G-guy said it best. Trump and most of his supporters have "no interest" in culture. Thus, they be stupid humans! Bring back the Letterman show, we've got some folks to perform tricks on TV.

Engage more with the dialectic and try again.

Guess what? No interest in culture? Neither does the proletariat! Marx and Lenin and Zinoviev and Stalin knew that too. The workers' "republic" of the USSR had zero interest in culture either...and by that I mean the workers themselves...who in far left ideology are the basis of the state...that allow the emergence of a post-class communist society. It's part of the system's design! A tacit acknowledgment of a psychological fact! There's a reason the Soviets hated classic architecture...and it's still with us...why do you think Biden wants to bring back "brutalist" architecture?

Art/Culture/Philosophy/Poetry/Sentimental Love (aka the things that make life worth living!) are a product of leisure...the nobility, the aristocratic class! Neither populists nor communists understand such things! (Nor, it should be said, merchants! Business-obsessed philistines like Trump included!)

You misunderstand me because I don't fit into your political paradigm. Not a leftist (god forbid!) and certainly not a rightist! I am a proto-monarchist that has escaped the clutches of the religion of democracy! Have awoken from my own dogmatic slumber (this ones for you Kant!!)

I will lead you to the promised land if you let me.

Posted by Guitarguy567 on 3/6/2021 9:42:00 AM (view original):
Engage more with the dialectic and try again.

Guess what? No interest in culture? Neither does the proletariat! Marx and Lenin and Zinoviev and Stalin knew that too. The workers' "republic" of the USSR had zero interest in culture either...and by that I mean the workers themselves...who in far left ideology are the basis of the state...that allow the emergence of a post-class communist society. It's part of the system's design! A tacit acknowledgment of a psychological fact! There's a reason the Soviets hated classic architecture...and it's still with us...why do you think Biden wants to bring back "brutalist" architecture?

Art/Culture/Philosophy/Poetry/Sentimental Love (aka the things that make life worth living!) are a product of leisure...the nobility, the aristocratic class! Neither populists nor communists understand such things! (Nor, it should be said, merchants! Business-obsessed philistines like Trump included!)

You misunderstand me because I don't fit into your political paradigm. Not a leftist (god forbid!) and certainly not a rightist! I am a proto-monarchist that has escaped the clutches of the religion of democracy! Have awoken from my own dogmatic slumber (this ones for you Kant!!)

I will lead you to the promised land if you let me.

Dude is such a boring elitist snob.

OMG you sound like a Republican

Posted by Guitarguy567 on 3/6/2021 10:08:00 AM (view original):
OMG you sound like a Republican

You’re saying the working class doesn’t or can’t enjoy arts. You’re beyond parody.

Did I say enjoy? I'm looking at more the production side of things. How do you write the Critique of Pure Reason without excess leisure/free time?

But, generally speaking, ya - the upper classes enjoy classy things. Like I said - go to a classical music concert vs a kid rock show and tell me I am completely off base.

Posted by Guitarguy567 on 3/6/2021 1:19:00 PM (view original):
Did I say enjoy? I'm looking at more the production side of things. How do you write the Critique of Pure Reason without excess leisure/free time?

But, generally speaking, ya - the upper classes enjoy classy things. Like I said - go to a classical music concert vs a kid rock show and tell me I am completely off base.

You lost your thread, man.

But sure, yeah, no millionaire conservative enjoys the opera, got it.

“The lower classes can only enjoy Kid Rock, they wouldn’t understand Don Giovanni.”

expect nothing less from a dude who rips on state schools

Would you rather have a functional government (one that will make life tangibly better for all under its rule) or would you rather everyone get a participation trophy (voting) so they can feel good about themselves? This is a philosophic point and not a policy proposal, but I would much rather have option A every day of the week. Let Elon Musk become absolute monarch, outlaw political journalism, and lets focus on the important things in life! Who says no?

This is logic the left subscribes to if you read the subtext! How many times have you seen liberally-minded people on social media rant about how dumb Americans are as a whole?

