Elsewhere (244)
David Rutz on the “woke eight-year-old” manoeuvre:
The phenomenon came to my attention via @Neontaster, who discovered this trend of eight-year-olds (or children of a similar age, depending on their Woke Quotients) whose opinions, shockingly, seem to perfectly mirror those of their progressive parents… Let’s state the obvious: When pundits tweet out these little stories, all they’re doing is sending out their own opinions, but doing so in a way that (a) makes them look like great parents for raising such emotionally advanced children, and (b) shields them from criticism. Because what kind of jerk is going to attack a child, for God’s sake?
And what kind of person, I wonder, would be that preening and dishonest. And while we ponder that.
Madeleine Kearns, a young Scottish woman, on a bewildering year at a ‘progressive’ New York university:
It was soon obvious to my fellow students that I was not quite with the programme. In a class discussion early in my first semester, I made the mistake of mentioning that I believed in objective standards in art. Some art is great, some isn’t, I said; not all artists are equally talented. This was deemed an undemocratic opinion and I was given a nickname: the cultural fascist. I’ve tried to take it affectionately.
Tim Newman on life skills and the lack thereof:
What isn’t normal is for a kid to run around swearing. Letting slip a swear word indicates the kid has his ears open. Running around swearing indicates his parents don’t care, and if they don’t care about his language you can be absolutely sure they don’t care about other things, some of which are essential to his development. A child who routinely uses bad language, especially in front of adults, is not going to do very well in life.
And again, entirely unrelated, of course, on polyamory and children:
Were any of these friends shagging either or both of your parents? I ask mainly to understand how you’ve turned out.
As usual, feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
And what kind of person, I wonder, would be that preening and dishonest.
Iowahawk’s reply. https://twitter.com/iowahawkblog/status/900862904966283264
Iowahawk’s reply.
Who would have thought that the public transportation system would be crawling with highly political, oddly outspoken – and uniformly leftwing – eight-year-olds? It’s uncanny.
My 8 year old, all he does is wonder what footy team to barrack for and which is better out of McDonald’s and KFC. Won’t be invited to any Brunswick soirees anytime soon with his attitude. Lift your game son!
As an eight-year-old, I had strong opinions on bedtime, the evils of Brussels sprouts, and whether Spider-Man’s webbing could actually hold five tons; but I don’t recall being overly engaged by, or aware of, the politics of the day.
whether Spider-Man’s webbing could actually hold five tons
As a former chemical engineer, I was always a bit put off by Peter Parker’s constant moaning about money. You do realize, son, that the adhesives industry would sacrifice their own grandmothers for a compound as strong and lightweight as spider silk that also magically dissolves after one hour?
You do realize, son, that the adhesives industry would sacrifice their own grandmothers for a compound as strong and lightweight as spider silk that also magically dissolves after one hour?
Well, you say that, not unreasonably, but the comics disagree:
Specifically,
Hey, they were simpler times.
I can’t believe I remembered that and went to look it up.
not all artists are equally talented. This was deemed an undemocratic opinion
Uh what? o_O
I can’t believe I remembered that and went to look it up.
I must say, of all the things I’ve seen on this site, this was the most disturbing.
I must say, of all the things I’ve seen on this site, this was the most disturbing.
Heh. I was a keen collector.
Wait. That probably doesn’t help my case, does it?
That probably doesn’t help my case, does it?
No.
Seeing the comments that followed that subway story I bet the journo that wrote it is probably wishing he hadn`t, that`s going to follow him around like a bad smell for years.
that’s going to follow him around like a bad smell for years.
And you have to wonder how Mr Karem, a grown man, could tweet that, very publicly, and not realise how implausible it sounds, and what people might think of him as a result. Incidentally, the paper Mr Karem writes for boasts of being a “winner of Excellence in Local Journalism awards.”
At least he didn`t say the boy was disabled, a Hispanic Tiny Tim struggling along on crutches while a single,silent tear rolled down his cheek.
As a child in Glasgow, I learned that sticks and stones might break my bones but words didn’t really hurt. I’m now at New York University studying journalism…
Well there is your first mistake…
Meanwhile, how not to be seen, and much self-righteous preening and strutting while sitting down.
