Special Postpositive Intensive Training
PG was reading facebook, minding his own business, when he saw the splashy title White Liberals Have White Privilege Too!. There is something about online discussions about privilege that make well meaning people want to type a lot of words into little boxes. PG usually avoids such a conversation, as if it were an amway pitch, but made an exception this ill fated afternoon.
The seminal article was written in 2007, and mentioned the media controversy of the day. It seemed as though Joe Biden said “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy … I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” Mr. Biden is currently the Vice President, serving under the FMAA.
There was a link to “Black People Love Us!, which tells the story of Sally and Johnny… “We are well-liked by Black people so we’re psyched (since lots of Black people don’t like lots of White people!)” The fun starts when someone quotes a letter to BPLU.
“GET WITH THE PROGRAM!… If some of you would actually get your heads out of your asses for one second and read a f*cking book or get educated, you will see that this website is NOT trying to break down PEOPLE, but break down BARRIERS and erase STEREOTYPES… A Black University of Michigan Student with nappy-ass hair”.
The resulting visual ruined the day for PG. BUMS should keep his/her pants on, and not burden the world with the sight of nappy hair on his/her posterior. The same thing goes for any asian, latino, caucasian, native american, or zorlack with this problem.
The photgraphs today are from “Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. This repost was modified, with politically incorrect editing, to satisfy an writing challenge word limit.
Duluth Fall Festival
PG and Uzi have been to a slew of neighborhood festivals. Dickhater, Candler Park, Sandy Springs, even south of I20 to Grant Park. It was starting to get a bit predictable. Then Uzi suggested a ride up Buford Hiway to the Duluth Fall Festival.
The first steps were uncertain. PG turned into a parking lot, and almost did not get out. Finally, a trip down a side road yielded a parking spot, with a manageable hike to the festival. The walk to the first tent was short, compared to the walks up and down aisles. The DFF is as big as Candler Park and Sandy Springs combined, with a yard of carnival rides as a bonus.
It was a people watchers delight. Uzi noticed that, for all the much touted diversity intown, that Duluth had a much wider selection of human kind. There were people of color in abundance, speaking a variety of languages. There were people without color, in all their waistline busting glory. Walmart hit the sidewalks, with funnel cakes for dessert.
Finally, after the last aisle of tents had been navigated, PG piloted the vehicle to the swallow and suffer cafeteria. After all that walking, dinner was a welcome sight. Soon it was off into the world for another week of reality.
The General Public’s Business
an anagram for opinion is ninipoo ~ Future task force people might want to consider this sort of thing when planning gatherings. A few years ago, there was a gathering at George Miller’s house the same night as a Georgia Tech football game. The dates of park festivals are known well in advance. A bit of planning goes a long way. ~ Why is this the general public’s business? ~ Ms. Hurlburt feels very old because she remembers wars before OIF. (Say OIF, and you have a good feel for the invasion of Babylon.) (The spell check suggestion for OIF is OAF) She is correct that the wars of your youth help to form your viewpoint about war in general. As someone who was in high school during Vietnam, I feel beyond ancient. I do not like war, period. ~ I made this comment to a diavlog with Heather Hurlburt. It was deleted within moments of being sent. Is there some policy that this comment violated? ~ oh thy dour rhyming mama, change the channell skip the drama, send kittens off to meet their maker, steal brownies from the baker, if only your blog wasn’t powered by google, the angry cow would just say moogle. ~ I shall baffle you with cabbages and rhinoceroses in the kitchen and incessant quotations from “Now We Are Six” through the mouthpiece of Lord Snooty’s giant poisoned electric head. So there! ~ “In perfume, as in underwear, the scantiest of applications provides the greatest of returns.” -Silas Sparkhammer ~ People need to stop appropriating Jesus as their reason for behaving badly. It’s so irritating. (Avril) ~ “For me, religion is like a rhinoceros: I don’t have one, and I’d really prefer not to be trampled by yours. But it is impressive, and even beautiful, and, to be honest, the world would be slightly worse off if there weren’t any.” -Silas Sparkhammer ~ “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K. Chesterton ~ If you don’t