Great Discovery
The Other Side of Country. A sample:
Back when Coltrane was blue, Dylan was freewheelin', and TV was 3 networks and UHF, people read books and listened to music. Don't get me wrong, they still do that. But, back then, MANY people did that. Now, many people read bullshit blogs, watch end-of-civilization, reality TV shows, and have every album Britney Spears ever released. Hey, St. Augustine had a hard time looking away when the lions ate the Christians
Found it thanks to The Fat Guy.
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Friday, September 26, 2003
Suicide Bombers
Interesting op-ed on suicide bombing in the Times. It is a pessimistic, even defeatist assessment. The methodological weakness of the underlying statistical analysis is discussed over at Volokh. The American Mind also comments here.
The author makes a point that is often over looked by many in the west.
Rather, what nearly all suicide terrorist campaigns have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel liberal democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland. Religion is rarely the root cause, although it is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations in recruiting and in other efforts in service of the broader strategic objective.
Nearly all suicide terrorist attacks occur as part of organized campaigns, not as isolated or random incidents. Of the 188 separate attacks in the period I studied, 179 could have their roots traced to large, coherent political or military campaigns.
Suicide terrorist campaigns are directed toward a strategic objective.
This view is echoed by David Ignatius
This stark assessment makes clear that suicide bombings are part of a very deliberate strategy. They aren't driven by poverty, neglect, irrational fanaticism or the other factors Westerners often cite. They are motivated by a belief that killing Israelis will bring military victory.
All too often we think and speak of suicide bombers as individuals driven by despair to take action on their own initiative. But it appears that they are mere pawns of the Arafats and bin Ladens. The strategists of suicide terror are hardly leaders are heroic symbols of resistance. They are cowards who send other people's children to die while their own spawn are protected.
Interesting op-ed on suicide bombing in the Times. It is a pessimistic, even defeatist assessment. The methodological weakness of the underlying statistical analysis is discussed over at Volokh. The American Mind also comments here.
The author makes a point that is often over looked by many in the west.
Rather, what nearly all suicide terrorist campaigns have in common is a specific secular and strategic goal: to compel liberal democracies to withdraw military forces from territory that the terrorists consider to be their homeland. Religion is rarely the root cause, although it is often used as a tool by terrorist organizations in recruiting and in other efforts in service of the broader strategic objective.
Nearly all suicide terrorist attacks occur as part of organized campaigns, not as isolated or random incidents. Of the 188 separate attacks in the period I studied, 179 could have their roots traced to large, coherent political or military campaigns.
Suicide terrorist campaigns are directed toward a strategic objective.
This view is echoed by David Ignatius
This stark assessment makes clear that suicide bombings are part of a very deliberate strategy. They aren't driven by poverty, neglect, irrational fanaticism or the other factors Westerners often cite. They are motivated by a belief that killing Israelis will bring military victory.
All too often we think and speak of suicide bombers as individuals driven by despair to take action on their own initiative. But it appears that they are mere pawns of the Arafats and bin Ladens. The strategists of suicide terror are hardly leaders are heroic symbols of resistance. They are cowards who send other people's children to die while their own spawn are protected.
This seems wrong
So i'm reading my latest issue of the Journal of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (join here) and came across a couple of pictures of Mo Rocca. He's the guy from the Daily Show who is a featured commentator on VH1's "We Love the 70s". The caption says he's been a member of TRA since 2000.
I just can't imagine TR and Rocca at the same table at dinner. On one hand you have the proponent of the vigorous life and defender of the man in the arena. On the other, the Manhattanite whose stock in trade is irony-drenched observations from the sidelines.
Roosevelt, like Andrew Jackson, is the antithesis of our age. They spoke plainly, made enemies by the score, and preferred action over commentary. Rocca, like most comedians today, obeys PC pieties and mocks safe targets from a distance.
So i'm reading my latest issue of the Journal of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (join here) and came across a couple of pictures of Mo Rocca. He's the guy from the Daily Show who is a featured commentator on VH1's "We Love the 70s". The caption says he's been a member of TRA since 2000.
I just can't imagine TR and Rocca at the same table at dinner. On one hand you have the proponent of the vigorous life and defender of the man in the arena. On the other, the Manhattanite whose stock in trade is irony-drenched observations from the sidelines.
Roosevelt, like Andrew Jackson, is the antithesis of our age. They spoke plainly, made enemies by the score, and preferred action over commentary. Rocca, like most comedians today, obeys PC pieties and mocks safe targets from a distance.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Surviving Isabel
By all rights, it was a minor weather event here in central PA. Winds were basically 40 mph or less except for a few heavier gusts. But it somehow morphed into a major problem. 1.4 million people in the state lost power. Twenty-four hours after the storm passed, 600,000 were still de-electrified. Some people will not get power back until Monday.
My power company-PPL- was only able to restore power to 50,000 out of 200,000 customers in the first day. It is worrisome. If this is emergency response under ideal conditions-- warm temperatures, light winds, teams available from elsewhere in the state-- then, what would happen when conditions are unfavorable.
For that matter, what would have happened if Isabel had hit as hard as it was predicted earlier. On Tuesday one of Penn State's models predicted that the storm would make landfall along the Chesapeake and hit PA with winds still above 100 mph.
Our power was off 31 hours. And we also lost phone service for a few hours. So it was mostly just an inconvenience. I'll give PPL credit for this: when i reported the outage on Saturday morning, they estimated that my neighborhood would be up again by 2.00 that afternoon. It came back on at 1.08 pm.
Also, the local Days Inn (which had power) was offering a special low rate for people without power. That was a decent thing to do.
I had a battery-powered radio but needn't have bothered. Our news talk station (WHP) was worthless. They ran their regular lineup of yakkers and shouters (Rush, Hannity, Savage, etc.) and the sliver of local news each hour was not helpful. They simply kept repeating that trees were down and power was out to 200,000 people locally. No sense of how long it would be out, where people should go if they needed emergency help, etc.
By all rights, it was a minor weather event here in central PA. Winds were basically 40 mph or less except for a few heavier gusts. But it somehow morphed into a major problem. 1.4 million people in the state lost power. Twenty-four hours after the storm passed, 600,000 were still de-electrified. Some people will not get power back until Monday.
