TYT Old School December 28, 2017

In Membership, TYT Old School - On Demand by Gigi Manukyan44 Comments

Full for this week’s Old School. Cenk, Brett Erlich, Malcolm Fleschner, & first-timer, Matt Atchity, talk thanking vets for their service, artificially favored chips, squatty potty, marijuana smoke v. cigarette smoke, and nude beaches.

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Comments

    1. Oh snap! That’s what those things do in any dip and spoil it. Using them should be banned under the Geneva Convention secondary clause on inherent double dipping. Just nasty.

  2. Cenk, I think you’re on to something re:drugs turning people into right wingers.

    My mom’s boyfriend used to be fairly moderate with a big soft spot for poor people. In the past 10 years, he’s done a shit ton of stimulants, on top of drinking like 10 energy drinks a day. Now, he doesn’t believe in climate change, utterly despises homeless people, and thinks BLM is racist propaganda. I think you’ve solved the mystery – he’s just cracked out of his mind, which I already knew, but that totally changed his political ideology.

  3. Regarding the toilet seat covers, I may end up having my son use them as he seems to occasionally get toilet seat dermatitis (a type of eczema flare) where his skin reacts to harsh cleaning agents used on some toilet seats. So if it keeps flaring, one recommended thing is to use disposable toilet seat covers when using public toilets. So there’s one legit reason! :)

  4. No fuck that, Squatty Potty is too expensive. The box under my sink was a fraction of the price. DIY Squatty Potty FTW.

  6. Brett is wearing me out with his make-everyone happy, don’t offend anyone, jumping-bean answers on the “Thank you for your service.”

    I agree with Matt & Cenk. It’s more about the person who is SAYING it than the person it’s being said to.

    I have an uncle who was in Vietnam, and he NEVER wanted to talk about it – EVER.

    Sixteen+ years of constant war, with no end in sight, makes it a JOB choice. Although I know many enlist because they believe the propaganda, many do because it’s the only job around & everyone else is going.

    Why do you think recruiters stalk the kids in High School who don’t look like they are going to any ivy league school?

  7. LMAO @ Brett’s penis impression.

    Your Europe impression is weird to me.
    I’m European, and I wore speedos up until maybe 13 (late 1980s),
    then shorts came up,
    and I hardly know anyone who wears speedos any more.

    Speedos, just like briefs, are one of the things I never understood.
    At least from puberty onwards, to me it was like “Why?”
    And pretty much all guys I know feel the same way imo.

  10. It’s common to wear swim trunks in Scandinavia as well, so those guys you saw might not have been American.

  12. There are ~39k homeless veterans.

    How is “Thank you for your service” anything but a sarcastic insult when veterans are tossed to the side once their usefulness to the imperial machine has expired?

  13. On the “Thank you for your service” topic:

    Personally I have a policy of just saying “Welcome Home” to any current or former military members I meet. It’s much less cliched, and it’s much less awkward for vets to respond to. What I can’t stand in the current ‘patriotic’ lexicon, though, is the trend of referring to everyone in uniform as a “hero”, be they military or law enforcement. The word gets bandied about with such frequency that it has virtually lost all real meaning. The fact that it has come to that point is largely due to rhetorical and intellectual laziness. Like the phrase “thank you for your service”, the word “hero” has become the rote, knee-jerk term used to describe any one who happens to wear a uniform. This sort of uniform worship, in my view, has toxic implications for American culture that are already being felt. Nowadays, even in nominally liberal circles, you are expected to show enormous deference to people in uniform and bend over backwards in order to ‘prove’ a sufficient amount of patriotism and gratitude. This is one of the ways in which authoritarianism is allowed to flourish.

    During WWII, servicemen used to joke about being called heroes by civilians (in that time they too had to deal with a phenomenon of uniform worship, similar to the current-day version). Servicemen would use the term hero as a pejorative to describe overeager colleagues. At the front, upon receiving a fresh crop of gung-ho replacements in their unit (taking the place of soldiers who had been killed or wounded in action), more experienced troops would cynically remark: “Get a load of the new batch of ‘heroes’ they’ve sent us this time!”. Or, if some new guy on the front lines would attempt something recklessly stupid, a more senior troop would say “Take it easy, hero! Do you wanna get yourself killed?”.

