FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2024
Once again, Kubrick's last film: Given the way our discourse currently works, by the end of the week it's a Babel—a Babel of many parts.
Eventually, we'll try to show you what we mean. For now, let's return to a torrent of babble which was produced last Sunday morning.
More precisely, it was produced on March 31, 2024, which happened to be Easter Sunday.
Let's return to that day's broadcast of the Fox News Channel's "cable news" show, Fox & Friends Weekend. Let's return to the start of a long, confused and richly confusing, thoroughly Babel-rich week.
On that Easter morning, Fox & Friends Weekend went on the air at 6 o'clock sharp. The bulk of the first hour was a live feed of the Pope in Rome. This may explain why the attacks on this nation's "pagans" didn't get underway until the 7 o'clock hour.
In Tuesday's report, we called the roll of the three friends who were present that day on the couch. We'll repeat that list for you here:
The leadership cadre in question:
Rachel Campos-Duffy, who added a term to her pre-existing string of invectives as Sunday's program aired.
Joey Johnny Jones, the Fox News Channel's rural Georgia import, who seems to be succumbing to the human desire to make himself right with the herd.
Pete Hegseth (AKA Trader Pete), the Princeton / Harvard Kennedy School grad who never met an erroneous or misleading statement by Campos-Duffy he wouldn't rush to affirm.
Those were the three "thought leaders" who sat in the saddle that day. Needless to say, the discovery of the nation's pagans started with Campos-Duffy, an extremely genial and likable host who doesn't seem to possess the tiniest hint of the nuance gene.
Normally, Campos-Duffy contents herself with identifying people who don't agree with every syllable which drops from her mouth as "Communists" and / or Marxists." On this morning, which she described as sacred, her analysis went one step farther.
Jumbling four bungled topics together, she hauled off and offered this:
CAMPOS-DUFFY (3/31/24): The response was, "Well, Trans Day of Visibility has always been March 31."
[starting to shout]
I'm like, Trans Day of Visibility has been around for like two minutes. The resurrection of Christ has been around for two thousand years! And this means something to the majority, even to those who don't practice and go to church on this glorious Sunday.
It still means something in a lot of ways to Americans and that they would try to change—
Basically it's a new liturgical calendar, It's a pagan liturgical calendat that they want to make us adhere to, and I think a lot of Americans have just had enough of this.
HEGSETH: No doubt! And that's another contrast people will remember.
JONES: We're going to talk more about this with Mike Huckabee later on in the hour, so we're going to hash this out more...
Campos-Duffy is telegenic and extremely genial. It's easy to see why she's been around so long, and has been so successful, as a "cable news" host.
That said, she seems to lack any trace of the nuance or complexity genes. That said, we'd never heard her drop the P-bomb before—and the boys of course rushed to affirm her.
Please don't make us explain the four (4) separate bungled topics Campos-Duffy was referencing here. Red American viewers of this "cable news" show were already knee-deep in false, misleading or unfounded (or simply dreamed-up) tribal claims.
Campos-Duffy was now pulling the quartet of bungles together, telling us that "they" (in context, the Biden White House) were trying to make us—the good, decent people—adhere to a "pagan calendar!"
Jones promised further discussion. Like Lincoln's war, "it came."
Huckabee arrived on the scene at 7:25 a.m. He managed to avoid use of the P-bomb, as did Campos Duffy, though she did offer this assessment, mainly about President Biden's proclamation concerning Trans Day:
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I think there's a battle going on. It's a spiritual battle. There are people who want to de-Christianize the country and very actively so.
I think this was a very intentional insult. They can say all they want, "Oh, it landed on the 31st." But just as Pete said, they could have moved it to the first. April Fools Day would have probably been a more appropriate day than Easter Sunday in any case.
For the record, March 31 is the recognized day around the world for the international day in question. That isn't an American designation. The date has been in place, internationally, since 2009.
"Quite frankly, it's an affront to the Bible," Huckabee did say at one point. To watch this discussion, click here.
The troubling topic arose again at the very start of the 8 o'clock hour. Sure enough! At 8:02 a.m., the P-bomb was dropped once again:
CAMPOS-DUFFY: It is a holy day. And I think one of the things that we've been highlighting all through the portion of the show is the importance of Christians to take responsibility for honoring, making this day holy—not allowing, you know, the commercialization, much less this other pagan path that the Trans Day of Visibility, that the White House is trying to overshadow this holy day with, that ridiculous proclamation on the same day as the day that our lord is risen.
