British Columbia's health minister, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has a slogan--be kind, be calm, be safe--that is plastered all over t-shirts, mugs, & embroideries across the province. She's performed better than just about any other health official in the world. nytimes.com/2020/06/05/wor…
I'm trying to imagine a US conservative, in any agency, at any level of government, in any context, saying "be kind, be calm, be safe."
All right, all I wanted to do what comment on how nice "be kind, be calm, be safe" is as a slogan & now I've stepped in all sorts of debates about Henry & BC & Covid. I haven't looked into any of it! I take it all back! Except the slogan -- I like the slogan.
This episode of @yourewrongabout is typically good, but what most fascinated/horrified me, what I can't stop thinking about, is the description of the Citadel itself. It's a "military college" in South Carolina -- with no actual ties to the military. podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6L…
Meaning, in other words, it's a military *cosplay* college. Does it teach military skills & discipline? No. It appears to exist purely to replicate the Southern "honor culture" -- an authoritarian culture based on dominance & toxic masculinity.
This was especially true back in the 70s/80s, before some mild reforms were forced on it. There was a scandal a while back when it was revealed that freshmen were beaten & humiliated, often sexually, as part of "hazing."
My kid is forcing us to watch football, which means watching live TV, which means watching ads. I almost never see ads any more, so I haven't been desensitized, and holy crap are they just awful.
I think the reason I hate TV ads so much is that the industry has the biggest, most sophisticated audience-research apparatus in the world. Every character & trope in every ad = what worked in audience testing & focus groups. It all reflects what appeals to Americans, which ...
... is not great, given the ads. The example that keeps jumping out at me: America apparently really loves non-threatening black women dressed like bougie suburbanites, with "fun" bouncy hair (but never an afro or anything too, y'know, black).
Look at this bullshit. ABC brought this loathsome turd on to repeat his lies. Then, because the host makes futile after-the-fact efforts to push back, he ALSO gets to pretend he's the victim of "liberal bias." All 100% foreseeable.
The Republican Party launched a violent armed assault on the nation's capitol that resulted in multiple deaths ... LAST WEEK. And already these pathetic simps are treating GOP calls for unity like they're real, or meaningful. It is beyond parody.
The answer from the administration to this & all related questions should be: "we will reach out the hand of cooperation once Republicans leaders have publicly acknowledged that Biden won the election fair & square."
On the subject of Trumpy moments, the one that still burns in my chest like an undigested lump of gristle is Christine Blasey Ford testifying at Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing. I can still bring tears of frustration & fury to my eyes thinking about it.
More than any other episode, that one reinforced to me that the right & I are literally experiencing different worlds. The differences are way deeper than ideology or policy -- gut-level, brain-stem deep.
I've never really written about it because even now I feel like I lack the words. It's just, I know that guy, Kavanaugh. I've known guys like that my whole life. Blithe & entitled, winy & aggrieved, outraged at the very thought of accountability. "I like beer & chicks, hur hur."