I don't want to be the old geezer who blames everything on the internet, but it seems to me that all the touted ability to hook people up with like minded individuals has a lot of people missing the diversity in their own backyard. That diversity used to keep these sorts of opinions in check, even though they were held by people, by isolating people, it allows them to flower. Not a new idea, but one I think holds.
I've been reading Jeffrey Hall's Japan's nationalist right in the internet age: Online media and grassroots conservative activism, and he has this
In his book, Yasuda portrays Zaitokukai [an ultra-nationalist and far-right extremist political organization] as a product of feelings of economic uncertainty among the working classes of Japanese society. In other words, they feel socially and economically isolated, and can experience positive emotions by channeling their ill feelings into hatred of Koreans.
Sociologist Higuchi Naoto conducted interviews with Zaitokukai participants and came to very different conclusions. Instead of finding social or economic anxiety as infuences on joining the movement, Higuchi found that many of his interviewees had been raised in politically conservative households or had been involved in conservative political activities for the year.90 The idea that they are just “ordinary” people who, due to anxiety, join nativist groups was misleading. Most of Higuchi’s interviewees were already ideologically on the right:
"There are, in this sense, specific problems with Yasuda’s opinion that Zaitokukai is made up of “your neighbors.” There are certainly many activists in the nativist movement who are “ordinary people” with jobs, but ideologically they are not “neutral or apolitical”; they are conservative."
People who are already subscribed to a conservative worldview are more receptive to how nativist groups frame and introduce information. Higuchi sees these nativists as an outgrowth of the existing nationalist and revisionist movement of the 1990s and a conservative establishment that already encouraged hostility toward Korea and China. He also argued that the geopolitical situation in Asia has aided in their rise. Issues such as war responsibility, the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea, and ongoing territorial disputes fueled hatred toward people from Korea and China. Higuchi found that the attitudes of Zaitokukai members toward immigrants from countries such as the Philippines and Brazil, who tend to have a lower socioeconomic status than Korean and Chinese immigrants, were not particularly negative. This is very different from the observations of scholars of the far-right in Europe and the United States, for whom the perceived economic or cultural threats from immigrant laborers, or demographic replacement, are central ideas.
That last point is interesting, as it suggests that there is a stronger class element involved in this for the West than it is for Japan.
novakant,
I don't know if this will cheer you up or not but I've got almost 40 years of teaching experience, and post COVID, I downgraded my expectations to be happy if I could get the class to learn one thing during a class session. I'm getting to the point where I'm happy if I can get a few students to learn one thing in class.
No believing Christian fundamentalist accepts that Mormons are real Christians. Farther outside the pale than even Catholics.
Consider that Italians and Irish were considered black around 140 years ago. 60 years ago, people doubted that a president could be Catholic while at the same time not accepting that Martin Luther King represented actual Christian beliefs. Never underestimate the ability of Americans to do backflips on points of cognitive dissonance.
This New Statesman podcast had a detail that I found fascinating (at the 3:50 mark), that Andrew, in his published statement, said that he was relinquishing 'my titles'.
Fair warning! If anyone posts a comment about a music topic they like with a couple of youtube video links, it is liable to be front paged! You have been warned!!!
Muchísimas gracias, Russell! I accidentally left the link in at the bottom, as I thought I was going to add to Russell's post, but thought better of it, but will leave it there cause I think it will be of interest
Another article that I remember had me wondering about how this clave thing worked was this
Article Title: The Clave: Tricky Latin Rhythm, Hard to Master
Author: Robert Palmer
Publication: The New York Times
Corrected Date/Section: October 5, 1980, Section D, Page 22
which now seems to have disappeared from the NYT archive (thanks to GftNC for looking!) If anyone else wants to apply their google-fu to finding it, in my memory, it is definitely worth a read. It gives the anecdote of one band having to re-record an entire album because they had reversed the clave. Ouch!
But watching Russell's explanation above, I realized that the clave is not something you can read about and figure out, you actually have to have two things to bang together. I'm slightly closer to understanding it, but since there is not a lot of Latin music jams out here in rural Japan, I'm afraid that like a lot of my other desires, it is going to be an unrequited love,,,
Did you go with the iphone 17? For me, the battery is the key driver of a new phone, and the current phone I have is a 13, and my wife and I will probably get a 17 now. I realize that it is not just the battery, chip and phone design makes a huge difference, but it's surprising to me that the models cycle thru without much improvement, so I can't imagine just going up one or 2 model numbers
Pro Bono's quote reminds me that the inner circle of George Bush was dubbed the 'Mayberry Machiavellis' (and Gemini tells me it was not by a democrat, but by a former White House staffer under Bush)
Just an ancillary observation, in hindsight, it is almost overdetermined that the first Black president had to have a white mother and be from an exotic locale like Hawai'i. One could claim that his Chicago stint was important, but I think it was more important that he wasn't from a traditional place we might imagine a black candidate coming from. I don't think it wrecked Harris' chances that she went to a HBCU, but it is hard to imagine a male candidate graduating from Howard or some other HBCU.
