Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[AlabamAlum]

Wait, Jon, in your view, those who rail against weaponized political correctness and so-called “cancel culture” are the snowflakes?

[Hannibal]

It's the Left's way of trying to use the Right's language against them. They can't see the difference between complaining about something that offends you that you can easily avoid and complaining about the deliberate attacks on the culture via censorship, which you can't avoid.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, this too: Don't fuck it up kids. If you are visiting Fort Lauderdale during "spring break" and you get a sore throat or the sniffles, fer God's sake, don't go get tested. You'll be fine, just stay away from gramma and grandpa when you get back home for at least 7d.

Beach.JPG

This is A1A adjacent to Fort Lauderdale beach. Nothing but bars and restaurants for about 2 miles - most of them open air. The Elbow Room, a huge open air bar on the corner of A1A and Los Olas became famous last March for pictures like this and again during the lock-down when about 200 wait staff, demanding re-opening of bars (restaurants were already open), staged a well organized protests in July. Bars not serving food reopened about 3w later. Good job!

Despite what COVIDKarens would warn us about given the relatively unrestrictive policies of Broward County and FL in general since May, 2020, FL's COVID numbers haven't been much worse than the national average and in some cases well below. Most restaurants have survived, some, that adapted well, have thrived. Right now, you can't find a hotel room or a short term rental - they're all booked through mid-summer mostly by short-termers fleeing the northern state's cold weather and unnecessarily restrictive COVID policies. A lot of the usual Canadian Snow Birds didn't come in January and February because they are required to quarantine for 2 weeks on return to Canada but as word spread that things were fine in S. FL, they started coming.

Fort Lauderdale prepped for the crowds but were mostly welcoming asking visitors to behave with plenty of signage around listing ways to avoid getting infected by SARS-2. If the cops, who are heavily present in cars, motor cycles and on the beat, talk about ways to have a good time on the beach and stay safe when they encounter a large group of beer drinking young people on the beach (coolers not allowed). So far, kids put the coolers back in their cars and carry on sneaking a few beers at a time back to the beach and the cops aren't ticketing even though they could. It'll be interesting to see if new case numbers tick up in Broward County over the next 10d.

[iam416]

Wait, Jon, in your view, those who rail against weaponized political correctness and so-called “cancel culture” are the snowflakes?

PDJT broke him. I think, at one point, he may have been an independent of some sort. He's pretty much all Prog now.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Wait, Jon, in your view, those who rail against weaponized political correctness and so-called “cancel culture” are the snowflakes?

"Snowflakes" might not be the right term but I think bitching about cancel culture has become a recreational sport for a lot of right-wingers, yeah. And the term is used so frequently now that it's straying into the territory of "I should be able to say anything I damn well want without criticism, else you're canceling me". When people cry racism at everything it undermines legitimate instances of racism. Likewise when people scream cancel culture all the time, it undermines actual abuses.

So when someone gets hounded and harassed out of their job for having an unpopular opinion or even worse because the public wrongly attributes something to them, that's cancel culture to me. And "wokeism" has claimed a good share of victims there.

What's NOT cancel culture? When Hasbro makes zero changes to the Mr. Potato Head or Mrs. Potato Head toys but on the box rebrands the name as "Potato Head". And then a bunch of people lose their minds complaining about that change as if their heritage and culture is under assault.

Honestly, there's a large and in my view growing number of people on the far left (people like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Stoller, a lot of the Bernie crowd) that have been pushing back, hard, on woke-ism, intersectionality, and all that stuff. I don't agree with everything they have to say and I'm sure their views on other topics might infuriate you but if some of you don't follow or read any actual far lefties, that might be why I'm not as fatalistic about all this as most of you. People still committed to Marxism (and not HR Dept woke-ism) view it as much of a threat to them as you guys do.

[AlabamAlum]

DSL,

To me, “cancel culture” is when someone has an opinion you disagree with and you do everything you can to punish them economically to get them to shut up -and serves as a dire warning to anyone who might join chorus and offer a similar view- through loss of a job, boycott of a product, shuttering of a business, whatever. But, make no mistake it has a punitive element to it. And I don’t really see it as a historically Left-Right issue. I mean, I have friends who won’t see a Meryl Streep (and her like-minded actor ilk) movie because of her political views - which I think is silly. I heard of a Coke boycott recently, as well.

