Monday, November 27, 2023

Under the November wire

 It's the 27th; not sure how many days hath November, but my suspicion is it's curtailed and not a 31st kind of thing.  Anywho...

Every year, it seems, some new Narrative bursts out and starts messing with society in various complex and subtle ways.  Last year, it was Ukraine.  This year, it's been Israel.  I didn't really mention Ukraine in my annual Hesperado posting last year; not sure if I will bring up Israel when February 21 rolls around.  As is usual with these events/phenomena, it's less the event/phenomenon itself that is interesting than the McLuhanite interpretations accompanying it, surrounding it, & triggered by it.  One feature has been a seemingly unprecedented split in the Leftist Mainstream (which coincides with the Western Mainstream).  It's not a 50/50 split, though it's hard to quantify it yet.  Similarly, a split has developed within the Alt-Sphere, with what seems to be an approximately 90/10 split (90 swallowing the pro-Israel line, 10 recoiling from it in various ways, some speciously ideological).  The 90 are reinforced in their bias by the spectacle of fringe Left "Woke" cannon fodder clamoring pro-Palestinian (in turn, reflecting the aforementioned split in the Leftist Mainstream).

These, at any rate, would be some thoughts I may or may not delve into in my upcoming annual posting.  More such thoughts, meanwhile, are readily available to my 3.5 readers by consulting my substack (link in my posting directly preceding this one).