Elsewhere (236)
Anthony Gockowski glimpses the unhappy mind of a professional educator:
A professor at Connecticut’s Trinity College seemingly endorsed the idea that first responders to last week’s congressional shooting should have let the victims “fucking die” because they are white. “It is past time for the racially oppressed to do what people who believe themselves to be ‘white’ will not do, put [an] end to the vectors of their destructive mythology of whiteness and their white supremacy system. #LetThemFuckingDie,” Trinity College Professor Johnny Eric Williams wrote in a June 18 Facebook post.
Pretentious victimhood is quite a drug.
Noah Rothman on the late Otto Warmbier and the unsavoury pieties of “social justice”:
“Privilege” is how social-justice advocates describe those who they think should be found guilty under a Rawlsian ideal of distributive justice. So what made Warmbier so deserving of his captivity and mistreatment at the hands of a famously brutal Stalinist regime? Huffington Post blogger La Sha was direct… his heritage. Specifically, his “white male privilege.” “That kind of reckless gall is an unfortunate side effect of being socialised first as a white boy, and then as a white man in this country,” she wrote. In fact, it’s not rare for North Korea to take American citizens hostage, but they are often of Korean heritage. There are three Americans of Korean origin in Pyongyang’s clutches right now, in fact. The author of this deluded, bigoted rant makes no effort to understand the conditions in North Korea. Why should she? Her appeals to identity politics are enough for her baseless opinion to be taken seriously and published in a national political blog.
According to Ms Sha, being imprisoned in North Korea and sentenced to 15 years in a hard labour camp, for stealing a poster, then suffering extensive and mysterious brain injuries and being left in a persistent vegetative state, is not unlike being a middle-class black journalist who writes for the Huffington Post. Mr Warmbier, she wrote, was merely experiencing her own “daily reality.”
Tim Blair recounts a youthful parting of the ways with his leftist peer group:
Little moments like that kept adding up, incrementally nudging me away from leftism but not yet to full conversion. In 1988, watching a John Pilger documentary with lefty friends, another such moment occurred. Pilger, as usual, was complaining about colonialism and racism and Aboriginal injustice, so naturally we — uniformly white, urban and privileged — were lapping it up. The documentary then shifted to the former nuclear testing site at Maralinga in South Australia, where seven British bombs were detonated in the 1950s and 1960s. Pointing to a sign warning of radiation danger, Pilger observed mournfully that it was written in several languages — “but not in the Aboriginal language.”
Startled by this claim, I looked around the room. Everyone was silent, including a few who had studied Aboriginal history in considerable depth, and so must have known that Pilger’s line was completely wrong. So I just said it: “There is no single Aboriginal language. And no Aboriginal language has a written form.” I didn’t last long with that bunch of friends, either. Small note to self: my comrades will deny even their own knowledge if it runs counter to a preferred leftist version of events.
And at the University of Strathclyde, it’s apparently become necessary to ask students not to shit in the shower:
All bodily fluids, solids and toilet paper must be disposed of down the toilet. While I appreciate that the [student] population is multi-cultural and different countries have different practices, here in the UK the accepted practice is to use only the WC.
As usual, feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
Really, I just like talking about cognates as an excuse to say elbisch. It sounds so incredibly fake-foreign, as though you don’t actually know any German and you’re just mispronouncing English a little. Or maybe you’re writing a shitty fantasy novel and your agent told you that nobody’s buying Tolkien ripoffs these days, so you quickly change your Elves and Dwarves into the definitely different Elbs and Dwarbs.
Speaking of the number seven, midgets, and minor linguistic drift:
In 1937, two cultural landmarks came out: Tolkien published the book The Hobbit, about a hobbit and a wizard and a gang of midgets looking for treasure, and Disney published the arguably similar film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, about a princess and a witch and a gang of midgets looking for treasure.
Tolkien would then proceed to dictate the future spelling of “Dwarves”.
I’d never realised that The Hobbit and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in the same year. I’ve learned something interesting today.
Last year, the academic governing body agreed that all of the 17 colleges and schools, from dentistry to engineering, should include indigenous knowledge.
