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You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Late Night Open Thread: Rod Dreher’s Primitive Root Weiner Problem

Late Night Open Thread: Rod Dreher’s Primitive Root Weiner Problem

by Anne Laurie|  March 13, 202312:23 am| 82 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Our Failed Media Experiment, Republican Stupidity, Schadenfreude

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a bad day for bad people is a good day for the rest of us https://t.co/wkcrofjfRa

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) March 10, 2023

You ask me, I suspect someone showed Sugar Daddy Ahmanson the since-deleted tweet where Dreher delights at ‘watching fat Magyar men gnaw pork knuckles‘, and there was a mutual decision to yank the chain before Rod started exalting manly Magyar men slobbering sausages. Because if there was ever a man denouncing Teh Gheys in an attempt to deny his own secret yearnings… “How Rod Dreher’s Blog Got a Little “Too Weird” for The American Conservative”:

… Over the last 12 years, Dreher, whose blog at The American Conservative will post for the last time Friday, has built a cult following with some of the most bizarre diatribes in opinion journalism. He has warned that so-called sissy hypnosis porn is “profoundly evil;” detailed the “formal” Catholic exorcism of a friend’s suicidal wife; and recalled—in unsettling detail—the time he witnessed a Black classmate’s uncircumcised penis.

But one particular reader, upon reading the last of said posts, determined the blog had simply gotten too weird, according to two sources familiar with the publication. That disgruntled reader was Howard Ahmanson Jr., the heir to a California banking fortune and the sole benefactor of Dreher’s six-figure salary at TAC, which is published by American Ideas Institute, a nonprofit. This unique funding arrangement—a single donor choosing to cover one writer’s entire salary—was paired with an even more unusual editorial arrangement: Dreher was allowed to publish directly on TAC’s site without any revisions or legal oversight, according to the two sources…

Ahmanson had apparently long admired the work of Dreher, who has authored numerous conservative books and previously wrote for the Beliefnet blog and The Dallas Morning News. But according to the two sources, Ahmanson began to sour on his beneficiary in 2021, when Dreher, in a blog post debating circumcision, wrote the following: “All us boys wanted to stare at his primitive root wiener when we were at the urinal during recess, because it was monstrous. Nobody told us that wieners could look like that.” Incredibly, that was the “first red flag” for Ahmanson, one source told me, adding that the rift had been building for about a year.

Some of Dreher’s commentary on the gay and transgender communities also proved off-putting to Ahmanson, such as his lurid musings on anal sex, rectal bleeding, and the “partially rotted off” nose of a gay man who contracted monkeypox. “At some point, he basically decided, ‘This is too weird,’” the source, paraphrasing Ahmanson, explained to me. “‘I don’t want to read this or pay for this anymore.’”

And, of course, it didn’t help that the blogger, who resides in Hungary, almost caused a small geopolitical crisis last month, when he mistakenly published remarks made by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán during a session with other friendly pundits that Dreher thought at the time was on the record. Dreher, whose stay in the country is being partially funded by a think tank with close ties to the Hungarian government, revealed Orbán’s assertions that NATO is “in a war with Russia” and that he wishes to leave the European Union, comments that ran counter to the regime’s official policies and were not meant for publication. When Dreher realized his mistake, he changed the post’s wording to suggest that Orbán had maintained his public position.

Stateside, the blog’s lack of editorial oversight has caused TAC legal headaches too. Last year, the publication settled a defamation suit out of court, per the two sources, that stemmed from a post that Dreher had written accusing a Kentucky high school student of promoting “LGBT consciousness,” bullying classmates, and “disrespecting teachers.”

As for Dreher’s future, he has said he plans to move his blog to a Substack while continuing at TAC as an editor at large and will “probably” contribute a column––this time, per the two sources, under an editor’s supervision. “I want to thank Howard and Roberta Ahmanson for their generous financial support of me at TAC for my run here,” he wrote in a Friday farewell he published after being notified of this story. Remarking that he wrote “important things” and “stupid things” during his time at TAC, Dreher closed with a nod to a post he said fit the latter category: “All you Mongoloids were the Primitive Root Wiener in my Lucky Dog, and I love you very much.”…

There’s a bunch of far-right Interlectual Dork Web opinioneers (Jordan Peterson, Bari Weis, Bret Stephens, Matt Taibbi… ) already making bank on Substack, so Dreher will no doubt do just fine there. No True Defender of Properly Conservative Values is ever allowed to fail, after all…

rip to the most divorced column in history let’s play the greatest hits https://t.co/rjDLzTdXua pic.twitter.com/EYXGWhYOzv

— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) March 10, 2023

*cardinal leans over and whispers in pope’s ear* Qui scripsit de “primitive root wiener* https://t.co/Hx89OkzTmG

— Jean-Michel Connard (@torriangray) March 11, 2023

"Let me in, I am normal and can be trusted to write about penises"

— Ⓐchard of St. Victor, C.R.S.A. (@OfVick) March 10, 2023

Rod Dreher's sugar daddy pulling out the same day that the Silicon Valley Bank failed seems apropos.