If you subscribe to the belief that the average American is uninformed, lacks intellectual curiosity, is easily led in whatever direction (by our media masters!) then Representative Democracy is the last form of govt you are gonna want to have in place. But, however, if you think the mass of people are well-educated, informed, responsible citizens, Representative Democracy is a perfectly reasonable form of government to choose.

So what is it liberals, you can only choose one...either the average american ('merica!) is intelligent and capable or we should transition to a different form of govt...you can't advocate both and be logically consistent! No having your cake and eating it too! nah nah nah

I don't think those two statements are mutually exclusive. I think most Americans are uninformed and easily misled. I also think a democracy is the best political system.

And no, I don't think a monarchy would make everyone happier or lead to better outcomes. Elon Musk will do what benefits Elon Musk. At least in a democratic system there's incentive to *represent* your constituents, at least somewhat. We can make reforms.

I know you're joking about absolute monarchy, but cmon.

Constitutional monarchy is far better.

Absolute monarchy is better if you're good at picking monarchs...based on Elon's meme-game I think he is well-deserving of absolute status!

Posted by Uofa2 on 3/6/2021 1:59:00 PM (view original):
“The lower classes can only enjoy Kid Rock, they wouldn’t understand Don Giovanni.”

expect nothing less from a dude who rips on state schools

I prefer my state schools to have a direction attached to them.

What kind of elitist are you attending a school that professes to represent an entire state?

Posted by Guitarguy567 on 3/6/2021 2:15:00 PM (view original):
This is logic the left subscribes to if you read the subtext! How many times have you seen liberally-minded people on social media rant about how dumb Americans are as a whole?

If you subscribe to the belief that the average American is uninformed, lacks intellectual curiosity, is easily led in whatever direction (by our media masters!) then Representative Democracy is the last form of govt you are gonna want to have in place. But, however, if you think the mass of people are well-educated, informed, responsible citizens, Representative Democracy is a perfectly reasonable form of government to choose.

So what is it liberals, you can only choose one...either the average american ('merica!) is intelligent and capable or we should transition to a different form of govt...you can't advocate both and be logically consistent! No having your cake and eating it too! nah nah nah

This is so wrong, unless you're speaking of a pure democracy. We don't have that. We have Representational Democracy. A "Republic".
Wherein (in theory) our elected Representatives make decisions on behalf of us dumb "Mericans" that vote. Kinda like if each district elected an Elon Musk and empowered HIM to make the correct decisions for the whole of the Country.

It worked fairly well until the elected "ones" decided to start pandering to our ignorance for re-election rather than attempting to lead and vote accordingly.

Things would be fine if folks would just starting thinking about the whole for a minute.

Posted by laramiebob on 3/6/2021 4:42:00 PM (view original):

Posted by Guitarguy567 on 3/6/2021 2:15:00 PM (view original):
This is logic the left subscribes to if you read the subtext! How many times have you seen liberally-minded people on social media rant about how dumb Americans are as a whole?

If you subscribe to the belief that the average American is uninformed, lacks intellectual curiosity, is easily led in whatever direction (by our media masters!) then Representative Democracy is the last form of govt you are gonna want to have in place. But, however, if you think the mass of people are well-educated, informed, responsible citizens, Representative Democracy is a perfectly reasonable form of government to choose.

So what is it liberals, you can only choose one...either the average american ('merica!) is intelligent and capable or we should transition to a different form of govt...you can't advocate both and be logically consistent! No having your cake and eating it too! nah nah nah

This is so wrong, unless you're speaking of a pure democracy. We don't have that. We have Representational Democracy. A "Republic".
Wherein (in theory) our elected Representatives make decisions on behalf of us dumb "Mericans" that vote. Kinda like if each district elected an Elon Musk and empowered HIM to make the correct decisions for the whole of the Country.

It worked fairly well until the elected "ones" decided to start pandering to our ignorance for re-election rather than attempting to lead and vote accordingly.

Things would be fine if folks would just starting thinking about the whole for a minute.

I'll give props to you for this...this is a really good response Bob