My power company-PPL- was only able to restore power to 50,000 out of 200,000 customers in the first day. It is worrisome. If this is emergency response under ideal conditions-- warm temperatures, light winds, teams available from elsewhere in the state-- then, what would happen when conditions are unfavorable.
For that matter, what would have happened if Isabel had hit as hard as it was predicted earlier. On Tuesday one of Penn State's models predicted that the storm would make landfall along the Chesapeake and hit PA with winds still above 100 mph.
Our power was off 31 hours. And we also lost phone service for a few hours. So it was mostly just an inconvenience. I'll give PPL credit for this: when i reported the outage on Saturday morning, they estimated that my neighborhood would be up again by 2.00 that afternoon. It came back on at 1.08 pm.
Also, the local Days Inn (which had power) was offering a special low rate for people without power. That was a decent thing to do.
I had a battery-powered radio but needn't have bothered. Our news talk station (WHP) was worthless. They ran their regular lineup of yakkers and shouters (Rush, Hannity, Savage, etc.) and the sliver of local news each hour was not helpful. They simply kept repeating that trees were down and power was out to 200,000 people locally. No sense of how long it would be out, where people should go if they needed emergency help, etc.
Thursday, September 18, 2003
I Liked This
As long as Jack's ox is not being gored, he's all for the public health/pseudo-science crowd, and taxing me out of existence and marginalizing me. There's no problem with that since, you know, he doesn't smoke.
That's Scott over at The Fat Guy in response to a post from another blogger who now worries that the meddlers who went after smokers might now want regulate and interfere with his lifestyle choices.
The anti-smoking efforts bothered me for many reasons. The worst, i think, was how dishonest the proponents were. They talked about making "big tobacco companies pay", but the fact is all that settlement money is coming from smokers not shareholders. Their class war rhetoric disguised the fact they wanted to meddle in their fellow citizens's lives. They distorted the meaning of "public health" and talked about "economic costs of smoking" that were fairy tales.
As long as Jack's ox is not being gored, he's all for the public health/pseudo-science crowd, and taxing me out of existence and marginalizing me. There's no problem with that since, you know, he doesn't smoke.
That's Scott over at The Fat Guy in response to a post from another blogger who now worries that the meddlers who went after smokers might now want regulate and interfere with his lifestyle choices.
The anti-smoking efforts bothered me for many reasons. The worst, i think, was how dishonest the proponents were. They talked about making "big tobacco companies pay", but the fact is all that settlement money is coming from smokers not shareholders. Their class war rhetoric disguised the fact they wanted to meddle in their fellow citizens's lives. They distorted the meaning of "public health" and talked about "economic costs of smoking" that were fairy tales.
Investigating the Unexplained
James over at Hell in a Handbasket tells what he found when he tried to hunt down a legendary monster in Ohio.
His results reminded me of one of my favorite examples of easily refuted conspiracy mongering. Dozens of people are supposed to have seen a shooter on the grassy knoll in Dallas on 22 November 1963. Their accounts usually include a description of a "puff of smoke" wafting away after the shot.
Except that since the 1890s, snipers have used rifles and cartridges that contain smokeless powder. There would have been no puff of smoke. (Go to any rifle range if you don't believe me. You will see almost nothing coming from the barrels after the shot. Certainly no smoke visible from 30 yards away). Garrison's "investigators" found it impossible to recreate that puff of smoke under any realistic conditions.
By the way, James posts frequently and always finds interesting stuff. So hie thee over and read daily. I do.
James over at Hell in a Handbasket tells what he found when he tried to hunt down a legendary monster in Ohio.
His results reminded me of one of my favorite examples of easily refuted conspiracy mongering. Dozens of people are supposed to have seen a shooter on the grassy knoll in Dallas on 22 November 1963. Their accounts usually include a description of a "puff of smoke" wafting away after the shot.
Except that since the 1890s, snipers have used rifles and cartridges that contain smokeless powder. There would have been no puff of smoke. (Go to any rifle range if you don't believe me. You will see almost nothing coming from the barrels after the shot. Certainly no smoke visible from 30 yards away). Garrison's "investigators" found it impossible to recreate that puff of smoke under any realistic conditions.
By the way, James posts frequently and always finds interesting stuff. So hie thee over and read daily. I do.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
"Trading Spaces and the Apotheosis of the Expert"
That's the latest post over at God of the Machine. It's too good to try to excerpt. Just read it.
That's the latest post over at God of the Machine. It's too good to try to excerpt. Just read it.
Mothman
I watched "The Mothman Prophesies" this weekend. Not a great movie by any means. The only reason I watched it was that it was "based" on events that supposedly took place in Point Pleasant W.Va. back in 1966-67. If you want the scary version of those events, click here. If you want to read how a few puzzling events can be used to create a hoax read this. (It is an insider's account by a journalist who knew the chief hoaxer.)
I was intrigued when i heard of the movie and its inspiration because i went to school in southeast Ohio and yet had never heard of Mothman. No one I knew from the area around Point Pleasant ever mentioned it that i recall. The same is true for the Kecksburg UFO. It wasn't a topic of local conversation for twenty years but then Unsolved Mysteries features it and "witnesses" come out of the woodwork. Of course, their accounts all fit neatly into the TV storyline.
I watched "The Mothman Prophesies" this weekend. Not a great movie by any means. The only reason I watched it was that it was "based" on events that supposedly took place in Point Pleasant W.Va. back in 1966-67. If you want the scary version of those events, click here. If you want to read how a few puzzling events can be used to create a hoax read this. (It is an insider's account by a journalist who knew the chief hoaxer.)
I was intrigued when i heard of the movie and its inspiration because i went to school in southeast Ohio and yet had never heard of Mothman. No one I knew from the area around Point Pleasant ever mentioned it that i recall. The same is true for the Kecksburg UFO. It wasn't a topic of local conversation for twenty years but then Unsolved Mysteries features it and "witnesses" come out of the woodwork. Of course, their accounts all fit neatly into the TV storyline.
