Althouse |
- "Prices climbed 6.8% in November compared with last year, largest rise in nearly four decades, as inflation spreads through economy."
- "I think secretly everyone just knows it’s the wrong thing to do... When the whole team is together, we have to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, go Lia, that’s great, you’re amazing.’ It’s very fake...."
- Smollett guilty.
- A dim sunrise — at 7:15.
- Reddit Recap 2021.
- "Why wouldn’t I prostrate myself before the petulant mobs who insist that my standard journalistic investigation into a medical mystery..."
- "It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Democrats have seriously erred by lumping Hispanics in with 'people of color' and assuming they embraced the activism around racial issues..."
- "After Mitt Romney was photographed drinking a Diet Coke while running for president in 2012, the church posted a statement on its website clarifying its stance on caffeine, saying it 'does not prohibit the use of caffeine.'"
- "To wander aimlessly is very unswinging. Unhip."
- The Order of Orders.
- "I'm not that worked up about the Disneyfication of the interior of Notre Dame. The contents of those alcoves along the perimeter are transitory — they'll live out their little lives and pass away."
| Posted: 10 Dec 2021 06:30 AM PST WaPo reports.
This is a such an obvious disaster that WaPo can't find a way to help Biden or blame Republicans. There's an ineffectual slap at Republicans — for blaming Democrats. But you can't blame Republicans for blaming Democrats. The Democrats are in charge. |
| Posted: 10 Dec 2021 06:16 AM PST "There are a bunch of comments on the Internet about how, 'Oh, these girls are just letting this happen. They should just boycott or protest.' At the end of the day, it's an individual sport. If we protest it, we're only hurting ourselves because we're going to miss out on all that we've been working for." Women, being fake? That's an old sexist stereotype — female guile and deceit. And speaking of old patterns... feminism always steps back politely and allows others to go first. Young girls get the message: Don't be mean. No one will love you if you are mean. ADDED: Surely, Lia Thomas has read this news — the news that these teammates are 2-faced, fake friends. Here's a test of femaleness, just a thought experiment, not a real, proposed test: Did Thomas break down and cry? Did Thomas confront the teammates in an emotional outburst?: How could you treat me this way? Lying to my face! I thought you were my friends! It occurs to me that the project of women's sports has played out. There was an idea — something that began after I graduated from high school (1969) — that sports could transform women into empowered competitors. Feminism boosted female athletes, and some young women participated, and they were highlighted and extolled, even as — everyone knew — they only excelled compared to each other. Listen to Serena Williams. There's no stronger woman, but "I only want to play girls": Maybe that's something beautiful — something women created that should be celebrated and preserved and jealously guarded. But look at what transgender women bring to the discussion. It's the idea that there is an inward psychology that is female, that's more important than any outward manifestation. Does that feeling include athletic competitiveness? That's what the women-in-sports movement believed could be created. But if women in sports were really aggressively competitive, they would fight to exclude the transgender competitor, not welcome and cheer on this person who's going to deprive them of their victories. If kindness and friendship and sociability are predominant elements of the female psyche, then the transgender female destroys the foundation of the women-in-sports movement, though women can still do sports in a traditional female way — for fun, for good times with friends, for good health. It won't matter who wins. That's the male style of sports, where the saying is "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." But the women on Lia Thomas's team did not completely melt into kindness and inclusivity. That's only how they acted on the outside. Inside, they felt aggrieved. But perhaps that's the female way — nice on the outside, chronically unsatisfied on the inside. And that's a core concern of feminism. But to raise that concern in this context is to be a TERF. And mainstream feminism is now staunchly TERFphobic. |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 03:30 PM PST |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 02:40 PM PST  |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 02:21 PM PST |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 02:10 PM PST "... specifically, why so many teen girls were suddenly identifying as transgender and clamoring to alter their bodies—makes me a hater?... As an undergraduate studying philosophy, I spent an inordinate amount of time wondering whether my will was free.... Today, before any of us decides what it is we want, we open our phones and participate in our own manipulation at the hands of those who actively want us to think, and see, and vote differently than our own wills would have us do. If we were not entirely free before, in other words—we are far less so now..... When polled, nearly two out of three Americans (62%) say they are afraid to express an unpopular opinion. That doesn't sound like a free people in a free country. We are, each day, force-fed falsehoods we are all expected to take seriously, on pain of forfeiting esteem and professional opportunity: 'Some men have periods and get pregnant.' 