One of the things that I have been musing about lately is blueberry muffins. You see, muffins just aren’t all that common in China, and when you find them, they are really over priced and part of a dessert menu that is part of a Starbucks franchise, or similar venue. I miss them. I miss the hot piping interior, the explosion of blueberry flavor when you bit into them, and that nice pad of salted butter that melts on the top of them.
They used to be quite common in diners. Almost as common as pies.
Blueberry muffins in automats
But my best memories about muffins come from those automats that my family used to frequent when I was a boy. (Of course in those world-lines automats were much more common than what you find here. Apparently, on this world-line path, automats died out in the 1940’s.) Anyways, my father would give me a quarter and I would get up from the table and go to the little window with a muffin in it. I’d plop the quarter in the slot, and the door would spring open, and out I would take the muffin on the heavy white ceramic plate.
My memories of this are all very clear. And I well remember us eating as a family at the tables. Of course my father would be having a coffee and reading a newspaper. My mother was always fussing over us kids, and generally attending to my younger brother and sisters. I, being the oldest, was supposed to be more mature and more responsible.
Meh.
Blueberry muffins in Salem, Massachusetts
And while those memories are true treasures for me, they are a little dated in that my best muffin experience that I ever had did not occur in an automat. It occurred in a wharf coffee house in Salem, Massachusetts. It was a dark and stormy night and I was riding my motorcycle with a girl, and we pulled into the complex. It was the late 1970’s, and I was still in university.
The world outside was but sheets of rain, dull blues and greys, a howling wind and drops of rain that stung when they hit you.
But through the windows of the coffee house was inviting warmth, a pleasant and cozy atmosphere, and a calming shelter against the storm. When the waitress brought out the blueberry muffin, it was fresh, hot and toasty, and had two pads of butter on the plate that I dutifully added on top. You could see the whiffs of steam rising up off the muffin, and they formed strings next to the the hot steamy fragrant coffee that sat besides it.
Personally, I don’t think that many people appreciate blueberry muffins. It’s sort of the “bad boy” of the muffin family, and is great overshadowed by it’s more popular cousins; the chocolate and the cranberry muffins.
But the point behind this is the little coffee house was a unique moment, a unique place, in a unique time, while a raging storm crashed and banged outside. And while we, my girlfriend and myself, were grateful for the shelter from the storm, the workers were oblivious to it. They had spent all day inside. Sure they knew that there was a storm outside, but they were detached from it. It was remote from their direct and personal experience. They knew about it, but they didn’t appreciate the environment like we outsiders did.
It was almost like they were in their own little protective bubble; a safe world, where they could live, work and exist free of the tumult outside.
Like a hot house.
Hot Houses
A hot house is a conservatory where flowers and plants are grown under controlled conditions. The plants live their entire lives inside that environment. They are comfortable there and there is no reason to be concerned about what happens outside of the walls of the conservatory.
I once visited the oldest conservatory in Connecticut, and it was awesome. It was over 200 years old and had many common plants that we consider to be weeds and plants of no consequence in it. But those “weeds” once they turn 200 years old become these amazing tangled plants with thick and interesting trunks, cool branches, and amazing clusters of leaves.
It was awesome. Absolutely awesome.
There’s a conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that is enormous and beautiful as well. But it isn’t nearly as old. And so while it is a pleasure to go from room to room and experience the different kinds of plants and flowers, it’s really the very ancient hot houses that are amazing. It’s really something else to see what happens when plants live within these stable and sheltered environments for really long periods of time.
What I remember the most about my trip to the conservatory in Connecticut, was not simply the cool plants, and the nooks and crannies filled with the most curious of antiquated Bric-a-brac. But it was the very cool diner that we visited on the trip back home.
A very cool diner
Long time MM readers will appreciate my love of diners and local regional stories.
I will never forget that diner. Though I have forgotten it’s name, and location. They had a “blue plate special”. And you know, I am always one for a good “blue plate special”. You know, is it just me, or I’ve never had a “blue plate special” on a blue plate. It’s one of those head scratchers.
