And for those who are neither cooking nor celebrating, here is a nice collection of links for you to peruse tonight:
Germans are incredible wusses: “Angela Merkel has proposed that high-level trade talks be held between the EU and the Russian-led Eurasian Union in hopes of easing tensions over Ukraine—in part to tamp down on domestic critics that she is being unreasonably tough on Russia.” Merkel is being unreasonably tough? On Putin? Do these people live on the same planet? Merkel has been beyond limp-wristed with Putin.
Spain is doomed, too. (In Spanish). See and contrast the first last sentences of the article.
And to relieve the tension: a hilarious video about somebody acting very stupid at a museum.
Radio Shack is dying, and here is a collection of hilarious and sad stories from the former employee.
“How Famous Artists Would Plate Thanksgiving Meals.”
Bath rituals. I have my own, too, which is why the article interested me.
I have been rewarded for reading miles of Dan Savages inanities in my blog roll: “Couples who wind up in counseling before their first year together is up are, in my opinion, better off being counseled singly. By which I mean to say: being counseled as singles, not as a couple.” Yes, a million time yes. I wish more people knew this.
People are so funny: “Despite the Right’s Thanksgiving myth, the Pilgrims rebelled against their corporate landlord.”
An article on how cell phone size impacts our behavior. None of this has been true since I got my huge-screen phone but I’m normally weird.
Putin’s European Fan Club: “The Europhobes and Putin are ideal bedfellows—the Russian autocrat’s own brand of moralistic vigor has a close affinity with the illiberal anti-American creed that unites Europe’s far left and far right.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates (probably the best American journalist right now) on Obama’s response to Ferguson.
You’ve got to laugh when you can’t cry any longer. Here is a hilarious analysis of Darren Wilson’s horrifying injuries at the hands of the “demon” that attacked him.
And a perspective on Ferguson from an immigrant from Western Europe.
Juan Cole’s website published its most offensive piece yet. It is titled: “What if it was Russia and China invading and Bombing?” Yes, seriously? What if Russia invaded and bombed a country? Can anybody imagine what would happen then? I, for one, have absolutely no idea whatsoever how something this weird can even be imagined. Fuck you, Cole.
A very good article on the language of demonization used by Darren Wilson against Michael Brown.
A beautiful article on Ferguson and why we need history: “My fellow historians, your society needs you. We need to go out and set things straight. We need to go out in public and interpret the wonderful if obscure academic histories for the masses, who need to know the context of what they are seeing. We need to do it because no one else will do it. The price of inaction is too high.”
Why everybody is so angry: “McCulloch didn’t present a case. He dumped a case file in the hands of 12 people who were not legal experts and said have at it. He knew there were inconsistencies in testimony, because guess what…there ALWAYS is. If that were a reason to not indict, most of the people in prison wouldn’t be there. This was a game for McCulloch, a game he knew he could manipulate and win. He didn’t want to indict a cop and he knows that juries don’t want to either. So a little prod here and there is all he would need.” This sums it up quite well.
And this is a really stupid article about Ferguson: “So, with the decision today I will be confronted again with the fact that I do not live in a just country and perhaps never will. That my existence is only possible because of the existence of the Great Satan. I don’t know what to do with that besides get angry and hope for the fall even though such a fall can only bring me great pain. I would be lying if I said I welcomed that. But, like I already said, education is hard.” This is not about you and your delusional fantasies about “Great Satan”, you freak. I, I, I, me, me, me. This is beyond self-centered.
I have no idea who this Bill Cosby fellow is but the whole story is quite shocking. Here is a good post.
The case against early cancer detection: an important article.
Terror in the Crimea today. The fate of the forgotten region that everybody joyfully erased from memory to please Putin.
The strange happenings on a suicide hotline.
