Revisiting Philip Slater’s Chrysalis Effect in the post-Donald Trump era

See updates through December 12, 2022, at end of post.



Fig. 1. Philip Slater. Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler, 1980, via the New York Times,[1] fair use.

Before I was in the Ph.D. program that I ultimately completed, there was another Ph.D. program, one that was the wrong program for me, but one nonetheless that I learned a great deal from. I’m thinking of one of the professors, there, now deceased,[2] Philip Slater, who wrote a book in which he applied the metaphor of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly to human society.[3] Read more

  1. [1]Paul Vitello, “Philip E. Slater, Social Critic Who Renounced Academia, Dies at 86,” New York Times, July 2, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/books/philip-e-slater-social-critic-who-renounced-academia-dies-at-86.html
  2. [2]Paul Vitello, “Philip E. Slater, Social Critic Who Renounced Academia, Dies at 86,” New York Times, July 2, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/books/philip-e-slater-social-critic-who-renounced-academia-dies-at-86.html
  3. [3]Philip Slater, The Chrysalis Effect (Brighton, UK: Sussex, 2009).

Republican politicians out of touch?

See updates for December 7, 2022, at end of post.



Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

I don’t advocate oxygen for the bizarre,[1] but Republican Party politicians seem increasingly out of step with their constituents:

“That’s a remarkable statement. You’d support a candidate who’s come out for suspending the Constitution?” the host [George Stephanopoulos] pressed, with [David] Joyce replying, “You know, he says a lot of things—you have to take him in context,” before trailing off. Joyce ultimately closed the interview by shrugging off [Donald] Trump’s comments as a “fantasy” that should not be taken seriously.[2]

Read more

  1. [1]David Benfell, “To condemn a delusional raging narcissist or to ignore incitement to rebellion. That is the question,” Not Housebroken, December 5, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/05/to-condemn-a-delusional-raging-narcissist-or-to-ignore-incitement-to-rebellion-that-is-the-question/
  2. [2]Caleb Ecarma, “Republicans Apparently Have No Red Line With Trump—Not Even His Desire to Terminate the Constitution,” Vanity Fair, December 5, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/republicans-trump-terminate-constitution

To condemn a delusional raging narcissist or to ignore incitement to rebellion. That is the question.

Our story today begins with Donald Trump being Donald Trump:

Former President Donald Trump called for the termination of the Constitution to overturn the 2020 election and reinstate him to power Saturday [December 3] in a continuation of his election denialism and pushing of fringe conspiracy theories.

“Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote in a post on the social network Truth Social and accused “Big Tech” of working closely with Democrats. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”[1]

Read more

  1. [1]Kristen Holmes, “Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post,” CNN, December 4, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html

Why ‘being reasonable’ doesn’t work and why violence is sometimes unavoidable

Were I a better communication scholar, I would have understood sooner that three principles of argumentation interact with each other. This is largely about clichés, but it is crucial in understanding a difference between Left and Right, because epistemologically, the left wing is more amenable to arguments and reason than the right.[1] Read more

  1. [1]David Benfell, “A theory of conservative epistemology,” Not Housebroken, November 19, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/06/a-theory-of-conservative-epistemology/

Apparently, it’s ‘thoughts and prayers’ for the dying in Pittsburgh


Fig. 1. “Ed Gainey poses with CeaseFirePA during the 2020 Women’s March in Downtown Pittsburgh.” Photograph by Megan Gloeckler, undated, via Pittsburgh City Paper,[1] fair use.

Are we at the “thoughts and prayers”[2] stage yet? Because I’ve already explained what needs to be done[3] about a surge in violence in Pittsburgh.[4] (The short version is that Mayor Ed Gainey needs to follow through on his campaign promises.[5]) Read more

  1. [1]Charlie Wolfson, “Neighborhood groups try to curb shootings as Pittsburgh’s mayoral campaign puts political focus on gun violence,” Pittsburgh City Paper, October 20, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/neighborhood-groups-try-to-curb-shootings-as-pittsburghs-mayoral-campaign-puts-political-focus-on-gun-violence/Content?oid=20401296
  2. [2]Abdullah Shihipar, “The Kind of Prayer That Could Make a Difference,” Atlantic, June 1, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/06/only-thoughts-and-prayers-we-should-offer-uvalde/661156/
  3. [3]David Benfell, “To Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey,” Not Housebroken, October 30, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/10/30/to-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gainey/
  4. [4]Justin Vellucci, “Pittsburgh’s soaring homicide rate leaves officials baffled,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 27, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburghs-soaring-homicide-rate-leaves-officials-baffled/
  5. [5]David Benfell, “To Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey,” Not Housebroken, October 30, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/10/30/to-pittsburgh-mayor-ed-gainey/

What if, indeed, it comes to civil war?


Fig. 1. “‘Masterly inactivity,’ or six months on the Potomac; caricature of inactivity of Confederate and Union soldiers on both sides of the Potomac River between summer 1861 and winter 1862, published in Frank Leslie’s illustrated newspaper, vol. 13 (1862 Feb. 1), p. 176. Cartoon satirizing the extended military standoff between General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac and Confederate General Beauregard’s Army of the Shenandoah during the fall and winter of 1861.” Cartoon by Albert Berghaus, 1862, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

I did not write this:

Once a political culture embraces the path of the dark triad—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—negative end products are not simply possible, but inevitable. There’s only one chance to stave off the worst potential outcomes in the United States: Recognize our 50-state partnership as a failed marriage and, like adults, move on.[1]

Though it’s an idea I’ve advocated for some time—honestly, to me, nothing else makes sense—I also regretfully recognize it as enormously problematic,[2] and in fact, the idea of divvying up red and blue states, that B. Duncan Moench reifies,[3] barely scratches the surface of the problem.[4] Read more

  1. [1]B. Duncan Moench, “How the Next Civil War Begins,” Tablet, November 29, 2022, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-next-civil-war-begins
  2. [2]David Benfell, “Pure poison,” Not Housebroken, September 15, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/17/pure-poison/
  3. [3]B. Duncan Moench, “How the Next Civil War Begins,” Tablet, November 29, 2022, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-next-civil-war-begins
  4. [4]David Benfell, “Pure poison,” Not Housebroken, September 15, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/12/17/pure-poison/

Elon Musk embraces Donald Trump’s playbook


Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[1] fair use.

