2019 archive
Deseg 0
It was my junior year in high school when my school district decided that integration was inevitable. One I’m certain carefully picked black girl joined the senior class. The next year, when I was a senior, in a bold step, eleven I’m certain just as carefully picked black students joined the senior class. (Simultaneously, two seg academies sprang up and the prom was canceled).
I know of no incidents among the students, at least not at school, and, had there been any outside of school, I probably would have heard of them; it was a very small school (there were 70 in my graduating class). I do know that many of the older white teachers retired or moved to the seg academies rather than face the advent of “full integration,” in which, as in many Southern school districts, the former black high school became a junior high and the former white high school became a senior high, because school spirit or something.
I recall that one of the older lady teachers was mortified when, in a photo of the track team, the local paper switched my name with that of one of my black team mates. (I got the full story from my mother, who was a math teacher.) Me, I didn’t care–he and I got along just fine.
This is by way of commending to your attention an article in my local rag about the “Norfolk 17,” the first black students to attend a previously all-white high school in Norfolk, Virginia, and the reception they faced. Here’s a bit:
The springboard for the article was that four students won an award for their documentary about the Norfolk 17. As a footnote, one of the things that struck me was the names of the four student documentarians: Javier Miranda-Castro, Kaleem Haq, Jacob Hill, and Kobe Nguyen.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Let’s go varmint shootin’!
The woman missed and the bullet ricocheted across the water and struck a 28-year-old man who was fishing.
By golly, she gots herself a varmint.
“Electabilty” 0
F. T. Rea observes, in the course of a longer post, that
I have concluded that, when someone’s primary criticism of this or that candidate is that said candidate is “unelectable,” it indicates that he or she can find no other more weighty criticism to make.
Messianic Complex 0
Bobby Azarian is taken aback that some evangelical “Christians” see Donald Trump as some sort of messiah sent to save their way of life. (Of course, if you watched the short clip from the 700 Club that I posted yesterday, you have seen that some indeed do feel that way, or are at least open to the idea.)
Here’s snippet from Azarian’s article:
Of course, this only served to further strengthen evangelicals’ belief that he was their savior. What is most ironic about it all, but I suppose not entirely unexpected, is the fact that Trump’s behavior and positions are far more un-Christ-like than those of the average politician on either side of the aisle. The many infidelities, the lack of compassion for the less fortunate, the lewd comments, the blatant lying—the list of ‘ungodly’ acts is a long one. But because they believe he was an answer to their prayers, they are willing to excuse every bit of it.
Video Vandals 0
Shorter Dick Polman comments on the right-wing’s faked video of Nancy Pelosi (and the legion of other faked videos). A snippet:
Flat Earth Flatulence 0
Joe Pierre was once interviewed by the Spanish newspaper El Pais Semanal about the apparent increase in flat earth flatulence from flat earther believers.
The interview was not published, so he has chosen to share the transcript at Psychology Today Blogs. It is worth your while, because the dynamic he discusses pervades dis coarse discourse; here’s bit:
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Scatter politeness at your house of worship.
Court records show a small boy found Dallas’ gun under the bleachers in the gym at World Overcomers Church and picked it up, setting it off.
No one was hurt.
Investigators say Dallas also didn’t have a gun permit.
“Checks and Balances” 0
Will Bunch fears that the current federal administration has become unchecked and unbalanced.
Facebook Frolics 0
Professor of Communications Joseph B. Walther explores why persons continue to use Facebook despite the recent spate of revelations about the craven venality of its algorithmic manipulative tactics and porous “security” protection. A snippet (emphasis added):
(snip)
The psychological tendency at work here is called “the third person effect,” the belief that media don’t fool me, and maybe don’t fool you, but all those other people are sitting ducks for media effects.
Ironically, this dynamic can encourage people to support restrictions on media consumption – by others. If someone uses, say, a social media site and feels immune to its negative influences, it triggers another psychological phenomenon called the “influence of presumed influence.” When that happens, a person worries that everyone else falls victim, and supports efforts to protect others, even if they think they themselves don’t need the protection.
I commend the piece to your attention.