A Cartoonist and an Unknown Blogger

"Thus imperceptively the man of words undermines established institutions, discredits those in power, weakens prevailing beliefs and loyalties, and sets the stage for the rise of a mass movement." - Eric Hoffer, The True Believer

I can think of two people who predicted Trump's landslide victory - the cartoonist Scott Adams. And me. That fat leftist slob Michael Moore predicted it but not as a landslide - and he whined he wanted the Hildabeast to win (and even was fruitlessly trying to think of ways to overturn the election, which leftists and the Mainstream Media are going to try non-stop for the next four years).

I'm sure there were others but I don't know who they are. I think Baloo might have been one - and he is a well-known cartoonist (he's on my blogroll as "Ex Army." Scott Adams is on it too.).

I mean, what the hell? A cartoonist called it and all those pollsters were wrong? A guy who draws funny cartoons about Dilbert and Dogbert and Ratbert and Catbert beat all those "professional" pollsters? That is actually very funny.

I think this is a case of what Ezra Pound wrote: "The artist is the antenna of the race."

Adams is an artist - he writes and draws and has published several books (I have some of them).

None of the pollsters or anyone in the MSM who called it wrong is an artist - or even has artistic pretensions. They're just talking heads.

When I was in college I took a Rorschach test for a class. It was a lot more accurate than I thought it would be. The tester looked at me when we were done and asked, "Are you an artist?" No, I answered, I just have an interest in it.

I suppose I am an odd sort - both rational and artistic (I'm more intuitive than anything else than seek the facts to see if I'm right. If not then I change my mind.). At least I'm not like the left-wing artists I know - completely nuts. Not to mention overrated.

I am reminded of the late Russell Kirk, author of The Conservative Mind and Enemies of the Permanent Things, who also wrote some very creative and very good horror fiction ("conservatism" does lend itself to horror stories since it's about Chaos attacking Order or Evil attacking Good - you can even call it Left attacking the Right).

All the Nazi bigwigs had artistic pretensions, but none of them had any talent (Hitler wanted to be an architect). They were third-raters. In other words they were politicians. They lack intelligence, humor and sensitivity.

Eric Hoffer, in his The True Believer, wrote about the creative and non-creative "men of words," and the trouble caused by the non-creative.

The MSM is populated by non-creative men of words who think they are smarter and more moral than everyone else. That's the problem with them.

They're superficial and self-righteous. They have no depth. All they are is talk, talk, talk - and rarely do these Chattering Classes say anything worthwhile. They're entertainment, nothing else. Sometimes, even bad entertainment.

Most of the younger people I know don't watch the Mainstream Media at all. They get their news on their smartphones, mostly watching podcasts or reading blogs. Advertising is moving toward these "alternative" news outlets.

I'm no longer sure what keeps the MSM going. I doubt it's advertising, not anymore.