For newcomers and the nostalgic, some items from the archives:
Those Aboriginal Telescopes.
On tongue-bathing the primitive.
It’s hard to miss the pretension around this “ancient wisdom,” the patronising dishonesty, and the implication that the rest of us are expected to pretend too. But the definition of astronomy – a branch of science that uses mathematics, physics and chemistry to study and explain celestial objects – is being stretched in order to flatter primitive mythology with zero scientific content beyond a very rudimentary calendar.
And I’m not sure what’s achieved by gushing over the fact that what we now know as the constellation of Orion was referred to as a canoe by an arrested Stone Age foraging culture. A culture that, despite tens of thousands of years of purported “astronomy,” had bugger all to show for it. While Galileo Galilei was calculating the heights of lunar mountains and discovering the moons of Jupiter, our aboriginal “astronomers” had little to say on the subject.
A Stupefying Vanity.
On “social justice” and other pernicious academic fuzzwords.
In much the same way, “diversity” seems to be the belief that the less we have in common, and feel we have in common, the happier we will be. An unobvious proposition, to say the least. And then there’s “equity” – another word favoured by both educators and campus activists – and which is defined, if at all, only in the woolliest and most evasive of terms. And which, when used by those same educators and activists, seems to mean something like “equality of outcome regardless of inputs.” Inputs including diligence and punctuality.
Shamelessly, He Quotes Himself.
On Portland’s mentally uniform radicals, and their malevolence.
In the video linked above, note the planning, the efforts to maximise the imposition and its somewhat menacing implications. Someone sat down and thought, “How can we really aggravate hundreds of random people, ordinary families, about whom we know nothing, and make them feel unsafe in their own homes?” And then, other, like-minded people agreed, presumably with enthusiasm. This isn’t politics. This is recreational sociopathy.
The Mao-lings who obstruct and intimidate random motorists, or who harass random restaurant customers, scaring their children, or who, as seen above, scream amplified profanities at random people trying to sleep, while shining lights into their bedrooms – they don’t do these things because they care about civil rights, or policing, or whatever this week’s Issue Of Great Concern happens to be. They do it because menacing other people – and spoiling someone’s day, or night, arbitrarily – is gratifying. If, that is, you’re a certain kind of person. They are, as it were, pleasuring themselves.
Also, open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
Re the last item above, here’s the video in question.
Hey, I know. Let’s give them lots of power so they can re-make the world.
In their own image, presumably.
SO. MUCH. THAT.
This is recreational sociopathy.
Speaking of which, violent dog walking.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands.
(deleted.)
This comment was incomplete and was not supposed to be posted. In fact, I did not click the SAVE button. What I did was to past a quote from elsewhere into the comment box, then scrolled down to copy a line from Farnsworth’s comment, clicked the “click to comment” bubble, was taken back up to the comment box, and found that what I had just pasted was gone. Lo and behold, clicking the “click to comment” bubble caused that incomplete comment to be posted!
The poster comments: “I don’t think harassing white people on the street who are just walking their dogs is gonna garner any sympathy for anyone.”
The purpose is not sympathy and persuasion. The purpose is intimidation and humiliation.
Conclusion: These “woke” activists are not human beings. They have human DNA, but they have chosen to cast aside their humanity.
Those Aboriginal Telescopes.
Meanwhile in highly advanced western science, an important study of note.
Harassing dog walkers: the claim is that all white people are responsible for whatever is the crime of the moment (Neely at the moment). Gee, I’m sorry I wasn’t on the subway to stop that guy from choking him…oh, wait, that is impossible.
Aboriginal astronomy: the need to prove “equality” is so strong that complete BS is made up that fools no one. I know legal immigrants who came here with nothing. One guy lived in his car for a while in his teens but is now an MD. Others worked their way up to owning a contracting business or such. ie they worked extra hard to overcome their limited english and lack of money. But if everyone is simply “equal” as they are, there is no need to work extra hard. This also downplays how hard white people have to work. If you are white and don’t work hard, you will also be poor but this is pretended away.
“I wish to be a wanker or an utter bitch. Hm, but what excuse can I use to get away with it? Oh, wait. This is perfect…”
One more time:
Also this:
And because some things bear repeating.
Well, I think we’ve all learned something today. So there’s that.
Nostalgie de la boue is perennial among the ‘elect.’
I exist only to serve. [ Lowers eyes in well-practiced simulation of modesty. ]
In that case, the claim is that white people are responsible when they fail to join the revolutionaries. A very Stalinist view, and one that should be treated with militant intolerance.
https://thompsonblog.co.uk/2023/05/reheated-79.html#comment-154027
Uhhh the wipeeple in these vids have dogs. Time to train them for self defense.
