Vanity - Irving Berlin and today's politics

Vanity | November 15, 2024 | self

[chajin]

I was preparing material for my college music course, and I came upon this quote from Irving Berlin in his NYT obituary:

"My ambition is to reach the heart of the average American, not the highbrow nor the lowbrow but that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country. The highbrow is likely to be superficial, overtrained, supersensitive. The lowbrow is warped, subnormal. My public is the real people."

Re-reading this quote, I had a kind of epiphany about today's politics. The Democrats have become a coalition of what Berlin called the highbrow and lowbrow. The elites are indeed superficial, overtrained, and supersensitive, and I'm sure you can think of numerous examples on your own of this. Moreover, the supporters among the lower class are warped and subnormal, which is why they become grist for the revolving-prison-door and perpetual welfare mills.

Then there is everyone else, "that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country." It's why the non-elitist Democrats are becoming Republicans, such as Tulsi and even RFK Jr, the least elitist of generations of Kennedys, along with millions of nameless minorities and middle class women, who are realizing that freedom and justice come from individual and group effort, not government largesse and control. It is also why elitist GOPe-ers are aligning with the Democrats openly, rather than surreptitiously as they have done for decades.

With Trump's re-election, the realignment of politics into two groups that truly represent the ideologies of our century is becoming complete. When this truly solidifies, the only way the Democrats can rule is by lies and force, and the only way they can be kept from ruling is by truth and center-right solidarity. Conservatrives may not get everything in an "Irving Berlin" GOP, but they will certainly get nothing in any "highbrow and lowbrow" Democrat administration.

[chajin]

thoughts?

[AppyPappy]

What people fail to understand is that the Democratic Party is propped up by voter fraud. There aren’t as many liberals as we think. That’s why Republicans lead until deep into the night. If elections were required to be settled within 5 hours, this would be a deeply red country.

[NEWwoman]

Irving Berlin made a keen observation. And hence, why his music struck a chord and is timeless.

Much like Mozart writing pieces for the people—that endures to this day. As stated in Amadeus, Mozart spoke about high brow opera—people so lofty they sound as if they sh*t marble!

[Publius]

On his 100th birthday in 1988, Irving woke up to a chorus singing his songs a cappella outside the window of his multimillion-dollar apartment on the Upper West Side. Irving asked the chorus to come in, and he and his housekeeper made blueberry waffles for the group. Irving was tickled that people still remembered his songs.

A year later at age 101, Irving went to bed one night and didn't wake up.

[Fiji Hill]

One of his first hits:

Alexander's Ragtime Band--Collins & Harlan (1911)

[volare737]

Great quote in his obit. His music was timeless.