Einstein, Facebook, God
“I love this … When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the recurring question that students asked him most was: Do you believe in God? And he always answered: I believe in the God of Spinoza. Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.
(Spinoza) : God would say: Stop praying. What I want you to do …” Today’s commodity wisdom goes on for 687 words. The bs detecter was buzzing. It was time to consult with Mr. Google.
“At home in Berlin in April 1929, Albert Einstein received an urgent telegram from Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein of New York: “Do you believe in God? Stop. Answer paid 50 words.” Boston Archbishop William Henry Cardinal O’Connell had derided Einstein’s famous relativity theories as “befogged speculation” conjuring “the ghastly apparition of Atheism.” An alarmed Goldstein sought to douse these rhetorical flames with reassurance from the great man himself.
“Einstein wired back “I believe in Spinoza’s God, Who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God Who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind.” (“Ich glaube an Spinozas Gott der sich in gesetzlicher Harmonie des Seienden offenbart, nicht an Gott der Sich mit Schicksalen und Handlungen der Menschen abgibt.”) The rabbi might have saved himself a little money; in the end, Einstein’s reply in the original German used only 25 words.”
“Einstein often saved ink by referring this way—a sort of philisophical shorthand—to Benedict (Baruch) de Spinoza, the 17th-century philosopher and scientist excommunicated from Amsterdam’s Sephardic Jewish community for his beliefs. … Spinoza did in fact “remain alone” for most of his life. Raised in an Amsterdam enclave of Marranos—Jews converted under the inquisitions of Spain and Portugal who had returned to Hebrew tradition in the Netherlands—Spinoza was considered a stellar pupil by his rabbis. When he began questioning the idea of a biblical God, however, they expelled him from the sect. Rather than convert to Christianity, he defied convention by living without organized religion. He never married and supported his life of scientific and philosophical inquiry through solitary work in a “high-tech” industry of his day, lens grinding.”
The key word in the question, “do you believe in God”, is believe. Whether you say G0d, Allah, Nature, or Football, there seems to be a consensus that something exists. Is belief the best way to approach this issue? What are the middle three letters of believe?
FWIW, Dr. Einstein pondered the God question from time to time. While video of Dr. Einstein does exist, there is little way of knowing whether students asked him about God, at every lecture.
The facebook wisdom-fest does not offer a source, for Spinoza’s ideas about Mary’s babydaddy. PG is not a Spinoza scholar, and quit reading the facebook post after a few sentences. He did look at a wikipedia page, and a document from Stanford University. A search was done for the phrase “God would say: Stop praying.” The terms “stop” and “pray” do not appear in either source.
God is in the details. Instead of “do you believe in God”, the question could be “do you believe in a facebook meme?” Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
The Velvet Warlocks
PG was listening to disgraceland episode#64, about the grateful dead. He was at a stopping point with multi tasking, and decided to look something up. The show mentioned the first show by the warlocks, later known as the grateful dead. This was 50 years before “dead name” was a dirty word.
“On May 5, 1965 ‘The Warlocks’ … played their first show, at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park, California.” This was the day before PG turned 11. Lyndon Johnson was settling in for his elected term as President. The Braves were playing their lame duck season in Milwaukee. Combat troops had been in Vietnam for a little over two months. This was the start of the escalation. “By the end of 1965, more than 184,000 American troops were in Vietnam.”
At 27:44, dg-gd dropped an item that could not be ignored. The warlocks had to find a new name. Someone else was called the warlocks, and there were complications. It seems as though the warlocks … a pretty obvious name … was also an early name of the velvet underground. Other early vu names included the primitives and the falling spikes.
“When they (vu) finally did come across a name which stuck, it was thanks to a contemporary paperback novel about the secret sexual underworld of the 1960s that Tony Conrad, a friend of John Cale, happened across and showed to the group. The novel, written by Michael Leigh, remains in print most likely thanks to the band which appropriated its title.”… “Had Lou Reed and John Cale not seen a copy of this book in a New York City gutter (fittingly) and decided to use its name for their group, this little volume would have been justly forgotten. Written in a style which titilates while decrying the scene it describes, it’s a piece of blue-nosed junk.”
The rest of the show rolled on. Jerry stuck his finger in a dictionary at random, and found grateful dead. It was the name of a story. The band played at the acid tests, which mostly went well, until they did not. Pigpen drank rotgut to excess, until it killed him.
PG was editing pictures out of a folder labeled pa41. The images were shot by John Vachon,in June 1941. The last picture, while the 27 club end of Pigpen played over the speakers, was Women washing clothes in utility building at FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp. Erie, Pennsylvania. Another picture, from January 1941, is Pinochle game in Czecho-Slovak Dramatic Club. Ambridge, Pennsylvania. Both pictures are included in this feature. This is a repost from 2020.