Because “dentistry” and “indigenous knowledge” go together so well.
Further to the charming, not-at-all-racist Professor Johnny Eric Williams, Daphne Patai on liars, morons and imaginary wrongs:
Some kinds of dumb you just can’t fix.
Note also Professor Patai’s comment, below the article, about the pressure to grade very leniently:
And by ‘leniently’ I mean unfairly.
Because “dentistry” and “indigenous knowledge” go together so well.
Groovy, baby! (we’re all indigenous to somewhere, after all…)
Because “dentistry” and “indigenous knowledge” go together so well.
Oil of cloves works when the dentist’s surgery is shut.
Because “dentistry” and “indigenous knowledge” go together so well.
Bad medicine?
Regarding Austen and Lamarr, even Schopenhauer admits that there are exceptions. His thesis appears to be that those are simply exceptions which prove (ie: test) the rule.
He’s not stating a general rule, he’s making a universal statement.
Any philosopher who fails to realize that a single exception is sufficient to disprove a universal statement isn’t very good at his job.
Note to self – avoid Canadian bridges (vehicular or oral).
In all fairness, nobody much regards Saskatchewan universities as shining beacons of academic achievement in the first place. My alma mater (one of the top three math, engineering and dentistry schools) had a significant number of out-of-province students from SK.
In all fairness, nobody much regards Saskatchewan universities as shining beacons of academic achievement in the first place.
I’ll take your word for it, but I don’t think their engineering graduates building steel girder bridges by tying the girders together with well chewed sinew instead or bolts, rivets, or welds, is going to enhance their reputation.
Apparently multiculturalism and an increased risk of contracting dysentery go hand in hand.
In the horn of Africa the toilet habits are only slightly stricter than you’d find in a herd of cows: human dung is left in the open, then people touch their faces and eyes with dirtied hands, thereby contracting an eye disease that turns the eyelids inside-out and causing blindness, not to mention considerable pain.
Right now, in the 21st century, this is happening. People have to be explicitly taught to defecate in privies and other designated areas instead of where they happen to be standing.
Human society is truly awful. Offal. Whatever.
Oil of cloves works when the dentist’s surgery is shut.
MDMA is much better. Does that count as indigenous knowledge?
Right now, in the 21st century, this is happening.
It’s easy to forget that, elsewhere, the Stone Age still exists.
Hedy Lamarr invented frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology. Pretty much anything Wireless-G uses it.
Wireless LAN uses DSSS (direct-sequence spread spectrum) because FHSS requires more radio agility. FHSS is used in baby monitors, I do happen to know. And other stuff.
Ada Lovelace (daughter of Lord Byron) is credited as the first computer programmer, devising algorithms for Charles Babbage’s analytical engine. The ADA programming language used to be the standard for U.S. DoD.
It’s always hilarious to point that out when feminists declare coding to be so unbearably masculine.
MDMA is much better.
I don’t think the chemist will sell me that.
I don’t think the chemist will sell me that.
No, there is that. But I can vouch for its effectiveness if you’re in a jam. I once had a wisdom tooth pushing up against an existing molar, resulting in intense, unrelenting pain, with no dentist to hand for 24 hours. In desperation, I took some Ecstasy, and in a few minutes the pain had been transformed into an equally persistent sensation, of comparable intensity, but which wasn’t at all disagreeable.
It was quite an evening, as I recall.
MDMA is much better.
If the problem is tooth decay, it is not. Oil of clove, mixed with zinc oxide, can be a temporary dental filling. MDMA treats the distress, not the cause of the distress.
MDMA treats the distress, not the cause of the distress.
I wasn’t recommending it as a long-term solution or an alternative to, you know, dentistry. But as a temporary relief from severe pain, the effect was quite interesting. The sensation, the information, was still there, same place, same vividness, just… not pain. As if it had, as it were, changed colour.
As if it had, as it were, changed colour.
My gut once exploded, and when the folks in the emergency room finally decided to shoot me up with some opiate, the pain was still there, but there was a veil between it and my pain receptors.
