There is a whole class of people whose job can be described as “muffin meetings”. You sit in a room with 20 people and talk about whether a button should be on the left side or right side of a web page while eating the gluten free catered muffins that are brought in. Then you go to the next meeting and do the same thing to justify your 150k a year job.
Most of this “work” could be done in a short 10 minute conversation between 2 rational people instead of hours and hours of meetings with 20 people 18 of which are doing nothing meaningful besides eating their muffins.
The muffin meeting brigade should be terrified of someone realizing they serve no purpose as Musk realized at Twitter. They are the barnacles on the ship, the fat clogging the arteries, and are usually big supporters of team leviathan.
First, never heard of "muffin meetings" but it certainly hits the nail on the head. Second, I was gonna mention Elon as well. I'm reading his biography by Walter Isaacson now & it's amazing how he can pare down equipment & labor & still get the job done.
“Musk also saved money by questioning requirements. When he asked his team why it would cost $ 2 million to build a pair of cranes to lift the Falcon 9, he was shown all the safety regulations imposed by the Air Force. Most were obsolete, and Mosdell was able to convince the military to revise them. The cranes ended up costing $ 300,000.”
I’m not sure muffin meetings is a term. I’m just trying to make it one. When I get through a few political things i want to write I think I could do a whole piece on the freaking muffin meetings.
Musk is a mixed bag, but he does what few in corporate america do, namely ask questions, and make people defend what they do and say. Most can’t.
few realize that office space was actually a documentary. they added a soundtrack, did some editing, and realized this stuff could be ok as a comedy. Lumberg is getting options grants at some fortune 500 company as we speak.
I think my original comment says more about me than it does about you - I haven't followed Yuri for very long but s/he seemed very knowledgeable to me. But I defer to your expertise as you have put in the time and the effort to be educated on many matters.
This writer commiserates with the late Bezmenov - in that for over a half century has tried to alert my fellow Americans to the "Socialist" style step-by step-by-step "revolution" from WITHIN, codified via LAW.
Now, on election day, 2024, this Republic is teetering between becoming an out and out SOCIALIST "Democracy" - or remain a "Republican Form of Government" as written in ARTICLE IV., Section 4., of the United States Constitution; which, in its (7) ARTICLES, (24) Sections (and) (27) Amendments, the word "democracy" (BIG D, or little d) cannot be found.
The Late Yuri would probably agree it is akin to spitting into the wind.
Trump in a positive way and Harris in a negative way are both laying bare the utter emptiness of the institutionalized. Whatever the vote count, whatever the cheat, that is something that cannot be unseen.
Excellent article! I am an Instinctual living in the word of the Institutionalized. Very frustrating. Especially since so many of my friends and family have been captured by the Institutionalized. They are not Marxists, just brainwashed by the media, their career path and credentialed experts. If this group, the Institutionalized Captured, wakes up before it’s too late, there is hope for America.
Brilliant piece, Yuri! I’ve posted NOTHING on my Facebook page this election season. My many friends and family have all asked “Vick, you’ve been strangely silent all year about the election. Why?” I’m a proud Instinctual, always have been since the day I turned 18 in June of 1980, and registered to vote Republican. I was brutal on Facebook to Hillary in 2016; to Biden in 2020; but have said nothing about the vile Harris/Walzimg Matilda ticket this year. But I’m going to unload today, November 3rd, on my Facebook page. Yuri, would you mind if I attach this piece to my Facebook unloading today?
Thank You! My TDS friends and family will have a complete meltdown I’m certain. I will warn them ahead of time: “My dear friends and family, since you’ve all asked, here it is, my ONLY posting about Election 2024. Read on, BUT, be forewarned all Harris/Walzing Matilda cheerleaders…”
A caveat - your fam and friends may only see the 'goodness' of the Institutionals and, thus, feel that they are the 'stars' of the piece. But, good on ya. I think we Instinctuals have kept quiet too long.
It is also significant that JD Vance served his time as an enlisted Marine, part of what we called the Lance Underground, rather than Trump's last Marines, Generals "Lap Dog" Mattis and Kelly, who stabbed him and us in the back. Semper Fidelis, indeed.
The USMC was never supposed to be a separate branch of the military. It's part of the US Navy, therefore there shouldn't even be any Marine "generals" in any positions of power, such as Joint Chiefs, etc.
