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Chris Hayes’ book Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy is being released tomorrow. Thanks to Crown Publishing’s generosity, I have a signed hardback copy waiting for a lucky Balloon Juice reader:
Over the past decade, Americans watched in bafflement and rage as one institution after another – from Wall Street to Congress, the Catholic Church to corporate America, even Major League Baseball – imploded under the weight of corruption and incompetence. In the wake of the Fail Decade, Americans have historically low levels of trust in their institutions; the social contract between ordinary citizens and elites lies in tatters.
How did we get here? With Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes offers a radically novel answer. Since the 1960s, as the meritocracy elevated a more diverse group of men and women into power, they learned to embrace the accelerating inequality that had placed them near the very top. Their ascension heightened social distance and spawned a new American elite–one more prone to failure and corruption than any that came before it.
Mixing deft political analysis, timely social commentary, and deep historical understanding, Twilight of the Elites describes how the society we have come to inhabit – utterly forgiving at the top and relentlessly punitive at the bottom – produces leaders who are out of touch with the people they have been trusted to govern. Hayes argues that the public’s failure to trust the federal government, corporate America, and the media has led to a crisis of authority that threatens to engulf not just our politics but our day-to-day lives.
(So, yeah: like the best of Balloon Juice, but with fewer typoes and demands for pet pictures.)
Since it worked so well for our last giveway, I’m going to use the same system. WordPress willing, I’ll put up a post this evening, titled “CONTEST: Twilight of the Elites Giveaway“. Everybody who’s interested gets one entry, one comment. (Duplicate comments will get you eliminated.) The contest will stay open until Tuesday evening, so everyone should have a chance to enter. Then I’ll use a random number generator (www.random.org) to pick the number of the winning comment.
Questions, suggestions, complaints — this would be the place to speak up.
different-church-lady
Wait… Major League Baseball imploded?
WereBear
What, I’m supposed to trust corporate America?
KG
@different-church-lady: well, there was the strike/lock out in the mid-90s, followed by the known but unspoken wide use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), followed by much gnashing of teeth when someone finally spoke up about it (because, why won’t anyone think of the children and they example we are setting?), followed by much lying to Congress and obstructing of justice, and if you’re a Dodger fan there was the whole McCourt ownership debacle… and of course, the Yankees and Red Sox continue to win
Karen
@different-church-lady:
The Mets just got swept by the Yankees. Then again, when MLB season starts (Mets fan) it always implodes after opening day!
different-church-lady
@KG: Wait… the Red Sox continue to win?
Warren Terra
You say the system worked well last time, but I beg to differ on the grounds that I didn’t get a free book last time.
joes527
so, the problem is that our betters are too diverse?
why not jus say it is the uppity nigger’s fault?
JenJen
True story! Back during the 2012 GOP Primary Clown Show, right after Herman Cain suspended his campaign, Meghan McCain sent out a tweet asking her followers what that means, exactly, to “suspend” your campaign. Being the wiseass that I am, I immediately tweeted back to her, “ASK YOUR DAD!”
A few minutes after that, Chris Hayes retweeted me, adding an “LOL”, and I just have to say it was probably my proudest Twitter moment.
I need a life. And Chris’ signed book.
Suzan
As per this clip, is he saying all this bad stuff happened since we started letting women and minorities participate (in the 60s). When it was just old white guys, they took care of us better. What am I missing?
Nethead Jay
Count me in as a Chris Hayes fan (though Maddow is still no. 1).
Mark S.
I don’t know how much I believe this thesis. It seems like most of the elite that are preaching that this is the natural order of things and, oh, we shouldn’t have a capital gains tax, are overwhelmingly still white and male.
Anoniminous
For my entry I’ll give a link:
European Surreality Goes Full Retard As Greek Neo-Nazi Sues Victim Of On Air Assault
Culture of Truth
The Catholic church is more diverse than ever. For example, they only now have their first Nazi pope.
CW in LA
@Culture of Truth: Pius XII was merely a Nazi-sympathizing pope?
Reklam
The owl of Minerva flies at twilight?
