The Problem Of Anti-Racism
Some people are proud of being anti-racist. This is not always something to be proud about. Often, as in anti communism and homophobia, the struggle against the unseen enemy is worse than the problem you are fighting. When you denounce someone as racist, you might be talking about yourself.
The discussion that follows should not be seen as pro racist. People should treat people with kindness. The word people does not need an adjective. This kindness should be extended to those who do not share your opinions about racism.
Maybe you should lead by example. Instead of worrying about how your neighbor thinks, worry about how you think. If you don’t like the nasty word don’t use it.
To some, racism is the ultimate taboo. It is the worst charge you can make about a person, and the quickest to be made. Once accused, you are guilty until proven innocent. It does not help that the definition of racism is expanding all the time. What one person considers racism is normal thinking to another. It used to be that racism was when you treated someone poorly because of their ethnicity. Now is is a multi faceted boogieman about power and prejudice. Keeping up can be a full time job.
Anti-communism has been compared to anti-racism. To our younger readers, there used to be a system of government called communism. It was alleged to be involved in a cold war with the United States. This cold war was the justification for a bloated military industrial complex. Many crooked politicians were elected on the basis of being anti communist. Often, the fight against communism was worse than the actual system of government.
Anti-racism is the new McCarthyism. Guilt by association is the rule. Difficult to refute charges are made against people. The charge of racism is used as a red herring.
Homophobia is compared to anti-racism. In both cases, the accuser has a set of standards. If the accused does not meet those standards, then the accused is considered fair game for abuse. The accused and the accuser may not agree on these standards. That does not matter. If someone wants to make the accusation, then they will, and will feel righteous about doing so.
It is frequently speculated that the homophobe is secretly gay. The need to be heard badmouthing gays stems from a perceived need to prove heterosexuality. Could this be the case with the anti racist? Maybe the anti-racist is secretly afraid that they might be a racist. The “calling out” of others, for perceived racism, is an effort to overcompensate for their own shortcomings.
Some things need to be said one more time. People should treat people with kindness. The word people does not need an adjective. Shaming and guilt mongering, because someone does not share your attitudes about race, is not appropriate. To use an anti-communist expression, there are better ways to win hearts and minds. This is a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Business Of Racism
It is one of those tweets that keeps coming back. @PolliticalCom How bad is racism in America? Take the poll –> PG was through with the yard sales, and looking for entertainment. Being easily amused is a progressive lifestyle choice.
To take this poll, it will be necessary to use internet explorer. Firefox does not do some things well. While at ie, PG checks in at bloggingheads.tv The top show at the moment features Glenn Loury and John McWhorter. The headline reads “Ta-Nehisis Coates is no James Baldwin.”
Racism may, or may not, be a problem in Amerika, but it is one helluva marketing tool. The racism poll we will take in a minute is at a tacky website, Political dot com. You can be assured there is merchandise to sell. There is a header ad, for an “URGENT NATIONAL POLL … Should GOP fight Obama on gun control?” Like the results are going to matter, without a campaign contribution.
The first question is “Does racism affect the political attitudes and overall policies of the United States domestically? The possible answers are Yes, definitely, Yes, slightly, Maybe, No, No, not at all. If the browser is working, you can see some numbers after the answers. It is as if the nation has already made up its mind, and you don’t matter.
Do you believe racism is still alive in the United States? Is the American Dream still alive for low class minorities living below at or below the poverty line? Does racism inhibit our ability to progress as a nation? Which political party do you favor? What is your gender? The last two questions have different answers. It might be fun to offer “No, not at all” as a possible answer to the questions “Which political party do you favor” and “What is your gender.”
The marketing kicks in after the gender question. “If you or a loved one snore, what type of snoring do you suffer from?******Sponsored Poll by Our Snoring Solution******* You will receive a free custom report and a letter from the inventor of the cure on how to cure your specific snoring problem. “
While the mp3 was downloading, PG listened to a few minutes of bhtv. It seems that Ta-Nehisi Coates has been anointed the national scribe when decrying the race issue. When David Brooks dared to question the glory of Ta-Nehisi Coates, he became the national poopyhead of the week. In the bhtv show, Dr. McWhorter suggests that the uncritical praise heaped on Mr. Coates indicates that the race situation is not as bad as Mr. Coates says.