Monday, September 15, 2003
Better than fiction
One of the memorable subplots in Lonesome Dove is Call's (Tommy Lee Jones) journey back to Texas with the body of his friend Gus (Robert Duvall). This was not fiction, it was based on fact.
When Oliver Loving was killed in a clash with Indians in New Mexico, his partner, Charles Goodnight, promised him he would not be buried on "foreign soil". So he took the body 600 miles back to Texas.
But where the mini-series left us with Tommy Lee Jones back in Texas pondering the cost of his "vision", Goodnight went immediately back on the trail. His cattle drive was not a once in a lifetime lark to see new country, but simply one of many he made over the trail he blazed. (That trail was called the Goodnight-Loving trail which has to be the best name ever to come out of the west).
Goodnight was a hard-charger. He knew that cattle were cheap in Texas and could be sold for a good price around the Rocky Mountain mining towns and along the railroads. So he was on the road constantly with herds. In the nine years after the Civil War he took 8-10,000 head a year to market. In that time it is said that he never stayed more than four nights in any one place.
(Read more here and here.)
One of the memorable subplots in Lonesome Dove is Call's (Tommy Lee Jones) journey back to Texas with the body of his friend Gus (Robert Duvall). This was not fiction, it was based on fact.
When Oliver Loving was killed in a clash with Indians in New Mexico, his partner, Charles Goodnight, promised him he would not be buried on "foreign soil". So he took the body 600 miles back to Texas.
But where the mini-series left us with Tommy Lee Jones back in Texas pondering the cost of his "vision", Goodnight went immediately back on the trail. His cattle drive was not a once in a lifetime lark to see new country, but simply one of many he made over the trail he blazed. (That trail was called the Goodnight-Loving trail which has to be the best name ever to come out of the west).
Goodnight was a hard-charger. He knew that cattle were cheap in Texas and could be sold for a good price around the Rocky Mountain mining towns and along the railroads. So he was on the road constantly with herds. In the nine years after the Civil War he took 8-10,000 head a year to market. In that time it is said that he never stayed more than four nights in any one place.
(Read more here and here.)
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Well-deserved recognition
World Magazine has recently started a feature called "Blogwatch". This week they did a little primer for their readers on blogs. A sample
Q: Wow, you've convinced me! Where do I go to look for blogs?
A: The most widely read blog is Instapundit (instapundit.com), with up to 70,000 readers a day. Blogger Glenn Reynolds updates the site constantly with links to fresh commentary. His blogroll (links to other blogs) is a good place to search for new sites. For a less libertarian and more conservative viewpoint, try the Midwest Conservative Journal (mcj.bloghorn.com), which has an even longer blogroll.
No mistake. They don't hyperlink in their post. But even with that, i am glad that they have decided include blogs as a regular part of their coverage. (And it appears that they will soon start a blog of their own.)
And MCJ really deserves the recognition.
World Magazine has recently started a feature called "Blogwatch". This week they did a little primer for their readers on blogs. A sample
Q: Wow, you've convinced me! Where do I go to look for blogs?
A: The most widely read blog is Instapundit (instapundit.com), with up to 70,000 readers a day. Blogger Glenn Reynolds updates the site constantly with links to fresh commentary. His blogroll (links to other blogs) is a good place to search for new sites. For a less libertarian and more conservative viewpoint, try the Midwest Conservative Journal (mcj.bloghorn.com), which has an even longer blogroll.
No mistake. They don't hyperlink in their post. But even with that, i am glad that they have decided include blogs as a regular part of their coverage. (And it appears that they will soon start a blog of their own.)
And MCJ really deserves the recognition.
Saturday, September 13, 2003
I am shocked...
....that the Times would fabricate a quote to fit a preconceived story. I thought this was supposed to end after the blogosphere got rid of Hal Raines.
....that the Times would fabricate a quote to fit a preconceived story. I thought this was supposed to end after the blogosphere got rid of Hal Raines.
Mark Steyn on Sweden
There seem to have been an awful lot of bystanders to Miss Lindh's stabbing - in broad daylight, in a crowded department store, after being pursued by her assailant up an escalator. Granted that many of the people bystanding around were women, it still seems odd - at least from my side of the Atlantic - that no one attempted to intervene or halt the blood-drenched killer as he calmly left the store.
And he gets to at least part of problem.
This isn't an argument for guns, it's more basic than that: it's the difference between a citizen and a nanny-state baby
Found via the Country Store
There seem to have been an awful lot of bystanders to Miss Lindh's stabbing - in broad daylight, in a crowded department store, after being pursued by her assailant up an escalator. Granted that many of the people bystanding around were women, it still seems odd - at least from my side of the Atlantic - that no one attempted to intervene or halt the blood-drenched killer as he calmly left the store.
And he gets to at least part of problem.
This isn't an argument for guns, it's more basic than that: it's the difference between a citizen and a nanny-state baby
Found via the Country Store
THE VALUE OF BLOGS
A very useful review of what has been said on the matter can be found here.
Via Outside the Beltway.
A very useful review of what has been said on the matter can be found here.
Via Outside the Beltway.
Friday, September 12, 2003
Siege of Vienna
In the summer of 1683 the Ottoman Turks advanced up the Danube, occupied Hungary, and, in July, laid siege to Vienna. They had 200,00 men and over 300 cannon. The defenders of the city numbered less than 22,000 only 6,000 of whom were regular soldiers; the remainder were civilians pressed into service at the start of the siege.
The relief of the city was complicated by European politics. Louis XIV of France hoped to gain German territory on the Rhine while the Hapsburgs were occupied in the east. To that end, he worked to create am anti-Hapsburg alliance with Hungary and Poland which would deny Austria aid against the Turks. (Incidentally, the Ottoman artillery were commanded by a Frenchman, a former Capuchin no less).
By September, conditions were desperate inside the city- low supplies, disease, and weakening defenses. The Hapsburgs had raised a relief army of only 21,000. But, fortunately, Poland had spurned Louis's maneuvers and sent an army of 24,000 under their King John Sobieski.
