Have we always lived in clownworld? - aka 'where did everything go wrong'

[TFT-A9]

Yes, imagine that Michigan and Ohio went to war at one point. In WWI there were generals that refused to believe modern weaponry changed the face of war.

French generals, who would order bayonet charges at German machine gun emplacements. The fact that some French soldiers apparently did this proves that they had more balls than brains.

 

[Blobby's Murder Knife]

French generals, who would order bayonet charges at German machine gun emplacements. The fact that some French soldiers apparently did this proves that they had more balls than brains.

It was so massively fucked from the Battle of Liege on down.

 

[TFT-A9]

It was so massively fucked from the Battle of Liege on down.

Also the obsession with cran and wearing those red pants. The French really, REALLY wanted to look like the biggest hardasses on the continent.

 

[Billy Beer]

I thought that the order to fix bayonettes and walk across no man's land, was to waste the ammo of the Germans?

 

[Taylor Swift's Ghostwrite]

Real answer: as boomer as it sounds, the reason things seem so crazy now is social media has both allowed people to reach each other easily and block one another. It creates niche echo chambers, as well as groups that normally couldn't organize because of distance.

It also lets us see things quicker, which of course is going to cause faster reactions with less thought behind them.

Conspiracy answer: 2013 (I think, didn't bother checking the year again so I might be remembering wrong) the Higgs-boson particle was observed and quantum fuckery happened. We crossed into a different timeline.

 

[benis154262]

Sometimes I feel like the conspiracy theorists were right and the world really did end in 2012. Things really went full circus mode in 2017 or so, but 2012 was when the seeds were planted.

It was so massively fucked from the Battle of Liege on down.

Not related to anything but the album in your profile pic is good. You ever listen to Kekht Arakh?

 

[Captain Wetbeard]

Clownworld is the realization of Poe's Law, it's a product of post-modernism.
Irony has poisoned sincerity, and it has been common practice to LARP as one's political opponents to strawman them for quite some time.
The problem is that people see the strawman and agree with it, adopting the strawman's arguments and turning parody into reality.
This is one of the major causes of all political groups becoming nonsensical and radicalizing at an exponentially increasing speed.
Poe's Law is now in effect, parody and sincerity are indistinguishable and there really isn't any way back from that.
TLDR: Irony has doomed us all to clownworld.

 

[PaleTay]

It's interesting, if you go back even a few years to 2017/2018 you'll see people like JR Smith get a lot of hate for killing his friend driving drunk and continuing to drive drunk/recklessly whenever he was brought up, part of it is censorship but there's a ideological shift that happened in the past few years that judges people who are offensive far more harshly than criminals.

 

[ReturnedHermit]

Ooh a Necro thread. I'll avoid quoting.

ArnoldPalmer - good post, if a little defeatist. Captures that dejected, yet thoughtful, Iraq war vet angle in a pleasant way.
Haim - nearly writes my posts for me, but in this case I think the point was lost in the prose. Definitely "gets" clown world.
TFT-A9 - The lvl 1 rookie with their whole life ahead of them.
Taylor Swift's Ghostwriter - I expected more of a blogpost.
Wetbeard - Based, and DFW-pilled. I envy how concise you were able to make all that. A little 'bottom-up' for my tastes, but maybe that is the sign of a fresh academic.

Clown world is:
1.) Infinite Jest, if you want a masterclass.
2.) Trying and failing (for years) to give a bathroom mirror pep talk before work.
3.) The recent Jerma985 Sims performance piece. Highly recommend.
4. The opposite of To Kill A Mockingbird, but playing out every day.
5. The individual being made part of something without a way to make it a part of themself.
And so on, and so on.

To compare historical events to Clownworld is a little dishonest, if you ask me. Maybe Randall is just coping, maybe they're just testing a hypothesis. To take a list of history's "Don't Make These Mistakes Again" level events and compare that list to today's events generally-speaking for the purpose of saying: nothing much has changed, is obviously flawed. The virtual world is a safe haven for countless Tulip Crises, each engineered and modeled to data-driven perfection.

With regard to WW1, Taiping Rebellion, and the other wars mentioned I don't see the comparison. Where is the blood being spilled these days? How does an industrial revolution resulting in the rapid obsolescence of 50-90% of your population's primary skill-set compare? The Taiping situation was a series of rebellions against an ancient moral order during a period they themselves refer to as the Century of Humiliation. I think we are well on our way to a similar situation here in the west. Clownworld might be the individual's experience of a global Century of Humiliation, but that's not the point you've made. If a guy wants to call himself a divine being and propose solutions to present problems, I'm willing to listen so long as they have good ideas. Having faith and believing in a cause to the point you would sacrifice your life for it (or do genocide for it) is not Clownworld at all.

