In May of 2018, five US warships made a “friendship” visit to Da Nang. On shore, the 7th Fleet Band entertained. When a petty officer, Emily Kershaw, belted out Trịnh Công Sơn’s “Nối vòng tay lớn” [“Linking Many Arms”], some onlookers were moved to tears. No one can charm like Uncle Sam.
Pointing a gun at the head can (sometimes) change even the most obdurate hearts and minds. But that failed to convince the Vietnamese. The Pentagon failed to consider how some people prefer death to their loss of freedom and autonomy.
Instead of William Calley now we'll send them Lady Gaga (or her surrogate, as in the above video). Lady Gaga being currently in-disposable, locked in the lo in lo-lo land.
"When he didn’t respond, I suspected he only had the dimmest ideas who they were. Nhất Linh was Vietnam’s leading novelist."
I once was discussing politics with an American deep thinker. I mentioned 1984 and she asked what made that year so special. When I specified the book, she admitted she had never heard of it. I don't think we realize the number of people walking around who never read anything besides empty braindead fiction if anything.
If I were to advise young Americans about the few books they must read two of the books would be Orwell's "1984" and Huxley's "Brave New World." Sometimes it adds to one's understanding to read about dystopias to understand how one is living in one. (And please don't get me wrong; I can get all the food and liquor I need or want. It's just the cheapest stuff consumed amid squalor which is all I can afford.) As in "Brave New World" there is plenty of "Soma" to keep the stiffs stiff.
I always thought the reason '1984' was required reading for so many US high school students was to put socialism in the worst possible light. Notice the differences between the dystopia portrayed in that book and the actual dystopia we inhabit. For starters, the astute reader may notice there is not a single corporation or commercial advertisement mentioned in Orwell's dated "masterpiece".
Also, surveillance today under the transnational regime is far more insidious and pervasive than in that book, though batons, shock sticks, and fire extinguishers up the anus are favoured over rat face-cages.
I believe you are correct about the book "1984" being an argument against socialism (among other things) and authoritarianism in general. And, indeed, Orwell couldn't have imagined the level of surveillance we are subject to today with every page we visit on the internet tracked by some corporate-government algorithm.
My idea of "Big Brother" is more Silicon Valley mogul type Peter Theil (acting under DARPA direction) or Bill Gates than some faceless government bureaucrat.
I haven't (nor has anyone I'm aware of) lauded Orwell as a perfect prophet of a dystopia. What I do credit him for was to anticipate that it could happen and then to openly write (an imperfect) book about it when most people where proclaiming "it can't happen here" or burying their heads in the sands of an idealized corporate-capitalism. (Remember "What's good for GM is good for America"? As said by , I believe, Charles Wilson then CEO of GM and major instigator of the war in Vietnam.)
Perhaps an even better book about Western style dsytopia might be Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". Instead of examining an entire society Sinclair looks at the misery of one (immigrant) man slowly and inexorably destroyed by working-class American society despite his best efforts to conform to the rules and succeed. Where Orwell relied on sweeping generalizations (through the lens of Winston Smith) Sinclair Lewis focused on the life of one individual, Jurgen, a Latvian immigrant.
What is the preferred way to show a shift to irony? Emojis seem to have replaced cumbersome typographic smileys :>) But I know one "deep thinker" who has banned emoji usage from his comments section. Gotta respect that kind of prosaic gravitas! Then there's the "quotation marks" alternative. It's just that employing irony is not quoting verbatim, almost the opposite. Yet somewhere along the line intending unusual connotations became sufficient grounds for employing those mysterious inverted commas.
This is all part of the challenge of having textual conversations vs. face-to-face, where you can communicate such subtleties via facial expressions, voice tone, or gesture. Those of us who were born and grew up in the pre-Internet age often struggle with this (which BTW, is a partial explanation for my selection of avatar!).
Your animated avatar is obscured by some green design here in the comments section. Only now have I seen it in its full gory. You must be more IT savvy than me to employ such technical sophistication.
Formerly textual conversations usually meant letter writing, long hand, cursive exchanges. Irony had to be indicated w/o short cut signaling. Always challenging.
My Cyclo driver and I in Saigon 1971 had a great night as we snuck around the white mice { Saigon's cops } and I showed him that I had an open blue alcohol card, good, for 2 casses of beer and a couple bottles of whisky and wine I think., from the PX. . After we loaded up the front seat , he pedaled his ass away with me and our black market stash, and began selling it at various spots he knew. We had a great time while I drank beer and he did the bartering . In the end he dropped me off at a place he knew i'd like, and in the morning he showed up in order to take me to army trucks headed to Tan son Nhut , where I hitched slick back to Vinh Long. I don't know how much we made but he did very good and we had a hell of good time. True story Linh - I never lie about what happened in Nam - there's never a reason to, in this last chapter of life.
I occasionally have conversations with my brother in Canada who has been my good friend his entire life. I asked him how many covid jabs he has had. He wasnt sure but around six. Then brushed aside any negatvity about them from me as if it were a matter of opinion, not fact, and he was bridging the gap between these opinions. I was astonished, thinking all the harm they have done is a matter of public record. Apparently not.
Here in The States (am I correct in my understanding you are in Australia, Ms. Drew?) the official "public record" is that the vaccines are wonderful.
From the information I personally have gathered over the last few years (and this is my imperfect collection of data) the Covid vaccines are at best worthless in protecting against Covid and a vastly enriching money making ploy by the pharmaceutical industry. And at worst a positively harmful poison that has maimed, sickened and killed millions.
When the pandemic was at its height the federal government was spending hundred of billions of tax payer dollars to pay pharmaceutical companies in the range of $120 per dose for the vaccine. That put what had been hundreds of billions (of dollars) of what had been the public's money into the private pockets of Big Pharma executives and shareholders. To my mind this scam was not unlike the 2008 financial crisis that put billions of tax payer (public) monies into the pockets of Wall Street banks.
