Advice Goddess Free Swim
Got to go to bed...feel free to post on topics you want to talk about; just be sure to only post one link per comment, or your words will be eaten by the troll under the bridge, aka my spam filter.
More blog items in the morning!
And now... The best six minutes of a recent appearance by Rushdie and Hitch.
Enjoy!
________
It's not just bitter young men who think of the violent and intolerant forces of Islam (or most any enterprise) as being the most authentic. This happens throughout human nature... It readily explains how lefty friends of mine, people I'd loved and admired, said to me after the attacks of 9/11 that the nightmare was some kind of righteous payback for American misdeeds, an achievement requiring "bravery" on the part of the hijackers...
...And I'll never forget when a woman I'd recently dated insisted that the hijackers were courageous... Because after all, they'd sacrificed their own lives! (Well actually, I've heard that only 3 or 4 of the 20+ hijackers knew they were on a suicide mission, but that's beside the point. Call me old-fashioned, but slitting the throat of a flight attendant protected only by a garishly-colored, synthetic-fabric scarf is not the handiwork of a truly bold warrior.)
When people are that horny for sincerity and authenticity, whether they're bitter teen boys or political nincompoop soccer moms, bloodshed is the only certificate of legitimacy. People are into it for the thrills, even (and sometimes especially) if they think the authenticity will never touch them personally.
Islam is intrinsically wretched... But faults in cultures far from Mecca are going to challenge us in this conflict.
Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 30, 2010 2:10 AM
Dude, that's really heavy. Wouldn't you rather talk about football?
old rpm daddy at June 30, 2010 3:38 AM
Geek humor: Java Forever
Jim P. at June 30, 2010 5:35 AM
>>Dude, that's really heavy. Wouldn't you rather talk about football?
As a UK expat who lives in the US, I've decided to support South America.
(It may surprise you, old rpm daddy, but I'm not actually an expert on the topic.)
Jody Tresidder at June 30, 2010 7:07 AM
Those hijackers are exactly as courageous as the guy who shot unarmed people in the mall, the unabomber and the guys who blow up abortion clinics. Maybe courage doesn't mean what she thinks it means.
MarkD at June 30, 2010 7:27 AM
I write to defend "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".
One element of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is that it gives gays a level of protection if they are already serving in the military.
The enlisted ranks of new recruits are 18-22 years old, most come from homes in rural flyover country, and are conservative. The Army does not require a high school diploma ( Marines require graduation from high school; navy and air force-not sure ). The atmosphere of the barracks, when the recruits are not on duty, resembles a fraternity house but without the education level of a college fraternity.
Some of these young men-boys really-have a mean streak and will pick out or isolate someone who is different from the pack, whether gay or not. Those isolated will face a range of treatment: teasing, harassment, threats, actual harm, and sometimes murder. Murder is extreme, but think of Matthew Sheppard...which was not an Army situation, but it is likely to happen in the Army as anywhere else.
"Don't Tell" protects gays and should not be repealed. The above facts were true when I was in the Army many years ago. Perhaps the youth of today are more tolerant than the soldiers who served in the Army with me.
Nick at June 30, 2010 8:51 AM
My nephew just looked into the military. The Army requires an actual diploma (not GED) or college-level credits in lieu thereof.
You can join the National Guard with a GED and apply to transfer to active duty after boot camp.
Conan the Grammarian at June 30, 2010 9:02 AM
If we must talk about sports, remember: Real men enjoy traffic.
I just can't get into the World Cup. Guys run around, then there's a flurry of excitement because someone might score a point, only they don't, so then they run around again until the commercials only there aren't any, and there aren't any girls in short skirts hoisting each other by the buttcheeks, either, like in real football.
Since Jody mentioned the Brits, let's make fun of the snaggle-toothed Gulf-despoilers.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 30, 2010 9:12 AM
To lighten the mood since Crid's intent on making us be all SERIOUS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZht--MW2D0
Gretchen at June 30, 2010 9:33 AM
>>If we must talk about sports, remember: Real men enjoy traffic.
I didn't even get>/i> that clip, Crid.
As I said, I don't know much about football, except that real men don't play it wearing helmets.
Jody Tresidder at June 30, 2010 10:01 AM
..clearly I don't know much about italics either! Sorry.
Jody Tresidder at June 30, 2010 10:05 AM
It's not a clip, it's a feed. I have no idea what was showing the moment you loaded it... It's from an obsessive guy Brazil. He shows nothing but Formula One races 24 hours a day. He has tapes going back 30+ years. (Adblock for Firefox filters out all those ads, I highly recommend it.) Sometimes I sleep in the chair in my office just because I know that as I stir in the night I'll catch a glimpse of a race. It's a wonderful public service. It's an inexcusable violation of copyright too... F1 racing is all about danger, Jody.