Omnes Omnibus
@joes527: @Suzan: I thought the implication was that the new people bought into the idea of meritocracy in a pernicious way. They found that they were winners and decided it was because they were better instead of remembering all the help that put them in a position to win. They decided IGMFY. We had expected better; we were wrong.
jl
I think your ‘true atmospheric noise’ random number is the work of the devil, is what I think.
Or, leprechauns, since some dang Irish set it up.
Culture of Truth
@CW in LA: Yes, so this is progress. Like Clinton was the ‘first black President’
joes527
@Omnes Omnibus: at what point in history was igmfu NOT the elite’s guiding principle?
lamh35
Because the Left is Stupid, Too
by BooMan
Elias
If you were standing outside a Romney campaign event (for laughs) and you got a chance to shake Mitten’s hand, how hard would you squeeze? Wouldn’t want the Mormon to think you were limp wristed after all.
Culture of Truth
perhaps what Hayes is saying is the current attitude is “I earned mine, you are lazy and underserving, also all my ideas must be brilliant no matter how stupid”
Dee Loralei
@JenJen: John Cleese HA!’d at me once, so neeners. He tweeted something to his “antipodean fans” and I said that word always made me think of slugs or snails.
And Elizabeth Warren retweeted me when I said she was my favorite Okie I wasn’t related to or who didn’t play football for the Sooners.
And just the other day BJ’s own, very own, far right-wing man on the street interviewer, Sally Sampson, followed me. And I felt all sorts of special.
So yea, I need a life, too. And I mean it, much to my own chagrin. OY.
Anne Laurie
@Suzan:
It’s more that the Top One Percent offered the “best” (smartest, hardest-working, most motivated) women / African-Americans / open gays & lesbians a spot at the table if they agreed not to keep agitating for a more inclusive society in general. So we have an African-American president, which is absolutely a Great Historical Improvement, but we also have widespread efforts to disenfrancise African-American voters, plus a lot of mealy-mouthed media commentary about our “post-racial society”. Hayes, if I understand correctly, thinks the “Elites” have bait-and-switched the rest of us, by making it easier for a tiny percentage of the visibly disadvantaged groups to use their gifts to prop up the status quo, rather than changing the system so that everyone might have a chance at a decent minimum level of support.
jl
@Elias:
But definitely get a haircut, first, if you are a guy.
lamh35
Talk to me like I’m stupid, other than just trying to stick it to the Obama admin, why exactly is the FL guv suing DHS over the voter purge in FL? WTH does DHS have to do with voting? Why not just go all out and sue DOJ? Or can you not sue DOJ?
lamh35
Ugh, so question, do all the alleged victims of Sandusky have to testify in court? I’m watching Hardball and they are doing a segment about Sandusky. I can’t bear to even listen to the coverage.
Culture of Truth
@lamh35: Yes, and be identified by name. And be cross-examined.
Ding dong
Me let be me its all about me me mine my book
Dee Loralei
@lamh35: from what I understand, he thinks the DHS has a listing of every citizen on the country, and he wants to use that database to conduct his purge, or something. And I could be wrong on his reasoning, since I tend not to listen to right-wingers when they whine about something the Admin isn’t doing for them.
different-church-lady
@lamh35: I gotta start reading BooMan.
plaindave
Chris Hayes always makes sense. That synopsis from Amazon has to be a bit off. Randomly pick this comment # and I’ll write a better one.
Culture of Truth
I hear DHS has a list of national dumbasses
Valdivia
I am very curious to read this book and pair it/ contrast it with the Orenstein and Mann one.
Also. Too. I am now taking vlcodin for my sciatica. Boy what a difference I can actually walk without wailing at the moon.
Suzan
@plaindave: You must be right. Chris is interesting, thoughtful, and always right (translates: “thinks like me”). Must be Amazon’s fault.
Lolis
@lamh35:
Good stuff. Thanks for posting it.
danimal
But it didn’t work well last time, because I didn’t get a free book.
/waaaaaa
Mino
@Culture of Truth: Are they asking for their Google searches, too?