Yeah, how dare those famously right wing (OK maybe they are in comparison) media types dare film one of your purposeless riots, comrade.
Heh.
That is all, carry on.
he was given a final warning that if he continued his camera would be smashed,
As I’ve noted many times, it’s curious just how often leftist ‘activism’ is difficult to distinguish from a mental health issue.
The GREAT thing about the journo’s New York University are churning-out, if I read Madeleine correctly, is that they’re being groomed to be the next-gen vanguard for the progressive left – and the only newspapers likely to hire them are all failing, being ignored, and falling into disrespect and bankruptcy. Oh dear. Wah.
Madeleine though, sounds like she’ll do just fine.
Meanwhile, in the world of avoirdupoisity an ASU professor is shocked by her study findings.
The participants were obviously sizeist beotches.
Because “…stigmatization of obesity is “connected to patriarchy, sexism, and the oppression of women…” of course.
Because “…stigmatization of obesity is “connected to patriarchy, sexism, and the oppression of women…” of course.
The harpies are still shaking their fists at the stars, I see.
The harpies are still shaking their fists at the stars, I see.
Yep, though I think the saddest, or maybe most pathetic, thing is the total lack of any originality in any of these “studies” all of which come to the same conclusion about some -ism causing oppression, “violence”, and the boilerplate cant.
I note that the corpulent ASU professor’s intellectual < cough > output includes”Out for Blood (SUNY Press, 2016), a book of essays on menstrual activism and resistance.” I understand that’s the first volume in a trilogy which will include tomes on unwanted ear hair and ingrown toenails.
Don’t recall where I originally saw this, Iowahawk or Instapundit maybe. It’s been copied a few times. After reading so many “woke” children stories from leftists, this literally made me LOL. And by literally I literally mean literally, not just literally.
all of which come to the same conclusion
But that’s the reason for, let’s call them ‘post-modern studies’.
You’re a student, and you want to understand a novel, or a set of ideas, or the world in general. Well, that takes time, and application, and intelligence. It’s hard work to understand a complex novel, or a work of philosophy, or why people act the way they do, why societies arise as they do, etc.
Then Prof. Foulfellow comes along and gives you the Magic Reason. It’s oppression. Once it was just the evil rich bourgiousie, now expanded to men, whites, Westerners, Modern Civilisation, ad nauseam.
So now the student can sneer at the stupid, ‘uneducated’ squares who don’t understand. And with the dumbing down of universities, you have very many more people who find that Thought Is Hard. So it’s implied that you are an initiate into the Truth of things (and therefore must be a very clever person), and given the propensity we all have to have our ego flattered, this result is all but inevitable. Especially given the unfalsifiable nature of it – any critiques or countervailing explanations can be dismissed and ignored becuase the only reason you wouldn’t go along with the Magic Reason is that you are one of the oppressors.
Oh, and in the context of what Spiderman’s webs could hold…ok, not really the exact context but kinda close…but really off topic…but still…argument over whether a fish in water is really wet.
https://mysterytacklebox.com/blog/lets-debate-are-fish-really-wet-while-theyre-underwater/
As I understand it, this sort of thing was quite common amongst our ancestors before the Hindus invented the zero. True story.
Perhaps there should be a Severely Educated tag?…
Perhaps there should be a Severely Educated tag?
Heh. By now, it’s kind of implied by the ‘academia’ tag. It wasn’t planned that way, ten years ago, but I can’t offhand think of any entries that aren’t evidence of someone being severely educated.
The use-of-child-as-mascot bit, I’m reminded of the infamous “CheChe” post at Kos that Ace and others had so much fun with back in 2006:
It turned into a snowclone/meme at Ace’s for years.
Well, its more of a pudge-wobble than a shake, with some bingo wing flapping.
her eyes began to fill with tears, “Daddy” she said, “why are the Republicans doing this to the country?”
Someone really should explain to this person, while shaking their elbows, that this kind of thing is not something that sane people generally do.
Edited version for my sentiment.
Reading Brian Karem’s twitter feed reveals that he’s no journalist. He’s an opinion writer, so wonder at Playboy’s decision to make him a White House Correspondent? Are there no standards? I guess not. I’m beginning to believe there are NO STANDARDS for the American press.
