Donald Trump and Dictatorial Taste

[Ragnarök_62]

(03-14-2017, 09:51 PM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(03-14-2017, 07:48 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

(03-14-2017, 07:08 PM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(03-14-2017, 04:17 PM)Odin Wrote:

(03-13-2017, 09:36 AM)Kinser79 Wrote: It is the dream of every poor American (white, black or latino) to grow up one day and become rich land live in a tacky penthouse/mansion some where.

Note well that Trump himself is New Money.  Which is why Old Money hates him so much.

I'm white trash and I have far more taste than Donnie Moscow has ever had in his life.

If you have more than 10 original teeth and/or don't live in a trailer park you ain't white trash son.  

I know me some white trash.  I know me some poor white trash, and I even know sorry white trash as well.

Yes, there are three categories of white trash, and they all of 'em can't stand that this <N> is their superior in every way.

(03-14-2017, 04:24 PM)Odin Wrote:

(03-14-2017, 02:08 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: John D. Rockefeller II was also from a religious tradition which Donald Trump does not share.

And given that I come from a Scandinavian Lutheran tradition that is in many ways analogous to New England Puritanism, that is probably why I find Trump's lack of taste and lack of propriety so disgusting.

Personally I find his tastes extreme.  But it isn't my house or my money. Let the man do what he wants to do. 

You'd probably think my customized 1978 Lincoln Continental is tacky too. What with the chrome and the plush carpets.  Had it painted purple too. I sold my Eldorado though...I'm down sizing.  There's a recession on so I can only afford one car.

House is one of those ticky tacky numbers in the inner burbs though.  Thing about guys like me, either our house is nice or our car is.  I picked car.

1.  I know white trash.  I work with some.  They're young and have had only something like 4 teeth go bad. They live with the 'rents, not trailers.
2. If I hit the lotto or something, I'd just pick a house in Leadville, CO.  I'd take Truckee CA. as well  as a consolation prize.  High altitude and lots of snow make for a long life.
3. Here, your Pimpmobile needs help.  Here's Rags to assist.

1.  Are you sure they are white trash and not just trashy whites.  There is a difference, not a huge difference but it is still there.

2.  If I hit the lotto I'd be amazed since I don't play the lotto.  I've actually called it before "a tax on people who can't do math".  But now if I won big at the poker table or black jack table I'd probably do exactly what I said I was going to do.

3.  Nah I like classic cars.  Ones from the 70s are sexy for some reason...that long hood reminds me of ah well never mind.   Also pimpmobiles have to be American made.  Its like a law or something.  I'll have too consult my Pimp Handbook.

1.  I'm guessing it's in the definition of "white trash".  When I use that term, it's a slur [yes, us whitey's / or "mishmashes" (tainted white, flunks 1 drop rule) just toss it about, at least here. White trash:  unkempt,lower economic status whites who are unworldly.  Syns.  poor white trash, Okies,Arkies, hicks,redneck,yahoos.

Hicks/Rednecks. Stereotype farm male/female.  Wears cowboy boots, uses smokeless tobaccy, involved in agriculture.

Poor white trash/trailer trash. ~ White Trash.

Okies.  Born in Oklahoma / resident of Oklahoma.
Arkies. Same as for Oklahoma
yahoos. A group of testosterone addled males attempting to win a Darwin Award.

2. "Hit the lotto".  Clarification.  I just use that as lingo in a way of "coming into a windfall". Yeah, I don't do lottos either.  Yes, Hold'em/blackjack are far better at providing odds.

3. Bling?  At least I tried.

[pbrower2a]

Look. I could do better design with a tract house than those dictators could. I don't have an agenda. Of course I would have to avoid clutter and keep the appointments small. Maybe I couldn't keep so many books, but I would find space for about 1000 compact disks and 300 videos. Books? Most of the really good ones (written before 1923, they are public domain) are on Project Gutenberg. I would have a remaindered book by some author I despise (like Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, etc.) cut down to fit the reader.

If I got a windfall I would probably buy a Honda Accord, most likely the last car that I would ever need to get. Comfortable, economical, and durable, it would probably outlast me.

[pbrower2a]

Re: Southeast Asian rulers and bad taste: clutter is tacky no matter how expensive.



And I repeat myself.

[Kinser79]

(03-14-2017, 10:51 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: 1.  I'm guessing it's in the definition of "white trash".  When I use that term, it's a slur [yes, us whitey's / or "mishmashes" (tainted white, flunks 1 drop rule) just toss it about, at least here. White trash:  unkempt,lower economic status whites who are unworldly.  Syns.  poor white trash, Okies,Arkies, hicks,redneck,yahoos.

