Is there not something distinctly and disturbingly "Trump" about it? About how free of subtlety and nuance it is? About how insultingly direct it is in its rhetorical brutality? And coming straight from one of the most visible representatives of America's commanding heights.
This should be a bigger deal, it seems to me, but it's almost as if it was so wrong, so disgusting, so utterly beyond comprehension for most non-demented people, that nobody in the media, mainstream or otherwise, seems able to get a handle on how to approach it.
It was actually kind of amazing, watching them try, and then give up, because... what's the point? This really is a case of "it is what it is"... any commentary beyond just playing the video seems... unnecessary? Confounding? Insufficient in every way? It's a real head-spinner, the likes of which has no analog in recent memory. As far as faux-pas go, "Now watch this drive" pales in comparison.
To me, this incident represents a clear moment of escalation in both the New Fascist International's use of pseudo-magickal meme-war, and also in their willingness to "go there" when it comes to confirming the worst fears of right-minded people -- and the hopes and dreams of Trumpnik True Believers -- about how deeply this movement is committed to its spite-sculpted core values (destroying the postwar consensus to own the libs) and how far they're willing to go in service to those values. The latest step down this stairway to hell being the establishment of concentration camps for brown babies.
Am I making too much of this whole jacket thing? I don't believe that I am, and I think it may well be a demarcation point of sorts in historical hindsight, looking back on this era. A friend over at the Rigorous Intuition discussion board brought up a popular slogan in Mussolini's Fascist Italy: "Me ne frego", which loosely translates as "I don't give a fuck". While I currently doubt there's any conscious referencing going on, maybe it's just one of those times when history, while not quite repeating, rhymes. On the other hand, with the likes of Bannon and Miller still in the White House orbit, one can never fully discount the influence of obscure Far Right luminaries like Gabrielle D'Annunzio or Julius Evola.
Another point to keep in mind with all this is the fact that Zara, the company that produces the jacket in question, has a history of marketing apparel of a politically disturbing nature.
To me, this incident represents a clear moment of escalation in both the New Fascist International's use of pseudo-magickal meme-war, and also in their willingness to "go there" when it comes to confirming the worst fears of right-minded people -- and the hopes and dreams of Trumpnik True Believers -- about how deeply this movement is committed to its spite-sculpted core values (destroying the postwar consensus to own the libs) and how far they're willing to go in service to those values. The latest step down this stairway to hell being the establishment of concentration camps for brown babies.
Am I making too much of this whole jacket thing? I don't believe that I am, and I think it may well be a demarcation point of sorts in historical hindsight, looking back on this era. A friend over at the Rigorous Intuition discussion board brought up a popular slogan in Mussolini's Fascist Italy: "Me ne frego", which loosely translates as "I don't give a fuck". While I currently doubt there's any conscious referencing going on, maybe it's just one of those times when history, while not quite repeating, rhymes. On the other hand, with the likes of Bannon and Miller still in the White House orbit, one can never fully discount the influence of obscure Far Right luminaries like Gabrielle D'Annunzio or Julius Evola.
Another point to keep in mind with all this is the fact that Zara, the company that produces the jacket in question, has a history of marketing apparel of a politically disturbing nature.
If any of you have come across any analysis or explanation that you've found satisfactory, I'd really, really like to see it. So please forward it along, either to my email or leave the link in the comments section.