Mansplain
There was a link on facebook to a rather wonky article, Mansplaining 101: How to Discuss Politics and Feminism Without Acting Like a Jackass. The concept is that men sometimes do not show women adequate respect when talking to them. The Urban Dictionary has entries for both mansplain and womansplain. Neither entry is complimentary. This is a repost. Many of the links no longer work. The pictures are more entertaining.
The policymic feature is a few months old, and apparently was the scene of a lively comment debate. Unfortunately, Some people flagged a bunch of the comments. Little is left. This is the top comment: “Feminism doesn’t need to make room for men, men need to make room for feminist ideas in their spaces.” In one sentence you managed to discredit your entire argument. Who wants to argue with someone who thinks any opinion from the opposite sex isn’t worthwhile? “
When you google mansplain you are referred to a tumblr, Academic Men Explain Things to Me. This is supposed to be an authority on mansplaining. As this post is written, the top three posts are a boss who mispronounces a name, a grandfather who tells girls how to shave their legs, and an eavesdropping customer who tells a woman how to get to sleep better. This is not especially helpful.
Blank splaining seems to be a versatile label. It seems to be a way of attacking the messenger, instead of dealing with the content of the comment. It is true that the tone of comments can be troublesome. People often come across as condescending, especially when they are. It just seems to this observer that little is gained by putting a label, like mansplaining, on this phenomenon.
PG has been in many discussions where he was spoken down to. Jesus worshipers are notorious for not respecting people who don’t agree with their ideas about religion. There is also the possibility that people use this attitude of superiority as a weapon to cover up uncertainties about their position. Human beings are funny animals. We are not always the fair, logical creatures we think we are.
Another label to be put in front of splaining is white. The urban dictionary says this about whitesplain: “The act of a caucasian person explaining to audiences of color the true nature of racism; a caucasian person explaining sociopolitical events and/or history to audiences of color as though they are ignorant children.” Contrast this to the word on blacksplain: “Explaining things pertaining to African American history and culture, to someone who is racist or racially ignorant.” The white person is always wrong in this scenario. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Goot Ist Mein König
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
Senior Hamas official says Iran, Hezbollah had no role in Israel incursion, but will help …
Bach-Kantaten Nr. 51 “Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen” + Nr. 71 ” Goot Ist Mein König”
Chuck Palahniuk — A Masterclass in Creative Living and Dangerous Writing
Chuck Palahniuk’s ADVICE for Life and CRAZY Stories Will Leave You In Awe
Israel-Gaza War: The Urgent Need for Rational—Not Emotional—Responses
Evidence of Early Christian Psychedelic Rituals in Ancient Rome
Artist Manager Describes Israeli Rave Massacre: ‘It Turned Into a Nightmare’
Egypt urges Israel to stop bombing Rafah crossing to allow aid delivery
Dr. Gabor Maté Speaks Out on Israel and Palestine: A Must-Watch Discussion
@HistoryBoomer Obfuscation is nuance that annoys you.
Pontoon Brewing being forced to ‘temporarily close’ because of lack of payment
belief systems, rituals, symbols, pilgrimages, tenets, holy days, shrines, festivals, taboos …
How to disable the Insert key in all applications? avatar Natallia Pustavalava
When Pepper gave Bharatavarsha a New Name: The Sink of Precious Metals
@martyrmade A few notes on the Israel-Palestine conflict:
Israeli Plan to Double the Settler Population in the Occupied Syrian Golan by 2027 …
Ogie’s Forever – Infinite Zooming Dreamscapes [AI Animation AI Generated Video]
Hamas Attacked Universo Paralello Warm-Up Party In Israel. Hundreds Dead or Missing.