When a capitalist society's economic system "matures" and thus slows in growth (to less than three percent a year as the U.S's has for about 25 years now), the capitalists and financiers will find other schemes to take the wealth of the middle and lower classes. The covid "crisis" was just the latest such scheme (and scam) and it won't be the last.
Dr. Mark Crispen Miller, an esteemed, much published professor of Media Studies and Propaganda at New York University had his tenure revoked because of his outspoken criticism of the Covid vaccines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Crispin_Miller
Needless to say Wikipedia (in the above article/entry) would smear his reputation. The Silicon Valley High-Tech companies (under the supervision or rule of the Pentagon and DARPA) are some of the most corrupt capitalist enterprises in America among a vast sea of corruption Not to mention the pharmaceutical companies. (Remember the Vioxx scandal years before Covid in which the Vioxx drug was sold to the public as a "pain reliever" while the manufacturer knew it would kill a certain percentage of users. Apparently the "cost-benefit analysis" said that the profits from the sale of Vioxx would more than compensate for the wrongful death lawsuits the manufacturer would face. "Where were the regulators?" One might ask. You tell me. Probably bought and paid for by Big Pharma is my guess.
Yes, correct, living in Australia for a very long time. The reason I thought the Covid vaccines had been discredited generally was the very low uptake rate of the latest boosters. But not wanting to have another one perhaps does not equate to realising you have done irreparable harm to your body. Of course the official public record will never admit anything else as long as they could be up for restitution if the vaccines they insisted on resulted in harm.
Your cockroach story leads me to think your housing woes have yet to be resolved.
Could I add to your comments about the poison jabs? I would direct your attention to Dr Bryan Ardis DC who has uncovered some unusual facts about the Covid vaccine. You can find an interview with him on Rumble called Antidote but he appears in other places as well. He is well worth a look. Dr Judy Mikovits also has backed up his thesis.
Thank you for the "heads up" about Dr. Bryan Ardis.
I am hoping my housing situation will be dramatically improving within the next month or two thanks to the intervention of a sympathetic social worker who made a concerted effort to get me into some half way decent public housing. Without her assistance and intervention, on my own, I would have been at the back of a waiting list and would probably have died of old-age in this roach infested dump had not this person intervened on my behalf.
I'm contemplating writing a book (or at least a long article) on the utterly deplorable conditions of housing available to the poor in America (the United States). I have lived for short periods in both Mexico and the Philippines and low income housing is not even close to being as bad as it is here in The States. (And I'm paying "an arm and a leg" to my slumlord landlady because until now I had nowhere else to turn. The slum lords get you coming and going. Because they know people like me have [until the intervention of this social worker] no where else to go. )
Many countries (even so-called "third world" countries like Mexico and the Philippines) pay at least a modicum of respect to the 1948 UN document "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" in which decent, affordable, reasonably clean and sanitary (I paraphrase) housing is available to all of a country's citizens. Needless to say the United States never signed on to that document.
In America housing is not a "human right." It is in fact seen as a source of profits for housing buyer speculators who buy up housing and then monopolistically raise rents knowing tenants have nowhere else to turn.
The notorious hedge fund Black Rock is the latest practitioner of this dark art of ripping off and immiserating the poor. Black Rock bought up much of U.S. housing supplies after the 2008 Financial Crisis (which Black Rock partially caused along with the Wall Street Banks; but that's another story for another day).
Housing in this country for the poor is beyond a disgrace. It is a human rights violation. You're probably aware of the recent Supreme Court decision that essentially made homelessness a crime in which cities and municipalities can now sweep the homeless off the streets (disposing of the few belongings they might have retained) even if such homeless people have no recourse and nowhere to go. And fine them and eventually imprison them (perhaps in George W. Bush like internment camps) where they can be forced into de facto slavery.
The homeless situation (with the absolute numbers of people living on the street) is staggering. I've personally witnessed, what used to be called during the 1930s Great Depression, "Hoovervilles" in which entire towns of homeless encampments line city streets in Sacramento and San Diego, California. Some have claimed this is the main reason California governor Gavin Newsom was not picked by Harris for VP. He has done an absolutely abysmal job of addressing the problem in California. Despite billions of dollars being allotted by the state legislature to ostensibly address the problem. (Gee, I wonder where all that money went?!) Some speculate this is why Harris failed to pick Newsom as her running mate. His utter failure to act as a competent chief executive over California shows him to be an utterly failed politician and public executive.
Neither Newsom nor anyone else will address the REAL cause of homelessness in this country: exponentially rising rents and cost of living because no government entity will cap rents. And wages which have been essentially stagnant against inflation for over 40 years now. (Despite California's belated rise in the minimum wage a few months ago; too little, too late.) Exponentially rising rents + stagnant wages over 40 years = social catastrophe.
There is a profound (and criminal in my opinion) lack of affordable housing in this country because the federal government refuses to intervene and a) cap rents and b) build more housing. Just another (among many) reason(s) the U.S. is a "failed state" right up there with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and South Sudan. (Gee, why is it everywhere we intervene nations fail to serve their people? Gee wiz, I wonder why; maybe it's 'cus I'm eatin' the Wonder Bread and drinkin' the Kool-Aid not to mention scarfing down the Hostess Twinkies.It's amazing what a little [or in this case a lot of] capitalism will do for 'ya.) Oh yea. I almost forgot: "Have a nice day; and thank you for shopping at Walmart".
Tom--Perhaps asking the obvious, but have you ever considered moving to a more affordable part of the US? If I understand correctly, you are living in Bridgeport CT, which, being close to NYC, is a particularly high cost of living area of the country. (And as you have observed, not particularly pleasant, either.)
I live in coastal California, where housing costs are obscene, but fortunately, I can still manage it. If I could not, I would head inland, where things are much less expensive. "Flyover country" is full of decent places to live that many people of modest means can still afford.
I will resist the temptation to comment on the wretched mismanagement of California by its state government. It seems like a clear majority here deplore the manner in which vast sums are thrown at problems like homelessness and crime, to little effect. Yet, that same "clear majority" elected the people who are doing it.