“Schumer, New York’s senior senator and a likely heir to Reid, called for Democrats to “embrace government” as they try to hold the White House and recapture control of Congress in 2016. “We must convince the middle class that the only way out of their morass is by embracing a strong and effective government, not demeaning or running from it,” Schumer said during a lengthy speech at the National Press Club, which at times sounded like an analysis of political trends over the last 100 years. “We’re a pro-government party,” he added in summation. “We have been all along. We can’t run from it.”” Oh, Lordy. We are all screwed. If there is one message likely to bomb at the time when the nation-state collapses, it’s this one. Are the Democrats trying to throw away their obvious and great advantage?
And a really, really great post about an immigrant experience that every immigrant keeps having. And I hate it as much as the linked blogger. The only part of my experience that is different is the last paragraph. Students ask me where I’m from all the time. But that is only because it is extremely unprestigious to have a non-foreign foreign language teacher. So I don’t mind.
Clarissa's Blog 
Thanks for your feature! Hope you’re having a great day!
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Getting ready for the Thanksgiving meal. Happy holidays!
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I liked the article on the case against early cancer detection. I think the body often reabsorbs a lot of the malformations it makes. You just have to be fit and healthy and it fights back. A very similar issue is early psychiatric testing for children. Let’s just not do that. You are looking for trouble and will probably find it. It’s interesting how often we find what we look for.
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I agree COMPLETELY with this comment.
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Of course we need to look at the way the intellect functions and the kinds of environments it best prefers. The more we can move toward ACTUAL universalism, as opposed to POSITED universalism (which is an error and pretty much the opposite of actual universalism, as it creates traps), the happier those of intellectual disposition are. That’s why they oppose structures that demand a limited range of meaning, such as nation states. At the same time, the opposite principle seems to apply, more or less, economically. Look at it this way. The bath is full of water but there are countries where the bath has no water. The sides of the bath of the laws pertaining to the nation state. Remove the walls and share your bath water with those countries where the water keeps running away, because they can’t afford to erect walls. That is what you get when you have a totally globalised economy. It may seem rational to remove the walls of your bath tub and let the water level settle where it may, but it is actually incautious and rather crazy.
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Made typo. Here is the correction and repeat:
Of course we need to look at the way the intellect functions and the kinds of environments it best prefers. The more we can move toward ACTUAL universalism, as opposed to POSITED universalism (which is an error and pretty much the opposite of actual universalism, as it creates traps), the happier those of intellectual disposition are. That’s why they oppose structures that demand a limited range of meaning, such as nation states. At the same time, the opposite principle seems to apply, more or less, economically. Look at it this way. The bath is full of water but there are countries where the bath has no water. The sides of the bath are the laws pertaining to the nation state. Remove the walls and share your bath water with those countries where the water keeps running away, because they can’t afford to erect walls. That is what you get when you have a totally globalised economy. It may seem rational to remove the walls of your bath tub and let the water level settle where it may, but it is actually incautious and rather crazy.
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I am not convinced. Example: NAFTA. (Of course, it did not mean open borders, but my point is that “globalization” looks more like NAFTA than like the elimination of borders.) Its mechanisms wreak mayhem with Mexican economy as a result of which we have among other things the current amazing war over drugs. Here is an overview, but there is a lot more written on it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-faux/nafta-and-the-narcos-what_b_4760372.html
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I have heard strange theories in my life but attributing Mexico ‘s drug wars to NAFTA is probably the weirdest.
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Sure. Perhaps my engineering metaphor can be taken too literally, to mean that national borders themselves are eroded,when what I mean is that the capacity for an economy to hold water is eroded. i teach this material all the time, and I am pretty well up on it. It’s one of my teaching topics.
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@ Clarissa — Actually it is not a weird theory if you have been watching developments the last 20 years or so. There is a lot of writing on how this works. A related and important theme is drug trafficking as an arm of empire. Etc.
@ musteryou — aha, economic policy.
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We can see that nations still do want to be able to hold a bit of water — that is regulate their own systems. This is what I have learned regarding the TPP. However, certain socio-economic masses and sectors of the economy that are not so important for military-strategic purposes may be sacrificed.
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The bath rituals one made me smile- I just reminded myself to take a trip to LUSH once payday comes around so I can invest in masques and scrubs and bath bombs.
