All the Old Dudes

DeSantis: The good, bad, and ugly

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Today’s predictably overlong Ruminant finds Jonah haunted by foreign language commercials, which seem to be infiltrating all of his favorite podcasts and TV shows. Fortunately, his terror provides a useful launching pad for a rant on the nature of language and its role in shaping (or, in most cases, degrading) public thought on nuanced political issues. Tune in also for some obscenely rank punditry on Donald Trump’s dishonesty, Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid, and monetary policy, a subject that Jonah can’t help but have thoughts on despite professing to know nothing about it.

Show Notes:

– The Remnant with Hal Brands

– The Remnant with David Bahnsen

– The Trump document saga continues

– The Remnant with Matt Continetti

– Rich Lowry: “How We Help People Like Megan Fox”

– The Economist: “What America has got wrong about gender medicine”

– The Wednesday G-File

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Comments (77)
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  1. Patrick Waivers

    True story: I was traveling in Spain a few weeks ago, and I listening to more Remnant than usual (as you do when you are bored and walking around airports). I was pleasantly surprised that Spotify had 1) figured out that I was in Spain, and 2) injected Spanish language ads into my Remnant podcast. I was genuinely impressed that Spotify was able to do that.

    Little did I know, everyone got Spanish language ads and it was a misfire. I listened to this podcast episode and learned I was not the only one. 😅

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  2. Cliffdwellers

    Thanks for this, Jonah.

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    Paterfamilias

    Ideologues of all stripes believe Syme.
    “ The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. ”

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    This comment has been deleted

  5. Pohl

    Good pod. I wish Jonah did not seem so at sea, though, on some issues. He sounds for all the world like someone opposed to trans ideology, for example, yet didn’t want to dive deeper and articulate why. Fine, but he never wants to get “in the weeds” on these things. He drops a line about knowing someone, which is the great stumbling block to making necessary judgements on moral issues. By all means, we must treat everyone with respect, as persons, but genetic sex should determine how one goes through life, not imaginary genders. If you’re going to catch grief, you may as well explore the whole truth.

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    Dan

    Am I wrong when I think that all states require EXTENSIVE counseling and a multi-staged process of medical interventions (puberty blockers before surgery, e.g.) for gender conforming care? I feel like this tends to be glossed over in these discussions, and I don't think Jonah mentioned it in this pod. I'm not aware of anywhere one can undergo the major surgery Jonah discusses in the pod on a whim. In my opinion, not mentioning this does a disservice to the seriousness with which trans activists approach the serious physiological ramifications on the care. All too often, arguments in favor of current anti-trans legislation make the argument that people make the decision to transition impulsively.

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    1. Kbirkett

      I believe I've read that while it may not be easy to obtain surgery on short order, that it is easy in many states to get on the puberty blocking drugs, after which a large proportion go on to the surgery. I suppose someone might argue that proves that after long and deliberate thought this is what the person truly wants. But others argue that we are putting people on a stunningly consequential slippery slope without that first step on the slide taking very long. And I assume detransitioners with their painful regrets, in many cases come from this group--those put on drugs in fairly short order, and then moved fairly rapidly to irreversible alterations which will deprive them of fertility and much more.

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  7. Gennady1

    Jonah, thank you for a great quote from Orwell's "Politics and English language". Just proves, again, how great of thinker he was.
    Soviet history books did exactly what he describes. When taking about Stalin's purges, the one paragraph dedicated to it, in the contest of the famous Khrushchev speech in 1956, said something like (I'm quoting from memory) "While there were clear overkills ("перегибы"!!) and some actions went too far, in fighting counter-revolutionaries and enemies of new Soviet regime, they were sometimes necessary to build a new society, industry and culture in the USSR." That's all they could say about the period of time which destroyed military, which killed millions, and destroyed lives of tens if not hundred of million of innocent victims.

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  8. Very Old Grumpy Guy

    I have an unlimited amount of time for Jonah's thoughts. However, there are some aspects of his thinking where he is "playing old tapes". As an example, he ascribes the desire for a post war US economy entirely to the "left". This ignores the whole American Compass crowd. As near as I can tell, their preferred economic policies are identical to the leftist who want a 1950 US economy. And lest we dismiss them as "fringe", I am pretty sure that Rubio and Vance have spoken on behalf of this group and support their policies.

    The policies differences between right and left are becoming vanishingly small. Both sides favor income redistribution through government action. Both sides want government industrial policy to pick winners. Both sides want to deconstruct free trade and increase or maintain tariffs. Both sides want to punish corporate speech they don't like. This lack of policy differences, in no small part has lead to these outsized cultural "wars" on the edge cases as the left and right struggle to distinguish themselves. I guarantee you that government policy on the economic issues I have mentioned will have a MUCH bigger impact on the daily lives of a Dispatch subscriber, than the drag queen kerfuffles, the library bun fights and the regulation of who uses which bathroom.

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    The Bell Tower

    You’re too easy on this contemptible trans movement, and I do mean contemptible. I think people should unquestionably and unabashedly accept, love and support people who - for whatever reason - are trans. Whether it’s a choice or an innate condition or a mental disability: don’t care. They are people and they deserve love and support.

    Loving or accepting is different from celebrating the condition as if it’s some sort of social heroism. It is different from ignoring the risk it presents to children especially from parents or physicians who feel pressure from social advocates to mutilate their children as a way to comply with the bullying that comes from that movement. It’s different than allowing women’s sports to be corrupted by unfair competition.

    I watched What is a Woman recently fully expecting to despise Matt Walsh and his performative propaganda. There was plenty of it in that movie to be sure but it’s also pretty clear that having debate and discussion is of no interest to the radicals on the other side. They want to silence, bully and crush any serious questioning of their increasingly absurd position and that was exposed once again with the Elon Musk drama surrounding it.

    That approach harms trans people far more than it helps them. It is not love or acceptance that this movement is seeking, it’s obedience and fealty. Trans people are being used as a bludgeon to get at the people the radicals truly hate and all that euphemistic baloney you refer to represents the fear of retaliation. People who might learn tolerance and love are being bullied into hatred and despite.

    These diversity officers whom you refer to are related in the sense that they act like French Representatives on Mission during the height of that revolution. They are emissaries given the power to enforce compliance with their detestable political objectives. Anyone who’s spent time in corporate America is familiar with it.

    I don’t have a good answer but for all his flaws, Elon Musk is doing the service he promised by allowing these conversations to happen out in the open where they belong. Forcing people to accept political positions you prefer through social bullying and silencing will not change their minds, it will only make those who disagree more radical. Open discussion without fear of retaliation is the remedy, whatever the outcome of those arguments turns out to be.Show less

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    Anne W (Raw5254)

    Thanks, Jonah. I enjoyed listening, and I felt as though you were very reasonable in your thoughts. I sometimes notice that people pick up on one thing, and then take it out of context. Maybe we all do that to some extent.

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