    Over the years, I’ve interviewed and talked with a ton of veterans, a good chunk of them WWII veterans, and they all cringe at the notion of anyone calling them hero no matter how distinguished their military records were. It’s not out of modesty that they do this, it’s because they recognize what a hyperbolic pitfall the term hero is. From what I have seen, vets don’t want sycophantic praise, nor do they want unoriginal rote platitudes. If I’m not speaking too much out of turn, I’ll say they simply don’t want to be left behind or forgotten, and most of all they want to be recognized by the public in a way that is honest -that they are ordinary people who did their job in the best they could and sometimes had to do that job under horrific circumstances.

    1. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENT, AND THE OMINOUS UNDERTONES IT BRINGS TO MIND

      i love this comment; it is beautifully written, a pleasure to read. i agree with everything you said. this is what it brought to mind:

      a few weeks ago, i met a vet who served on both diesel and nuclear subs. instead of the “thank you for your service” platitude, i asked him about conditions on both types of subs, which he preferred (nukes), and then we talked about, first, conditions on Guam (the roads are paved with shells and very slippery), then, the experience of tracking — hunting — Soviet subs while in a silent sub, and finally, the accuracy of Tom Clancy’s “Hunt for Red October,” one of my all-time favorite books. this gentleman was — as am i — a Clancy fan, and he said that “Red October” was pretty much as close as it gets to Real Life.

      it was so nice to hear that; so many Hollywoodized versions of Real Life are prevalent that i rarely see movies anymore — the one that was made of “Red October” was more than disappointing; it was deplorable. the technology was intact, but the intricate plot, the cleverness, all the subtlety — those were apparently deemed too sophisticated for the hoi polloi. they gave us Sean Connery, brogue and all, as Marko Ramius, the renegade Lithuanian-born Soviet sub commander; talk about miscasting, and a feckless arrogance in trying to make us swallow that crap! they succeeded only in ruining an excellent thriller, one that might have been intelligent enough for thinking people to have truly gloried in. its audience was judged intellectually disabled, requiring special education and a dumbed-down script.

      we are considered children to the decision-makers — not just in Hollywood but in Washington, D.C., as well. hence, we are treated like children by our leaders. rather than respect, we are given platitudes, rote words and phrases like “hero” and “thank you for your service,” uttered as automatically as blessings over bread. the terms, like the inauthentic movies and other mindless entertainments, are used, as you point out so precisely, to allow authoritarianism to flourish. as you insightfully descry: “Nowadays, even in nominally liberal circles, you are expected to show enormous deference to people in uniform and bend over backwards in order to ‘prove’ a sufficient amount of patriotism and gratitude. ” we are being groomed by an elite of wealth and power to be subjugated by their burgeoning political theocracy to a life of moral and economic futility.

  15. I learned from my husband, a Navy veteran, that most soldiers joined for their own reasons, and don’t want to be thanked. It’s a cliché term, and it feels forced and it’s not taken well.
    Alternatively say “welcome home”. Especially to Vietnam vets because they were not told welcome home when they did come home. They were protested.

  16. I have heard the same from people who did heroic things like saving someone’s life–they say they just did what any normal person would do in their place (even if some would definitely not).

  17. Really your anti handkerchiefs? You should always have a hanky to catch a sneeze or whatever…and if you really have to blow, excuse yourself and blow your brains out in a bathroom! Handkerchiefs FOREVER:)

  18. As a friend of mine has explained it to me, the reason weed will always be federally illegal is because completely legalizing it and decriminalizing it could take down the pharmaceutical, lumber, cotton and oil industries as well as the prison industrial complex. Marijuana and hemp are a sustainable option that would save the earth, help people and cost less money, 3 things that our government doesn’t seem to be interested in. Hemp can be used to make clothes, biodegradable ‘plastics’, paper ect. Marijuana is used to help people with physical and mental health issues. Hemp can also be used to make bio fuels which would wipe out our oil industry. We also know that if we decriminalize marijuana that would put for profit prisons out of business. We could literally save lives, money and the planet if we chose to go this route, but there is too much money invested in all these other industries… which is why our officials propagate the “it’s a dangerous drug in the same class as heroine”, narrative. Meanwhile, they have doctors pushing opiates which ARE dangerous and addictive that can lead to heroine use. Greed/ Money is too powerful.

