Category Archives: Culture

Pluto and Our Sexual Politics

16 Years after its reclassification as a minor-planet discussion of Pluto as a planet can still kicked off spirited, heated, and intense debate. The faction that defies the International Astronomical Union’s classification in 2006 can be quite passionate about Pluto’s status as a planet even though the vast majority of that group are not astronomers or scientists. By and by they are laypeople and Pluto’s status as a planet or minor planet makes no material difference in any of their lives. Their paycheck, home equity, or personal freedoms are utterly unimpacted by the IAU’s decisions and declarations and yet they can be most vocal in defending that ‘Pluto is a planet!’

Of course, they never researched, observed, or studied Pluto. As children that learned that the Solar System has nine planets and talk of Kuiper Belts, or Trans-Neptunian Objects is uninteresting but the fact learned in grade school that there are nine planets these are their names became a foundational fragment of knowledge and something that undercuts something learned so completely as a child is on some level unsettling. Even if that fact has no bearing on their self, identity, or well-being.

A key simplistic fact we all learn as children, and one that is essential to many in their self-identification is that people are either boys or girls. There are no other categories, and like Pluto’s status as a planet, there is no doubt in the classifications, the declaration is the definition.

Unlike the debate surrounding Pluto the boy/girl classification is critical to many people’s sense of self. The classification of either girl or boy defined the roles one is expected to assume, the course of one’s life, the goals and objectives ones is expected to pursue, and can dictate everything from the clothing someone wears and the words they use to the nature of their loves and bonding commitments.

Is it really surprising then when the simplistic worldview imparted to children is redefined with new and enlarged with concepts such as trans or non-Binary that these expansions are met with fierce resistance, a resistance that is no more grounded in ‘fact’ or ‘science’ than those insisting that Pluto remains a planet simply because they were told this as a child? Particularly when so much of what so many people think of as their self-concept is tied to those first formative years when their classification was given and the course of their life ‘determined.’

None of this excuses the hatred, persecution, and prejudice that is heaped unjustly upon those who do not slot neatly into childish categories. To insist that everyone must live wholly within a category of either boy or girl with hard impermeable boundaries is as rational and defying of reality as to insist that that every has either Black hair or blond ignoring that everything nature does is a continuum, a spectrum, and the difference between girl and boy is as slippery as the difference between planet and not-planet.

Share

The Results of Trumps Endorsements are Irrelevant

Among the political reading and podcasts, I follow there has been a debate concerning if Trump is losing his grip upon the Republican party. For those assessing the environment and concluding that his influence is waning a key item of evidence is that Trump endorsed candidates are doing poorly in the GOP primaries and his win/loss record when the primaries are completed may be negative.

I think these people are wish-casting, seeing the outcomes as indicative of a political environment that want to be true not the reality that is before them.

Yes, many, perhaps even most, Trump endorsed candidates in the current Republican primaries are faring poorly and may be likely to lose. But they are not losing to candidates that repudiate Trump’s administrations, who plainly and cleanly recognize that the 2020 election was fair, free of any result altering fraud or corruption. The winning candidates from coast to coast all repeat the core conspiracy-ridden Trump approved accounts of the election and the mythical fraud. None stand athwart the conservative tide and shout STOP! None endorse Cheney and her election. They are all, with or without his endorsement, Trump’s people.

But if Trump backs losers, puts his finger on the scale and it matters not, doesn’t that prove his influence is not that great?

Here is rule one for Trump and politics, ignore it at your peril.

Objective reality does not matter to Trump and his political fortunes.

Hundreds of thousands dead from a pandemic he denied and dismissed? Inconsequential.

Massive Tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy when he campaigned otherwise? Meaningless.

Disparaging and disrupting alliances in favor of geopolitical enemies? Irrelevant.

Issuing directives against LGBTQ when he had promised to be their best friend? Trivial

What Trump does, as long as it does not directly contradict a white supremist narrative, is without any weight or meaning. Trump’s political power is not generated by policy, principle, position, or actions but solely from emotion. And that emotion is anger. Anger at the ‘other,’ anger at the ‘elite,’ anger at the world not catering to his voters’ whims. So what if Mandel wins the primary in Ohio over Vance, they are both stoking the anger, they are both bending the knee to the Orange God-King, they are both Trump’s men and he wins if either does.

Share

Apologies to My Firearm Enthusiasts Friends

I have friend that collect firearms and I have friends that trade in curio and collectable firearms to supplement their income. I understand that domination of the federal government, enough to expand the courts, kill the filibuster, and admit new states to the union, would also bring draconian and in all likelihood ineffective gun bans. But I must still work for and hope for that Democratic party achieves such a dominate position.

I must take this stand because I also have friends who are trans, who are gay, who are black, who are female, and the GOP has made it crystal clear for some time now that individuals of such categories value far less to them than tax breaks, deregulation, and cultural hegemony.

Categorically I classify as a cis white male, free from the GOP’s insidious targeting, so why should I really care?