…the pain was still there, but there was a veil between it and my pain receptors.
Essentially. The method of action of opiates is both by inhibiting certain neurotransmitters, as well as making you not care that you hurt – or much of anything else, for that matter.
My gut once exploded, and when the folks in the emergency room finally decided to shoot me up with some opiate, the pain was still there, but there was a veil between it and my pain receptors.
A sensation I find worse than the pain itself.
I’d rather have a much milder painkiller than the disconnect that opiates bring.
In other news:
O frabjous day!
In other, other news.
It showed up in my Twitter feed (from a rational feminist who couldn’t believe it was real). It’s just so insane I couldn’t decide if it is parody or not. I assume David and the Guild of Evil minions can decipher it…
From the comments:
(If it has been posted already, please disregard, with my apologies.)
I’d rather have a much milder painkiller than the disconnect that opiates bring.
The opiate just got me to the emergency surgery that soon followed.
Thankfully, there is video footage of David’s improvised pain control:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QhHSl-bdpU
…the pain was still there, but there was a veil between it and my pain receptors.
Essentially. The method of action of opiates is both by inhibiting certain neurotransmitters, as well as making you not care that you hurt – or much of anything else, for that matter.
The first time I experienced the unique pleasure of passing a kidney stone, one of my colleagues at work delivered me to the nearest hospital, thinking I had appendicitis, where the lovely people in the emergency room shot me up full of morphine.
The pain and cramping was still there, but I was beyond caring – and I was too busy flirting with the nurses (one of whom was a former high school classmate, which made a class reunion about 2 years later slightly awkward…)
In other, other news.
The authoress of that screed describes herself, or theirself, or whatever:
Now I am not a Biblical scholar, but I am thinking abortion in general, and race specific abortion, is not included in “Topics Jesus Espoused”, but then I am not an intersectional feminist of color.
It appears she is also Asian (as in Oriental, not Mideast Asian) which in the US put zer among the most privileged, and in the world, I believe the majority, so what the bee in xer bonnet is, is not exactly clear. Maybe she hasn’t gotten over the Opium Wars.
The authoress of that screed describes herself…
Yeah, I’m calling BS on that entire article – it’s just some quality trolling. Not a single other article. Hell, the whole site might be a joke.
I’d rather have a much milder painkiller than the disconnect that opiates bring.
Opiates and opioids have their place. Hydrocodone (Vicodin/Vicoprophen/Norco) is the only pain med that has any effect at all when I have a recurrence of the damned stones.
Hell, the whole site might be a joke.
I have my suspicions as well. Poe’s Law in action…
Godfrey Elfwick, an screamingly obvious parody, still catches the unaware.
Also:
Not a single other article.
No surprise there. The whole “Medusa Magazine” site only went live earlier this month – another reason to be suspicious.
“recurrence of the damned stones”
I’ve heard that lots of people take drugs for the damned stones, usually at their concerts.
“In the horn of Africa the toilet habits are only slightly stricter than you’d find in a herd of cows”
My brother worked for a variety of aid agencies in a variety of African countries. If forget which country he was in, but they built a latrine block in a refugee camp, not much more than holes in the ground over a pit, with a roof over it. The refugees just shat all over the floor until someone had the idea of painting footprints on either side of the holes. Then they figured it out.
They keep pushing the date back but it seems as though humans have been civilized, in one form or another, for at least 10,000 years, 30,000 if you believe rudimentary flutes count as civilized and I do. How is it that people living on the continent where humanity quite literally became human have not figured out basic sanitation? That’s not rhetorical, really, why is this still a problem?
Is it the tribal nature of the culture? I’ve heard Kim du Toit, an American who was born and raised in South Africa, describe it as “Africa always wins.”, i.e. no matter what you do in a positive direction the culture will sabotage or overwhelm your actions.
Perhaps the final kick in Warmbier’s corpse courtesy of HuffPo and this ‘La Sha’ (if ever a name conjured up such a wealth of negative preconceptions so deservedly) character comes from the apparent fact that her original rant defiantly remains on the site.
