The Subjectivity of Historical Revisionism
The issue at hand with much of the faddish push to classify certain artists and historical figures as unassailably evil and worthy of complete erasure is that the most strident either have nothing with which to substitute for the thing they deem canceled or they have replacement art that is not up to the challenge.
The Art of Having a Job and Making a Life at the Same Time
The idea of the side hustle is not part of the new normal we've been predicting at the tail of this bizarre yet completely expected pandemic. The side hustle has always been with us. For all the hand-wringing about the evils of capitalism and greed and discriminating practices in the workplace, none of it is new.
I Believe... [The Bacon of Journalism]
...that the internet is the bacon of journalism if journalism was vegan and temptation to cut corners and justify bullshit got them a taste of that delicious pig.
Advice Unsolicited | Ignore Your Social Circle
In this current McCarthyist state we’re playing around in, when met with your self-determined opinion (as opposed to following some strident party line) your social circle will likely turn to hyperbole and scorched earth rhetoric to both shame you into falling in line or paint the podcaster you listen to as evil.
I Believe... [It's the Guns, Morons]
...that the “needs of the many” are answered in bans on automatic, semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns.
Ten Things Harder to Acquire Than an Assault Weapon in America
I went to Walmart. No lawn darts. I went to a few sporting goods stores. Not a single fucking lawn dart to be had. Not even one that I could get stabby with or re-use thirty or forty times.
A guy at the counter of the Home Depot told me that they were called "Jarts" and they were illegal for purchase. Turns out a couple of kids got injured by lawn darts and they were banned for sale.
What the H, E, double hockey sticks!?
Before You Go All-in on Antifa, Try Becoming Antifra First
The term fragile is very popular in 2021 but I'm not certain the people who use it as a political label have an understanding of what it means. The redefinition seems to be a synonym for defensive but that isn't even close to the original so it doesn't play. Considering how loaded the term has become politically, I'd suggest we take a look at the pre-DiAngelo meaning and embrace it some before we continue forcing the evolution.
The Age of Faux Horror Embraces the Pearl-clutching of Ages Past
Is the hyperbole justified? Perhaps. With so much information swirling up around our necks like those quicksand pools in 1930’s movies set in Africa, maybe the only way to be heard in any form is to be over-the-top. There is, however, a razor’s edge between injustice revealed and complete silliness.
I Believe... [GenX Bliss]
I believe… that one of the current thrills of being GenX today is that I couldn’t give two shits about what’s going in any university, with Teen Vogue, or the Grammies.
I Like to Watch | Zack Snyder’s Justice League
To be fair to Whedon (something few are willing to do as he is now being castigated not for racism or sexism but for being mean to people) having him come in to throw in some levity and Marvel-esque color to Snyder's Wagnerian pomposity is like hiring Huey Lewis to lighten up Pink Floyd's The Wall or getting Douglas Adams to rewrite Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
Four Words That Will Change Your Life (and the Internet)
The change Churchill decidedly did not make note of (but note was made, that can be certain) is a sign of evolution. Not growing gills or something bizarrely nineties as all that but a personal evolving from a stupid twenty year old to a slightly less stupid fifty-five year old. In the grand scheme of things, less stupid may be a low bar to clear but it's at least a goal.
I Believe... [Time for Some Old Fashioned Filibuster Reform]
...that bringing back the “you have to talk the whole fucking time” filibuster is the key to bipartisanship. Put your mouth where that dirty money was, ass-to-mouthers.
I Like to Watch | Billions (Showtime)
“It's time for you folks to sharpen your pencils, and you better come back with one Traci Lords of an idea. And if you need that fucking defined, here it is: a barely legal, market-dominating, brilliant cocksucker of an idea.”
Is the Cancel Culture Racist or a Response to Bigotry?
We tend to buy this hook every time. Why? Because, like the center of a Tootsie Pop, it only takes the owl three licks to get to our judgmental, self-interested, terrified centers.
I Believe... [Survival is like Nipple Glue]
...that the daily battle between plodding through each day to survive on most levels and motivating yourself to do better, be better, is like nipple glue on the pastie of an athletic burlesque performer—barely hanging on from dance to dance.
I Believe… [A Potato Has No Gender, Idiots]
I believe… that if the renaming of “Mr. Potatohead” to “Potatohead” is the hill you’re going to die on, you may need to get some sort of professional evaluation.
Advice Unsolicited | Offense Is Definitely a Choice
First things first. It is and has always been a choice to take offense or not.
ALWAYS.
Your aunt has chosen to not be offended by a word that has become weapon used. You have chosen to be offended. Likewise, your aunt has chosen to be offended by being lectured and you choose to be offended that she is offended by your lecturing.
How Free is Our Speech and Who Decides?
These days political thought is indistinguishable from religious rhetoric. So many looking to assert the moral ground upon which we all must stand or be banished. The mistake made is to embrace the idea that the digital space is real life or even matters that much.
Why Can't We Just Share the Last Slice of Pizza?
No, it is neither race nor gender that is the engine of inequity. It’s almost entirely economic class.
I Believe... [Rush Who?]
I believe... that hearing that Rush Limbaugh has passed on affects me much in the same way as when I hear about someone I heard yelling about something once in a high school auditorium and then promptly blocked the memory from existence.
...that intense and deep aren’t the same thing even if you’ve convinced yourself they are. Intense is momentary and fleeting; deep is the result of time and energy.