— David Austin Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) March 11, 2023

Rod Dreher is a complete lunatic but some banking billionaire was like, yep, I want to read more of that — and boom he had a platform

— Brian Gaar (@briangaar) March 10, 2023

BUT SRSLY…

*googles* Howard Ah-manson Jr (I am not sure if the name is not a cosmic joke by god, links their $30 million dollar house they are selling)

Oh I see Howard is funding the Claremont Institute and the old job of Christopher Rufo (the Discovery Insitute)https://t.co/Mwsvc7Fncw

— Matthew (@Roland00Address) March 10, 2023

Illuminating thread:

Reminds me of the one conversation I had with Ron Unz, a publisher of the American Conservative (and before that, infamous for successfully passing the bilingual instruction ban in Prop. 227), back when I was at Reason magazine. I'll just leave it at that. https://t.co/dyDYDXcREk

— RiShawn Biddle (@dropoutnation) March 10, 2023

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    82Comments

    1. 1.

      Suzanne

      March 13, 2023 at 12:29 am

      Dreher really seems to be going off the deep end. Getting divorced, losing his patronage gig for writing about other dude’s junk, and almost causing a geopolitical crisis. That would be a bad year for anyone not in on the grift.

      Reply
    2. 2.

      Suzanne

      March 13, 2023 at 12:32 am

      There’s a bunch of far-right Interlectual Dork Web opinioneers (Jordan Peterson, Bari Weis, Bret Stephens, Matt Taibbi… ) already making bank on Substack

      ….do we know this to be true? Is there transparency there? I am kind of skeptical.

      Reply
    3. 3.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 12:38 am

      ….what the fuck is a “Mongoloid”? I’ve seen that elsewhere. Sounds like something from the early 20th century heyday of “scientific racism”

      Also, sounds like a bad idea to except a writer from all editorial and legal oversight. Who could have predicted?

      Reply
    4. 4.

      Frankensteinbeck

      March 13, 2023 at 12:44 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

      Sounds like something from the early 20th century heyday of “scientific racism”

      That is exactly what it is.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      Anotherlurker

      March 13, 2023 at 12:47 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It is a very racist, antiquated psychological term for, I believe, Down syndrome.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      Anoniminous

      March 13, 2023 at 12:48 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): ​ 
      It’s an obsolete bullshit term for people of the Asian “race” – another obsolete bullshit term.​ Now used for people with Down’s Syndrome for reasons passing understanding

      Reply
    7. 7.

      Omnes Omnibus

      March 13, 2023 at 12:49 am

      @Anoniminous: ​
      Also an outdated term for people with Downs Syndrome.

      ETA:  Written before you added that.  The reason was the “vaguely Asian” facial features of people with Downs.

      Reply
    8. 8.

      M. Bouffant

      March 13, 2023 at 12:54 am

      That house is an attempt to bring a Thomas Kinkade painting to life.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      Hoppie

      March 13, 2023 at 12:54 am

      I am so glad I ignore anti-social media.

      Even at [x-age] years old, I fuxxin have a life!  Jebus!

      Reply
    10. 10.

      Anne Laurie

      March 13, 2023 at 1:04 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I suspect Dreher was trying to be hip & sarcastic by referencing Devo’s first single, Mongoloid.

      And he wore a hat
      And he had a job
      And he brought home the bacon
      So that no one knew

      It was safe to be sarcastic on the radio, 40-something years ago.  Dreher could’ve updated his priors, but… well, Dreher.

      Reply
    11. 11.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 1:08 am

      @Anotherlurker:

      @Anoniminous:

      @Omnes Omnibus:

      Christ, that’s horrible

      @Frankensteinbeck:

      Thought so. Can picture those who use it are loser 4channers who think they’re apart of the “Master Race” and look down on all of us dumb NPC libturd normie wokeists

      I have to thank Kay for linking to that NYT poll finding that nearly 60% of Americans think positively of the word “woke”. Counter to their own self-images, their the ones who live in a bubble

      Reply
    12. 12.

      NotMax

      March 13, 2023 at 1:09 am

      The dictum is “Write what you know.” Prick writes about pricks. What did anyone expect?
      //

      Reply
    13. 13.

      NotMax

      March 13, 2023 at 1:11 am

      @Omnes Omnibus

      Entire term was Mongoloid Idiot.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 1:13 am

      @Anne Laurie:

      Wow, you definitely couldn’t do that today!

      From the lyrics-genius website:

      Despite his disability, the subject of the song is able to fit into society, working, and earning a living. Because of this, nobody is aware that he is even different.

      The line is an indictment of conformist society in that we claim to value the bright and the best of us, and yet no one can tell the difference between the varying levels of intelligence as long as one has the ability to “fit in.” With requirements that low of the use of ingenuity, how well does society value intelligence, and what does it matter if you are an idiot or a genius?