If memory serves me I have commented here about looking into the possibility of moving to less expensive parts of the country. Living in the deep south, I learned, is about half the rental cost of living here in Connecticut.
Just as I was about ready to move south I got in touch with a social worker in Connecticut who got me into public housing. That is the only way I afford to live in my home state, the state I was born in 67 years ago.
I have also mentioned here (with Mr. Dinh's kind patience and indulgence) my short moves to Mexico and the Philippines which are unbelievably inexpensive compared to the U.S. (One can rent a one bedroom apartment in the Philippines for less than $100 U.S. dollars; a small fraction of the cost of a one bedroom apt. in Connecticut.)
But what I've also mentioned here is, generally, unless one has a LOT of money to transfer into the country Americans are NOT welcome. And it is a two dimensional problem. On the one hand Americans are often not welcome by the natives. Xenophobia seems to be universal human trait. And one can be greeted by four or five friendly natives only to have the sixth glare at you with hatred which for timorous folk like me is enough to ruin my day. On the other hand foreign governments often bend over backwards to get Americans out of the country once they have squandered all their money on tourist purchases and nick-naks over their two week vacation welcome period. After that Visa limitations and restrictions put the American in fear of spending the rest of his (perhaps short) life inside a windowless, dank room off the Manila International Airport being interrogated by a couple of burly Filipino thuggish guys who want to know just exactly what the hell are you doing in their country anyway?
Wanting to retire to your home state is an understandable motivation for wanting to stay. I saw your recent comment about getting into public housing, which is almost certainly going to be an improvement for you.
I think relocating to a foreign land would present several challenges. First of all, unless you can speak the native language reasonably fluently, you will always be an outsider. Then there is the question of whether or not you would even be welcome (as you mention). I have wondered if negative feelings about expatriates might not be even stronger for Americans in particular, depending on the place, given our spotty history in certain foreign lands.
Your mention of the way in which talking politics is done reminds me of an encounter I had back during the Trump presidency. I was giving away a small “garderer’s greenhouse”, and the man who showed up to take it was an Iranian immigrant that had been here in the US many years. We talked awhile, and it quickly became obvious that he was well-educated and intelligent. As we made general observations to one another, we eventually strayed into politics, and then, almost imperceptibly, this little verbal dance started as we felt each other out gingerly while continuing, until at some magic moment we silently confirmed to our mutual satisfaction that we were unlikely to give offense to one another. At that point, the conversation became much more free and open. But I remember a time when you didn’t have to go through that little dance.
Regarding the reason(s) South Vietnam lost, I’m pretty much with you, although I’m a bit regretful that it took me so long to start figuring that out. One can only wonder what Vietnam and Korea would be like today if human events had taken their course without outside interference, and there had not been such long and destructive wars.
I don’t know how true it is, but I remember reading years ago that former President Ky landed on his feet in the US, and ended up owning and running a liquor store in Orange County CA.
Of all the quotes posted at Café Rio, I’d have to say the Jack Ma quote is by far the most insightful if you realize that it is not just about getting rich.
Nguyen Cao Ky's daughter became just as famous co-hosting a variety show, Paris by Night. Despite its name, most episodes were filmed in Las Vegas. Vietnamese do shit like that.
Conflicts among Vietnamese existed long before the Americans got there. Uncle Sam is very good at exploiting these divisions for his own end. Consider the Hmongs. The CIA worked with them, then dumped them.
Suicide rates among young Hmongs in the US are obscene. These people would prefer to be left alone in the hills, but now, many are rapping in Minnesota, Montana or California, or in US jails.
One winter, after being unceremoniously "layed off" from my job in Sacramento due to the periodic "budget cuts" that would routinely sweep through the system like the scythe of the grim reaper. Having lost my apartment, an acquaintance allowed me to sleep in his garage for the winter which are surprisingly cold and damp in California's Central Valley.
A very kind and compassionate guy who lived across the street from the garage I was sleeping in brought over an expensive sleeping bag one night as winter approached knowing I had nothing to sleep in in an unheated garage. This young man's name was "Long", pronounce more like lung than the English long. He was of Hmong origin although he had come here at a young enough age to have become thoroughly "Americanized."
He and his brother "LA" would spend their weekends and whatever time they had for themselves fishing and hunting. One day they had caught a good size sturgeon in the Sacramento River and Long brought over a big portion for me for my dinner. It was some of the tastiest fish I have ever had.
But eventually Long and LA grew tired of me as did my host who had allowed me to sleep in his garage and barbecue on his back porch ( just so I never entered his house) and I was told to leave.
It is tough (to say the least) being a rejected outsider and object of contempt and derision in the country one was born in.
Pushing 60 now, I am encouraged to have a vision of my bright future as a cyclo driver. Hopefully Vietnam won't criminalise homelessness as the USA has done recently, as the vehicle will of course need to double as my house. Good tip about the mosquito lotion!
When in the Philippines in January of this year my last act in the country was to hail down a "trike" driver to take me the final two miles to the airport.
The old guy who stopped for me (after other drivers passed me up) was about 75 I would estimate and I couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't retired with at least a modest pension?
Arriving at the airport I asked him the fare. He indicated 40 (Philippine) pesos. That's about 80 cents U.S. I gave him a 500 peso note and told him to keep it because I appreciated that he had stopped for me. I hope the old guy can afford to retire soon.
Yeah I have no idea what my social security will look like assuming I live long enough to collect. If I can collect, I expect Uncle Sam to welch on the deal at some point. My meagre 401k was drained decades ago. I don't particularly want to retire to Asia but here in Ireland? Fuggedaboudit...
By the way you can begin to collect early Social Security at, I think, 62 or so and in some cases even earlier.
One BIG bit of advice: If you go to your Social Security office and they turn you away on your first visit, Do NOT give up! Go back until you get a sympathetic worker who will assist you.