Egypt warned Israel days before Hamas struck, US committee chairman says
Diplomatic Note From Secretary of State Rusk to the Israeli Ambassador June 10, 1967
sunday bloody sunday ~ atrocities ~ WordPress ~ glass ~ Koyaanisqatsi ~ fellini satyricon
onion ~ bhamjoel ~ palahniuk ~ gaza ~ internet court of truth
ck carter ~ what not to say ~ wonder weasel ~ fox brothers ~ program remote
kevin kruse ~ mx record ~ repost ~ jason gould ~ notes
is it cultural appropriation unsightly vulgar abomination ~ use the plus sign with control shift as a backspace ~ This is my notes for this past week. It checks in at 2105 words. Since a couple of facebook threads were pasted in, there was a lot of editing. The pictures are a library of congress collection from my archive. As Suzie the floozie once told me, Your archive is your friend. (True story) I have decided to call you Jimbob when I am pasting correspondence. The spell check suggestion for Jimbob is bimbo. ~ The Scarlet R Talking about race is the new national pastime. Does anyone listen? Is anything worthwhile said? These questions are considered rude, and probably racist. ~ racerot … America clearly has a problem of color. One way view to this racial dysfunction is as a unified quagmire, rather than competitive hating of wokeness and racism. ~ people try to solve problems with name calling. If you don’t have the correct opinion, then you are a terrible person. We seem to forget the one basic truth: We’re all God’s children. ~ “walk a mile in my shoes” is a metaphor. Nobody expects you to actually put your feet in someone else’s clodhoppers. If you do, please make sure your feet are clean. ~ @ComicDaveSmith Fortify your borders. Have a real investigation to find out how the most militarized, prepared country in the world, with the best intelligence failed catastrophically to protect their people. Impeach Netanyahu for intentionally propping up Hamas and then failing to stop them. Send special ops to Hamas locations rather than bombing to minimize civilian deaths and prove that you actually do respect innocent life on the other side. And then make a historic peace deal: a return to 67 borders and a true end to occupation and settlements. Win not only the region but the world over to your side. ~ Lists about Georgia life usually mention heat, bugs, traffic, multiple Peachtrees, and southern accents. They seldom mention the shameless corruption, religious mental illness, rampant obesity, or racial nonsense. ~ @cwjones89 Today I woke up to a picture of a street in Ashkelon that I used to walk down regularly on the front page of CNN, aflame and littered with burned-out cars. I’ve been stunned. As a sense-making exercise for myself, here’s a brief 🧵with some thoughts on what this means: ~ I was replying to this “The … left-wing position … seems to be: “Hamas may be a bit over-enthusiastic, but Israel …” I DO NOT support Hamas. I also do not support a Palestinian Holocaust, which is where this rhetoric is taking us. If that makes me a ghoul, happy halloween ~ “Universo Paralello was not origintally intended to take place at the Re’im site, with organizers moving it to this location only two days before it started, when another site in southern Israel fell through. The new site at Re’im featured a pair of stages, with the Israeli producer Artifex playing the mainstage when the attack started. Gaster was told that the attackers closed the road into the festival from both sides so attendees could not escape.” ~ I don’t know if I would use the phrase “permanent solution” in a comment about Israel. That is awfully close to “final solution.” I do agree with the rest of the comment. We need less talking, and a lot more listening. ~ Sigh I started watching your videos a few years ago. I went on a kick of what I call “twink videos” with young gay men telling their stories. Very few of them are still showing. I googled you, and found some of your art movies. I continue to watch you, mostly out of habit. Often, I will watch you, and wonder why I am watching this. I see the positive comments. These people are entitled to their opinion. However, I think the negativity from other people in your life may be the prevailing opinion. Making candles is not very interesting. If you can make enough money from it to live comfortably … which I doubt … that is great, but I am totally not interested in your new candle collection. Some of the other topics you discuss are uncomfortable, and make me think less of you. Several videos … I cannot remember specifics … leave me wondering what the other side of the story is. I write a text blog. I have poured my soul into something, only to have literally body read it. It is the way things are. I realize that I am writing for my own enjoyment, and am happy if anyone else sees it. If anyone is still reading, my blog is here … I am rambling, and thank you for reading this far. If you would reply to this, it would make me feel that this is perhaps worthwhile. While I would not say to quit posting videos, I would say that I probably will not be watching much more. If you want to switch to a text blog format, I recommend WordPress. Be safe, and take care of yourself. Your story is still in the early stages. ~ Your post is now on Facebook, but it looks similar to other posts that were removed because they don’t follow our standards on hate speech. ~ “Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Then, who cares? They’re a mile away and you have their shoes.” ~ Israel bombs border crossing ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress ~ selah
Oscar Wilde
October 16 is Oscar Wilde’s birthday. On that day in 1854, he appeared in Dublin, Ireland. He is one of the most widely quoted people in the english language. Some of those quotes are real. Since he was a published author, it should be easy to verify what he really said. This birthday celebration is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress.
One night in 1974, PG was talking to someone, and did not know who Oscar Wilde was. The conversational partner was horrified. PG became educated, and learned about a misunderstanding with the Marquess of Queensberry. Soon the “Avenge Oscar Wilde” signs made sense.
Mr. Wilde once made a speaking tour in the United States. One afternoon, in Washington D.C., the playwright met Walt Whitman. Thee and thou reportedly did the “Wilde thing”.