On September 12, the two relief armies and the forces inside the city attacked the besiegers. The critical moment came in mid-afternoon when Sobieski sent his cavalry into the heart of the Ottoman camp. The battle became a rout. The next day the Polish king wrote his wife: "the Vizer took such hurried flight that he had time to escape with only one horse."
He also noted the Turks "left behind a mass of innocent Austrian people, particularly women; but they butchered as many as they could." Separate from that slaughter, the Ottomans had sent 67,000 Austrians east as slaves and 14,000 girls to the harems of Constantinople.
Sobieski's troops captured the Ottoman battle flag ("The green standard of the Prophet") in the fighting. This he sent to the Pope with the message "Veni vidi, Deus Vicit" ("I came, I saw, God conquered").
The lifting of the siege is usually marked as the turning point for the Ottoman empire. For centuries they had advanced against Europe, conquering the Byzantium empire, capturing lands in the Balkans and islands in the Mediterranean. After 1683 they began 250 years of retreat. (Funny how many of these critical turning points find the Poles fighting on the right side).
Today is the 320th anniversary of the lifting of the siege.
In the summer of 1683 the Ottoman Turks advanced up the Danube, occupied Hungary, and, in July, laid siege to Vienna. They had 200,00 men and over 300 cannon. The defenders of the city numbered less than 22,000 only 6,000 of whom were regular soldiers; the remainder were civilians pressed into service at the start of the siege.
The relief of the city was complicated by European politics. Louis XIV of France hoped to gain German territory on the Rhine while the Hapsburgs were occupied in the east. To that end, he worked to create am anti-Hapsburg alliance with Hungary and Poland which would deny Austria aid against the Turks. (Incidentally, the Ottoman artillery were commanded by a Frenchman, a former Capuchin no less).
By September, conditions were desperate inside the city- low supplies, disease, and weakening defenses. The Hapsburgs had raised a relief army of only 21,000. But, fortunately, Poland had spurned Louis's maneuvers and sent an army of 24,000 under their King John Sobieski.
On September 12, the two relief armies and the forces inside the city attacked the besiegers. The critical moment came in mid-afternoon when Sobieski sent his cavalry into the heart of the Ottoman camp. The battle became a rout. The next day the Polish king wrote his wife: "the Vizer took such hurried flight that he had time to escape with only one horse."
He also noted the Turks "left behind a mass of innocent Austrian people, particularly women; but they butchered as many as they could." Separate from that slaughter, the Ottomans had sent 67,000 Austrians east as slaves and 14,000 girls to the harems of Constantinople.
Sobieski's troops captured the Ottoman battle flag ("The green standard of the Prophet") in the fighting. This he sent to the Pope with the message "Veni vidi, Deus Vicit" ("I came, I saw, God conquered").
The lifting of the siege is usually marked as the turning point for the Ottoman empire. For centuries they had advanced against Europe, conquering the Byzantium empire, capturing lands in the Balkans and islands in the Mediterranean. After 1683 they began 250 years of retreat. (Funny how many of these critical turning points find the Poles fighting on the right side).
Today is the 320th anniversary of the lifting of the siege.
Bad News for the Democratic presidential strategy
Dean, Kerry, et. al. are critical of Bush for not getting more help from the UN in Iraq. This Gallup poll indicates that most Americans don't see the UN in a positive light and blame it more than Bush for the UN's failure to join us in Iraq.
A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll finds a majority of Americans saying the United Nations' failure to support the Iraq invasion caused them to view the United Nations less favorably. In addition, 6 in 10 Americans now say the United Nations is doing a poor job of handling the problems it has had to face, the highest negative rating Gallup has measured on this item since 1953.
Dean, Kerry, et. al. are critical of Bush for not getting more help from the UN in Iraq. This Gallup poll indicates that most Americans don't see the UN in a positive light and blame it more than Bush for the UN's failure to join us in Iraq.
A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll finds a majority of Americans saying the United Nations' failure to support the Iraq invasion caused them to view the United Nations less favorably. In addition, 6 in 10 Americans now say the United Nations is doing a poor job of handling the problems it has had to face, the highest negative rating Gallup has measured on this item since 1953.
Battling the Beltway
A must read interview with Laurie Mylroie. She served as an Iraq expert for Bill Clinton in the early 1990s and believes strongly that Iraq played a role in the 1993 WTC bombing and may have had a part in the 2001 hijackings and anthrax mailings.
A must read interview with Laurie Mylroie. She served as an Iraq expert for Bill Clinton in the early 1990s and believes strongly that Iraq played a role in the 1993 WTC bombing and may have had a part in the 2001 hijackings and anthrax mailings.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Voting
God of the Machine throws down the gauntlet.
Voting literacy tests often served as an excuse to intimidate blacks at the polls, and they are certainly objectionable if discriminatorily applied. Yet I see nothing wrong with such tests in principle. If someone is going to participate, albeit in a humble way, in the great affairs of state, ought he at the very least to be able to read?
****
Poll taxes I find no more noxious than any other tax.
That is just a sample. There is much more and it deserves to be read in full.
God of the Machine throws down the gauntlet.
Voting literacy tests often served as an excuse to intimidate blacks at the polls, and they are certainly objectionable if discriminatorily applied. Yet I see nothing wrong with such tests in principle. If someone is going to participate, albeit in a humble way, in the great affairs of state, ought he at the very least to be able to read?
****
Poll taxes I find no more noxious than any other tax.
That is just a sample. There is much more and it deserves to be read in full.
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Another Red/Blue Divide?
At last week's debate Joe Lieberman declared that "It hasn't been a good time to have a cowboy in charge of our future."
He said that as if being a cowboy was a bad thing. But he isn't alone, many on the left here and in Europe deride Bush as a cowboy.
But check out this list of popular movie stars. John Wayne is still in the top 10. So is Eastwood. Clearly, in much of the country, being called a cowboy is going to make the President look good. I wonder if Lieberman, Kerry, Dean and their staffs understand that?
Or do they think everyone would rather watch The Hours rather than High Plains Drifter?
At last week's debate Joe Lieberman declared that "It hasn't been a good time to have a cowboy in charge of our future."
He said that as if being a cowboy was a bad thing. But he isn't alone, many on the left here and in Europe deride Bush as a cowboy.
