Dis Coarse Discourse, Tilting at the Bernie Windmill Dept. 0
I am not a fan of Bernie Sanders.
I admit that this is a purely personal reaction and concede that it is fed partly by the obnoxious behavior of a segment of his acolytes, the “Bernie Bros,” rather than one based on rational analyses of positions on issues before the polity.
Nevertheless, I must say that much of the opposition to his candidacy amongst what was called, when I was a young ‘un, “the Establishment” (as witness the meltdown by Chris Matthews that has been much in the news) is based on a mythical Bernie construct little related to the reality of his positions on the issues or to his record.
Martin Longman, in considering a recent column by David Brooks (aka, the man who is always wrong), offers an excellent analysis of said mythical Bernie construct.
I commend it to your attention.
Afterthought:
I don’t base my vote on whether I find someone likable (or whether I’d like to have a beer with him or her, for Pete’s sake).
And you shouldn’t either.
Racism Goes Coronaviral 0
At The Philadelphia Inquirer, television newsperson Nydia Han, who is of Asian descent, makes a request:
My dad does not have coronavirus. Neither do I. So please don’t treat us like we do.
Follow the link for the rest, and feel shame that she had to say it.
. . . To an Epidemic of Stupid 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., offers a eulogy for competence. A snippet:
Follow the link for the recap.
From an Epidemic of Epidemiology . . . 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Dr. Eva Ritvo notes the dissonance:
She goes on to offer some hints for remaining sane as the coronavirus goes, you will pardon the expression, viral.
Chartering a Course for Disaster 0
Sam discusses Betsy DeVos’s commitment to charter schools and the smokescreen of sophistry surrounding charter school privatization scam.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another “responsible gun owner” exorcises his responsibility.
The Epidemiologist 0
Chris Koski analyzes the Trump Administration’s response to the coronavirus and isolates its single guiding priniciple; follow the link to see how he frames his case:
Via PoliticalProf.
The Colorbind Society 0
At the Hartford Courant, sociology professor Johnny E. Williams reminds us that “race” is a social construct fiction created to legitimize white dominance. Specifically, it was formed in the English colonies in the colonial period so as to justify chattel slavery and theft of labor.
Here’s a bit from his article:
But there is no “white race.”
Whiteness is a shared conglomeration of fabricated meanings and ideas about biologically insignificant human differences. Whiteness only exists in relation or opposition to blackness and other fictitious racial categories created by whiteness adherents for the purpose of cementing a higher status and material advantage over other people that are excluded from being white.
The Creeping Crawling Chaos 0
David’s caller suggests that we are living in a simulation worthy of Nyarlothotep. Like David, I don’t buy the simulation idea, but the creeping crawling chaos notion seems spot on.
Aside:
I’ve been an H. P. Lovecraft fan for decades (that’s the primary reason I linked to this). I will grant that Lovecraft’s plots can be repetitious, but I’ve read no other author as adept at creating atmosphere as he. The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath is my favorite Lovecraft tale, followed by At the Mountains of Madness.
The Cats of Ulthar is just a bit too realistic for my taste.