Philip Bump brings together themes[2] I visited in a couple of my recent blog postings:

It’s not clear whether [Elon] Musk understands that Twitter polls are not particularly meaningful. In discussing his polls with users on the platform, for example, Musk embraced ideas that would plaster a veneer of accuracy on top of the fundamentally unscientific process.[3]

I, of course, addressed Elon Musk’s methodology on November 21. There’s nothing radical here. It’s basic to survey methodology that you’re supposed to use a representative sample and that what Musk or anybody else is relying on with Twitter polls is not, and cannot be, a representative sample.[4] Read more

  1. [1]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/
  2. [2]Philip Bump, “Hey, Elon Musk? Twitter polls are not the ‘voice of the people,’” Washington Post, November 28, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/28/hey-elon-musk-twitter-polls-are-not-voice-people/
  3. [3]Philip Bump, “Hey, Elon Musk? Twitter polls are not the ‘voice of the people,’” Washington Post, November 28, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/28/hey-elon-musk-twitter-polls-are-not-voice-people/
  4. [4]David Benfell, “About Elon Musk’s Twitter poll and about Twitter polls generally,” Not Housebroken, November 21, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/11/21/about-elon-musks-twitter-poll-and-about-twitter-polls-generally/

On COVID-19 mitigation measures, we should be listening to Chinese protesters


Fig. 1. “In Beijing, people hold white sheets of paper – a symbolic protest against censorship – at a demonstration against Covid restrictions.” Photograph by Thomas Peter for Reuters, undated, via the Guardian,[1] fair use.

The protests [against China’s zero-COVID policy] erupted on Friday in Urumqi, the regional capital of the far west Xinjiang region, after footage of a fire in a residential building that killed at least 10 people the day before led to accusations that a Covid lockdown was a factor in the death toll.

Urumqi officials abruptly held a news conference in the early hours of Saturday to deny Covid measures had hampered escape and rescue. Many of Urumqi’s 4 million residents have been under some of the country’s longest lockdowns, barred from leaving their homes for as long as 100 days.[2]

Read more

  1. [1]Helen Davidson and Verna Yu, “Clashes in Shanghai as protests over zero-Covid policy grip China,” Guardian, November 27, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/28/clashes-in-shanghai-as-protests-over-zero-covid-policy-grip-china
  2. [2]Helen Davidson and Verna Yu, “Clashes in Shanghai as protests over zero-Covid policy grip China,” Guardian, November 27, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/28/clashes-in-shanghai-as-protests-over-zero-covid-policy-grip-china

Information, information cynicism, disinformation, and misinformation


Fig. 1. Archive photograph of Joseph Goebbels by an unnamed photographer, 1942, Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1989-0821-502, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.

(Groan.)


I have mostly been critical of white Christian nationalists for their abuse of so-called “free speech” to promote conspiracy theories, particularly regarding COVID-19.[1] But it hasn’t just been the right wing. And it hasn’t just been about COVID-19. See, for example, Ukraine, where both left-wing (see, for examples, the Green Party and the Democratic Socialists of America) “tankies.” and the paleoconservative right wing support Vladimir Putin, because any imperialism is just fine and dandy as long as it isn’t U.S. or North Atlantic Treaty Organization imperialism.[2] And of course, a major concern with Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been that he will encourage disinformation, that is, when not posting it himself.[3] Read more

  1. [1]David Benfell, “Free speech, COVID-19, and responsibility,” Not Housebroken, January 28, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/01/28/free-speech-covid-19-and-responsibility/
  2. [2]David Benfell, “The desperate attempt to blame anybody else for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” Not Housebroken, October 16, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/03/the-desperate-attempt-to-blame-anybody-else-for-vladimir-putins-invasion-of-ukraine/
  3. [3]David Benfell, “Elon Musk’s ‘free speech,’” Not Housebroken, November 2, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/04/28/elon-musks-free-speech/; David Benfell, “Elon Musk’s Achilles’ heel,” Not Housebroken, November 22, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/07/10/elon-musks-achilles-heel/

The rent is too damn high. But politicians wonder why violence is increasing.


Fig. 1. Photograph by author, November 25, 2020.

Pittsburgh enjoys a reputation for being a relatively affordable place to live.[1] But the pattern of landlords “upgrading” apartments and raising rents dramatically is taking a toll,[2] and not just in housing. Read more

  1. [1]Leslie Cook, “This U.S. City Is the Most Affordable Housing Market in the World,” SFGate, April 21, 2022, https://www.sfgate.com/shopping/article/This-U-S-City-Is-the-Most-Affordable-Housing-17117741.php; Matthew Yglesias, “What’s the Most Affordable City in the World?” Slate, January 28, 2014, https://slate.com/business/2014/01/pittsburgh-the-most-affordable-city-in-the-world.html
  2. [2]Kimberly Rooney, “How rising rents and renovations have displaced Pittsburghers and added to the city’s ongoing issues with gentrification,” Pittsburgh City Paper, April 28, 2021, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/how-rising-rents-and-renovations-have-displaced-pittsburghers-and-added-to-the-citys-ongoing-issues-with-gentrification/Content?oid=19360553