Douglas Adams wrote, "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
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I collect definitions of "conservatism," and one of my favorites comes from Corey Robins's book, *The Reactionary Mind*. Robinson asks how it is that we can call so many disparate, irreconcilable ideologies - various ethno-nationalisms, imperialism, financialism, patriarchy, Christian nationalism, libertarianism, white supremacy, etc - "conservative"? What binds all these views together?
https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/22/all-day-suckers/#i-love-the-poorly-educated
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@pluralistic To honor the true and original libertarians (those anarchists that hold a municipalist view) and free the term from any financial implication, we should find another word for those neoliberals.
Maybe “Kissingerites”.
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Douglas Adams wrote, "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things."
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@pluralistic Reddit's r/buyitforlife is a pit of despair, just about all the former good stuff sucks now. Birkenstock, LL Bean, you name it, when your old one finally wears out, the replacement will suck.
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For conservatives, virtue is "whatever the people who are born to rule desire." Hence Frank Wilhoit's definition of conservativism, "exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect." It's not a crime if the president does it. It's also not a crime if your boss does it, or if a monopolist does it, or if ICE does it.
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“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind,
alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.There is nothing more or else to it,
and there never has been."~Frank Wilhoit, composer
https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288#Conservative #Conservatism #Politics #Quote #Quotes #Meme #Memes
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Douglas Adams wrote, "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things."
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@pluralistic Hesiod covered it well ~700BCE.
The problem is quite simply: kids these days.
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@pluralistic Reddit's r/buyitforlife is a pit of despair, just about all the former good stuff sucks now. Birkenstock, LL Bean, you name it, when your old one finally wears out, the replacement will suck.
@7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic I can't find socks or underwear. I had ones fit for my needs, they are either no longer sold or the replacement is utter shit. The phenomenon is not even new, here's a 2018 review of the once incredibly comfy hanes tagless underwear.
Does anyone know what to replace the florsheim non-elastic socks with? I am drawing a blank. Across many countries, even.
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@pluralistic Reddit's r/buyitforlife is a pit of despair, just about all the former good stuff sucks now. Birkenstock, LL Bean, you name it, when your old one finally wears out, the replacement will suck.
@7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic same is true for Keene (river) Sandals.
I won't be buying another pair b/c the main heel strap tore off the footbed twice, and I stitched it with my speedy stitcher twice while on a camping trip.
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“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit:
There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind,
alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.There is nothing more or else to it,
and there never has been."~Frank Wilhoit, composer
https://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288#Conservative #Conservatism #Politics #Quote #Quotes #Meme #Memes
I'm happy to see someone providing that quote with more than one sentence. But have you ever read the original and complete Crooked Timber comment by Frank Wilhoit, which greatly expands on 'Wilhoit's Law' and delivers much nuance?
> http://crookedtimber.org/2018/03/21/liberals-against-progressives/#comment-729288
Because he's also saying there really isn't such a thing as 'anti-conservatism' and, "… no other model of polity had ever been proposed."
And he proposes a similar construct to 'Wilhoit's Law' for anti-conservatism'.
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@pluralistic Reddit's r/buyitforlife is a pit of despair, just about all the former good stuff sucks now. Birkenstock, LL Bean, you name it, when your old one finally wears out, the replacement will suck.
There's a thriving dark economy in good quality second hand goods.
Prized items that all pinpoint what date a company decided to enshittify:
Garage sales & boot sales selling ...
1. Grandma's all-steel Singer sewing machines.
2. Auntie's canning jar collection
3. Bosch home appliances
4. Kitchenaid mixers
5. Vehicles: Volvo, Toyota, Honda, old Ford trucks
6. Old farm tractors
7. IBM laptops
8. Unsmart refrigerators & washersBrands that used to be good.
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There's a thriving dark economy in good quality second hand goods.
Prized items that all pinpoint what date a company decided to enshittify:
Garage sales & boot sales selling ...
1. Grandma's all-steel Singer sewing machines.
2. Auntie's canning jar collection
3. Bosch home appliances
4. Kitchenaid mixers
5. Vehicles: Volvo, Toyota, Honda, old Ford trucks
6. Old farm tractors
7. IBM laptops
8. Unsmart refrigerators & washersBrands that used to be good.
@Npars01 Items that had not been enshittified.
The other important thing about such older products is that many of them can actually be repaired when needed.
Living part time on a Caribbean island makes you appreciate older, repairable and more rugged items that can also handle unreliable electricity grids. New smart appliances become quite stupid and useless after a few good power surges or brownouts. -
Douglas Adams wrote, "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things."