And on the Fla thingie, they wanted DHS’s lists to compare to their voter rolls. I didn’t know DHS kept lists of citizens by address, did you?
lamh35
@Culture of Truth: damn ugh. I hope the media at least pretends to try and give them privacy!
KG
@different-church-lady: they’re only two games under .500. I’d feel better if they were twenty games under.
Also, too: Fuck the fucking Yankees
Carl Nyberg
What’s the connection between the government and corporate elites getting more diverse and the elites getting more out of touch?
Maybe this is a poorly written summary, but it doesn’t make much sense to me.
I found the thesis of “Winner Take All Politics” by Hacker & Peirson pretty persuasive.
The economic elites have harnessed the power of government to give themselves more money and more control of society.
This combined with the fairly straightforward observation that as people become richer they become more isolated with less ability to feel empathy tells the story you need to know.
Chris Hedges explains the role of identity politics in the political game. Yes, there have been gains for specific groups, but these gains came at the price of the Left paying lip service only to challenging society’s power structure.
I think it is an important addition to the critique of society to note that institutions across society are losing the trust of the public.
But it seems like a couple explanations (or more) need to be put in competition with each other.
1. We have a society that’s increasingly based on bullshit. And a little bullshit lubricates the machinery of human organizations. Too much bullshit and the people within the machinery loose confidence in the larger system and plunder from within.
2. There was always significant levels of bullshit in society’s institutions, but something has changed (e.g. the free flow of information on the Internet) to make the bullshit harder to hide.
3. The level of bullshit is relatively constant and people who choose to focus on the bullshit are what’s changing, not the amount of bullshit.
Villago Delenda Est
The problem is that the “meritocracy” is remarkably dependent on the old fashioned “who’s your daddy” approach to merit.
One of the reasons Bill Clinton was so despised by the vile likes of Broder is that he was a true case of coming up from the bottom and rising to the top, despite every effort to block that path. He rose on actual merit, not on who his father was, totally unlike his successor, a deserting shitstain.
Mino
@lamh35: Booman is right. There is no other reason for a sane person to vote for Mittens. Of course, that would also be an irreparably pig-ignorant person, also. Who believed in rainbows.
hitchhiker
I want one.
moops
Is it one post per commentator ?
Does wordpress have that feature ? or are we to post early and often ?
Who is doing the Voter Screening ?
lamh35
BREAKING: DOJ Plans To Sue Over Florida’s Voter Purge
JS
Before I read a book about meritocracy, I want to hear from Bill Kristol, Luke Russert and Liz Cheney. I’m betting this is the sort of book that should only be read in quiet rooms.
Mino
Meritocracy, as far as government goes, began with Teddy Roosevelt’s civil service reforms. And it spread, with cultural consent, to encompass the ideal.
The 60’s made it shaky, with MacNamara’s proven lies and Nixon’s criminality, But it took Reagan’s “greed is good” to really put the knife in it.
I see absolutly no proof of tokenism as the cancer.
different-church-lady
@plaindave:
I would find it comforting if that turns out to be the case.
WereBear
Yep. Because the bottom line is that their miserable whining offspring would not get a leg up in a society where true merit allows others to rise.
You’d think having a ton of money, multiple residences to choose from, immunity from prosecution for drugs and unlicensed firearms and adultery and murder, and a chef in the kitchen to cook all your meals; you’d think that would be enough to make any random asshole happy.
Apparently, not.
Cassidy
So, if Hayes just wrote a much better version of Balloon Juice, who is his “eemom” trying to get in his pants?
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.
SectarianSofa
Hooray for books!
Neil
I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;a
I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news,
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
Valdivia
@Cassidy:
Been meaning to ask–how is your back?
lamh35
Alright. Tomorrow is my last day of work at the job I’ve had for the last 6 1/2 year. It’s gonna be both bittersweet, but also upbeat. Sad that I will no longer see some of the best co-workers I’ve had, but upbeat because I am happy about the new job I have which starts on June 21st.
Cassidy
@Valdivia: Not bad. Percs and called in sick Thursday. Rest, naproxen, and flexeril the whole weekend. I worked out today and did one round of the Spartacus workout and made sure to err for lower weights. That didn’t matter as the lunges, squats and plyo stuff beat my ass anyway. It worked out, though, as I was looking for something intense but geared for the whole body and not something that would focus on the lower back.