Playboy’s decision… Are there no standards?
Perhaps. Have you seen him in a silk teddy?
re: Woke 8 y/os…
Most kids check out when parents start talking politics at the dinner table (that assumes even most parents even eat at the dinner table any more)… this includes up into teens.
I was born in 1954 … so as a kid my brief surfacing to anything like current events during grade school never dominated my life or sent me sobbing to my parents.
Oh, I was 9 when JFK was assassinated, which dominated the news – but I remember it as events that didn’t really affect me. I watch my teachers cry and all tv programs were pre-empted for coverage for days (back in the day of having all of about 3 major stations in glorious black & white). The dominant thought I remember thinking was “Wait, how could ANYONE kill someone else ON PURPOSE? Don’t they know they will go to hell and not see God FOREVER?”
I then wondered when cartoons would return to tv.
The vast majority of my friends and classmates, even through high school, didn’t give politics much deep thought. When stuff did come up, like a week of anti-war activities & wearing black armbands (Vietnam protests)on campus, or riding bikes to school for the first Earth day, it was more about socializing and being part of the group than being politically committed.
This elevation of kids as founts of wisdom who must be deferred to isn’t just creepy, it is warning sign.
“Mummy, why is Trump trying to immenentise the eschaton?”
I was born in 1954
[ Fetches comfy chair for Darleen. ]
I was 12 when Nixon stepped down. This was history, so it came up a good bit even in sixth grade. I think we kids knew more about impeachment and what it meant than some parents did. I attended a parochial school where religion and politics were discussed in classrooms. It was easy to get our Spanish teacher sidetracked and we would spend the whole class time talking about either. Actually, when I was 11 we had a chapel session where the dean spoke of how the events in the bible describing the end times were imminent. Now that I think of it, he actually was immenentizing the eschaton. The creepy is more wide spread than is commonly believed. It should have been a warning sign back then, but no one cared.
I was thinking of something more along these lines.
Fetches comfy chair for Darleen
Bless you, dear. Help yourself to an extra slice of cheesecake in the frig.
(BTW … twin grandsons’ first home football game tonight – they are in band. So I’ll be spending about 5 hours tonight on my feet helping run the snack bar…I LOVE it, but I’m going to need that chair when I come home …)
Alas, too late for East Germany.
OTOH, the women’s events are going to get some, shall we say, interesting competitors.
I can’t believe I remembered that and went to look it up.
That’s all right, my favorite Avengers issue is the one where Iron Man is suspended from all Avengers activities for one week for not coming to the weekly status meetings on time.
Because parliamentary procedure is much more important than fighting evil.
I attended a parochial school where religion and politics were discussed in classrooms.
Excellent! My dad started me reading the newspaper when I was 10. He’d lead me into discussions over the dinner table.
I startled my 9th grade world history teacher (a Marxist) when I challenged his contention that the USA went into foreign countries to exploit them but the USSR has mutually beneficial relationships. I asked him to then explain Soviet reaction to Prague Spring.
I then learned you didn’t challenge a Marxist with a grade book. Heh.
Indian with cell phone ? the Daily Mail asks wondering if the painting proves time travel.
Clearly it is not a cell phone, but maybe it proves time travel as Captain Morgan rum wasn’t around until 1944…
Iron Man is suspended from all Avengers activities for one week for not coming to the weekly status meetings on time.
“But Mom, punching giant robots is such fun…!”
Excellent! My dad started me reading the newspaper when I was 10.
Not so Excellent, IMNSHO. Time that was supposed to be spent on subject matter, especially Spanish lessons, was sidetracked into politics and religion. Some of that is understandable, but not taking up entire class times. And I don’t care what the higher purpose is, presenting doomsday prophesies in a tone of inevitability to children, many of whom haven’t even hit puberty yet, is wrong.
As for reading newspapers, we had the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite on every night at dinner as long as I could remember. I recall my mother commenting, somewhat derisively, on how WC came across so disappointed when reporting bad news for D’s during the elections. I remember seeing Viet Nam body counts, stories of US planes being shot down, and even recall seeing a monk light himself on fire. I started reading the paper out of my own curiosity about what was going on, which itself was an introduction to being misinformed. I challenge anyone under the age of 56 to, without looking, tell me what the words “Learned Hand” refers to.