And so, you know—we're just a different kind of show than other networks.
HEGSETH: Yeah!
CAMPOS-DUFFY: And you know—
HEGSETH: Stay with us if you're with us. I think you are.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I think you may be.
HEGSETH: We're going with the whole two thousand year tradition, the whole "God came as a man and then died and rose again, defeating death as no one else ever had." We're going to celebrate that part of it here on Fox & Friends.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Amen to that.
At this point, Jones tried to put a kinder and gentler face on the matter. That said, the White House was now said to be trying to overshadow the holy day of Easter with that "other pagan path."
Concerning the threat of that pagan path, the three friends agreed. Fox & Friends wasn't like the other programs! At Fox & Friends, they were going with the two thousand year old tradition instead!
As we mentioned yesterday, we flash on Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut when we hear a statement like that. We flash on the liturgical celebration of traditional male sexual dominance upon which the Tom Cruise character stumbles, somewhere in a mansion out on Long Island, in that last Kubrick film.
As we've often noted, Campos-Duffy is extremely genial—until she spots the Communists or the Marxists under some one of a million beds.
Now the pagans are under there too! And during the program's 9 o'clock hour, it sure enough happened again!
This time, Joey Johnny took the lead, with Rachel and Trader Pete taking turns dropping the P-bomb. We join Joey Johnny in progress:
JONES: Why would they attack Eastern Sunday, or at least do something that makes people feel attacked on Easter Sunday? And I don't just mean the Trans Visibility Day, the proclamation. I mean just all the way down to the Easter eggs. You can't decorate Easter eggs.
The people that are hurting the worst in this country have faith. The people that are hurting the worst in this country from these policies have love for us, and have love for this country, and believe and have hope that there will be another day they'll see their loved ones. Leaders should exemplify that, not spit in the face of it.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I think it's really, again—it's an inflection point. We're looking at a moment where one side of the aisle wants to de-Christianize our country, move it in more pagan directions. And the other side wants to reinforce the values of Christianity and celebrate who we've always been. And I think that—
You know, it's a time for choosing! I'm sorry, they've made it so clear. I wish they hadn't. But they did
HEGSETH: You're 100 percent correct. I had a friend text me, say, you know, "We shouldn't call them progressives any more. They're pagan radicals!"
They want to dismiss, block, discredit, end any Christian tradition they can because if you get rid of God then government becomes your God.
JONES: Exactly.
And so the long morning went. For the record, Joey Johnny had now dragged in a bungled claim about the decoration of Easter eggs—a bungled claim for which Breitbart site later issued a formal apology.
At Fox, no clarification will follow. To the rapidly succumbing Jones, the White House had been "spitting in the face" of the people who are hurting the worst in this country.
To Rachel, the White House was trying to move the country "in pagan directions." Trader Pete was now eager to say that they are actually "pagan radicals."
They're more pagan than the pagans were, back when the pagans were pagan!
In Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick portrayed a secret society on Long Island ceremonially restoring a million-year-old tradition of male sexual domination. From the first hundred lines of The Iliad. this eternal tradition of sexual dominance drives the plot of that ancient war poem.
In Kubrick's film, those throwback sexual ceremonies—ceremonies with a plainly liturgical feel—were bigly conducted in secret. On this sacred Easter Sunday, the Fox & Friends gang was walking a similar path.
The friends were seeking to maintain a two thousand year old religious perspective. They were attacking the pagans as they did. But they were conducting their own secret ceremony right out in the open!
They were able to conduct a secret ceremony because Blue America wasn't watching. Our own tribe's screamers have repeatedly told us that we shouldn't speak to the deplorable people whose perspectives differ from ours.
God knows there's plenty to criticize in the ongoing absurdities and excesses of Blue America's current attitudes, behaviors and policies. With regard to several high-visibility topics, President Biden has been so astoundingly AWOL that it's very hard to be wrong on the merits if you belong to a leadership cadre in support of Red America.
Rachel, Pete and Joey Johnny almost seem to want more. On this day which they called so sacred, they were conducting a secret society in support of a very ancient tradition. They were also doing a lot of name-calling on what they repeatedly said was the most sacred day of their year.
As they did this, they kept misstating basic facts about a set of (at least) four current topics. They even brought Brian Kilmeade on to tell the world what one unnamed person had allegedly told him had supposedly happened when Governor Hochul attended the wake of a murdered New York City policeman.