👏🏻🙏🥰🎊🎉💥🎯🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Congratulations Yuri… we’ll written accurate account we the people instinctives wade through yet prevail… May God protect us… May Archangel Michael defend us…
The institutionalized are the institutionalized as they have surrendered all forms of free thought outside of the collective or the cult. One reason is that thinking requires energy and initiative and these people are sorely lacking of both. They love their masters and the idea of being life-long slaves in mind, body, heart and soul. And they are.
In Robert Heinlein's story "Gulf" (found in the collection "Assignment in Eternity") one of his characters posits the following paradigm regarding thinking:
1) Many people can't think.
2) Of those who can think, most won't think.
3) Of those who can and do think, most only think while working in a specific field. They only apply thinking to one topic.
4) The people who regularly apply thought to every aspect of their lives are incredibly rare.
Personally, I think it's more of a spectrum than isolated categories, with folks popping in and out of the categories, but I find it a useful paradigm. I've seen so many folks who actually do apply brilliance in the confines of their profession, but are otherwise completely dull.
Personally, I hope I struggle to be in the 4th category, but with Dunning-Kruger, who knows?
Another component, I think, is that of age. The graph "Agreement by Political Orientation & Generation" indicates that Liberals/Gen Z [born 1997-2012 - are 12-27 years old today] is twice as high as Liberals/Boomers. Basically the same trend with Moderates & Conservatives. Age confers wisdom on most of us. I contend that Gen Z is just 'feeling their oats' which can lend itself to arrogance & self-importance.
"Having discovered her own failings, she was less inclined to judge others."
~~ "The Women by Kristin Hannah [an excellent fictional book - based on much research - about women nurses in Vietnam]
I hope Democrats understand that their party is by now the Neoconservative Party, spreading death and destruction everywhere, feeling good about it and the filthy lucre war generates and goes mainly to their donors. It's beyond the deranged's comprehension, of course, but for the rest, in the bard's words, "how does it feel" to welcome Dick Cheney to the table?
I love your thesis here: institutionalized versus instinctual.
Before wokery and perhaps before The Matrix ("pills" metaphors) even came out, I'd listen to NPR while driving to high school, and I remember the post-soviet Romanian comedian-poet Andrei Codrescu joking that "by 1990, everybody was institutionalized, financed by the Federal Government in some capacity". And while too simple of an explanation for how or why or what binds the institutionalized, it does seem to be their lifelong investment in the IRS feudalism: friends of mine spent the first 30 years of their life doing nothing other than vying for a prestigious government bureaucratic career, which they finally get and then net over a quarter million from tax-payer revenue. These are the institutionalized people who perceive Trump and the New Right as an existential threat, because they've done nothing other than laid all their eggs in this one centralized basket and anyone who wants to reduce the basket threatens to break their fragile shells!
But I honestly didn't expect for the correlation to be so tight, until seeing a particular graph that I'm sure you've crossed as well (similar to those in your essay here) that shows how almost everyone who works for the government (directly or indirectly, excluding military) votes "blue no matter who" and then everyone else votes red (private business in all sectors).
So we live in two economic paradigms that are increasingly chaffing: the "institutionalized" federally funded feudalists who feel entitled to taxing all of us to expand their livelihoods (as just like a private business, the government must grow to facilitate new jobs and raises – at the expense of freedom however). And then us free people, the "instinctual" who demand limited government and begrudgingly agree to use fiat dollars but do our own thing. The mutual exclusivity is becoming a hyperbolic tradeoff however, as each wants to grow at the "expense" of the other.
So let's hope Trump wins and Ron Paul joins Elon with the "DOGE" to cut the institutional bloat!
There is a whole class of people whose job can be described as “muffin meetings”. You sit in a room with 20 people and talk about whether a button should be on the left side or right side of a web page while eating the gluten free catered muffins that are brought in. Then you go to the next meeting and do the same thing to justify your 150k a year job.
Most of this “work” could be done in a short 10 minute conversation between 2 rational people instead of hours and hours of meetings with 20 people 18 of which are doing nothing meaningful besides eating their muffins.
