[Pakse, 5/12/23] I had a foul start to my day. At the 24-hour Vietnamese eatery, the overnight crowd leaves a mess which the owner only cleans up around 6AM. Arriving before 5:30, I had to ignore all the tissues on the floor as I ate my egg noodles with duck. There was also some wetness and two sprigs of mint on my table, left by somebody. Worst was a smell of dirty dishes in fetid water. I couldn’t wait to bolt.
I just cleaned up a few typos. Impatient, I make mistakes, not always goofy. It's a character flaw, I know, but without that constant sense of urgency, I would do next to nothing.
Watch this and weep. It's the John Coltrane Quartet performing "My Favorite Things" in Comblain-La-Tour, Belgium in 1966. As in the album, McCoy Tyner is a magnificent co-star, with this version even more mind-blowing:
Coltrane set the stage for others to shine. Performing the same song in Tokyo, also in 1966, Coltrane allowed bassist Jimmy Garrison to begin it with a 15-minute solo:
I remember a drill sergeant saying in a contemplative moment, "Guys, we're predatory animals." I see the "parasite predator" phenomenon at the street level daily. I think that what's kosher at the highest echelons runs all the way down to the gutter. The bottom and top reflect each other and it's a bad scene at the moment.
Regardless, it's good to see you up, moving, thinking, writing and getting on with it Linh. Reason or not to any of it, glad to see that you are well.
My friend, I am sorry to hear about your troubles of late. Of course, there have always been scoundrels; but, it would seem that society's devolution into a feral state has become even more pronounced since the COVID debacle.
As an example, I lived in OKC until retiring fairly recently. Growing up there, it was literally 'The Biggest Small Town in America' - civility, friendliness, 'down home' - a sense of community. But, over the past few decades, OKC struggled mightily to transform itself into a 'Big City'. TPTB succeeded: OKC now has most of the 'big city' issues: large scale alienation, skyrocketing housing prices, road rage incidents, unprecedented homelessness, drug addicts, large immigrant population, daily murders, gang violence, etc.
The solution for me to was relocate to a rural location – 60 acre disused family farm. It's only a 30 min drive to a medium size college town, and less than an hour drive from an international airport; but, honestly, being here would drive the CNN crowd batshit – people don't take second notice to someone walking into Wal-Mart with a .45 holstered on the hip with spare mags and a sheathed bowie knife, Confederate bumper stickers on pickups, or seeing someone proselytizing on a street corner bible in hand. By in large, though, there is still a sense of community, family, decency, fairness and honesty, and (wary) friendliness to strangers.
Linh, having read your posts for some time, I remember you had lived in Philly. Many, many years ago, I lived in Brooklyn. We both probably learned the same lessons: everyone is a stranger, kindness is a luxury, and nothing is as it seems. After relocating to a rural location, I came to realize that I am the stranger in their community; and so, I try to blend in as much as possible. That being said, the people I am most wary of are other strangers in the community. The locals may clip you here and there, but the out of towners will take you for everything and then move on.
I was driving up to Alaska, descending into Cache Creek, BC. I saw a white 90s Cadillac with fading paint approaching me in the left lane, going about 3 miles per hour faster than me. For some reason, I was creeped out at first sight. I pulled into the gas station, and that car kept going, much to my relief. Twenty or so miles out of Cache Creek, I see it again, driving ever so slightly faster than me. It passes me in slow motion while my hands are getting sweaty as I think the guy is going to pull a gun on me. Up ahead, the car pulls off on a dirt road leading to a farm. I pass, and I see that the car pulls out and is heading back the other way. A few miles out of 100 Mile House, here comes that car again, it passes me in the same slow fashion. I notice a greasy, gray, long-haired guy at the wheel, and the Caddy has no license plate.
I pull into the RCMP station and have to call, as nobody is there. I say yes; I would like to talk to them, so they come to the station. I tell the officer about this creepy guy in this creepy car that has kept creeping up on me since Cache Creek and that the car has no license plate. He writes nothing down. I say I am too creeped out; I am just going to get a motel room here. He says no, keep going, so I end up getting a room in Williams Lake.
So what the heck was that all about? Was the guy thinking of kidnapping me? Or some kind of sting to see what I am up to? Or is it just some Canuck so bored he drives 70 miles just to creep out an outsider? All I know, is that I wasn't raped and then fed to the pigs, and I am thankful for that. Missing people are a known thing in that area. It didn't help that I knew that at the time. Or maybe it did, as I wasn't about to stop and confront the guy about what he was up to.