There was no reason to believe what Kilmeade said he'd been told. Standing opposed to the Marxists and pagans, the Fox friends swallowed it down.
Judged by normal standards, they were behaving like terrible people. We'd say they're more probably acting like people people—that their behavior reflects the basic impulses of us the humans as displayed through the blood-soaked annals of time.
On Blue America's "cable news" channel, our own leadership cadres also behave like people people on a fairly regular basis. In closing for now, we'll add this:
The nuance gene plays a limited role in the wiring of our flawed human brains. We're inclined to return to the ancient traditions—in this case, to our separation into tribes and then to the endless descent into denigration, name-calling and war.
They're a bunch of deplorables, our own tribe once said. On Easter Sunday, the deplorables were fighting back, plumping for war with the pagans.
The P-bombs were general over Fox News; all nuance was left far behind. Perhaps a bit like Pepperidge Farm, one "cable news" watcher remembered:
Lost to the clan,
lost to the hearth, lost to the old ways, that one
who lusts for all the horrors of war with his own people.
That's what the seasoned Nestor sagely advised the Achaeans, back in the days when men maintained Kubrick's ancient tradition of sexual dominance as they inanely staged a deadly siege which lasted a full ten years on the plains which surrounded the towering walls of Troy.
In our view, it doesn't get much dumber, or much worse, than it was on that Easter Sunday "cable news" program. In all fairness, we'd have to add this:
All in all, it was people people in action!
We humans are wired to function like that! As the hours and the days roll by, let's take a quick look at the leadership cadres rolled out by our own flailing tribe.
Regarding babel, we'll restate this:
Our tribe now lives in Blue America. Their tribe now lives in Red America, which our own cadres rarely visit.
Note the point of just how new trans is vs how old Easter is. When I was young, long use and acceptance of something gave it credence. "Tried and true" was a thing. Today, that almost seems to be reversed. Many people and institutions are looking for the newest thing to be a part of.
ReplyDeleteIMO, the whole idea of trans is mostly fake. So the the President should not be officially endorse trans on Easter or on any other day..
What's "fake", David? I am confused. Enlighten.
DeleteEaster is fake.
DeleteIlya, right wingers are open to anything being fake, since being right wing is a personality trait that centers around attaining a sense of dominance, not around ideology, or even having a coherent view.
DeleteYou will not get a legitimate answer from DIC, he will only answer in way that provides him with a sense of having "owned" you.
@12:44PM
DeleteSo it seems. A cursory search would enlighten David that not an insignificant percentage of infants are born with gender-ambiguous genitalia, i.e. otherwise known as hermaphrodites, which is no longer used. There was an interesting article in Harper's some years ago about one of the hotspots in the world for transgender people, which was in Central America, Nicaragua, as I recall.
No, I don't expect a coherent answer from David, but I'd like to see his contortions.
PS: Of course, Easter is mythology. But memes, being analogous to genes, lead humans to believe such fairy tales, so in that sense it's not fake.
Ilya, yes there is a small number of infants are born with gender-ambiguous genitalia. These people deserve consideration. But, you know that the vast majority of "trans" people have ordinary genitalia. Their only basis for being trans is their say-so.
DeleteDavid,
DeleteI don't know what most majority of "trans" people genitalia looks like. Again, it's more complex than just that. Nonetheless, it seems that we agree that it's not all "fake". All people deserve consideration, which, perhaps, is the point.
Recently, I was on a short trip with my boys and my girlfriend. We stayed in a hotel and, of course, found a bible in a nightstand drawer. On a lark, I picked it up and said that we were going to have a 'bible study' class, and started reading it. After a minute my eldest remarked how it was a very strange fairy tale and were all incredulous that people still take it seriously. We sure do give a lot of consideration to these people. More than their fare share. We have backward flat-earthers dictating the rules and laws of our society. That's where the fakery lies!
Without any scientific basis, David is assuming that there is a perfect correlation between genitalia and brain. If you have a dick, then your brain must be male. Full stop. If you have a vagina, your brain is female. Full stop. Therefore, ONLY people with gender-ambiguous genitalia can say they are trans. All other trans are faking it. Btw, THIS fucking topic again?? Who's more obsessed with this topic, the left or right? Jesus f'ing Christ. If it weren't for right-wingers' utter OBSESSION with other people's sexual identity, I would have spent just slightly more than about zero percent of my life even thinking about this topic. It's none of my business, it's of very little interest to me, and it doesn't impact my life in any real way.