The tour then went to Georgia. A young black man had been hired as a valet for Mr. Wilde on this tour. On the train ride from Atlanta to Columbus, some people told Mr. Wilde that he could not ride in the same car as the valet. This was very confusing.
After his various legal difficulties, Oscar Wilde moved to Paris. He took ill, while staying in a tacky hotel. He looked up, and said “either that wallpaper goes, or I do”. Soon, Oscar Wilde passed away.
25 Things About Georgia
These daze, there is more media than messages. People need things to write about. One popular theme, at least in itp/otp, is lists about life in Georgia. A web facility that should know better, thought catalog, recently put out 25 Things You Need To Know About Georgia.
25TYNTKAG was written by Jeremy Populus Jones. He seems to be the CEO of something called GAFollowers. (@GAFollowers on twitter) From the fine print: “GAFollowers was created on a “strength in numbers” foundation, finding a creative way to use free online social networking sites to strengthen the “bond” between people in Georgia to help better form this state. … GAFollowers is one of the largest twitter accounts in the state of Georgia that spans nearly every corner of the region.”
These lists about Georgia life usually have a few common comments. There is the heat, the bugs, the traffic, the multiple Peachtrees, and southern accents. They seldom mention the shameless corruption, religious mental illness, rampant obesity, or racial pandemonium. Lets take a look at 25TYNTKAG. Mr. Jones will be in blue, and Chamblee54 in green. This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
1. The weather here is just as inconsistent as your ex-girlfriend. Not really. It gets cold in January, hot in July. Your ex-girlfriend is staying out of this.
2. We call all interstates in Georgia, “The Highway”. Most people use the number.
3. Only in Atlanta is everything named “Peachtree” without a single tree with peaches around. Peachtree is all over OTP.
4. Terio and Honey Boo Boo were born and raised here. You couldn’t do this without google. Terio is a chubby kid who dances. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
5. “Knuck if you Buck” is the song we will always get hype to no matter the age. Yuck.
6. White girls wear Nike shorts with big t-shirts covering their shorts. (How many can you spot?) Maybe there was a sale on big t-shirts at Walmart.
7. Zaxbys is what you eat. The TC comments said this is not accurate. They mentioned a certain spelling challenged company, that specializes in overpriced chicken sandwiches. At least the son of Mr. Zaxby doesn’t run off potential customers with his big mouth.
8. We call it a “rag” not a “washcloth”. Do people up north say a woman is on the washcloth?
9. Going outside at anytime during the summer instantly guarantees a minimum a 7 bug bites. This is mostly true. Who is counting?
10. In Georgia when someone ask, “Where you from?”, people usually reply with a county not a city. In Atlanta, when you say “Where are you from?” it is almost always somewhere outside of Georgia.
11. The speed limit is 65 mph but if you’re not going at least 80 mph you’ll be ran off the road. This is also true on surface roads. In hilly Atlanta, there are few places to pass on two lane roads.
12. In Georgia it’s not a shopping cart, it’s a buggy. Do people really say shopping cart? At Kroger it is a bascart. The stores have a bascart corral.
13. We get more inches of pollen in a week than inches of snow in a full year. Pollen season hits in early spring. It is rough for many people. The rest of the year gets relatively little pollen. There is a good ice/snow storm every ten years or so. This one is probably true.
14. You say Georgia, we say Jawja. Others say George-ah. To untrained ears they sound the same.
15. Sweet tea is our water. Very few people wash cars with sweet tea.
16. The night has been a success if you ended up at Waffle House. This is especially true if you are scattered, smothered, and covered.
17. In Georgia it’s necessary to look at the weather before picking out an outfit. A reason not to do numbered lists. Just think of what you have to say, write it down, and hope it is not copyrighted.
18. We pray that we get snow during the winters. The people who pray for winter storms are merchants. They have an inventory of batteries, milk, ice, and eggs to sell.
19. We are the creators of, “Turn Up”. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.
20. Here in Georgia white girls can twerk. No Miley Cyrus. Ditto reaction to number 17. What was PG thinking of when he decided to do this post?
21. You will usually be 30 minutes away from just about every destination that you’re heading to. 22. There’s a Waffle House in walking distance of every Waffle House. These two have been combined, for obvious reasons. Do people proofread these lists before sending them out?
23. Any dark soda is simply called “Coke”. Many say Cocola, without the second syllable.
24. We pronounce it “Atlanna”. Whatever. Sometimes the second t is audible, sometimes not. It definitely is not the ATL, except to radio shouters.
25. Braves, Falcons & UGA are the teams we really care about. Tech fans may disagree. Ditto taxpayers, who don’t care if Rankin Blank gets a new stadium.