As for the crime stuff -- it's not just the economy. I am sure that the shoplifting and urban chaos is being promoted on purpose. Look, these guys are not stealing food to eat. They're stealing big screen TVs and cool shoes. But now many stores are moving to total self-checkout, which encourages shoplifting, and the state is not even punishing shoplifting anymore as a crime, which encourages it even more. In California, you're free to steal up to $900, it's the law. No one gets arrested for anything under that. The people at the top just want to encourage more urban mayhem, this is not completely organic. But, when real chaos comes, what will happen is like in the L.A. riots, Koreans protecting their stores with guns, or what happens in South Africa, looters being and lynched and "necklaced". Then things will stop.
The scene with the cops was hilarious. Reminds me of the scene with the cop in The Big Lebowski. "Leads?" But it's not just Laos. Everywhere, cops just want the minimum amount of trouble possible, and reporting stolen goods is almost always useless anywhere, even in Germany. In London, when I was punched by a black junkie, I identified the perp to the police, they still didn't arrest him or did anything. They appeared to encourage me not to report the robbery, as I'd have to go to court, go through all the process etc. For what? He didn't steal anything. So I let it go. In Buenos Aires, perhaps this was the best cop experience, they actually located the scammer who had given me counterfeit pesos in exchange for my dollars and told him to give my money back. They didn't arrest him either, but at least I got my money. The cops probably knew all the criminals in the neighbourhood and just let them operate, perhaps taking a cut. Who knows, but in that case, they helped me, which is rare.
I never used to hear about all the smash-and-grabs and the “flash mob robberies” before. Sometimes I sense ulterior motives or attempts at social engineering at work when I see rises in media coverage of certain “trends” but this particular trend seems rooted in reality. Soon we may see stores moving to the old Soviet model, where all the goods were locked away behind the counter. You get into line to give your order to a clerk, then a second line to pay, then a third line to pick up your purchases. And this, of course, assumes that what you want is even available.
We visit our daughter and some friends in Portland every year. The BLM riots and Covid pretty much finished off what used to be a beautiful downtown district. Most of the business has left, and the street level glass has been replaced by plywood. There are homeless people, many downtown, but now you can see them along almost every freeway, tents or makeshift shelters pitched in any available green space. Our descent has been alarmingly rapid.
Big city police here in the US nowadays would have sent you off pretty quickly without even going through the motions. You definitely wouldn’t have gotten the two hours the Pakse tourist police gave you, since the cops here know they have “decriminalized” most small crimes, and even for the big ones, the cops know the DA often won’t prosecute.
Speaking of descent into barbarity, perhaps our fate is to become like the Ik, the African tribe written about by Colin Turnbull in his book “The Mountain People.” In their exclusive focus on finding food, they have abandoned almost all of what we consider universal social conventions. They abandon their old, and kick their children out of the house around age 3. They eat whatever little food they can find in private so they don’t have to share, not even with their wives or children. I’m only halfway through this book, and it is a morbidly fascinating look at what happens when basic social institutions break down.
As Isha Drew says, the photos today are particularly amazing—thanks for sharing!
Japan is gone. Forget about these retards. They are still wearing masks. Child birth is down -320,000 babies during the covid years. Also, thieves now everywhere. Btw, I posted "the piece". You'll like it. It is here: https://thorstenjpattberg.substack.com/p/empire-of-the-jews Also, left you a review on Amazon.
Just think, folks - Linh can write and express ideas better in a second language than you can in your ONLY language! (OK, I suppose some of you are multi-lingual...)
Thanks for mentioning your wife. I wondered if you were still a married man but I did not know a polite way to bring up the subject.
Reporting an assault while out of town is a civic-minded thing to do. Good on you. I hope you don’t do it again (or come to think of it have occasion to.) As the poet sang, “The cops don’t need you and man they expect the same.”
Linh said, "If you still have civility and beauty, you still have everything." Yet much of this essay referenced our human descent into barbarity and ugliness. How much longer, Linh? How much time do we have?
I want to support your work now for however long. I like this foreign perspective and travel tips, and especially how to watch your step/navigate on a dime in foreign countries. I have a few swindling stories of my own-- most were innocent but showed me to be very watchful in Greece especially.
Hi everyone,
I just cleaned up a few typos. Impatient, I make mistakes, not always goofy. It's a character flaw, I know, but without that constant sense of urgency, I would do next to nothing.
