“It’s so fantastic to have such a supportive spouse that I wonder with astonishment and awe how anyone could be attached to a person who was unsupportive and hostile to your career. Especially when the worker is the sole working individual of the household. Shouldn’t the sole earner be supported?” I know exactly what both scenarios feel like. I was the sole working individual in the household whose career efforts were sabotaged at every opportunity in my first marriage. And now I have the experience of being married to somebody who is 100% supportive of everything I do professionally. Do I need to spell out which scenario is better and healthier?
The remains of my favorite king have been found. Yay! At least, Britain had kings one could feel interested in. The ones we got, however, were all idiots, losers, raving lunatics, mass murderers, with the exception of Boris Godunov who was an usurper. And a child-murderer.
“Just because you finish your Ph.D. doesn’t mean you have to do a national job search, writes Rachel Leventhal-Weiner. Sometimes your best bet is to make a career where you are.” Is she mocking us? Does this condescending. . . person really think that people look for tenure-track jobs on the other side of the continent because they “put down shallow roots”? Yes, that’s why I ended up in Southern Illinois, because there is something wrong with my “roots.” I’m very lucky to have ended up with a dream job but I didn’t come here because I had any choice in the matter.
More horrible barbarity: “A call by a Saudi imam for a full face-veil for baby girls to protect them from sexual abuses is sparking a controversy among Saudi Muslim scholars and social media for tainting the image of Islam.”
And a very funny comment on the preceding horrible barbarity.
Want to know why the governments that try to ban the horrible barbarity are absolutely right? “Naomi Oni, 20, was on her way home from work to her home in Dagenham, East London, on 30 December when an anonymous attacker, wearing a niqab, threw the corrosive liquid at her, leaving her with serious burns on her head, neck, arms, legs and body.” And that’s just one of many reasons.
Weirdness: “Massachusetts Republicans are desperately scrambling to find a strong Senate candidate to replace Scott Brown, with some even trying to persuade Mitt Romney’s wife or son to jump into the race to avert another electoral disaster.” The idea that a politician is interchangeable with his or her relatives is so backwards that it scares me. Why not just bring back monarchy then?
I don’t want the conservative radio hosts to go away because they never fail to entertain: “I’m beginning to get some evidence from certain doctors and certain scientists that have done research on women’s wombs after they’ve gone through the surgery, and they’ve compared the wombs of women who were on the birth control pill to those who were not on the birth control pill. And they have found that with women who are on the birth control pill, there are these little tiny fetuses, these little babies, that are embedded into the womb. They’re just like dead babies. They’re on the inside of the womb.” I think I will never stop laughing.
A textbook case of the consequences of being stuck in the Oedipal stage.
Still excited about the Egyptian “revolution”? It now calls to mutilate women: “Female Advisor to Egyptian President: Girls Not Circumcised “Lacking in Faith”.”
And what do you think about the case of the Applebee’s waitress and her weird customer?
Another really extreme example of helicopter parenting. Where are all these crazies coming from?
A drunk pedophile is not a pedophile! Oh, wait. . . What is this, a week of flourishing barbarity everywhere?
And the post of the week: an adjunct instructor versus the Coach: the battle of Harvard. I haven’t worked for Harvard but at Yale this is exactly how things were. “So, how many did you get this semester?” we, the instructors, asked each other. Everybody knew that the question referred to how many athletes we had in our sections. When the number of athletes reached a critical mass, this meant we were facing a failed semester. When sports trump education, don;t expect anything positive.
Clarissa's Blog 
Yes, because I really do want to kill my Father and marry my Mother.
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No, you simply enjoy triangular relationships.
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No, I was in love with someone. That’s it. There is no enjoyment in that kind of relationship. You’ve got to be kidding me.
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People never participate for significant amounts of times in things they don’t enjoy. There is no need to be defensive about this. It’s an issue many people encounter and knowing its roots is important or it will never be resolved.