Hicks/Rednecks. Stereotype farm male/female.  Wears cowboy boots, uses smokeless tobaccy, involved in agriculture.

Poor white trash/trailer trash. ~ White Trash.

Okies.  Born in Oklahoma / resident of Oklahoma.
Arkies. Same as for Oklahoma
yahoos. A group of testosterone addled males attempting to win a Darwin Award.

2. "Hit the lotto".  Clarification.  I just use that as lingo in a way of "coming into a windfall". Yeah, I don't do lottos either.  Yes, Hold'em/blackjack are far better at providing odds.

3. Bling?  At least I tried.

1.  When I refer to white trash I'm referring specifically to unkempt, lower economic status whites who are unworldly.  They may be rural, urban or suburban.

Poor white trash is the same, just poor. Like livin' on gubment cheeze and part time work poor.

Sorry white trash is poor white trash that is too damn lazy to do anything about livin' on gubment cheeze.

Okies, Arkies aren't really relevant here.

Yahoos need not necessarily be white, but they are almost always young males attempting to win the Darwin awards.

Now there are whites who are trashy but don't fit the mold of the three categories of white trash

If you ever notice I rarely say sorry without being sarcastic and when I actually do apologize I say "I apologize for ______".

It has to do with the designation of being sorry. There are sorry <N>'s too.

2.  Yeah if you want to gamble black jack is the game, pay outs are about 1 in 7 which is better than any other table game out there.  My grandfather used to win big at dice but he had a system and it kinda died with him.

3.  Bling on the inside....lots of chrome on outside.  Chrome and purple go good and you need plush shag carpeting.  Gotz to be comfortable and stuff.  And no one but me is allowed to drive it too.  That's a weird ass thing about me.  No body drives my car but me.

[Galen]

(03-14-2017, 09:51 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: 3.  Nah I like classic cars.  Ones from the 70s are sexy for some reason...that long hood reminds me of ah well never mind.   Also pimpmobiles have to be American made.  Its like a law or something.  I'll have too consult my Pimp Handbook.

This is a classy car that also happens to be really fast:


Not very into the seventies for several reasons.

[Kinser79]

(03-15-2017, 03:55 AM)Galen Wrote:

(03-14-2017, 09:51 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: 3.  Nah I like classic cars.  Ones from the 70s are sexy for some reason...that long hood reminds me of ah well never mind.   Also pimpmobiles have to be American made.  Its like a law or something.  I'll have too consult my Pimp Handbook.

This is a classy car that also happens to be really fast:


Not very into the seventies for several reasons.

Eh, my sperm donor would like it.

In the contest of speed v luxury Ye olde pimpmobile requires lots of the latter, lots of the former is not so relevant unless you plan on using it as a git away car (which is stupid).

I don't know all your reasons, but I would say that at least some of them might revolve around manufacturing.  I've found I've had to replace a lot of parts on the 78.  Good thing I was customizing it anyway.

[Galen]

(03-15-2017, 08:06 AM)Kinser79 Wrote:

(03-15-2017, 03:55 AM)Galen Wrote:

(03-14-2017, 09:51 PM)Kinser79 Wrote: 3.  Nah I like classic cars.  Ones from the 70s are sexy for some reason...that long hood reminds me of ah well never mind.   Also pimpmobiles have to be American made.  Its like a law or something.  I'll have too consult my Pimp Handbook.

This is a classy car that also happens to be really fast:


Not very into the seventies for several reasons.

Eh, my sperm donor would like it.

In the contest of speed v luxury Ye olde pimpmobile requires lots of the latter, lots of the former is not so relevant unless you plan on using it as a git away car (which is stupid).

I don't know all your reasons, but I would say that at least some of them might revolve around manufacturing.  I've found I've had to replace a lot of parts on the 78.  Good thing I was customizing it anyway.

That is part of it but the seventies as far as style went was pretty bad.  Having driven muscle cars and the aircraft-carriers of the seventies I prefer the sixties muscle cars before the government came along and fucked everything up.  The government is why modern cars all look and act the same.

[SomeGuy]

Yeah, It's like 1984, but for cars. 

[Galen]

(03-15-2017, 03:14 PM)SomeGuy Wrote: Yeah, It's like 1984, but for cars. 

I never thought of it that way but your right.  Should serve as an object lesson as to why governments need to be kept small.

[Kinser79]

(03-15-2017, 02:55 PM)Galen Wrote: That is part of it but the seventies as far as style went was pretty bad.  Having driven muscle cars and the aircraft-carriers of the seventies I prefer the sixties muscle cars before the government came along and fucked everything up.  The government is why modern cars all look and act the same.

Yeah, honestly about half the time I can't tell the difference between a Honda and a Mustang unless I actually look at them closely.  An other argument as to why government needs to but out of things.

