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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   3653 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 23, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading? (Another book thread in the Fun Thread here)

I'm starting Lisa Herzog's Citizen Knowledge. It isn't out yet, but there's a PDF online, and will be open access when it comes out on September 1st. It looks like a mainstream yet academic take on the misinformation debate. I've recently been taken by a desire to learn how these people who say they know so much think (I mean this with only some sarcasm- these people do know a lot which I don't).

Paper I'm reading: Bannister's "The Survival of the Fittest is our Doctrine": History or Histrionics?

I think I've misinterpreted Kendi on "whiteness." It seems fair to give him the last word:

And yet racist power thrives on anti-White racist ideas- more hatred only makes their power greater. When Black people recoil from White racism and concentrate their hatred on everyday White people, as I did freshman year in college, they are not fighting racist power or racist policymakers. In losing focus on racist power, they fail to challenge anti-Black racist policies, which means those policies are more likely to flourish. Going after White people instead of racist power prolongs the policies harming Black life. In the end, anti-White racist ideas, in taking some or all of the focus off racist power, become anti-Black. In the end, hating White people becomes hating Black people.

He also says there's nothing wrong with white culture, only the "cultures of modern imperialism and racial capitalism."

To be antiracist is to never mistake the global march of White racism for the global march of White people.

I tried reading the Art of Raising a Puppy but it's less of an instruction manual and more of a preachy diatribe about how stupid and bad most dog owners are. Kind of frustrating.

It's like come on, most people are probably reading this book because they already know they have messed up and are looking for guidance. You don't have to rub it in guys. It's written by monks in New York so go figure I guess.

After bouncing around between many books for several days, I am now reading Laura by Vera Caspary. It's a mystery novel from the late 1930s or early 1940s, with an interesting perspective choice: the narrator is a fat, ineffectual middle-aged writer, who seems to have had an unrequited love for the unfortunate titular character. I like the writing style. This book was made into what was apparently a very good noir film starring Gene Tierney, which I have not seen.

Gene Tierney not to be confused with Gene Tunney. Love for Laura not to be confused with Love for Lydia.

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