Cassidy
@Valdivia: Not bad. Percs and called in sick Thursday. Rest, naproxen, and flexeril the whole weekend. I worked out today and did one round of the Spartacus workout and made sure to err for lower weights. That didn’t matter as the lunges, squats and plyo stuff beat my ass anyway. It worked out, though, as I was looking for something intense but geared for the whole body and not something that would focus on the lower back.
Steeplejack
@Valdivia:
Thai massage. Told you about it in a previous thread (the one where Cole talked about his constant pain). Not gonna stalk you about it, but it’s the only thing that helped with–as in fixed, not just palliative care–my scorching sciatica about 12 years ago.
Valdivia
@Cassidy:
Glad to hear you are back working out. I am so jealous. I wish I could get moving again but it looks like it will be another week for me before I can begin seriously working at it. First thing will be to swim, can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to that.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Omnes Omnibus:
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That’s about my take, too.
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In the old days of the tightly knit WASP male hierarchy running everything it was painfully obvious that they were just the beneficiaries of a genetic lottery. So much so that as as result the ruling class at least felt some twinges of noblesse oblige, depending on which decade you were talking about and on how just how well it was going for them, hiring half of the working class to shoot the other half, i.e. were their mercenaries achieving effective fire on target or not, and how was the ammo supply holding out?
__
But today we have a problem, because while membership in the ruling class is still very much a lottery, and one with exceedingly steep odds at that, it is less obviously a genetic lottery, than it was in the old days. If this were a theatrical production, first as tragedy and then as farce, then the stage directions would read:
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Enter Meritocracy, stage Left. Exit Noblesse Oblige, stage Right.
Just Some Fuckhead
I just checked random.org and it’s 130.
Steeplejack
@lamh35:
Is the new job back in NOLA? I remember your application/interview ordeal but apparently missed the announcement of the new job.
Valdivia
Another issue parallel to that of meritocracy is social mobility. Studies show that social mobility is one of the main ingredients in social cohesion and legitimacy of a body politic. When these numbers stagnate things can get very bad. The US has had declining numbers on this measure I think since the 80s, while amazing ones in previous decades.
lamh35
@Steeplejack: new job in still in DFW, but it’s 7 on 7 off at same pay, so I get to work and earn the money I had no way of earning in NOLA, and I have at least 14 days off a month if I want to go home to NOLA.
Plus the new job is literally 5 min from my apartment. So I save money on gas, toll, car repairs..etc.
It’s a good eal. I renewed my lease for 14 months and by that time, the new medical facility in NOLA should be completed by the end of next year. So the my ability to find a job in NOLA that pays me well (with almost 10 years of experience) will be more probable.
Like I said, the thing that sold the job for me was the schedule. So I can go home to NOLA as much as I want (til I’m sick of it of course…LOL) but still make good money
Long story short, not in NOLA yet, but I’m getting there :)
Litlebritdifrnt
I have not read all of the comments so forgive me if this is a duplicate but this is Chris’s new “lean forward” ad on MSNBC and I am loving it
http://upwithchrishayes.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/11/12171054-chriss-1st-lean-forward-ad?lite
Not only is his helmet geek central, but his short sleeved shirt, his shoes, and I almost think that he has a pocket protector in his shirt there somewhere. I wonder where he locks up his bike at NBC HQ? I love me some Chris Hayes.
jo6pac
Me
jackmac
A more diverse group of men and women? I dunno, most of them look suspiciously like middle-aged white guys.
Steeplejack
@lamh35:
Sounds like a great gig. Congratulations!
Yutsano
@Neil: But every major’s terrible.
Calouste
@jackmac:
Before that it was all of them.
Just Some Fuckhead
Funny how we didn’t care about Teh Elites or Teh Meritocracy until a black man made it to the top.
/wearsobotfoilhat
Cassidy
@Valdivia: I’m lucky. I let my ego get in the way of what I know better.
Richard Utt
I’m feeling random: pick me!
