Profound

I found the following quote by Wendell Berry in Jedediah Purdy’s book, “For Common Things: Irony, Trust, and Commitment in America Today”:

“A destructive history, once it is recognized as such, is a nearly insupportable burden.  Understanding it is a disease of understanding, depleting the sense of efficacy and paralyzing effort, unless it finds healing work.”

Freespeak & Newspeak

This post was brought on in part by some of the recent political debates about certain statements being “over the line” etc.

To piggyback on a point I once read regarding the contemporary loss of distinction between Patriotism and Nationalism and/Jingoism, I’ve been thinking on and off about what ever happened to the social category of “Taste”.  I suppose it’s kind of a pre-90’s mentality–you know, back when The Simpsons was considered edgy–but it seems to me that the realm of social meaning and valuation that “Taste” used to occupy has been carved up between radical Free Speech advocacy and PC Speech Restrictions, and that conceptually we’re a far poorer society as a result.

Briefly, as a working definition I understand the “Taste” to encompass the degree to which an actor frames his actions/utterances in accordance with the accepted social norms of the particular context of the action/utterance.  Radical Free Speech attacks this by claiming that social context should never impinge upon one’s right to express oneself however one wants wherever and whenever one wants, and PC Speech declares certain expressions and opinions as off-limits in any context.

I wouldn’t say that I was ‘depressed’ or ’suicidal’ last year, but…

Hmm…

Look, but don’t touch…

While reading this article on bordom (thanks to Works and Days!), my eyes wandered over to the sidebar leading to further pieces on the site.  Much to my bemusement, the advertisement had stacked the story “Eliot Spitzer not alone in high profile apologies” right on top of the story “Images from the Patriots’ cheerleader tryouts”.  Interesting…

Sociopathology

I hate facebook. Here is one more reason why.

UPDATE: Hmm…it looks like you need to sign into see the page.  It’s for the “Friends for Sale” application, and here’s the description on the site:

“Buy and sell your friends as pets! You can make your pets poke, send gifts, or just show off for you. Make money as a shrewd pets investor or as a hot commodity! Friends for Sale is the bees knees!”

Manipulating the Public

Fascinating!

 On a different level, in the 1930s members of CPUSA (the Communist Party of the USA) got instructions from Moscow to promote non-representational art so that the US’s public spaces would become arid and ugly.

Mathematical “Purity”

This is a riot. I guess when God said, “Go forth and multiply,” some people got the wrong message…

Impressionable

This article reproduces the following quote from Seventeen magazine [emphasis mine]:

“Sex is so confusing. On the one hand, you’re being told not to do it (by parents and teachers) — that it’s ‘wrong,’ that there’s no way you’re ready, or that it could lead to diseases. On the other hand, you see (in real life, in movies, and on TV) that sex is a natural, healthy, and fun part of loving relationships. You also have information about birth control coming at you from every direction: friends, TV commercials, maybe sex-ed class. You think you know how to protect yourself, but it seems like such a hassle when all you want to do is focus on those totally romantic, wonderfully tingly feelings you have about your guy!”

Um…prescinding entirely from the question of adolescent sexuality, is anyone else bothered by the fact that movies and tv shows popular with the high school female demographic are asserted as accurate representations of the content and consequences of “real life” in explicit contrast to the advice of parents and teachers?

Far better than I could have done

This is precisely why I’ve been banging on and on for years now about things like The Daily Show and why the “It’s only a joke”/”Free speech” argument isn’t quite as airtight as most people I’ve talked to about it seem to want it to be.

Duuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

People get published for this…?

“The researchers found that playing drinking games, having a personal history of binge drinking, attending a party with many other intoxicated people, and attending a themed event all predicted higher blood alcohol levels.”

(Hat Tip: Jonah Goldberg at The Corner)