Anyways, I had a “blue plate special”. It was a hot pastrami sandwich with cheese, fully “dressed” with a side of coleslaw and a side of “longhorn” fires covered (smothered) in beef gravy. Now, I don’t know why they called the fries “longhorn fries. Basically, they were huge thick french fries. Perhaps three times the width of a regular french fry. Oh, with a iced tea or Coke.
And I, of course enjoyed every morsel of it.
It looked a little bit like this…
I do believe that one of the lest appreciated characteristics of America is it’s diners. A diner is the lunch counter for the American work force. And in the days when American worked in factories, often they would get a “home cooked” (style) of meal at a diner. This was always preferable to the latest in fast food fare.
Diners are great.
And while I was a munching on my meal, I contemplated the conservatory; the “hot house” that I had just visited. For the plants were unlike anything outside. These plants were not only gorgeous, but huge.
Without the need to deal with weather changes, the encroachment of man, pesticides, and strip mining, they were able to thrive and grow in ways that was impossible in the real, actual environment.
Echo Chambers
We often talk about people being in an “echo chamber”. That is that they surround themselves with like-minded people who echo each other’s points of view. And then, over time, without getting any new ideas, their points of view become stale and more outlandish over time. To a person outside that “echo chamber” they seem crazy, odd, distorted, and mentally deranged.
In discussions of news media, an echo chamber refers to situations in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal. By participating in an echo chamber, people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views without encountering opposing views, potentially resulting in an unintended exercise in confirmation bias. Echo chambers may increase social and political polarization and extremism. The term is a metaphor based on an acoustic echo chamber, in which sounds reverberate in a hollow enclosure. Another emerging term for this echoing and homogenizing effect within social media communities on the Internet is cultural tribalism. Many scholars note the effects that echo chambers can have on citizens' stances and viewpoints, and specifically implications has for politics. -Echo Chamber Wikipedia
I would imagine that were the plants to chat with each other inside the “Hot House”, that they would be unaware that they were within an “echo chamber”. And as long as the walls of the conservatory were solid and maintained, they were safe, secure, and could live their lives and prosper. They would grow to become huge, beautiful and magnificent.
The following is a reasonably decent article.
Of course all credit to the author, note that it was reprinted as found, but with slight editing to fit this venue.
While you are reading it, maybe you might want to fix yourself a “Dagwood sandwich” and munch while absorbing the content.
The Hothouse
The sales pitch for the American political system is that it is a robust debate between two distinct political parties. The Republicans and Democrats are coalitions of interests opposed to one another. The groups that make up each party are held together by a shared ideological outlook. The Republicans are the conservative party, and the Democrats are the liberal party. The political process adjudicates the disputes between the parties over public policy and the result is a compromise.
In reality, America is a one party system.
It has been since Gettysburg.
The differences between the two parties are miniscule. This is why public policy never changes when the party in charge changes.
The mild reforms of the Reagan years were followed by a consensus that remains in place to this day. There is some tinkering around the edges to keep up appearances, but otherwise the results of each election have no impact on public policy or the priorities of government.
As for those two ideologies, they are just two faces of a single ruling class ideology that is something like a religion now.
There is left-liberalism and there is right-liberalism held together by a common moral framework.
- Like the old Bolsheviks, the left side of the American ideology is maximalist and radical. It wants to usher in the promises of the revolution right now.
- The right side is more cautious, preferring an evolutionary approach to ushering in the promised utopia.
Unlike the old communists, the American ideology has always existed in a popular political system, so it is built to sell itself to the public.
The main role of the right-liberals is to protect the left-liberals from themselves. They function as barrier between the tenets of the one true faith and any questioning of the faith. The left side is the heart of the beast, driving the agenda and pushing society along from one fad to the next, always chasing the avatar of egalitarian paradise.
This arrangement has worked amazingly well.
Perhaps too well.
