Elsewhere (157)
Robert Stacy McCain on self-flattery and groupthink:
If your worldview is decisively formed within the insular climate of an elite university, the equation “liberal [i.e., leftist] = smart” is a formula you can never permit yourself to doubt, unless you are willing to admit that you have been hustled, scammed and bamboozled. A fellow with a diploma from Harvard or Stanford cannot confront the possibility that he has been swindled like an ignorant hick playing a carnival game at the country fair.
Mentioned in the comments yesterday, Professor Jere Surber unwittingly provides a textbook example. Note the parochial conceit that an educated worldview can only be a more or less leftist one. Note too the professor’s casual dismissal of those who challenge his self-flattering expectations. It’s rather like when George Monbiot waved aside those who disagree with him as mere dullards struggling with racial phobias. In George’s mind, a non-leftist outlook “thrives on low intelligence” and “appeals to stupidity.” It’s “the critical pathway from low intelligence to racism.” While self-imagined super-intellectual leftists – people like George, in fact – are apparently “self-deprecating” and “too liberal for their own good.”
Charles C W Cooke on the not-so-latent fascism of Mr George Galloway:
Britain now has a range of unbelievably capricious “hate speech” and “public order” laws that effectively give anyone who feels offended the power to shut down his critics. Such measures are sold with mawkish appeals to the protection of the weak. But they are typically used by the strong and the rich and the well-connected.
Mr Galloway’s boldness is something to behold.
And Katherine Timpf on things now deemed “unsafe” on campus:
Last October, Arizona State University’s athletics department banned face paint — “whether the theme is black, maroon, gold or white” — because ASU is an “inclusive and forward-thinking university” and they must make sure that “everyone feels safe and accepted.” They did not explain whether or not any students had actually reported feeling threatened by the paint, and if so, how those students were handling their lives currently.
Also declared emotionally hazardous to young intellectuals: the words “freshmen” and “bullet,” and, obviously, petting-zoo camels.
Feel free to share your own links and snippets in the comments. It’s what these posts are for. And tickling the tip jar makes me feel loved.
Students at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota have cancelled an event to celebrate the end of the year after complaints that bringing a camel on campus could offend those of Middle Eastern cultures.
The SJWs complained that someone might feel ‘unsafe’ even though no one did. Got it.
Galloway’s promise to “return to the matter after the election” in his TwitSpat suggests strongly that he knows he is going to win. I admire confidence, but is this more of something else? Something perhaps, the unwise might suggest, that all the postal votes have been corralled already and are awaiting counting?
I must state here my utter dislike of NuLiebore and the way it has enabled vast numbers of immigrants to vote via a postal system that reeks of corruption.
Got it.
Yes, they were vicariously pre-empting a hypothetical offence that was never intended and that no-one actually took.
Apparently, end-of-term animals are a thing, and other student events had featured mechanical bulls and live reindeer. But the brave little warriors were fretful that the mere presence of a camel, however much intended as fun, would create “an uncomfortable and possibly unsafe environment.” Because, obviously, the first and only thing that a petting zoo reminds you of is how much you really, really hate all those Middle Eastern people.
“Note the parochial conceit that an educated worldview can only be a more or less leftist one.”
At Oxford in the 70s, I never had any difficulty in finding dons willing to discuss and/or encourage right-of-centre opinions and policy. Have things changed?
There has been some interesting pushback going on against the Social Justice Wankers, which I thought I’d share snippets about. These are gathered from my own impressions and may not represent accurate views of the situation, but accurate views of the situation appear very hard to come by in the heat of internet arguments…
Number one is over the Hugo Awards, formerly the Science Fiction Achievement Awards, whose prestige has rather declined due to various liberals engaging in backroom deals, vote trading, and discreet campaigning. Over the years the Hugos have gone from recognizing stories such as Have Space Suit-Will Travel to self-indulgent fantasies like If You Were A Dinosaur, My Love in which someone dreams about having a dinosaur which could trample all those nasty bigots.
A few years back, Larry Correia (author of the Monster Hunter series) tried to call out the fact that the awards weren’t recognizing quality any more, they were recognizing who could muster the most support from the small ingroup of registrees and members at one convention mostly controlled by liberals. The liberals protested this characterization mightily, so Correia started the Sad Puppies campaign to demonstrate that he could beat them at their own game by registering his own fans to vote so he could SHOW THEM, SHOW THEM ALL. MUWAHAHAHA.