[SomeGuy]

I do remember being 14, which I turned the year 2000 (yeah, I know), and being able to tell what decade a car was made just by looking at it, and being eager to see what the next decades styles would bring.  Apparently the answer, 17 years later, is absolutely nothing.

Although, to be honest, I am pretty sure wind tunnels and computer-modeling software have a lot to do with it as well.  Not to mention the old issues of standardized frames and other parts.

Looking forward, I remain hopeful that things like electric and driverless cars, which afford the opportunity to radically change things like motor and steering wheel placement, will allow for more radical changes in body styles.  On the other hand, I think we are past the glorious heyday of the automobile as status signifier/symbol of freedom/ubiquitous asset.

[pbrower2a]

(03-15-2017, 04:24 PM)SomeGuy Wrote: I do remember being 14, which I turned the year 2000 (yeah, I know), and being able to tell what decade a car was made just by looking at it, and being eager to see what the next decades styles would bring.  Apparently the answer, 17 years later, is absolutely nothing.

Although, to be honest, I am pretty sure wind tunnels and computer-modeling software have a lot to do with it as well.  Not to mention the old issues of standardized frames and other parts.

Looking forward, I remain hopeful that things like electric and driverless cars, which afford the opportunity to radically change things like motor and steering wheel placement, will allow for more radical changes in body styles.  On the other hand, I think we are past the glorious heyday of the automobile as status signifier/symbol of freedom/ubiquitous asset.

I outgrew the taste for vehicular speed before I was at the legal age to drive. But this said, I can more easily distinguish GM and Ford car models by year between 1955 and 1965 than I can distinguish cars built today.

I predict that most cars will be redesigned for multi-modal use (so that they can be shipped for long parts of journeys involving them), that there will be collective ownership of cars (so that you won't so much own a car as have access to a car at a certain location) and of course self-driving.  Self-driving takes the 'pony car', a small with a small body and a big engine, out of the mix. If you drive a shared car, you may not get to keep what you leave in it by mistake, so farewell, Beatles CD or book on disc.

Cars were long precarious as symbols of social position. Used cars of any kind became what economists call 'inferior goods', whatever the brand. Those cars were cast off to the not-so-rich, to people who had to compromise. The late-model Cadillac or Mercedes-Benz could be the car of a successful physician -- or of a criminal. In some places such cars are known as "pimpmobiles"; a successful attorney or physician who must operate in such a neighborhood needs to be more subtle in his taste. It is possible that conspicuous consumption of any kind can indicate someone other than a genuine success. It could reflect someone with a large and disreputable income or someone with extreme insecurity. Add to this, the middle class is typically able to buy some luxury. My parents had a shared car fetish, but typically spent their vacations visiting relatives. At least they weren't gambling their earnings away.

People with unlimited funds, whether tycoons, tyrants, or thugs, can buy just about anything that they want that isn't already both unique and someone else's. Having a Great Room that resembles a hotel lobby, a dance room, or a mosque (my first impression of what the Ceausescus had) is a possibility for someone rich and powerful.

One might have one's own train car, as did Josip Broz Tito, long-time dictator of Yugoslavia:



(Eric the Green -- if you see this thread, you will notice something about the design of the images).
 
Surely this impressed dignitaries from Spain to New Zealand, from China to Chile, from both sides of the DMZ in Korea, and from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

[Ragnarök_62]

(03-15-2017, 04:24 PM)SomeGuy Wrote: I do remember being 14, which I turned the year 2000 (yeah, I know), and being able to tell what decade a car was made just by looking at it, and being eager to see what the next decades styles would bring.  Apparently the answer, 17 years later, is absolutely nothing.

Although, to be honest, I am pretty sure wind tunnels and computer-modeling software have a lot to do with it as well.  Not to mention the old issues of standardized frames and other parts.

Looking forward, I remain hopeful that things like electric and driverless cars, which afford the opportunity to radically change things like motor and steering wheel placement, will allow for more radical changes in body styles.  On the other hand, I think we are past the glorious heyday of the automobile as status signifier/symbol of freedom/ubiquitous asset.

1. Cars are just a boat anchor when it comes to actually living. You have to maintain it, you have to pay taxes on it, and of course you have to drive it in shitty places.

2. Holy fuck, man.  Why not leave the driving to mass transit?  I did that in Houston and it really reduces stress levels.  The hell with assorted <excuses here for stupid mind numbing driving whatever vehicles>.