Dr. McWhorter compares anti racism with religion, with Ta-Nehisi Coates as the high priest. PG has made the connection of race to religion before. In both race and religion, there are massive amounts of preaching to the choir. Arguments that you agree with are seen as entertaining, with a satisfying side dish of virtue. The opinions of strangers regarding race, and religion are seen as proper subjects for corrosive critque. Dr. McWhorter notes that race religion has nothing to do with creating change. Indeed, if racism in Amerika were to go away, Ta-Nehisi Coates would be out of a job. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Football season will be here soon.
Slaughterhouse-Five Part One
In the first part of Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut goes to Dresden, East Germany. He rides in a taxi. The mother of the taxi driver died in the Allied bombing raid on Dresden, Germany. KV says “so it goes” on page 2, as a reaction to this information. The eight letters were a stand alone sentence .
This is the beginning of a chamblee54 reaction to Slaughterhouse-Five, hereafter known as SF. When PG reads a book by KV, the style of writing takes over. PG begins to think like KV writes, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This series should be easy to write, and hopefully not too tough to read. The idea is to stop reading, and start writing, every time KV says “So it goes.” This will be abbreviated as SIG. That is four abbreviations, and should be enough.
Soon after the taxi ride, KV is talking to a man. The subject is a book KV is writing about Dresden. “Is it an anti-war book?” “Yes, I guess” “Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?” This conversation took place around 1967, or 48 years ago. With the Vietnam conflict escalating, anti-war stuff was popular. What few could have foreseen was the 2015 reality. War is just as painful, profitable, and prevalent as ever. Glaciers, on the other hand, are starting to melt. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but 350 ppm carbon dioxide has them both whipped.
SIG002 is on page 6. A rabid American has a quart of jewels, stolen off the dead of Dresden. SIG003 is on page 9. A man gets his wedding ring caught in an elevator, and is crushed to death by an automobile. It didn’t make much sense.
Years ago, a couple of years after the first reading of SF, PG worked at a department store called Davisons. They had these fabulous freight elevators, which you controlled by turning a brass knob. If wanted to go up, you turned left. If you wanted it to go down, you turned right. One of these elevators used to have a wooden gate in front of it. One day, a man stuck his head in the shaft to see if the elevator was coming. The elevator car cut his head off. The blood stains remained, between the third and fourth floors of the number 10 elevator.
PG first read SF a few years before working at Davisons. It was a tacky paperback. The current version is a deluxe, hard back, 25th anniversary edition. It has a new introduction, where KV calls George Will an owlish nitwit. PG remembers a conversation KV had with someone who was not pleased about another war book, thinking it would make killing seem glamorous.
Not to worry, the conversation is in chapter 1. KV promises that there would be no role for Frank Sinatra, or John Wayne, in the movie based on his book. This is ironic. For all of their tough guy posturing, neither Mr. Wayne nor Mr. Sinatra served in World War II.
After the conversation we have SIG004 on page 20. It has something to do with Sodom and Gomorrah. A few sentences later, Lot’s wife, who evidently had a job description but no name, was turned into a pillar of salt, thus begetting SIG005. This is more or less the end of chapter 1. The story of SF, such as it is, begins with the first line of chapter 2. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The men shown were Union Soldiers, in the War Between the States.
PU Is Short For Pun
1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.
He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from the algebra class. It was a weapon of math disruption.
5. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
6.. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.
7. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering..
8. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
9. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie..
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
12. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
14. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.
One hat said to the other, ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head..’
15. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
16. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’
17. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.
When his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, ‘No change yet.’
18. A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
19. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
20. The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
21. A backward poet writes inverse.
22. In democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count that votes.
23. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
24. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.
25. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
26. Stories are in the public duh-main. This is a repost.
Obnoxious Phrases
There was click bait on facebook, 6 Obnoxious Phrases Everyone Says Without Realizing It. This is from Answers dot com, which always makes you click five times to get to the next line. Is this racist?