      Interesting idea, but I kinda question how true this really was 40+ years ago. I suppose before automation really took off?

      Reply
    15. 15.

      Draco7

      March 13, 2023 at 1:21 am

      @NotMax: Four years of unchecked anxiety, but you shouldn’t use that language – even in reference to TFG.

      Reply
    16. 16.

      eversor

      March 13, 2023 at 1:22 am

      I don’t think Rod has the clout of Tiabbi or Weis or Sullivan to pull off a substack.

      TAC was always bankrolled by like three people.  With Rod now being outed (pun intended) as having a private sugar dady who kept him there making it four for TAC.  When TAC turned into “pay to post” it dried up with about maybe six die hards posting on The Blog Of Rod and NOTHING else there.   It’s a clearing house for students for Christian Colleges and lunatics promoting THEOCRACY NOW with a side dose of “also slavery and genocide were good, because they got the Jesus, and the Jesus is all that matters”.  That’s not a joke.  It was only active due to the flame wars and trolling of conservatives there. There are multiple articles there advocating the great good of stealing native children and mass murdering because hey!  some of them got Jesus out of it.

      Rod was always very pro cancel on his comments which took out half the fun.  So the comments were mostly full of spoof accounts which agreeded with him long enough to get into the auto approve area (I did this) and then went on a rampage against Nazis and Christian Nationalists and he had to nuke them from orbit.  He was very, very, very, upset about this.  Yet too stupid to figure out an IP ban, though those can be end run as well.

      Absent the rampant trolling and shit talk (and ain’t nobody paying 5 bucks over and over and to loose their “freedom of speech” for that) Rod has nothing.  I assume he saw this coming hence the move to Hungary but he’s not making friends there and just causing them headaches.  He’s caused two international incidents already.  As someone who’s half Hungarian and a first born American he’s also blindingly blind to the culture and ways there.   Which, while comedic, is not going to keep him in oysters and wine in fucking Budapest that long.  Eventually they will get sick of him pursuing his own agenda.  And then he will realise that my people are back stabbing assholes and not really welcoming of immigrants and out he will go!  Usefull idiots are just that.  Idiots, that are only usefull so long as they have a use.  The moment they become a problem they go.  As they are just an idiot causing problems.

      I don’t think we’ve yet seen the tragic end of poor closet Rod but we are rapidly getting there.  He doesn’t have a home to come home to.  And even the Hungarian state run conservative press has called him an outright liar and a nutter a few times so he doesn’t have much time left there.   They’ll throw him out and he will be back stuck in some airport like he was months ago but this time with no place to go!  I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, but you made this bed Rod you lay in it!

      Reply
    17. 17.

      Shalimar

      March 13, 2023 at 1:30 am

      There was no reason I should ever have to know that Rod Dreher is circumcised.  He has a serious over-sharing problem.

      Reply
    18. 18.

      Mai Naem mobile

      March 13, 2023 at 1:32 am

      Do that many people really spend money subscribing to substackers? The people i know don’t even want to spend $$ on the paid version of Spotify. Good luck trying to get them to subscribe to their local paper.. And they all seem to discuss how to save money on the various streaming services.

      Reply
    19. 19.

      HumboldtBlue

      March 13, 2023 at 1:36 am

      I haven’t checked, but there are rumors Roy Edroso hasn’t been seen since Friday night. Word of sightings have ranged from seeing a man laughing uproariously in an alley to a bedraggled soul shuffling down the boulevard, wondering where the Muse now hides.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 1:36 am

      Hey, if you’re into watches and laughing at idiots, check out the r/watchescirclejerk subreddit. You can laugh at rich, out of touch, crazy idiots

      The r/rolex people are featured alot. The most infamous member of r/rolex, u/sporturawus, is legendary. Dude used to be on the WatchUSeek forums until he was banned from there.

      Here’s a sampling of his cringe:

      Speaking from experience, Sporty?

      Sporty sells more Rollies than Federer

      Sporty: Rolex sex is the best sex

      Sporty talking about how great it is for grown men following him around trying to get a glimpse at his $30,000 GMT Pepsi while floating in a pool at a luxury resort hotel

      Reply
    21. 21.

      mdblanche

      March 13, 2023 at 1:38 am

      If Substack doesn’t work out Dreher can always try his hand at fiction.

      Reply
    22. 22.

      Roger MacGuffin

      March 13, 2023 at 1:43 am

      @Anne Laurie:

      Your description of Bari Weiss as being far-right is totally inaccurate and frankly very sloppy. She’s a centrist and has been a consistent critic of Donald Trump. Before you characterize someone’s political ideology, you should read a representative sample of their writing. I agree with Weiss on some issues and disagree with her on other issues. She’s absolutely not a right winger.

      Good riddance to Dreher.