Worse though is that they’ve allegedly ‘tinkered’ with it since his death in an optimistic attempt to portray ‘La Sha’ as slightly less sadistic than before…..yet crucially haven’t acknowledged said revisions. This of course gives the false impression to the unwary that the current article is in fact the original.
….And I don’t doubt for one minute that ‘La Sha’ and HuffPo’s editor immodestly regard themselves as anything less than peerlessly liberal, compassionate, tolerant people too. Lovely.
Tom, my amateur impression is that it’s very much a multi-factor feedback loop (and lack-of-feedback) of culture, biology, environment, and extra factors which could kinda be wedged into one of those but don’t really come to mind when one says those three words.
If you burn down your house in for example Finland and have to sleep in a cave, you probably die of the cold. If you burn down your house in Kenya and have to sleep in a cave, eh, it’s still warm. The Finnish environment thus functions as very harsh discipline: Keep things working or die.
And the flipside to that is seen in things like the Lowest Bidder Principle: “everything will be as shitty as it can get away with.” Making things less shitty consumes time and energy that could be spent having fun. Occasionally people internalize high standards and won’t let themselves get away with too shitty things, but more often they don’t.
Then a hundred other things from family structure to corporate structure to government structure get in on the act of things being the way they are partly for a hundred tiny reasons, and society is very complicated, and we wring our hands and throw money and gentle prods at the problem because major fixes by force have so often dealt terrible collateral damage.
An acquaintance of mine once proposed the formalization of that last observation into a rule: all effective intervention is unethical. Because an effective form of intervention, almost by definition, is something that can reliably be used to modify a person’s or a group’s behavior. And at the very least you get into definitely murky ethical territory when thinking about how to reliably modify a person’s behavior as though he were an object rather than a free-willed individual.
“all effective intervention is unethical”
The Prime Directive?
Ha. My impression is that the Prime Directive is more of a statement that all intervention is unethical, regardless of effectiveness, and in practice we’re going to do it anyway!
“all effective intervention is unethical”
The Prime Directive?
——
Ha. My impression is that the Prime Directive is more of a statement that all intervention is unethical, regardless of effectiveness, and in practice we’re going to do it anyway!
Nah.
If there was actually a formal statement that the Prime Directive had ever actually consisted of, that would be convenient. I was mainly remembering references to prewarp technology before doing that bit of Googlemancy.
A reality keeps being much more in the area of a combination of Keep things working or die. . . . everything will be as shitty as it can get away with . . . and society is very complicated . . . , and definitely different and far from all effective intervention is unethical—That latter being little more than Oh, why should we bother doing anything at all?
Taking the Finnish weather example, the answering reason to actually intervene starts with situations where intervention is required to assist some in the situation where some dying will cascade over in to all dying, therefore the issues of all overrule the issues of merely some . . . when that applies . . .
—and noting “everything will be as shitty as it can get away with.” I’m mildly amused to note that this morning’s collections of headlines include Republicans hoping to claim that Obamacare can be considered a failure because a couple of insurers have dropped out.
My first reaction when I first read of Anthem and whomever was exactly that if a company deliberately underbids to get some contract, and then realizes that underbidding was pointless and self damaging, then of course they’re going to drop out—and the fault remains with the inept bidders, not with the contract being bid for.
As Scott Adams is pointing out, among the reasons that Obamacare is and remains a success is a focus on . . . designing Obamacare to cover more people than before . . .
Going back to that friend of a friend story of the refugees and the latrine, that illustrates that the starting design for the improvised latrine was going to be . . . not much more than holes in the ground over a pit, with a roof over it.
As is noted, the more correct and complete design involved . . . the idea of painting footprints on either side of the holes . . .
So yes, when some variety of intervention is needed, do it, but attention to detail is required.—and that list of details will include the willingness to acknowledge that sometimes something will go bad, and the willingness to plan for that as well . . . .
Mere hand waving based on mere ideology or mere faith is never enough.
That was exactly my experience when I wound up in the ER with sciatica making it feel like someone had dipped my leg in acid. One shot and it was as if the pain was on the other side of a clear wall. I think it was Demerol they gave me, but I was pretty out of it.