Delete"Note the point of just how new trans is vs how old Easter is. When I was young, long use and acceptance of something gave it credence. 'Tried and true' was a thing." Here's a fun game: think of all of the counter examples to this line of reasoning -- if humanity had always just stuck with the older thing rather than going with something new. Slavery, horses vs. cars, the traditional Islamic culture that the Taliban is enforcing in Afghanistan, the "tradition" of not allowing women to vote. . . the examples are endless. It's unbelievable someone would even make this "argument" out loud.
DeleteOn Pod Save America's recent interview with Chris Hayes, they pointed out that the trans issue is not helping the right wing much with electoral politics. It was a loser for DeSantis, and right wing voters are not responding to it with Trump either.
DeleteThey also pointed out that it is mostly young straight white men who are resonating to it, not any other segment of the right wing. They speculated that this is the group that considers trans gender most threatening.
That's why I find it odd that Cecelia is the person who mentions it most here on this website. It seems like more support for the idea that Cecelia is not actually female but is a man pretending to be female for trolling purposes. And it is entirely consistent with her demonstrated lack of empathy. In general, most voters just don't care about trans athletes or the extremely small number of people seeking trans health care.
Somerby has forgotten to tell us why we should care about any of this noise on Fox. Does he think it hurts anyone's feelings on the left to be called pagan, a ridiculous term that gives rise to images of the large heads in the sand on Easter Island.
ReplyDeleteDavid says trans is fake -- not to trans people obviously. I think pagan is fake. Yes, even to us pagans, it is a fake thing because it denotes no particularly religious or non-religious view and only Wiccans are actually bothering to go back and look up ancient practices. For the rest of us, it is just the right wing calling us insufficiently religious (or insufficiently right wing), and who cares what they think? Not me.
I agree with @11:26 that Pagan is fake. So I would not like my President to formally announce an official Pagan Recognition Day.
DeleteSuch as Easter? Are you calling for an end to the egg rolling contest and easter egg hunt? Neither has anything to do with Jesus. But here is the dilemma, the President cannot establish an official relgion because that is forbidden by our Constitution. So if he cannot celebrate any religious commemoration on Easter unless he does all of them. David, you are aware that the Eastern Orthodox Chuch celebrates Easter on a different day, right? And why are you not up in arms because Passover is routinely neglected? I am upset because Biden has never celebrated Buy Nothing Day (black Friday after Thanksgiving).
DeletePagan is not a particular religious view, not even an ancient one. It is a catchall term for anything not Christian, anything belonging to old Gods or more than one God. The word for non-religious is secular.
I would like our government to be secular. Christians, especially Christian Nationalists, want our country to be a religious nation -- their religion. I am against that. I am also against the recent packing of the Supreme Court with Catholics. I am hoping that the next few administrations will return us to a nation in which people can practice religion however they please but without entrenching any religious views in our government, including the president and other officials. Biden knows how to draw that line. The right does not.
Trump is not a religious guy but he is willing to use religion for his own purposes, and willing to co-opt the Christian Nationalists to make him a dictator. That is truly an unholy alliance.
DeleteMeanwhile, Somerby babbles about Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut having something to do with right wing Easter, without drawing any explicit connections, making himself sound as weirdly crazy as those he is promoting on Fox News.
"We flash on the liturgical celebration of traditional male sexual dominance upon which the Tom Cruise character stumbles, somewhere in a mansion out on Long Island, in that last Kubrick film."
Linking Easter to Tom Cruise at an orgy is as kinky as anything I've heard short of the Kavanaugh hearing. And no, sex is not pagan.
I think Somerby needs to take a deep breath and start over.
Sex is pagan.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:49am, Bob says that when he is watches Fox and Friends Weekend, he gets the same impressions he had when he watched Eyes Wide Shut.
DeleteF&FW reminds Bob of the secret orgy cult of EWS in its air of male dominance and submissive females as booty..no pun intended. (Well, look at the flight list for Epstein Island, Bob…)
I think The Stepford Wives might be a more straight forward example, but Bob may have ruled it out because it’s more comedic and doesn’t satisfy his sense of the ominous.
Somerby is an idiot. And look how you swallow whatever he says, even when it makes no sense.