On the encouragement of my boss at the time, I went to Social Security at about age 62 and was turned down (by a rather smug pr*ck). I resigned myself to just waiting a few years until I turned 65. I told my boss what happened and he insisted I go back. Feeling it would be nothing but an empty gesture I did go back and a wonderfully nice young (Asian Indian -- not that means anything -- ) American woman was so kind. She spent hours sending messages and making calls to see that I could get some benefits and she assured me that when I turned 65 I would get full benefits which I did, at least somewhat. Unfortunately for me many of my jobs over my working life never paid into the Social Security fund (just as they never provided me with any medical coverage as part of the stripping away of worker benefits in America over the last 40 years) so I feel fortunate I got as much in SS benefits as I am getting now. Contrary to the general tide of America over the past 40 odd years, there seem to be some compassionate people working within the SS administration who see no good reason why elderly, retired Americans should have to suffer penury and poverty in their old age.
So, if you don't mind being frugal, you will get enough to survive with even at least a modicum of extra comforts affordable.
I live in the cheapest apartment I could find in Ireland and am happy with a library card, something in the fridge or cupboards, and a day off. So frugal I can do. Interesting about SS I'll keep those tips in mind! I maxed out my SS payments for years but also had many years where nothing went into it. My best guess is I'll qualify for perhaps 2/3 of the max (whatever that turns out to be).
I recall a story a few years back of a guy who just couldn't make it to his qualification age so he robbed a bank of $1 and waited for the cops to arrive so he could be locked up and have food and a bed. Americans: forever innovative.
I'm sure he must have gotten a mandatory minimum of 20 years. Don't mess with banks.
I just began to receive my full Social Security pension about a year ago and while it is not lavish I can live off of it. I've been frugal by necessity all my life so it doesn't bother me to continue to be so.
Virtually every night I say a prayer of thanks to FDR and his Brain Trusters like Francis Perkins and Adolph Bearle. Not to mention John Maynard Keynes. Without them I would be dead now. No question about it. They gave me a few more years of life. God only knows the capitalists (The "real owners of the country" as George Carlin used to say, may he rest in peace) would have me dead now that I'm over 65.
Remember the movie "Logan's Run"? Well, that's me. Running.
Speaking of capitalists, the trite, hackneyed platitude bromides that Mr. Dinh quotes in his current essay (above) from the like of Bill Gates and Jack Ma and other's of that ilk are what you get when a society is run by people focused on money. These types are good at making money but they are not philosophers and they are not necessarily good human beings. The fact that our society idolizes such mediocrities is a dark stain on our culture and society.
In the Philippines the majority mode of transportation is the "trike." This is a small motorcycle (I'm sort of assuming with a two piston engine, I don't really know) with an added side car that can carry four or five people or maybe two big, fat Americans, that is unbelievably loud. When the majority of traffic on city streets consists of these 'trikes" the noise is deafening. By comparison the noise of big cars and SUVs in America is almost soothingly quiet. Except for the occasional testosterone poisoned 'punk' driving his muffler-less hot rod. Street noise in the Philippines is appalling (at least to me).
I've got a (perhaps half-baked) theory as to how the Philippines are still essentially a medieval like personal fiefdom run for the benefit of a few rich, well-connected crime families such as the Marcos and the Aquinos in which the ostensible "citizens" are given just enough "freedom" to avoid non-governmental international organization intervention for nation wide human rights violations by the ruling families. One might recall how former president Dutarte had alleged "illegal drug smugglers" summarily executed by police. (I sometimes feel lucky I flew out of Manila without the authorities finding planted drugs in my luggage or on my person.)
Also, while I'm on the topic, Philippine drivers are unbelievably, incomprehensibly bad! They run stop signs with impunity (Outside of Manila and Cebu City there are essentially no traffic lights because, apparently, the government won't spend money on them. It was the same in Mexico). Not only do drivers routinely run stop signs, they drive on the wrong side of the road with impunity and I saw motor scooters at night driving with absolutely no lights let alone a headlight! (And there are few street lights.) I was almost hit from behind by some idiot driving down the wrong side of the street. And if one is foolish enough to think Philippine drivers yield to pedestrians one would be badly deluded and I've got a grave stone I can sell you (or your survivors) real cheap. With the pre-engraved epitaph, "Died in the Philippines (and not in bed next to a Philippina)" Oh, oh. I think Mr. Dinh is going to ban me for that one, tasteless as it is. But then if nothing else, I'm all about bad taste in humor.
Ha. Seeing a guy like Hugh Hefner still chasing skirts when he was 91 years old filled me with dread. Will this damned libido never leave me alone? I doubt Hefner was unique in that way, though he was probably fairly unique in being rich and famous enough to still get some action at that point. Even that human ball-bag Rupert Murdoch is hooking up with his new wife at age 93 (she's a sprightly 67).
Reminds me of an old Irish joke: "My wish is to die in bed at 90; shot dead by a jealous wife..."
My mother's mother was Irish. Mary Tracy. Came to New York, worked hard as a domestic and eventually acquired some property. More astute than her shiftless, bone-head grandson.
(I read somewhere that the Irish surname "Tracy" was derived from Thracian. That northern portion of Greece where Alexander the Great was from. I.e. the Irish Tracys where originally from Thrace. Who knows? But considering that the Irish can't seem to pronounce the soft "T H" sound maybe there is something to that?)
Mandalay in Burma still had rickshaws when I was last there - about 23 years ago. I hear the city is infested with mainland Chinese immigrants now who have pretty much taken over the place.
For better or worse most of what I know or believe about the American war in Vietnam comes from the late Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie. He mentions cyclos and "motorcyclos", which he wrote was a "wildly dangerous" (I hope that quote is exact) version of the cyclo.
Hi everyone,
In May of 2018, five US warships made a “friendship” visit to Da Nang. On shore, the 7th Fleet Band entertained. When a petty officer, Emily Kershaw, belted out Trịnh Công Sơn’s “Nối vòng tay lớn” [“Linking Many Arms”], some onlookers were moved to tears. No one can charm like Uncle Sam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTyOH7z7hSY
Linh
America: still "winning hearts and minds" after all these years...