Since then, Sad Puppies has taken on a life of its own, passing to someone else running it this year, spawning a secondary Rabid Puppies campaign, and this year the Puppies are threatening to sweep the Hugos with their nominated literature. The formerly ensconced ingroup is not happy about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXxNODbC6IE
So now they’re throwing a fit and threatening to vote “no award” across the board, “no award” ahead of anything nominated by the Puppies, voting on political affiliation rather than quality.
Leaders of the Puppies have responded by counter-threatening that if this happens, next year they won’t nominate any stories of their own, just “no award” vote right back ahead of everything the liberals are nominating. And then you can sit there with a “Hugo Award” not being awarded for two years in a row. Some award.
Bonus content: Arthur Chu calls Brad Torgersen racist over the Puppies campaign. Torgersen points out that he’s happily married to a woman of another race, has been so for years, and has a biracial child. Chu doubles down and accuses Torgersen of using human shields. Various people tell Chu to shut the fuck up and go the fuck to hell. Chu continues to double and triple down on how much better he is than all these backwards unenlightened “racists”, where racists means anyone who doesn’t bend over for his preferred racial narrative.
There’s much more psychodrama to be had if you poke into the matter.
Does George Galloway *understand* that other people can read his tweets?
Does George Galloway *understand* that other people can read his tweets?
Like so many things Mr Galloway does, it’s wonderfully oblivious. I suspect his narcissism prevents such details registering, at least as a liability.
Well, I for one am always “triggered” by face paint. It’s the result of a nasty encounter with an Assegai wielding tribesman at Roarke’s Drift. It’s really very traumatic and results in me singing Men of Harlach off key.
It’s time to ban… indie.
More on the subject, from Slate
It’s time to ban… indie.
So being “steeped in Whiteness” [sic] is a bad thing, something that shouldn’t be encouraged or “perpetuated,” even among people who happen to be white. But being, as it were, Professionally Black™ and all about one’s negro-ness, is altogether more glorious, indeed the bee’s nads. You could dislocate both shoulders trying to follow the logic.
Last October, Arizona State University’s athletics department banned face paint — “whether the theme is black, maroon, gold or white”
Replies the theatre department: Oh, that’s fine, this semester we won’t need to put any makeup on the the sports department mass recruited spear carriers for the MacBeth army scenes, Etc., because we’re doing Waiting for Godot and some Pinter, instead . . . and besides, it’s just political posturing of the moment, so we’re not worried about next semester either, ’cause they’ll have completely forgotten by then . . .
Oh, By The Way, David, I’m finally noticing that over in this hemisphere it’s Friday, are y’all still on Thursday?
—I’d have prolly noticed last night at the usual posting time, but was buried in some other things . . .
In the meantime, I’ll offer a discussion of kites, a discussion of how that was done, and what the big deal is.
For someone like me who has, basically no interest in video games and an extensive and ongoing interest in what can be done with the software, I’m rather happy with this new development . . . and just bloody need to get through the current project catchup before I can go play . . .
It’s time to ban… indie.
Wherein the Progressive Left continues to turn on its own as a snake eats its own tail. I have a small glimmer of hope that this process will continue to splinter the PC Progressive Left crowd and cause more pushback (as Microbillionaire mentions above).
By The Way, David, I’m finally noticing that over in this hemisphere it’s Friday
No ephemera this week. There was a quality control issue. The collection I’d prepared, in haste, didn’t quite do it for me. By all means feel free to share your own oddities.
This should be repeplayed several times;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1bG2EPGmI0&start=82&end=321
Food, fresh, and locally sourced. In Brazil.
-S
. . . this process will continue to splinter the PC Progressive Left crowd . . .
Of course . . . but so what?
Whether unfortunately, or just simply That’s The Way It Is, the overriding issue(s) will always be the relevant axioms:
There is a hipster born every minute.
Never give a hipster an even break—because you can never cheat an honest man.
And from the Christian New Testament, For you will always have the hipster among you.
Food, fresh, and locally sourced.