DeleteSex is dirty and you're all a bunch of filthy whores, especially David
DeleteCorrection: David is an ignorant slut
DeleteBiden is president. He can name every day in the calendar whatever he wants. Tomorrow is safety pin day. Sunday is learn to tie your shoes day. So what?
ReplyDeleteFair question, @11:27. Here's my answer. A Presidential endorsement is powerful. Media, corporations, and other institutions follow his lead. In fact, media covered Biden's endorsement of trans and many buildings were lighted in support of it.
DeleteHere's an analogy. Suppose our leader endorsed Lamarckism ( the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime.) Suppose the media and other institutions followed his lead. This would affect how science was done in bad way.
Of course, this analogy really happened. Russia did just that under Stalin. It messed up their science for decades. Bad science led to wrong-headed agricultural policies, famine, and the deaths of millions of people.
False belief in trans probably won't cause millions of deaths. It is causing some children to have the breasts or penises lopped off needlessly. That's how the Presidential announcement causes harm
12:21 This is just a grossly ignorant take, just dumb as fuck.
DeleteAn authoritarian can dictate to a citizenry; however, that is not our system. Duh.
Nobody is forcing you to become trans or endorse a trans lifestyle. Trans people have been around for as long as people have been around, there is plenty of evidence for this (Google), and they do not want to impose their lifestyle on you, they just want the same rights as everyone else.
The closest America has come to an authoritarian leader in our lifetimes is Trump. Trump says crazy bigoted things almost daily, yet you do not apply your "principle" to Trump. You make it so obvious you lack any integrity with respect to politics and discourse.
Minors are legally prohibited from having trans related surgery other than top surgery, which is allowed for all minors under other circumstances, for example breast reduction and enhancement occur at vastly higher numbers than when it is trans-related, and furthermore trans-related surgery requires a process to go through (psych evaluations etc) that are not required in other circumstances, and those other circumstances get no notice by the same people whining about transexuals.
It is not mere hypocrisy, it is a lack of integrity, a lack of morality.
We have two whole months, every summer, honoring ancient pagan leaders: August for the first Roman emperor, and July for his great uncle. They're older than Christianity, though not as old as Judaism.
DeleteAnonymouse 12:44pm, “pagan leaders”?
DeleteCheck out the rest of months. They’re named after pagan gods.
The difference is, Julius and Augustus actually existed. And, to be picky, September, October, November, December are named after numbers. The wrong numbers! The ninth month is Seventh, the tenth month is Eighth, …
DeleteThe same people must have come up with Daylight Savings Time.
DeleteTrump is a pagan leader. No one seriously thinks he believes in God. There is plenty of evidence he considers himself a God. The joke is that too many religious people accept him at face value and think he shares their religious beliefs when he plainly does not.
DeleteAnd Biden is a devout Catholic, which means, to right wingers, he’s a satanist.
DeleteMinors do indeed get medical treatment including surgery:
Delete"Gender-affirming care for youths takes several forms, from social recognition of a preferred name and pronouns to medical interventions such as hormone therapy and, sometimes, surgery. A small but increasing number of U.S. children diagnosed with gender dysphoria are choosing medical interventions to express their identity and help alleviate their distress.
These medical treatments don’t begin until the onset of puberty, typically around age 10 or 11."
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/
Research shows that most children who appear to be trans are not really trans. They grow out of it. Medically interfering with the sexual development of a 10 or 11 year old is questionable.
Would you not agree, @12:41?
No, some change but others do not. No one is doing permanent changes on children. Let the kids, their parents and their doctors decide.We don’t need laws or govt interference.
Delete"We humans are wired to function like that!"
ReplyDeleteIf this were true, then more of us would be functioning like that, and yet we are not. How does Somerby account for that?
Even at their height of popularity (which is not now), the MAGAts were a minority of the minority party. How did they win? Russia bought Trump the election so that Trump would bless his Ukraine invasion. That didn't happen again in 2020 and it will not happen in November either.
Maggots are the larvae of flies.
DeleteSpelling matters.
DeleteWhy did Somerby go to the trouble to tell us what was said on Fox, when we have been diligently trying to ignore eveything Foxian in order to maintain our own mental health? We don't need to hear this stuff. If we want to know what they are saying on Fox, we can go watch it ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about the Iliad.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:34am, I’m always curious as to liberal social/gender imperatives that have so hampered the anonymouse coven from walking away from Mr. Somerby.
DeleteYou just can’t quit him.
12:12 this has been explained to you many times, it is not a mystery.