Pointing a gun at the head can (sometimes) change even the most obdurate hearts and minds. But that failed to convince the Vietnamese. The Pentagon failed to consider how some people prefer death to their loss of freedom and autonomy.
Instead of William Calley now we'll send them Lady Gaga (or her surrogate, as in the above video). Lady Gaga being currently in-disposable, locked in the lo in lo-lo land.
"When he didn’t respond, I suspected he only had the dimmest ideas who they were. Nhất Linh was Vietnam’s leading novelist."
I once was discussing politics with an American deep thinker. I mentioned 1984 and she asked what made that year so special. When I specified the book, she admitted she had never heard of it. I don't think we realize the number of people walking around who never read anything besides empty braindead fiction if anything.
They have to be on the "Jew York Times" Jewish-vetted bestselling list.
If I were to advise young Americans about the few books they must read two of the books would be Orwell's "1984" and Huxley's "Brave New World." Sometimes it adds to one's understanding to read about dystopias to understand how one is living in one. (And please don't get me wrong; I can get all the food and liquor I need or want. It's just the cheapest stuff consumed amid squalor which is all I can afford.) As in "Brave New World" there is plenty of "Soma" to keep the stiffs stiff.
I always thought the reason '1984' was required reading for so many US high school students was to put socialism in the worst possible light. Notice the differences between the dystopia portrayed in that book and the actual dystopia we inhabit. For starters, the astute reader may notice there is not a single corporation or commercial advertisement mentioned in Orwell's dated "masterpiece".
Also, surveillance today under the transnational regime is far more insidious and pervasive than in that book, though batons, shock sticks, and fire extinguishers up the anus are favoured over rat face-cages.
Always reminds me of this meme:
https://www.les-crises.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/fascisme-capitalisme1.jpg
I believe you are correct about the book "1984" being an argument against socialism (among other things) and authoritarianism in general. And, indeed, Orwell couldn't have imagined the level of surveillance we are subject to today with every page we visit on the internet tracked by some corporate-government algorithm.
My idea of "Big Brother" is more Silicon Valley mogul type Peter Theil (acting under DARPA direction) or Bill Gates than some faceless government bureaucrat.
I haven't (nor has anyone I'm aware of) lauded Orwell as a perfect prophet of a dystopia. What I do credit him for was to anticipate that it could happen and then to openly write (an imperfect) book about it when most people where proclaiming "it can't happen here" or burying their heads in the sands of an idealized corporate-capitalism. (Remember "What's good for GM is good for America"? As said by , I believe, Charles Wilson then CEO of GM and major instigator of the war in Vietnam.)
Perhaps an even better book about Western style dsytopia might be Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle". Instead of examining an entire society Sinclair looks at the misery of one (immigrant) man slowly and inexorably destroyed by working-class American society despite his best efforts to conform to the rules and succeed. Where Orwell relied on sweeping generalizations (through the lens of Winston Smith) Sinclair Lewis focused on the life of one individual, Jurgen, a Latvian immigrant.
This leaves me curious as to what personal qualities this person possessed to label him a "deep thinker." 😁
What is the preferred way to show a shift to irony? Emojis seem to have replaced cumbersome typographic smileys :>) But I know one "deep thinker" who has banned emoji usage from his comments section. Gotta respect that kind of prosaic gravitas! Then there's the "quotation marks" alternative. It's just that employing irony is not quoting verbatim, almost the opposite. Yet somewhere along the line intending unusual connotations became sufficient grounds for employing those mysterious inverted commas.
This is all part of the challenge of having textual conversations vs. face-to-face, where you can communicate such subtleties via facial expressions, voice tone, or gesture. Those of us who were born and grew up in the pre-Internet age often struggle with this (which BTW, is a partial explanation for my selection of avatar!).
Your animated avatar is obscured by some green design here in the comments section. Only now have I seen it in its full gory. You must be more IT savvy than me to employ such technical sophistication.
Formerly textual conversations usually meant letter writing, long hand, cursive exchanges. Irony had to be indicated w/o short cut signaling. Always challenging.
Ha! Full disclosure: I did not create the avatar, but only found and used it.
My Cyclo driver and I in Saigon 1971 had a great night as we snuck around the white mice { Saigon's cops } and I showed him that I had an open blue alcohol card, good, for 2 casses of beer and a couple bottles of whisky and wine I think., from the PX. . After we loaded up the front seat , he pedaled his ass away with me and our black market stash, and began selling it at various spots he knew. We had a great time while I drank beer and he did the bartering . In the end he dropped me off at a place he knew i'd like, and in the morning he showed up in order to take me to army trucks headed to Tan son Nhut , where I hitched slick back to Vinh Long. I don't know how much we made but he did very good and we had a hell of good time. True story Linh - I never lie about what happened in Nam - there's never a reason to, in this last chapter of life.
I occasionally have conversations with my brother in Canada who has been my good friend his entire life. I asked him how many covid jabs he has had. He wasnt sure but around six. Then brushed aside any negatvity about them from me as if it were a matter of opinion, not fact, and he was bridging the gap between these opinions. I was astonished, thinking all the harm they have done is a matter of public record. Apparently not.
Here in The States (am I correct in my understanding you are in Australia, Ms. Drew?) the official "public record" is that the vaccines are wonderful.
From the information I personally have gathered over the last few years (and this is my imperfect collection of data) the Covid vaccines are at best worthless in protecting against Covid and a vastly enriching money making ploy by the pharmaceutical industry. And at worst a positively harmful poison that has maimed, sickened and killed millions.
When the pandemic was at its height the federal government was spending hundred of billions of tax payer dollars to pay pharmaceutical companies in the range of $120 per dose for the vaccine. That put what had been hundreds of billions (of dollars) of what had been the public's money into the private pockets of Big Pharma executives and shareholders. To my mind this scam was not unlike the 2008 financial crisis that put billions of tax payer (public) monies into the pockets of Wall Street banks.