Shoes
“Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Then, who cares? They’re a mile away and you have their shoes.” This item turned up on my facebook feed recently. “Walk a mile …” is a metaphor. You should consider a person’s life experience before judging them. Nobody expects you to actually put your foot in their sneakers. If you do, please make sure your feet are clean.
Recently, I got to walk a 200 yards in someone else’s shoes. There was at an event, where people took their shoes off. When getting ready to leave, I saw a pair of basic black jogging shoes. I put them on, and they fit. I walked to my cabin, and went to sleep.
The next morning, I put these shoes on, and went to the dining hall. A man, who I will call Tom, told me that I had his shoes on. I looked under the table, and did not see the under armor logo on my feet. Tom said we could go to his vehicle after breakfast, and get my shoes.
What did I learn about Tom by walking 200 yards in his shoes? He wears the same size shoe as I, and his feet don’t stink. He handles a potentially embarrassing situation with kindness and tact. If I had to judge Tom, after walking 200 yards in his shoes, I would say that he is a cool dude. Pictures for this size twelve morning are from The Library of Congress.
Cemetery Blues
PG and Uzi had their usual Sunday phone call, and agreed to go to “Sunday in the Park”. It is a festival in Oakland Cemetery. with live music, people in costumes, open mausoleums, and lots of good clean fun. It wasn’t until that evening that PG learned that today is Dead Poets Remembrance Day. Edgar Allan Poe met his maker on this day in 1849.
There was a Chamblee54 post about DPRD two years ago. The idea is to go to a cemetery and read a poem. An effort will be made to do that tonight, although promises about dead poets are notoriously unreliable. The 2010 post is included as part two of this feature.
The first poem read that afternoon was “Looking for the Buckhead Boys” by James Dickey. In the intervening two years, PG listened to a podcast with Christopher Dickey, the son of the writer. Sometimes bard is short for bastard. Chris Dickey died July 16, 2020.
So PG, Uzi, and Hazmat went to a festival in Oakland Cemetery. Like everything else, it is more popular and expensive. You had to pay to park, which Uzi generously took care of. The brick walls around the boneyard have been repaired, and no longer look like they are going to fall down. Those walls are important, because people are dying to get inside. This is the second time that PG and Uzi have attended the October festival in Oakland Cemetery.
There are always things that you need to see at Oakland. Margaret Mitchell, the Lion Statue, and the mausoleums are important stops. PG followed the signs to the grave of Bobby Jones. It had golf balls and a putter, which was not necessary.
Don LeVert was a member of the Atlanta Sky Hi Club for many, many years before his departure in 1997. PG and Uzi always seek him out, and it is usually a bit of an adventure finding him.
After visiting Don, PG found the marker for “Brother John Wade”. His time on earth was September 23, 1865 to January 15, 1916. This was from the autumn just after the War Between the States until 37 days before PG’s father was born in Rowland, North Carolina. There was a renewed sense of connection to the stone monuments.
On February 2, 2018, Hazmat, aka Tony Lingoes, had a fatal encounter with a hit-and-run driver.
The facebook friend said “Today is Dead Poets Remembrance Day, Oct. 7th, the day Edgar Allan Poe died. Be sure to visit a graveyard and read some poetry today”. PG didn’t have anything better to do.
The first obstacle was finding a book of poetry. PG is not a poetry person. A look at the shelf turned up a paperback, 125 Years of Atlantic. Poetry was to be found between those covers.
The book had two stickers, both saying 69 cents. At the old Book Nook, this meant that the book was half the price on the sticker. With tax, that would be 38 cents.
125 YOA had stayed in PG’s car for a few years. Whenever he was stuck somewhere with time to kill, this book was waiting. One afternoon in 1998, there was a slow day at work. PG read a remembrance by Gertrude Stein, about life in France at the start of World War II.
The cemetery of choice was connected to the Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church. PG has driven by this facility thousands of times. He walked past the graves until he found a fallen tree to sit down on.
The first poem was “Looking for the Buckhead Boys” by James Dickey. PG began to read out loud, and soon could smell the drug store air of Wender and Roberts. The author bought fifty cents worth of gas at a Gulf station. Today, fifty cents might buy a tablespoon of gas. Gulf was long ago bought out by BP. Wender and Roberts became a bar, which was torn down.
Buckhead is not what it used to be. When Mr. Dickey was the bravest man in Buckhead (he took a shit in the toilet at Tyree’s pool hall), PG was not even thought of. The traffic jams on Peachtree Street are still there, as the blue haired ladies follow poets into the ground.
