Elsewhere (221)
Robert Stacy McCain on the myth of the beauty myth:
One notices, of course, that feminists never criticise gay men for adoring male beauty, nor are lesbian preferences subject to feminist critique. No, in feminist discourse, it is only the heterosexual male’s attitudes and behaviour that are the target of this kind of “fuck your beauty standards” rhetoric.
Mark Bauerlein on the ideological desiccation of the humanities:
When English turned into a practice of reading literature for signs of racism, sexism, and ideology, it lost touch with why youths pick up books in the first place, said University of Virginia Professor Rita Felski. And Duke professor Toril Moi told the Chronicle of Higher Education, “If you challenge the idea of suspicion as the only mode of reading, you are then immediately accused of being conservative in relation to those politics.
Heather Mac Donald on progressive discipline policies and subsequent delinquency:
The idea that such street behaviour does not have a classroom counterpart is ludicrous. Black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at ten times the rate of white and Hispanic males of the same age. The lack of socialisation that produces such a vast disparity in murder rates, as well as less lethal street violence, inevitably will show up in classroom behaviour. Teens who react to a perceived insult on social media by trying to shoot the offender are not likely to restrain themselves in the classroom if they feel “disrespected” by a teacher or fellow students.
Joe Concha spies an asymmetry:
Democratic voters are almost three times as likely to have “blocked, unfriended, or stopped following someone on social media” after Donald Trump’s victory, according to a study… The survey shows considerable splits along gender lines as well. Women were “twice as likely as men to report removing people from their online social circle because of the political views they expressed online,” 18 percent to 9 percent, according to the study conducted by Daniel Cox and Robert P. Jones… Meanwhile, 5 percent of those polled said they will alter plans to spend less time with select members of their family because of their political views. This, too, showed a partisan divide: 10 percent of Democrats said they planned to avoid certain family members, and 2 percent of Republicans said they would do likewise.
Franklin Einspruch on fake fretting about fake news:
On Christmas Day, Jeremy Peters penned an article for the New York Times that ran under the headline “Wielding Claims of ‘Fake News,’ Conservatives Take Aim at Mainstream Media.” Its upshot is that a term once reserved for confabulated clickbait has been “appropriated” by conservatives for the sake of discrediting legitimate news that threatens their interests. “In defining ‘fake news’ so broadly and seeking to dilute its meaning, they are capitalising on the declining credibility of all purveyors of information, one product of the country’s increasing political polarisation,” Peters writes. “And conservatives, seeing an opening to undermine the mainstream media, a long-time foe, are more than happy to dig the hole deeper.” Was it on purpose that Peters identified the mainstream media —namely, himself— as a long-time foe of conservatives? Are conservatives incorrect about that assumption?
And Helena Cronin on equality, gender, and a zombie misconception:
Bear in mind that equality is not sameness. Equality is about fair treatment, not about people or outcomes being identical; so fairness does not and should not require sameness. […] Here’s some intriguing evidence. “Gender [theory]” predicts that, as discrimination diminishes, males and females will increasingly converge. But a study of 55 nations found that it was in the most liberal, democratic, equality-driven countries that divergence was greatest. The less the sexism, the greater the sex differences. Difference, this suggests, is evidence not of oppression but of choice; not socialisation, not patriarchy, not false consciousness, not even pink t-shirts or personal pronouns… but female choice.
Feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
“The man was understanding; but the woman pointed to the antlers in our hall and cried, ‘Look, Satan lives in this house!’ “
*glances at collection of antique African hunting trophies in hall*
Please, next time, send her a couple of counties over!
*evil chuckle*
Do Scientologists still go door-to-door?
Interesting question . . . So are there any Scientologists around here who could comment, or are we all clear?
. . . the woman pointed to the antlers in our hall and cried, ‘Look, Satan lives in this house!’
Sooo, I keep reading of ostensible Christians and Muslims—assorted Iranian mullahs, Pat Robertson, Etc.—all stating various and assorted undoubted proofs of the presence of Satan And His Wiles—Great band name, that, I hear they opened for the Rockettes once.
Given such total and complete familiarity with S.A.H.W., wouldn’t that rather indicate that those stating such claims are quite dedicated and practicing Satanists? After all, who else would have such certainty?
And especially as such practice wouldn’t the least bit involve being anti Christian or anti Muslim: Quite by essential definition, Satanism is a subsect of Chrisitanity and Islam, just like any other subsect of Christianity or Islam . . . .
Satanism isn’t any part of Shinto, or the Norse worship, or classical Greek or Egyptian, or Buddhist . . . for some of those there is Loki, Set, and Mara, but they still just don’t tie into the Christian and Islamic mythos the way that being a Satanist does . . .
you then realise there’s no obvious social template for how to react.