      Reply
    23. 23.

      Chetan Murthy

      March 13, 2023 at 1:50 am

      @Roger MacGuffin: wuuuut?  Of course Bari (“I believe in free speech, that’s why I hounded my teachers at Columbia for exercising free speech!”) Weiss is a RWNJ.  She’s batshit.  And I’ve read a good bit of her bilge over at LG&M,  where we make a point of pointing and jeering every time she regurgitates something.

      Reply
    24. 24.

      eversor

      March 13, 2023 at 1:53 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

      This shit always confuses me.  As someone with a Rolex the GMT does not cost 30k.  It’s 10k, still stupid but oh well.  Now you can diamond the fuck out of it and drive it up in price but I have never seen someone who does this.  Or I guess if you get it in gold?  Again I never seen one of these.  It’s like they pick the highest price something sells for and then claim that’s what they paid.

      I have a Rolex Submariner which is a gift when I got out of the Navy.  This is a 10k watch.  Now one can drive it up to 40k if you make it out of solid gold but I have never in my life seen one that is that not made of steel.

      Those buying or gifting them in gold are not buying the sport models because that’s idiotic.

      And sadly and scarily Rolex is not an expensive watch in the real scheme of things.   You want expensive you want a Patek.  Which can run you millions.

      I don’t even wear my Rolex.  It’s in a drawer.  I wear a GSHOCK.  Nobody cares about your damn watch.

      Reply
    25. 25.

      Citizen Alan

      March 13, 2023 at 1:57 am

      @eversor: I don’t even have a watch. I hated having a tan line there, and when I got to the point of carrying a smartphone with me everywhere, I stopped wearing a watch all together. I would never by an expensive watch just as a status symbol and am baffled by those who do. Of course, I’m pretty sure that the last thing I owned that was purchased solely for status purposes was a Members Only jacket in 1986.

      Reply
    26. 26.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 2:00 am

      @eversor:

      Sporty is the type who apparently doesn’t mind spending thousands more over MSRP to buy from grey market dealers just because he wants what he wants when he wants it. His whole mindset is essentially the obviously superior Rolex watches will end up the hands of those who truly deserve them i.e. the rich who are willing to pay inflated grey market prices or who already spend tens of thousands on jewelry a year at ADs, which makes ADs more willing to sell them coveted models, thanks to the artifical scarcity caused by Rolex. Everybody else is shit out of luck and stuck on “waitlists”

      He’s the type of douchebag who makes owning Rolexes his entire personality

      Reply
    27. 27.

      Splitting Image

      March 13, 2023 at 2:02 am

      @Roger MacGuffin:

      Your description of Bari Weiss as being far-right is totally inaccurate and frankly very sloppy. She’s a centrist and has been a consistent critic of Donald Drumpf. Before you characterize someone’s political ideology, you should read a representative sample of their writing. I agree with Weiss on some issues and disagree with her on other issues. She’s absolutely not a right winger.

      Good riddance to Dreher.

      The entire purpose of centrism is to launder right-wing ideas into popular discourse. If a Nazi is in the process of murdering a Jewish person or a trans person, there is no middle ground to be had. If a self-described centrist insists on everybody withholding judgment on the Nazi until they consider the Nazi’s point of view, then said centrist is a Nazi.

      This was Weiss’ entire job at the New York Times. And she took her job seriously.

      Reply
    28. 28.

      Cameron

      March 13, 2023 at 2:06 am

      When I first saw ‘primitive root weiner ‘ I was confused. The name of a new fast food chain in the Upper Peninsula? A sweaty fantasy inadvertently revealed? Suggestion for a Hungarian rock band?

      Reply
    29. 29.

      Chetan Murthy

      March 13, 2023 at 2:06 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

      He’s the type of douchebag who makes owning Rolexes his entire personality

      Wearing Rolexes is lekking behaviour ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lek_mating ).  Used to be, mobile phones were, too ( https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225693742_Mobile_phones_as_lekking_devices_among_human_males ).

      Reply
    30. 30.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 2:11 am

      @eversor:

      Oh yeah, it’s crazy how expensive watches can be, especially luxury brands like Patek. I think I’m becoming a real watch nerd, but man, I couldn’t ever see myself wearing watch worthy tens of thousands or more, even if I could afford it. I’d be afraid I’d be mugged. And what’s the point of letting a cool watch sit in a safe deposit box at a bank?

      Reply
    31. 31.

      Chris T.

      March 13, 2023 at 2:15 am

      [Dreher] has warned that so-called sissy hypnosis porn is “profoundly evil;”

      WTF is this “so-called sissy hypnosis porn” in the first place? (I saw there was a link but I really don’t want to click it…)

      Reply
    32. 32.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 2:15 am

      @Citizen Alan:

      Watches are cool and a fashion statement for men, especially automatics. Also, imo, it’s easier to flick your wrist and read a watch then try to get your smartphone out of your pocket

      Still, whenever I see a few massive watch collections on Reddit, I wonder what the servicing costs must be

      Reply
    33. 33.

