This comment might not be good for our AdSense account, but if Google really weren’t an evil company they’d have a keg up there instead of a computer for their 21st birthday doodle.
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Have to share this exchange I had on facebook with someone I went to college with, actually a fraternity brother. Yeah, I know, I was young.
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I’ve literally never made a racist tweet or post but I have to say I’m not super comfortable with mining peoples entire online history and holding them accountable for things they said as a teenager.
He’s going to make an excellent SC Justice
We are probably going to see more and more of this kind of stuff as kids grow up with their whole lives online for everyone to see.
It’s more than just tweets. Everything anyone has done online is recorded somewhere, including every private email they sent. These kinds of things will be used to Blackmail politicians in the future. Also Edwin Snowden did a great thing , and everyone who tried to prosecute him is an a******.
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Hi everybody
I almost posted this in the Trump thread but think it might be more appropriate for LC. I’ve been looking for a more appropriate outlet for processing thoughts like these.
Some random numbered thoughts.
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On money and power, it helps me to think of money as an obstacle to power, not the means of access. It’s partly why I believe disentangling wealth from survival is so essential to progress for humanity.
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This has to do with the ethics of comedy and Trump’s jokes and the people who say “he’s just kidding/it’s just rhetoric.”
I mostly think anything should be fair game for a joke. South Park takes shots at literally everyone, even themselves.
But where I’ve come to draw the line is with the point of the joke. The reason we want comedians to have full license of expression is because they often are at the forefront of speaking truth to power in the public domain.
That’s where the point of the joke defines the ethics of the comedy. The point of the joke has to poke fun at the oppressor. Jokes about racism are inherently controversial today, but they’re doing a good thing when they reveal an unspoken truth while also picking on the racist.
When you’re making racist jokes to make fun of the people being oppressed by racism, you’re just being offensive. Trump’s jokes are at the expense of anyone he sees as beneath them. Bullies find pushing down little kids funny, they can’t understand why the kid can’t take a joke.
- Trump isn’t funny because we know he isn’t kidding. The only thing stopping him from doing the worst things he’s suggested is his sense of whether enough people would adore him for doing it.
That last shot, lol
I hate that it basically negates a fundamental progressive principal as well; the idea that people can learn to be better and that rehabilitation works.
If we are all forever held to the worst thing we ever did why bother educating people on things like racism.
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Uh, okay then.
Novelist Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper
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I don’t think it should disqualify him. I’m not a huge fan but his work over the past 20 years clearly shows he is not a racist.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
McCarthy has a gorgeous voice, but he’s also the guy who said his idea of revision was removing all punctuation. He says punctuation just confuses people and isn’t really necessary lol.
I am fine with applying double standards to people in these cases. I had stupid opinions when I was younger, too. If someone’s past internet musings surfaced and they seemed sincerely appalled by them and apologize profusely, I’d probably forgive them and move on–especially if they’re able to clearly articulate why those opinions or jokes were harmful.
If, for example, the person goes in front of Congress to scream and whine and lie while denying any of it took place, then they can go fuck themselves and should be shunned from polite society.
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This was my parting post
The sacrifices and efforts I make are non factors, the earth is warming at an untenable rate and unless there is a major shift in not just perception but the implementation of systemic change our entire species is doomed. While this was a hoot, I’ll leave you flat earthers to pat yourselves on the back and ignore science while the planet burns. I truly hope our grandchildren have the majesty and beauty we were so fortunate to have and that our failures as stewards of the Earth don’t leave them with nothing.
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Going for a Pulitzer, I see.
I know very well I said offensive things when younger in my ignorance and arrogance. I just acknowledge that and try every day to be more aware and mindful than I was yesterday.
We can also do gameday threads for high profile public hearings and such, but the day to day stuff belongs in the Trump thread imo
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It’s actually pretty bad that there was no thread on the hearing yesterday. No summaries, nothing. It was largely ignored here.
It was discussed in the Trump thread a bit. I thought it became clear pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to be very eventful vis a vis Trump himself.