Just say no thanks and shut the door.
Just say no thanks and shut the door.
Implausible as it may seem, I’m usually polite in real life, at least with people I don’t know, or don’t know well. I don’t default to being rude and dismissive* – and hence the momentary confounding.
*Except here, of course. Then all bets are off.
My favorite has been to look them straight in the eye, and in my best unaccented English say, “I’m ever so sorry, But I don’t speak English”. Most have taken the hint straight away.
I tried this one, more or less, a quarter century ago when I was studying in Russia just after the fall of the USSR. There were people trying to sell unsuspecting Westerners stuff all the time, and one day when a couple of men came up to me speaking in English, I responded — in German, figuring they’d get the hint. No, they didn’t switch to German (although there was one little old lady selling copies of a German-language newspaper I ran into another time!), they just started speaking English more slowly.
Hal: No, Satanism is a heresy of Christianity and to a lesser degree Islam, rather than a subset. Hyperbole aside, you’re reasoning that knowledge of the wiles the opposing party implies belonging to the opposing party – which is absurd. If anything it’s entirely the contrary that is more often true.
‘CBS’s blackout on the details of this story, and their competitors’ embargo of the story itself, dovetails perfectly with Iowahawk’s observation that “Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving,”’
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/253689/
I’ve always found Mormons and JWs to politely take a polite “no thanks” for an answer. But I live close to two Baptist churches, and when the Baptists come round they seem to have no social skills whatsoever. One Baptist actually put his foot in the door to prevent me closing it, and told me there was no sin I could have committed that was so terrible that God wouldn’t forgive.
I try to be polite, and I find most people are polite in return, but some people just won’t get the message unless you tell them to fuck off.
WHY do overly-large people insist on stripping down to show everyone how ok they are with their fat?
Maybe…
I am still taken aback by the sheer vitriol people around here direct at door-to-door missionaries who are unfailingly polite people. To hear them talk about the JWs dropping by, you’d think Hitler, Satan and Mike Harris had jointly dropped by to invite them to join their new baby-eating cult. I honestly don’t get it.
I used to frequent a Rugby League fansite’s forum based in the UK, which was populated mainly by demented lefties who thought socialism was great and all the world’s ills could be placed at the feet of Thatcher and America. They used to positively delight in boasting at how they told a JW to “fuck off” and slammed the door in their face, and how they are far too smart to believe in “sky fairies”. Yet they were forever leaping to the defence of “persecuted” Muslims and one of them even told of how he refrained from eating around a Muslim colleague during Ramadan out of “respect”. When I got older I realised they are cowards: abusing a JW made them feel tough because they knew the JWs were no threat.
and how they are far too smart to believe in “sky fairies”
And yet economic creationism is the height of sophistication.
So are there any Scientologists around here who could comment, or are we all clear?
I saw what you did there …
SumDumGuy,
Offer to have them in to discuss key theological difference between the two doctrines and they will run like they are being chased by hell hounds. I am no longer a Mormon but keep my literature handy for just such an occasion.
That’s exactly how my Seventh-Day Adventist mother dealt with them. But the Mormon missionaries were usually happy to have a theological discussion with her (she made some friends that way), Jehovah’s Witnesses, somewhat less so.
“One Baptist actually put his foot in the door to prevent me closing it, and told me there was no sin I could have committed that was so terrible that God wouldn’t forgive.”
A witty reply would have been “will he forgive me for breaking your collarbone with this iron bar if you don’t remove your foot from my door?”
“When I got older I realised they are cowards: abusing a JW made them feel tough because they knew the JWs were no threat.”
That explains sooooo much SJWism.
That explains sooooo much SJWism.
The psychology of “social justice” devotees seems to overlap with that of the archetypal ‘mean girls’ from school. The ones who would target a classmate for having an unfashionable bag or the wrong kind of shoes. The fact that so many of these warriors are female is not, I think, coincidental.
. . . Satanism is a heresy of Christianity and to a lesser degree Islam, rather than a subset.
Heresy, or subsect, or variation . . . .
Just as the Protestant variations are a heresy of the Roman Catholic variations, the current Roman Catholic variations are a heresy of the pre Vatican II variations, the pre Vatical II variations are a heresy of the current revealed Roman Catholics, all the Roman Catholic versions are a heresy of the protestant variations, the Sunni’s are a heresy of the Shias—the Shias are a heresy of the Sunnis—, Christianity is a heresy of Islam, Islam is a heresy of Christianity, and Judaism . . . . .
Satanism thus really does just fit in with all the other Abrahamic squabbling cousins that are all—Satanism included, by this point— equal to each other and all repelling each other, each peddling a faith that claims to be religion instead of just being mere faith . . .