But check out this list of popular movie stars. John Wayne is still in the top 10. So is Eastwood. Clearly, in much of the country, being called a cowboy is going to make the President look good. I wonder if Lieberman, Kerry, Dean and their staffs understand that?
Or do they think everyone would rather watch The Hours rather than High Plains Drifter?
This Metrosexual Thing
First off, metrosexual-- like yuppies, Gen X, and Gen Y-- is the creation of ad agencies and market researchers. The "trend" was not discovered through disinterested scholarship, it was manufactured to provide clever talking points to sell advertising space and advertising agencies.
As with most advertising-driven "research" the groups identified as most desirable and/or cutting edge tend to be groups that are over-represented in advertising, publishing, and media. That is why straight men getting facials in LA and New York gets discussed on TV and in major papers. It is perceived as some sort of harbinger in a way that 1,000,000 home-schooled children or 33 states with "shall issue" concealed carry laws are not.
The hype also bugs me because self-described metrosexuals are quick to create a false dichotomy.
The editor of Details declares:
Heterosexual men who no longer fit the alpha male description. I like to think that I'm a neo-alpha male. I believe that the idea of the chest-pounding, flannel-wearing, axe-swinging, lug of a guy no longer accurately represents the idea of masculinity
Think about the perfect guy. The one your mother has always wanted you to bring home (assuming you're a woman). He's sensitive. He's smart. He can quote Thoreau. He can cook French food. He knows the difference between a daisy and a daffodil and the difference between a Monet and a Manet. This is a metrosexual. It doesn't have anything to do with getting pedicures. I've never had a pedicure or a manicure in my entire life. Metrosexuality is in simple terms, just a word used to define an evolution in masculinity. Men are no longer belching up their breakfasts while reading the sports pages and ignoring the women that are around them. That guy is long gone. Or at least he should be.
This Austrailian journalists announced:
We have had a lot of bad press lately, and it's time some of us stood up to be counted.
I like my shirt and tie to match. I keep up with fashion trends and I would like to think I'm quite well groomed. Is there anything wrong with this?
If you don't get on board and buy the complete Clinique of Men product line, then you are stupid, crude, sloppy and violent. No man could prefer Dial soap and Woolrich and still be literate or courteous. If you don't follow the fashion layouts religiously, then you are the kind of man who embarrasses your family when you try to wear a suit and tie.
But the big problem is that the whole idea celebrates man as a consumer and narcissist. (Billy Crystal's Fernando may be the perfect metrosexual.) For me, "man at his best" is a do-er, not merely a consumer; he lives and acts for something larger than his own appearance and image. But that kind of "lifestyle" doesn't lend itself to advertising-driven publishing.
First off, metrosexual-- like yuppies, Gen X, and Gen Y-- is the creation of ad agencies and market researchers. The "trend" was not discovered through disinterested scholarship, it was manufactured to provide clever talking points to sell advertising space and advertising agencies.
As with most advertising-driven "research" the groups identified as most desirable and/or cutting edge tend to be groups that are over-represented in advertising, publishing, and media. That is why straight men getting facials in LA and New York gets discussed on TV and in major papers. It is perceived as some sort of harbinger in a way that 1,000,000 home-schooled children or 33 states with "shall issue" concealed carry laws are not.
The hype also bugs me because self-described metrosexuals are quick to create a false dichotomy.
The editor of Details declares:
Heterosexual men who no longer fit the alpha male description. I like to think that I'm a neo-alpha male. I believe that the idea of the chest-pounding, flannel-wearing, axe-swinging, lug of a guy no longer accurately represents the idea of masculinity
Think about the perfect guy. The one your mother has always wanted you to bring home (assuming you're a woman). He's sensitive. He's smart. He can quote Thoreau. He can cook French food. He knows the difference between a daisy and a daffodil and the difference between a Monet and a Manet. This is a metrosexual. It doesn't have anything to do with getting pedicures. I've never had a pedicure or a manicure in my entire life. Metrosexuality is in simple terms, just a word used to define an evolution in masculinity. Men are no longer belching up their breakfasts while reading the sports pages and ignoring the women that are around them. That guy is long gone. Or at least he should be.
This Austrailian journalists announced:
We have had a lot of bad press lately, and it's time some of us stood up to be counted.
I like my shirt and tie to match. I keep up with fashion trends and I would like to think I'm quite well groomed. Is there anything wrong with this?
If you don't get on board and buy the complete Clinique of Men product line, then you are stupid, crude, sloppy and violent. No man could prefer Dial soap and Woolrich and still be literate or courteous. If you don't follow the fashion layouts religiously, then you are the kind of man who embarrasses your family when you try to wear a suit and tie.
But the big problem is that the whole idea celebrates man as a consumer and narcissist. (Billy Crystal's Fernando may be the perfect metrosexual.) For me, "man at his best" is a do-er, not merely a consumer; he lives and acts for something larger than his own appearance and image. But that kind of "lifestyle" doesn't lend itself to advertising-driven publishing.
Monday, September 08, 2003
Helms and Colby
Two new books on these important DCIs. A posthumous memoir by Helms and a new biography of Colby by John Prados. Mark Riebling has a review.
Two new books on these important DCIs. A posthumous memoir by Helms and a new biography of Colby by John Prados. Mark Riebling has a review.
Sunday, September 07, 2003
Saturday, September 06, 2003
The Atlantic
Another thing that bugs me about the cartoon is that the magazine is so good in so many ways. This current issue, from front to back, is as good as anything published today.
Mark Steyn on Sam Phillips, "The Man Who Invented Elvis"
A brief on the the Census Bureau's recent report on "shacking up". (The accompanying county by county map looks a lot like the 2000 electoral map-- Bush Country is marriage country).
A short discussion of a paper by a UTexas professor on income and sexual orientation (gay men earn 22% less than straight men, but lesbians earn 30% more than straight women).
Mark Bowden on "The Dark Art of Interrogation".