3. Here's what I want. I want mass transit to take me where I want to go. Rags is a lazy fuck who hates paying attention driving.  CUE, INTP desire to decouple from "reality".  I want to get from point X to point Z without having to pay attention to boring other vehicles/road conditions/shitty billboards./

4. Electric cars are just fucking shit, man. Just bring the trolleys/passenger rail back and I'll be content, OK?

5. Rags thinks cars are a fucking boat anchor wrt true freedom, OK?

[SomeGuy]

Rags,


You don't have to lecture me on peak oil, the unsustainability of modern automobile-centric consumer culture, or the utility of trams/trains over electric cars.  Vandal* and I had that conversation, remember?  You complained that the two of us had written a novel.

I think there will still be cars in the future, just not so many.  In terms of styling, I stand by my point that a move away from the internal combustion engine will free up manufacturers to design and build something that will look genuinely new, and that I am curious to see what that will actually look like.

*I miss Vandal.  THERE was somebody who liked to argue, and was good at it!  The man treated every disagreement like barbarians at the gates.  You could argue with him for days!

[Kinser79]

@PBR

A pimpmobile is a vehicle that has been specifically modified so as to look snazzy. IE pimped out. The term originally comes from the blacksloitation films of the 1970s. As such a late model Mercedes or Cadilac may be owned by an actual pimp but not actually be a pimpmobile unless he has pimped it out.

WRT cars as boat anchors, yeah they are. Personally I have one but I don't drive all that much. The BF usually drops me off at work, he has to be at his job the before I have to be at mine so I'm several hours early all the time and can get loads of paperwork done (and I'm salary anyway now so it doesn't matter). I have one because I do like to drive it, but I like having a customized car far more than driving it. Seriously its a 78 Lincoln..damn thing gets 2 miles to the gallon. Okay I'm exagerating but it isn't fuel efficent so it sits mostly in the garage.

I'd prefer to abolish car culture if I could do it with a magic wand. I never got the whole "car = freedom" meme. I've always thought it silly.

As to Vandal, yeah I miss him too. He used to put Eric in his place daily.

[The Wonkette]

(03-15-2017, 03:58 PM)Galen Wrote: I never thought of it that way but your right.  Should serve as an object lesson as to why governments need to be kept small.

Yeah, except for the small detail that I enjoy breathing free air. Reducing pollution is one of those "externalities" that the free market isn't very good at handling.

[Kinser79]

(03-16-2017, 11:10 AM)The Wonkette Wrote:

(03-15-2017, 03:58 PM)Galen Wrote: I never thought of it that way but your right.  Should serve as an object lesson as to why governments need to be kept small.

Yeah, except for the small detail that I enjoy breathing free air.  Reducing pollution is one of those "externalities" that the free market isn't very good at handling.

Or people could just start demanding vehicles that did not produce a large amount of particulate mater.  The free market might not respond to externalities very well but it responds to demand very well.

[SomeGuy]

(03-16-2017, 11:10 AM)The Wonkette Wrote:

(03-15-2017, 03:58 PM)Galen Wrote: I never thought of it that way but your right.  Should serve as an object lesson as to why governments need to be kept small.

Yeah, except for the small detail that I enjoy breathing free air.  Reducing pollution is one of those "externalities" that the free market isn't very good at handling.

For the sake of argument, this could probably be handled by common law as well, and was well into the 20th century.  Injunctions stemming from personal injury claims were actually far stricter than later statutory rules.  Part of the reasoning behind them was to protect corporations from nuisance lawsuits in the interests of development.

[pbrower2a]

(03-16-2017, 11:10 AM)The Wonkette Wrote:

(03-15-2017, 03:58 PM)Galen Wrote: I never thought of it that way but your right.  Should serve as an object lesson as to why governments need to be kept small.

Yeah, except for the small detail that I enjoy breathing free air.  Reducing pollution is one of those "externalities" that the free market isn't very good at handling.

Another externality is mass ignorance. People need education so that they can recognize that lead, chromates, mercury, dioxin, etc. are dangerous effluents.

There's a town near me that I am surprised hasn't been been razed. Companies that used to operate there dumped huge quantities of chromates and volatile organic chlorides. The ground water is to be avoided.

[Eric the Green]

(03-16-2017, 12:05 PM)SomeGuy Wrote:

(03-16-2017, 11:10 AM)The Wonkette Wrote:

(03-15-2017, 03:58 PM)Galen Wrote: I never thought of it that way but your right.  Should serve as an object lesson as to why governments need to be kept small.

Yeah, except for the small detail that I enjoy breathing free air.  Reducing pollution is one of those "externalities" that the free market isn't very good at handling.

For the sake of argument, this could probably be handled by common law as well, and was well into the 20th century.  Injunctions stemming from personal injury claims were actually far stricter than later statutory rules.  Part of the reasoning behind them was to protect corporations from nuisance lawsuits in the interests of development.

Which is what injunctions generally do; protect corporations, not the people.