We have always been flawed. The problem with the world today is we see our flaws in excruciating detail, but the solutions remain as difficult as ever to reach. In some cases, we are compelled to celebrate a flaw and told that it is the best solution. In other cases, the solution is forbidden for fear of doing harm. We have always been flawed, but we have always drawn inspiration and strength from the journeys we experience to correct those flaws. Clownworld is the denial of this process, and we all wonder why that is. The harder you look, the more obvious it becomes that there is no good reason. In fact, the only reasons I've ever found were completely fucking retarded.

 

[Tree]

Ooh a Necro thread. I'll avoid quoting.

ArnoldPalmer - good post, if a little defeatist. Captures that dejected, yet thoughtful, Iraq war vet angle in a pleasant way.
Haim - nearly writes my posts for me, but in this case I think the point was lost in the prose. Definitely "gets" clown world.
TFT-A9 - The lvl 1 rookie with their whole life ahead of them.
Taylor Swift's Ghostwriter - I expected more of a blogpost.
Wetbeard - Based, and DFW-pilled. I envy how concise you were able to make all that. A little 'bottom-up' for my tastes, but maybe that is the sign of a fresh academic.

Clown world is:
1.) Infinite Jest, if you want a masterclass.
2.) Trying and failing (for years) to give a bathroom mirror pep talk before work.
3.) The recent Jerma985 Sims performance piece. Highly recommend.
4. The opposite of To Kill A Mockingbird, but playing out every day.
5. The individual being made part of something without a way to make it a part of themself.
And so on, and so on.

To compare historical events to Clownworld is a little dishonest, if you ask me. Maybe Randall is just coping, maybe they're just testing a hypothesis. To take a list of history's "Don't Make These Mistakes Again" level events and compare that list to today's events generally-speaking for the purpose of saying: nothing much has changed, is obviously flawed. The virtual world is a safe haven for countless Tulip Crises, each engineered and modeled to data-driven perfection.

With regard to WW1, Taiping Rebellion, and the other wars mentioned I don't see the comparison. Where is the blood being spilled these days? How does an industrial revolution resulting in the rapid obsolescence of 50-90% of your population's primary skill-set compare? The Taiping situation was a series of rebellions against an ancient moral order during a period they themselves refer to as the Century of Humiliation. I think we are well on our way to a similar situation here in the west. Clownworld might be the individual's experience of a global Century of Humiliation, but that's not the point you've made. If a guy wants to call himself a divine being and propose solutions to present problems, I'm willing to listen so long as they have good ideas. Having faith and believing in a cause to the point you would sacrifice your life for it (or do genocide for it) is not Clownworld at all.

We have always been flawed. The problem with the world today is we see our flaws in excruciating detail, but the solutions remain as difficult as ever to reach. In some cases, we are compelled to celebrate a flaw and told that it is the best solution. In other cases, the solution is forbidden for fear of doing harm. We have always been flawed, but we have always drawn inspiration and strength from the journeys we experience to correct those flaws. Clownworld is the denial of this process, and we all wonder why that is. The harder you look, the more obvious it becomes that there is no good reason. In fact, the only reasons I've ever found were completely fucking retarded.

It only takes a willingness to consider the taboo and a little digging to start finding (((reasons))). I don't mean to sound like all the problems of the world are caused by them, but clown world in particular is explained by intentional disintegration of cultural sensibilities, individualization, and commodification which, even if not explicitly coordinated, would not be taking place at the pace or scale it has if it weren't for the power this natural outsider was able to command towards their own self interest in this last century. I think they are also deliberately malicious, but that isn't even necessary to accept to see that the natural incentives of rootless cosmopolitans align with what has induced clown world.

 

[Troonologist PhD]

It only takes a willingness to consider the taboo and a little digging to start finding (((reasons))). I don't mean to sound like all the problems of the world are caused by them, but clown world in particular is explained by intentional disintegration of cultural sensibilities, individualization, and commodification which, even if not explicitly coordinated, would not be taking place at the pace or scale it has if it weren't for the power this natural outsider was able to command towards their own self interest in this last century. I think cultural organisms, and individuals in them, are also deliberately malicious, but that isn't even necessary to accept to see that the natural incentives of rootless cosmopolitans align with what has induced clown world.

Something to remember is that (((They))) are not the only rootless cosmopolitans that crush us underfoot and they never have been. The upper crust has always been a nation onto itself. Our greatest enemies are our own ruling class and the insects who would be overseers. Before they were limited by the fear of being damned to Hellfire and lack of technology but now there's literally nothing in this world stopping them from doing whatever they want.

 

[Strong Tomato]

I blame Gamergate.

 

[PetrifiedTom]

Since butlers stopped ironing the newspaper it went downhill.

 

[Ishtar]

I honestly wonder if mass consumerism combined with the decline of any sort of stable rooted identity has led to people feeling empty and confused and thus embracing all sorts of madness to give their own existence meaning.

To put it in more personalized terms, everyone asks “who am I?” “To whom or what do I belong?”