A co-worker’s recent statement regarding actual, genuine, OMG For Real?!?!? livestock:
Oh, yes, I’ve seen a cow. Oh My God it’s huge!
I live and work in the same geographical area as the co-worker. Yeah, I too have seen cows, and did so only this last Wednesday evening. All I had to do was go off to a meeting that passed through extremely nearby and accessible farmland . . .
I was informed on Twitter yesterday that hate speech is illegal, so if Westboro wanted you to bake a “God Hates Fags” cake, you could opt out for that reason alone. Same with turning down a photography gig for a KKK rally: the rally is illegal.
Except that it isn’t, and neither is “hate speech.”
There are plenty of honest arguments to be made on both sides of “If I Knew You Were Coming for Me, I’d Have Baked a Cake” (h/t Steyn), but I don’t seem to be encountering a whole lot.
It’s one thing for two parties to look at the same facts and come to different conclusions; it’s quite another when your interlocutor inhabits the world where Spock has a goatee in all episodes but one.
Torgersen points out that he’s happily married to a woman of another race, has been so for years, and has a biracial child. Chu doubles down and accuses Torgersen of using human shields.
They all do this, inevitably and predictably. When the accusation of racism is countered by “I have a spouse/child of a different race,” the accusation of tokenism is leveled.
Every. Single. Time.
Actor Nick Searcy adopted a black kid out of the foster system. His Twitter timeline @yesnicksearcy contains several of these idiot exchanges per day. The amount of time between “RACIST!” and “How dare you use your child as a shield!” is remarkably small, almost as if they were reading from the same script.
Or have the same psychological disorder.
They need us to be demons so badly that they’ll muster any argument, make any accusation, distort any fact, and ignore any evidence that challenges their absurd world view.
Sad. Does anyone ever recover from this degree of malicious sanctimony? I know that some people on the left were just going with the flow until their minds changed, but I don’t know about people changing who were that invested in their own moral superiority.
The Economy. It’s about numbers.
Does anyone ever recover from this degree of malicious sanctimony?
At the hardcore level of play, I fear it’s a lifelong commitment. The pretexts for being a passive-aggressive nightmare may change but not the fundamental disposition.
Microbillionaire
I’ve been following the Sad Puppies thing for a while — the scorched-earth reaction of the SJW’s is just public proof that everything SP said about the Hugos is/was true. Leftism has made overt & covert moves to take over all manner of cultural levers; the genre of Sci-Fi & Fantasy was just another notch on a long academic/media belt.
Years ago, as I wandered the sci-fi/fantasy section of bookstores I used to take “Hugo award winner” as a clue to a book’s quality. I would purchase, go home and … meh.
I wondered if it was because I was getting old I no longer was feeling the excitement and thrill in reading SFF like I did when reading Heinlein, Bradbury, McCaffrey or Zenna Henderson.
So in the last couple of years, I’ve been easing back into SFF, based on recommendations of friends… Coming across Correia, Hoyt, Sanderson, Howey, Torgersen …
Holy moly! The thrill is back!
But I guess that makes me a wrongfan having wrongfun …
screw the SJWs, time to storm the Cons & take back SFF.
di
I’ve even put the cake thing to just Westboro wants a “Leviticus 18:22” cake and been told no one can be forced to put Biblical verses on a cake cuz “Separation of Church & State”
Incoherent hate appears to be default answer of SJWs.
I was informed on Twitter yesterday that hate speech is illegal, so if Westboro wanted you to bake a “God Hates Fags” cake, you could opt out for that reason alone. Same with turning down a photography gig for a KKK rally: the rally is illegal.
Except that it isn’t, and neither is “hate speech.”
…
I’ve even put the cake thing to just Westboro wants a “Leviticus 18:22” cake and been told no one can be forced to put Biblical verses on a cake cuz “Separation of Church & State”, etc.
Well such is the nature of “culture”, inninit? Laws and such are only for dweebs. Legislate yourself into anarchy and everything becomes a matter of interpretation. The beautiful thing about culture is those who “create” it get to make the rules, interpret the rules, and enforce the rules. None of this silly separation of such that gets in the way of getting your things done.
It’s time to ban… indie.
I’ll wait for next weeks article about how Rap is unbearably black..
Does anyone ever recover from this degree of malicious sanctimony?