Benjamin Schwarz on Joan Didion--"A self-important ennui infected too many of the pieces; her rhetoric too often drifted from the stylized to the mannered; and her embrace of her brittleness got on one's nerves, as did her penchant for investing too many things-- paying the phone bill, spending the night in a motel-- with a portentousness that approached the apocalyptic."
And that is just a sample-- there are plenty of other good pieces.
So why did they screw it up with a cartoon Polish joke?
Another thing that bugs me about the cartoon is that the magazine is so good in so many ways. This current issue, from front to back, is as good as anything published today.
Mark Steyn on Sam Phillips, "The Man Who Invented Elvis"
A brief on the the Census Bureau's recent report on "shacking up". (The accompanying county by county map looks a lot like the 2000 electoral map-- Bush Country is marriage country).
A short discussion of a paper by a UTexas professor on income and sexual orientation (gay men earn 22% less than straight men, but lesbians earn 30% more than straight women).
Mark Bowden on "The Dark Art of Interrogation".
Benjamin Schwarz on Joan Didion--"A self-important ennui infected too many of the pieces; her rhetoric too often drifted from the stylized to the mannered; and her embrace of her brittleness got on one's nerves, as did her penchant for investing too many things-- paying the phone bill, spending the night in a motel-- with a portentousness that approached the apocalyptic."
And that is just a sample-- there are plenty of other good pieces.
So why did they screw it up with a cartoon Polish joke?
Unbelievable Stereotype
I just received my October issue of The Atlantic Monthly. I love the magazine but the cartoon by Barry Blitt brought me up short.
It is called "Proposed Designs for the New Iraqi Dinar." The first three poke fun at our failed attempts to locate and kill Saddam, the looting of antiquities, and Geraldo's map drawing stunt. That's all fair criticism. But the fourth is a serious problem.
It is captioned "Thank you, Poland, proud member of the Coalition of the Willing." The drawing shows a bunch of soldiers staring quizzically at a light bulb. Obviously, the "artist" is trafficking in the dumb Polack stereotype.
Apparently, the cartoonist believes that joining the Coalition of the Willing makes a nation and its citizens fair game for cruel ethnic humor. Imagine, if you will, National Review showing Chirac bribing Kofi Anon with watermelons. The outrage would be deafening. (Rightly so.)
Although I have no Polish ancestry, I admire that nation tremendously. As noted, here and here, they have often changed history for the better. Joining the Coalition of the Willing was just one further example of their nobility. The Coalition was the better for their joining and I am proud to have them as an ally.
I just received my October issue of The Atlantic Monthly. I love the magazine but the cartoon by Barry Blitt brought me up short.
It is called "Proposed Designs for the New Iraqi Dinar." The first three poke fun at our failed attempts to locate and kill Saddam, the looting of antiquities, and Geraldo's map drawing stunt. That's all fair criticism. But the fourth is a serious problem.
It is captioned "Thank you, Poland, proud member of the Coalition of the Willing." The drawing shows a bunch of soldiers staring quizzically at a light bulb. Obviously, the "artist" is trafficking in the dumb Polack stereotype.
Apparently, the cartoonist believes that joining the Coalition of the Willing makes a nation and its citizens fair game for cruel ethnic humor. Imagine, if you will, National Review showing Chirac bribing Kofi Anon with watermelons. The outrage would be deafening. (Rightly so.)
Although I have no Polish ancestry, I admire that nation tremendously. As noted, here and here, they have often changed history for the better. Joining the Coalition of the Willing was just one further example of their nobility. The Coalition was the better for their joining and I am proud to have them as an ally.
Friday, September 05, 2003
California Recall
This quote from the Sacramento Bee is interesting:
Tom McClintock’s performance reminded me of the old line that when you tell the truth, you don’t have to worry about keeping your stories straight. Whatever you might think of him and his ideas, it can't be said that McClintock trims his sails to match his audience. This is a man who knows what he believes and isn't going to be shaken from it. He also knows how to say it in 60 seconds if that is what you give him, or 30, or even 15. He distinguished himself as a conservative’s conservative, on everything from taxes to abortion, the death penalty, immigration and the environment. I still don’t think he’s in the mainstream of the electorate, but he has the look of a guy who is willing to wait for the rest of us to figure out what he’s known all along.
Makes it sound like Tom McClintock's campaign should be this yrar's version of the Straight Talk Express. But i notice that reporters are not writing fawning stories about this honest, forthright politician.
McClintock is not getting the McCain treatment because McClintock is not breaking with conservative principles or attacking the Republican base. Journalists might claim they value straight talk but they seem to recognize it only when it supports their ideological predilections.
This comment by Peter Robinson in the Corner confirms that recall will hurt conservatives under almost all probable outcomes
He also included this observation:
The first possibility, a McClintock victory, just ain't in the books. Even though we face a mere four weeks until the election, it'll cost upward of $10 million to mount a creditable campaign. I don't know a soul in California politics who expects McClintock to raise more than $3 million.
This obsession with money-raising ability is pernicious and stupid. Political consultants love the idea because well-funded candidates have a lot of money to spend on media advisors and political strategists. And, at some point, a lack of funds can cripple a candidacy.
But--
1. A good candidate can often overcome a spending imbalance (Wellstone did in Minnesota, Diane Feinstein overcame Michael Huffington's millions) and a great fundraiser can fail abysmally (John Connolly). If money was all that mattered, Nelson Rockefeller would have beaten Goldwater in 1964.
2. Focusing on campaign budgets creates an invisible primary that eliminates candidates based on "insiders's" assessments of "viability.."
3. Campaign contributions are often driven by pragmatic considerations. A candidate who moves up in the polls suddenly finds that it is easier to raise money.
4. Money matters primarily because it buys television advertising. But TV advertising is of declining importance and is more affordable in many ways than it was thirty years ago.
ASIDE: Maybe some Bill James-influenced journalist should take a look at money and politics and come up with some new ways of keeping score. How about a Wellstone-Huffington Index. At one end, a man who connects with the voter despite limited funds, at the other, a poseur trying (unsuccessfully) to buy a seat. This could be used during the campaign to evaluate polling results and trends.
And, maybe, we could come up with stats on consultants-- find out who earns their fees.