'Hard work and objectivity are hallmarks of whiteness.' 'Only a child knows her own true gender.' 'Transwomen don't have an unfair advantage when playing girls' sports.'... I didn't write Irreversible Damage to be provocative. In a freer world, nothing in my book would have created controversy. I wrote the book because I knew it was truthful and I believed recording what I found—that there was a social contagion leading many teenage girls to irreversible damage—was the right thing to do...." Writes Abigail Shrier in "What I told the students of Princeton/Show some self-respect and reclaim your freedom" (Substack). |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 11:06 AM PST "... that dominated so much of the political scene in 2020, particularly in the summer.... Crime as an issue rated higher with these voters than immigration or racial equality, two issues that Democrats assumed would clear the path to big gains among Hispanic voters.... The findings about relatively positive Hispanic attitudes toward police have been confirmed by poll after poll, as concern about crime in their communities has spiked. An important thing to remember about the Hispanic population is that they are heavily oriented toward upward mobility and see themselves as being able to benefit from available opportunities to attain that. Three-fifths of Latinos in the national exit poll said they believed life would be better for the next generation of Americans. They are also patriotic. By well over 3:1, Hispanics in the VSG survey said they would rather be a citizen of the United States than any other country in the world and by 35 points said they were proud of the way American democracy works.... Clearly, this constituency does not harbor particularly radical views on the nature of American society and its supposed intrinsic racism and white supremacy. They are instead a patriotic, upwardly mobile, working class group with quite practical and down to earth concerns." From "The Democrats' Hispanic Voter Problem It's Not As Bad As You Think—It's Worse" by Ruy Teixeira (SubStack). |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 10:27 AM PST "The Word of Wisdom, the church's health code, specifically bans hot caffeinated drinks, like coffee and tea. Brant Ellsworth, an associate professor at Central Penn College in Summerdale, Pa., specializes in the history of the church. He said that its clarification about caffeine did not likely spur the popularity of soda shops in Utah... 'Moms can't function without caffeinated beverages,' said Ms. Durfey, a mother of two. 'We're exhausted... I don't know a single mom who cannot [sic] go through the day without some form of caffeine. I think that has definitely aided in the popularity of soda shops, because L.D.S. women can't have coffee, they can't drink alcohol. So their vice of getting that relaxation, that energy, and that whole kind of ritual I guess you could say — I feel like soda is their only option.'... As a nod to her hometown, Atlanta, Olivia Diaz, who is 27 and lives in Orem, Utah, likes to order Life's a Peach — Dr Pepper with peach and vanilla syrup flavorings, and half-and-half to make it 'extra dirty.' (The term 'dirty' refers to the flavor add-ins, and its use in marketing was the basis of a 2015 trademark lawsuit, when Swig sued Sodalicious.)... Many of the dirty sodas, which come in sizes up to 44 ounces, can contain up to 1,000 calories." The second-highest-rated comment over there is: "I'm not usually a humorless scold, but this is not a good thing. Completely empty calories, mountains of probably not biodegradable waste, and cutesy names/flavors tailored to an eight year old. I'll stick with plain old water, and a glass of wine before bed. But then, I'm a grown up. And don't get me started on 'The Church.' Cheers." |
