I wonder if the dreadful irony of people celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday by judging people based on the color of their skin rather than the content of their character is lost on people? And we’ve had an awful progress in humor over the years. First, irony became the only recognized form of humor. Now we’re incapable of recognizing irony and humor is virtually being driven away.
There’s an old story about a comic who tells a friend that he’s started seeing a psychiatrist. On their first appointment the psychiatrist tells him to lie down on the couch and tell him what’s bothering him. The friend asks “Did it do you any good?” The comic responds “I haven’t been able to get another appointment since. He’s doing my act in Philadelphia.”
I pretty much agree with Andrew Sullivan here:
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/andrew-sullivan-the-abyss-of-hate-versus-hate.html
Yeah, I agree with a lot of that and had thought of remarking on it here. There are a couple of paragraphs at or near the end on the self-serving and counter-productive redefinition of bigotry as requiring power which are worth reflecting on but which I’m sorry to say will fall on deaf ears. He’s just lamenting the end of the Enlightenment. Rationalization comes right after breathing as a necessity of life.
A society based on the iPhone is incapable of maintaining liberal democratic government.
Increasingly I hear the claim that only white people can be racist because racism requires power and white people have the power. It’s a bizarre argument, but one that people increasingly subscribe too. It’s the only thing I can think of to explain the Covington affair – why facecrime is punished by the mob and the borg elite while clearly racist acts and statements are basically ignored as inconsequential.
“A white supremacy signalling device, the MAGA hat now serves the same purpose.”
Y’all would’ve known that if ye’d been at the last meeting.
As somebody or other once pointed out when you’re the only one who hears the dog-whistle, you’re the dog.
And as for the victimization of “elder Phillips”, he went to Washington for a reason. He got exactly what he came for through passive aggression focused by a media lens.
I do not know the man and would appreciate any insights. My impression is that he’s a provocateur. I cannot muster much sympathy for a provocateur who provokes.