  19. On the road to Jingoism?! I think we’ve already arrived at that particular destination.

    Man, these people are stuck in their middle class bubbles. It’s like asking why people work at Wal-Mart or live in run-down neighborhoods. They’re poor, you fucks! Signing up for the military gives people opportunities and benefits they would never have otherwise–education, travel, health care, money for their families. And if they happen to be serving when there’s a war, they’re on the hook. It’s not like most of the service people are endorsing war, they are just taking a deal that they lose out on if someone in power decides there should be a war.

    I see people throw lit cigarettes out their car windows every day, must be nice to live in Southern Cal.

    I’m a woman and I would wear exactly what American men wear to swim if I could get away with it. Nice comfortable long trunks and no top? Sign me up. I fucking hate women’s swim wear.

    Cenk did the opposite of a New Year’s resolution! Instead of resolving to lose weight, he gave it up. I’m inspired by his anti-resolution.

  20. Bretzel!!! its Bretzel T_________T But alot love to you all and for the Xmas discount, made me sign up after and its worth every $ *__*

  21. If you want to know more about what happens when they make pot legal, like Massachusetts. The rules are so stringent that you can’ get it anyway. In Florida they made it legal for medical purposes, but you can’t get it because you must see a doctor certified in cannabis sales. These doctors are few and far between and cost an excessive amount. You have to see them every time you need a refill and these charges don’t cover the cost of the product. So people like me who suffer with arthritis are s.o.l.

    1. I don’t think California or Washington was like that before recreational legalization. Lots of doctors who specialized in giving prescriptions for medical cannabis as long as your condition matched the list of those treatable with it. But Florida…. I’m sorry it is so hard for you :(

  23. I’m from Germany and I’ve been a few times to the U.S and the one thing that I really associate with the U.S. is RANCH (the dressing) you can’t buy it anywhere else and nobody who hasn’t been to the States for at least half a year doesn’t like the taste. My friend always sends me Ranch for christmas that’s how much I love it

  24. Please keep in mind that many people who served in Vietnam had no idea that the were serving a war machine instead of protecting their country. I know my husband didn’t. Were we naive, yes but we ignorantly believed in our government. Knowing what I know now makes me feel like a fool but that is also what makes me a progressive.

    1. You should ask them if they voted in the last election. If they say yes, thank them for their service. If they say no, tell them it’s really the least they can do to serve their country.

  28. What’s more American: Taco Bell crunchy tacos, or, burritos?

    Both originate in the US (yes burritos are actually from the SW), both are served in every part of the country, both are regularly actual complete meals for millions of Americans (breakfast in the case of burritos, 3am drunk in the case of Taco Bell tacos), both are essentially examples of copying a foreign dish and taking it on as your own with major changes (ala pizza).

    Think about it!

  29. I was in D.C. for convergence conference that Nick Branson organized for Draft Bernie in September and took a wall around where I was staying one night. Came towards a fire station with a guy outside with some people going by and telling him “Thank you for your service ” As they walked away I just looked at him and said I hate that shit. He agreed and then started talking pensions and unions,I being retired from the railroad and him glad to see it and me pulling for him in Solidarity. To me it was one of my favorite memories of a very special four days.

  30. I’m like Cenk, I am uncomfortable having to saying “thank you for your service”. You don’t know if they really did risk their lives. Many service members never go to combat zones and some spend all of their time in the US. A blanket “thank you for your service” statement seems like a pro military thing to do. Like Happy Holidays, I don’t care if you do or don’t say it, just don’t judge me if I don’t.

  34. Can’t wait to listen to this one. I thought squatty pottys were just an internet thing until I saw them at Costco last week.

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