At the hardcore level of play, I fear it’s a lifelong commitment. The pretexts for being a passive-aggressive nightmare may change but not the fundamental disposition.
Ayup . . . My read is that the individual needle may yank back and forth from the extreme left to the extreme right, depending on the moment to moment practice of the individual’s narcissism, but the level of damnation remains constant.
The largest population of wild camels in the world actually reside in Australia. As an Australian I am offended when an American university uses one as entertainment because – ah well I am not really sure.
Isn’t it interesting though that our enlightened brothers of the progressive persuasion see racism wherever they look.
I don’t come up with the punchlines, I just read the headlines . . .
And equally so over on the right wing edge of the spectrum, if your worldview is decisively formed within the insular climate of a very involved faith—any faith claiming anything—you could be just like the Vatican being offered a gay ambassador.
Adam d
I am also an Australian.
Now that I know about this non use of camel by some Americans, I’m offended by that.
Camels not good enough for yous then ?
(Oh, yes, I’ve seen a camel. Oh My God it’s huge!)
And Microbillionaire, thanks for the Sad Puppies explanation.
Face paint is “dangerous….” Guess I can’t put any in my “safe space.” I’m making my own safe space, you know, wherein only those who flatter and agree with me will be allowed.
Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to keep the cats from coming in.
It’s time to ban… indie.
I’ll wait for next weeks article about how Rap is unbearably black..
It’s funny, I’m a white Australian who has listened to rap since 1989 and I’ve never felt myself longing for more ‘voices’ that I can relate to. Of course, even if I did I would just be promoting cultural appropriation (hell, I’m may be doing that just be listening to rap). It’s clearly only when something is predominantly created or enjoyed by white people that ‘diversity’ is required.
Isn’t it interesting though that our enlightened brothers of the progressive persuasion see racism wherever they look.
It’s one of those left wing liberal efficient practice things.
Adam d @ 23:01: Isn’t it interesting though that our enlightened brothers of the progressive persuasion see racism wherever they look.
When the only argument you have is “That’s racist!”, everything looks like discrimination.
Does anyone ever recover from this degree of malicious sanctimony?
It’s interesting just how many campus “hate crimes” turn out to be hoaxes perpetrated by so-called “anti-oppression” activists.
Why, it’s almost a trend.
And it’s almost as if such “activism” attracts an awful lot of people who are devious, sadistic and unhinged.
For those with an ephemera jones, via Ace. Inventive ideas. Like the new takes on power outlets, though I wonder how well they function.
http://distractify.com/matt-buco/these-things-should-be-everywhere/
A Labour Party candidate has called anyone who flies an England flag “a simpleton” or “a casual racist”.
http://order-order.com/2015/04/10/labour-candidate-attacks-simpletons-and-racists-who-fly-england-flags/#_@/KPRuK0cl6ODe5g
Inventive ideas.
I do like the parking garage with lights to show free spaces, and the traffic lights with a countdown indicator. Also, the Pringle lifter. Not sure about bean bag cinema seats, though. I don’t see any cup-holders, which, combined with bean bag instability, suggests a disaster waiting to happen.
[ Added: ]
No wait, I stand corrected. There may be cup-holders built into the arms.
Inventive ideas: Small tiles you can attach to your keys, wallet, computer, or pretty much anything. If you lose anything (singular, “thing” – j), you can then look up their (plural – j) location on your smartphone.
I foresee the day when “he”, “she”, and “it” are but relics in the dustbin of grammatical history. Everything will be “they” or “their”.
I do not see this as a good thing. 🙁
I don’t know if this is more appropriate for an “Elsewhere” thread or an “Ephemera” thread, but since this thrad now seems to be both:
Minnesota police investigate tbeft of $70K of bull semen from farm
The article doesn’t say how much that is in terms of volume, a question I’m sure was on everybody else’s minds as it was mine.
Dick Chopp, urologist. He has a colleague named Lester Wang.
Via the mighty Iowahawk.
Jason, I could point you to a certain philosophy professor who changes pronoun sex over the course of an essay while referring to the same abstract human entity. Your day is passed.
Hey, you guys get Gorgeous George, we get twits like Keith Ellison. At least GG is entertaining at times. Ellison’s just pathetic.