      Chetan Murthy

      March 13, 2023 at 2:17 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): What’s the point of a cheap Rolex ?  [asking in a sociological vein]

      Reply
    34. 34.

      Danielx

      March 13, 2023 at 2:18 am

      @Citizen Alan:

      Of course, I’m pretty sure that the last thing I owned that was purchased solely for status purposes was a Members Only jacket in 1986.

      Are you still in therapy?

      Reply
    35. 35.

      Chetan Murthy

      March 13, 2023 at 2:20 am

      @Citizen Alan: I’m having great difficulty remembering the last thing I bought for its signaling value.  Though obviously at some point I did, b/c otherwise I wouldn’t have this humungous dead-tree library.

      Reply
    36. 36.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 2:23 am

      @Chetan Murthy:

      You may have something there.

      Sportywalrus once gave this gem on Rollies and luxury watches:

      I got my first Rolex when I first realized that Rolex ownership is “Girlfriend”, other brands are “Wife”.

      Your Girlfriend just needs to be one thing- smoking hot, the girl  everyone at school would have killed for back in the day, so gorgeous  that all who glance at her immediately want to see her naked, want to  ravish her for hours, want to show her off to their exes, and hate your  f—— guts for being the lucky bastard that gets to do all that with  her.

      Your Wife, different story, that’s a logical decision, it’s not about looks as much as its about her demeanor, her intelligence, her education, her parents, her siblings, her personality, and all those  elements that go into the biggest decision you’ll make in your personal  life.

      “Rolex” is akin to “Cheerleader” or “Prom Queen”, so that’s half the Girlfriend battle right there. Submariner, Explorer, GMT,  Daytona, Datejust….that’s the “blonde”, the “redhead”, the “brunette”,  and all the different flavors of hotness. Pick whichever one you like,  but you know it when you see it and so does every other guy- she’s  drop-dead gorgeous. Man, what is *she* doing with *you*?

      When you get to other brands like “Omega” (too much makeup) or “Tag  Heuer” (wallflower) or “Tudor” (wannabe) or “Grand Seiko” (the band  geek) it requires getting under the hood for all those Wife considerations like the “movement”, the “build quality”, the “heritage”,  and all that other stuff. You know it when you see it and so do your  friends- nice girl, you two are perfect for each other. Love the apartment, how is the closet space?

      You buy a Rolex because for once in your life you want to f— the  blue-eyed blonde Head Cheerleader and make sure everyone notices you as you walk her around. You buy one of these off-brands if you want a safe and uninspired relationship with a practical woman who can make a decent meatloaf.

      If someone is trying to impress IG 20 year olds, have at it, that’s fine. I wouldn’t take a Richard Mille if you gave me one for free, and I’ve never heard of those other brands at all. Everyone on the planet, billions of people, know what a Rolex is. Those unchanged basic proportions are instantly recognizable, you know a Rolex when you see one from across the room.

      The reason this old brand is on fire right now is because of the upgrades that Rolex has just provided, the redesigns maintain the classic look but the uptick in quality, design, materials, they just nailed it.

      TLDR: Ask anyone on the street to name 3 luxury brands or status symbols, they are going to say Rolex time and time again. No other watch can do that for you. It’s like wearing a sign around your neck that says “rich and successful here”. It’s so cool. You can’t take a Mercedes or a summer home on the train every morning. But you can take a Rolex.

      Pretty sure I recall a WatchuSeek post of his that was linked to on r/WCJ too where he bragged about giving his son one of his Rolexes for prom and it helped him get laid 😬

      There’s nothing wrong with being a watch enthusiast and appreciating beautiful pieces of human engineering but holy shit, don’t make it your entire identity

      Reply
    37. 37.

      Chris T.

      March 13, 2023 at 2:26 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

      I think I’m becoming a real watch nerd, but man, I couldn’t ever see myself wearing watch worthy tens of thousands or more, even if I could afford it. I’d be afraid I’d be mugged. And what’s the point of letting a cool watch sit in a safe deposit box at a bank?

      Horology fandom is a thing like any other thing.

      Reply
    38. 38.

      Chetan Murthy

      March 13, 2023 at 2:28 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

      It’s like wearing a sign around your neck that says “rich and successful here”.

      That’s lekking behaviour right there.  In the late 90s, when cellphones were becoming common but not-so-common-yet, and they were expensive, men would buy fake cellphones that made noises and such.  Men would *ostentatiously* take their (fake or not) cellphones out of their pockets when they sat down at a restaurant table.

      It’s signaling.

      Reply
    39. 39.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 2:34 am

      @Chetan Murthy:

      What’s the point of a cheap Rolex?

      To say you have a Rawlex, of course! Also, to get 5 spots ahead of all the other chumps on the waitlist for the model you really want by buying a watch you don’t want to “build a relationship” with the AD

      Reply
    40. 40.