Since it was a picture file, you could not copy the bait line. You had to type it out. This will be handy when trying to find a text list of the 6 phrases. However, this was not on the front page of search results. To save the readers the labor of clicking through, here are the obnoxious phrases: Literally, It’s Like Crack!, I Would Totally Hit/Tap That, Man, That’s Gay, No Offense, Haters Gonna Hate, Addicted, Like, Totes, That’s so ghetto, Sorry not sorry, It is what it is, That’s retarded. Some bright readers will notice that 13 phrases are listed. Whatever.
The google page looks like a post can be milked out. Thought catalog has a top ranked result, and in an hour their server might finally open the post. Puffho contributes 22 Common Phrases We All Secretly Hate. “My bad.” “Sorry I’m not sorry.” “No worries.” “Chill out.” “Sunday funday!” “Everything happens for a reason.” Do you really believe that?
10 Things That Brits Don’t Realize Are Offensive to Americans is to be expected. It does not list tacky things to say, but rather general lines of conversation. An example: “Sex talk and toilet humor Like swearing, discussing what goes on between the sheets or on the loo is a lot less common among friends in the U.S. I only get to talk toilet trash when I’m back in the U.K., where I’ll happily spend an evening necking a full-bodied Rioja and discussing orifices.” Absolutely.
14 shitty sayings looked promising. Then a pop up arose. “No one likes pop-ups. Shit. Anyway, now that we’re here, I’ll tell you that if you like Wait But Why, you should give our email list a try. We’ll only send you 2-4 emails a month, right when new posts come out.” You can’t make this stuff up.
One bright spot in this affair is 11 Overused Phrases Dumb People Say. 1. “It is what it is” 2. The formula of: “How X was Y??,” How good was that steak?,” “How random was that?” 3. “I don’t give a rat’s ass” 4. “If someone would have told me a decade ago that in 10 years I’d be doing X, I would NEVER have believed it.” 5. “The dog wants out” 6. “…it does. It really does.” 7. “That is really unique.” 8. “I could care less” 9. “How do you REALLY feel?” 10. “You can’t win for losing.” 11. “I am NOT a happy camper.” In the comments, DrZack Martin adds “Just saying thanks wouldn’t just be enough, for the fantastic fluency in your writing.” Awesome.
The most ironic title in this collection is 12 things that only a douchebag would say. The use of a hygiene appliance as an insult is obsolete. When you hit the Continue button, the cursor goes to the next button on top of the page. When you hit next, nothing happens. It might be for the best. Maybe the authors credit will have to do. “Neil Bulson writes words for money. Some of them are even funny. Hey, that rhymed! As you can see, it is probably best not to encourage him.”
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. LOL
The Harder They Come
T.C. Boyle wrote The Harder They Come. It is based on the story of Aaron Bassler. A young man takes the wrong drugs, is inspired by the wrong stories, kills two men, and is killed by the police.
In one book tour interview, Mr. Boyle talks about the violence in America. There usually is a recent event to refer to. With more guns, and more anger, people are getting hurt. Rather than deliver a lecture, Mr. Boyle tells a story.
Adam is a troubled young man. He prefers to be called Colter, in honor of a frontier hero. He spends most of his time in the woods of Northern California. Adam shacks up with Sara, another lost soul. Things go relatively smoothly until the house Adam lives in is sold.
While all this is going on, Adam’s father, Sten, tries to enjoy his retirement. One of Sten’s neighbors is fired up about the Mexicans growing dope in the forests, and wants to do something. The man goes hiking in the forests, looking for drug activity. He stumbles onto Adam, who is living in the woods. After a verbal confrontation, Adam shoots the hiker dead. Before long there is another killing in the forest, and a massive manhunt ensues. After coltering his way out of danger for a month, the police find Adam, with fatal consequences.
The story is well written and entertaining, as is all T.C. Boyle product. At times the plot takes twists that are tough to believe. Sara sees a police car in a parking lot, and wants revenge. People in this tale are always getting even for something. Sara goes into the police car, opens the cover to the gas tank, and pours a container of sugar water into the fuel. This does not seem likely.