Linh
Hi everyone,
Watch this and weep. It's the John Coltrane Quartet performing "My Favorite Things" in Comblain-La-Tour, Belgium in 1966. As in the album, McCoy Tyner is a magnificent co-star, with this version even more mind-blowing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehYM_cg2DHI&t=819s
Coltrane set the stage for others to shine. Performing the same song in Tokyo, also in 1966, Coltrane allowed bassist Jimmy Garrison to begin it with a 15-minute solo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHgPZfNlI6I&t=88s
Listening to these on a headphone outside Lankham, I had to stop before I started bawling like a baby. So tragic, our cultural collapse.
Linh
I remember a drill sergeant saying in a contemplative moment, "Guys, we're predatory animals." I see the "parasite predator" phenomenon at the street level daily. I think that what's kosher at the highest echelons runs all the way down to the gutter. The bottom and top reflect each other and it's a bad scene at the moment.
Regardless, it's good to see you up, moving, thinking, writing and getting on with it Linh. Reason or not to any of it, glad to see that you are well.
My friend, I am sorry to hear about your troubles of late. Of course, there have always been scoundrels; but, it would seem that society's devolution into a feral state has become even more pronounced since the COVID debacle.
As an example, I lived in OKC until retiring fairly recently. Growing up there, it was literally 'The Biggest Small Town in America' - civility, friendliness, 'down home' - a sense of community. But, over the past few decades, OKC struggled mightily to transform itself into a 'Big City'. TPTB succeeded: OKC now has most of the 'big city' issues: large scale alienation, skyrocketing housing prices, road rage incidents, unprecedented homelessness, drug addicts, large immigrant population, daily murders, gang violence, etc.
The solution for me to was relocate to a rural location – 60 acre disused family farm. It's only a 30 min drive to a medium size college town, and less than an hour drive from an international airport; but, honestly, being here would drive the CNN crowd batshit – people don't take second notice to someone walking into Wal-Mart with a .45 holstered on the hip with spare mags and a sheathed bowie knife, Confederate bumper stickers on pickups, or seeing someone proselytizing on a street corner bible in hand. By in large, though, there is still a sense of community, family, decency, fairness and honesty, and (wary) friendliness to strangers.
Linh, having read your posts for some time, I remember you had lived in Philly. Many, many years ago, I lived in Brooklyn. We both probably learned the same lessons: everyone is a stranger, kindness is a luxury, and nothing is as it seems. After relocating to a rural location, I came to realize that I am the stranger in their community; and so, I try to blend in as much as possible. That being said, the people I am most wary of are other strangers in the community. The locals may clip you here and there, but the out of towners will take you for everything and then move on.
I was driving up to Alaska, descending into Cache Creek, BC. I saw a white 90s Cadillac with fading paint approaching me in the left lane, going about 3 miles per hour faster than me. For some reason, I was creeped out at first sight. I pulled into the gas station, and that car kept going, much to my relief. Twenty or so miles out of Cache Creek, I see it again, driving ever so slightly faster than me. It passes me in slow motion while my hands are getting sweaty as I think the guy is going to pull a gun on me. Up ahead, the car pulls off on a dirt road leading to a farm. I pass, and I see that the car pulls out and is heading back the other way. A few miles out of 100 Mile House, here comes that car again, it passes me in the same slow fashion. I notice a greasy, gray, long-haired guy at the wheel, and the Caddy has no license plate.
I pull into the RCMP station and have to call, as nobody is there. I say yes; I would like to talk to them, so they come to the station. I tell the officer about this creepy guy in this creepy car that has kept creeping up on me since Cache Creek and that the car has no license plate. He writes nothing down. I say I am too creeped out; I am just going to get a motel room here. He says no, keep going, so I end up getting a room in Williams Lake.
So what the heck was that all about? Was the guy thinking of kidnapping me? Or some kind of sting to see what I am up to? Or is it just some Canuck so bored he drives 70 miles just to creep out an outsider? All I know, is that I wasn't raped and then fed to the pigs, and I am thankful for that. Missing people are a known thing in that area. It didn't help that I knew that at the time. Or maybe it did, as I wasn't about to stop and confront the guy about what he was up to.
Yes missing people definitely a thing, sounds like a close shave on the highway of tears.
As for the crime stuff -- it's not just the economy. I am sure that the shoplifting and urban chaos is being promoted on purpose. Look, these guys are not stealing food to eat. They're stealing big screen TVs and cool shoes. But now many stores are moving to total self-checkout, which encourages shoplifting, and the state is not even punishing shoplifting anymore as a crime, which encourages it even more. In California, you're free to steal up to $900, it's the law. No one gets arrested for anything under that. The people at the top just want to encourage more urban mayhem, this is not completely organic. But, when real chaos comes, what will happen is like in the L.A. riots, Koreans protecting their stores with guns, or what happens in South Africa, looters being and lynched and "necklaced". Then things will stop.