You’re a student, and you want to understand a novel . . .
Then Prof. Foulfellow comes along and gives you the Magic Reason. It’s oppression.
Coooool!!!, Thank you!—Now of course you are also going to explain, in detail, the method and mechanism of this process, so that you can demonstrate your knowledge and so that I can learn what that process actually is and how it actually works.
. . . . . . . Oh, do take your time coming up with your reply, I don’t mind if you take awhile, there’s this novel that I’m reading through so that I can understand it . . . . .
. . . my favorite Avengers issue is the one where Iron Man is suspended from all Avengers activities for one week for not coming to the weekly status meetings on time.
. . . . . . particularly as so helpfully portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., Tony even actually showed up for these meetings????
I challenge anyone under the age of 56 to, without looking, tell me what the words “Learned Hand” refers to.
Some judge guy.
—Of course, and indeed for that reason of Huhn?!?! I did actually go look that one up rather some years back . . .
. . . tell me what the words “Learned Hand” refers to.
. . . . on an other, ah, appendage, with a name like Billings Learned Hand, he’s subsequently not going to become a lawyer or a doctor?????
I challenge anyone under the age of 56 to, without looking, tell me what the words “Learned Hand” refers to.
Meh, he’s no Kenesaw Mountain Landis…
Sometimes, the word ‘cult’ doesn’t seem entirely inappropriate.
I firmly believe this remains the primary driving force for most political activities.
I actually know her, a bit – went to school with my wife (and was just at our wedding – and we attended hers). She and her husband are perfectly lovely people, but I do stick to neutral topics. Professors gotta publish, I suppose.
She and her husband are perfectly lovely people…Professors gotta publish, I suppose.
It appears as if you are saying her shtick is all a con, in which case, given that people take the garbage she writes seriously, that is an un-lovely thing to do.
Eh, that’s overstating it – I’m sure she believes it but isn’t so doctrinaire that she feels she must inject those beliefs into every facet of her life – say, over dinner with a college friend and her husband. That sets her apart from many in the field, I suspect.
isn’t so doctrinaire that she feels she must inject those beliefs into every facet of her life – say, over dinner with a college friend and her husband
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tMqcARKRSE
@WTP, hah, yes – living as I do in deepest blue Mass, I’m well used to the feeling that there are murky depths that are best avoided in the name of comity.
Sometimes, the word ‘cult’ doesn’t seem entirely inappropriate.
“Perfectionism is a symptom of white supremacy.”
It would now be quicker to make a list of what *isn’t* white supremacy according to these lunatics.
Isn’t white supremacy: SJW-ism
Is white supremacy–everything else
And when do I get MY cut of the innumerable and inexhaustible benefits of white supremacy? Been waiting almost 58 years now.
It would now be quicker to make a list of what *isn’t* white supremacy according to these lunatics.
Indeed, and in the same vein, take the Progressive Guilt Quiz.
I am a non-person.
Mnuchin’s wife isn’t the only one defining herself through the brands she promotes
For the well-to-do, especially someone in Linton’s position, there’s no need for aspiration; you’re already there.
Matter of fact patricians vs brand name waving peons . . . .
Well, Farnsworth, I didn’t quite so well – “Patriarchal chauvinistic war profiteer” has a nice ring to it, though.
405, Patriarchal Chauvinist War Profiteer
420, Patriarchal chauvinistic war profiteer
I am ashamed I didn’t make it to non-person. I did skip a couple, which surely counted against me (there’s quite a gap between ‘Wal-mart’ and ‘food co-op’).
Re the “woke 9yo” gambit, didn’t Chelsea Clinton herself proffer that one a while back, tendering for our consideration a letter she had written as a wee tyke to Ronald Reagan demanding to know why he was showing respect to German war dead at a cemetery when the said dead might have included Nazis? Couldn’t help wondering what might possess some +/- 7yo to keep a handwritten copy of all her correspondence…
As I’ve noted many times, it’s curious just how often leftist ‘activism’ is difficult to distinguish from a mental health issue.