Speaking to novakant's point, I've been looking for clips from the New York mayoral debate and I'm really surprised that I don't see any. These should be things that would think my algorithm would serve up, and I'm seeing nothing. Here's the whole debate, at 2 hours, it is probably not something folks are going to sit thru, but I think Mamdani really ate Cuomo's lunch, so I'm wondering why the attention machine hasn't fed me any of those soundbites.
Michael's point about grain reminds me that it was countered by the King Cotton argument, where mills wouldn't be able to run without the cotton from the South, so that was the counter-argument to the necessity of having wheat to import and led to friction between the US and Great Britain when the Union blockaded the South. In the end, because Great Britain then sought cotton from other sources, like India, Egypt and (peek at Gemini) Brazil. I think we are seeing a replay of this with Chinese rare earths and US soybeans.
There is an interesting debate in the literature as to whether the Cotton vs Wheat was simply a cover for pro and anti slavery views. The more things change...
Thanks so much for the guestpost wonkie! I waited a bit to get it closer to Halloween. Other writing eagerly sought.
The idea that inanimate things have 'something' is one that I would like to believe, but feel a bit strange about. There is something vaguely comforting to me about a Shinto view of the world, where everything is imbued with something, but it always feels like a short distance from that to thinking that vaccines are trying to kill us.
Fun stuff everyone. Just to pull out a few things I miss salsa. At least that gives you both sides of the clave.
My playing experience has been classical and 'big band' jazz (by which I mean the size of the ensemble, rather than the swing bands that people think of) so my Latin experience is pretty minimal, but I did have a section in the post about the clave's evolution to reggaeton, but it is 1) hard to explain about rhythms and 2) I'd probably screw it up. This first article on this page might be of interest for folks wanting more https://www.cubanet.org/htdocs/CNews/y00/jun00/12e9.htm
Yonaguni, as a feminine coded island holding of Japan
I wasn't able to find any interviews with BB talking about the song and how it came about, so I imagine it was a mélange of reasons.
one could really capture an international audience and maintain a US presence all without ever having to make a single move to acknowledge the US mainstream.
I've recently been getting youtube videos titles [Indian journalist/Singaporean minister/Chinese author] destroys [Western journalist/politician/pundit]. and one of the lines that always seem to score points is the first person calmly pointing out that the West is about 15% of the world while Asia is about 60%.
This life brought to you by The Algorithm.
I wonder if there is a chicken-egg thing going on here. The trends mentioned by nous have been in popular music since the 50s, before the tech-bros had gotten their hands on the internet. I don't want to absolve them of their responsibility, but I don't want to give them too much credit for the idea, more of the shitty implementation.
I also think that these Weekend Music threads, because of my own interests, are going to lean into how so much music is blended and remixed. It's not new, classical music has a long tradition of taking folk melodies and rhythms and repackaging them, but I'm beginning to think that this is really foundational. So if that sounds boring, guest Musical weekend threads are solicited!
I've changed it to 5 links and 28 days. I was tempted to change it to either 23 or 29 because they are prime numbers, but opted for the 4 weeks.
I've also changed the default order for comments to oldest.
If you become a subscriber, you can choose your own picture as your avatar, I've taken the liberty of adding Hartmut as a subscriber so he can show off that fine bust, which I think is Sargon the Great of Akkad.
Speaking of Akkadian, I've just discovered some more settings for the comment plugin that seem to written in language... I would like to try and get the comment box at the bottom, but is seems that this is a nod to mobile users. Gemini tells me a way to change the php file, so I'll give that a go this weekend.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “People and poliltics”
I don't want to be the old geezer who blames everything on the internet, but it seems to me that all the touted ability to hook people up with like minded individuals has a lot of people missing the diversity in their own backyard. That diversity used to keep these sorts of opinions in check, even though they were held by people, by isolating people, it allows them to flower. Not a new idea, but one I think holds.
