Over time that very small part grew, and I came to understand that acquired tastes may be more challenging, but they are also infinitely more valuable. A very small part of me knew she was doing me a favor. I remember that breakup distinctly not because I’m still sad about it but because, as my ex was detailing everything about me she found too difficult to appreciate, a very small part of me knew she was talking about the best, most interesting parts of me. They don’t require any real consideration. Things that are universally appealing are unacquired tastes. It has no sharp edges, no flawed surfaces. Universal appeal is a dreary, bland thing. I am not interested in much of anything that will appeal to everyone. There is a dangerous tendency to conflate representation and inclusion with universality. We now have a cultural obsession with universality. We are at point unique in history where the old must learn from the young because the young are closest to the future Dr.All too often, taste is used as a cudgel to force conformity, to create a social hierarchy where those with the right tastes are culturally valued and those with the wrong tastes are not. (Alas, apparently both Google and Yahoo have.) I saw that statement from the great anthropo-sociologist more than 50 years ago and never forgot it. So when do you get smart enough to know you’re stupid? How about yesterday, last week, last year, last decade? Last century, perhaps?Īs Czar Donaldov and his cartoon poltroons prove every day, stupid sells very well and good salesmen know you never change a gimmick that’s working. I came across a long thread by body positive activist and New York Times best selling author Roxane Gay. Superstar Swedish climate champion Greta Thunberg calmly upstaged the now-defrocked president at the 2020 Davos, Switzerland, global warming summit after she was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. And so after a pitch was r e jected early last week, I began browsing Twitter as I do when I’m procrastinating an assignment. (The sicko psycho even photoshopped his face over hers on the cover. Vanity of strumpery, thy name is Trumpery.)Īn old friend once noted that life is what happens while you were making other plans. I recently heard a corollary: Past 65, life is what happens between doctors’ appointments. In recent conversations, I’ve been asked where I find hope.
We must learn from the young like tiny Greta and Rep. They are closer the future and thus have more to lose. They energize and make common cause with true advocates like Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and Elizabeth Warren, D-MA. Witness how folk-rock dinosaurs Neil Young and Joni Mitchell just kicked Spotify’s greedy ass over allowing murderous COVID-19 disinformation to be spread like droppings in a barnyard. (BTW: Most music streaming is old songs.) Soul singer Indie Arie and podcaster Roxane Gay, both 40-somethings, followed suit. We live in terrifying times with wars more common than not as we plunge headlong into the twin firepits of tribalism and greed. They are increasingly (gasp!) liberal and thus must be kept away from voting.
The United States has never lost a conventional war although Korea ended in an uneasy tie. We have since lost Vietnam and Afghanistan to tireless guerrillas who bled us white of blood and treasure. The late Iraqi dictator (and onetime U.S. ally) Saddam Hussein was the only guy stupid enough to risk fighting us in a conventional WW2- style ground war. military today remains the baddest buncha sonsabitches who ever got into a fight.Ĭzar Donaldov’s buddy Bad Vlad seems intent on re-fighting WW2 over little ole Ukraine. Putin (properly pronounced “poo-teen” according to the late conservative wordsmith William Safire) has already propagandized his populace into thinking that the poor little KGB pirate is being victimized by (drum roll, please) U.S. I am the most anti-war guy you will ever meet and I think the bastard is bluffing.
If he invades, not only will Ukraine rue the day it ever gave up its nukes in exchange for some vague promise of protection from the west, but the Red Army will get its ass kicked.Īs close as I can come to a reason for a Russian invasion is that Vlad wants to test how good our war machine is. He’s already by far the richest man in the world, according to vague intel reports, so like any corporate CEO, he wants to expand the company. He controls the biggest land mass of any nation, so maybe conquest is the only thing left that rings his chimes. I think it is dangerous to confuse the idea of democracy with elections. Just because you have elections doesn’t mean you are a democracy…I’m still taken aback at the extent of indoctrination and propaganda in the United States. It is as if people there are being reared in a sort of altered reality, like broiler chickens or pigs in a pen. Indian novelist Arundhati Roy, Barbwire 9-12-2004.