When PG finished reading Mr. Dickey, he put a teal postit in the book, where the poem stood. PG looked up, and the graveyard seemed different. Maybe the sun had sank a bit in the sky, and maybe the poem had changed PG in a way he could not put into words. Maybe another poem was the answer. Take the glasses off, open the book at random, and turn the pages until a poem shows up.
On page 404…the historic Atlanta area code…was “The Wartime Journey” by Jan Struther. The 1944 work was unknown territory. A group of people are traveling on a train. The wounded vet, the untried recruit, the salesmen shared the space with a lady, taking a baby for her soldier husband to meet. The theme of the rhymes was that America was totally at war, and that war is different from peacetime. Today’s war in Babylon is not like that.
Halfway through the reading, a freight train pulled by. Today, passenger trains are a novelty, and freight rules the rails. The shipment today was double decked containers, ready to pull off and slap on an eighteen wheeler.
Deaths are said to come in threes, and reading poetry in a graveyard should be the same. PG went on a random search for a Moe, to go with the Curley and Larry already digested. A page of poems by Emily Dickinson was the result. The page left PG unmoved. It was as if he was back in the sixth grade, with a horrible English teacher forcing him to memorize Hiawatha. It was time to go home.
We’re All God’s Children
It was September, 1976, in Athens, Georgia. Someone decided to open a disco downtown. On opening night, there was a crowd. People wanted to know, would men be able to dance with men?
The owner was said to be a redneck, who would not allow such things. Finally, the party got started. At some point, same sex couples started to dance together. The owner shut down the music, and stood in front of the crowd with a microphone. He said a few words that did not please anyone, and there was an uneasy silence. Then, out of the back, came one voice.
We’re all God’s children.
47 years later, we are still struggling. People try to solve problems, big and small, with name calling. If you don’t have the correct opinion about this or that, then you are a terrible person. We seem to forget the one basic truth: We’re all God’s children.
We don’t know who said WAGC that night, 47 years ago. If I had to guess, I would say that it was an African-American. Much of the name-calling today is about skin color. If you do not say what people want to hear, you will get called racist. You are deemed worthy of hatred and abuse. Your humanity is taken away from you. You are no longer one of God’s children. Pictures are from Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library. This is a repost.
The Scarlet R
This is a repost from 2016, with horrible sound. … Bloggingheads.tv released a chat with Glenn Loury and John McWhorter. With election days 35 days away, there was lots of talk about Donald and Hillary. It only took 1:44, to learn what is expected. The assignment is to call DJT a racist, and lament what a terrible thing that is. This is political discourse in 2016.
At 3:28, there was an aha moment. The line was that DJT, instead of an orange haired ogre, was really just a seventh grade bully. When PG was in seventh grade, there was a mean person who gave him problems. This individual is now a facebook friend, and regularly posts memes supporting DJT. PG likes to know what the “other side” thinks. Ignoring the memes is always an option.
At 9:22, the importance of identifying racism in others is stressed. This is said to totally justify the appeal of DJT. Once you call someone a racist, you no longer have to work to understand their motives. When the scarlet R is super glued to somebody, that is all you need to know.
The Scarlet Letter is the rip roaring tale of Hester Prynne. She got caught fooling around, and had the scarlet A, for adultery, pinned to her chest. It was pinned to her chest, and she could see who did the pinning. In today’s “woke” world, the scarlet R, for racist, is super glued to the back of the terrible person. The person never knows who gave them this dreaded, irrevocable, label.
At 21:28, John tells an amusing story. He was talking to a well meaning white woman, said to be helpful in selling more books. At some point, the woman felt obligated to say that “we don’t like to talk about race.” John was too polite to laugh in her face.
The truth is that talking about race is the new national pastime. Does anyone listen? In all that talk, is anything worthwhile said? These questions are considered rude, and probably racist.
At 31:09, John said the n word. It is not known whether it ended with -er, or with -a. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
FBI Most Wanted List
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
How Angela Davis Ended Up on the FBI Most Wanted List – arrested by the FBI in 1970
Mixtape Series: Ram Dass Chillstep // Love Beyond Duality
Registering a proposed business reduces police stops of innocent people?
X stops showing headlines because Elon Musk thinks it will make posts look better
What Would a War over Taiwan Look Like? | Robert Wright & Lyle Goldstein
Bigger remote for Insignia TV with numbered channel buttons?
18-year-old suspect charged with murder in deadly random stabbing of NYC activist: sources
The Insidious Lie That We Can’t Understand Each Other – push against the identity trap
Assotto Saint Sacred Spells Collected Works Publication Party
In Praise of Mink Stole, Trash Cinema’s Greatest Character Actress
NY Progressive DA Sued For RACISM By Victim of Robbery.