      Amir Khalid

      March 13, 2023 at 2:36 am

      I’ve started wearing a wristwatch again because it is indeed more convenient than digging the smartphone out of my pocket when I need to know the time. I paid the equivalent of US$35 for my Casio. It’s presentable enough if I ever need a dress watch. It’s no sports watch but I’ll never need one of those again. I don’t collect watches, I don’t share that mentality or understand it.

      Reply
    41. 41.

      eclare

      March 13, 2023 at 2:36 am

      @Chetan Murthy:

      I don’t buy them for signaling value, but it can be hard to find a nice, well-made leather women’s purse without some annoying brand splashed all over it.  My latest is a Coach, but in the past they have lasted around ten years.

      Just to give a female perspective.

      Reply
    42. 42.

      Citizen Alan

      March 13, 2023 at 2:36 am

      @Danielx: No, but I probably should be.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 2:38 am

      @Chetan Murthy:

      Yup, I think it’s pretty weird and sad though. It’s just a watch for god’s sake! Most people don’t care

      @Chris T.:

      Oh absolutely

      Reply
    44. 44.

      Chetan Murthy

      March 13, 2023 at 2:39 am

      @eclare: Ah,  yes.  Sorry, I was responding to Goku and eversor (and the guy they’re citing); I should have said “why does a man buy a Rolex?”

      Reply
    45. 45.

      eversor

      March 13, 2023 at 2:42 am

      To multiple people in defense of “watch game” it’s really the only “jewelry” item men can flaunt and not get mocked for.  I know, gender roles.  The Rolex Sub and Date do have a history that’s kinda fun.  As does the Omega Speed Master (The Astronaut watch) so I get it.   I really truly get it.  They were military issue, and are now given as gifts after serving a long time at something.  That’s how I got mine.  It was a nice “thank you for your service” and a family gift.  It’s touching, and I enjoy it.  But I wear a GSHOCK.

      There’s also something nice about an auotmatic watch that is hard to put into words.  It doesn’t need batteries.  It doesn’t need to charge.  It’s mechanical (comes with it’s own problems) and it’s just classy.  I wear jeans and a polo to a high end job with a GSHOCK watch along with boots.  I have my ID and security badges on a lanyard that just says NAVY even though I’m out.  But for formal events it’s just nice to have it there, when you put on the suit or the tux.  I hate these events with a passion.  There is though an expecation of how you look and act and while I may hate it this is the game.

      FWIW my SO hates her fancy jewelry and dress/gown/I dunno I’m not a woman.  It’s always a huge pain in the ass to keep things about we both would never wear for like 6 events a year we don’t want to be at but have to be at.  Then pretend to be friends with people who are not our friends.  Then go home and get out of all it change into under wear and laugh with the cat and order ramen.   I know why I have to do this, I run a department, but nobody has ever explained to me why doing all this is part of running things!  We are both much more at ease wandering around Arlington VA in jeans and t-shirts going to gaming clubs, cooking events, hiking, than we are formal.

      Reply
    46. 46.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      March 13, 2023 at 2:46 am

      @Amir Khalid:

      Casio’s are great for everyday wear. I own two, an analog quartz dive style I paid $20 for 6 years ago and a digital World Time one I’ve had for over 10 years without a battery change. I left it in a dresser drawer for 4 years after the resin band finally broke and it was only a few minutes off. It’s still in decent condition aside from crystal scuff; disappointingly, the “World Time” and “Illuminator” lettering on the bezel wore off awhile back.

      It’s a neat little watch. Multiple time zones, stopwatch/timer and DST modes. Alarms can be set on it too

      Here’s an example of the digital Casio I own

      Reply
    47. 47.

      eversor

      March 13, 2023 at 2:49 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

      You’ll laugh but having worked in food service this is a thing.

      Reply
    48. 48.

      Anne Laurie

      March 13, 2023 at 2:52 am

      @Roger MacGuffin: Before you characterize someone’s political ideology, you should read a representative sample of their writing.

      I have.  *I* am a centrist (center-leftist); Bari Weis is an apologist for the most prosperous members of the ‘Best (right wing) People’, masked with a thin veneer of ‘Of course the liberals cannot support, yet many people are saying… ‘

      Her Musk-y tongue-bath here, for one instance.

      ETA: To expand… From everything I’ve read by or about her, Weis’s only real political commitment is to Bari Weis. If her sugar daddies were to decide that ‘socialism’ was the way, she’d be denouncing Bernie Sanders as a squish by the end of the business week. If Peter Thiel were somehow to achieve his wildest dreams, she’d be touting eugenics and seasteading even faster. But that doesn’t make her a ‘centrist’, just a careerist.

      Reply
    49. 49.

      HumboldtBlue

      March 13, 2023 at 2:53 am

      I did not expect to run into Chicago tonight, and certainly not in this thread.