F*cking hell. These people belong in a secure institution.
F*cking hell. These people belong in a secure institution.
Based on their behaviour, it wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable. And it is their behaviour – not the generic, regurgitated slogans – that tells us what we need to know about them. It tells us why they do this. The violence and mob intimidation – now practically a default – isn’t some incidental side-effect, some unintended consequence. It doesn’t just happen. It happens, repeatedly, because it’s the objective, the reward for all that fake piety. They just want to feel powerful, which, for them, means smashing things and hurting people.
Maybe it’s just me, but I struggle to think of a political opinion that would impel me to horrify random drivers by rushing onto the motorway as part of a mob in the middle of the night; or to deliberately block the path of ambulances, thereby endangering lives, while cheering and giving the finger to the driver and paramedics; or to terrorise a lone woman by surrounding her car, trapping her, smashing her windscreen with a baseball bat, and then merrily videoing her distress. At length. While laughing.
[ Edited. ]
particularly as so helpfully portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., Tony even actually showed up for these meetings????
One of the fun things about having a massive archive of comics that go back to the 1960s is seeing how the characters have been re-interpreted and changed over the years. In the 1960’s, Tony was sober (in both senses of the term), responsible, and hard working, as you’d expect the head of a major industrial consortium to be. It wasn’t until 1979 that Tony Stark == alcoholic became the defining element of his character. And that element has been largely expunged from the movies, in favour of Downey, Jr’s. ad-libbing billionaire playboy.
Perhaps even more entertaining is seeing just how awful a writer Stan Lee actually was. Apparently he can write exactly three personalities: strong-jawed stuffed shirt, mouthy maverick, and moon-eyed teenaged girl. The Marvel Bullpen started out writing teen romance comics, and you can tell. Oh boy, can you tell.
Regarding all the statue destroying around the world these days…
@ Farnsworth
Meanwhile, how not to be seen, and much self-righteous preening and strutting while sitting down.
That article is extremely instructive of the leftist mindset. Great find.
@David
…which, for them, means smashing things and hurting people.
To which I’d add: “without any negative consequences”. Which must make it feel so much sweeter.
All of that.
All of that.
Well, when you see the same tactics used repeatedly and by default, with intimidation and thuggery actively sought out and aimed at random people, and all with the same spiteful delight, then the political rationalisations grow ever more ludicrous and unconvincing.
It isn’t politics or protest so much as it’s a vermin problem.
@ Farnsworth
https://imgflip.com/i/1uealo
470, Patriarchal Chauvinist War Profiteer
Regarding all the statue destroying
The people doing that statue-destroying don’t really look like any of the people who’ve been busy destroying statues this century.
@champ, even worse
http://thefw.com/files/2012/02/Big-Boy-Graveyards-4.jpg
575, non-person
\o/
405, Patriarchal Chauvinist War Profiteer . . . 420, Patriarchal chauvinistic war profiteer . . . 575, non-person . .
Is there a score for Got part way through, and then got just too bloody bored?
—I suspect I was getting rather towards Utterly Not to be invited to any of the splittist boozing sessions, but then also did keep tripping over items such as the religion and faith section not having a listing for Buddhist . . . and finally just went for Meh, buggrit.
An actual artist has commented on getting actual artistic work done vs merely situationally chanting Me!! Me!! Me!! Me!! Me!! Me!!
—David Hockney
Apropos of nothing in particular…
Yesterday, I caught a few moments of a video in which Patrick Stewart is speaking at a comic book convention in 2012. After a sarcastic preamble about how he’d promised the organisers that he “wouldn’t be controversial,” Stewart shared a somewhat incongruous anecdote about a bumper sticker he’d seen, and which said, “Socialism is un-American.” He then explained to his young audience that, actually, socialism “is about society,” and about “living in society,” and is therefore virtuous and fragrant. “Forget all the bad connotations of socialism,” he added, casually. “Forget about the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe… forget about that.”
Apparently, young people should ignore the real-world consequences of socialism, and concentrate instead on how warm and fluffy, and of course superior, it makes them feel.
Another knighted millionaire socialist.
Another knighted millionaire socialist.