The muffin meeting brigade should be terrified of someone realizing they serve no purpose as Musk realized at Twitter. They are the barnacles on the ship, the fat clogging the arteries, and are usually big supporters of team leviathan.
Congrats on the piece.
First, never heard of "muffin meetings" but it certainly hits the nail on the head. Second, I was gonna mention Elon as well. I'm reading his biography by Walter Isaacson now & it's amazing how he can pare down equipment & labor & still get the job done.
“Musk also saved money by questioning requirements. When he asked his team why it would cost $ 2 million to build a pair of cranes to lift the Falcon 9, he was shown all the safety regulations imposed by the Air Force. Most were obsolete, and Mosdell was able to convince the military to revise them. The cranes ended up costing $ 300,000.”
I’m not sure muffin meetings is a term. I’m just trying to make it one. When I get through a few political things i want to write I think I could do a whole piece on the freaking muffin meetings.
Musk is a mixed bag, but he does what few in corporate america do, namely ask questions, and make people defend what they do and say. Most can’t.
Well, I liked the term - it encompasses both the vapidity & the ineffectiveness of corporate/Office Space meetings.
few realize that office space was actually a documentary. they added a soundtrack, did some editing, and realized this stuff could be ok as a comedy. Lumberg is getting options grants at some fortune 500 company as we speak.
"That would be terrific"
What Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski were doing could probably be described as "muffin meetings".
Great synthesis of the sociopolitical trendlines.
Can’t find a hole in this argument.
Well done.
i second...
Third!
I had no idea that the master learned at the knee of the pupil.
No, I meant that you WERE the pupil and that you have surpassed the master (Yuri). I meant it as a compliment. If I offended you, I apologize.
I think my original comment says more about me than it does about you - I haven't followed Yuri for very long but s/he seemed very knowledgeable to me. But I defer to your expertise as you have put in the time and the effort to be educated on many matters.
This writer commiserates with the late Bezmenov - in that for over a half century has tried to alert my fellow Americans to the "Socialist" style step-by step-by-step "revolution" from WITHIN, codified via LAW.
Now, on election day, 2024, this Republic is teetering between becoming an out and out SOCIALIST "Democracy" - or remain a "Republican Form of Government" as written in ARTICLE IV., Section 4., of the United States Constitution; which, in its (7) ARTICLES, (24) Sections (and) (27) Amendments, the word "democracy" (BIG D, or little d) cannot be found.
The Late Yuri would probably agree it is akin to spitting into the wind.
Trump in a positive way and Harris in a negative way are both laying bare the utter emptiness of the institutionalized. Whatever the vote count, whatever the cheat, that is something that cannot be unseen.
Accountables vs Unaccountables.
Excellent article! I am an Instinctual living in the word of the Institutionalized. Very frustrating. Especially since so many of my friends and family have been captured by the Institutionalized. They are not Marxists, just brainwashed by the media, their career path and credentialed experts. If this group, the Institutionalized Captured, wakes up before it’s too late, there is hope for America.
Brilliant piece, Yuri! I’ve posted NOTHING on my Facebook page this election season. My many friends and family have all asked “Vick, you’ve been strangely silent all year about the election. Why?” I’m a proud Instinctual, always have been since the day I turned 18 in June of 1980, and registered to vote Republican. I was brutal on Facebook to Hillary in 2016; to Biden in 2020; but have said nothing about the vile Harris/Walzimg Matilda ticket this year. But I’m going to unload today, November 3rd, on my Facebook page. Yuri, would you mind if I attach this piece to my Facebook unloading today?
Share away!
Thank You! My TDS friends and family will have a complete meltdown I’m certain. I will warn them ahead of time: “My dear friends and family, since you’ve all asked, here it is, my ONLY posting about Election 2024. Read on, BUT, be forewarned all Harris/Walzing Matilda cheerleaders…”
And there’s my hint.
A caveat - your fam and friends may only see the 'goodness' of the Institutionals and, thus, feel that they are the 'stars' of the piece. But, good on ya. I think we Instinctuals have kept quiet too long.
It is also significant that JD Vance served his time as an enlisted Marine, part of what we called the Lance Underground, rather than Trump's last Marines, Generals "Lap Dog" Mattis and Kelly, who stabbed him and us in the back. Semper Fidelis, indeed.