appreciate the irony, the irony appreciates. ~ “Sappiness and medieval violence: it’s a wonderful combination. Like chocolate and peanut butter for the mind.” -me on my fantasy novel-in-progress ~ Fight evil diaper rash! ~ On the crusade to eliminate Moral Asshattery wherever it exists ~ Another GSEMH story ~ If you don’t like the text, look at the pictures. ~ It seems HO listic to me ~ Wasn’t that about the time a zombie TV show was being filmed here? Maybe one took over your being. ~ I just did a quick search on twitter for this “racist backlash”. Most of the comments were people who are offended by the anti Miss America winner. So what if a few morons make ignorant comments. Maybe the best thing to do is ignore them. ~ Perhaps ignoring these people is the best thing to do. ~ It is national gullibility week ~ This might be a good weekend for an attack on spirituality. Many of the troops are out of town. ~ Are you saying that people on facebook write badly? ~ The turtle cheated in that race with the rabbit. ~ This is so tempting to a photoshop mischief maker. ~ The problem with posting these pictures is that you make people turn on the bs detector. I have no doubt that depleted uranium is evil, and that the United States and Israel are using it. However, seeing those pictures makes me suspect a fraud. I learned a while back that when something seems too extreme to be true, it frequently is. I did a little research on this, and some of those images date back to 2006. I know the images are attention getting, but I have my doubts as to whether real living humans look like that. It could be that the truth is worse than these eye catching images. It is tough to know for sure. ~ Talking truth is better than showing scary pictures. ~ Life is not a Motivational Poster ~ Does anyone else suspect that Cher was not asked to sing at the Olympics? ~ What about a girlcott? ~ I was thinking of Hillary Clinton ~ When I worked in a downtown office, I put a picture I did, of a cow, in the window. This lady came in, took a look at it, and said “is that a cow?” I started to say no, it is a chicken, but this lady did not have a sense of humor. ~ Large art objects can become a burden. Just wait until you, G-d forbid, move again. That is one reason I do everything on a 17″x22″ flat format. ~ What do sculptors do with leftover projects? ~ 1-I don’t know how these things work, but what if he was an undercover cop? How do the rules of entrapment work? If you did give in to his demands, could he bust you anyway? 2- Would you call a massage narc a mark? ~ @robertwrighter no bullets for rapists would make a fine tweet. If we knew the twitter handle of the US Representative to the UN, we could copy her. ~ @tejucole And Jesus said unto them, “Neither shalt thou feed the trolls nor shalt thou join the easy little lynch mobs that riseth on Twitter.” ~ Maybe there is a G-d, and maybe there isn’t. What I don’t agree with is the attachment people have to their beliefs. It is the belief paradigm that is the problem. Is there really that much difference between believing there is a G-d, and believing there is not a G-d? It is all about the fascination man has with the beliefs that live only inside the mind. ~ Does he open a restaurant? ~ I thought it was a Baptist Church employee in Columbus GA ~ When I was working in an office, one of the project managers said something about problems. I told him that people don’t have problems any more, they have issues. He replied, I have an old fashioned job. I have problems. ~ Don’t worry about being as easy as pie. It’s a piece of cake. Maybe you can be a roll model. ~ I would much rather receive darshan from a head of lettuce and have satsang with cats than to pay for or even listen to some FB teachers/master always hocking more crap. If you got issues then get some tissues and move on. ~ If you are a cow, it is the significant udder ~ Is that really so? There is no famous person given credit for the quote. ~ I think a man with a helmet defending his country should make more money than a man with a helmet defending a football. ~ Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union Soldiers from the War Between the States. They did not wear helmets. Football had not been invented. ~ Selah
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.
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.
Twerk Off
There is a bit of likeme trolling on facebook this morning. It is a link, Miley Cyrus Points Out Something Wrong With America — And She’s Absolutely Right. It is from a facility called upworthy. These missives usually have a popup ad, encouraging you to like uw on fb. The message today was a poll. “It’s nice to be reminded of the good in the world. And it should happen more often. I Agree I Disagree” PG clicked disagree, and was sent through to the headline post.
