You Will Not Notice Certain Things
More “equity” news from the world of Canadian high-school teachers, where pretending is everything, and acknowledging reality will result in agitation and possibly punishment:
On Monday, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation announced that their rules would be changed so that each non-white union member would have his/her vote weighted more than white members.
There are instructional slides and everything. It’s all very jolly.
Attendees were assured that they were “eliminating racism” by endorsing a policy that is itself unambiguously racist and in which one’s leverage very much depends on the colour of one’s skin. You see, building woke utopia requires a little contortion.
Note that objections to the policy were denounced by scrupulously progressive educators, including local union president Cindy Gage, as “harassment” and “harmful language,” and thereby a basis for disciplinary action. To point out that the policy in question is explicitly racist against people with pale skin is, we’re told, “offensive” and “not acceptable.” Those who objected, on grounds of disliking racism, were subsequently accused of “privilege,” which in this case seems to mean an ability to recognise the glaringly obvious.
Please adjust your files and lifestyles accordingly.
Update, via the comments, where [+] quips,
Today’s word is madhouse.
Well, indeed. Readers are invited to imagine working in a supposedly highbrow environment, among supposedly clever people, in which politely pointing out a basic logical and moral error – one resulting in actual institutional racism, as opposed to the imaginary kind – results in gasps of indignation, accusations of “harassment,” and many of your peers reporting you for “privilege” and “harmful language,” with a view to getting you punished in some way. And then being told that your intent, however clear and carefully articulated, has absolutely no bearing on whether you’ll be found guilty. It’s positively surreal.
But it does, I think, offer a glimpse into the strange, unhappy world of woke psychology.
1/4 mg of xanax twice a day or a shot of vodka twice a day?
There’s always golf. Or watercolours. I can’t vouch personally, but I’m told they’re very relaxing.
Well, I guess watching ten minutes of a 2 hour movie is a fair way to judge it
I don’t have to eat an entire bowl of dog shit to be certain I won’t enjoy it.
Movies are manufactured according to formulae and have been for a long time. Once you know how films are made, you don’t need to see very much footage to spot the tells that will indicate the formula the rest of the movie is following. I called Justice League from a half-second of the first trailer.
Afterlife is as much Stranger Things as it is Goonies or Explorers
You make my point for me, although you don’t realize it. Stranger Things is just Family Guy without the raunchy humour. It’s an exercise in seeing how many 80’s movies they can homage and/or cram references to into 47 minutes, complete with stunt casting. It spends so much time copy-pasting from other movies that it has no time to do anything original or interesting with the material. The first ten minutes of Afterlife were filled with so many gratuitous easter eggs I saw where they were going.
Only in the set up of making having kids, especially Phoebe, the main focus in fantasy/horror/scifi film. But that’s nothing new
It’s also not Ghostbusters. GB succeeded because in addition to being a pretty well-written SNL sketch, it was a story about three plucky schlubs who start their own messy, grungy blue-collar business and make a go of it while fighting off officious bureaucrats and cash flow problems. Everyone loves an underdog story.
GBII flopped, among other reasons, because it turned the cast into broody sad sacks who had been universally rejected and focused on the baby drama between Venkman and Barrett. That’s because by 1989 Ghostbusters was a kids franchise with a popular toy line and supporting TV show and the producers knew a large chunk of the audience was going to be moms taking their kids, and broody family drama is what moms like.
As I’ve mentioned before, the target audience for 1970s-1980s SNL and SNL movies Is Not Women, and it especially isn’t mothers with young children. The audience that enjoyed the first movie was resoundingly nonplussed by the second.
Just as Stranger Things is aimed at women d’un certain age, so is Afterlife. When presented with the prospective script for Ghostbusters III, Murray sent the script back, shredded, with a note reading “No one wants to watch three old white guys chasing ghosts”. I doubt anyone wants to watch the cast of a W network movie about a heroic single mom raising a trendily autistic daughter chasing ghosts either. Let’s see how the box office shakes out.