Litlebritdifrnt
OT but Ellie Wyatt, the kitten that showed up at my door a year ago went missing a couple of days ago. Today he showed up with an obviously broken back leg. I need to get him to the vets, but thanks to my husband’s recent chest pains and nuclear stress tests I have absolutely no money to do this. I can write the Vet a bad check but I really do not want to do this. If anyone would like to throw in a couple of bucks to help me get Ellie Wyatt his needed treatment I would be ever so grateful. My paypal addy is [email protected]. I know this is begging, but Ellie Wyatt needs treatment and I just do not have the money. Thanks in advance to anyone who thinks they can help.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
Saw what you did.
SiubhanDuinne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Just sent you an email to the addy you provided. It seems to be just an email not a Paypal. But I’m in for $25 if you can provide a PP. Otherwise email me offline and i’ll shoot you a cheque or cash or M.O. for the same.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh35:
I am very happy for you.
And there’s no reason you can’t get together now and then for a drink with your former colleagues.
Wishing you every good thing.
Litlebritdifrnt
@SiubhanDuinne: thanks you so much, my paypal addy appears to be my yahoo e-mail addy, I do not know what is going wrong.
SiubhanDuinne
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I don’t know how to transfer the big bucks to you!!
btom89
Good news! Heidi Heitkamp is polling, now about or better than even, with the Republican candidate in North Dakota. Rick Berg ran as the Tea Party/Republican candidate for the House in 2010 and now is using it to swing himself to the Senate. So this bodes well for Democrats’ chances in ND.
Still not likely to go for Obama but I’ll take Heitkamp doing well in ND over Obama getting a state he didn’t get in 2008.
I live in ND so I’m relieved. I just hope people don’t try moneybombing on Rick Berg’s behalf. Both Senators and the representative was Democrats up until 2010. So I’m hoping ND will try to balance it out by sending a Democrat back to offset the Republican senator and representative.
joes527
@Anne Laurie: In other words: Obama sold us out!!
No explanation of this book makes any damn sense.
Alison
There’s a much longer and maybe more helpful review of the book at WaMo http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2012/06/christopher_hayes_jeremiad_aga037840.php
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Really? Really??
I thought we hit bottom after the combination of Johnson’s credibility gap and Nixon’s lies, I know I did. We really trust our institutions less now than we did then? When the bumper sticker du jour was “Question Authority.” Really?
WereBear
@Litlebritdifrnt: Aw crap. Talk the the vet; a good one will work with you. And ask about local charities; sometimes they will be able to help, too. (Sent you something.)
Jae Kennedy
Forgot to get in on the essential albums thread, but I really love Man in Motion by Warren Haynes Band. Just superb – saw them on tour, and am considering buying the live CD/DVD as well.
Chris Hayes doesn’t rock nearly as hard, but he’s a good writer.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@different-church-lady: BooMan’s good. If you want to get a take on what the left-of-Balloon-Juice wing is thinking, you could do a lot worse.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Neil:
There’s nothing Nietzche couldn’t teach you ’bout the raisin’ of the wrist…
Socrates himself was permanently pissed!
ETA BSoSR +1
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Cassidy: Do you have a good book for lumbar exercise routines? Two physical therapists, two requests for progressively difficult routines that I can follow over the years, two handfuls of Xeroxes with no instructions. Argghh.
Internets are no help. I can find “Core Exercises” but they include things I think will hurt me.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Yutsano: XKCD! I just sent that to my first cousin once removed for her graduation party.
Steeplejack
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Pain Free, Pete Egoscue.
The title is a bit of a misnomer, but this is really good.
ETA: The title makes me think the book is about general “pain management,” but it’s not that at all. Really good, low-stress exercises for healing various parts of the body. The back/lumbar section is particularly good.
(I have used the book.)
bcinaz
I love free stuff, especially books!
Cassidy
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Unfortunately no. All my “knowledge” is anecdotal and trial and error. If you missed the story, I mean it when I say I’m lucky. I was doing squats and I never do free weights. I don’t have a spotter and am paranoid of hurting myself. Anyway, I thought I’d mix it up, went to deep into the squat and lost my balance going forward. Instead of dropping the weight and losing some cool points by face planting, I decided to right myself and torqued my back. It could have been much worse and I could/ should have been laid up for days.