      Does anybody really know what time it is?

      Reply
    50. 50.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 3:19 am

      @Hoppie: …uh, …

      Reply
    51. 51.

      ColoradoGuy

      March 13, 2023 at 3:37 am

      Billionaire’s son, who’s never worked a day in his life, funds a deranged closet case.

      What could go wrong?

      Reply
    52. 52.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 4:00 am

      @Roger MacGuffin: …Bari Weiss a centrist?

       

      Only in her own mind.

      Reply
    53. 53.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 4:08 am

      @Chetan Murthy:

      …take their (fake or not) cellphones out of their pockets when they sat down at a restaurant table.

      It’s signaling.

      Still is, …only difference is now everyone does it everywhere all the time.

      Reply
    54. 54.

      Chetan Murthy

      March 13, 2023 at 4:28 am

      @AlaskaReader: I’m not sufficiently socially-connected to know, so can I ask?  My impression was that these days people do it b/c they’re constantly fiddling and staying connected with people who aren’t physically present around them, not b/c they’re trying to display their phone to others around them.  “Lekking” is when males will engage in display to females with the intent of convincing them to mate.  So these men with these fake cellphones were attempting to display their “greater fitness” (heh) by faking it.  Just as a “Chinese knockoff Rolex” does.[1]

      Is that something that males still do with phones?

      [1]  The possession of an expensive toy like a cellphone or Rolex is proof of high status.  Just as for certain species of birds, elaborate feather growths (peacocks, but also other birds) are proofs of high status.  And in the case of human males, if you can fake that proof, well, lots are gonna do it.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 5:10 am

      @Chetan Murthy:

      I think with the phones, it’s not just men, it’s pervasive and I still see it as form of signaling, consistent with our perceived societal status determined by consumption.

      Me, I won’t buy a new phone until my old one is no longer supported,

      …the disconnect is the assumption one can ‘purchase’ status.

      Reply
    56. 56.

      Repatriated

      March 13, 2023 at 5:19 am

      @HumboldtBlue:

      It’s either 3:35 or 3:34AM.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 5:20 am

      @Chetan Murthy: …I fail to see the feathers as a good comparison, they’re only attained by a long and indeterminate genetic process, the birds can’t really choose to alter their ‘status’.

      Reply
    58. 58.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 5:23 am

      @Repatriated:    3:54

      Reply
    59. 59.

      Repatriated

      March 13, 2023 at 5:35 am

      @AlaskaReader: Twenty-five, or -six, to four.  From the context of the song’s lyrics, it’s set very early in the morning.

      Reply
    60. 60.

      Mo Salad

      March 13, 2023 at 5:38 am

      @Anotherlurker: ​
       It’s still a great DEVO jam…

      https://youtu.be/0b-nFSUXcuM

      Reply
    61. 61.

      HumboldtBlue

      March 13, 2023 at 5:52 am

      We arguin’ over time stamps.

      There was always a storyteller and some horse.

      Reply
    62. 62.

      Montanareddog

      March 13, 2023 at 5:58 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka), @eversor, @Chetan Murthy:

      Cheap Chic at Aspen

      James Fallows’ paean to the Timex Indiglo T20041, the ultimate cheap, readable watch with a classic design, signalling good taste without vulgar flaunting of value. (Full disclosure – I, too, own more than a couple of these, as a means to flaunting my miserliness and inverted snobbery).

      Reply
    63. 63.

      HumboldtBlue

      March 13, 2023 at 6:00 am

      @Anne Laurie:

      From everything I’ve read by or about her, Weis’s only real political commitment is to Bari Weis. If her sugar daddies were to decide that ‘socialism’ was the way, she’d be denouncing Bernie Sanders as a squish by the end of the business week. If Peter Thiel were somehow to achieve his wildest dreams, she’d be touting eugenics and seasteading even faster.

      This is why we read this blog.

      Reply
    64. 64.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 6:02 am

      @Repatriated:Well, yes , I got that, …6 to 4 is 3:54, not 3:34 as you crafted your link.

      Reply
    65. 65.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 6:30 am

      @HumboldtBlue: As Wiki says:

      Timestamps do not have to be based on some absolute notion of time

      Reply
    66. 66.

      Matt McIrvin

      March 13, 2023 at 6:58 am

      I have an old Seiko of a model that was probably intended to resemble a Rolex but is also clearly not one.

      My problem is that I never get around to getting the batteries replaced when they run down. I hope they haven’t leaked and destroyed the thing. Oh well. Have started to not wear it and to just use computer clocks and such, but the minor, cheap shininess of it is nice.

      Reply
    67. 67.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 13, 2023 at 7:59 am

      @AlaskaReader:

      Still is [signaling], …only difference is now everyone does it everywhere all the time.

      If anybody does it as signaling anymore, it’s a really stupid fail at signaling, because once everybody does it all the time, including my 15 year old son, what does it signal?  About as much as wearing a shirt does.