Miley Cyrus has gotten attention lately. She performed at an awards show, and got people excited. PG does not pay to watch TV, and missed the spectacle. Maybe this is the best approach.
The message from miss achy breaky heart is not that great. She says that some nasty things are on television, but you can’t say fuck. This is the same observation about double standards that has been around since the top half of Elvis was on the Ed Sullivan show. It is just as meaningless today as ever.
Calling someone a hypocrite is a cheap argument. Whenever someone says something, you can be sure that the standards of someone else are violated. Hypocrisy is in the eye of the beholder. Two wrongs do not make a right. Not everybody agrees with you. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Cultural Appropriation
While reading the Chelsea Handler book, PG started to think of things to write about. A list appeared on the back inside cover. A few of these have hit the innertubes already. Today, three more are going to be incorporated into one post. If this is not to your liking, you are encouraged to skip over the text and look at the pictures. These images today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
This monolog will include items four, five, and seven. Number four is people who don’t like quiet. Number five is stupid phones. Number seven is a question. Is it cultural appropriation for white people to get upset about racism? All three items involve people making needless noise.
Some people don’t like quiet. Whenever there is a break in a conversation, they feel obligated to fill in the dead air. Whether of not they have anything worthwhile to say is beside the point. The idea is to not let there be any silent time.
This is more than dead air in a conversation. Some feel the need to listen to canned entertainment at all times. The earbud riders miss the background sounds of the world. Especially when in motion outdoors, there is a steady background of sound. Crickets, birds, wind make a pleasing aural backdrop. In addition, there is the sound of automobile tires whooshing against the pavement, getting louder and louder, then softer and softer. It is also good to hear these sounds if you are sharing a roadway with these steel behemoths. They are bigger than you.
Often the listening device of choice is a smart phone. They are not good for conversation, so many resort to text messages. PG, on the other hand, is a hold out. He has a twelve button stupid phone. The time cards are purchased every three months, and cost about seven dollars a month. If you get lost on your way somewhere, you can call for directions. With a bit of effort, you can send a text message. It is a handy device, even if you can’t play angry birds on it.
Angry birdbrains birds leads us to our final subject for this morning. Some white people just love to talk about how horrible racism is. Outside of defriending people who do not share their outrage, these people often do little, other than talk, to actually fight incorrect racial attitudes. Could it be cultural appropriation for white people to get so worked up about racism?
If any of these privileged characters were to read this feature, someone would probably say that PG does not understand cultural appropriation. Fair enough, as the uncertain umpire might say. The odds are that these self anointed progressives don’t understand cultural appropriation. CA has a fluid definition, like racism. It boils down to being something the accuser does not like.
There has been a lot of angry talk about race this year. A white woman filed a bad boss lawsuit. Her lawyer proceeds to slander the celebrity sister of her former boss, about saying the n word thirty years earlier. A cereal company makes anonymous comments about a commercial, and gets truckloads of free publicity. None of these incidents will make improve the lives of color. Mostly, people just want a cheap, easy way to feel superior to their neighbor. When you look at the history of race relations in amerika, you have to wonder what race started it.
Beulah
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Over the years, PG has had run ins with gout. A foot swells up, usually around the big toe joint, and using that foot is difficult. Sometimes, there is a warning. If you lay off the red meat, drink lots of water, and get exercise, then the attack can be avoided.
The last time this happened, PG had a work assignment. The hosting office had a refrigerator with free soft drinks for the workers. PG tried a new Coca Cola product, and decided that he liked it. He liked it, that is, until the afternoon when he drank one, and his foot started to swell. It turns out that Coke Zero does not agree with his left foot.
The first thing to do in a case like this is quit drinking Coke Zero. Just because a product is free, that does not mean you are obligated to use it. Especially when walking to the refrigerator hurts.
The second thing to do is go see Doctor Xu. This is a Chinese man, with an office in Doraville. He will sell you a package of herbs. You boil the herbs, and drink the tea. You do not drink this tea for the taste.