When a capitalist society's economic system "matures" and thus slows in growth (to less than three percent a year as the U.S's has for about 25 years now), the capitalists and financiers will find other schemes to take the wealth of the middle and lower classes. The covid "crisis" was just the latest such scheme (and scam) and it won't be the last.
Dr. Mark Crispen Miller, an esteemed, much published professor of Media Studies and Propaganda at New York University had his tenure revoked because of his outspoken criticism of the Covid vaccines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Crispin_Miller
Needless to say Wikipedia (in the above article/entry) would smear his reputation. The Silicon Valley High-Tech companies (under the supervision or rule of the Pentagon and DARPA) are some of the most corrupt capitalist enterprises in America among a vast sea of corruption Not to mention the pharmaceutical companies. (Remember the Vioxx scandal years before Covid in which the Vioxx drug was sold to the public as a "pain reliever" while the manufacturer knew it would kill a certain percentage of users. Apparently the "cost-benefit analysis" said that the profits from the sale of Vioxx would more than compensate for the wrongful death lawsuits the manufacturer would face. "Where were the regulators?" One might ask. You tell me. Probably bought and paid for by Big Pharma is my guess.
Yes, correct, living in Australia for a very long time. The reason I thought the Covid vaccines had been discredited generally was the very low uptake rate of the latest boosters. But not wanting to have another one perhaps does not equate to realising you have done irreparable harm to your body. Of course the official public record will never admit anything else as long as they could be up for restitution if the vaccines they insisted on resulted in harm.
Your cockroach story leads me to think your housing woes have yet to be resolved.
Could I add to your comments about the poison jabs? I would direct your attention to Dr Bryan Ardis DC who has uncovered some unusual facts about the Covid vaccine. You can find an interview with him on Rumble called Antidote but he appears in other places as well. He is well worth a look. Dr Judy Mikovits also has backed up his thesis.
Thank you for the "heads up" about Dr. Bryan Ardis.
I am hoping my housing situation will be dramatically improving within the next month or two thanks to the intervention of a sympathetic social worker who made a concerted effort to get me into some half way decent public housing. Without her assistance and intervention, on my own, I would have been at the back of a waiting list and would probably have died of old-age in this roach infested dump had not this person intervened on my behalf.
I'm contemplating writing a book (or at least a long article) on the utterly deplorable conditions of housing available to the poor in America (the United States). I have lived for short periods in both Mexico and the Philippines and low income housing is not even close to being as bad as it is here in The States. (And I'm paying "an arm and a leg" to my slumlord landlady because until now I had nowhere else to turn. The slum lords get you coming and going. Because they know people like me have [until the intervention of this social worker] no where else to go. )
Many countries (even so-called "third world" countries like Mexico and the Philippines) pay at least a modicum of respect to the 1948 UN document "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" in which decent, affordable, reasonably clean and sanitary (I paraphrase) housing is available to all of a country's citizens. Needless to say the United States never signed on to that document.
In America housing is not a "human right." It is in fact seen as a source of profits for housing buyer speculators who buy up housing and then monopolistically raise rents knowing tenants have nowhere else to turn.
The notorious hedge fund Black Rock is the latest practitioner of this dark art of ripping off and immiserating the poor. Black Rock bought up much of U.S. housing supplies after the 2008 Financial Crisis (which Black Rock partially caused along with the Wall Street Banks; but that's another story for another day).
Housing in this country for the poor is beyond a disgrace. It is a human rights violation. You're probably aware of the recent Supreme Court decision that essentially made homelessness a crime in which cities and municipalities can now sweep the homeless off the streets (disposing of the few belongings they might have retained) even if such homeless people have no recourse and nowhere to go. And fine them and eventually imprison them (perhaps in George W. Bush like internment camps) where they can be forced into de facto slavery.
The homeless situation (with the absolute numbers of people living on the street) is staggering. I've personally witnessed, what used to be called during the 1930s Great Depression, "Hoovervilles" in which entire towns of homeless encampments line city streets in Sacramento and San Diego, California. Some have claimed this is the main reason California governor Gavin Newsom was not picked by Harris for VP. He has done an absolutely abysmal job of addressing the problem in California. Despite billions of dollars being allotted by the state legislature to ostensibly address the problem. (Gee, I wonder where all that money went?!) Some speculate this is why Harris failed to pick Newsom as her running mate. His utter failure to act as a competent chief executive over California shows him to be an utterly failed politician and public executive.
Neither Newsom nor anyone else will address the REAL cause of homelessness in this country: exponentially rising rents and cost of living because no government entity will cap rents. And wages which have been essentially stagnant against inflation for over 40 years now. (Despite California's belated rise in the minimum wage a few months ago; too little, too late.) Exponentially rising rents + stagnant wages over 40 years = social catastrophe.
There is a profound (and criminal in my opinion) lack of affordable housing in this country because the federal government refuses to intervene and a) cap rents and b) build more housing. Just another (among many) reason(s) the U.S. is a "failed state" right up there with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and South Sudan. (Gee, why is it everywhere we intervene nations fail to serve their people? Gee wiz, I wonder why; maybe it's 'cus I'm eatin' the Wonder Bread and drinkin' the Kool-Aid not to mention scarfing down the Hostess Twinkies.It's amazing what a little [or in this case a lot of] capitalism will do for 'ya.) Oh yea. I almost forgot: "Have a nice day; and thank you for shopping at Walmart".
Tom--Perhaps asking the obvious, but have you ever considered moving to a more affordable part of the US? If I understand correctly, you are living in Bridgeport CT, which, being close to NYC, is a particularly high cost of living area of the country. (And as you have observed, not particularly pleasant, either.)
I live in coastal California, where housing costs are obscene, but fortunately, I can still manage it. If I could not, I would head inland, where things are much less expensive. "Flyover country" is full of decent places to live that many people of modest means can still afford.
I will resist the temptation to comment on the wretched mismanagement of California by its state government. It seems like a clear majority here deplore the manner in which vast sums are thrown at problems like homelessness and crime, to little effect. Yet, that same "clear majority" elected the people who are doing it.