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Compare Radio Shack to Maplin’s in the UK — you can actually get useful stuff at Maplin’s, and there’s still a location at Canary Wharf that would have been gone ages ago if it were up to management at the level of Radio Shack’s usual custom.
For example, there’s this thing that plays USB and SD card media files on a TV:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/cyclone-micro-hdmi-media-player-adapter-a90jr
I’ve never seen anything that useful in a Radio Shack — they usually sell useless stuff or stuff that breaks, at least as far as I can tell.
The last time I was in a Radio Shack in the States, they were selling capacitors that were from the infamous “capacitor plague” of the 2000s, along with a lot of other crap that looked more at home in 1982 than it did in 2012.
BTW, this may interest you if you’re curious about why a lot of the computer kit that was bought in the 2000s turned out to be disposable rubbish:
Ministry of Wikipedia — “Capacitor plague”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
“Faulty capacitors have been discovered in electronic equipment at various times, but mainstream electronics journals began to report widespread defective capacitors from Taiwanese manufacturers in motherboards in October 2002. Many well-known motherboard companies have unknowingly assembled and sold boards with faulty capacitors sourced from other manufacturers. Major vendors such as Dell, HP, and Apple Inc. were affected. Circa 2005, Dell spent some US$420 million replacing motherboards outright and on the logistics of determining whether a system was in need of replacement. HP reportedly purged its product line in 2004.”
I only trusted the laptops I was using because I’d cracked the cases on them, found all of the suspect components, and replaced every one of them with painstaking care. I did the same for all of my friends’ Internet kit — not a single dissatisfied person among the lot …
No, I didn’t buy any of the replacement kit at Radio Shack. 🙂
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An amusing, educational and varied link encyclopedia. I have a frivolous question: why do you dislike Dan Savage? I only read him when I am in places with newspapers that carry his column, so there may be something I am missing, but actualIy like his non moralistic answers — what am I not seeing?
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I added Dan Savage to my blog roll to see why he was so hated by many good people I know. I don’t see reasons for hatred but he is usually quite tone-deaf in his advice. Especially when the advice concerns marriage, an institution he really doesn’t get but loves to opine on.
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Oy. Your link for why Spain is doomed (4.5 year sentence for child molester?) had under related articles this one (which they also made available in English). No wonder Kip Kinkle (whose parents were both Spanish teachers who tried to raise their kids expat in Spain) went postal…
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Kris Kringle?
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Nope, Kip Kinkle
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ope.
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My experience is different, though being American living in a mostly very pro-American country is kind of different from the linked article.
I get asked where I’m from a lot but I can’t say that I ever detect hostile intent (for the record, I’ve been told my accent in Polish doesn’t sound American, or anglophone, at all but possibly more like some country south of Poland or like a heritage speaker from some other country).
One problem the author might be coming up against is that traditionally USans don’t have many safe conversation starters compared with other countries. Where are you (or your family) from or What do you do? are about it (interestingly neither is a common starter in Poland).
“Why can’t we talk about our kids swimming? My kid is a freshman, his is older, how about tell me about your experiences on the team. That’s why we are both here, right?”
Actually that’s potentially rude (or very awkward) in the US I grew up in (especially if this is competitive and the sons have very different results).
Finally, the author is in bad need of responses. Off the top of my head I can think of a few better responses than the ones she’s used to.
“So many people ask me that! Anyway, what about….(change topic)”
“Oh, let’s not talk about me! what do you think about…(change topic)”
“I get asked that so often! I need a change of pace, what about (change topic)”
Those just trying to get a topic started will take the new topic while those who don’t get the hint can get my favorite response to cut off conversation
“Excuse me?” (excruciatingly polite with eyebrows slightly raised as if you can’t believe the person said that).
or if they persist…
“I’m surprised that you think that’s an appropriate way to begin a conversation”.
(the last will also work if, as I suspect, the author just plan doesn’t like talking to people she does’t already know).