This quote from the Sacramento Bee is interesting:
Tom McClintock’s performance reminded me of the old line that when you tell the truth, you don’t have to worry about keeping your stories straight. Whatever you might think of him and his ideas, it can't be said that McClintock trims his sails to match his audience. This is a man who knows what he believes and isn't going to be shaken from it. He also knows how to say it in 60 seconds if that is what you give him, or 30, or even 15. He distinguished himself as a conservative’s conservative, on everything from taxes to abortion, the death penalty, immigration and the environment. I still don’t think he’s in the mainstream of the electorate, but he has the look of a guy who is willing to wait for the rest of us to figure out what he’s known all along.
Makes it sound like Tom McClintock's campaign should be this yrar's version of the Straight Talk Express. But i notice that reporters are not writing fawning stories about this honest, forthright politician.
McClintock is not getting the McCain treatment because McClintock is not breaking with conservative principles or attacking the Republican base. Journalists might claim they value straight talk but they seem to recognize it only when it supports their ideological predilections.
This comment by Peter Robinson in the Corner confirms that recall will hurt conservatives under almost all probable outcomes
He also included this observation:
The first possibility, a McClintock victory, just ain't in the books. Even though we face a mere four weeks until the election, it'll cost upward of $10 million to mount a creditable campaign. I don't know a soul in California politics who expects McClintock to raise more than $3 million.
This obsession with money-raising ability is pernicious and stupid. Political consultants love the idea because well-funded candidates have a lot of money to spend on media advisors and political strategists. And, at some point, a lack of funds can cripple a candidacy.
But--
1. A good candidate can often overcome a spending imbalance (Wellstone did in Minnesota, Diane Feinstein overcame Michael Huffington's millions) and a great fundraiser can fail abysmally (John Connolly). If money was all that mattered, Nelson Rockefeller would have beaten Goldwater in 1964.
2. Focusing on campaign budgets creates an invisible primary that eliminates candidates based on "insiders's" assessments of "viability.."
3. Campaign contributions are often driven by pragmatic considerations. A candidate who moves up in the polls suddenly finds that it is easier to raise money.
4. Money matters primarily because it buys television advertising. But TV advertising is of declining importance and is more affordable in many ways than it was thirty years ago.
ASIDE: Maybe some Bill James-influenced journalist should take a look at money and politics and come up with some new ways of keeping score. How about a Wellstone-Huffington Index. At one end, a man who connects with the voter despite limited funds, at the other, a poseur trying (unsuccessfully) to buy a seat. This could be used during the campaign to evaluate polling results and trends.
And, maybe, we could come up with stats on consultants-- find out who earns their fees.
Fraud with Footnotes
This article is all too accurate on the teaching and writing of history.
Even before the recent postmodernist wave, history graduate faculties were already loaded with future professors who had not so much learned history as historiography, learning "American history," for example, mainly as a review of the various conceptual schemes of Charles Beard, Frederick Jackson Turner, and other such grand explainers, while often remaining very poorly informed about anything that actually happened in the United States between 1776 and the last quarter of the twentieth century.
****
Revisionists of the 1960s tried to select documents that would support otherwise improbable explanations of which forces had most importantly shaped the behaviour of past historical figures. The revisionists of this era need few documents, new or old, since they treat all accounts of the past as mere 'narratives' to be mangled and dismembered on their feminist/post-colonial/anti-racist/gender-sensitive Procrustean bed.
****
This kind of research is not instructive, but clever: a display of the student's familiarity with fashionable preoccupations, not the historical events on which these are brought to bear.
RTWT
This article is all too accurate on the teaching and writing of history.
Even before the recent postmodernist wave, history graduate faculties were already loaded with future professors who had not so much learned history as historiography, learning "American history," for example, mainly as a review of the various conceptual schemes of Charles Beard, Frederick Jackson Turner, and other such grand explainers, while often remaining very poorly informed about anything that actually happened in the United States between 1776 and the last quarter of the twentieth century.
****
Revisionists of the 1960s tried to select documents that would support otherwise improbable explanations of which forces had most importantly shaped the behaviour of past historical figures. The revisionists of this era need few documents, new or old, since they treat all accounts of the past as mere 'narratives' to be mangled and dismembered on their feminist/post-colonial/anti-racist/gender-sensitive Procrustean bed.
****
This kind of research is not instructive, but clever: a display of the student's familiarity with fashionable preoccupations, not the historical events on which these are brought to bear.
RTWT
Thursday, September 04, 2003
Blaming the Victim?
Jessica Harbour raises a good point in response to this article by Theodore Dalrymple in The New Criterion.
I don't see why "the chickens coming home to roost" is roundly criticized as a response to, say, September 11th, but perfectly acceptable in this case, apparently. Because it's one person dead instead of thousands? Because she was a French actress with a fairly-typical-for-a-French-actress love life?
Marie Tritignant did not deserve to be beaten to death by a drunken boyfriend. But then smokers don't deserve to die of cancer or heart attacks. Smokers, however, choose to engage in an activity which increases their chances of an early death. Likewise, Tritignant behaved in a manner which increased the risks to her personal safety.
Morally, the boyfriend is culpable. But that does not change the fact that her behavior placed her at risk.
Jessica Harbour raises a good point in response to this article by Theodore Dalrymple in The New Criterion.
I don't see why "the chickens coming home to roost" is roundly criticized as a response to, say, September 11th, but perfectly acceptable in this case, apparently. Because it's one person dead instead of thousands? Because she was a French actress with a fairly-typical-for-a-French-actress love life?
Marie Tritignant did not deserve to be beaten to death by a drunken boyfriend. But then smokers don't deserve to die of cancer or heart attacks. Smokers, however, choose to engage in an activity which increases their chances of an early death. Likewise, Tritignant behaved in a manner which increased the risks to her personal safety.
Morally, the boyfriend is culpable. But that does not change the fact that her behavior placed her at risk.
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Must Read
Roger Kimball has an essay on John Buchan in the latest New Criterion.
Buchan is most famous for his Richard Hannay spy thrillers (a genre he basically invented). But Kimball shows that he did much more than write a few popular novels.