Hi JustPlainBill,
If memory serves me I have commented here about looking into the possibility of moving to less expensive parts of the country. Living in the deep south, I learned, is about half the rental cost of living here in Connecticut.
Just as I was about ready to move south I got in touch with a social worker in Connecticut who got me into public housing. That is the only way I afford to live in my home state, the state I was born in 67 years ago.
I have also mentioned here (with Mr. Dinh's kind patience and indulgence) my short moves to Mexico and the Philippines which are unbelievably inexpensive compared to the U.S. (One can rent a one bedroom apartment in the Philippines for less than $100 U.S. dollars; a small fraction of the cost of a one bedroom apt. in Connecticut.)
But what I've also mentioned here is, generally, unless one has a LOT of money to transfer into the country Americans are NOT welcome. And it is a two dimensional problem. On the one hand Americans are often not welcome by the natives. Xenophobia seems to be universal human trait. And one can be greeted by four or five friendly natives only to have the sixth glare at you with hatred which for timorous folk like me is enough to ruin my day. On the other hand foreign governments often bend over backwards to get Americans out of the country once they have squandered all their money on tourist purchases and nick-naks over their two week vacation welcome period. After that Visa limitations and restrictions put the American in fear of spending the rest of his (perhaps short) life inside a windowless, dank room off the Manila International Airport being interrogated by a couple of burly Filipino thuggish guys who want to know just exactly what the hell are you doing in their country anyway?
Wanting to retire to your home state is an understandable motivation for wanting to stay. I saw your recent comment about getting into public housing, which is almost certainly going to be an improvement for you.
I think relocating to a foreign land would present several challenges. First of all, unless you can speak the native language reasonably fluently, you will always be an outsider. Then there is the question of whether or not you would even be welcome (as you mention). I have wondered if negative feelings about expatriates might not be even stronger for Americans in particular, depending on the place, given our spotty history in certain foreign lands.
Linh--how does a cyclo differ from a pedicab?
Your mention of the way in which talking politics is done reminds me of an encounter I had back during the Trump presidency. I was giving away a small “garderer’s greenhouse”, and the man who showed up to take it was an Iranian immigrant that had been here in the US many years. We talked awhile, and it quickly became obvious that he was well-educated and intelligent. As we made general observations to one another, we eventually strayed into politics, and then, almost imperceptibly, this little verbal dance started as we felt each other out gingerly while continuing, until at some magic moment we silently confirmed to our mutual satisfaction that we were unlikely to give offense to one another. At that point, the conversation became much more free and open. But I remember a time when you didn’t have to go through that little dance.
Regarding the reason(s) South Vietnam lost, I’m pretty much with you, although I’m a bit regretful that it took me so long to start figuring that out. One can only wonder what Vietnam and Korea would be like today if human events had taken their course without outside interference, and there had not been such long and destructive wars.
I don’t know how true it is, but I remember reading years ago that former President Ky landed on his feet in the US, and ended up owning and running a liquor store in Orange County CA.
Of all the quotes posted at Café Rio, I’d have to say the Jack Ma quote is by far the most insightful if you realize that it is not just about getting rich.
Hi JustPlainBill,
Cyclos and pedicabs are the same.
Nguyen Cao Ky's daughter became just as famous co-hosting a variety show, Paris by Night. Despite its name, most episodes were filmed in Las Vegas. Vietnamese do shit like that.
Conflicts among Vietnamese existed long before the Americans got there. Uncle Sam is very good at exploiting these divisions for his own end. Consider the Hmongs. The CIA worked with them, then dumped them.
Suicide rates among young Hmongs in the US are obscene. These people would prefer to be left alone in the hills, but now, many are rapping in Minnesota, Montana or California, or in US jails.
Linh
P.S. Nguyen Cao Ky missed Vietnam so much, he had to return. During his final illness, he went to Malaysia for treatment, so died there.
One winter, after being unceremoniously "layed off" from my job in Sacramento due to the periodic "budget cuts" that would routinely sweep through the system like the scythe of the grim reaper. Having lost my apartment, an acquaintance allowed me to sleep in his garage for the winter which are surprisingly cold and damp in California's Central Valley.
A very kind and compassionate guy who lived across the street from the garage I was sleeping in brought over an expensive sleeping bag one night as winter approached knowing I had nothing to sleep in in an unheated garage. This young man's name was "Long", pronounce more like lung than the English long. He was of Hmong origin although he had come here at a young enough age to have become thoroughly "Americanized."
He and his brother "LA" would spend their weekends and whatever time they had for themselves fishing and hunting. One day they had caught a good size sturgeon in the Sacramento River and Long brought over a big portion for me for my dinner. It was some of the tastiest fish I have ever had.
But eventually Long and LA grew tired of me as did my host who had allowed me to sleep in his garage and barbecue on his back porch ( just so I never entered his house) and I was told to leave.
It is tough (to say the least) being a rejected outsider and object of contempt and derision in the country one was born in.
Pushing 60 now, I am encouraged to have a vision of my bright future as a cyclo driver. Hopefully Vietnam won't criminalise homelessness as the USA has done recently, as the vehicle will of course need to double as my house. Good tip about the mosquito lotion!
When in the Philippines in January of this year my last act in the country was to hail down a "trike" driver to take me the final two miles to the airport.
The old guy who stopped for me (after other drivers passed me up) was about 75 I would estimate and I couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't retired with at least a modest pension?
Arriving at the airport I asked him the fare. He indicated 40 (Philippine) pesos. That's about 80 cents U.S. I gave him a 500 peso note and told him to keep it because I appreciated that he had stopped for me. I hope the old guy can afford to retire soon.
Yeah I have no idea what my social security will look like assuming I live long enough to collect. If I can collect, I expect Uncle Sam to welch on the deal at some point. My meagre 401k was drained decades ago. I don't particularly want to retire to Asia but here in Ireland? Fuggedaboudit...