Beyond the dear friends in the above-mentioned classifications, I have more than a gram of empathy and imagination. I can see and foresee what cruelty this is even if I myself am untouched directly by such wanton malice. It is also philosophically consistent with my world view that unless they are harming others should be free to live their lives, their one and only life, in the matter that brings them the most satisfaction, happiness, and fulfillment and that they are the sole judge of what meets those needs.

But aren’t I turning a back on the friends for whom happiness and fulfillment comes from a diverse and interesting collection of firearms?

I cannot politically help both. I must choose one side or the other and while the firearm issue may be important to some it is not a core component of one’s identity. You are not born a firearm fan you choose to become one but for all these others there was no choice, no option, and that crushing their rights in my opinion is a greater crime. When these people are free and secure then I can turn my attention elsewhere.

Share

Can The World Please Stop Burning?

 

Man, the entire world seems to be a massive trash fire.

Russia, desiring to rebuild the former ‘glory’ of the Soviet Empire, more accurately Vladimir Putin, invaded the Ukraine. It is open, ugly, and deadly war. The West needs to be smart, cautious, and resolute if this is to have anything approaching a good ending with a free Ukraine and Baltic States.

It is looking more and more likely that the Supreme Court of the United States, with a conservative majority more than willing to tarnish the institution as an arm of one of the major political parties, will later this year overturn Roe v Wade marking what I think it the first time in American history that a recognized right will be repealed. There have been many rights that state and federal governments have failed to recognize but I think this is the first to be respected and then repealed.

Vast swaths of the Republican Party are now openly anti-democratic viewing elections not as the will of the populace but procedures to the hacked, manipulated, and subverted for their own benefit.

The Texas governor, not content with his citizens freezing to death while his senator evacuates to sunny Mexico, now wishes for the parents of trans children, and their existence is reality if you like or not, should possibly be investigated for child abuse if they support their child’s identity. As always with these people it is parental rights for me but not for thee.

 

Share

Stolen Infirmity

 

If you follow politics, you are likely familiar with the concept of Stolen Valor where someone claims a military history or deeds that are untrue. They served in combat when in reality they never left the base admin offices and so on.

Hollywood, the most creative place on Earth, has rebooted and reimagined the concept and created what I’m calling Stolen Infirmity.

Over the least several decades there has been a general awakening in American culture to be more supportive, sympathetic, and understanding of people suffering from addictions, disorders, and past trauma. This is a good thing and these people need our attention and our compassion.

However, individuals accused of evil acts are stealing and claiming infirmities as a shield against any and all responsibility for their heinous actions.

People in actual therapy for these serious issues take responsibility for their behavior, for the harm that they have done to others, for their actions but these celebrities do just the opposite. The actions are not their fault but a result of their condition, their drinking, their sex addiction, certainly not themselves.

You can see this on full display in the recent interview where once beloved geek icon Joss Wheadon attempts to rehab his reputation. Despite numerous accusations from numerous people from nearly every production he has led. Somehow none of this true, somehow none of this is hisfault. Somehow, it’s all down to his trauma, and that actors somehow can’t understand his words.

An entire field of bulls would stink as badly.

 

Share

Trump Didn’t Create GOP Anti-Vaxxers

 

There is a tendency to lay at the feet of the Former President all the ills of the current GOP ignoring the fact that pre-existing rot is what allowed the charlatan to leap to the front of the GOP field in 2015 and take command of the party.

With the COVID-19 pandemic killing over 800,000 Americans a time-travelers from a mere decade ago would be shocked at how virulent the GOP bases is in resisting this literally lifesaving vaccine, but that time traveler would be ignoring the GOP’s history with an anti-vaccine stance.

Human Papillomavirus is responsible for a number of cancers found primarily in women. HPV is often transmitted via sexual intercourse and can lay dormant in a person for decades. In 2006 the first vaccines against HPV reached the market with the promise to save thousands of lives. For the vaccine to be most effective it is best to administer it before any HPV infection dictating the best course is to vaccinate before sexual activity.

Conservatives rebelled. Ignoring the danger to the lives of thousands of women their only concern, and an utterly unfounded one, was vaccinating against a virus that was principally transmitted sexually would encourage promiscuity. To date legislation merely recommending the vaccination has been defeated by GOP forces.

In 2015 as candidates jostled for the GOP presidential nomination, Senator Paul Rand, a doctor for god’s sake, tied vaccination to autism, a thoroughly discredited position. When confronted with video of his statement Paul insisted his words did not mean what they meant suggesting that people should believe him over their lying eyes.

 

Share

Another Trip Around the Great Ellipse

 

2022, as we reckon it, has started and here’s hoping that this year will see improvements over the one now departed to the ashbin of history.

Have no doubt that the times ahead will still be turbulent, troublesome, and tiring. Politically things will get harder, meaner, and more dangerous before they get better. The great test of American democracy and democracy in general will not be met by this year’s election or even the next presidential cycle but rather over the next decade. Still there is hope. Despair is those who know that there is no hope and only those with perfect foresight can know that.

On other fronts 2022 will still be an interesting year.