I mean, I get not wanting to buy ad space on StormFront, but the pendulum swing to include historical figures and apply our 21st century mores to them is beyond ridiculous and is growing to include anyone or any business who says something the group in power doesn’t like: For example, something like “unfettered immigration is dangerous and bad for the country.” gets off a “Game of Thones” shame walk and economic decapitation.

This forum is an example of how life should be. You say something ridiculous or Talent does or I type out an opinion that is wildly controversial- none of us try to get the other one fired by snipping quotes and sending to our bosses or leading in a boycott of our businesses by publicizing our opinions to potential customers.

It’s a dangerous rabbit hole to go down in that the opinions of the side with the most political currency (and currently that is the Woke Left) become turbo charged and effectively stifle dissent - which turns society into an iron-walled echo chamber.

[iam416]

"Snowflakes" might not be the right term but I think bitching about cancel culture has become a recreational sport for a lot of right-wingers, yeah. And the term is used so frequently now that it's straying into the territory of "I should be able to say anything I damn well want without criticism, else you're canceling me". When people cry racism at everything it undermines legitimate instances of racism. Likewise when people scream cancel culture all the time, it undermines actual abuses.

So when someone gets hounded and harassed out of their job for having an unpopular opinion or even worse because the public wrongly attributes something to them, that's cancel culture to me. And "wokeism" has claimed a good share of victims there.

What's NOT cancel culture? When Hasbro makes zero changes to the Mr. Potato Head or Mrs. Potato Head toys but on the box rebrands the name as "Potato Head". And then a bunch of people lose their minds complaining about that change as if their heritage and culture is under assault.

Honestly, there's a large and in my view growing number of people on the far left (people like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Stoller, a lot of the Bernie crowd) that have been pushing back, hard, on woke-ism, intersectionality, and all that stuff. I don't agree with everything they have to say and I'm sure their views on other topics might infuriate you but if some of you don't follow or read any actual far lefties, that might be why I'm not as fatalistic about all this as most of you. People still committed to Marxism (and not HR Dept woke-ism) view it as much of a threat to them as you guys do.

That's actually a useful post.

First, nuance has no place in today's politics (or, perhaps, any day's politics). It's obvious that both "sides" use the worst case examples of the other side to generically tar the left or the right. Most obviously, socialists and white supremacists. Now, as is the case with anything that demands nuance, not all generalities are like meritoriously. However, the mechanism is there and its front and center.

Second, the BernieBros have never really been about identity politics. I mean, eventually Bernie had to move into that area, but they've always been about class and the attendant pseudo-socialist (and, in a few cases, real socialist) ideas that they think address class. So, the idea that Sanderistas are pushing back against some of the worst of the Wokeists is something that I'd actually expect. It gets in the way of what they want to do.

Third, there is a strong minority in the D party that is very much identity politics-driven and very much intersectionality and critical studies driven. The problem, IMO, is that this particular voice is out-sized in its importance. They punch way above their weight. The Ds win lots of votes in non-coastal areas and the vast majority those voters want nothing to do with the Woke shenanigans that are starting to bubble to the surface in Woke areas -- Portland, Seattle, the whole fucking state of California. My wife, for example, is a partisan D that is empathetic to social justices causes but gets turned off by excessive wokeism.

Fourth, the reason for the out-sized importance of this particular strain of D -- truly, Progs -- is that probably, in the most generic sense, they control important institutions -- certainly all of the important cultural institutions -- Academia, Entertainment, Media. Even if you disagree with the term "control", I think you have to concede they're disproportionately strong in those institutions.

Fifth, I can go on about cancel culture and so forth, but I think the biggest harm, in general, is that the narrative being driven by this people grossly misstate the actual state of race in the US. I, e.g., can't fathom that we're using the term white supremacist so generally in 2021 given that we know exactly what that is. I think you see this in polling where everyone significantly overestimates, e.g., the issue of police/AA deaths/violence. Liberal whites grossly overestimate the statistical realities. This really isn't helpful to any sort of meaningful dialogue.

