Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

The English language is constantly evolving, and quite rapidly the last few years, with influences from social media and all, and sometimes a new word will appeal to me and sometimes it just strikes a wrong chord. In the case of the name Karen being used for an entitled, self-righteous, suburbanish white female, often a bit racist, I am not on board. It is both too vague and too specific. Of course, it applies to women who call the police on black people for doing completely normal things, like barbecuing or bird watching or walking down the street. But it seems to be being applied much more generally. And, there are moments when it’s perfectly appropriate to ask to see the manager.
Also, is there an equivalent male term?

But, besides the word, let’s examine the behavior. One would have thought, after the first incident of internet shaming, women across America (because this particular brand of insanity only seems to happen there) would have said “Well, better not ever do that or everybody will see me on the internet.” Yet, the incidents continue, each one more ridiculous than the last. What this proves is, quite simply, these people do not think like us. Whereas most of us watch those videos and say “OMG, what a crazy, horrible person” there is a very large subset of people, which probably includes a dominant percentage of their family and friends, are probably cheering them on.

So, are these people arrogant and self-righteous (and racist) or insecure and craving social support (and racist)? So, maybe there does need to be a word. But, we also need to analyze the phenomenon.

A letter was published in Harper’s magazine on Tuesday, and signed by a whole bunch of famous people, including authors J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, and Salman Rushdie, intellectuals Stephen Pinker and Noam Chomsky, feminist lawyer Gloria Steinem, chess Master Gary Kasparov, and others, about 150 in total.
It read, in part “The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted. While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture: an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty….”
It’s not specifically stated, but I see this as support for J.K. Rowling. That’s because she’s the most recent hate magnet, although many on the list have taken their turn, and because one transgender activist, Jennifer Finney Boylan, who signed the letter, recanted her position within hours. “I did not know who else had signed that letter,” she tweeted. I doubt very much if she was referring to Gary Kasparov.
It seems to me, though, that Rowling has won this battle. Regardless of which is the correct bathroom for transgender people to use, it seems that at least 150 highly respected and influential people have decided to tell the trans community to calm the fuck down.
With all due respect to my trans friends, I am very happy about that.

Some poems come to me in an instant, I like them a lot because I subscribe to the response of Gertrude Stein when somebody asked her why she like to write. “I don’t like to write,” she said. “I like having written.” Some poems take weeks, or even months, and while I like them, because I like all my poems, they don’t tend to be my most popular work. Some of my poems, maybe even most, start with the two lines that were the original inspiration, and then I have to cobble together an ending, which is hard. I’m not as good at endings as I am at beginnings. In this poem, however, the 4 line inspiration is at the end and it wasn’t too hard to construct the rest of it.
It got more reaction than usual at the poetry site I go to, so I’m posting it here in my blog, largely because there is so little worth writing about any more and I didn’t even do a blog last night and still don’t have a good idea for one. I consider it sort of cheating to post one of my poems and call it a blog, but what the hell….

I love ice cream and apple pie

a burger or a steak

soft white clouds, a clear blue sky

a summer by the lake

I love the look of wonder

on a little child’s face

but do I love my country?

a country’s just a place

I love majestic mountains

and rivers flowing free

that go on and on forever

and I love the deep blue sea

I love the flowers and the trees

I love all things that grow

I love the stars up in the sky

but countries come and go

I love to hear great music

I love to sing and dance

I love the sound of laughter

and the feeling of romance

I love my friends and family

the way they make me feel

but do I love my country?

countries are not real

There would be no need for conflict

for armies and for war

If people loved their countries less

and other people more

Full disclaimer, I still haven’t seen it, so I’m not entitled to have an opinion on it. Nonetheless, I think we’re seeing an interesting social phenomenon, and a proof of Marshall McLuhan’s most famous statement, the medium is the message.
For five years, we have all been hearing people sing the praises of Hamilton, the Broadway musical. So far, so good. I tend to like musicals, on the grounds that even if the story is shit, there might still be a couple of enjoyable songs in there. Also, I like historical biographies. Hamilton is not my favorite among the revolutionaries, and I certainly would have voted for Jefferson over him, but he definitely gets credit for being a smart guy who was right about some stuff. And, recently, history has not been kind to Jefferson.
But, back to Hamilton, the musical. It was incredibly popular as a stage play, with all the in-crowd people, those who can afford to pay a couple hundred bucks for an evening’s entertainment, raving about it.
Now, it’s on TV (pay TV, but still TV) and it has been shown to a much wider audience, and it’s like the blazing campfire got doused by a surprise summer rainstorm. Some people are still saying they liked it, but a whole lot of people are saying ‘meh’ or even ‘that kind of sucked.’
Part of it was the idea of black actors playing white characters, which I hadn’t even realized was the deal back when it was just rich people seeing the play. Tricky stuff, there. The Wiz worked. Black Panther worked, even with white audiences. But, a historical drama, I don’t know. When Daniel Day Lewis played Lincoln, he was made to look like Lincoln and part of the casting choice was that that would be possible. When Cliff Robertson was chosen to play John Kennedy in PT 109, part of the reason for that choice is that he looked a bit like Kennedy.
It can be defended, it’s acting, it’s a stylistic choice. But, it’s one that apparently worked with the dress up and go to the theater audience, and not to the people who were watching it on their couch, at home, in their underwear.
Also, I think there’s a bit of confirmation bias at play. If you’ve shelled out a couple of Benjamins to see a show, you are disinclined to come out of that show and say “Eh, didn’t like it that much.” Even most rich people will admit that that is an amount of money not to be lightly thrown away, and nobody likes to admit they got took.
Whatever the specific reasons, it is proof of what McLuhan said. The medium definitely does have an effect on how the message is perceived.

The first, and actually only thing you need to remember about Kanye West’s announcement that he’s running for president is that it should not be taken seriously. There is no more chance of Kanye West becoming president than there is of Trump refusing to leave office if he loses. You can file both of those under things that will never happen.
Kanye West is a bit like Vermin Supreme, the guy who wears a boot on his head and says that everybody should get a pony. But, I doubt he’s as smart or as self-aware. Vermin Supreme even admits on his website, sort of, that it’s all a big joke.
I’m not saying no musician could ever be president. Sonny Bono made it to congress. If he’d been a super great congressman, and a better skier, he might have pulled it off.
But Kanye West? He’s famous for making a sex tape that spawned a reality show. He’s famous for being a drunken idiot at the Grammy Awards ceremony. He’s famous as a punch line, a symbol for completely moronic people who have no idea how smart and talented they are not. He’s not all that famous for his music.
He probably has no idea what running for president entails, and will not even be listed on the ballots.
So, in summation, no. No, he should not be taken seriously. At all.