Let's tie all this together: Sometimes people have no idea how threatening and obnoxious their behavior really is.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 30, 2010 11:00 AM
Nick -
I served in the Army more recently (Afghanistan 2007-2008, and ETS'd in February of 2009). My distinct impression is that young soldiers are actually pretty tolerant of homosexuality, and I served in an infantry unit, which is supposedly the "worst case scenario" for acceptance of gays. There were soldiers on our OEF deployment who *everyone* knew were gay, but no one really seemed to care. Sure there was some joking, like there is about everything else, but the gay soldiers were treated with respect so long as they did their job as well as everyone else.
My close friend Ray, a young man with relatively little formal civilian education, as an E4 shared quarters with a gay soldier when in Iraq. Ray didn't care one bit.
As an NCO, I often worked on logistics with an E7 from another unit who was very clearly a lesbian. She did her job exceedingly well and everyone liked and respected her.
Young enlisted soldiers - even those from "flyover country" - have grown up in an American culture where homosexuality is accepted and sometimes even celebrated. This has shaped their attitudes to the point where being gay just isn't a big deal to most of them, except as the punchline to a joke.
I suspect repealing DADT will have very little practical effect on the military, or on gay people who volunteer to serve.
MikeInRealLife at June 30, 2010 11:21 AM
(This morning the race feed seems to be Duran Duran-era coverage from Japan. I think everyone should save that link under the "Favorites" function of their web browser.)
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 30, 2010 11:31 AM
Helmets.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 30, 2010 11:32 AM
Addictive site which is an excellent procrastination/work/life avoidance aid:
http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com
Gretchen at June 30, 2010 11:50 AM
Rhett and Link Internet Overload--sums up how I'm feeling about the whole danged thing today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyPDHh4d1Xo
Nanc in Ashland at June 30, 2010 12:52 PM
A favorite chart.
(Bear this in mind next time a precious ninny implores you to "save the planet".)
And speaking of Al Gore, I enjoyed the scenario from the end of this Reynolds blog post. Just like with his former boss Clinton, people will forgive ANY counter-feminist indiscretion from Gore in order to defend his franchise.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 30, 2010 1:05 PM
Crid, that article about Chris Henry was depressing as hell. I wonder what kind of helmet design changes might cut down on that type of trauma.
By the way, Jody-Who-Doesn't-Know-Much-About-Football (the kind that most of the world plays), what does the United mean in Manchester United or Cambridge United? Does that mean that two teams merged some time back?
old rpm daddy at June 30, 2010 1:12 PM
>>Does that mean that two teams merged some time back?
Good question, old rpm daddy.
I was interested enough to google - and this - save for the phrase "and stuff like that"(!) - seems a decent enough explanation:
"Back in the olden days, when there were only 12 teams in the football league, most teams played in local leagues and there would maybe be several teams in each city, named after neighbourhoods and stuff like that.
As the league grew, local teams in a city would often join forces to create one team which was big enough to represent the city in nationwide competition. Teams called United are those that were formed from smaller local teams uniting together."
Jody Tresidder at June 30, 2010 2:26 PM
Consumer advocate Paula Begoun talks about EWG scare tactics surrounding the Vitamin A in sunscreen:
http://www.beautybunch.com/2010/05/26/cancer-from-vitamin-a-in-your-sunscreen/
Insufficient Poison at June 30, 2010 4:35 PM
Hitch has esophageal cancer.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/06/30/hitchens-i-have-esophageal-cancer/
Am I being melodramatic if I say that the world would be a scarier and drearier place without him in it?
marion at June 30, 2010 7:09 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/06/30/advice_goddess_10.html#comment-1728381">comment from marionWow, marion - agree about a world without Hitchens being a scarier and drearier place.
Amy Alkon at June 30, 2010 9:51 PM
Well, I'd like to think he'd say you were being melodramatic. Much of the new memoir is redundent for people who've paid attention to Hitchens through various media (such as in the first comment to this post). But in one passage, he discussed the oft-cited line from Churchill that there's nothing as exhilarating as being shot at and missed... After his travels to a few of the world's hotspots and revolutions, he decided there WAS something more exciting, and that was getting to the airport and flying the fuck home. He says in as many words that if he'd been killed in any of these conflicts, it wouldn't have counted for much.
So maybe he doesn't really lead people's thinking in tremendous ways, but he knows there's a difference between right and wrong, and he's ready to be pissy about it. I admire people like that, people who are both smart and pugilistic (see also Paglia and Zappa)... It doesn't matter that much of their work is showmanship.
There was another passage in the memoir that hit a spot for me, one that weighed heavily when out for dinner tonight with a friend whose family life is about to undergo a big, challenging change. And I'd post it here, but there's nowhere to steal it from the internet, and two pages of context is too much to type anyway. Hitch gives a name (or at least clear words) to a character flaw of mine, and it's neat to have someone out there with both the clarity and the shamelessness to talk about how he found it in his own life and learned to work around it.
It's OK that he didn't personally end a war or crack a corrupt religion. Hitch has good uses on our planet.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at June 30, 2010 10:34 PM
That beagle puppy was adorable! This is a good one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWf0Z6ak3Dg
Pirate Jo at July 1, 2010 4:43 AM
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