Footnotes and Scare Quotes

Ask yourself what you know about what happened to Gina Carano this month. Or Chris Harrison. Or Don McNeil. When did you hear about it, and how was it described to you? Did you go and read directly the tweets or interviews that they were sacked over? Or was a summary of the mob’s case against them enough to satisfy any curiosity you may have had? Did you think the punishment was slightly out of proportion, but they “should have known better?” You may be demonstrating Gina’s point (no matter how cringey) in real time.  I beg you to read/watch the direct posts, quotes, and interviews that got these people cancelled.  Read all of Gina Carano’s “controversial” posts below and ask yourself if someone should be dropped like a sack of rotten potatoes for sharing these thoughts on her own time. (Also imagine how she would be celebrated as a strong, smart, successful, attractively plus-sized woman “breaking society’s mold” if she were simply on the political left.) Cancel culture is an...

Give it a full read and assess your own feelings. If, like me, you see air quotes missing from a lot of these sentences and you feel a great sense of dystopian foreboding, then let's hang out.    https://time.com/5936036/ secret-2020-election-campaign/

 What to choose. What to choose.... Should I dissect the recent NYT article advocating without any sense of irony or history the creation of public/private partnership dedicated to "truth enforcement"?  Should I point out how the Media are finally,   kind-of acknowledging how terribly (and deceptively) Governor Cuomo handled the Covid 19 outbreak in his own state while everyone was busy dumping on Ron DeSantis instead? (Florida is 26th in deaths per million, though you would have guessed it was top 5.) Should I point out how delicately the media are announcing the reopening of "semi-permanent, soft-sided structures" for migrant children at the border when they previously blasted the previous administration for "tent cities"? Should I point out how Jen Psaki has been given a full pass on what would have been a major scandal under the previous presidency, asking to be told in advance what reporters are going to ask at press briefings? Should I point out that...

Erik and I spend a good part of our day trying to stop our two oldest boys from setting themselves up to be mortal enemies. Neither of them gives the other any benefit of doubt. One yells way too loud and too quickly. One feels the constant need to rub the other one's ignorance in his face. One covers his ears and repeats annoying provoking statements. One hits swiftly at the slightest cause. One has a victim complex and has mentally cataloged every slight in his life. I should mention that these are good boys, and we love them. And they come to each other's defense when anyone else  trespasses against them. But other than that we are constantly trying to get them to act like they hope to be friends one day. And, believe me, it becomes harder after hearing from both of them individually that the thought of growing up and being free of each other doesn't currently bother them. But as parents we know that they are robbing from their futures, even if they currently don't t...

A. Freaking. men. I feel bad sharing so much of the same person, and I don’t endorse him all the time (like I wouldn’t endorse yesterday’s show), but he was spot on today.  https://youtu.be/2lGQTyBrJFU Also, I have a guilty pleasure show. I don’t like to share it with people because the guy definitely isn’t speaking to a general audience. He’s just a place where conservatives go to laugh while listening to a very articulate person voice their grievances and make irreverent jokes. But he’s well-researched and has his finger so squarely on the pulse of the actual Trump voter, I wish people would watch this particular episode even from just an anthropological perspective. Because, believe me, misrepresentation is the number one grievance. And as long as people refuse to understand, the problem is going to get worse. https://youtu.be/FSRhdurEnZc