Chris Arnade 🐢🐱🚌

I've been walking the world now for 4 years, and so to celebrate that milestone, I interview myself, because who knows me better than me? walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/four-years-o…

ブリーズウッド

@DKThomp Is there any person more likely to ignore “character” than an NFL quant? Bad off field behavior is like undervalued catnip to them.

I had no idea that the real-life Moneyball boy genius whom Jonah Hill's character was based on went on to become a key architect of the DeShaun Watson trade for the Cleveland Browns, which might be one of the worst roster moves in sports history

@380kmh I rode that line yesterday, but my car wasn’t nearly as snazzy!

@Chris_arnade if you're still in Kumamoto you might enjoy riding the "A-Train" down to Misumi

"There is no country as interesting, comfortable, and fulfilling as modern Japan, which is peak civilization, and there is no place in the world I’d rather be stuck for a month."

UK: We can't deport you despite 8 felonious assaults because you might miss Arsenal games. Japan: You're banned for life for littering. Two very different concepts of national integrity. One works. One doesn't. My latest essay on walking Kumamoto walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/walking-kuma…

The bike racing parlors in Japan (apparently a thing!), filled with desperate men, still can’t help being insufferable cute.

@IonaItalia have they ever watched a young Rod Stewart perform? He's always been tacky and flamboyant as possible

Unironic respect for the man. I think this is cool in its uncoolness. There are also clearly people who enjoy hearing him live.

@asymmetricinfo That guy, who I've never once spoken to, online or in real life, seems to hate me. 🤷‍♂️

That exchange in the UnPopulist starts with the guest saying an @chris_arnade essay is "the stupidest thing I ever read". I disagree with Chris Arnade quite often but if that's your reaction to his writing, my opinion of you drops, not him. I decided not to read further.

Two things--today's exchanges on congestion pricing, which got a bit heated, and this article from the unpopulist--have made me think about today's media culture and it's unhealthy preference for dunking over discussing. theunpopulist.net/p/manosphere-m…

Well done guardian bird.

A literal scare crow

@TwoAndFour1 @JerusalemDemsas Thing is, we all look very different (the front row that is) and come from all over, so we must be diverse! Nope. We have the same moral outlook, epistemological framework, and understanding of where history is supposed to end. It's all very funny actually!

@Chris_arnade @JerusalemDemsas The downsides of meritocracy. Elites who believe they are there because of something unique inside them, instead of being bred as a conscious elite. Elites are not rewarded with cash, but good person gold stars.

I wrote about the “messenger class”—the journalists, academics, tech workers, nonprofit leaders, and political professionals who set the boundaries of public debate. The problem with media bias is often oversimplified to "they're too left wing" but the real problem is far more difficult to counteract. theargumentmag.com/p/shoot-the-me…

I believe what your getting at in your piece (and with the name you gave them) is they "interpret reality" and so when their understanding of it (informed by books rather than on the ground experience) is disconnected from the masses, we get political consequences. Something a lot of us have been going on about for decades (see Richard Pipes) -- the only answer to that though (since the messangers won't let any non-credentialeds into their group) is field work, and that they have made "problematic" by all sorts of issues over ethics, racism, questions of authenticity, and just good old fashion in-group condescension. You probably weren't on this thing over a decade ago when those of us out there doing that were mocked as "Journalist in rust belt diners", or in my case McDonald's guy. Thing is, we got it right, while they missed it. And now, a decade later they still can't see it!

@JerusalemDemsas Also, what you are noting, is what James C Scott wrote about (and others, including me) is that the messenger class has different epistemological framework --- and since they largely set definitions of policy framework, you miss a lot of stuff that matters to the voters!

@cloudsurf3 Bro bro

@Chris_arnade Bro

For past week, and for another week, this is what I’m doing. Walking from Kumamoto to Izumi — on island of Kyushu

@Chris_arnade Wtf. No Mickey D’s?

Post walk meal.

@Msamalam hard to capture how ugly/weird looking it is

@Msamalam 😶

Japan is so odd. In middle of bleh a newly built church — trying to be a regal gothic cathedral but failing.

Still not used to seeing kids as young as 6 yr olds walk home alone, often up to a mile, through cities, across streets, etc

@beyondreasdoubt Was home for most of prior 4 months. They are probably still under 6 feet of ice, water, mud — they don’t make their appearance until may at the earliest

@Chris_arnade random, but when you were home last did we get any No Name or the other one? I feel like I haven’t seen them in forever