Friday Ephemera
“Tennis star buys world’s supply of donkey cheese.” // Ducks
cross motorway. // Arthur Scargill menswear. // Bill Whittle on unserious people. // Self-dramatizing narcissism. // Offensively hot peanut butter. // The International Banana Museum. // Inside Amazon. // Festive decorations. // The full-body sweater you’ve always wanted. // “For a fee and a stool sample, the curious can find out what’s living in their intestine.” // Solar-powered plant thirst detector. // Page turning contraption using (among other things) a hairdryer and a hamster. (h/t, Ace) // At last, a Nüdifier app. // “We have a very good system to detect penis drawings.”
Bill Whittle high on rhetoric, low on facts.
I wish the Republicans could get over their current ‘woe is us’ period. Insulting everyone (outside their party and in it) for, say, not being serious enough is unproductive in the extreme.
I prefer P J O’Rourke-style conservatism. He once wrote a superb essay, ‘Serious People’, bemoaning the oversupply of said folks in his nation. His conclusion: ‘Serious looks and a serious voice are always important when calling the dog.’
Ducks cross motorway
That was much more stressful to watch than I expected.
Ducks cross motorway
1. Apprehension. 2. Anxiety. 3. ANXIETY. 4. OMG MAJOR ANXIETY. 5. Anxiety. 6. Relief. 7. Joy.
Sam
It’s traditional to precede such comments with SPOILER ALERT!
“We have a very good system to detect penis drawings”
I’m relieved these are all coincidences, David..
Just to raise the tone a little, I’d like to remind people once again that “Language is in itself phallocentric and, as a result, a tool of patriarchy”
does anyone know what’s happened to http://biased-bbc.com/?
I couldn’t watch the duck video. Please tell me they all made it.
That mother duck – CALL SOCIAL SERVICES!
That point about the phallocentric language tool is a really big one, and needs to be driven home repeatedly, hammered deep into our unconscious until we are filled with a satisfying new understanding.
Actually, I just seriously read that. It’s really all about subverting the meaning of language itself. Gender relations is just an excuse. To paraphrase Humpty Dumpty, words mean what we tell you they mean- today.
David, have you seen the latest Penny Red meltdown?
https://twitter.com/pennyred/status/280414860016222208
And a great summary of the LP method:
http://twitter.com/brianwhelanhack/status/280434867899072512
Karen,
have you seen the latest Penny Red meltdown?
It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but yes, oh dear. This bizarre exchange with Guido Fawkes is still my favourite, though.
have you seen the latest Penny Red meltdown?
It’s still going on. Even other lefties are calling her bluff on this racism crap she always pulls.
Even other lefties are calling her bluff on this racism crap she always pulls.
It’s often entertaining to see how Laurie responds when challenged or caught bullshitting. It’s all very dramatic – she’s forever “being attacked,” which more often than not means “being shown to be wrong.” Sometimes, as above, she abruptly accuses her critics of scandalous misogyny or racism – of being unspecified “haters” of some kind – then blocks them, as if she’d won the argument through random indignation. And if one person in the discussion should actually say something dubious or unpleasant this is often seized upon as a shortcut to victory, or to victimhood, by conflating one person’s rude comments with someone else’s serious questions. Laurie also seems to have plenty of time to call other people racists or sexists or homophobes – in a public forum with thousands of followers – but when asked to explain these accusations she’s suddenly very shy, or “on a deadline,” or says it can’t be done on Twitter. Because her thinking is so complex and subtle, no doubt.
as if she’d won the argument through random indignation
‘Shut up’, she explained.
“It’s often entertaining to see how Laurie responds when challenged or caught bullshitting”.
It makes me think that maybe lefties should have a handicap system for their arguments, rather like golf. Laurie’s obviously at a disadvantage when challenging – or being challenged by – most people, so she gets a few epithets – say three “racists”, two “sexists” and a “homophobe” – to help balance it out.
But then, I suppose they wouldn’t want to call it a handicap system, would they?
Horace,
…maybe lefties should have a handicap system for their arguments, rather like golf.
What’s funny is that, so far as I can make out, the whole drama began with Laurie doing her usual self-flattering incantations about race and class “privilege.” The sincerity of this display was then questioned by several people and things got rather competitive as to who was speaking on behalf of whom and which tribal category was more oppressed. (One of the saner participants mischievously asked whether the shameful “privilege” of an Oxbridge education could be forgiven if the student in question had previously suffered a state comprehensive education. Alas, that question was lost in the subsequent scuffle of indignation.) And despite her own acute – nay, heroic – awareness of “privilege,” Laurie seems quite happy to slander people in public based on no evidence whatsoever and then shut down any reply or hope of correction while claiming The Precious Victimhood™ all for herself.
Well, I say it’s funny. Listening to an argument among dogmatic class warriors and neurotic middle-class lefties may not be everyone’s idea of time well spent. One participant has subsequently been fretting about whether his “straight cis male sexuality” (which, he says, is “forced upon society”) is oppressing other Tweeters or making them “feel unsafe.” Just by its existence. Nobody has complained of being oppressed by proximity to his rampant straightness but it’s still making him “feel uncomfortable.” Oh, and his username is “Badass.”
Laurie Penny speaks truth to power:
Today:
8:02 AM – 18 Dec 12
@Calderbank but I didn’t call@LoveDetective1 racist.
http://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/281067030977867776
Two days earlier:
12:51 PM – 16 Dec 12
@LoveDetective1 @spineynorman78 oh. Oh, I see. You’re racist. That makes this so much easier *blocks*
https://twitter.com/pennyred/status/280414860016222208
Oh look! Dear Penny forgets that the Internet never forgets. Gotta love Twitter.
@spineynorman78 isn’t me, by the way.
Latest:
“Laurie Penny is currently in the process of trying to block the entire british left off twitter :D”
https://twitter.com/DelroyBooth/status/281078809170673665
“Blocked by Laurie Penny, for asking her to apologise for unfounded accusation of racism against friends.”
https://twitter.com/FurcoatNaeNicks/status/281077955910844416
jonuk
“does anyone know what’s happened to http://biased-bbc.com/?”
Finally found out what was going on here. Following troubles with the previous host/domain, the site has been moved to:
http://biasedbbc.org/
With all archives intact, thank goodness.