2023 archive
Foxy Shady 0
Sam and the crew ponder the pandering.
The Story of the Moral Is . . . . 0
In a particularly timely article at Psychology Today Blogs, Dale Hartley looks at how propagandists liars use “moral panics” to roil the public and distract it from actual issues. Here’s a bit:
Given that this technique seems to dominate dis coarse discourse even as I write this, what with the fuss over trans kids in sports and truthful books in school and public libraries, the few minutes it will take to read his article are well worth your while.
The Lawyers Delay 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier takes a look at the tactics being employed by Donald Trump’s attorneys. Here’s a tiny bit from his article:
His heated argument boiled down essentially to this: Your honor, my client has committed so many crimes related to these indictments that we couldn’t be expected to so much as get our arms around the depths of his depravity for at least two years.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And, again, politeness becomes child’s play.
And it’s just another day in the NRA’s Pantheon to Portable Phalluses.
Patterns 0
Noah A. McGee notes a number of similarities in shootings by young white men of black persons over the past three years. The article focuses on three specific incidents: one in Buffalo, N. Y., one in Charleston, S. C., and the third–the most recent–in Jacksonville, Fla.
Here’s just one of the commonalities he enumerates; follow the link for the others.
Payton S. Gendron, the shooter who fatally shot 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket, wrote a manifest where he described himself as a white supremacist.
Dylan Roof, the white man responsible for killing nine Black people at a Charleston church in 2015, wrote a manifesto nearly 2,500 words long where he shared his thoughts about Black people, Jewish people, Hispanics, East Asians, and many others.
America’s original sin of chattel slavery, along with the racist mythology manufactured to rationalize it, continues to exact its toll.
More Mean for the Sake of Mean 0
Apparently, there’s nothing more satisfying than kicking people when they are down.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
AL.com’s Francis Coleman sees parallels.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Given all the random public shootings in the news these days, you’d think he wouldn’t be this stupid, but, then, again, he is a polite people of Walmart toting a pseudo-phallus.
After searching the store, reviewing security camera footage and speaking to the individual, police determined the gun was fake and the store resumed normal operations.
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.
“Old Times There Are Not Forgotten” 0
Michael in Norfolk argues that today’s Republican Party wants to bring back those old times.
A Picture Is Worth What Is a Picture Worth?
0
Mike Littwin muses about the worth of one particular picture which lately been much in the news. A snippet:
Yes, it was a highly choreographed attempt to appear, at once, both powerful and persecuted. I’d say it’s working.
Follow the link for the rest of his musings.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
Der Spiegel has a fascinating interview with MIT economics professor Daron Acemoglu on the effects of advances in technology on society, with a focus on AI. As he looks at the effects of technological changes in history, Acemoglu sees parallels. Here’s a tiny little bit from the article.
DER SPIEGEL: But it is true that humankind has indeed benefited a lot from new technologies.
Acemoglu: That is the reason we have to go so far back in history. The argument that you just gave is wrong. In the past, we’ve always had struggles over the uses of innovation and who benefits from them. Very often, control was in the hands of a narrow elite. Innovation often did not benefit the broad swaths of the population.
DER SPIEGEL: Has the standard of living not risen steadily?
Acemoglu: Today, we are so much more prosperous than the people in earlier ages, that’s true. But there is a tendency to think that the path between must have been a straightforward and inevitable process. We all tend to gloss over the difficulties on the way.
DER SPIEGEL: What do you mean exactly?
Acemoglu: Take medieval windmills, a very transformative technology. It changed the organization of textile manufacturing, but especially agriculture. But you didn’t see much improvement in the conditions of the peasants. The windmills were controlled by landowners and churches. This narrow elite collected the gains. They decided who could use the windmills. They killed off competition.
I commend the complete interview to your attention.
Aside:
You can see this playing out in the current AWG SAG-AFTRA stike.
The Malicious Myth of the Self-Made Man 0
David and his guest discuss the fallaciousness of the fanciful fable and the perniciousness of its perpetuation.