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Claire Berlinski
@ClaireBerlinski
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
He (Packer) is forthright about Holbrooke's vanity. "The best about us was inseparable from the worst." The portrayal of his sense of self-importance is obviously deliberate; you're supposed to have that suspicion. Precisely what I admire is his creation of a *complex* character.
You're seeing precisely the achievement of the essay as a defect.
And of course that character is (as he says explicitly) a meronym of the US during this period.
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More from @ClaireBerlinski see all

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Claire Berlinski
@ClaireBerlinski
The best thing that could come out of this--and it's not unimaginable--is a France that passionately recommits to its tradition of building sublime and beautiful things. Imagine if every working architect in Paris were to ask, "Would people weep if this building burned?"
And imagine they were to use the reply as a guide? If the answer is "no," then *don't build it.* If the thought of losing Notre Dame shocks them enough to ask that very obvious question, the cathedral will, in burning, save the city.
Perhaps a shock this great could cause people to ask why they've permitted this to happen, everywhere in Paris: leonardpitt.com/ugly_paris.php. And vow to put an end to it.
Read 3 tweets
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Claire Berlinski
@ClaireBerlinski
A few people have written to me to ask how the fire started. Almost certainly an accident owed to the renovation work they were doing on the attic. It began there, in scaffolding at the very top.
It spread quickly from the scaffolding to the wooden roof. There is no suspicion of arson: The prosecutor has opened an investigation for “involuntary destruction by fire.” They’ve been taking testimony from the construction workers all night.
So we’ll soon have a better idea how it happened. lemonde.fr/societe/live/2… Le Monde says the enquiry will be "long, complex and technical."
Read 4 tweets
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Claire Berlinski
@ClaireBerlinski
They let my father go back to his apartment, which is totally undamaged, thank God, who for some reason is more wrathful with his faithful than with my father. No damage, no smoke. The wind was blowing West.
He said the sight is unspeakable. I'll go over to look later today. Even if reconstructed with utmost fidelity, how long will it be before it looks anything like the way it's supposed to? Ten-fifteen years?
We're going to be walking past this every day, probably for the rest of our lives, and seeing civilization in ruins.

The only thing to do is to rebuild as faithfully, as quickly, as completely, as possible, with no resource spared. What does it say that no one's sure we can?
Read 8 tweets

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PhxRising
@PhxRising8
OpEd from #Arizona newspaper:
🇺🇸
We have just reached the pinnacle of ignorance and stupidity. We have gone from the brilliance, sacrifice and farsightedness of the Founding Fathers through those who fought to make men free around the world, through the Greatest Generation.
Now we have to tolerate a bunch of violent, screaming, irrational, brainwashed, clueless, safe-space seeking, accomplish nothing, wimpy brats with an overblown sense of self-importance and entitlement, a complete lack of purpose, knowledge of history, economics and a general...
lack of common sense. I understand it from the kids because they have grown up in the land of opportunity, where everything has been given to them, brainwashed by liberal parents, teachers and a media that has convinced them the US is an angry, unfair, racist, war mongering...
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simon maginn
@simonmaginn
How to destroy a political party.

1. Select your cause. This could be anything, but it’ll work better if it’s simultaneously highly emotive, imprecise, and presented as something people will find it difficult to argue against. (‘Let’s fight antisemitism’, for instance.)
2. Find ‘evidence’. Social media is a supremely rich source of possible ammunition, and accounts can be combed and pored over to find what looks like incriminating material.
3. Denounce. Denounce publicly, denounce often, denoune repeatedly. Repetition is key: the messages must be repeated sufficiently that they become ‘common sense’, something people keep on hearing about so it ‘must be true’.
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Shrikanth K
@shrikanth_krish
One is often asked -

"Hey I belong to Community X. How many people belong to my community in India?"

This might be a straightforward question in most parts of the world. But not in India.

As modern Indian census exercises do not report caste. Not since 1931 at least
But I just stumbled upon this book

"Tamil Brahmans - The Making of a Middle Class Caste" - which has some estimations, as well as "subcaste" info gleaned from 1891 census

I thought I should put it together

So at least for my community, one doesn't have to speculate
The book has this table detailing the # Tamil Brahmans in different locations as of 2011 - but these are mostly guesstimates in my view. The methodology is not crystal clear to me...

As per the authors, the worldwide Tamil Brahman population as of 2011 is 1.85 million
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Andrew Ruiz
@then_there_was
I've been watching prison shows and it's interesting how people crave a sense of self-importance.

Even murderers pride themselves as being above the child molesters.
I've known for some time everybody loves the feeling of being admired and listened to.

I didn't realize what they would do to get it.

They'll do nearly anything.

Especially deceive themselves.
Losers will talk to you with a sense of grandiosity.

A conversation will turn into an opportunity for them to give advice.

Even if they just got out of prison a day ago.

"I've come far, I've changed. Marvel at my progress. I've ascended" the pig rolling in shit says.
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Kevin Bass
@kevinnbass
80% of Alt Nutrition gurus commit one of two mistakes: 1. Blinded by desire for recognition and sometimes even resentment or jealousy (as toward successful relatives), they're biased toward claims that undermine the establishment and inflate their sense of self-importance. 1/4
They will systematically misread science if it allows them to gratify their egos in this way. This is actually sad and I'm 100% not making fun of it.

2. They just do not understand the work that the best scientists put into their publications. 2/4
If most Alt Nutrition gurus understood the hard work that scientists actually do in peeling back layer upon layer upon layer of questions as they think about and write up their work, they would shit themselves. 3/4
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Douglas Craig
@Douglas9162
A thread on Seeking Wisdom by Peter Bevelin. Things I took from the book (Part One, ~100 things)
1) “a man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it, is committing another mistake” – Confucius
2) We can’t eliminate mistakes, however we can prevent those that can really hurt us
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