DeleteThat you harp on the same issues with the same braindead pov, even after we have tirelessly explained all this to you, suggests something other than a good faith curiosity.
It is possible for you to become a somewhat better person, I challenge you.
Anonymouse 12:27pm, is it possible for you to become a more honest and genuine person and stop reading a blogger you claim to despise? That is far more rational and civilized rather than your acting as though this site is your show and Bob is your ventriloquist’s dummy who has eerily come to life.
DeleteNobody here despises Somerby, and to get at what you are really saying, nobody here despises you either.
DeleteSomerby tells us to pity people like you, I'd rather understand you and figure out how to prevent people from becoming like you, so we as a society can progress.
Rational and civilized is engaging in good faith discourse, something you never do, it may be that you are incapable of this and as such responses to you should be measured within this context.
The challenge remains, I believe you can become a somewhat better person, but as yet you are going in the opposite direction.
12:53 - Somerby believes that many people dislike leftists because of their snobby, insufferable, and paternalistic attitudes. I think yours might be Exhibit A.
DeleteAnonymouse 12:53pm, please. The other day an anonymouse flatly stated that she despises Bob because he hates women and shows it by using a gender-specific appellation to insult Greg Gutfeld.
DeleteI’m sorry you missed it. It was priceless.
Cecelia, your encyclopedic knowledge of all past anonymous comments here is truly impressive. Clearly, a focus for yourself that you just can’t quit.
DeleteAnonymouse 2:16pm, count on it,
Delete12:53 uses language to position the themselves as rational and seeking to help, while portraying the Cecelia as fundamentally flawed and irrational, undermining their confidence in their own perceptions and self-worth.
DeleteIn other words, they are gaslighting.
Cecelia is fundamentally flawed and irrational, but I love her.
DeleteCognitive.
DeleteCecelia is fundamentally flawed and irrational but also a person lacking empathy and carrying out a vendetta against trans people (who have done nothing to her). So I don't love her. I don't even like her. I think she needs to mind her own business and stop persecuting other people.
DeleteTermagant is a gendered term. Cecelia is insisting it is not, in defense of Somerby who uses that gendered term to describe Gutfeld. Use of gendered terms to insult men is sexist behavior. Calling it not gendered, in conflict with the dictionary and accepted meaning, shows the lengths Cecelia, in her ignorance, will go to salvage Somerby's idiocy.
DeleteAnonymouse 5:35pm, a termagant is essentially what Gutfeld has called a plethora of liberal women. “Use of that gendered term” is a means of saying “Who’s the “bitch” here, Greg? YOU are.”
DeleteYou are not going to make such obvious distinctions. That not your job description.
Anonymouse 5:32pm, quit trying to justify Greg Gutfeld.
DeleteI’m not sure which person is more off the chain on this issue- Campos-Duffy or Bob?
ReplyDeleteIt makes the WH Spanish-language X account seem like Solomon.
Bob, did you find any significance in the fact that the Nicole Kidman character in Kubrick’s film was longing for a M-A-N?
Perhaps the film wasn’t merely about male dominance, but something more “nuanced”.
How can a film showing a consensual orgy be about male dominance? Do you not understand what consent means?
DeleteAnonymouse 11:58am, never made the claim. Did you read yesterday’s blog?
DeleteHowever, you’re overlooking and simplifying things such as “consent” vs social imperatives.
Whatever.
Cecelia you have it right, films are pretty much never about just one thing. Viewer's takes on films are often about just one thing. But ask a different viewer, and you get a different take. Always helps if people have seen the movie, because if their commenting based on what others are saying, that doesn't promote good film discussion. You're discussing the wider perception of the film, which can also be a good discussion but it's not the same as two people sharing their personal takes from experience.
DeleteThat was sloppy, forgive the typos. Heading off to lunch.
DeleteYup, films are open to interpretation, especially poorly conceived ones.
DeleteWow.
What a take.
Our two local fanboy morons have worked out something really...really..really...
moronic.
Jesus Christ, it's so obvious these two sad sacks do not care about any actual subject, they are just here to get there daily hit of "owning the libs".
Cool.
Where does all this anger come from?
DeleteRationalist, childhood trauma.
DeleteWell I'll just throw out a recommendation in case anyone is scouring Netflix tonight and can't find anything (I know I am getting increasingly picky.)
DeleteBut I recently enjoyed The Gift (2015) very much, with Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall if you like mystery/thrillers with a psychological edge.
