Trendlist: Althouse

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Althouse

After 37 years as a cable TV customer, I finally did it. I cancelled!
"South Dakota did not do any mandates. We trusted our people, gave them all the information and told them that personal responsibility was the best answer."
"We’re a comedy show and there are obviously a lot of words we’ve been careful to weed out. We’ve used words like ‘unhinged’ or ‘intense’ to replace ‘crazy.’ Are there words you would suggest using?"
"We will choose an identity that unequivocally departs from any use of or approximate linkage to Native American imagery."
"Louis C.K. tickets sell out in Madison despite comedian's sexual misconduct."
Sunrise sequence: 5:32, 5:34:25, 5:34:40, 5:37:13, 5:37:52.

After 37 years as a cable TV customer, I finally did it. I cancelled!

Posted: 13 Jul 2021 10:13 AM PDT

Don't even ask me how many months I continued to pay over $200 a month for TV service that I barely used at all. If I want to watch TV, I go to Netflix or Amazon Prime or YouTube, not the AT&T U-Verse that was costing so much. I knew I was throwing money away delaying calling, and it wasn't at all that I was clinging to it, thinking maybe I'd miss it. It was purely my resistance to the administrative work of making the phone call.

"South Dakota did not do any mandates. We trusted our people, gave them all the information and told them that personal responsibility was the best answer."

Posted: 13 Jul 2021 06:11 AM PDT

Tweeted South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, roughly quoting her recent CPAC speech and quoted in a Philip Bump WaPo column with the aggressive headline "Kristi Noem leans into her people-can-choose-to-die-if-they-want-to 2024 messaging."

Here's the text of the column that might support the headline:

What's fascinating about this argument is that it's actually immune to a seemingly challenging response — um, but a lot of people died — using a straightforward rhetorical trick: pinning those deaths on the personal choices of the dead.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean people chose to die! People individually assessed risk and chose which precautions to take, but they were hoping not to die, I think we can presume. A lot of people died — it's true — but does Bump know how the deaths correlated to the choices people made?

For example, I almost never wore a mask because I didn't like mask-wearing, but what I did instead was avoid going places where I was close enough to other people to need a mask. I kept my distance. That was an individual choice, and I won't say that's why I never got Covid (or never had any condition that caused me to get tested for Covid). I don't know!

Bump acknowledges that Noem's position is "a natural extension of a conservative small-government philosophy: If people want to put themselves at risk from the virus, who are we to stop them?" It's not that people want risk. It's that people are balancing risk against freedom. The question is just whether to let people do their own balancing. Noem's "leaning" is just the conventional conservative preference for individual choice. Bump leans in the conventional progressive direction, allocating more choices to government.

You probably know which way you lean, so it's an old topic, perhaps too dull to write a column about. To disguise the dullness, they cobbled together the adjective "people-can-choose-to-die-if-they-want-to."

"We’re a comedy show and there are obviously a lot of words we’ve been careful to weed out. We’ve used words like ‘unhinged’ or ‘intense’ to replace ‘crazy.’ Are there words you would suggest using?"

Posted: 13 Jul 2021 05:31 AM PDT

Said Jennifer Flanz, executive producer and showrunner of "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah," quoted in "In closed-door meetings at MTV, creators are grappling with how to make entertainment more responsible/An inside look at an ambitious plan that has writers working with mental-health professionals" (WaPo).

Would calling someone "crazy" or "unhinged" contribute to the kind of stigmas that makes people afraid to seek help?...

"It's definitely OK to find humor in the challenging experiences people face," [said Meredith Goldberg-Morse, senior manager of social impact at MTV Entertainment Group]. "But when you're doing that, it's important to be mindful of not sending the message that the person managing the condition is the punchline of the joke."

Notice that there are 2 different phenomena under discussion here: 1. Actual mental health conditions, and 2. The use of mental-health language to insult or mock. These 2 things are interrelated, because caring about people with actual mental health conditions seems to be the main reason to think you ought to refrain from using mental-health language to insult or mock.

I can think of some other reasons: 1. It's stale and unimaginative to just call the people you don't agree with "crazy." 2. It's inaccurate (you're not diagnosing a disorder). 3. It's a way to avoid making specific and substantive arguments. 4. It's hypocritical (because you yourself sound crazy when you endlessly call other people crazy). 5. It's part of the problem of winding people up about everything (which is why I stopped watching "The Daily Show" years ago).

"We will choose an identity that unequivocally departs from any use of or approximate linkage to Native American imagery."

Posted: 13 Jul 2021 04:45 AM PDT

Said Jason Wright, president of the Washington Football Team (the erstwhile "Redskins"), quoted in "WFT's new name won't be 'Warriors' or include any Native American imagery, Jason Wright says" (WaPo).

"One might look at this name [Warriors] as a natural, and even harmless transition considering that it does not necessarily or specifically carry a negative connotation," Wright wrote on the team's website. "But as we learned through our research and engagement with various groups, 'context matters' and that makes it a 'slippery slope.' "...

"We recognize that not everyone is in favor of this change," he added. "And even the Native American community offers a range of opinions about both our past and path forward. But in these moments, it is important to prioritize the views of those who have been hurt by our historical use of Native American language, iconography and imagery."...

The team has been working with Code and Theory, a creative agency, to pore over 40,000 fan submissions, hold focus groups, send out fan surveys and talk with local and national leaders to narrow the list....

How would you like to work at Code and Theory, the creative agency? Here's their page discussing their work with the Washington Football team. Sample text:

In 2020, we learned to distance in new ways, and we also learned to unite in new ways. We called for change, kneeled for change, marched for change—and hurtled change forward. And for Washington D.C.'s NFL team, a nearly 100-year-old institution, change was necessary.

Having debuted a new, interim name — Washington Football Team — they called Code and Theory to help usher in a new era of inclusivity, transparency, respect and shared passion. To bring to life the 360° rebrand, we quickly assembled our own team with intention, bringing in a diversity of expertise, experience, cultural identity and football fluency.

In a sea of symbols, we put the focus on home turf and team pride. We realized a team doesn't need a rocket ship or a roaring beast to express patriotism or show power. Those things are inside, beating in the hearts and veins of everyone who works to unite a team.

The Washington Circulatory System...

"Louis C.K. tickets sell out in Madison despite comedian's sexual misconduct."

Posted: 12 Jul 2021 03:25 PM PDT

The Wisconsin State Journal reports.

Four of C.K.'s Madison show were sold out by Monday afternoon, shortly after a Wisconsin State Journal story was posted online. A fifth show was listed as "tickets currently not available." Tickets were $30 before fees.

That's in Madison, so I infer that Louis C.K. can do his show anywhere in America. I'd say he's been punished enough. He's a comic genius and plenty of people obviously want him back.

Here's the discussion at the subreddit r/madisonwi. Sample chitchat:

Don't like him? Don't go. I don't care for him but it's a free country and if he wants to do a show and people want to pay for it that's their business as consenting adults. Quit being the hall monitor. Adults can do as they wish.
Did you just ask Madison, Wisconsin to actually let people live their lives?

Sunrise sequence: 5:32, 5:34:25, 5:34:40, 5:37:13, 5:37:52.

Posted: 12 Jul 2021 02:17 PM PDT