North Carolina radio station plans to reject broadcasts of ‘inappropriate’ Met operas
How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement … argues Freddie deBoer in an excerpt…
Road trip monster, quick round trip, Atlanta to Breckenridge
Can’t Remember to Forget You: Memento in Twenty Fragments Abigail Oswald
Exploring Our Queer Spiritual Roles with Don Kilhefner
When President Ulysses S. Grant Was Arrested for Speeding in a Horse-Drawn Carriage
Former District of Columbia Policeman William West, September 27, 1908
With Trump Already Found Guilty, His New York Fraud Trial Begins
Are Trigger Warnings Actually Helpful? … at best, trivially helpful.
WATER Koshi Wind Chimes Meditation – See the Ocean of oneness… Calm Whale
Viral Video of Black Woman Screaming Racism While White Police Officer Arrests Her
Woman slaps cop, then screams ‘Walmart is racist’ while getting restrained at NY store
OH HELL NAH | Black Shoplifter Gets Caught, Screams Walmart is Racism!
TED Censors Coleman Hughes Over “Racism” Accusations | SYSTEM UPDATE
@robscape ~ hate speech ~ greenlight art ~ jre 2043 ~ allman bros
breathing meditation ~ mar a lago ~ triggernometry ~ remote ~ insignia ns 37f201na23 ~ test
queer kings of england ~ jamaal bowman ~ crestor ~ crestor ~ rosuvastatin
miss benny ~ pluck ~ moravec ~ debussy ~ marcel marceau
le mime marceau ~ walmart is racist ~ jaakun krysto ~ roku ~ i x kendi
mirror roku ~ tell me who ~ repost.. ~ jimmy ~ carly simon
miles davis ~ mike robinson ~ 123 philosophy ~ stillbirth ~ chayton
jeff hullinger ~ mikel wilson ~ running water ~ i x kendi ~ Luna Farfalla
@JDVance1 “Praying for our friends in Israel this morning. Just an awful situation.” This tweet was how I learned of the latest war in Palestine ~ @simonateba BREAKING – YOUR REACTION: New York Attorney General Letitia James (@TishJames) leaves the courtroom without granting any interview after losing 80 percent of the case against Trump on day one because she could not figure out what the statute of limitations was. ~ A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist (1891) ~ There was an incident in my small group this past weekend. A couple of people said something about Oscar Wilde. Our leader, correctly, said that we should be talking about ourselves, and not about “mundane reality.” I immediately offered a prayer of apology, to the spirit of Oscar Wilde, for saying that he was mundane. ~ I look at the photos from this year’s gathering and remember how I felt each year in the afterglow of the weekend. Then I remember some of the nasty things and treatment I received from some of those so called loving men when I said things they disagreed with. Not agreeing to disagree and focusing on the common bonds, but silence at best, and ostracism and name calling at worst. I realise I can never go back and share my honest feelings because I would be the villain in their eyes, disrupting the love fest of the like minded. I can only look back fondly on a time to which I can never return. ~ I had not been to fall since 1996. This was by far the best fall conference I have been to. That said, I am aware that the other shoe might drop, and I could get kicked out of paradise. For now, I am just going to enjoy things going well, and not worry about the future. I also know that there are certain things to either say very carefully and diplomatically, or not at all. ~ Good morning Jimbob I hope this day finds you in good spirits, and that your father is doing as well as the circumstances allow. ~ It is looking like a glorious day in my WTF … white trash fabulous … life. I am on the front porch with my laptop. It is chilly enough to need a sweatshirt and head covering. I am on my second round of coffee, and will be moving on with the day soon. ~ Twitter has decided to quit publishing headlines, at least for non paying users. I was too lazy to write anything new this morning, so i have a rerun Since X is no longer showing headlines, I decided to write the title above the picture. This is the result ~ For the record, the picture was taken at a beauty pageant in 1930, in Galveston TX. At that time, Pauline Kael was 11 years old. James Broughton was 17. Their daughter Gina James was -18. Broughton came to atlanta in 1982. He gave a talk at a circle downtown, and there was a party that evening. I briefly chatted with him, though I doubt if he remembered anything the next day. I was talking about chakras, and i mentioned taint as slang for the perineum. He had never heard this . I greatly enjoy the poems of Mr Broughton, and consider him an influence. There was a 100th birthday celebration for him at the E church in candler park. Franklin Abbott used to have a healing circle at the E church in the 80s. He would always caution you about splinters in the floor. At the broughton event … he died in his 80s … there was a dancer. He was naked, and laid down on the floor, rubbing his crotch into the floor. I was horrified, but apparently the floor had been refinished. My coffee is about to run out. Let me go. Hope to hear from you soon ~ Your post is now on Facebook, but it looks similar to other posts that were removed because they don’t follow our standards on hate speech. ~ “the fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.” Bertrand Russell Marriage and Morals (1929) ~ Where Would Jesus Park? ~ four