1/4 mg of xanax twice a day or a shot of vodka twice a day?
or??
There’s always golf. Or watercolours.
Heh. You’re not familiar with my friend’s relationship with the little white ball. While once enjoyable solely for the comradery, copious amounts of vodka or most likely its cousins…along with a cigar or two…were required and enjoyed. And now the comradery is pretty much shot. Not to mention the rotator cuff…but I digress. In general though, other things need to get done and generally speaking these other things lack the intensity of concentration and thinking that used to keep my friend somewhat otherwise juiced throughout the day. Jigsaw puzzles and old movies on TCM do work. As does Hades Star. But it’s the day. Getting through the damn day…
Not entirely convinced it would help either.
I’m trying to picture this ray of sunshine at her family Thanksgiving dinner. What a treat that must be. Be sure to hide the knives.
three plucky schlubs who start their own messy, grungy blue-collar business
3 phd-holding university professors …
The target audience for 1970s-1980s SNL and SNL movies Is Not Women, and it especially isn’t mothers with young children.
Hmmmm… In 1984 I was a married woman with 3 girls under the age of 6. I watched SNL and also loved seeing GB in the theater several times.
a heroic single mom raising a trendily autistic daughter chasing ghosts either.
Heroic? The mom in this was/is particularly pathetic and dysfunctional and certainly NOT a lead. Phoebe is not “trendily autistic”, she’s a semi-mini-Egon – classic nerd but she does want friends and does exhibit emotions.
But then, you didn’t actually watch the movie so I guess you feel your assumptions must be correct.
It’s a B+ movie, very much like the original GB was. It’s a good hot-fudge sundae, not a 5-course meal from a chef-owned, Michelin-starred restaurant.
Even us not-to-formula moms-with-kids enjoy a good hot-fudge sundae.
But then, you didn’t actually watch the movie so I guess you feel your assumptions must be correct.
You go girlfriend! Two Snaps, a twist and a kiss.
The Western decline continues to be indistinguishable from a civilization wide female shit test.
As I’m sure I’ve said before, you could think of wokeness as a reminder of just how psychologically and morally deformable human beings are. A kind of cultivated neurosis. Such that, people will perform bizarre contortions and become absurd, while pretending everything is fine and twitching intermittently.
Even us not-to-formula moms-with-kids enjoy a good hot-fudge sundae.
So do I, unless it falls on a Tuesday.
Even us not-to-formula moms-with-kids enjoy a good hot-fudge sundae.
I come this classy joint for the snacks, but I stay for the absolute uniformity of opinion.
3 phd-holding university professors
In 1984 I was a married woman with 3 girls under the age of 6. I watched SNL and also loved seeing GB in the theater several times.
I’ve been trying really, really hard not to quote the various red pill pundits who claim all women are solipsistic but you’re not making it easy.
Let me put this more bluntly; the fact that you happened to enjoy Ghostbusters and SNL doesn’t mean squat. You are not the entirety of the the SNL demographic; you aren’t even remotely representative of the SNL demographic. The target audience for SNL and SNL movies has always been 18-34 year old men. Lorne Michaels acknowledges it, NBC acknowledges it, every TV critic acknowledges it, the regulars on this blog acknowledge it. You are an exception.
Heroic? The mom in this was/is particularly pathetic and dysfunctional
Because the protagonists in W network movies are always calm, collected professionals who handle challenges with grace and aplomb.
Do I really have to explain this?
Phoebe is not “trendily autistic”, she’s a semi-mini-Egon
That is trendily autistic – which is to say, not actually autistic but socially awkward in a way that lets heroic single moms wring their hands and fret and get sympathy via Munchausens-by-proxy. You’re clearly not aware of the large contingent of retro-millenials who have adopted Egon as “autistic-coded”.
I’m starting to think the problem here is that you’ve never actually seen any media that’s actually targeted at your demographic. Well, except for Afterlife.