Well the church is declining, local identity is gone, provincial identity is gone and national identity is not strong among the most connected.

So people need some sort of consumer identity-whether that be a fandom, or even a political party(mass party politics of the early 20th century is no more).

Transgenderism I think in particular comes from a lack of a stable identity-and the ongoing dissolution of stable gender roles.*

*This might sound a little SJW but I do think that high standards of masculinity, and feminity-the James Bond/Arnold Schwarzenegger/Gigachad meme and the Kim Kardashian/Super model/10 out of ten sexy ideal is somewhat responsible. Because most people will never measure up to these media promoted ideals. They find themselves miserable and depressed and so can no longer identity as a sex that simply doesn’t reflect what society tells them what that means that they themselves don’t reflect.

An autistic nerdy guy who knows he will never be some sort of Casanova chad, sees messaging about how women can just snake confidently through life, while he stumbles and struggles to keep a job, maintain the barest social connections, and pay the bills on time. and asks implicitly or explicitly “maybe I’m just not a man, maybe, maybe I could have a happier more fulfilling life if I chopped my dick off”, or a woman who will never get the attention or respect of her male peers, sees the success and higher accolades men get, and says to herself “I’m never going to be an ideal woman, I don’t measure up to what E News and grocery store magazines are telling me women should be, maybe I should be a man, I played soccer in school and like the outdoors, so maybe I’m not really a woman”.

In that sense, tranny ism is a natural byproduct of social expectations that are not driven by local communitarian support or benediction but by atomization that interacts with media imagery and concepts. In a healthier traditional society-men and women have set roles, that they can see in their day to day lives, so they aren’t left with this crippling anxiety about their identity.**

**apologize for the ramble, that’s just my personal theory on troonism.

As for other aspects of clone world, a lot of it comes down to the fact that modern or postmodern society is as maddening as it is comfortable. People stew away online or in their own minds, losing any sense of what is real or healthy. Yet their base needs are met, food, shelter, and the like-so questions of identity and one’s value and meaning become unshakable.

Atomization, too much comfort, and a breakdown of what “should be” is responsible for a lot of it. That said, I think NGOs, academic and media activism, and also conscious government policy(directed by (((powers))) behind the scenes) also are crucial for the current state of the world today.

 

[StarDreamer2002]

Stupid people who do stupid things have always existed and never ever has something stopped them from becoming rich, famous and powerful. It's just that due to advances in information technology we get a better view of how dumb they are and due to nostalgia we view the past through rose-tinted glasses.

Though arguably it became much much worse during the past decade. I mean, like, 15 years ago, they'd laughed you out if you'd say something like e/em/erself are <<your pronouns>> and White people voicing Black videogame characters is racist while a man saying he's a woman is like totally legit.

 

[DerKryptid]

Clownworld started when Adam thought pussy was better than eternal salvation

 

[Ishtar]

Clownworld started when Adam thought pussy was better than eternal salvation

To be fair, unlike most of humanity he genuinely didn’t know any better,

 

[Dom Cruise]

Real answer: as boomer as it sounds, the reason things seem so crazy now is social media has both allowed people to reach each other easily and block one another. It creates niche echo chambers, as well as groups that normally couldn't organize because of distance.

It also lets us see things quicker, which of course is going to cause faster reactions with less thought behind them.

Conspiracy answer: 2013 (I think, didn't bother checking the year again so I might be remembering wrong) the Higgs-boson particle was observed and quantum fuckery happened. We crossed into a different timeline.

Sometimes I feel like the conspiracy theorists were right and the world really did end in 2012. Things really went full circus mode in 2017 or so, but 2012 was when the seeds were planted.

Not related to anything but the album in your profile pic is good. You ever listen to Kekht Arakh?

I take this shit very seriously, the whole Mayan 2012, Higgs Boson type thing.

It makes me uncomfortable, but it seems like too much to be a coincidence, it genuinely seems like something screwy happened with reality, how else do you explain just how bizarre people are these days?

And how do you explain that the date 2012 was significant to the Mayans and it does seem like 2012 is when all this started? It beggars belief to think it's just a coincidence, but what does it all really mean?

When you think back to the past it really does seem like it's an entirely different universe, all I know is the world of 2015 and below was a very different place and I miss it.

 

[cummytummies]

For most of history people have lived in homogenous societies with shared common values. Maybe metropolitan city centers have always been clown world, that would make sense, but opening the floodgates of cultural exchange (i.e. blasting everyone with American propaganda for a century) has definitely made the world clownier for everybody.

 

[Syaoran Li]

We've always lived in times of mass psychosis and collective stupidity but the forms change with the times.

"Current Year" is just a particularly harsh form of it because modern technology makes it more up front, more apparent, and louder than ever.

The fact that our corporate overlords benefit from this zeitgeist since it keeps us plebs divided and at each others throats does not help matters either.