rules Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all Concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? ~ Hey, this is Luther. I enjoyed meeting you this weekend, and was delighted to spend some cabin 13 time with you. I am reading those books you gave me. The zine anthology came in handy yesterday. I had an eye doctor appointment, and got to spend quality time in the waiting room with my eyes dilated. I could not read text, but enjoyed looking at the pictures. I assembled the slide shows for the poems I read saturday night. These poems were created as visual presentations. The face that they might work as performance pieces is a happy accident. Gasoline was once considered a “vile and useless by-product” to the production of heating oil. I am composing this in a desktop document. This is one of my habits. I copy links of things I look up, and record random thoughts and quotes. On Monday morning, I publish this document. Here is an example, illustrated with “blackout poems.” Btw, I know a black man who calls these erasure poems, which still is not a good fit. One day I was have a better name for these. I would hope I have your permission to publish this. This would be without your name/email address. There is much more to say, and to listen to. I would enjoy an old fashioned correspondence, if that is something you would like to do. I am also on facebook as Luther Mckinnon, and twitter as @chamblee54. ~ A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist (1891) There was an incident in my small group this past weekend. A couple of people said something about Oscar Wilde. Our leader, correctly, said that we should be talking about ourselves, and not about “mundane reality.” I immediately offered a prayer of apology, to the spirit of Oscar Wilde, for saying that he was mundane. ~ I look at the photos from this year’s gathering and remember how I felt each year in the afterglow of the weekend. Then I remember some of the nasty things and treatment I received from some of those so called loving men when I said things they disagreed with. Not agreeing to disagree and focusing on the common bonds, but silence at best, and ostracism and name calling at worst. I realise I can never go back and share my honest feelings because I would be the villain in their eyes, disrupting the love fest of the like minded. I can only look back fondly on a time to which I can never return ~ I had not been to fall since 1996. This was by far the best fall conference I have been to. That said, I am aware that the other shoe might drop, and I could get kicked out of paradise. For now, I am just going to enjoy things going well, and not worry . i am also aware that there are certain subjects that should be discussed carefully or not at all ~ I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. But for me, having to self edit seems contradictory to all the talk about authenticity to one’s self and honest expression. I’m sure I’d get along with a large percentage of the folks there with no problem. The handful that I wouldn’t or couldn’t do that with are some of the ones that are most vocal about those concepts and I find it very hypocritical. I was booted off the group’s FB page by one such individual with no notice being given and not for anything I posted there ( I almost never post there) it was they had a personal beef with me outside the group and had the admin power to boot me off. Thankfully another admin with a more level head put me back in and apologised. Another online acquaintance that was in the FB group for several years was kicked off the page a couple of weeks ago because he didn’t fall in line with the trans inclusive groupthink because he was supporting maintaining gay male only spaces. It’s all hugs and heart circles until you hit one of the tripwires of the alphabet soup brigade. Obviously I’m not talking about you, Luther. I’ve always appreciated that you’re a level headed guy who can listen to a wide range of views. And you also have a pretty strong BS meter. ~ sigh the trans issue is tricky. It is like social justice on steroids ~ This is the only reply poem I ever wrote. Someone at Java Monkey went to a festival in North Carolina. He said there were barefoot white people, who did not wear deodorant, but loved to dance. Those are my people! I feel like the kid in Flashdance when I perform this ~ is it cultural appropriation or just another abomination ~ what ben franklin really said ~ Twitter has decided to quit publishing headlines for non-paying users. I decided to post the title of this piece, above the picture. This might lead to confusion. For the record, the photograph was taken at a pageant in Galveston TX, in 1930. At that time, Pauline Kael was 11 years old. James Broughton was 17. Their daughter Gina James was -18. ~ the first time I heard of CS Lewis was 6th grade English. The teacher was this white haired lady. Some said she was sooooo sweet. She was telling us the story of Narnia. She described the story. Then she said, with a bit of a smirk, that the story was REALLY about Jesus. Yuck. ~ @zora Wishing all strength to Palestinians. And sick at the thought of how well this serves Netanyahu. He’s been looking for justification for full-scale retaliation for so long, it makes me wonder if he had the intel and chose to ignore it. ~ The Library of Congress ~ selah
Chamblee54 
leave a comment