I've been reading Jeffrey Hall's Japan's nationalist right in the internet age: Online media and grassroots conservative activism, and he has this
That last point is interesting, as it suggests that there is a stronger class element involved in this for the West than it is for Japan.
On “I got depressed so I bought hydrangeas”
novakant,
I don't know if this will cheer you up or not but I've got almost 40 years of teaching experience, and post COVID, I downgraded my expectations to be happy if I could get the class to learn one thing during a class session. I'm getting to the point where I'm happy if I can get a few students to learn one thing in class.
On “Horrifying stuff”
No believing Christian fundamentalist accepts that Mormons are real Christians. Farther outside the pale than even Catholics.
Consider that Italians and Irish were considered black around 140 years ago. 60 years ago, people doubted that a president could be Catholic while at the same time not accepting that Martin Luther King represented actual Christian beliefs. Never underestimate the ability of Americans to do backflips on points of cognitive dissonance.
On “Monarchy in the UK”
Interesting stuff. I wonder if anyone vetted Andrew's statement. Clearly damage control mode.
On “Ramsayer, Korea and me”
Michael, I love the structure of the three reasons. I think this is why we all understand comedy...
On “Monarchy in the UK”
This New Statesman podcast had a detail that I found fascinating (at the 3:50 mark), that Andrew, in his published statement, said that he was relinquishing 'my titles'.
Telling and totally unsurprising.
https://youtu.be/F2Ww_82ifhg?si=2vC0VBGuVb0IbF6l
On “I got depressed so I bought hydrangeas”
This was supposed to go up a day earlier, but I got confused with the date line. Thanks and apologies wonkie!
My confession is that I really don't know anything about flowers. Though I am a big fan of Candide...
On “Weekend music thread #03 Rhumba and the clave”
Fair warning! If anyone posts a comment about a music topic they like with a couple of youtube video links, it is liable to be front paged! You have been warned!!!
"
Muchísimas gracias, Russell! I accidentally left the link in at the bottom, as I thought I was going to add to Russell's post, but thought better of it, but will leave it there cause I think it will be of interest
Another article that I remember had me wondering about how this clave thing worked was this
Article Title: The Clave: Tricky Latin Rhythm, Hard to Master
Author: Robert Palmer
Publication: The New York Times
Corrected Date/Section: October 5, 1980, Section D, Page 22
which now seems to have disappeared from the NYT archive (thanks to GftNC for looking!) If anyone else wants to apply their google-fu to finding it, in my memory, it is definitely worth a read. It gives the anecdote of one band having to re-record an entire album because they had reversed the clave. Ouch!
But watching Russell's explanation above, I realized that the clave is not something you can read about and figure out, you actually have to have two things to bang together. I'm slightly closer to understanding it, but since there is not a lot of Latin music jams out here in rural Japan, I'm afraid that like a lot of my other desires, it is going to be an unrequited love,,,
On “Something Different”
Did you go with the iphone 17? For me, the battery is the key driver of a new phone, and the current phone I have is a 13, and my wife and I will probably get a 17 now. I realize that it is not just the battery, chip and phone design makes a huge difference, but it's surprising to me that the models cycle thru without much improvement, so I can't imagine just going up one or 2 model numbers
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
Hartmut, a best guess
====
In [Venice]
Rollers [ahead]
It's so full of fun
While you roll, you feel the groove
Such a sport that makes you move
Grandpa
and mama too
Freaks are all the same
police chief and businessman
They are rolling
They are rolling
to the holy land
Roll
Roll
Roll on baby roll x2
skating here in the rolling disco
Lights are blinking wild
exotic clothes and bathing suits
skintight is a style
repeat chorus
Mama's rolling with a baby on her back
Just moving like the wind
headphones upon her ears
full of power
full of power
There's a crazy [??]
repeat chorus
On “Bal des Ardents”
Pro Bono's quote reminds me that the inner circle of George Bush was dubbed the 'Mayberry Machiavellis' (and Gemini tells me it was not by a democrat, but by a former White House staffer under Bush)
On “The South shall writhe again”
Just an ancillary observation, in hindsight, it is almost overdetermined that the first Black president had to have a white mother and be from an exotic locale like Hawai'i. One could claim that his Chicago stint was important, but I think it was more important that he wasn't from a traditional place we might imagine a black candidate coming from. I don't think it wrecked Harris' chances that she went to a HBCU, but it is hard to imagine a male candidate graduating from Howard or some other HBCU.