| "To wander aimlessly is very unswinging. Unhip." Posted: 09 Dec 2021 07:38 AM PST Said Paul McCartney, quoted in a NYT piece about the big Beatles documentary, "'Improvise It, Man.' How to Make Magic Like the Beatles." That's by Jere Hester, author of "Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped Us Come Together as a Family" (NYT). I remember hearing that line in passing — I'm about half way through the 7-hour Disney Channel extravaganza — and wanting to think about it, but missing the context. All Hester gives us is: Even as wine, beer and more flows, the Beatles stay disciplined, working and reworking lyrics and arrangements until they get them right. "To wander aimlessly is very un-swinging," Mr. McCartney says. "Unhip." I'm so fascinated by the insight that there's hipness and swing in discipline and order, and that chaos — wandering aimlessly — is what's really uncool. It's a great hypothesis. Who knows if it's true, but where did it come from in Paul? Without context, one is left to theorize that Paul criticized chaos because the other Beatles weren't rising to the level of organization he wanted, that came naturally to him. Googling, I found this transcript of the whole conversation (published a few years ago). There's audio too, and it's crisper than the mix in the documentary. It's January 14, 1969 (in Twickenham Film Studios): PAUL: [trying] See, what we need is a serious program of work. An endeavour. Not an aimless rambling amongst the canyons of your mind. [inaudible] —life. 6 years ago, I went searching for the origin of the phrase "canyons of your mind." This blog is kind of aimless rambling through the canyons of my mind. I'd reached the point where I was playing the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band song with that title, from 1968, but I knew — it was in my canyons — that the phrase was older and the BDDDB were making fun of what was an existing phrase. The 1965 song "Elusive Butterfly" had the line: "You might have heard my footsteps/Echo softly in the distance through the canyons of your mind." It became a standard, humorous hippie reference, but it wasn't cool. It was cool to make fun of the sincerity of "canyons of your mind," and I think that's where Paul was, decrying "aimless rambling amongst the canyons of your mind." JOHN: Take me on that trip upon that golden ship of shores… We're all together, boy. "Take me on that trip upon" is an approximation of the line in Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" — "Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship." Why did John change "magic swirling ship" to "golden ship of shores"? Are the canyons of my mind the only place where you can find what you need to understand the reference? Let me help: Ship'n Shore was a clothing brand! Lennon was doing word play and free association, demonstrating the very aimless wandering Paul said wasn't working. But it does seem to work! Isn't this how the lyrics sprang into being? Maybe Paul was doing a routine of playful suppression because he knew it activated John. This is where Paul comes out with the line in the post title, revising "aimless rambling" to "wander aimlessly": PAUL: To wander aimlessly is very unswinging. Unhip. John reacts with another quoting of song lyrics, this time Beatles lyrics: JOHN: And when I touch you, I feel happy inside. I can't hide, I can't hide. [pause] Ask me why, I'll say I love you. Paul continues his demand for stricter order: PAUL: What we need is a schedule. John's joke works better — for Americans — in the audio version. What you need to realize, if you stick to the transcript, is that Paul pronounces "schedule" the British way, with the first syllable "shed." John's fanciful but concrete — i.e., poetic — mind pictures an actual shed. PAUL: Point A to Z. Travel to A to Z, and having reached the point – take a holiday.I'm not sure if that refers to anything, but it made me think: "The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,/Moves on...." Which means there's no rewriting life, but the line could be rewritten, "You can never get back to where you once belonged." JOHN: It's holiday time. At last, John shows that he has absorbed what Paul has been saying. Interestingly, it happens after Yoko pushes Paul back. John pulls Paul in, and yet he's echoing Yoko, but softening Yoko's line — "sort of" replaces "a hell of," and one's own aspiration — "live up to" — replaces being on the receiving end of a demand. PAUL: [very quiet] It's very hard to live up to. Paul echoes John, with the added empathy of "very hard" for "sort of hard." MICHAEL [the director Michael Lindsay-Hogg]: Ernest Hemingway had a very good remark about that, which I've unfortunately forgotten. About achieving something everyday. It's the only thing of his writings I like. Too bad he didn't know the exact quote. I can't find it. PAUL: It may in theory sound silly, but— These lines are brilliant! Practice is all there is — that's so much better than Achieve something every day. Maybe like me, you're thinking about the day Hemingway "achieved something" by shooting himself dead. I love how the perfect couple, John and Paul, danced quickly away from Lindsay-Hogg's plodding contribution. JOHN: This is where it's at. True love! They proceed to bounce sillily off the walls of their own canyon: PAUL: Mm-hmm. [long pause] Teamwork. A good defense. And a line of forwards. A good strong pair of boots. Paul seems to be corrupting a line from "Alec Speaking" — a poem in John's book "In His Own Write." It's a corruption because John wrote "Amo amat amass" — corrupting