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Sometimes our unconscious minds take over, usually accompanied by feelings of extreme anxiety, and we act out our underlying needs in a way that bypasses the ego and its commands. Not all unfortunate situations are the result of the machinations of the unconscious mind. Some are due to lack of experience and some we remain in because we don’t have the emotional force we need to see through the smoke and make a clear cut between the past and the present. When the ties are direct and involve one’s family, that is even more difficult. One is dealing directly with a family member who is mad, for instance, and it is unclear whether one has the strength for this (this was my situation). I think some people thought that I enjoyed this difficulty, but I didn’t. My unconscious and my conscious mind were not divided on that matter.
I suspect that in a case where the unconscious mind is not the operational force one feels a generalized anxiety, but in a case where the opposite is true, the anxiety one feels would probably be much more localized and acute.
Bataille said, “Humanity invented a hell for itself and thereupon it was in heaven.”
Bataille was a crazy person who liked being mad, because he felt that being in touch with the unconscious minds of others and himself was a form of power. It was like having his fingers on electric power lines all the time. It made him feel extremely alive. He certainly invented a hell for himself, but he gained pleasure from it, including a certain freedom from subservience to established social mores.
I think the person who is mad, but wants to be mad, because there is much to be gained by accessing this forbidden knowledge — the secret recesses of human minds — is a shaman.
Most people would not choose to have so much direct awareness of what is going on in the depths of their minds, but shamans revel in this inner experience, even though it is extremely painful. They feel the benefits they gain from knowledge of their inner worlds outweigh the painful aspects of their vocation.
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“Most people would not choose to have so much direct awareness of what is going on in the depths of their mind”
– I know. But somebody once pointed me in the direction of seeing my problems on an online forum and that transformed my life. I’m hoping that somebody will be open to hear me. But if not, they can continue doing whatever they are doing.
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Most people will continue doing what they’re doing. Otherwise, you are effectively destroying yourself and remaking yourself.
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“Most people will continue doing what they’re doing. Otherwise, you are effectively destroying yourself and remaking yourself.”
– In most cases, it’s not nearly that dramatic. For me, all I needed was to be realize that, in spite of all my whining, I was really into the situation where the guys I met did not suit me.
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Yes, I understand that, but I was born in a furnace of sorts, so all of my experiences are in different terms. More fraught. Videos coming.
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Yes, I’m only talking about the much more trivial issues of “my personal life sucks, it must be fate.” Those are easily handled, if people want them to be.
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hahaha. I made a video of “the ape within” and another one about opening the gates to the unconscious.
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I think you should bring them here, to the link-sharing thread.
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Thanks very much. I will, and hopefully people can comment. To be frank, I’ve always had problems trying to understand what exactly was the relationship between what I like to call ‘intellectual shamanism’ (AKA Georges Bataille and Friedrich Nietzsche and those like them) and psychoanalysis. They share some aspects in common, but psychoanalysis seems to cater to people within a narrower range of the psyche, perhaps we could say people “within civilisation”, whereas the tradition I am exploring seems to draw a larger circle of inclusion for experiences, people and situations outside of the norm — specifically outside of civilization and in the wild state of humanity. As a consequence of close similarities but also differences, the language of shamanism sounds like the language of psychoanalysis at times, but also relates to something entirely different. In fact, I think their purposes are different. Psychoanalysis has the purpose of getting you to understand enough about yourself to fit in with society, I presume, whereas shamanism wants you to understand enough about yourself NOT TO FIT IN — that is, to become out of step.
I think that is why misunderstandings could take place — because the language is often similar, but the goals are almost in the opposite directions.
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” In fact, I think their purposes are different. Psychoanalysis has the purpose of getting you to understand enough about yourself to fit in with society, I presume, whereas shamanism wants you to understand enough about yourself NOT TO FIT IN — that is, to become out of step.”