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Those cues make work on people who can pick up on conversational cues and aren’t trying to be rude.
However, all too often, “Where are you from” is what USians think of as a polite way of asking, “You’re not me, what stereotypes do I need to apply to this situation?” The most conversationally subtle Midwesterners and Southerners will barrel right over those conversational cues to ask “Where are you really from?” and “What is your ethnicity?” Then they either terminate the conversation or volunteer something stupid about “where you’re really from.” Bless their hearts. <3.
In my experience, though, immigrants tend to be less offensive in how they go about it, usually because they volunteer information about themselves in response.
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Shakti: so true. People actually fidget with anxiety until they can place you in a mental box. It’s gotten to the point where I counter with, “And where are you from?” When people say, “I’m from around here,” I make my “well, aren’t you the cutest thing ever” face and say, “Wow, this is so unusual. Mostly people travel, move around these days.”
I’m not the freak here! This isn’t a post-nation state world for nothing.
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For what it’s worth, IME Americans (defined in cultural and linguistic terms) who meet each other abroad do the “Where are you from?” conversation very early.
This is followed by awkward and strained attempts to make some kind of connection based on the answers. “Oh I had a cousin from near there!” or “My brother’s ex-girlfriend once lived there” or “I drove through there once, I think it was there, or somewhere in that area at any rate”.
And again, IME, even among very pale Americans, anyone with a kind of local-but-not-here (but obviously American) accent will get asked where they’re from (I got it asked in the plains states a number of times).
Interestingly, Polish people don’t really do that (and everyone I ask thinks it would be a really odd thing to do).
In other words, I get why it can be irritating but I think most of the time it’s a harmless cultural quirk and not anything especially nefarious.
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I’m sure nobody means any harm but it gets so boring after a while!
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In Poland the initial surprise at my answer (again my accent isn’t what people would expect from an American) is often followed by “where in the states?”
Then I know I’m going to hear about either their trip or travels to the US or about some relative of theirs who lives there.
Occasionally it leads to general political discussions (a nice thing about CentralEurope is that I’m spared the self-righteous lectures about the evils of US policy that often come from western Europeans).
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I got the same feeling. I can see how it would be frustrating for immigrants but I get asked where I’m from in *every* conversation with other Americans. They’ll tell me about a visit to Chicago and we’ll have a nice chat about it. Us Americans need to get better small talk I suppose.
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Oh, also according to the rules of US politeness that I grew up with the plain sentence “Where are you from?” would be an extremely rude way to ask. It should be sheltered inside of a couple of disclaimers.
“Excuse me, if you don’t mind me asking, could I ask where you’re from?” (or something similarly indirect) is a more appropriate way to ask. If the author is getting plain “Where are you from?” then by all means, snap “none of your beeswax!” , “Drop dead rube!” or “From a place where people have manners!” and be done with it.
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You probably grew up in a different region because here, in the Midwest, nobody thinks twice of interrupting one in the middle of a sentence to ask this question. The culmination of this was when I was wriggling in pain in the emergency room but the nurse wouldn’t proceed to admit it before we hashed out my origins. And this wasn’t about insurance: I was waving my insurance card in her face that entire time.
And then every doctor who saw me had to go through the same discussion again.
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The Quiet German
The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german
In Russian (partial translation):
http://www.forbes.ru/sobytiya/vlast/274337-merkel-o-putine-nikogda-ne-doveryai-etomu-parnyu
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Regarding Angela Merkel, people who read the full article saw in her both cold hatred of USSR and (a hint of) contempt for the West.