Rotten 91% / 75%
Thanks. We’ll check it out tonight.
DeleteAmusingly, you are conflating "anger" with your dumb views being exposed.
DeleteWhy you mad, bro?
While Republicans are worrying about pagans, the Democrats have been creating more new jobs:
ReplyDelete"Another Big Jobs Report! - The March jobs report was another big one, coming in way above expectations at 303,000 net new jobs, and 22k more in upward revisions from previous months. Average hourly earnings are up 4.1% over the past year. So with inflation at 3.2% over the past year workers in America are not only seeing the best job market since the 1960s - almost 60 years! - but are also now clearly getting ahead and beating inflation. It’s a further reminder that Joe Biden has been a strong and capable leader for our great nation, and America is far better off today due to his leadership."
Hopium Chronicles By Simon Rosenberg
Another Great Jobs Report - The Economy Is Strong, Joe Biden Is A Successful President
at Substack
Right on. Why are we letting Republicans control the discourse?
DeleteHere's the rest of the story. It's not as rosy when you look at the type of jobs that are growing:
DeleteHere is a summary for the past year:
* Overall payrolls up 1.9%
* Part-time jobs up 7.5%
* Full-time jobs down -1.35%/i>
Note that the total payroll increase is less than the rate of inflation.
Somerby asserts some inaccurate nonsense about male sexual domination, and that it is a million year old tradition.
ReplyDeleteFor evidence, he points to a story written a couple thousand of years ago by people ignorant of human behavior, and a film with a somewhat ambiguous intent.
These are poor sources from which to draw any meaningful notions about human nature.
We have years of scientific research that demonstrates Somerby's views on human behavior are wrong, yet Somerby turns a blind eye to science and goes with these muddled bedtime stories.
“For evidence, he points to a story written a couple thousand of years ago by people ignorant of human behavior, and a film with a somewhat ambiguous intent.”
DeleteI hate it when humans are ignorant of human behavior.
It’s wonderful that we have the anonymices from Mt Olympus to inform us now.
Since Homer's time, there is this thing called science that sheds light on both the physical world and human behavior.
DeleteAnonymouse 5:39pm, believe it or not, the study of human behavior existed back in the days of all those ignorant Greek philosophers and story tellers.
DeleteReal scientists of our era would not dismiss them in the slightest.
The study of human behavior in Homer’s time was not scientific so they made many assertions later found to be wrong.
DeleteCurrent scientists DO dismiss ancient knowledge.
DeleteJuan Vicente Pérez has died.
ReplyDeleteAnother Juan bites the dust
DeleteDiC - 303K new jobs! Wow! 3.8% UE rate! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteBidenomics rocks! (Can you believe how the good times just keep rolling and rolling along?)
Yes George, the economy is doing very well, although wages are still not increasing as fast as prices.
DeleteAverage weekly earnings up 4.1% in last year; CPI is up 3.2%. Wages are outpacing inflation.
DeleteBut we must re-elect Trump so he can enact those 100% tariffs and pass more tax cuts for the wealthy, amirite David?
Delete2:29 raises very good points, DiC. If Trump imposes 10% tariffs on foreign products, how do you think that will affect inflation? And if he enacts tax cuts, how do you think that will affect the deficit?
DeleteDogface, why can we count on Bob to never say anything about stuff like the Jobs report?
DeleteThe true goal of Biden and Harris, which I support, is to control conservatives. We want Cecelia's daughter to marry a lesbian, conceive a child by IVF from a Black donor, and abort the unborn child. Cecelia, make it happen!
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 12:51pm, you must have ESPN.
DeleteThe only thing you didn’t discern was her parent’s transitioning.
You’re tall enough to be male. I don’t know about her daddy.
DeleteHe’s tall enough to be male too.
DeleteThen it’s all good; she has two male parents.
DeleteThree.
Delete“With regard to several high-visibility topics, President Biden has been so astoundingly AWOL that it's very hard to be wrong on the merits if you belong to a leadership cadre in support of Red America.”
ReplyDeleteThis statement makes almost no sense.
On the one hand, if Somerby spends all day watching Fox, he might get the impression that Biden is “awol.” But without specifying the topics, what in blazes is Somerby talking about? Biden is making numerous campaign appearances, has a social media presence, and is running ads, so how exactly is he AWOL?
Also, are the red leadership cadres right simply because Biden is “awol”? Does this mean any lies or propaganda must be deemed correct?