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@pluralistic@mamot.fr It's funny because as someone who's between 15 and 35, I'm extremely frustrated. Everything that's being invented is boring and rote despite the hype-men and marketing teams trying to convince me otherwise. And it's actively antagonistic to my ability to get a career in it. Fuckin' sucks honestly
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@7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic same is true for Keene (river) Sandals.
I won't be buying another pair b/c the main heel strap tore off the footbed twice, and I stitched it with my speedy stitcher twice while on a camping trip.
@MHowell @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic
Yep. I have a pair of leather MEC sandals that are now approaching 25yrs. I have put countless miles on them from the Arctic to the Amazon to the Sahara--pretty much every continent on the planet (except the antarctic!) I've had to whip a couple stitches here and there, but they are still the most comfortable sandals I have ever owned. I have been looking for a replacement for 7 or 8 years now, but nothing even comes close to that quality. -
Douglas Adams wrote, "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things."
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@pluralistic Holy sh*t--"Kafka-as-a-service". 🤯
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@MHowell @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic
Yep. I have a pair of leather MEC sandals that are now approaching 25yrs. I have put countless miles on them from the Arctic to the Amazon to the Sahara--pretty much every continent on the planet (except the antarctic!) I've had to whip a couple stitches here and there, but they are still the most comfortable sandals I have ever owned. I have been looking for a replacement for 7 or 8 years now, but nothing even comes close to that quality.@msb MEC is Mountain Equipment Company? If so, thanks for the tip.
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@7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic I can't find socks or underwear. I had ones fit for my needs, they are either no longer sold or the replacement is utter shit. The phenomenon is not even new, here's a 2018 review of the once incredibly comfy hanes tagless underwear.
Does anyone know what to replace the florsheim non-elastic socks with? I am drawing a blank. Across many countries, even.
@chx @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic
Darn Tough socks. Guaranteed for Life. Got a lifetime supply (7 pair) when I moved here. Lots of popular brands from Vermont seem long lasting
Orvis
Zutano
Vermont Glove
Vermont Flannel
Queen City Shoes
Bickford USA
Burton Snowboards
Skida
Johnson Woolen Mills -
@msb MEC is Mountain Equipment Company? If so, thanks for the tip.
@MHowell
It was Mountain Equipment Coop when they still made anything of quality
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There's a thriving dark economy in good quality second hand goods.
Prized items that all pinpoint what date a company decided to enshittify:
Garage sales & boot sales selling ...
1. Grandma's all-steel Singer sewing machines.
2. Auntie's canning jar collection
3. Bosch home appliances
4. Kitchenaid mixers
5. Vehicles: Volvo, Toyota, Honda, old Ford trucks
6. Old farm tractors
7. IBM laptops
8. Unsmart refrigerators & washersBrands that used to be good.
@Npars01 @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic I recently had to replace my 25-year-old oven. I HATE the new Whirlpool...and I've had Whirlpool appliances for 30 years. This one is crap.
Oh. I'm not replacing my 19-year-old Toyota. It works just fine and doesn't spy on me. -
@Npars01 @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic I recently had to replace my 25-year-old oven. I HATE the new Whirlpool...and I've had Whirlpool appliances for 30 years. This one is crap.
Oh. I'm not replacing my 19-year-old Toyota. It works just fine and doesn't spy on me.@LPerry2 @Npars01 @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic yeah, I too won't buy a car made after 2016.
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@Npars01 @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic I recently had to replace my 25-year-old oven. I HATE the new Whirlpool...and I've had Whirlpool appliances for 30 years. This one is crap.
Oh. I'm not replacing my 19-year-old Toyota. It works just fine and doesn't spy on me.2007 was a good year for cars.
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@Npars01 @7leaguebootdisk @pluralistic I recently had to replace my 25-year-old oven. I HATE the new Whirlpool...and I've had Whirlpool appliances for 30 years. This one is crap.
Oh. I'm not replacing my 19-year-old Toyota. It works just fine and doesn't spy on me.@LPerry2
I replaced my maytag clothes washer with a whirlpool and traded my toyota that i drove for 23 years for a Subaru. I want my maytag back #noalgorithm -
Douglas Adams wrote, "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you’re 15 and 35 is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're 35 is against the natural order of things."
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@pluralistic he also said (paraphrasing) that the universe is this really strange and complex thing that nobody can understand... and as soon as anyone does manage to get their head around it, it just becomes even more strange and complex and difficult to understand.
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