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I was very interested in the story of “Ray Honeyford, the headmaster of a middle school in an immigrant area of Bradford in the early 1980s” :
The Man Who Predicted the Race Riots
http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_2_oh_to_be.html
QUOTE
In his article, Honeyford enumerated some of multiculturalism’s problems and contradictions. The debasement of language that multiculturalist and anti-racist bureaucrats have brought about, he argued, has made it extremely difficult to talk honestly or clearly about racial and cultural matters. By lumping together all ethnic minorities as “black” in order to create a false dichotomy between white oppressors on the one hand and all minorities on the other, for example, these bureaucrats could obscure such complex and unpleasant realities as the continued hostility between Sikhs and Muslims, or the Muslim ill-treatment of women. Only by means of such deliberate blindness can the tenets of multiculturalism, feminism, and universal human rights be reconciled. Honeyford quoted Orwell to the effect that politicized language “is designed to make lies sound truthful” and “to give an impression of solidity to pure wind.”
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Very interesting. At the same time, we need to remember that in the US extreme racial segregation exists without any multiculturalism and among non-immigrant groups. The question is: could this segregation in the UK have been avoided without multiculturalist practices?
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\\ At the same time, we need to remember that in the US extreme racial segregation exists without any multiculturalism and among non-immigrant groups. The question is: could this segregation in the UK have been avoided without multiculturalist practices?
At least, Ray Honeyford offered concrete steps to take to prevent that. If you read the article, they are described there and sound common sense to me.
Uri’s column:
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/
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If you are interested in the topic, I would love to hear your opinion on explaining WW2 by looking at child rearing practices of the period in Germany and other states. I feel he takes it too far, but the analysis does seem interesting and insightful.
http://www.psychohistory.com/originsofwar/06_childhoodOrigins.html
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I read this piece before. It is very good.
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Quoting Uri:
\\ Another measure is the annulment of residence in Jerusalem for terrorists and their families. (Arabs in annexed East Jerusalem were not accorded citizenship, but only “permanent residency”. This can be revoked any time.)
I am for that. Time and time again I read in newspaper “terrorist act by X, whose relative did terrorist act Y / was released in Shalit deal.” If their family is sent to live in the territories of the future Palestinian state (West Bank), it will be much harder for them to reach Jewish victims, as opposed to exiting their homes and taking a bus to any point in Israel like me.
Another point: Again and again family members talk about their shahids and celebrate openly what they did. If their loyalty lies with the Palestinian state, isn’t it just that they be sent to live there, instead of receiving social security from Israel after their breadwinner exploded in an Israeli bus? Don’t worry, Abu Mazen is glad to pay a lot to terrorists and their families, instead of spending money on promoting peace.
Read this article and honestly tell me – is it fascism, or common sense self defense?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/187839#.VHmEMNKsVvk
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Interesting move. The concept of citizenship becomes fluid, as well. Eventually, it loses all meaning. I guess, it had to happen.
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\\ The concept of citizenship becomes fluid, as well.
Clarissa, you are plugged into fluidity now since it’s your subject of research and you live in the country which is probably entering this new stage of development, but this Israeli move has nothing to do with being post-nation state. 🙂 Reminded me of this joke about a doctor making a sex-obsessed person do Rorschach test and the patient seeing breasts in every drawing.
Israeli move is not connected to fluidity of citizenship, but to f.e. population exchanges after WW2 creating ethnically segregated Europe. It is as anti-fluid and anti- “borders are insignificant” as can be.
Btw, I still don’t understand (and would love to hear from you) how fluidity will influence Israelis, except leading to some changes in the job market. Nowadays the ever present concern is about maintaining a Jewish majority needed to preserve a Jewish nation state. That’s why I don’t see Israel letting numerous non-Jewish foreigners enter, unlike in EU. If we don’t adopt multiculturalism, what ideological changes will we experience?
Most importantly, am I right to think I won’t see significant positive changes in my lifetime? The Middle East conflict, fear and hatred will continue, together with strengthening nationalism, etc.
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“Clarissa, you are plugged into fluidity now since it’s your subject of research and you live in the country which is probably entering this new stage of development, but this Israeli move has nothing to do with being post-nation state.”
– Nobody can exclude themselves from history.
“It is as anti-fluid and anti- “borders are insignificant” as can be.”