The scene with the cops was hilarious. Reminds me of the scene with the cop in The Big Lebowski. "Leads?" But it's not just Laos. Everywhere, cops just want the minimum amount of trouble possible, and reporting stolen goods is almost always useless anywhere, even in Germany. In London, when I was punched by a black junkie, I identified the perp to the police, they still didn't arrest him or did anything. They appeared to encourage me not to report the robbery, as I'd have to go to court, go through all the process etc. For what? He didn't steal anything. So I let it go. In Buenos Aires, perhaps this was the best cop experience, they actually located the scammer who had given me counterfeit pesos in exchange for my dollars and told him to give my money back. They didn't arrest him either, but at least I got my money. The cops probably knew all the criminals in the neighbourhood and just let them operate, perhaps taking a cut. Who knows, but in that case, they helped me, which is rare.
I never used to hear about all the smash-and-grabs and the “flash mob robberies” before. Sometimes I sense ulterior motives or attempts at social engineering at work when I see rises in media coverage of certain “trends” but this particular trend seems rooted in reality. Soon we may see stores moving to the old Soviet model, where all the goods were locked away behind the counter. You get into line to give your order to a clerk, then a second line to pay, then a third line to pick up your purchases. And this, of course, assumes that what you want is even available.
We visit our daughter and some friends in Portland every year. The BLM riots and Covid pretty much finished off what used to be a beautiful downtown district. Most of the business has left, and the street level glass has been replaced by plywood. There are homeless people, many downtown, but now you can see them along almost every freeway, tents or makeshift shelters pitched in any available green space. Our descent has been alarmingly rapid.
Big city police here in the US nowadays would have sent you off pretty quickly without even going through the motions. You definitely wouldn’t have gotten the two hours the Pakse tourist police gave you, since the cops here know they have “decriminalized” most small crimes, and even for the big ones, the cops know the DA often won’t prosecute.
Speaking of descent into barbarity, perhaps our fate is to become like the Ik, the African tribe written about by Colin Turnbull in his book “The Mountain People.” In their exclusive focus on finding food, they have abandoned almost all of what we consider universal social conventions. They abandon their old, and kick their children out of the house around age 3. They eat whatever little food they can find in private so they don’t have to share, not even with their wives or children. I’m only halfway through this book, and it is a morbidly fascinating look at what happens when basic social institutions break down.
As Isha Drew says, the photos today are particularly amazing—thanks for sharing!
I am struck by the great beauty of your photos today. And the thunder of your writing.
Japan is gone. Forget about these retards. They are still wearing masks. Child birth is down -320,000 babies during the covid years. Also, thieves now everywhere. Btw, I posted "the piece". You'll like it. It is here: https://thorstenjpattberg.substack.com/p/empire-of-the-jews Also, left you a review on Amazon.
Just think, folks - Linh can write and express ideas better in a second language than you can in your ONLY language! (OK, I suppose some of you are multi-lingual...)
Thanks for mentioning your wife. I wondered if you were still a married man but I did not know a polite way to bring up the subject.
Thank you, Linh Dinh. I've been seeking you out as one of the few deep truth tellers since your Counterpunch days. I'm glad I found you again.
Hi Thomas,
I'm very glad you've found me here. I have a huge backlog of articles, at this SubStack as well as Unz Review, where I was for several years.
At Common Dreams and CounterPunch, I was just starting to figure out what was happening. I'm a much sharper thinker and writer now.
Linh
I'd love to see the scene with the cops in a dramatization.
It reminds me of funcionarios and trámites (officials/functionaries and procedures) in public offices in Central America.
Why don't you write a short play? The Laotian Tourist Police. I'll get some high school kids here in Montana to act it out, heh.
Reporting an assault while out of town is a civic-minded thing to do. Good on you. I hope you don’t do it again (or come to think of it have occasion to.) As the poet sang, “The cops don’t need you and man they expect the same.”
Yes that is what I knew but I still had to drive by that road. I was in the Kamloop's Triangle.
Linh said, "If you still have civility and beauty, you still have everything." Yet much of this essay referenced our human descent into barbarity and ugliness. How much longer, Linh? How much time do we have?
I want to support your work now for however long. I like this foreign perspective and travel tips, and especially how to watch your step/navigate on a dime in foreign countries. I have a few swindling stories of my own-- most were innocent but showed me to be very watchful in Greece especially.