Saturday is a busy day at the Doctor’s office. There are no appointments. You show up and wait your turn. A book is a good companion . The distraction this day was My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One Night Stands, by Chelsea Handler. PG reached page 169 when synchronicity paid a visit.
Miss Handler has a gay friend, Nathan. He is a supporting player in her drama. In this episode, Miss Handler is Nathan’s beard at a high school reunion. At the check in to the event, some lady insisted that Miss Handler wear a name tag. The name used was Beulah.
PG put down the book, and thought about the Beulah he knew years ago. Beulah was his stage name, not his birth name. One night, in a Ponce de Leon Avenue parking lot, a singer with the B52s cussed out Beulah. The story came to a sad ending in 1982, when Beulah left this life.
Thoughts of Beulah were in PG’s mind when he was called in to see the Doctor. On the bulletin board, by the desk, was a sign advertising an event at Beulah Heights University. The Grant Park facility has taught Bible lessons for many years, with very little contact from PG. Photographs today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Too Much Money
PG found Too Much Money, by Dominick Dunne, at the Chamblee library. It has many of the characters from People Like Us. This was the first novel by Mr. Dunne that PG read, and the twenty year old memory only worked in fits and spells. Just like the people who populate these stories.
Towards the end of TMM, Gus Bailey-Dominick Dunne learns that he has cancer. This sent Mr. Dunne off to another world in 2009. TMM was in an editing stage when Mr. Dunne quit working on it. It is not nearly as polished as the other novels by Mr. Dunne. This doesn’t stop the book from being fun, but one wonders if it might have been a bit better with more work.
The story is set in New York. The players are the very wealthy, and those who cater to them. Many of these people with too much money have very little class. This is always reassuring to the peasants who read these tawdry tales. As always with Mr. Dunne, you can guess what famous person is represented by what cad in this story. Perhaps the initials of the book should be TMI instead of TMM.
One theme of this story is a lawsuit against the author. It seems like the author said something about a notorious congressman that was not true. If only the author had waited a week or two. The notorious congressman was a big story on September 10, 2001. The next day, the congressman was forgotten.
There is a sentence on page 246. It tells a bit about the story, and shows the value of using a comma. The wealthy lady was telling the story of how her walker decided to become an undertaker. “When he was thirteen years old, he waited five hours in line outside the Grant P. Trumbull Funeral Home to see Judy Garland, who had overdosed, in her casket.”
An amazon one star reviewer says “I am so disappointed in this book I have loved Mr Dunne’s work for years but this book has so many sex scenes that it is disgusting and not what I expected!!” Actually, the sex scenes are some of the best ones in TMM. Perhaps they had priority editing, before the grim reaper came to call. There is a scene where the Baroness, known to many as Uncle Charley, seduces the wife of the convict billionaire. It makes you wonder how Mr. Dunne knew so much about such things.
This is not a book to spend money on, unless you just enjoy throwing dollars around. If the local library has a copy, then it is worth your time. You might not respect yourself later, but you will have a good time. Pictures today are from Gwinnett County.
The Death Of Cursive
There was a feature in the NY Daily News about the death of cursive writing. HT to JoemyG-d. It seems like cursive is no longer being taught. PG says good riddance. This is a repost.
Cursive refers to the flowing style of handwriting, where the letters are joined. It is from the French word cursif. This is derived from Medieval Latin cursivus, literally, running, from Latin cursus, past participle of currere to run
Cursive sounds like curse, or using bad language. Many people trying to read cursive will curse. The synonym for cuss, however, is from the middle english word curs.
At Ashford Park , print writing was taught in the first grade, and cursive in the third grade. PG learned cursive, and then promptly forgot. He prints when he needs to write, except for a signature. Printing is much, much easier to read.
Some say that with the decline of cursive, that old handwritten letters will be impossible to read. With many cursive writers, they already are. Some people have the patience to write beautifully, but many others scrawl. There is a cliche about doctor’s handwriting on prescriptions. One wonders how many lives have been lost because the pharmacist is not a mind reader.
