Author's archive
American Legacy 0
America’s original sin of chattel slavery refuses to go away.
It may morph and reshape, it may reclothe and redrape, but it continues to poison our polity.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire considers Vivek Ramaswamy’s behavior in the most recent Republican debate and concludes that we have a problem.
But let’s be clear. He wasn’t in Tuscaloosa Wednesday night because of legislation he’s passed or policies he has implemented.
He was there because he’s a jerk. And a certain portion of the American electorate has decided they like jerks and want more jerks to run things.
Follow the link for his evidence.
A Tune for the Times 0
Mangy points out that it’s probably not a good idea to hand out with the wrong people.
Freedom of Screech 0
No doubt you’ve been unable to avoid at least some coverage of the who-shot-john about the college presidents who were called to testify before the House Education Committee last week, testimony which led to the ouster of one of them.*
At Above the Law, Mark Herrmann offers a perspective on the issue raised by said who-shot-john.
I don’t know whether I agree with him, but I commend it as a worthwhile read.
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*I have paid as little attention to it as possible, primarily because I think nobody who was involved was right, everybody was wrong, and, most especialliest, nobody was thinking clearly.
The Immaculate Deception 0
Marcos Bretón looks at the recent claim by Congressman Eugene McCarthy that “that the United States has never sought land after winning a war, except to bury its war dead.” Anyone who knows anything (well, anything factual) about American history knows this to be false. Indeed, a quick web search for “manifest destiny” might be a good place to start.
And McCarthy was roundly derided for his comments.
Breton, though, argues that, in this (self-)deception, McCarthy is hardly an outlier. Here’s a bit from his article:
Follow the link for Breton’s reasoning.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another child is sacrificed at the feet of the NRA’s leaden idol.
“I Know You Are But What Am I?” 0
Although she’s talking about individuals in personal relationships, I think that Stephanie A. Sarkis’s piece about how toxic people use projection as a defense mechanism applies to how toxic public figures do so in dis coarse discourse. Here’s one of the tactics she lists:
Toxic people excel at deflecting blame. Instead of taking responsibility for their actions, they project their faults onto others, making them the scapegoats for the toxic person’s mistakes.
Follow the link for the others.
In Memoriam 0
Archie Bunker was intended to be an exemplar of ignorance.
Lear never expected him to become a icon of ignorant ignoramuses intent on increasing intolerance.
Aside:
Norman Lear founded People for the American Way.
I support it and you should too.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another random act of politeness.
The lowest common denominator in all this is not, as one may wish to think, “mental illness,” or even, as seems more likely, the stupid.
It’s the guns.
Without the guns, the stupid and the “mentally ill” would be–how shall I put this?–much less dangerous.
Don’t get me wrong.
I’m not about banning guns.
But I’m certainly about controlling them.
Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt 0
Chris Satullo looks at the numbers, which indicate that unemployment is down, inflation is down, employment is up, and, that in general, the economy is in the best shape it’s been in years.
He wonders why so many person aren’t willing to believe the evidence. Here’s a bit from his article:
(snip)
Vast numbers of Americans, for a variety of reasons, prefer to feel miserable, angry, oppressed, screwed, cornered. And eager to blame the president, the guy on whose watch all those real economic measures improved, for how they feel.
. . . and many apparently feel that the only way to lift us out of these doldrums is to bring back the guy who told us to drink bleach to cure COVID.
Or, to put is another way, “It’s the Stupid, Economy.”