By the way you can begin to collect early Social Security at, I think, 62 or so and in some cases even earlier.
One BIG bit of advice: If you go to your Social Security office and they turn you away on your first visit, Do NOT give up! Go back until you get a sympathetic worker who will assist you.
On the encouragement of my boss at the time, I went to Social Security at about age 62 and was turned down (by a rather smug pr*ck). I resigned myself to just waiting a few years until I turned 65. I told my boss what happened and he insisted I go back. Feeling it would be nothing but an empty gesture I did go back and a wonderfully nice young (Asian Indian -- not that means anything -- ) American woman was so kind. She spent hours sending messages and making calls to see that I could get some benefits and she assured me that when I turned 65 I would get full benefits which I did, at least somewhat. Unfortunately for me many of my jobs over my working life never paid into the Social Security fund (just as they never provided me with any medical coverage as part of the stripping away of worker benefits in America over the last 40 years) so I feel fortunate I got as much in SS benefits as I am getting now. Contrary to the general tide of America over the past 40 odd years, there seem to be some compassionate people working within the SS administration who see no good reason why elderly, retired Americans should have to suffer penury and poverty in their old age.
So, if you don't mind being frugal, you will get enough to survive with even at least a modicum of extra comforts affordable.
I live in the cheapest apartment I could find in Ireland and am happy with a library card, something in the fridge or cupboards, and a day off. So frugal I can do. Interesting about SS I'll keep those tips in mind! I maxed out my SS payments for years but also had many years where nothing went into it. My best guess is I'll qualify for perhaps 2/3 of the max (whatever that turns out to be).
I recall a story a few years back of a guy who just couldn't make it to his qualification age so he robbed a bank of $1 and waited for the cops to arrive so he could be locked up and have food and a bed. Americans: forever innovative.
I'm sure he must have gotten a mandatory minimum of 20 years. Don't mess with banks.
I just began to receive my full Social Security pension about a year ago and while it is not lavish I can live off of it. I've been frugal by necessity all my life so it doesn't bother me to continue to be so.
Virtually every night I say a prayer of thanks to FDR and his Brain Trusters like Francis Perkins and Adolph Bearle. Not to mention John Maynard Keynes. Without them I would be dead now. No question about it. They gave me a few more years of life. God only knows the capitalists (The "real owners of the country" as George Carlin used to say, may he rest in peace) would have me dead now that I'm over 65.
Remember the movie "Logan's Run"? Well, that's me. Running.
Speaking of capitalists, the trite, hackneyed platitude bromides that Mr. Dinh quotes in his current essay (above) from the like of Bill Gates and Jack Ma and other's of that ilk are what you get when a society is run by people focused on money. These types are good at making money but they are not philosophers and they are not necessarily good human beings. The fact that our society idolizes such mediocrities is a dark stain on our culture and society.
In the Philippines the majority mode of transportation is the "trike." This is a small motorcycle (I'm sort of assuming with a two piston engine, I don't really know) with an added side car that can carry four or five people or maybe two big, fat Americans, that is unbelievably loud. When the majority of traffic on city streets consists of these 'trikes" the noise is deafening. By comparison the noise of big cars and SUVs in America is almost soothingly quiet. Except for the occasional testosterone poisoned 'punk' driving his muffler-less hot rod. Street noise in the Philippines is appalling (at least to me).
I've got a (perhaps half-baked) theory as to how the Philippines are still essentially a medieval like personal fiefdom run for the benefit of a few rich, well-connected crime families such as the Marcos and the Aquinos in which the ostensible "citizens" are given just enough "freedom" to avoid non-governmental international organization intervention for nation wide human rights violations by the ruling families. One might recall how former president Dutarte had alleged "illegal drug smugglers" summarily executed by police. (I sometimes feel lucky I flew out of Manila without the authorities finding planted drugs in my luggage or on my person.)
Also, while I'm on the topic, Philippine drivers are unbelievably, incomprehensibly bad! They run stop signs with impunity (Outside of Manila and Cebu City there are essentially no traffic lights because, apparently, the government won't spend money on them. It was the same in Mexico). Not only do drivers routinely run stop signs, they drive on the wrong side of the road with impunity and I saw motor scooters at night driving with absolutely no lights let alone a headlight! (And there are few street lights.) I was almost hit from behind by some idiot driving down the wrong side of the street. And if one is foolish enough to think Philippine drivers yield to pedestrians one would be badly deluded and I've got a grave stone I can sell you (or your survivors) real cheap. With the pre-engraved epitaph, "Died in the Philippines (and not in bed next to a Philippina)" Oh, oh. I think Mr. Dinh is going to ban me for that one, tasteless as it is. But then if nothing else, I'm all about bad taste in humor.
Ha. Seeing a guy like Hugh Hefner still chasing skirts when he was 91 years old filled me with dread. Will this damned libido never leave me alone? I doubt Hefner was unique in that way, though he was probably fairly unique in being rich and famous enough to still get some action at that point. Even that human ball-bag Rupert Murdoch is hooking up with his new wife at age 93 (she's a sprightly 67).
Reminds me of an old Irish joke: "My wish is to die in bed at 90; shot dead by a jealous wife..."
My mother's mother was Irish. Mary Tracy. Came to New York, worked hard as a domestic and eventually acquired some property. More astute than her shiftless, bone-head grandson.
(I read somewhere that the Irish surname "Tracy" was derived from Thracian. That northern portion of Greece where Alexander the Great was from. I.e. the Irish Tracys where originally from Thrace. Who knows? But considering that the Irish can't seem to pronounce the soft "T H" sound maybe there is something to that?)
Mandalay in Burma still had rickshaws when I was last there - about 23 years ago. I hear the city is infested with mainland Chinese immigrants now who have pretty much taken over the place.
For better or worse most of what I know or believe about the American war in Vietnam comes from the late Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie. He mentions cyclos and "motorcyclos", which he wrote was a "wildly dangerous" (I hope that quote is exact) version of the cyclo.