It has been over a century since there has been a threat to the system. Anarchists and communists at the start of the last century started to get some traction, but they were never really a threat to the basic arrangements. Otherwise, it has been smooth sailing for the uniparty system for generations.
The left-liberals are free to dream up new social innovations without being disturbed and the right stands quietly at guard.
The trouble is the party is looking like a freak show inside a hot house.
For example, the Air Force now has drag shows to boost morale. To normal people, this is completely nuts (pun intended), but to the people in charge it is perfectly normal. In fact, they think it is bizarre that anyone would question it. They are not entirely wrong, as the people who arranged it will never be pressed on it. The politicians all agree that drag queens are who we are now, and the press echoes the sentiment.
Where the ruling orthodoxy finds itself is in a place where there is never a need to explain themselves and defend their positions.
The right-liberals never challenge the left-liberals on orthodoxy.
Both sides just put on shows where they pretend to disagree, but then kick back together after the show to laugh about it. The right-liberals have insulated themselves from defending their position. They tell themselves that they are simply too good to discuss these things with their critics.
The folks at the Daily Wire are supposed to be the smart kids of conservatism, but they spend their days making sure the hothouse is airtight.
Ben Shapiro’s one venture outside the tightly controlled environment of his life ended in disaster. Ever since that public relations debacle his people have made sure that no one can utter a discouraging word in his presence. In fact, that whole scene has become a closed shop, never interacting with anyone outside their hive.
It is not just the pundits who have become hot house flowers.
Look at what happens to the military leaders when they go before Congress. This guy went before Congress and told one whopper after another. To outsiders, he looks like a complete fool, but inside that room he is just par for the course. Anyone reading this could have wrecked him with a few simple questions, but no one in the room has the intelligence or the temperament to question anything.
This is the motivation behind the mass censorship and de-platforming.
The people inside the political system are incapable of defending or even discussing their positions and they live in fear of having to do it. It is not so much that the critics have great arguments or have superior debating skills. That is a silly conceit. It is simply that the people outside the system, the dissidents, are comfortable defending their positions and discussing them in public. They can take a punch.
This underlying sense of weakness is probably what lies behind the persecution of the January protestors. January 6th, from the perspective of the ruling class, was an emperor has no clothes moment. The torture and torment of the protestors is as much about reassuring themselves that they are tough and in charge as it is about sending a message to the Dirt People. The ruling class revealed themselves to be cowards and now they are lashing out in a fit of petty spite.
All ruling elites have an abundance of sissies and ridiculous people.
They are the entertainment and decoration for the serious men who run things. Those serious men are made serious by regular contact with reality. Remove that contact and those serious men become as silly and ridiculous as their retainers.
That is where the empire finds itself now, ruled by fops and popinjays living in a hothouse. They live in fear of someone opening the door and letting in reality.
Conclusion
And it was well stated.
The American Empire is being ruled by people who have been in the “hot house” for way too long. They have grown large, powerful, and (even) beautiful in a way. We look at them in amazement. We watch their brazen actions, and their odd statements like we would a monkey in a zoo. Curious. Mischievous. Maybe even a little dangerous.
But not one of us.
They, like their ilk in Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, in the Soviet Union, in the Palace of Versailles, the leadership behind their tall walls are slowly losing their collective minds. They are no longer part of society. And some may even question if they are part of the human race.
Such as MM here.
All empires fall, but the rot crumbles from within the top tiers of the leadership.
We are watching this today, in real time. And it’s slow. Really slow. Like a sloooow motion train wreck.
We need not worry too much about their madness, that is unless they start making crazed laws, rules, pronouncements or engage in wars that can affect you. Because that is the great concern.
Truthfully, most Americans realize that everything in America today is a farce. Elections are a farce. Political parties are a farce. American “greatness” is a farce, and “freedom, liberty, and justice for all” is a sad, sad farce.
That instead, America is a out-of-control military empire, and the the much touted “democracy” model is a complete and abject failure.
But you know, that shouldn’t, and needn’t be your concern.