– In its intention, of course. But let’s imagine the situation when this measure starts gaining popularity. Other governments find the possibility of revoking and granting the citizenship easily and for no particular reason (e.g. a relative of somebody who looked happy when somebody else did something, etc.). What will the result be otehr than a complete erosion of the meaning of citizenship?
“That’s why I don’t see Israel letting numerous non-Jewish foreigners enter, unlike in EU.”
– Right now, Israel’s main concern seems to be not with people entering as much as it is with people leaving. And I’m sure that concern will grow.
“Most importantly, am I right to think I won’t see significant positive changes in my lifetime?”
– We will all see them after we solve our psychological problems. 🙂
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\\ – We will all see them after we solve our psychological problems.
I understand which single person is “we” 🙂 But I am serious: I wish Israel could be more like Europe – peace in addition to prosperity, no need for extreme nationalism, etc. Whatever my psychological problems are, I haven’t imagined the sound of syrens last summer or numerous terrorist attacks lately.
\\ – Right now, Israel’s main concern seems to be not with people entering as much as it is with people leaving.
You are mistaken here. Look:
Israeli emigration rates at all-time low
Despite high cost of living and much handwringing, data shows decline in citizens relocating abroad
[…]
According to Central Bureau of Statistics data, emigration rates are even declining. The figures suggest that Israelis are much less inclined to permanently leave the country than they were ten or twenty years ago, with 2012, the last year for which figures on long-term emigration are available, showing the lowest emigration rates since the founding of the state in 1948.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-emigration-rates-at-all-time-low/
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Lieberman’s peace plan woos centrists: Regional peace is possible, even at expense of Greater Israel
[…]
The document, titled “Going Against the Stream – Yisrael Beiteinu’s Vision”, details the party’s ideological and practical position on ending Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and covers a range of issues from territorial concessions to offering Israeli Arabs financial incentives to leave the country.
He will present the document to the EU foreign minister in a conference in Basel next week, and then again in a number of international forums.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4597380,00.html
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Oh, *that* Lieberman. I saw the word “centrist” in the title and mentally pictured a different Lieberman. In progressive American circles we have a cynical saying: “Center is the new left.” If Avigdor Lieberman is the current Israeli government’s peace offering to the “centrists,” then perhaps we lefty progressive Americans should be much more grateful for being Americans…
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If you want to watch some Israeli-Arab films, the new film “Dancing Arabs” looks interesting:
http://www.haaretz.com/life/movies-television/.premium-1.603571
I watched his “The Syrian Bride” and loved it.
A classical Israeli film about Jews which I LOVED is “Turn Left at the End of the World.” Here is a review:
// For non-Israelis, Left Turn at the End of the World is a revealing look at conflicts between Jewish communities originating in different parts of the world. Forced to live next to one another in a desolate “development town” in the Negev, Indian Jews from Bombay and Moroccan Jews, each confronting a loss of status (or imagined status) in their countries of origin, begin by despising one another and ultimately learn to live with one another, mainly through the agency of two teenage girls who befriend one another despite their differences in outlook. For those who do not speak Hebrew comfortably, this film is easier to follow than most Israeli films, not only because the subtitles are especially well done, but because the Indian Jews converse among themselves in English and the Moroccan Jews mostly in French with only rudimentary Hebrew to link them. Although one could summarize the story without ruining the experience for a viewer, it is not the plot that matters but the conflict and the accommodation. The acting is splendid, though only a couple of the actors were known (outside Israel) before this film, and only a couple have been heard from since. The two girls — both are actually in their 20’s — the man-eating widow, the Indian father and mother and the Moroccan father and mother all distinguish themselves. It’s funny at times, emotionally wrenching and true.
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When I read about Pearl Harbor on American blogs, I never heard the following. Why did Roosevelt wish to do that? How had he explained it to himself?