– This is exactly right. Psychoanalysis is for people who fit in with society but feel their are paying too high a cost for that (in neuroses).
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A nearly died laughing at the 200 dead babies in my womb article.
The one about veiling small children was pretty hilarious too, and obviously made a complete laughing stock of the sheik who called for the fatwa. 🙂
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I doubt that you can deduce that just by reading my blog post.
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Anybody who ends up in a triangular relationship has not successfully passed the stage of development between the ages of 2 and 3. Seriously, there is no reason to get upset. I, for instance, have severe issues in the oral stage of development (between the ages of 0 and 1). This is not the end of the world, it’s just something that is useful to know, that’s all.
So many people fall in love with married partners and have no idea why it happens to them. I’m just suggesting an answer.
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One advisor to the president (especially one with the slimmest of majorities in first and second rounds) hardly represents the Egyptian revolution, whatever her position is. Female circumcision has existed in Egypt since pre-Islamic, pre-Christian times, and has been a source of controversy in the modern era (ever heard of Nawal as-sadawi, who incidentally participated in the revolution, to give a prominent example?). Just because you are unfamiliar with pre-revolution Egypt doesn’t mean that the practices you are becoming aware of now are a product of the revolution. You will find revolutionaries opposed to circumcision and supporting it, just as among non-revolutionaries.
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I never said these atrocities are the product of the revolution. And I also don’t see how the fact that the atrocity existed before is an excuse. The current regime is barbaric because it allows for such horrors and the fact that other regimes also allowed for them is completely beyond the point.
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Then don’t say “It now calls to mutilate women” where the antecedent of “it” is “Egyptian revolution”. Incidentally, there are many Egyptians who do not consider Morsi or the Muslim Brotherhood representative of the revolution or Egypt, so be careful with your terms.
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So it doesn’t now call to mutilate women? The link is not true? Or did this not happen chronologically after the Egyptian revolution?
My position is that any regime that condones such practices is horrible and barbaric completely irrespective of what happened before and how other regimes condoned these practices. What is your position?
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// there are many Egyptians who do not consider Morsi or the Muslim Brotherhood representative of the revolution or Egypt
But what matters is who is in power, no? If they are in power, they are representative for all real world intents and purposes. For example, Iranian regime may not be representative of Iranian people, but I can’t live as if the regime doesn’t decide everything there and think that since most Iranian people don’t feel great desire to attack Israel, their leaders wouldn’t either.
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My position is that the Morsi regime is not the same as or representative of the Egyptian revolution. I don’t disagree that the practice and regimes supporting them are horrible, just with your misunderstanding of the extent to which the Morsi regime represents the revolution. For what it’s worth, members of the Muslim Brotherhood are also mixed on this issue–in contrast to the advisor you link to, some condemn it. So it is not even clear if the regime supports it or not (along with many other things)
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“My position is that the Morsi regime is not the same as or representative of the Egyptian revolution. I don’t disagree that the practice and regimes supporting them are horrible, just with your misunderstanding of the extent to which the Morsi regime represents the revolution.”
– I think this distinction is really moot. The revolution happened to remove a barbaric regime. A short time after the revolution, there is another barbaric regime. What matters is the result and the result is horrible.
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It is an important distinction because this is the reason there is such a power struggle going on now in Egypt, whose results are as yet uncertain–for example the Parliament will be key, but it has been dissolved and reformed multiple times so we can’t really know the outcome yet.
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Lord. That made me so violently sick that the spasms surely must have expelled a few of my zombie babies
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RE Egypt, I am more worried about
“Ahmadinejad in Egypt for historic visit
For first time since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, Egyptian president receives Iranian counterpart
…
Egypt’s fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, has signaled that relations with Iran could one day be upgraded to full diplomatic ties. ”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4341307,00.html
On another topic, looked at a school reading list
Click to access sr12_bhs_list.pdf
and saw those 2 books:
Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger’s
syndrome. Besides being able to effortlessly multiply and divide huge sums in his head with the speed and accuracy of a computer,
Tammet is capable of incredible feats of memorization and mental calculation.
