@ayjay wrote a strong piece challenging tensions within contemporary liberalism. I need to spend more time digesting it and the piece by John Gray that he links to. Here are some initial reactions though: Gray claims that liberal elites have run the West for the past 30 years. Yet, from the 80s onwards the US has been on a rightward march from the economic liberalism of the New Deal through the Great Society. Conservative thinkers and Republicans seem to have been setting the terms of the debate. The austerity in response to Great Recession had much more to do with conservative Austrian Economics than liberal Keynesian solutions. How much have the resulting economic shocks fueled the extreme left and right? Also, the Chicago School’s 90s shock therapy for Russia may have quite a bit to do with their illiberal turn. I guess the upshot of the above is a question about the relationship between economic beliefs and social beliefs. Has the move back towards conservative economics and greater income inequality affected the place of liberalism within society? Are conservative social beliefs connected to the conservative economic approach? And, if so, how does that relationship affect the liberal response to the…
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I wrote this mostly as a parody of certain men raging at women making minor geek culture mistakes. There is a slight bit of actual annoyance at Ebony attributing a cinematographer’s contribution to a director.1 More importantly the episode is an incisive discussion of Blindspotting. Oh, oh, Ebony messed up big time today on Feminist Fequency Radio #37. She talks about film directors who know how to light brown skin. Talk about disrespecting cinematographers! Yes, some directors are involved with lighting, but even they collaborate with their cinematographers: the latter are the ones specifically trained in lighting and capturing light on film! As a theatrical lighting designer, I’m sorta sensitive to this, as I’m the one doing the equivalent in live performance. And, as a aside, POC are such a pleasure to light as there’s so much more color to bring out than in pasty white people. For those of you who haven’t seen it recently, check out Purple Rain again. The lighting throughout the film is so good. There’s one scene in the basement with acid yellow lighting making Prince’s father so much more threatening. And it would have turned a white person into a lemon. There is a…
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So I’m being horribly decadent, but riding Amtrak’s Empire Service up to Hudson lying back in Business Class is super comfy.
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This started out as a response to @colinwalker, but grew beyond that. Some thoughts on interesting blogs to follow in 2018: Letters and Sodas—Great book reviews on a wide range of topics. Balkinization—Looking at politics through a legal lens. Love, Joy, Feminism—A woman who grew up in a Quiverfull family and her journey towards a more liberal view of family, sexuality and the world. Putting the Life Back Into Science Fiction—Looks at the possible consequences of climate change through imagining the future. Tits and Sass—A blog by and about Sex Workers. Field Negro—Politics from an African American Man’s perspective. Warren Throckmorton—An evangelical preacher/psychologist who used to believe you could pray away the gay, but absorbed research and experience that it’s impossible to do so. An important conservative religious voice on the disjunction between evangelicals and the modern world. Feministe—Feminist perspectives on the world today. Looks like I certainly side on the liberal end of things. Perhaps I need more conservative voices in my feeds, but it’s pretty hard today to find ones that engage with reality.
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Granted Loomis links to a member and not the DSA, but any Democrat is universes better than a Republican. Even if Jones doesn’t support a $15 wage and Medicare-For-All, the only way to get them involves a Democratic Senate. Why sacrifice the goals for purity of politicians?
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Dave Winer is an amazing programmer who’s done a tremendous amount for the open web. His comments on technology are insightful. However, his thoughts about society and culture come from a deeply privileged place. He contends that a women-only Wonder Woman screening, “left us with a wound and one more political division to deal with.” As if a safe-space for women to celebrate the first modern female superhero film was the equivalent of a men’s rights march. The world is a safe-space for men, especially white, cis-gendered, straight men. They have had millennia to celebrate their achievements and glory, all while subjugating and tyrannizing half of humanity. That power dynamic, while slowly changing still exists; the context renders female-only spaces different from male-only spaces1. More recently, he wrote about Bill Maher and the N-word, arguing that its use in “pop culture” absolved Maher of responsibility. “I’m not saying what the answer is and I don’t like Maher, but I think it was inevitable this was going to happen, and I’m pretty sure it’s not fair to blame him.” This is such a naive view. Yes, Black Americans have taken an extremely offensive word and made it their own. The N-word…
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Sorry for the late post. Turns out a 340 mile round-trip drive from Salem to Poughkeepsie and back is not conducive to writing in-depth the next day. Anyways, onto the preview! Blogging and the Anti-Social Bookmarker — A return to tech for those bored of politics and art. Ever since Maciej enabled Privacy Lock, I've set my personal Pinboard to be completely private. I'm not particularly interested in sharing all my personal interests1. However, after starting Reading George Fox, I figured it would be helpful2 to provide an archive of my sources; hence the pinboard.in link on the side. Now, who wants to manage two different bookmarking accounts? Certainly not lazy old me. I've cobbled together a small AppleScript and bash system to automate transferring links from the personal account to the blog's. This will be the story of that journey.3 One Size Fits All — On the Magnum Edition of Lovecast 356, Dan chats with Dr. Joye Swan about condom use and magical monogamy thinking. While Dr. Swan has done some excellent research on the STI/HIV risks of serial monogamy and partner infidelity, her advice for “the re-education we have to go through” is far too dogmatic and narrow…
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From a Letter to Jeff Hitchock My own leanings towards anti-racism started to crystallize last winter during my term at Pendle Hill: I took a Facilitating Group Learning course and was paired with an African American member of Cambridge Meeting, Michelle Brimage. It took much work and sitting together in the fire to come to trust one another: it was worth it. We both learned and grew. People of color have played a significant role in my life. My African American nanny took me on play dates in her neighborhood; I was given the loving nickname “Jamal” in high school for sitting at the Black kids lunch table; Artists of color have been important collaborators (I’m a lighting designer). I considered myself pretty racially enlightened. Through the work at Pendle Hill, I realized that it is impossible to be White in America and not be racist. The most personal aspect of my own racism is, from a young age (I remember it from 5), I have never been attracted to a Black woman. My dearest friend is a beautiful woman; we connect on a deeply spiritual level; I can truly say I love her. The buds of a romantic relationship,…
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