One thing I always notice about debate analysis is that commentary often talks about who won, who lost, who was "effective," without filling in the obvious gap -- effective at what? What are you assuming "winning" is?
Because let's say someone goes into a restaurant and starts yelling at the staff. Insults them, berates them, and makes them feel like garbage -- and they remain calm and don't really talk back. The person leaves, feeling invigorated and very "I guess I told THEM."
Is that effective? Well, it's effective at making the person doing it feel good, and even at making the staff annoyed. It might even make them feel helpless. But if you flip it around and assume the audience is the restaurant manager or the other diners, who won?
This is one of the things I think @titonka is getting at when she talks about masculinity politics. What do we assume represents effective politicking? Whose eyes are we trying to see through? Why do so many assume "landing blows" is what debates are for?
Have we checked that "landing blows" or frustrating opponents is persuasive, without more, to voters? At the very least, I feel like there should be a better definition of what you assume is the objective before you declare a winner. /fin
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I want to talk about producers for a minute. Specifically, producers of roundtables like @pchh, whose jobs are maybe less understood than producers of narrative shows that involve extensive sound design and scripting.
Our producers do a huge number of things that make the show possible. They are an integral part of our planning meetings. They pitch ideas for things we should cover. They pitch guests we could invite. They provide crucial perspectives on things they have expertise about.
They do our booking. That means, in our case, arranging a time when up to four panelists, who are sometimes not only in different time zones but in different countries, can all do it at the same time. As needed, they troubleshoot tech for people recording at home or book studios.
The ability of forces within baseball to successfully, vigilantly stamp out fun is really impressive. si.com/.amp/extra-mus…
Was there really some kind of concern that this hat was going to make people think, “Aha, apparently there is more than one official MLB hat!” sportingnews.com/us/amp/mlb/new…
One of the things they get at in this episode is that the vast majority of popular relationship self-help is aimed at straight women. And one reason these books work when written by men is that women hope it will help to have their feelings backed up by a man with authority.
But often what happens is that there’s a little of that (“yes, you should indulge your wife’s little expectations, like kindness and drying dishes”) combined with a lot of undermining bullshit (“stop being a NAG”).
And what women walk away with is a continuing feeling that the relationship is a job they have that their husbands can be persuaded to help with if wooed correctly. Like the dishes.
Today I made this apple cake soaked in a literal cup of bourbon. It was delicious and tasted exactly like a good cake soaked in a cup of bourbon. If it had had *any* more, it would have been too much. It was maximum bourbon.
I poured the bourbon (and sugar and butter) glaze over the cake with it still in the Bundt pan and I thought, “This is not going to soak in. It’s too much! I’ve flown too close to the sun!” But no. Almost! But no.
I would be tempted to start the day tomorrow with a taste of it at breakfast with some coffee, but that’s really too early to drink on a Monday.
“If we make exceptions, we will teach that there are no rules at all” is a ridiculous position to take. Basically all rules have exceptions. As is pointed out in the piece, the normal result of backing out of an agreement is compensating the other party.
And particularly where minors are involved, the law has always recognized that they may change their minds! There is probably a letter-of-the-law justification for how this went down, but in principle, “a deal is a deal” is not typically enforced against kids.