2017 archive
The Power of Google 0
Josh Marshall has a long and thoughtful piece on the power of Google (and, by extension, other concentrators of influence). The piece was prompted by allegations of Google’s bullying a website the views of which Google found distasteful (no, it wasn’t one of those websites that have been so much in the news lately). Rather, it seems from the context of Marshall’s remarks, which are all I know of the situation at this point (links are in the post) to be a website that questioned the concentration of power in the hands of corporations, including digital outfits such as Google.
I have always found Josh Marshall to be a careful and deliberate thinker and commend the post to your attention. Here’s a bit:
Tells 0
A sure sign that someone is a letting his racism flag fly: Complaining about discrimination against “European-Americans.”
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to your elders.
(snip)
When police arrived they found a woman suffering from a single gunshot wound. She was transported to UMC Trauma and later pronounced dead.
Thus passeth another day in NRA Paradise.
Carrion Crows 0
El Reg reports:
“One thing we’ve learned at the Federal Trade Commission is that scams often follow the news – especially when there’s a natural disaster, like Hurricane Harvey, in the headlines,” the warning said.
The robocalls claim that the target’s flood insurance premiums are “past due,” and in order to have any coverage for damages caused by Hurricane Harvey they need to make an immediate payment.
Techcasting 0
In a lengthy article at Psychology Today Blogs, Rosalind C. Barnett and Caryl Rivers consider whether science supports James Damore’s recent misogynist memo. You’ve probably heard of it; Google fired him for it and he’s now threatening to sue them for something or other his ittle bitty fees-fees got an owie cuz his male pwivilege didn’t give him the fwee pass he’s enjoyed up till now.
In the memo, he whines about political correctness, claiming that being polite (which is fundamentally what “political correctness” boils down to) is somehow a thing of “the left.”
(Remember, those who complain of political correctness wish the license to offend others without penalty.)
Opinions vary on his chances of winning any such suit.
Anyway, here’s a bit of Barnett’s and Rivers’s piece:
But are they? What are the real facts? We have been researching issues of gender and STEM (science, technology engineering and math) for more than 25 years. We can say flatly that there is no evidence that women’s biology makes them incapable of performing at the highest levels in any STEM fields.
They go on to skewer the so-called science that Damore cited in his screed.
Follow the link to take a look.
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*Middle name: That’s Ross “Why does anyone give me money for being always wrong” Douthat, in case you were wondering which one.
Profiles in Cowering 0
A Der Spiegel correspondent looks back on his two years living in an upscale suburb of Washington, D. C., and sees am undercurrent of fearfulness in day-to-day American life. Here’s short excerpt:
And it’s true, this country often drives people to despair, even if you live in a bubble. It is wrought with contradictions. Everyone talks about security, but the Americans haven’t even managed to impose reasonable controls on weapon ownership. Everyone talks about freedom, but then, at the swimming pool we went to a few streets to the north, girls were made to wear bikinis even as babies. If I bought a bottle of wine at the store, I had to keep it hidden in a dark plastic bag until I got home.
I commend the entire piece to your attention.
Hoist on the Elmer Gantry 0
In The Roanoke Times, John Freivalds muses on the monetization of the miraculous.
The Lesson of Lolita 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Michael Karson turns our attention to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and the lessons it has for us.
Many years ago, I read Lolita.
It is without question the most chilling novel I have ever read. Next to it, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a Daffy Duck comic. I have no desire to read it again.*
In his narration, Humbert Humbert convinces himself and almost (but not quite–that’s the majesty of Nabokov’s writing) convinces the reader that Lolita welcomes, even yearns for, his violation of her.
An excerpt from Karson’s piece:
Nabokov confronts us with the elegant stories we tell ourselves to excuse our selfishness.
Self-delusion and evil often walk hand-in-hand.
Look around: You will see many Humbert Humberts in the political sphere, industriously convincing themselves and their dupes, symps, and fellow travelers to violate the common good and rape the general wellfare.
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*It has been said that any book worth reading once is worth reading twice. I’ll make an exception for Lolita.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness precedes childhood’s end.
When Todd Dorr was moving across the room, the girl took the gun from her father’s backpack nearby and it went off, detectives claim.
The firearm was not in a holster and there was no gunlock, McCausland said.