A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
This biography charts the descent into paranoid schizophrenia of mathematical genius John Forbes Nash, a founder of game theory, a
RAND Cold War strategist and winner of a 1994 Nobel Prize in economics. Nash’s disintegration began at age 30 and lasted for decades
until his spontaneous recovery in the early 1990s. Basis for award winning film of the same name.
Also in “Mirrors and Windows: Exploring Cultures” section of the list:
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Year Eleven at an exclusive school in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, would be tough enough, but it is further complicated for
Amal when she decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time as a badge of her faith.
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Btw, an interesting sentence from Egypt’s article:
“Tehran broke off relations with Cairo in 1980, a year after both Iran’s revolution and Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel.”
For some reason I thought Egypt was the one to break off relations, not Iran.
A pessimist thought: since Iran’s regime didn’t become less fanatic, do Iranians perceive the possibility of Egypt becoming more anti-West and anti-Israel, and because of that made the friendly gesture of the visit?
From another article:
“Since the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak and brought to power the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, Iran has taken steps to improve its relations with Egypt.”
And another:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Lebanese TV network Al Mayadeen, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, that he hopes to “Pray in Jerusalem after its liberation. Gaza is my stop before Jerusalem. If they let me, I will visit Gaza.”
When asked about talks with Egypt regarding the Palestinians, Ahmadinejad said: “If we agree on the liberation of Palestine, it will undoubtedly happen.”
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The shah is buried in Egypt, which I doubt made Egypt popular with Iran
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As I understand it, the pastor paid the 18% tip, so why public outrage? Who cares if he made a religious comment on the bill in protest. The waitress shouldn’t have posted the bill with his name on it, even if she thought the signature was illegible – that’s bad judgement which I assume lead to her customer being harassed.
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“As I understand it, the pastor paid the 18% tip, so why public outrage?”
– There was no outrage, people simply laughed at him. But I agree the waitress was in the wrong because Applebee’s doesn’t belong to her and neither does Applebee’s paperwork.
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Thanks for the link love! 🙂
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It is true that Britain has some interesting historical personages, but we have more than our fair share of idiots, losers, lunatics, murderers, usurpers, and child killers too.
The ‘dead baby’ link made me snort with laughter but also face palm, because I know there are all too many people who will take it seriously and really genuinely believe that that’s a thing that happens.
I wish the Applesbees waitress had been a little more careful with scrubbing the identifying details because that is a person who deserved to be immortalised on something like ‘Customers Suck’.
He didn’t pay the measly sub $7 tip btw – adds an extra layer of hypocrisy to the sanctimonious faux-christian twaddle in the note.
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Little tiny dead babies inside the womb. Oh God. I am laffing forever.
And I was also stoked about Richard III!
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“Little tiny dead babies inside the womb. Oh God. I am laffing forever.”
– I know it isn’t right to laugh at somebody who is as intellectually challenged as this guy but I can’t help myself.
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// Horrible barbarity: “Officials of the Palestinian Authority, which does not control Gaza, are criticizing Al-Aqsa University, which is located there, for adopting a dress code for female students
Look at the bolded words and you’ll understand why the news I’ll share now is funny in a certain way. Just finished watching “Israel Today”, where they informed that:
Hamas Enforces Islamic Dress Code In (entire) Gaza (for BOTH genders)
http://globalmbreport.org/?p=1678
and here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/18/hamas-gaza-islamist-dress-code
On TV the Hamas spokesperson from ministry of culture(? I forgot the name) talked against tight or/and Western cut clothing for both genders. How young people should wear traditionally Islamic clothes.
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I can only repeat that this is barbarity. I want to vomit when I see this kind of crap coming from wherever, be it Russia, be it Gaza, who cares?
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