2020 archive
What’s in a Name? 0
A contributor to The Roanoke Times poses the question.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Florida man parades politely.
Karen Karenlike 0
Robert J. Cramer, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, explores white privilege, its symptoms, and its effects. Early in the piece, he provides a definition (emphasis added):
A common misconception of whiteness or “White privilege” is that they imply White persons do not work as hard as other minority group members. This is not the scholarly definition and the misunderstanding can lead to needless intergroup tension. Rather, from a social science vantage point, whiteness or privilege does highlight how racial stigma about work ethic, safety, and other characteristics of minorities create systematic inequality.
Follow the link for his discussion of techniques used to deny or distract from the existence of white privilege and some thoughts on how to combat it.
Bombshells
0
At the Idaho State Journal, Mike Murphy posits that recent “bombshell” books about Donald Trump, such as those by Mary Trump and John Bolton, are hardly bombshells by any definition, maybe not even firecrackers or squibs.
He suggests that anyone who has followed Donald Trump’s career already knows what Donald Trump is.
A snippet (emphasis added):
Which is really sort of a head scratcher since one definition of the term bombshell is “an overwhelming surprise, a shocking revelation.” Since none of the claims describing the president’s behavior in any of the books come as the teeniest bit of a surprise to informed individuals, labeling any of the books as a bombshell is classic hyperbole.
(Brain skip fixed.)
Pandemic Politics, He Went to Jared Dept. 0
Sam speaks with Heather Digby Parton, of Hullabaloo and Salon, primarily about Donald Trump’s reaction inaction to COVID-19. It’s about half an hour, but well worth your while in these viral times.
Aside:
At about the 25-minute mark, Sam advances an interesting theory as to why Republican office holders are opposing Trump’s trial balloon about staging a coup postponing the election.
Going Viral 0
At AZCentral, E. J. Montini is raising Cain concerning communicating coronavirus in crowds.
Facebook Frolics 0
At The Seattle Times, One of organizers of the #StopHateForProfit campaign to boycott Facebook to encourage it to clean up its act writes that Mark Zuckerberg just doesn’t get it.
Our meeting made one thing clear: Zuckerberg has an extremely limited understanding of systemic racism and the ways it has infiltrated his company.
Meta: Paying for Popularity 0
I just deleted a comment that Akismet, quite correctly, had idenfied as spam. It offered to provide umpty-ump comments for every $5 I was willing to pay.
I am quite happy sitting here shouting into the void from the relative obscurity of my third tier blog, and I will be damned if I will pay anyone to deceive my two or three regular readers into thinking I am anything other than who I am.
Furrfu.
Think First, Click Later 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Alison Escalante explores why persons fall for fake news and misinformation on “social” media. She focuses on (mis)information about COVID-19, but I believe her conclusions can be generalized to larger topics.
The study she discusses suggests that much of the bilge is broadcast because the persons “sharing” it just don’t think before they click. Here’s a bit:
Maskless Marauders 0
Man refuses to wear mask by wielding his politeness.
The story goes on to say that employees offered to provide curbside service if he didn’t want to wear a mask. He refused the offer, politely.
And, in more news of the maskless . . . .