Like other great Victorians, Buchan's energy puts us to shame. He wrote something on the order of 130 books. He also was a publishing executive, colonial administrator in South Africa, war correspondent, Director of Intelligence during part of WWI and Governor General of Canada. Not bookish, Kimball notes that "one is not surprised to discover that Buchan was an avid, almost a compulsive walker. Ten, twenty, thirty miles a day—like Richard Hannay or Peter Pienaar, he also clambered over hill and dale, scouring the horizon, registering the lay of the land. "
I also liked this passage from Kimball:
The Hannay novels are the best sort of boys literature. Not only do they have the sort of action and adventure boys like, but they offer heroes who are brave, modest, daring, and principled.
Roger Kimball has an essay on John Buchan in the latest New Criterion.
Buchan is most famous for his Richard Hannay spy thrillers (a genre he basically invented). But Kimball shows that he did much more than write a few popular novels.
Like other great Victorians, Buchan's energy puts us to shame. He wrote something on the order of 130 books. He also was a publishing executive, colonial administrator in South Africa, war correspondent, Director of Intelligence during part of WWI and Governor General of Canada. Not bookish, Kimball notes that "one is not surprised to discover that Buchan was an avid, almost a compulsive walker. Ten, twenty, thirty miles a day—like Richard Hannay or Peter Pienaar, he also clambered over hill and dale, scouring the horizon, registering the lay of the land. "
I also liked this passage from Kimball:
In a way, Buchan invented the classic Hitchcock plot of an innocent man caught in intrigue and chased by both the criminals and authorities (North by Northwest, etc.). No surprise, then, that Hitchcock filmed a version of the Thirty-Nine Steps early in his career.
It is clear that Buchan admired Haldane. It is also clear that he regarded him as a sort of object lesson in the dangers of Teutonic intellectualization. “A man who has been nourished on German metaphysics,” Buchan observed, “should make a point of expressing his thoughts in plain workaday English, for the technical terms of German philosophy have a kind of hypnotic power; they create a world remote from common reality where reconciliations and synthesis flow as smoothly and with as little meaning as in an opiate dream.” This is an observation that aspiring graduate students in the humanities ought to memorize and repeat three times daily before breakfast.
The Hannay novels are the best sort of boys literature. Not only do they have the sort of action and adventure boys like, but they offer heroes who are brave, modest, daring, and principled.
Trading in Stereotypes
Tony Blankley is a smart guy and he is probably right that John Kerry is in trouble. But this column makes too much of northern stereotypes of South Carolina.
I've been to South Carolina. In fact, I was there just a few weeks ago at a barbecue stand. There was a young man waiting for an order, dressed in full Confederate uniform. Inside, they were selling beautiful color tee shirts which portrayed General Robert E. Lee in battle uniform on his fierce white horse leading a magnificent confederate charge against the Yankee intruders.
South Carolinians only begrudgingly recognized the command authority of the U.S. Army. Somehow, I don't think calling, yet again, for the grand old dream of liberal internationalism is going to be a winner in South Carolina — even amongst its Democratic voters.
And sometimes he just gets it flat wrong.
Down the road a piece from that stand was a restaurant named The Swamp Fox — which I believe invokes the fond memory of Confederate guerrillas sneaking up on Yankee encampments to deliver justice to the blue bellies from Maine, Michigan and Massachusetts
The Swamp Fox was Francis Marion and he was a Revolutionary War commander-- one of the figures used to create the character played by Mel Gibson in The Patriot.
Via Powerline
Tony Blankley is a smart guy and he is probably right that John Kerry is in trouble. But this column makes too much of northern stereotypes of South Carolina.
I've been to South Carolina. In fact, I was there just a few weeks ago at a barbecue stand. There was a young man waiting for an order, dressed in full Confederate uniform. Inside, they were selling beautiful color tee shirts which portrayed General Robert E. Lee in battle uniform on his fierce white horse leading a magnificent confederate charge against the Yankee intruders.
South Carolinians only begrudgingly recognized the command authority of the U.S. Army. Somehow, I don't think calling, yet again, for the grand old dream of liberal internationalism is going to be a winner in South Carolina — even amongst its Democratic voters.
And sometimes he just gets it flat wrong.
Down the road a piece from that stand was a restaurant named The Swamp Fox — which I believe invokes the fond memory of Confederate guerrillas sneaking up on Yankee encampments to deliver justice to the blue bellies from Maine, Michigan and Massachusetts
The Swamp Fox was Francis Marion and he was a Revolutionary War commander-- one of the figures used to create the character played by Mel Gibson in The Patriot.
Via Powerline
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Clark and Unilateralism
Clark seems to have been more attracted to continental Europeanism, with its webs of entangling alliances and transnational obligations than British bulldoggery. (The Brits still have a stiff-necked, go-it-alone-if-necessary nature that staunch multilateralists find alarming.)
Read more at One Hand Clapping.
Clark seems to have been more attracted to continental Europeanism, with its webs of entangling alliances and transnational obligations than British bulldoggery. (The Brits still have a stiff-necked, go-it-alone-if-necessary nature that staunch multilateralists find alarming.)
Read more at One Hand Clapping.
MEChA
Absinthe and Cookies has a post that goes beyond the soundbites on cable. MEChA's rhetoric and ideology is bad enough, but the fact that university administrator's pamper and protect them is deplorable.
Absinthe and Cookies has a post that goes beyond the soundbites on cable. MEChA's rhetoric and ideology is bad enough, but the fact that university administrator's pamper and protect them is deplorable.
Kathy Boudin's Liberation
Check out this great post over at the National Association of Scholars Forum.
In a time of endless campus celebrations of diversity and self-expression, we do well to remember what marched under the banner of liberation and enlightenment a mere three decades ago and that our universities are incubators of evil as well as good.
I didn't know NAS had a blog. But it is first rate. (Via Armavirumque).
Check out this great post over at the National Association of Scholars Forum.
In a time of endless campus celebrations of diversity and self-expression, we do well to remember what marched under the banner of liberation and enlightenment a mere three decades ago and that our universities are incubators of evil as well as good.
I didn't know NAS had a blog. But it is first rate. (Via Armavirumque).
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