It just struck me as an odd thing to declaim, seemingly at random, at a comic book convention. Presumably, the compulsion to signal these things, however incongruously, is very strong indeed.
So far as I can tell, the jet-setting Sir Patrick hasn’t given away 90% of his substantial income to live as one might in the bosom of actual socialism. Nor has he given away his $2.5 million penthouse in New York, with its spacious rooftop terrace, on grounds that its commodiousness might seem at odds with his oft-professed socialist convictions. As so often, it all sounds like so much chaff, a rhetorical amulet to ward off the envy and resentment that socialist piety encourages in others.
It just struck me as an odd thing to declaim, seemingly at random, at a comic book convention.
Of course if he was professing his faith in religion or even speaking that way about the free markets from which all his wealth stems, there would be much hue and cry that likely would have followed him to this day. Maybe even damaged his career. Yet this from five years ago is a nothingburger.
There needs to be a tax on athletes, entertainers and such. Especially here in the US where the building where these clowns make their millions and millions are funded by taxpayers.
http://everydayfeminism.com/2017/08/friends-and-family-end-racism/
6 Ways To Make Your Relatives Sigh When They See You Coming Up The Walk
I’m all in favor of ending racism, but good heavens, don’t these women EVER stop scolding? They’re worse than the dittoheads!
don’t these women EVER stop scolding?
Or, How To Be A Delusional, Self-Dramatising, Aggravating Nag. Which, on reflection, sums up almost everything that’s been published by Everyday Feminism.
For those of you who are aspiring writers and are sufficiently Woke™, please direct your submissions to The Space Marines Midwives Anthology.
It is not clear whether just being a bad writer is considered a barrier to publication, but I believe one can use EF as a general style guide, given that it is fiction.
No one talks to anyone on the D.C. Metro. Especially not a grown man to a kid.
No one talks to anyone on the D.C. Metro.
Not true, often they say things like, “I need you to give me the password for that phone and look the other way, otherwise it will not end well for you…”
And another reason I don’t ride Metro any more, besides the fires and electrocutions.
Two law professors write an op-ed in praise of bourgeois values –
And are promptly denounced by students and faculty as racists who are peddling “hetero-patriarchal, class-based, white supremacy.”
And are promptly denounced by students and faculty as racists…
I am sure it has been said before, these clowns need not only to keep “racism” alive, but to foster it, so as to keep their phony baloney sinecures.
And are promptly denounced by students and faculty as racists…
Being married and not a criminal is ‘white supremacy’ now.
Being married and not a criminal is ‘white supremacy’ now.
The comments from Clown Quarter academics and those by the general public, under the original article, are separated by quite a gulf.
The comments from Clown Quarter academics and those by the general public, under the original article, are separated by quite a gulf.
If the students want to do well they should spend *less* time listening to their teachers. 🙂
If the students want to do well they should spend *less* time listening to their teachers. 🙂
Evergreen:
They cultivate resentment and disaffection – and ultimately, failure – because it’s something they can exploit.
@WTP
Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) has been advocating something similar for many years…
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sunday-reflection-repeal-the-hollywood-tax-cuts/article/2503964
I clicked David’s link and watched the proprietor of Everyday Feminism explain how they were in need of money because free speech is good (must be an old video). Her teenagerish speech is jarringly out of context with her apparent age (30-ish). Has she suffered some sort of brain damage? This isn’t a feminists-are-all-crazy joke, I am honestly wondering. There are forms of brain damage that freeze the patient in time.
Her teenagerish speech is jarringly out of context with her apparent age (30-ish). Has she suffered some sort of brain damage?
Heh. There’s certainly a bizarre, rather comical mismatch. It’s like being scolded by an overindulged 13-year-old. And then of course there are the endless, heavily-made-up selfies, and the equally numerous retweets of people saying how pretty she is – none of which sit with her stern denunciation of “white supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchal standards of feminine beauty.” She doesn’t seem to comprehend that her world is indistinguishable from parody.
That’s why I’m wondering about brain damage. If she is suffering from brain injury, what was funny becomes tragic.
Breanne Fahs
Is that pronounced “farce”? If so, that’s nominative determinism.
Friends-and-family-end-racism
“Sit in productive discomfort”. What the hell does that even mean?