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
A little late, but this Daily Show explainer on Reggaeton is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdNWZXFREA
On “Politics thread”
Speaking to novakant's point, I've been looking for clips from the New York mayoral debate and I'm really surprised that I don't see any. These should be things that would think my algorithm would serve up, and I'm seeing nothing. Here's the whole debate, at 2 hours, it is probably not something folks are going to sit thru, but I think Mamdani really ate Cuomo's lunch, so I'm wondering why the attention machine hasn't fed me any of those soundbites.
On “The South shall writhe again”
Michael's point about grain reminds me that it was countered by the King Cotton argument, where mills wouldn't be able to run without the cotton from the South, so that was the counter-argument to the necessity of having wheat to import and led to friction between the US and Great Britain when the Union blockaded the South. In the end, because Great Britain then sought cotton from other sources, like India, Egypt and (peek at Gemini) Brazil. I think we are seeing a replay of this with Chinese rare earths and US soybeans.
There is an interesting debate in the literature as to whether the Cotton vs Wheat was simply a cover for pro and anti slavery views. The more things change...
"
Thanks nous!
On “The Return of the Boat Hook”
wonkie, check this out
https://aeon.co/essays/shinto-shows-the-debt-to-animism-of-organised-religions-today
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
Russell, if it is ok, I'd like to lift up your comment as next week's music thread?
On “The Return of the Boat Hook”
Thanks so much for the guestpost wonkie! I waited a bit to get it closer to Halloween. Other writing eagerly sought.
The idea that inanimate things have 'something' is one that I would like to believe, but feel a bit strange about. There is something vaguely comforting to me about a Shinto view of the world, where everything is imbued with something, but it always feels like a short distance from that to thinking that vaccines are trying to kill us.
On “Weekend music thread #02 Bad Bunny”
Fun stuff everyone. Just to pull out a few things
I miss salsa. At least that gives you both sides of the clave.
My playing experience has been classical and 'big band' jazz (by which I mean the size of the ensemble, rather than the swing bands that people think of) so my Latin experience is pretty minimal, but I did have a section in the post about the clave's evolution to reggaeton, but it is 1) hard to explain about rhythms and 2) I'd probably screw it up. This first article on this page might be of interest for folks wanting more
https://www.cubanet.org/htdocs/CNews/y00/jun00/12e9.htm
Yonaguni, as a feminine coded island holding of Japan
I wasn't able to find any interviews with BB talking about the song and how it came about, so I imagine it was a mélange of reasons.
one could really capture an international audience and maintain a US presence all without ever having to make a single move to acknowledge the US mainstream.
I've recently been getting youtube videos titles [Indian journalist/Singaporean minister/Chinese author] destroys [Western journalist/politician/pundit]. and one of the lines that always seem to score points is the first person calmly pointing out that the West is about 15% of the world while Asia is about 60%.
This life brought to you by The Algorithm.
I wonder if there is a chicken-egg thing going on here. The trends mentioned by nous have been in popular music since the 50s, before the tech-bros had gotten their hands on the internet. I don't want to absolve them of their responsibility, but I don't want to give them too much credit for the idea, more of the shitty implementation.
I also think that these Weekend Music threads, because of my own interests, are going to lean into how so much music is blended and remixed. It's not new, classical music has a long tradition of taking folk melodies and rhythms and repackaging them, but I'm beginning to think that this is really foundational. So if that sounds boring, guest Musical weekend threads are solicited!
On “What’s up, doxx?”
GftNC
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/us/politics/trump-sandwich-assault-indictment-justice-department.html
To be fair, it was a Subway salami sandwich, which isn't really their best offering.
On “Let’s start calling a thug a thug”
From Propublica, via LGM
13 links, so being an admin has it's perks.
On “Opinions on settings”
Tony P and GftNC, those are cookies from your browser. I'd be happy to make you both subscribers!
"
I've changed it to 5 links and 28 days. I was tempted to change it to either 23 or 29 because they are prime numbers, but opted for the 4 weeks.
I've also changed the default order for comments to oldest.
If you become a subscriber, you can choose your own picture as your avatar, I've taken the liberty of adding Hartmut as a subscriber so he can show off that fine bust, which I think is Sargon the Great of Akkad.
Speaking of Akkadian, I've just discovered some more settings for the comment plugin that seem to written in language... I would like to try and get the comment box at the bottom, but is seems that this is a nod to mobile users. Gemini tells me a way to change the php file, so I'll give that a go this weekend.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.