There are no easy answers. Weapons are easily available to drug addled young men. Everyone who lives in a coastal paradise is angry. Eventually it all boil over, people get hurt, and PG has a story to read. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Called Ugly By A Frog
11. Thou shalt publish thy arguments in text format. ~ Not everyone received the message in 2000 to stop using colored text. ~ Isn’t the proper expression “text of color”? ~ That class was not very bright. They should have realized after the pebbles that the jar was not full. ~ @StoneCStudios 50 Cent’s name has more money than he does. ~ Nobody hates like Christians they think their ideas about life after death excuse their hate ~ top seven topics on Atlanta twitter right now #TodaysKidsWillNeverKnow #IranDeal #PlutoFlyby #Steve Spurrier #BastilleDay #CowAppreciationDay #Planned Parenthood ~ The website you were trying to reach is temporarily unavailable. ~ trees are all bark and no bite ~ Snopes has had a busy day with the #plannedparenthood video. It says that rapists use “unmarked police cars” to snare victims. However, dialing 112 is not a good idea. 911 is still your best bet. ~ @postcrunk constantly in the middle of billions of uniquely intersecting realities ~ Is that the Mod Squad? ~ I got blocked on twitter today by a “christian” website. I said that the Planned Parenthood video was a fraud, and anyone who believed it was an idiot. ~ Being heard talking the talk is much more important that walking the walk. In so many ways the ARF crowd is like overall society in that the image is more important that the reality behind the mask. ~ When you say blocked, do you mean unfriended? There are different layers of this. OK, you just answered that. I guess I have only been blocked twice by faeries, which isn’t bad considering. ~ Unfriending is hurtful. I have unfollowed a few people, but I don’t think I have ever unfriended anyone. If you change your mind later, and decide that Joe Blow really isn’t a poopyhead after all, then you still have that recorded slap in the face to deal with. Spell check suggetions… unfollowed unhallowed poopyhead pothead ~ @whittmman I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be. ~ @whitman632 I wish I smelled better. @chamblee54 You have been dead 123 years What did you expect? ~ This is just a bit north of the new baseball stadium. That move was partially justified by looking for a better neighborhood. ~ Damn I hate this yahoo email thing I had to delete the first time I wrote this and start over I added the link first, and then this idiot program tried to add what I wrote to the link. ~ KimKierkegaardashian @KimKierkegaard No authentic human life is possible without a black leather jacket. ~ While the Gaza slaughter was horrible, what Israel is doing today might be worse. Along with Saudi Arabia, Israel is trying to sabotage a peace deal with Iran. ~ Has Caitlyn Jenner ever said what the preferred pronouns are? She might not be preferred. ~ Calling All Geniuses: Are you smart enough to be a Mensa member? ~ @nihilist_arbys It’s 3 am. You awake in a panic. You’re wasting your life? You’re alone? relax. You’re totally insignificant & you’ll die soon. Enjoy arbys. ~ If you like this post, please share it along: ~ The Ministry of Silly Walks ~ If you, say, call the number on a receipt and give feedback on your customer service experience in the hopes of winning $1,000, who verifies that the company actually awards a prize? ~ Quiz: Who Is Your Spirit Musician? Janis Joplin ~ The same people who verify the amount given to charity by shady merchandisers. ~ can white people be negatively affected by racism ~ can you say humbug in July? ~ People who label other people are a problem. ~ some ppl boast abt making pwoc uncomfortable this does not lead to positive change ~ It is socially irresponsible to post images of violence on the daily w/o supporting people’s mental & physical well-being. ~ Naomi Munroe sure does know a lot of big words. ~ the anagram for massive, with or without all caps, is me ass iv or save sim ~ KimKierkegaardashian @KimKierkegaard Skirt is by Chloe. Heels are by Manolo. But everything that makes me impure comes from within. ~ This post has been removed. This post by Gawker CEO Nick Denton has more details. ~ July 17 is birthday of Phyllis Diller & Camilla Parker Bowles Looks are not everything ~ This posting has been flagged for removal. ~ @alphabetsuccess The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn. – Bertrand Russell #quote @chamblee54 What are you going to burn, the bridge or the cross? ~ Doesn’t someone have to shut up and listen, or is that obsolete? ~ this post begins with a condescending comment about