What should be your concern is how you, and your community will be able to weather out their madness.
And yes. It is frustrating, angering, and frightening.
But it is beyond your control. You can either leave the United States of Insanity, or you an stay. Both choices have their good and bad points. I left. But my situation was intolerable and I manufactured a ratty-old tattered “parachute”. No “golden parachute” for MM.
You make the best with what you have.
So, guys and gals, enjoy the ride.
It will eventually settle out and over. One way or the other.
In the meantime, make sure that [1] your larder is well stocked, and that [2] you are surrounded by a community that appreciates and likes you. [3] Perform your prayer affirmations. This is the MOST important thing that you can do. By FAR.
Make sure that you are [4] healthy; mentally, emotionally, socially, physically, and in every other way possible. These times are taking it’s toll. Focus on your well being.
With the basics taken cared for, then enjoy some time in quiet relaxation. That means companionship (whether it is the opposite sex, friends, family or pets) and enjoy some food.
Everyone loves food.
Well, almost everyone. I once met a fellow in a mental institution that hated food. But then again, he hated everything.
This is June moving towards July.
That could very well mean watermelon, corn on the cob, hotdogs, hamburgers, and all manner of fruits and vegetables.
All that calls for a major smunch!
Have a beer.
Call a friend.
Share a beer with a friend.
Make up a spread of cold cuts, vegetables, some potato salad, chips, and plan on some chatting. Even if you have nothing to talk about. Come up with an excuse. Have fun.
You are never too old for fun.
Make up a sandwich, Or two. Or heck, a whole bunch of them. Put some beer in a chest full of ice. Or, make up some sangria. Or heck! Just have a bar and everyone can make their own cocktails.
Don’t let life pass your by simply because your government is run by idiots.
Make it fun.
Maybe use some sweet grandmother pickles. Or, use turkey, ham, pickle loaf, and all sorts of deli cheeses on your “spread”. Allow everyone to experiment.
Like this…
Ah.
Life is too short not to eat good food. Drink good beverages. Spend good time with friends. Whether they are family, animals, associates, or members of the opposite sex.
Just have a good time.
Maybe take a trip to explore a museum, a state park, a pool, a historical society, a small town restaurant, an animal shelter, a fishing hole, or a walk on a trail. Dust off your old bicycle sitting in the garage and give it a spin.
Do something fun.
Ignore the madness in the hothouse.
Do you want more?
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WOW, MM! When one actually reads thru (and between) the lines above and understand the significance of this article, well, IMHO, it’s way up there as one of the best ON THE INTERNET on how to deal with slowmo clusterfck drawn out purposefully among so many different dimensions – BUT ALL solutions come down to yours above. I have always said that this site is the only positive spiral info/disinfo site out there. I underline this again to all readers who find my comment useful, and ring truish to you. USE MM’s TOOLS FREELY PROVIDED TO YOU. It is a special gift. Just keep to the basics as he has listed above – among the other goodies…. May the GPU bless all of us as we roll towards a “new” beginning – there will be lotsa fireworks, but MM, you’ve DONE all of us a GREAT RUFUSERVICE. Thank you!
NewRob your comments are always welcome. And I want you, and all the readers of MM, to know that the comments are what makes my day.
Salem, MA! I think I know the place- was it right by Salem State College? That’s an alma mater of mine and this tiny little diner right near the dorms (this was the mid 80s) that made the best everything. It’s long gone now. The entire city has changed so much. Now it’s the “woke” haunted city. Halloween is no longer a marriage gras scene but a lesson in wokeness
Oh my! You smashed my memories!
You know, there was this nice park, not well frequented, not too far from Salem State College near the water. It had these really nice grey boulders. I was dating a girl from Salem State College. And sometimes we would go down there. I sure hope that that park is still standing.
This is from a MM influencer who wrote to me personally. I thought that it was great, and I just wanted to put it here.
I love this email. I love this comment. I can easily see myself writing about five posts from it.