For newcomers, some items from the archives:
Black Women Climb Hill.
The defining triumph of our time.
We have, it seems, entered a world in which basic map reading and remembering to take a coat are deemed noteworthy achievements. Of course, it’s not just a matter of waterproofs and picking out suitable footwear. There are other complexities to be navigated: “Taking a selfie for social media… is an important way… to feel represented,” says Ms. Fatinikun.
Progressive Dining Protocol.
When the neurotic eat out.
So far as I can make out, the rules are as follows.
First, you should expect the restaurant’s serving staff to be conveniently categorised by their sexual inclinations or some other “ally” attribute, as if that weren’t presumptuous and intrusive – and, you know, weird. And should a pleasingly downtrodden identity be available – and said person dragged into your luminous presence – then you can bestow upon them your glorious and not-at-all-self-serving affirmation.
Naturally, you should make sure everyone sees. And hey, who wouldn’t want to be wheeled out as a prop, an accessory, for someone else’s attention-seeking project?
Radical Farce.
On Vanessa Engle’s three-part documentary series Lefties.
With a mix of archive footage and modern-day interviews, the leftism of the 70s and 80s is captured in all of its staggering glory. For those who haven’t seen the series, it is quite revealing – and often darkly funny. Among the gems to savour are the endless factional disputes over exactly how capitalism should be toppled, an earnest exposition on “penile imperialism,” and interviews with former self-styled radicals, now sitting by private swimming pools, fretting about fridge ownership, or planning to work on llama farms.
Other highlights include the tale of a bewilderingly inept attempt in 1987 to launch a radical left-wing tabloid, fuelled by the fever-dreams of Cambridge Marxists. The project was, unsurprisingly, a disaster, with its failure a direct result of ideological pretension. As illustrated by the scene in which, with the paper’s first edition about to go to press, most of the staff is out of the office on a deafness awareness day.
Deleted Scenes.
Laid-back driver meets wound-up cyclist. Strangeness ensues.
If you haven’t seen the exchange above, I do recommend watching it, if only as an instructional tale. Or a test of your own self-restraint. In the video, the cyclist, the aptly named Mr Peacock, goes out of his way to generate conflict, repeatedly, then descends into some paranoid fantasy, in which he is somehow both the hero and the victim. His fabulist construals of what is happening are quite remarkable. As I said at the time, someone should write a paper. Or beat him with a stick until the demon leaves.
For those craving more, this is a pretty good place to start.
Oh, and consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
“For those with an interest in history, or indeed obliviousness”
Added to my watchlist. Thanks, barkeep.
As a snapshot of a social and psychological phenomenon, it does reward watching in full. Not least as a reminder of how reality can out-do satire.
From Black Women Climb Hill:
Yes, it’s something of a giveaway, isn’t it?
It’s as absurd and laughable as suggesting following Leeds Rhinos (rugby league) is “some exclusive fiefdom of upper-class white people”.
As I said in the original thread, regarding episode three:
Because priorities.
Of the many excellent moments in that series, do keep an eye out for Alan Hayling.
The premise is dubious, to say the least, and inherently insulting, and not even argued. As if actual evidence were unnecessary. As if we should all just rush to the expected, entirely unearned conclusion and nod with emphatic agreement. And so we get several thousand words on how supposedly racist and unwelcoming our National Parks are without being given even one example.
And Ms Fatinikun was deemed worthy of a royal honour – an M.B.E. – for her accomplishment of, er, walking with other women who look a bit like her.
Again, from the original thread:
All while expecting to be treated as the virtuous party, the downtrodden hero. The one deserving of awards.
Shouldn’t that be BRAVE BLACK WOMEN?
She uses the word parasite, which, all things considered, is almost funny.
*starts punching laptop*
Heh. I feel you, brother. He’s like concentrated anti-charisma. In spandex.
Not unfair, I think.
From prior post: a white woman is surprised that Trader Joes’s is full of white people? ahahahah and truly, green hair blends right in at that store.
Oppression and sexism: all the men I know who are married with kids bent over backwards to take care of their pregnant/nursing wife and allowed her (if she wished) to stay home with the kids, even took on overtime or consulting for that purpose. Only a childless dimwit ideologue could construe that as sexism/oppression.
Leftists: back in the 70s I visited some communes. They were all supported by pot selling or an insurance settlement, and were full of non-working grifters. I briefly was around a communal vegetarian restaurant. They depended on enthusiasm rather than pay for their “employees” and lasted only a few months.