Another point to consider is the role of the press. Are they ignoring Biden in favor of covering Trump’s deranged rants?
I think a little bit of what he's talking about is the border. Also though, Biden would lose the election if it was held today. So it's probably things that have led to that. Maybe things like the trend towards populism and the huge wave of distrust towards institutions and stuff like cultural differences that come DEI initiatives, eg. a focus on supplying high school teenage boy's bathrooms with ample amounts of tampons to insert into their vaginas. And just stuff like as a political leader, clarifying the position of his administration on the intersection of religion and such well meaning policies. There's probably some other stuff he means but I can't think of them right now. Just a failure to provide leadership that navigates the complexities of these issues in a unifying manner.
DeleteYou are incorrect @3:15. If the election were held today, Biden would win. Polls have been shifting. If you are saying that Biden is not addressing right wing initiatives as much as you would prefer, you may be right. But he is addressing the things the majority of Americans care about, and has been throughout his presidency.
DeleteThe idea that Biden is AWOL is a right wing talking point. If Somerby is repeating it here, ask yourself why.
Actually, if the election were held today, Trump would win. Polls have been shifting but not so far that Biden would win the election if it was held today. I'm not saying that Biden is addressing right wing initiatives as much as I wouldn't like to prefer. He isn't addressing many things the majority of Americans care about, like the border, and hasn't done so throughout his presidency. Not to say he hasn't been working hard and is addressing some things the some Americans care about. The idea that Biden is AWOL isn't a right wing talking point. Somerby isn't repeating it here.
DeletePolls again. Polls are not determinative.
DeletePolls can be highly predictive and somewhat determinative of outcomes, especially when repeated patterns of accuracy have been established. The perception of polls as determinative can influence behaviors and decisions, even if they are not inherently so. So Trump will win.
DeleteFor the sake of argument I will stipulate that Biden will win though. Issues at the border, the trend towards populism, the wave of distrust towards institutions, cultural differences that come from DEI initiatives, eg. tampons for the vaginas of teenage boys may represent a failure to provide leadership by Biden.
DeleteTrump is losing.
DeleteI agree that Trump's significant lead over Biden among Latinos in battleground states is a bad sign.
DeleteOne candidate speaks to the economic unfairness millions of people are experiencing. The other is fixated on making sure every American boy has a tampon for their vagina, not matter what color.
DeleteI don't know about you but I don't want to live in a country where a teenage boy has to go one day without having a tampon to insert into their vagina. We put a man on the moon for Christ's sake.
DeleteDon’t you have better things to worry about than what other people put in their vaginas?
DeleteTrump doesn’t think Catholics are Christians. Why would hispanics vote for him?
Delete7:25 no, I also want young teenage boys to have maxi pads outside of their vaginas during class or study or even after school.
DeleteWhy would hispanics vote for him?
DeleteThe border, dumbass. Why would you ask a question as stupid as that?
Hispanics here don’t care about the border. They care about jobs.
DeleteHispanics don't want the government telling high school boys what to do with their vaginas.
Deletewho knew conservatives were so obsessed with boys' genitalia?
Delete
ReplyDeletePagan? No, just the standard liberal idiocy.
The guy who has been AWOL in demonstrating basic respect for his Country is Bob Somerby.
ReplyDeleteThe coming eclipse is God’s judgement on Democrat pagans.
ReplyDeleteHow does an eclipse hurt anyone?
DeleteThe Babylon Bee satire site has a witty commentary on research showing most trans children are just going through a temporary phase
ReplyDelete“Democrats issued a warning to parents to transition their kids quickly before they grow out of it.”
The Mayo Clinic questions a comment posted earlier about whether trans treatments can be undone
ReplyDelete“The Mayo Clinic has now published a study that is getting a lot of attention. Its findings cast doubt on whether puberty blocking is actually reversible.”
From the study
Delete“Applying these models to a PB-treated patient that they appeared pre-pubertal across the entire tissue. This combined with the noted gland atrophy and abnormalities from the histology data raise a potential concern regarding the complete ’reversibility’ and reproductive fitness of SSC. The biorepository, data, and research approach presented in this study provide unique opportunity to explore the impact of PB on testicular reproductive health”
Would you experiment on your 10-year old child?
These procedures are not being done on children.
DeleteTrans issues are losers for conservative politicians. People don’t want politics meddling in medical and family issues.
Delete