Fisher Ames is said to have responded to Thomas Jefferson’s ‘all men are created equal’ with ‘but differ greatly in the sequel.’
‘all men are created equal’
However, some are unhappy, and some speak genuine ivy league po-mo gibberish.
Forget it Jake. It’s New York City. They get what they deserve. I hold zero sympathy for them. My wife’s cousin, a well to do bond trader and his well to do bond trader wife and their two kids still live there. After having lived in SF and left that literal shit hole. Nice people. Smart people. They carved out a place for us to be included in their wedding party. I really like them. I really liked his father, though many others in the family thought the man was a bit of a goof. I could see how he raised such a smart kid. God forbid anything happens to them or their children. I would definitely be angry. Just not as angry as I should be. They voted for this shit. Repeatedly. In NYC and SF. Ah, but that’s on me. Jerk that I am.
Now that David’s using American colloquialisms we have to send him a cowboy hat.
Can’t do hats. Haven’t got the knack.
It’s all amusing fun and games, until the white person pulls out a gun. Then it’s “oh no!”
If you’re raising chickens or rabbits then you’re “all cattle and no hat”.
“Until the white person pulls out a gun”.
Anyone wishing to wind down for 5-10 minutes could do worse than click translate tweet for the replies written in foreign.
I’ve always had a soft spot for over-literal translations which often fly off in unexpected and rewarding directions. In this instance the first reply suggests that the security guard should have given each of them his pepazo which conjures up images of an entirely different type of encounter.
Hat-wearing, I discovered, requires the wearer not to be at all self-conscious about the fact that he or she is, well, you know, wearing a hat. The Other Half can wear hats, with some élan, and has a selection, so you can imagine how that chafes.
A fundamental problem is that a large proportion of the black population is virtually unemployable. males moreso than females. Black women get more college degrees than black men. There is a cultural problem such that black men can barely communicate compared to black women–a very weird thing. The incidence of heavy substance abuse is very high. Gang membership high. Not even looking for a job is high. It is a mess. Young men hanging around get in trouble.
A hat that may be worn with élan:
Totally off topic but for open thread fun… I found this on Reddit while searching for…ummm…so I found this on Reddit from two years ago. People discussing that supposedly the Pope has (or had) a cat named “Vagina”. But it’s OK because “Vagina” in Latin means “sheath”. I wonder if other people name things “sheath” but use the Latin word for it? I mean, like “Sheath” itself sounds like a name you would give someone. Sounds totally plausible. Totally. Apparently these people on Reddit (did I mention this was two years ago?) also said that “Vagina” is a common name in Rome. Or not. Well…whatever…
Or?
I remember that incident: It was in Chicago, maybe around 2015, on Chicago Ave, a few blocks west of Michigan Ave, possibly at a McDonald’s restaurant. Chicago & Michigan is the northern end of the high-end Magnificent Mile shopping district, but its magnificence has been declining thanks to feral “youths”.
I get the feeling I may regret divulging my one, very small shortcoming.
Or?
While wearing it, he could say to his leftist enemies, “Yippee ki yay, motherf***ers”.
A baseball bat is a deadly weapon, the use of which justifies a deadly response.
The late Mrs Nerd used to say I was incapable of multi-tasking.
I disproved that by wearing a hat and scratching my arse at the same time.
Then she moved the goalposts by saying those things “didn’t count”.
“A hat that may be worn with élan:”
*insert Lotus joke here*
As to the, er, harassment, I note the brief chat once upon a time with a near relative who was surprised that I frequently carry a somewhat largish caliber sidearm, and enquired as to what I did fear.
I replied, “Nothing”
Ho, the Megapode!
A reaction to being made redundant by the state?
Suggested explanation:
Boys of all races tend to be less articulate than girls.
Black boys misbehave in school even more than black girls.
Black boys embrace the ignorant thug style more thoroughly than black girls.
Should have written “more thoroughly than do black girls” to avoid an amusing ambiguity.
“What would you do if I bashed you with this bat?”
“Fill you full of lead.”
As the Dalai Lama said, “Two to the chest, face gets the rest. A behavior mod that’s clearly the best.”
I have shared very few links and haven’t bickered at all.
I apologize and promise to do better in the next thread.
There is a cultural problem such that black men can barely communicate compared to black women
Women generally have better verbal skills than men, so this isn’t surprising; but given the incomprehensible pidgin I see many young black women spouting both in real life and on social media I shudder to think what “barely […] compared to black women” sounds like.
