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Monday Miscellaney
Nov. 7th, 2005 09:45 amBook Stuff
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daemonnoire is doing book reviews, one by one, of all the books on the banned book list. Links are provided so you can go back and read all the reviews so far.
The Sunday NYT Magazine had an article on "literary darwinism," which basically maps the urge to select the best mate and pass one one's genetics onto classical books. As a science it ranks right up there with the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon... but as a party game, it's also right up there with the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon. (Example given from the article - Mrs. Bennet is frantic to marry off her daughters in order to ensure that her genetic legacy continues another generation. This shows both the strength of the game - okay, a new way to look at P&P! and the weakness of it - if that was the only reason, then why would she be upset that Lydia was boinking Wickham?)
Personal stuff
Ask me how pissed I am that my new subaru is in the shop for $350 worth of general repairs. No, don't bother, you can guess the answer.
This is why faith-based charities can't replace secular ones
According to NBC, Members of the Southern Baptist convention refused to hand out drinking water donated to Wilma victims. Why? Because Busch donated the water and they'd put their logo on the bottles. It wasn't a question of thinking they were cans of beer, everybody knew it was water. That didn't matter. Just as the mere titles of banned books make the very list unreadable, the logo made the water unclean. Tim Bridges, pastor of the Clewiston church, said the Anheuser-Busch logo - an eagle inside of a capital "A" - was offensive... "I didn't want to send out a mixed message... All that was said was that First Baptist Church people would not be the ones handing it out." The Southern Baptists say that the report was misrepesented by bloggers but also say that Bottles of water are not necessarily a guarantee at these sites. And that "I would have no problem giving the people the (Anheuser-Busch water) if they were thirsty but they were not thirsty."
If you're wondering why I'm making a big deal out of this, substitute some of my usual hot-button issues into the above sentences in place of the word "water." "All I'm saying is I'm not the pharmacist who's gonna hand birth control out." "The anti-cancer vaccine sends a mixed message." "If kids needed other sex ed than abstinence... but they don't."
This is why I hammer constantly on feminist and church/state issues. You might think that your own beliefs, chastity, gender, etc., keep you distanced from what happens to "those people," but you're only a disaster away from becoming someone on the other end of the same attitudes.
daemonnoire is doing book reviews, one by one, of all the books on the banned book list. Links are provided so you can go back and read all the reviews so far.The Sunday NYT Magazine had an article on "literary darwinism," which basically maps the urge to select the best mate and pass one one's genetics onto classical books. As a science it ranks right up there with the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon... but as a party game, it's also right up there with the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon. (Example given from the article - Mrs. Bennet is frantic to marry off her daughters in order to ensure that her genetic legacy continues another generation. This shows both the strength of the game - okay, a new way to look at P&P! and the weakness of it - if that was the only reason, then why would she be upset that Lydia was boinking Wickham?)
Personal stuff
Ask me how pissed I am that my new subaru is in the shop for $350 worth of general repairs. No, don't bother, you can guess the answer.
This is why faith-based charities can't replace secular ones
According to NBC, Members of the Southern Baptist convention refused to hand out drinking water donated to Wilma victims. Why? Because Busch donated the water and they'd put their logo on the bottles. It wasn't a question of thinking they were cans of beer, everybody knew it was water. That didn't matter. Just as the mere titles of banned books make the very list unreadable, the logo made the water unclean. Tim Bridges, pastor of the Clewiston church, said the Anheuser-Busch logo - an eagle inside of a capital "A" - was offensive... "I didn't want to send out a mixed message... All that was said was that First Baptist Church people would not be the ones handing it out." The Southern Baptists say that the report was misrepesented by bloggers but also say that Bottles of water are not necessarily a guarantee at these sites. And that "I would have no problem giving the people the (Anheuser-Busch water) if they were thirsty but they were not thirsty."
If you're wondering why I'm making a big deal out of this, substitute some of my usual hot-button issues into the above sentences in place of the word "water." "All I'm saying is I'm not the pharmacist who's gonna hand birth control out." "The anti-cancer vaccine sends a mixed message." "If kids needed other sex ed than abstinence... but they don't."
This is why I hammer constantly on feminist and church/state issues. You might think that your own beliefs, chastity, gender, etc., keep you distanced from what happens to "those people," but you're only a disaster away from becoming someone on the other end of the same attitudes.
