

The order had its origins in the New Jersey gubernatorial election of 1981. According to the district court's opinion in Democratic National Committee v. Republican National Committee, the RNC allegedly tried to intimidate voters by hiring off-duty law-enforcement officers as members of a "National Ballot Security Task Force," some of them armed and carrying two-way radios. According to the plaintiffs, they stopped and questioned voters in minority neighborhoods, blocked voters from entering the polls, forcibly restrained poll workers, challenged people's eligibility to vote, warned of criminal charges for casting an illegal ballot, and generally did their best to frighten voters away from the polls. The power of these methods relied on well-founded fears among people of color about contact with police.

and following directly on from this:

'Army For Trump' ads incite armed militias to intimidate voters in 'election security operation', also Don Jr. doesn't look so good

Junior: ""We need every able-bodied man and woman to join Army for Trump's election security operation...we need you to help us watch them."

-

"...like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet", as I think someone put it.

[drogulus]

     

also Don Jr. doesn't look so good

     Yow! I guess there's no point in asking why his family won't help him.

     

[milk]

and following directly on from this:

'Army For Trump' ads incite armed militias to intimidate voters in 'election security operation', also Don Jr. doesn't look so good

Junior: ""We need every able-bodied man and woman to join Army for Trump's election security operation...we need you to help us watch them."

-

"...like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet", as I think someone put it.

Don Jr. is just disgusting. This stuff, like much else they do, shows there's no low to which they won't stoop. I don't buy the argument that it doesn't matter since all politics is hypocrisy and corruption. It matters if they encourage lies that weaken the system we have for the same reason it matters if the Far left starts to encourage property destruction.
Tump has to go.

[Herman]

Well, clearly he won't go.

You're stuck with him and the GOP (who you oblige by talking about the Far Left).

[milk]

Well, clearly he won't go.

You're stuck with him and the GOP (who you oblige by talking about the Far Left).

I could say you oblige the GOP for not taking the left to task for its excesses, which are legion and toxic. Leftist "theory," identity driven and regressive, is a gift to the GOP. It's not even popular with who you think it is. It also distracts from real issues and it's anti-democratic.
The left is best at snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.

[71 dB]

The insanity of US politics was an attraction for me in the beginning when I started following US politics after Trump's 2016 victory. This year however, things have gotten 10 times more insane in the US and I feel it's just too much. The inmates are running the asylum quite literally. Here's some "highlights" for me of the 2020 insanity in the US:

Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders was on the path of winning the nomination, but corporate Dems formed an "alliance" against him and were able to stop him with the help of corporate media having fearmongered about "socialist" Bernie non-stop and brainwashing Americans to believe Biden is the "most electable" so that many Americans went behind Biden in the primary despite of agreeing politically more with Bernie.

Covid-19
Trump can't be blamed for the virus, but he totally botched the handling of the pandemic from day one. "It's gonno be 15 cases and that's it". Well now 200.000+ corona deaths later we can say it was MUCH more than 15 cases. "The virus will go away in April when it gets warmer". It didn't. Then "doctor" Trump tells his own ideas to defeat the virus from internal UV lamps to injecting bleach to your body! Of course most of Trump's supporters are even crazier and more ignorant making wearing masks an political issue and part of cultural war! Jesus Christ! When the vaccine FINALLY comes, about half of Americans don't want it! Amazing! The richest country in the World has brainwashed itself into total idiocracy.

Kyle Kulinski says "Trump should have immediately started selling MAGA -masks and his supporters would be wearing them and the Democrats/left would wear masks anyway, because they believe in science and dr. Fauci. Everyone would wear the mask and the Covid-19 situation in the US would be much better giving Trump something to brag about and better changes to be re-elected."

Police brutality
After months of people on the streets demonstrating against police brutality nothing is being done to the problem. On the contrary, all this has achieved is make Trump show his authoritarian tendencies more openly. The whole police training has to be reformed in the US. In other developped countries police training lasts MUCH longer and it concentrates on minimal use of force and de-escalation. For me the US police looks like a club for racist right-wingers that has the blessing to do violence against whoever the hate from blacks to lefties. Of course a lot of US policemen are great people doing great police work, but the amount of bad apples is alarming and as we saw again with the Briana Taylor case, bad apples are protected more than regular people by the corrupt justice system.

Economy
Where do I begin? The rich and big corporation were saved with a few trillions while millions of regular people lost their job and employer provided healthcare in the middle of a pandemic showcases the utter insanity of the US for profit healthcare. There are already companies hiring people to carry out evictions because people can't pay their rents. You think the homeless problem is bad now? Oh boy, wait next year when up to 30 million American could be homeless! That's serious third country shit, but at least the trillions bumped on the stock market make sure the billionaires are doing great!