And, mainly, they’re all—Satanism included—of the same Abrahamic faith cluster, not from anywhere else, so yes, Satanism just is a standard subsect of Christianity and Islam . . . .
—Definitely granted, it’s not one of the popular subsects among the Christians/Muslims, but then that set of 95 theses arguably only recently got nailed to the general door . . .
Have y’all seen this?
. . . Satanism is a heresy of Christianity and to a lesser degree Islam, rather than a subset.
Heresy, or subsect, or variation . . . .
Yes, indeed, this is one of those irregular verbs:
You are a pious and blessedly proselytizing adherent of the universally acknowledged one true faith.
I am a dearly beloved cousin who merely offers a slight variation in opinion.
David is an eternally damned heretic and will spend all eternity roasting in hell and being reborn endlessly as a never evolving microbe.
—Why of course David’s lot makes no sense whatsoever, we’re discussing faith rather than religion. Faith is apparently rather required to be utterly intellectual and also complete gibberish—and besides, doing “heresy” is also rather often where the next faith comes from . . .
Apparently, this is what Laurie Penny thinks of people who aren’t sufficiently leftwing.
Have y’all seen this?
Scanned only a few seconds, but enough to note it being for local, Western hemispheric consumption. —The Middle Eastern targeting variety would have been Real Housewives of DAESH . . .
Apparently, this is what Laurie Penny thinks of people who aren’t sufficiently leftwing.
I expect Newt Gingrich, et al, prolly rather announced the same eight years ago, with only the change in gutter.
At least for the majority of us in between; Same game, same lob, really.
Watching the New York Times report on fake news is like getting a lecture about promiscuity from a syphilitic nun.
That.
In a continuing sort of occurrence, Oops.
Don’t forget that progressivism is a heresy of leftism, which is a heresy of liberalism, which is a heresy of libertarianism, which is a heresy of Unitarianism, which is a heresy of Calvinism, which is a Christian heresy, and nationalism is a heresy of early leftism, conservatism is a heresy of late leftism, and in the words of dril, blocked, blocked, blocked, none of you are free of sin.
CBS’s blackout on the details of this story, and their competitors’ embargo of the story itself, dovetails perfectly with Iowahawk’s observation that “Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving,”
I see the story’s getting traction now, albeit belatedly, most likely under pressure and with some quite perverse attempts to downplay the obvious racial element. What’s striking – aside from the sadism and depravity – is the fact that the perpetrators shared their behaviour online, presumably for the amusement of likeminded peers. Which suggests that such inclinations are not entirely uncommon in their social environment.
As we were saying . . . .
Seems awfully familiar . . .
Which suggests that such inclinations are not entirely uncommon in their social environment.
The other day as I was going from here to there, one of the sights was a white hipster in a sarong—in 40 degree F. weather—, sneakers with one sock, cell phone playing rap, whose quite bellowed goodbye to a friend was Fuck 2016!!! Fuck Trump!!!
Apparently, this is what Laurie Penny thinks of people who aren’t sufficiently leftwing.
The suck-up comments are quite nice, except for one guy who apparently disagrees and gets a dose of restaurant grade introspection failure:
They really don’t get why people to the right of them are laughing at them.
restaurant grade introspection failure
To quote some guy, lefties project.
Spiny,
That’s exactly how my Seventh-Day Adventist mother dealt with them. But the Mormon missionaries were usually happy to have a theological discussion with her (she made some friends that way), Jehovah’s Witnesses, somewhat less so.
Mormon’s have a large school dedicated to teaching their missionaries how to be proper missionaries, not the vacationarries you get in most religions. As a result they are usually very well versed in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and several other religious texts of which they make use; and are more than happy to discuss any of the above. They also dedicate a large portion of church services to religious study and encourage their members to study daily which makes them overall a fairly well informed group, although this may have changed in the 25 odd years since left the church.
I see the story’s getting traction now, albeit belatedly . . .
Chicago police explain why they think beating was hate crime
Updated 1:13 pm, Thursday, January 5, 2017
Oh, speaking of bad faith and fake news . . .
Creationist: Beowulf is ‘eyewitness account’ of dinosaurs existing with humans
“In a continuing sort of occurrence, Oops.”
Maybe the march will have a lot of mangina owners marching in it…
The Middle Eastern targeting variety would have been Real Housewives of DAESH . . .
Er, yes. It would have been in Arabic. Or is there a subtler point you are attempting to make?
Er, yes. It would have been in Arabic.
?????
Why Arabic? Isis is a classical Egyptian goddess, Daesh is the collection of gits getting pelted with virtual rotten vegetables . . .
A good way to dissuade the JWs and Mormons is to remove clothing one item at a time while they’re talking. Once I got down to boxer shorts before two Mormon boys fled.