the rote Latin conjugation — and Paul brought in the dirty word that Ricky Gervais used at the 2020 Golden Globes (Judi Dench was born to play a role in "Cats" "because she loves nothing better than getting down on the carpet, lifting up her leg and licking her own minge"). John laughs and extends the faux Latin chatter: JOHN: [laughs] Amanty meaty monkey monk… [Paul laughs]... Did they wander aimlessly? It's impossible to think that they were "unswinging" and "unhip." They got something going, in their magical mystical way, and they achieved something, even if they were always only practicing, if that's all there is. |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 04:19 AM PST In the previous post, I wrote: "[Chronological order is] the most obvious order, used by lovers of order all over the world and through the grand course of time. There are other orders — alphabetical order, order of importance...." This made me want to put order... in order. I don't really want to do something I know I can't do. It's more that I want to do a top 10 list, with 10 types of order, ranked so as to amuse me and amuse or provoke you. I'm not going to fool around with alternative meanings of the word "order," so no need to steel yourself against jokes like "ham sandwich." I'm talking about orders like chronological order and alphabetical order. I like order, so I want order in talking about order. Also, I'm not talking about the order that exists in nature that benefits us and would be horrible to live without. I'm talking about the way human beings put things in order so we can understand them or find them later or enjoy the appearance of orderliness and so forth. Some strong contenders for #1: Linnaean taxonomy and the Dewey Decimal System. But maybe chronological order is destined to win. Wikipedia redirects "Chronological order" to a page with a simpler title "Chronology," which reminds me that there's an order of size — or order of complexity — that causes us to prefer "Chronology" to "Chronological order." How much can you say about chronology?
You can't put things in chronological order until you have a concept of time and you keep track of it.
But once you have a system of expressing time and you can figure out more or less when things happened, chronology is nothing more than numerical order. The ordering itself is easy and uncontroversial, because numbers — the kind of numbers used in expressing dates — are inherently ordered. That's why numerical order seems to rank higher than alphabetical order. But I'm going to give alphabetical order credit for doing so much with so little. It's random, but agreed on, and insanely useful. Alphabetical order was first used in the 1st millennium BCE by Northwest Semitic scribes using the abjad system. However, a range of other methods of classifying and ordering material, including geographical, chronological, hierarchical and by category, were preferred over alphabetical order for centuries. If I was going to make a Disney movie out of characters representing the different forms of order, I'd make alphabetical order the hero. |
| Posted: 09 Dec 2021 03:23 AM PST I wrote on November 27, in a post that has a quote from The Spectator for its title "Plans are afoot to turn Notre Dame cathedral, once it's restored, into what some have called a 'politically correct Disneyland.'" I'm rereading that this morning after encountering "Opinion: Sorry, Internet: Notre Dame is not being 'wreckovated.'" by art history professor Elizabeth Lev (at WaPo). She observes that the criticism is about what will be done with "the two dozen-plus side chapels" — what I called "those alcoves along the perimeter." Before the fire, they'd been "an ill-kept hodgepodge generally passed over by tourists." In the new design, Lev explains, the side chapels will follow a chronological sequence beginning with Genesis and continuing through the resurrection and the story of the Church in the modern world. The visitor will follow a "catechetical path." That's less of a jumble, but chronological order isn't a special province of Disney. It's the most obvious order, used by lovers of order all over the world and through the grand course of time. There are other orders — alphabetical order, order of importance — but getting bent out of shape about chronological order is super silly. There is also a plan to use 5 of the chapels to represent 5 continents, displaying Bible quotes in the languages of those places. That's a tad Epcot-y, but come on. Should the Church not flaunt its extension over the globe? If you think that, I must chide you, paraphrasing Jesus: Why do you look at the speck of political correctness in your brother's mind and pay no attention to that plank of political correctness in your own? On the other hand, if you are on the left and usually condemn colonialism and cultural appropriation, why don't you take over the condemnation of the renovation of the Notre Dame side chapels? |
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