It is the year that the 1948 Paramount Decree which forbade Motion Picture Studios from owning theatrical exhibition assets is formally terminated and it would not surprise me in the least if Disney turned around bought AMC launching a frenzy as other studios raced to get back into the showing movies business.

Here’s hoping that 2022 is also when we start getting good results from the newest batch of mRNA vaccines, the ones being tested right now against HIV/AIDS and some cancers.

There are dark times ahead but there is also strong reasons to believe that better times are also coming to meet us. Stay strong, get vaccinated, fight for democracy, and be kind.

Share

The Billion Dollar Movie You’ve Never Seen

 

2021 has been a rough year for theatrically releases feature films. While their box office takes gave improved over pandemic year one 2020 and Spider-Man: No Way Home sold enough tickets to pass the billion-dollar mark for it parents Sony and Marvel Studios other long-awaited movies failed to get close to a billion dollars or even make it into the top ten global box office earnings. I’m looking at you Dune and Black Widow, but that is not entirely fair because the global box office environment has changed. While Spider-Man‘s latest adventure clawed its way past a billion dollars close on its heels is a film that just squeaked past 900 million, a patriotic, crowd-pleasing, epic war movie that you’ve never seen and likely never heard of; The Battle at Lake Changjin.

Produced and distributed by and for the Chinese film market Lake Changjin tells the story of the Chinese army’s entrance into the Korean War and the hardships, struggle, and heroism in pushing the American forces out of North Korea. (Note: Lake Changjin is known to Americans as Chosin Reservoir.)

Naturally a film financed by the publicity department of the Chinese Communist Party as an element of celebrating the centennial of their founding is going to be patriotic and jingoistic, but I am not here to discuss the film’s historical accuracies or inaccuracies. Rather its existence and its massive financial score is what I am interested in today.

For the last few decades, the Chinese film market has been a vital component of the American studios global strategy. Large, action-filled, noisy, films that require minimal language and cultural translations have traveled well overseas and particularly in China. As recently as all the top ten global box offices films were American movies. This year three of those slots were occupied by Chinese produced feature films, the aforementioned The Battle at Lake Changjin, Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown 3. (See, it’s not just Hollywood obsessed with IP and sequela.)

This is not just an effect of theaters stayed closed long the US due to pandemic restrictions, all three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films released this year, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Widow, and Eternals were denied access to the Chinese market. The Chinese Communist Party, who in my opinion are now communist in name only, used American blockbuster to build their domestic market, invited productions to learn the trade, craft, and art, of film making, and now are closing that door confident and competent that not only can they fill their market with locally produced and ideologically approved features but that they will soon be positioned to challenge Hollywood’s century-long global dominance.

This is more than money. This is a prime vector for transmitting ideology, culture, and values. It may very well be our future will be influence by Chinese cinema over American.

Share

After The Wolf

 

We’re all familiar with the fable of the boy who cried wolf. How charged with guarding the flock at night he falsely twice cried out alarm of the wolf, turned out the adults and laughed at them then on the third alarm when the wolf has actually appeared no one came and, the way it was told to me, he was eaten by the wolf. A cautionary tale against telling lies for when you will need to be believed you won’t be.

But what happened the day after the wolf?

No doubt with the boy killed and the flock in danger the adult sprang into action, formed hunting parties, beat the wood and either drove off or killed the wolf.

It is the follow up that interests me as next year it appears more than likely that our 6 person majority court will strike down Roe v Wade and take back a right from Americans. For years, literally for decades, we have heard the alarms that this was the goal of the right. The cry went up in every campaign that this danger was approaching and following the campaigns the ruling wasn’t overturned. Now those who raised these warnings were not the boy who cried wolf for they were not lying, they saw clearly the looming threat, but the length of time required for the right to gain the power to achieve their goals dulled the alarm and reduced the warning to background radiation of our nuclear war politics. But now it appears the boy will be eaten and what will the response be?

I have heard voices on the right dismissing any political blowback as alarmism. They point to exits polls and how few people voted on the abortion issue alone, but this may very well be a poor extrapolation. There is a very real difference between a hypothetical event, be warned that a danger may exist, and a real event that crashes into the political landscape like an asteroid. Nearly three generations of people have lived with the accepted knowledge that this right existed, its sudden extinction may very well be a shocking, traumatic, and mobilizing event just months before a national election.

Maybe.

We have not been in the situation before. Until this case the progress has been expanding rights of the individual not eliminating them and the past gives us very little upon which to see the future.

Share

Odds and Ends

 

It’s mind numbingly stupid that in all likelihood more Americans are going to die of COVID 19 after a safe and effective vaccine is available than before there was such an option.

 

The Internet has performed an artistic trick that a hundred years of cinema could not pull off, making foreign language television and movies popular with Americans.

 

I wonder if any marginal Republican districts are going to change hands because the GOP has successfully convinced their base that death is the way to ‘own the libs?’

 

Colin Powell screwed up supporting the invasion of Iraq, but he was magnitudes less evil and less dangerous that all of those in close orbit with Trump.

 

 

Share