      Reply
    68. 68.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 13, 2023 at 8:06 am

      @AlaskaReader:

       …6 to 4 is 3:54, not 3:34 as you crafted your link.

      Twenty-five or (twenty-) six to four, IOW 3:35 or 3:34 am.

      He’s up in the middle of the night, trying to come up with some song lyrics.

      So saith Robert Lamm of Chicago.

      Reply
    69. 69.

      frosty

      March 13, 2023 at 8:13 am

      We’ll that’s fifteen minutes wasted that I’ll never get back. Entertaining in a “Ewww I have to wash that off” kind of way.

      Reply
    70. 70.

      Pete Mack

      March 13, 2023 at 8:14 am

      What a house! Such gracious simplicity! So lovely a silhouette! Such a cohesive display of roofs!

      Reply
    71. 71.

      lowtechcyclist

      March 13, 2023 at 8:25 am

      @Pete Mack:

      What a house! Such gracious simplicity! So lovely a silhouette! Such a cohesive display of roofs!

      It looks like the builders had one idea and used it over and over and over again.  Every part of it that you can see in that photo looks like every other part you can see in that photo.  Truly bizarre

      ETA: It reminds me of Al Yankovic’s “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long.”

      Reply
    72. 72.

      NotMax

      March 13, 2023 at 8:55 am

      @Amir Khalid

      Who watches the watch, man?
      :)

      Reply
    73. 73.

      frosty

      March 13, 2023 at 8:56 am

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Wow, he’s gone around the bend! Dude, it’s a feckin watch!

      Reply
    74. 74.

      evodevo

      March 13, 2023 at 10:25 am

      @Chetan Murthy: ​
        Is this MacGuffin a Hitchcockian MacGuffin? Or just a new troll…

      Reply
    75. 75.

      billcinsd

      March 13, 2023 at 11:59 am

      @Anne Laurie: I first heard Mongoloid (and DEVO) on Dr. Demento. I am very happy and I bring home the bacon

      Reply
    76. 76.

      FredW

      March 13, 2023 at 12:02 pm

      Back in the “blogosphere” days I used to make a point of trying to read conservative viewpoints from time to time (one was some guy name Cole — whatever happened to him?). Dreher was one that I read. I found it interesting to read about a Russian Orthodox community is a small Louisiana town. We even had a couple pleasant email exchanges about monastic breweries. Then he got weird — or more likely he was weird all along and his filter was removed. The occasional interesting tidbit was not worth the other 99% that was crazy stuff.

      It is interesting that all of the “conservatives” I read in those days are no longer conservative or have become batshit insane.

      Reply
    77. 77.

      Paul in KY

      March 13, 2023 at 1:42 pm

      @Citizen Alan: I had a beautiful Bulova Accutron. Gold case, etc. I have an unusual electric field and it would mess with the watch.

      Reply
    78. 78.

      AlaskaReader

      March 13, 2023 at 2:30 pm

      @lowtechcyclist: I’ll disagree, adopting all the same signaling habits is a case of saturation, not that the behavior has suddenly become something other than what it is.

      If it wasn’t signaling, there’d be no lines to be the first to buy the latest model.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      J R in WV

      March 13, 2023 at 2:31 pm

      My only watch is a pocket watch from LL Bean I got many years ago when I still walked into remote woods, and needed to know when to turn around to get out before pitch dark happened. I still have it, it still works. Have never needed a watch on my wrist.

      At work when I still worked and had lots of meetings my computer would let me know 10 minutes before a local meet was to start. I sometimes showed up an hour early or late for meetings being held in other time zones…

       

      HOLY COW — I just discovered my pocket watch [ which La Bean no longer sells !! ]  may be worth 4 figures !!!! Thanx Google!

      Reply
    80. 80.

      FredW

      March 13, 2023 at 3:46 pm

      @J R in WV: Being a gadget guy, every time Apple or Garmin or somebody comes out with a new watch I think “that is cool, I should get one.”

      Then I remember I haven’t worn a watch on my wrist in decades. In pre smart phone days I did have a watch that clipped to a belt loop for times when I needed to know the time (like traveling).

      That said, I do have a bunch of wrist watches — my Dad loved them and was always giving me one as a present (birthday, Xmas) until I finally had the courage to tell him to stop. I think he never understood why I didn’t love them like he did.

      Reply
    81. 81.

      caphilldcne

      March 13, 2023 at 6:00 pm

      @lowtechcyclist: I love 25 or 6 to 4 and until this comment had never much understood the title – I thought maybe it was a reference to the beat of the song which makes no sense in retrospect. So thank you for this little tidbit.

      Reply
    82. 82.

      Hcat

      March 15, 2023 at 2:31 pm

      The fact that you spelled it “weiner” instead of “wiener” should that you are a victim of the almost universal American dyslexia that comes from no phonics.

      Reply

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