There is a quote, attributed to an ancient Greek. “When we start to write, we will lose our ability to remember”. There was grumbling when the printing press replaced hand copied scrolls, and when the typewriter came onto the scene.
Man fancies himself as being an animal who can think. Sometimes, when you replace the legend with knowledge, people like to hang onto the legend. This seems to be a point on the species cusp. On the one side is a rational, thinking creature. On the other side is a superstitious animal that runs on instinct. This is one possible reason that cursive writing lasted as long as it did.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
Sandy Springs Festival 2013
It was the third weekend of September, which is time for the Sandy Springs Festival. PG threw fiscal caution to the wind and indulged in the five dollar admission fee. Uzi pointed out that, present company excepted, this fee keeps the riff raff out. PG was a good sport about it all, especially after a convenient parking spot appeared.
At first it was thought that dogs were not admitted to the festival. It turns out they were, and PG was in full puppyrazzi mode. The freebies were not as plentiful as in years past. Perhaps this was because the police had a new squad car. But this new vehicle was seized from a local drug dealer. PG thought this was rather distasteful. It probably is not connected to the lack of freebies.
One booth was occupied by a mayoral candidate named Rusty Paul. He is not related to Ron or Rand. Nor has he given permission to anyone altering his signs to say Ru Paul. When asked if he would accept support from Ru Paul, the candidate noted that the entertainer does not live in Sandy Springs.
Earlier that afternoon, something remarkable happened to PG. A friend posted a story about the effects of depleted uranium shells in Afghanistan. The story (the link here is to a similar story) had horrifying pictures of deformed children. PG noted the nastiness of depleted uranium, but questioned the authenticity of the pictures. The friend took down the post, and promised to be more careful in the future. PG did not get defriended, as usually is the case when calling BS on facebook.
PG and Uzi were through touring the festival at four twenty. It was too early to go to dinner. They went to the amphitheater, and listened to the band. Uzi insisted on finding a shady spot to sit down, and commented about how much he appreciated the shade. A few seconds after Uzi said this, the singer for the band said “I see all of you sitting in the shade. I guess you don’t want to get a suntan.” It is true that PG is concerned about his neck getting any redder.
A few more dogs went before the camera. PG noticed that the battery was running down. The last two Sunday afternoons, this has happened. Today, PG brought a backup battery.
After the band finished playing, PG and Uzi went to dinner, accompanied by a third party who showed up during the band performance. When PG got to Uzi’s vehicle after dinner, there was a flyer in the passenger door, asking “am I going to heaven”. When PG got to his car two blocks away, there was a similar message, this time in the driver’s door.
Who Does The Killing?
PG used to work with someone, who we will call Fred. This person contracted some sort of cancer, and died nine days after nine eleven. Fred, the son of Holocaust Survivors, was probably the most Jewish person that PG has known. Fred was generous with his opinions. While no claim is made to having access to secret information, these opinions gave an insight into a certain pattern of thought. Some of these attitudes continue to this day, with other situations.
The employment related association took place between 1985 and 1989. This was during the Iran Iraq war. It was felt by many that those were two evil countries, that should be allowed to fight each other as long as possible. When they were fighting each other, they were not a threat to Israel. Fred enthusiastically endorsed this idea. “Yes they should. It is for your benefit. It will prevent terrorism”.
Hundreds of thousands of young men died in that war. Iraq got worn out by the fighting, and resorted to the use of chemical weapons. Iraq also ran up a large debt to Kuwait. In an effort to cancel that debt, Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. That set in motion a cycle of violence and revenge that still plagues the United States.
Today, there is much fighting in Syria. There are some who say that with Hezbollah fighting Al Queda, they are both bad actors. Let them kill each other as much as they want. Again, when they fight each other, they will leave Israel alone.
The carnage in Syria, with the government killing thousands of it’s citizens, brings to mind another Fred story. In 1989, China brutally repressed demonstrators asking for more rights. On the monday after the massacre, Fred commented that the Soviet Union was sorry. They wanted to do this killing themselves. Could this be how Israel feels about the killing in Syria? Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.
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