Sixth, the drive to see everything in race and distort the realities of racism, IMO, perversely have the effect of causing people to be oversensitive to race. People find racism everywhere. That, in part, is driving actual cancel culture. But, even worse, it causes people to start thinking of themselves primarily in terms of race. And, look, that's not good. If you're white and you have any sort of dignitiy, you're not particularly likely to think that you're a destestable person because of your race, but rather think of it terms of positives. And if people are telling you that you are bad or implicitly bad, then, man there's pushback. A lot of it.

Seventh, in my own experience, I never once thought of myself as white until about about 6 or 7 years ago. Then you start to see a whole bunch of nonsense that culminates in attributes of whiteness (almost all of which I'd proudly clam -- see Point #6) and other critical studies-driven theory that is just utter nonsense. I don't vote or act or do anything based on race. I'd vote for Tim Scott or Nikki Haley all day over Joe Biden. But, if you're going to tell me I suck because I'm white, then my natural inclination is push back and one of the ways to push back is by pointing out all the great things white people have done. And that's the start of an argument and position that just can't end well (IMO).

Eighth, we aren't reaching McCarthyism levels, yet, but the train is heading that direction. At some point we need prominent D leaders -- like Bernie (not just his supporters) to stand up.

Ninth, I don't think there is anything wrong with revisiting old things and reanalyzing them in terms of today's standards. However, reasonableness remains the key. The problem occurs when you blast past the reasonableness line. There may be a Dr. Seuss book with crazy illustratiions. Tom & Jerry have some episodes that include a fair amount of racist humor. However, as is often the case, it goes too far. When Biden refuses to mention Dr. Seuss in his Reading Day speech, I diunno what to even say. That, e.g., is a great opportunity for the putative leader of the D party to say that while a few Dr. Seuss books maybe include illustrations that no longer hold up against contemporary standards, that his work is still extremely important and his most beloved works beloved. That's not what we get.

Tenth, we're start to live in a world where people are judged by their worst moments. IMO, it's a way to break down the individual.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I posted Wednesday that the ADP numbers have been unreliable over the past year and they were off big time again. They predicted only 117,000 new jobs and the actual number was almost 379,000. Unemployment went down just a tick to 6.2%

Gainers: Hospitality, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing

Losers: Education, Mining, Construction, State/Local Government

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/jobs-report-february-2021.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/03/adp-private-payrolls-february-2021.html

[Dr. Strangelove]

Can't respond in equal length right now, heh, but I'd bring up the recent incident involving the student at Smith College and how stuff like that has the potential to turn even people sympathetic to Woke-ism in the other direction. When a student at an elite, expensive private school can get janitors and cafeteria workers disciplined or fired with one complaint, and elicit effusive apologies from the school's President, it's difficult for reasonable people to view her as a powerless victim.

[iam416]

The most positive thing about that awful story is that the NYT actually decided to write about it and did so in a way that was actually fair. I think they also did a decent job telling the story of the would-be UTK cheerleader who lost her scholarship and admission to UTK as a result of Wokeism. I don't, however, think for a moment that the NYT is going to push back against cancel culture, but telling the stories is, at least, a start.

[THE_WIZARD_]

shaddup

[Ghengis Jon]

Wait, Jon, in your view, those who rail against weaponized political correctness and so-called “cancel culture” are the snowflakes?

Weaponized political correctness infects both sides of the aisle. The problem with today is that everyone wants to be a victim. It wasn't that long ago when 'snowflake' was the favorite insult tossed by conservatives. Now that it gets applied to them for the same actions they railed against their opponents for, look at all the faux outrage.

Potato Head vs Mr Potato Head? Who effin' cares? Hasbro is looking at all the free advertising from culture warriors and hand wringers doing the work of their marketing agency. They don't give half a shit about gender neutrality or any such nonsense. But it is a big deal for those with an agenda, left or right. Because politics has morphed into an identity rather than a POV. If you're against/for <insert frivolous political stance here> then you're against/for me on a personal level.

Nobody talks about the shortage of big boy pants this nation is suffering from.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Did someone say Big Boy?

[Ghengis Jon]

Haven't been to one since I was a kid, but they used to have pretty good burgers. Another memory is the tacky maroon and gold felt wall paper that graced their interiors.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Not many left...most are right there in Meatchicken!