That being said, I think isolating the lower back is a bad idea. When you do isolation exercises, the gains can be big, but the injury can be bigger. What I would suggest is something along the lines of a 5×5 program with some free weights. The 5×5 focuses on compound movements (vs. isolation) that involves multiple muscle groups. It’s called 5×5 for five exercise at 5 sets, the idea that you’re doing 5 high weight sets to build large amounts of muscle. Most of the lifts are Olympic style lifts that will use the lower back, but not target or isolate it.
My suggestions for research are the Deadlift, the Clean or Clean and Press, the basic Bench Press, Squats, and the Pullup. The bench press doesn’t use much of the back but does involve core stabilization. The pullup will use your whole back, and the first three involve a rocking motion that leads to another movement. Men’s Health has some really good videos on these exercises as well as Bodybuilding.com. Rogue Fitness sells resistance bands that are commonly used to help with pullups. I just bought their basic pullup set and after pricing around it’s pretty consistent.
That’s my two cents. You can use resistance bands and do some sort of row using the lower back, but all the lower back exercises I know are great ideas to hurt yourself as well, so I stay away from isolating it.
Cassidy
@Cassidy: And while these exercises are meant to be done with a lot of weight, you can easily do them low impact until your body feels ready to add more. I usually suggest a week of no weight just to make sure you’re doing the movement correctly.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Cassidy: Thanks. The ones they’re giving aren’t weight training that isolate the lower back, as near as I can tell. They’re stabilization exercises for the transverse abdominals (TVA?): Bridge, Cat and Camel, Wall Squat, Hamstring Stretch, Quadriped. It doesn’t help that every website calls them something different.
Riilism
Random remark….
Cassidy
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Okay, it looks like they’re having you do physical therapy stretches. The wall squat isn’t a bad exercise and using a stability ball will help support your lower back. The bridge isn’t bad, but if you already have an injury it might not feel good. BY strengthening the transversal abd’s, the idea is that they’ll take the stress off your lower back and give it time to heal.
The exercises I suggested are definitely “weight lifting”, “I’m trying to get bigger” exercises, but by no means is that the end all be all. The idea behind my suggestions are to strengthen the lower back without putting isolation stress on it. Bear in mind, I am not a physical therapist, personal trainer, anything like that. Honestly, if what you’ve been given isn’t working, try those exercises with low weight; really focus on technique. Then, add just enough weight so that you feel it, but not enough to cause pain, and give that a try. You should feel tight and sore, but not hurting the next day. Prior to that, do a nice, moderate warm up on a machine: treadmill, elliptical, etc. whatever is comfortable. Then, do your stretching. Avoid cold, static stretching if you have a chronic injury.
srv
I’m only interested if Hayes has a book visit to the Bay Area soon and I can throw it at him and BJ will pay for my lawyer.
Mr Stagger Lee
Come on Hook a Brother Up. It is interesting to see the collapse of our institutions. Sports is definitely one that is suffering and the casual fan sees this Note the NFL and the rash of suicides of their players. Entertainment also, notice that movies are either sequels, or from comic books, TV is nothing but reality crap of the lowest denominator. Yes Virginia for whom the gods destroy, they first make mad. America meet nemesis!
Jamobey
I can’t actually read, but now is a great time to start!
Beeb
@Litlebritdifrnt: I just sent you something from my three rescue cats. They insisted, and I have learned not to oppose them. :>) Seriously, though, please let us know how Ellie is doing.
@SiubhanDuinne:It took me a minute to remember how to do it myself. If you log in to your PP account, you will see a link to “send money” at the top. Cut and paste the email addy in, choose an amount, say it’s personal, check “gift,” add a message if you’re so inclined, and you’re all set to go.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Cassidy:
I’ve read something like this in some of the exercise websites. Do the easy ones until the technique is solid, then move to the next level. With the wall squats (and I use the ball against the wall) adding weight does it. What I wanted from them was a program in writing on what to do next for some of the other exercises, and maybe enough variety that I can do different stuff on different days.