Trump not accepting loss???
The stuff above already is extremely bad, but Trump panicking about staying in office makes this beyond bad. In the election day we will see a "red mirage" and Trump taking a firm lead in electorates because his supporters vote in person much more than supporters of Biden and mail-in votes are not counted yet. Trump can claim victory and MAGA idiots will have massive parties, without masks of course. The when the mail-in votes are slowly counted, Trump's lead will shrink and then Biden will go into the lead! That's when Trump will declare election fraud and of course MAGA-people will believe it because he has been talking about mail-in voting fraud for months! What if the result goes to the court? What if Trump has filled Ginsburg's seat? Civil war? Nobody knows what will happen, but the possible scenarios are horrifying! Are we withnessing the US become a dictatorship? A richer version of Russia?

All of this is too much for me. I feel I am done with the US. What a sick and hopeless country! I guess the whole World is watching this jaw-dropping thriller the next weeks will bring us, but to be a balanced and happy person I need to pretend the US doesn't exist. I started to study Japanese (日本語, Nihongo) on Youtube because of my admiration of J-horror movies (for me it's not anime  ) and because I want to take my mind off the US insanity.

[Todd]

I feel I am done with the US.

For real this time?  (JK, I know the real answer.)

Yes, the end is nigh.  I guess like various Yurpean posters on the board, I should start losing some sleep over American political shenanigans.  It's just so hard to do.

[Herman]

I could say you oblige the GOP for not taking the left to task for its excesses, which are legion and toxic. Leftist "theory," identity driven and regressive, is a gift to the GOP. It's not even popular with who you think it is. It also distracts from real issues and it's anti-democratic.
The left is best at snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.

In the USA, the Left is a tiny tiny movement, and sure it is a gift to the Right, who are blowing this up in giant proportions, just like Fox was saying (and maybe is still saying) that BLM looting is destroying entire cities, thereby appealing to primal fears and many people, including you, just don't resist that fear, because it feels so good.

Much of the damage during the protests is done by right-wing provocatoeurs, like Umbrella Man.

And why (if I were American) should I take people on the Left to task for being Left? Is there some law against being leftwing and advocating a redressing of the growing wealth inequality? I'm unaware of this, but fortunately I am not an American citizen and I don't have to shoot people for being not right of the center.

The same with this mirage of the academic humanities getting ruined by crazy Marxist-theory professors. Sure there are some professors writing some radical books, but mostly what they are teaching to undergraduates is pretty traditional stuff.

[Todd]

just like Fox was saying

People who reflexively resort to variants of "Fox News" are uninformed and have nothing of value to contribute.  It's sort of a litmus test of worthlessness.

[Herman]

The inevitable within-the-minute Diner Cop post.

I don't even read that stuff...

[Todd]

The inevitable within-the-minute Diner Cop post.

I don't even read that stuff...

Interesting, Herman does not read my posts, but he responds to them.  Good to know.  Love the continued use of Diner Cop, too.

[milk]

In the USA, the Left is a tiny tiny movement, and sure it is a gift to the Right, who are blowing this up in giant proportions, just like Fox was saying (and maybe is still saying) that BLM looting is destroying entire cities, thereby appealing to primal fears and many people, including you, just don't resist that fear, because it feels so good.

Much of the damage during the protests is done by right-wing provocatoeurs, like Umbrella Man.

And why (if I were American) should I take people on the Left to task for being Left? Is there some law against being leftwing and advocating a redressing of the growing wealth inequality? I'm unaware of this, but fortunately I am not an American citizen and I don't have to shoot people for being not right of the center.

The same with this mirage of the academic humanities getting ruined by crazy Marxist-theory professors. Sure there are some professors writing some radical books, but mostly what they are teaching to undergraduates is pretty traditional stuff.

no. I don't live in the US and personally have no fear of BLM "destroying entire cities." I did use to live close to where the police station burned down in Minneapolis. This hysteria over anecdotal incidents is counter-productive to solving real problems including racism. That's my opinion. There's a section of the left (and they're my friends - all over my Facebook feed) that is very dug-in, dogmatic and condescending.

[Karl Henning]

The inevitable within-the-minute Diner Cop post.

I don't even read that stuff...

Pity the guy has so little to do with himself.

[drogulus]

The same with this mirage of the academic humanities getting ruined by crazy Marxist-theory professors. Sure there are some professors writing some radical books, but mostly what they are teaching to undergraduates is pretty traditional stuff.

     The Atlantic has been covering the critical theory controversy quite ably in my view. Conor Friedersdorf and John Mcwhorter are on the case. Upholding liberal values against illiberal elements is best done by thinkers who have more than an instrumental association with the values they defend.
     

[milk]

     The Atlantic has been covering the critical theory controversy quite ably in my view. Conor Friedersdorf and John Mcwhorter are on the case. Upholding liberal values against illiberal elements is best done by thinkers who have more than an instrumental association with the values they defend.
   

People should at least take a look at what they've written. People are so dug in though. I've seen McWhorter accused of being an "assimilationist" which just goes to show how far the left has moved away from MLK's vision.