Via Insty, gaming the racialist system of college admissions:
As I remarked at Insty’s:
The black students that I taught at Cornell were either at the top or the bottom of the class. The ones at the bottom had street accents; freshmen were still giving it the old college try, sophomores where sullen, and grad students (those who had stuck with it) were as quiet as mice, hoping against hope that no one would find out they were frauds, and the ones out in the field do the same: they find themselves in an impossible situation, being given an opportunity they weren’t ready to handle, they nevertheless can’t just drop out, because how stupid is that? Best keep your head down and do what you can do because maybe later it will all work out.
What started as a devious ploy to gain admission to medical school turned into a twisted social experiment.
I AM interested in the social reaction he got, however. Because white and black people can’t stand in each other’s shoes, there’s no way to know what the other person is actually experiencing or whether their perceptions have been altered by other people’s narratives.
If “going about your business while black” isn’t the same as doing it while being an exotic Indian, I want to know.
I refer you to an ancient Miami Vice episode of roughly the same name.
You sir, are welcome.
Heh. Why I read your stuff, di. Why I read your stuff.
Why I read your stuff, di. Why I read your stuff.
THAT’s all it takes? Adding ‘fancy’ to stuff?
Day-um. The traffic I coulda been generating…
Regarding Sad Puppies, this response by Larry Correa to some condescension from George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones) gives a pretty good explanation of how this all happened.
this AoSHQ podcast features Larry Correa explaining the whole dealio. (Link opens autoplay MP3.)
It’s nothing new to the regulars at this blog: a clique of malicious twits takes over a group and commences to dish out the Mean Girls treatment to everyone they don’t like.
People like Martin say that Sad Puppies results from sour grapes or special pleading, not from genuinely bad people who manage to infect any venue they can and Wreck Everything. Sometimes you wonder whether Martin knows the truth but agrees with the Mean Girls anyway.
Re #GamerGate…
Robert Stacy McCain on the Twitter warriors’ need for purity in “debate,” which seems to mean blocking everyone except those who wholeheartedly agree with them. Apparently, those deemed block-worthy by the warriors should also be subject to an “employment blacklist.”
Cat nightclub.
“We hope to offer a diverse range of cats… We’ll also be matching cats to music. The sleek, detailed Siamese goes perfectly with techno, though wouldn’t necessarily work with vocal house.”
Of course they wouldn’t.
Blimey, Mixmag is still going. I’m having a Nineties flashback.
“Does George Galloway *understand* that other people can read his tweets?” and “Like so many things Mr Galloway does, it’s wonderfully oblivious.”
And yet he keeps getting elected. I suspect, from my vantage point across the Atlantic, that he feels that the Left is now so strong that it can safely take off the mask of civilization and be brazenly thuggish. To what extent do you agree, David?
To what extent do you agree, David?
I don’t follow his activities closely enough to comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM-HJT8_esM
“There’s a 20 year jail sentence for disagreeing with a woman. And 30 years if she’s a priveledged white woman with a blog.”
“And yet he keeps getting elected.”
I am oop north. You can stick a red rosette on a dog turd, they will win the vote.
A Labour Party candidate has called anyone who flies an England flag “a simpleton” or “a casual racist”.this. Notice the liberal peppering of white stereotypes by the sanctimonious author. Of course, part of UKIP’s popularity has absolutely has nothing to do with sneering pricks like himself being a regular feature on the Left (Labour).
Reminded me of
I must have mucked up my tags. I’m referring to this article:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/67641110/ukip-and-nigel-farage-pander-to-the-delusions-of-little-england
Loosely connected – Hate without the hate;
http://laughingsquid.com/i-am-artist-transforms-adolf-hitlers-hateful-mein-kampf-into-a-positive-message-with-found-poetry/
A remix of a Adolf Hitlers autobiographical ‘Mein Kampf’ (in English, apparently) to remove the Kampf and leave a message of only flowers and puppies.
I remeber someone doing something similar to a GWB-speech.
-S
They all do this, inevitably and predictably. When the accusation of racism is countered by “I have a spouse/child of a different race,” the accusation of tokenism is leveled.
Surely his critics should admire someone who had the foresight to marry a spouse of a different race and have children just so that he could be tokenistic a decade or so down the track.