the Alaskan native population. It goes downhill from there. I made it as far as the comment about Darren Wilson shooting Mike Brown because of prejudice, and getting away with it because of racism. This sort of simplistic rhetoric does not have any value. ~ When Jimmy was running for President, Lester Maddox said that Jimmy was a liar. Jody Powell replied. “Being called a liar by Lester Maddox is like being called ugly by a frog,” ~ Shut down the Canidrome, the world’s deadliest greyhound racetrack. ~ Mr. Brooks has taken book promotion to a new level. ~ is it as annoying when G-d talks about man as it is when man talks about G-d? ~ What do you think about the rumors the Caitlyn Jenner received the award as a quid pro quo for consenting with an interview with Diane Sawyer? ~ Wonder if the boat owner looks sad when he gets his credit card bill? ~ @WernerTwertzog All this fuss about #DonaldTrump is a waste of perfectly useful hatred. ~ You can always be sure to find uncertainty. ~ Did anyone else get back from riding a bicycle past a Buddhist monastery? ~ @whittmman Just because you have an irrational belief in a supreme being doesn’t mean there is one. ~ pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. ~ selah
The Planned Parenthood Video Part Two
Last Wednesday, a sensationalized video was released. Planned Parenthood was said to traffic is baby parts obtained through abortion. On Thursday, Radiolab released a show, Gray’s Donation.
Sarah Gray was pregnant with twins. The sonogram said that one baby would probably die, and that the sick baby was endangering the healthy baby. A decision was made to abort the sick baby. On the day of the procedure, something had changed. The abortion could not be safely performed. Both babies would be carried to term.
Thomas, the sick baby, lived for six days. Callum, the healthy baby, is doing fine. A decision was made to donate organs, from Thomas, to researchers. In the radiolab story, the mother goes to some of the labs, and learns what happened to the organs.
These quotes are from a story, Thomas Gray lived six days, but his life has lasting impact. “The next day, Gray met James Zieske, the institute’s senior scientist, who told her “infant eyes are worth their weight in gold,” because, being so young, they have great regenerative properties. Thomas’ corneas were used in a study that could one day help cure corneal blindness. … the Duke Center for Human Genetics in Durham, N.C., where even though the twins were identical, scientists found epigenetic differences in their cord blood, research that could one day help prevent Thomas’ fatal defect, anencephaly. … the researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who used the donation in her efforts to cure retinoblastoma, the most common form of eye cancer in children. … It is almost impossible to obtain normal retina from a child, The sample from Thomas is extremely precious for us.”
This is a unique case, as are almost all life or death situations. Things are seldom black or white, They are, pardon the pun, shades of gray. There are serious moral dilemmas involved in the use of some tissues for research. Nuance is not often communicated in 140 characters.
This does not stop the internet comment moralizers. “she a ghoul and a shyster dealer of death parts… praying on those mourning to accomplish ridiculous research” “Great story, but there is no way one of the priests should have claimed that it was OK to abort the sick baby in order to save the healthy one or the mother. The example used was completely wrong. … In Gray’s Donation there was absolutely an intention to kill the sick fetus. It would not have been an accident or unintended, and therefore there is no double effect, and is morally indefensible.”
In the Planned Parenthood video, much is made about pricing for the infant parts. Prices range from $30 to $100. In this study, we hear a researcher say “infant eyes are worth their weight in gold.” This might not be the best way to phrase this, since the tiny eyes probably don’t weigh that much. In a competitive free market, such an item would have a much, much higher price than $100.
One of the worst players in muddying the waters is the Catholic Church. A website called Life News has a misleading article, He Only Lived Six Days Outside the Womb, But Baby Thomas is Helping Cure Cancer. It ignores the fact that the mother opted for abortion, but was forced by medical circumstances to carry the twins to term. The post linked here has a header ad for Faith Focused Dating at “CatholicMatch.” Another ad promotes Affordable Biblical Healthcare.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
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