Insurance only covered 6 weeks, to get stabilized, but not quarterly visits to work on the exercises so I don’t end up for another 6 week session. Sigh.
Mnemosyne
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
To go in a different direction, I got this Pilates for Men book for G a couple of years ago. A lot of physical therapists use at least some Pilates moves (many of which, in turn, were developed from yoga). It may be especially good for you because it was developed as exercise for wounded soldiers, so there are a lot of adaptations you can make so as not to injure yourself.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Mnemosyne: Thanks,I’ll take a look at it.
A number of years ago I got a DVD on yoga for the back and it would have crippled me in a week! There’s some stuff you can do for strength before you buggered yourself up and some stuff you may never be able to do again.
montanareddog
I am not sure that Chris Hayes’ book will bring any new insights; often forgotten or ignored is that when Michael Young coined the word meritocracy in his 1958 dystopian satire The Rise of the Meritocracy, he intended the word to have negative connotations. He was shocked that meritocracy came to be seen as a good thing.
Young’s predictions appear to have come true; the “cognitive elite” have appropriated a greater and greater share of society’s resources, and with less and less motivation to put something back, because they feel deserving of their privilege. And the corollary is that the poor have increasingly come to be seen as deserving of their poverty.
It is not possible to return to a society that is non-meritocratic because there never was one. The great landowning aristocracies of Europe got the land which was the source of their wealth because their ancestors successfully exploited the opportunities of feudal society (usually by being better at the application of violence). They bequeathed the acquired resources and status to their descendants.
The industrial revolution changed the nature of opportunities for advancement, but those who successfully negotiated them bequeathed their success to their descendants in turn.
What did change for a while was that social mobility increased in industrialising societies, mainly by the spread of mass education. Social mobility was the source of hope to the socially disadvantaged. But in the last 35 years, elites have reasserted their control. Now, it is the best educations and opportunities, rather than land and titles, that the elites bequeath to their offspring to ensure the continuity of their dynasties. Perhaps, Hayes’ thesis is merely that a more diverse elite provides camouflage for the sclerosis in society; we won’t know until we read the book. But I would maintain that the likes of Reagan, Clinton or Obama rising to the top from modest backgrounds are exceptionally-gifted outliers. A more pertinent marker of US society is how difficult it is for an averagely-gifted person to rise significantly, and how difficult it is for mediocre children of the elites to drop out of elite status.
The decrease in social mobility is arguably the root cause of many of the social problems of our 21st century advanced societies (But I also think that resource crises– energy, fresh water, food, global warming will come to dwarf our current rich-society problems).
Barry
@Suzan: “As per this clip, is he saying all this bad stuff happened since we started letting women and minorities participate (in the 60s). When it was just old white guys, they took care of us better. What am I missing?”
Chris is so full of sh*t that flies must follow him around:
The activity leading to the current scandals in the Catholic Church (and others) have been going on for many decades, if not centuries; the corruption of the leaders of many churches is far from new.
Business ‘leaders’ have frequently engaged in the most corrupt and damaging practicies. Does Chris think that the Crash of ’08 was caused by new evils among the business elites, rather than loosening the restraints put on them in the mid-20th century?
Barry
@Omnes Omnibus: “I thought the implication was that the new people bought into the idea of meritocracy in a pernicious way. They found that they were winners and decided it was because they were better instead of remembering all the help that put them in a position to win. They decided IGMFY. We had expected better; we were wrong.”
IGMFY is as old as humanity.
As for expecting better, that was the big change – we started believing the (still overwhelmingly white, male, straight, orthodox, upper-middle class/upper class) elites, and let them run free.
And got the same as before, decades ago.
Cassidy
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: If you come back to this send me an email at John. Cassidy 1001 @ gmail. I would be willing to look into making an exercise routine for you. Again, I’m not a professional and it’s all anecdotal.
Harry
@Barry:
That misinterpretation of Chris Hayes’ point only makes you look bad.
Bill Beat
Corporate America has dug a moat around itself that is getting deeper and wider with the passing years. Time to storm the castle.