Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The Power Of Speech & Identity | Lefsetz Letter


What kind of crazy, fucked-up world do we live in where Michelle Obama gets the biggest ovation at the Grammys?

One in which Beto O’Rourke holds a counter-rally to the President in his hometown of El Paso and makes you believe, despite lacking charisma and a stage-ready voice.

That’s the power of identity, that’s the power of truth.

The same attributes that made Bob Dylan an international icon.

You see people hunger for truth, they hunger for someone to believe in, and the moribund music industry has forgotten this as it continues to bitch about the internet revolution and lost revenues while turning down no cash.

The world is full of misinformation. I’ve got a guy who e-mails me every day from the right wing perspective. He said the Obamas were disbarred. HUH? I’d never heard that, so I go to Snopes, I Google, and it turns out they went inactive. I WENT INACTIVE! I can practice law tomorrow, all I’ve got to do is contact the State Bar, but I went inactive because I didn’t want to keep up with the b.s. continuing education courses, just like the Obamas. If I go active, I’ve got to get the “education,” and since I’m not now practicing law and have no desire to…

Just like the Obamas.

There are experts testifying to this fact all over the web.

But the right wing websites… They continue to perpetrate the myth, even when confronted with the truth, that’s right, the Obamas turned in their law licenses before they were gonna lose them, BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE!

But it doesn’t matter.

That’s the world we live in, not only do we argue about facts, people just make them up.

And if you think there are two sides…

They’re not the ones you think they are.

It’s not corporations versus bleeding heart liberals…

It’s the left behind racists versus millennials worried about their future.

And on one hand we’ve got Trump lying, every time he opens his mouth, just pick up a paper that’s not the WSJ or stop watching Fox News, and on the other…

A group of people who have been incited by Trump, who’ve been awoken by him, and are now standing up for a different opinion.

It’s kinda like 1964 and the British Invasion. We were completely asleep, and then we found a new way of looking at things.

It’s not like the MTV revolution, which was about establishing a monoculture and monetizing, it’s about ideas and culture and…

All the things music used to represent.

I want to believe, and you do too.

But the acts refuse to take a side, refuse to lead, until it’s way too late.

No one leads the charge.

What’s worse is they don’t do it in their music.

Now this is where the faux leaders come out to protest they’ve got the hit, just like porn stars run for office. They want the attention, but they don’t have the goods.

Meanwhile, I tune in “Hannity” and it’s like a Nazi rally, USA!, USA! I wouldn’t want to be there, you don’t want to be a victim of the mob.

Not that the left is perfect, Ilhan Omar’s tweets evidence anti-Semitism that she apologized for, and this is not the first time, but at least Democrats did not rally around her racism, like Trump did in Charlottesville. It’s the ones who remain silent we have to worry about. You’ve got to take a stand, we need sunlight, but we live in a world where the President won’t agree to release the Mueller report. What, is this a game show? “Deal Or No Deal”? I’ve paid my taxes, I’m entitled to that report, unlike the fat cat corporations who got all their foreign money back and still don’t pay the rate that I do.

And that’s the story of today too, the lack of influence of corporations.

Sure, they align with Trump. But traditional Republicans want nothing to do with the man. And the truth is the rank and file who voted for Trump don’t want the corporations and their values.

Did you read Krugman’s article on Howard Schultz? Mr. Starbucks can’t win because almost no one is a financial conservative and a social liberal, they make up only 4% of the electorate, the truly rich who want us to believe they know, but they don’t.

Check it out:

“The Empty Quarters of U.S. Politics-Two missing species: libertarian voters and populist racist politicians.”

Don’t tell me you can’t because it’s in the “New York Times.” Isn’t that the first rule of engagement, KNOW THY ENEMY?

It’s a war of information, and most of it is free online. And if you can’t afford that which is behind a paywall, the joke is on you.

Americans are cheap, their priorities are screwed up, reinforced by politicians, what did Bush say after 9/11, SHOP?

You’re the one with the power, that’s the story of Trump, individuals count, and the seemingly impossible can happen.

But the counter-reaction to Trump is vicious. And what does he keep complaining about? He doesn’t get a fair shake in the media. Kinda like Ted Bundy complaining about the same thing, or R Kelly. Just because you think they’re out to get you, that doesn’t mean they’re not. But the truth is the major press is bending over backwards to be fair, but Trump is such a wackadoodle.

But this is not about the press, this is about you.

Never forget, most of the press missed Trump.

But unless you’re one of the 4% who are rich and economically conservative and socially liberal, things aren’t adding up for you these days. You feel powerless in the din.

But don’t.

We thought the tech companies were leaders, but they’re just mercenaries, with no soul.

But walking the earth these days are people like Beto and Bernie. You listen to them and they make sense, they inspire you.

There’s something happening here.

What it is ain’t exactly clear.

But after the shuttering of Pandora’s Box and the Sunset Strip riots the youth took over.

Now musicians are scalping their own tickets at the arena, pissed they’re not getting paid enough.

Wake up and realize we’re living in exciting times. We’re fighting for not only the soul of our country, but the meaning of life. Should he or she with the most toys win in the end? Is this a false concept? What is important, health care or keeping out immigrants?

You get to decide.

And people are fighting for your attention.

Some of them are inspiring, some of them are worth listening to.

They’re standing up and making a difference.

WHERE ARE YOU?

[from http://bit.ly/2k9aO1A]

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