The USMC was never supposed to be a separate branch of the military. It's part of the US Navy, therefore there shouldn't even be any Marine "generals" in any positions of power, such as Joint Chiefs, etc.
👏🏻🙏🥰🎊🎉💥🎯🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Congratulations Yuri… we’ll written accurate account we the people instinctives wade through yet prevail… May God protect us… May Archangel Michael defend us…
The institutionalized are the institutionalized as they have surrendered all forms of free thought outside of the collective or the cult. One reason is that thinking requires energy and initiative and these people are sorely lacking of both. They love their masters and the idea of being life-long slaves in mind, body, heart and soul. And they are.
In Robert Heinlein's story "Gulf" (found in the collection "Assignment in Eternity") one of his characters posits the following paradigm regarding thinking:
1) Many people can't think.
2) Of those who can think, most won't think.
3) Of those who can and do think, most only think while working in a specific field. They only apply thinking to one topic.
4) The people who regularly apply thought to every aspect of their lives are incredibly rare.
Personally, I think it's more of a spectrum than isolated categories, with folks popping in and out of the categories, but I find it a useful paradigm. I've seen so many folks who actually do apply brilliance in the confines of their profession, but are otherwise completely dull.
Personally, I hope I struggle to be in the 4th category, but with Dunning-Kruger, who knows?
I’ve also observed massive Group Think since 2020.
More like since 1941 or 1961. Take your pick.
Another component, I think, is that of age. The graph "Agreement by Political Orientation & Generation" indicates that Liberals/Gen Z [born 1997-2012 - are 12-27 years old today] is twice as high as Liberals/Boomers. Basically the same trend with Moderates & Conservatives. Age confers wisdom on most of us. I contend that Gen Z is just 'feeling their oats' which can lend itself to arrogance & self-importance.
"Having discovered her own failings, she was less inclined to judge others."
~~ "The Women by Kristin Hannah [an excellent fictional book - based on much research - about women nurses in Vietnam]
This is excellent, true and every "institutionalized" person needs to have to listen to this about 100 times! Thank you Yuri. Well done.
I hope Democrats understand that their party is by now the Neoconservative Party, spreading death and destruction everywhere, feeling good about it and the filthy lucre war generates and goes mainly to their donors. It's beyond the deranged's comprehension, of course, but for the rest, in the bard's words, "how does it feel" to welcome Dick Cheney to the table?
The ideologically possessed have no clue. Vote blue no matter who.
I love your thesis here: institutionalized versus instinctual.
Before wokery and perhaps before The Matrix ("pills" metaphors) even came out, I'd listen to NPR while driving to high school, and I remember the post-soviet Romanian comedian-poet Andrei Codrescu joking that "by 1990, everybody was institutionalized, financed by the Federal Government in some capacity". And while too simple of an explanation for how or why or what binds the institutionalized, it does seem to be their lifelong investment in the IRS feudalism: friends of mine spent the first 30 years of their life doing nothing other than vying for a prestigious government bureaucratic career, which they finally get and then net over a quarter million from tax-payer revenue. These are the institutionalized people who perceive Trump and the New Right as an existential threat, because they've done nothing other than laid all their eggs in this one centralized basket and anyone who wants to reduce the basket threatens to break their fragile shells!
But I honestly didn't expect for the correlation to be so tight, until seeing a particular graph that I'm sure you've crossed as well (similar to those in your essay here) that shows how almost everyone who works for the government (directly or indirectly, excluding military) votes "blue no matter who" and then everyone else votes red (private business in all sectors).
So we live in two economic paradigms that are increasingly chaffing: the "institutionalized" federally funded feudalists who feel entitled to taxing all of us to expand their livelihoods (as just like a private business, the government must grow to facilitate new jobs and raises – at the expense of freedom however). And then us free people, the "instinctual" who demand limited government and begrudgingly agree to use fiat dollars but do our own thing. The mutual exclusivity is becoming a hyperbolic tradeoff however, as each wants to grow at the "expense" of the other.
So let's hope Trump wins and Ron Paul joins Elon with the "DOGE" to cut the institutional bloat!
What is the point of your post, A.?
One of your very best, to be sure!!!
Instinctuals tethered to reality, institutionals to ideology. Reality wins🏆👍
Good one!
Mic drop