The incidence of heavy substance abuse is very high. Gang membership high. Not even looking for a job is high
Remove fathers from the home and reward young women for getting pregnant out of wedlock and this is what you get.
There are a lot of parallels between US urban black culture today and US urban Irish culture in the mid 19th century. The difference is that for all the alcoholism, promiscuity, violence and criminality the Irish were united by their Roman Catholic faith, and it was ultimately Archbishop “Dagger” John Hughes who leveraged that to get the Irish immigrants to settle down and start behaving like good American citizens.
I see no such common moral touchstone among blacks in the US and no such figure who might unite them. Bill Cosby may have had the ability and the reputation, and I remain convinced his legal troubles were a smear job because he was becoming more outspoken about the need for US blacks to rise above their behaviour and stop blaming YT for their situation.
There is a cultural problem…
Indeed.
There are even more parallels between contemporary US urban black culture and UK white slum culture.
Regrettably, urban black culture today in the US constitutes a reversal of the progress made by blacks prior to the imposition of the laughably misnamed Great Society.
There is a cultural problem such that black men can barely communicate compared to black women
I believe that other than those inhabiting the New York subway, black men and women are perfectly capable of communicating with each other. It’s only when required to move out of their bubble that it becomes clear that the women are generally more proficiently interactive albeit equally entitled, often unrestrained but undeniably less deadly.
“There are even more parallels between contemporary US urban black culture and UK white slum culture.”
I disagree slightly. Your descriptive categories are correct as there is no UK white urban culture, that territory was yielded to the more vigorous newcomers a long time ago.
In their new slum power bases away from the big city centres their behaviour is undeniably deplorable and the incidence of substance abuse and petty crime are probably about equal. However the clear and obvious danger of merely walking along certain streets is generally absent. Gangs, while they exist and presumably do what gangs do – compete for territory, influence and easy pickings, at least have much in common with each other which keeps tensions below boiling point.
It’s not a good world though for someone like me to be growing old in. The new order is closing in.
(That was all rather introspective and depressing. I need some levity to lighten my mood. Thankfully it’s ephemera time, don’t let me down David).
On the subject of hats, I offer up a short film I saw when I was a kid.
https://youtu.be/3HlGuEGi1Hc
You should also check out Hardware Wars.
Thank you Steve. Quite magnificent. The hat reference was well made.
Given our adjacent rumblings on head wear, I misread that as baseball hat, so you can imagine my momentary confusion.
You may be right. He certainly enraged a lot of blacks, so many of whom are addicted to the cult of victimhood.
See the writings of Theodore Dalrymple. (As I have said many times before.)
I wish there were a video of Stage Wars. Luke Warmwater vs. Darth Nader (whose Vader helmet was a WWII army gas mask and a black bowler hat). Favorite line: “I felt a terrible disturbance in the Force, as if millions of leisure suits were all put on at the same time”.
Only the baseball hat that Oddjob wore.
Thomas Sowell’s Black Rednecks and White Liberals is an excellent book on that point and a few other parallels such as those between the Jews, Chinese, and Lebanese as those three groups persist, not necessarily welcome, in foreign cultures.
On the subject of hats, I’m afraid my OCD compels me. Give me some credit. I’ve been holding this in since David’s double troll of “Can’t do hats. Haven’t got the knack.” I just couldn’t take it any longer.
There are even more parallels between contemporary US urban black culture and UK white slum culture.
I don’t doubt it, but it seems likely that those aren’t independent. Global media reach means that poor young white people everywhere are adopting the ghetto thug culture because it’s broadcast to them 24/7 as laudable.
[Cosby] certainly enraged a lot of blacks, so many of whom are addicted to the cult of victimhood
While that’s true, I don’t think they had the ability to dredge up an unreliable, mentally unstable woman to make farcical accusations of a twenty year old crime she couldn’t remember, collect dozens of similar hearsay stories, and get them admitted as evidence in a jurisdiction where such accusations would be entertained by the DA, the judge and the jury.
In retrospect if you look at Andrea Costand, Christine Blasey-Ford and E. Jean Caroll it’s pretty clear the left’s dirty tricks brigade has a template they’re making good use of. AFAIK only Jian Ghomeshi has been able to slip that noose.
And while all that is true, the real driving factor in all of this is the money and attention these suits bring to the “victims” and more importantly the victims’ attorneys. For some it’s a loss leader that even if they don’t win it gets their name out there and at worst case they get experience in the big arena of politics and power. Remember, if enough people believe that there is no such thing as bad publicity, there is no such thing as bad publicity. If they fight against the bad, bad conservatives…”conservatives”, put up what they can sell as having been the good, the noble fight, then even losing can be spun into a Dunkirk.