\\ the most important faked provocation in starting the war was Franklin Roosevelt’s provocations to encourage Japan “to strike first” with the hidden self-destructive goal that U.S. forces would be tied down in the Pacific rather than available to fight in Europe. Since Japan was already fighting a war with China, it was true that, as Admiral Nomura said in 1940, “There are few Japanese who want war with the United States.” Therefore, FDR had to take hidden actions to provoke Japan into attacking the U.S. There are by now over 40 excellent scholarly books detailing how Roosevelt chose a group of advisers who created an eight-step program to bring about the so-called “unprovoked attack” on Pearl Harbor. FDR’s program included embargoing oil trade to Japan—which got 80 percent of its oil from the U.S., and was about to run out in months—carrying out “pop-up” cruises in the territorial waters of Japan—which he said would “keep the Japs guessing” if the U.S. was about to attack—leaving the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor despite complaints from the U.S. fleet commander that it would leave them unprotected, hiding the fact that Japanese codes had been broken so the attack would appear as a “surprise,” and other faked provocations. It is no wonder that the Japanese openly spoke of “suicide” when they finally attacked Pearl Harbor, saying that it was “better to jump off Kiyomizu Temple” and “commit suicide” than be “starved to death” by the U.S. FDR and his White House advisers literally cheered when they heard their provocations had worked and the Japanese had been provoked to attack. FDR was cheered by Congress when he announced the new war, and forty-two percent of American soldiers said the U.S. should “wipe out all Japanese,” civilians as well as warriors.
From:
http://www.psychohistory.com/originsofwar/06_childhoodOrigins.html
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“When I read about Pearl Harbor on American blogs, I never heard the following. Why did Roosevelt wish to do that? How had he explained it to himself?”
– This is a very old military strategy. Americans did the same back in 1898 when they organized an explosion on their own military ship to provoke a war with Spain over Cuba.
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\\ – This is a very old military strategy.
My question was why he wished to employ it and enter the war at that point in the first place. Why not wait and see what USSR and Germany do to each other and then join the losing side as Sen. Harry Truman advised (which ironically would’ve been Germany)?
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That’s interesting. Another frequently overheard conspiracy theory (or not) about WWII concerns the end game, and alleges that the firebombing of enemy cities (in both Germany and Japan) specifically targeted low-income populations. If true, astonishingly cynical. Maybe not simple blood-lust, but a sense they were erasing human liabilities from the balance sheet, or maybe they figured they were going to -own- the postwar economic situation and figured they could stack the deck in favor of a “human-capital-rich” environment.
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Sorry, here the author gives his explanation which I posted below. I am still unsure why America couldn’t wait more time, without entering any war. Also, after reading Truman’s words – “we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible” – I am less than ever inclined to see America as this great hero fighting for justice and freedom in WW2. I am glad it fought against Hitler, of course. But it also refused European Jews (even children) entry, which led to them being murdered, and would be glad to hear about deaths of my (Jewish) relatives who fought in the Red Army in WW2.
\\ After the attack, Roosevelt still refused to ask Congress to declare war on Germany. Many Americans agreed with Sen. Harry Truman, who had earlier said after the German invasion of Russia: “If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible.” Hitler, of course, was reported to be “in ecstasy” that the American military would be tied down for years in the Pacific.
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“Many Americans agreed with Sen. Harry Truman, who had earlier said after the German invasion of Russia: “If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible.” ”
– Of course, now the story is that the US defeated Hitler on its lonesome.
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\\ – Of course, now the story is that the US defeated Hitler on its lonesome.
In Israeli textbooks Grandfather Frost defeated Hitler (may be, together with USA).
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I found a place you’ll disagree with in the book about origins of war (the bit about Iran):
// Most countries attacked in the U.S. Middle East War—Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen and Palestine—are “democratizing nations” that have a significant portion of their families modernizing, so they have experienced both new political freedoms and the “growth panic” and “freedom anxiety” that have led to increased need for violence. Iran in particular has moved from democratizing to dictatorship, which controls most of the terrorists in the Middle East and believes that they should set off an apocalyptic nuclear annihilation. Most of these nations have exploding crime rates, corrupt police, and tyrannical leaders. All have experienced a need for an “enemy” upon whom they can project their dissociated emotional fears.
From the last chapter “Ending Child Abuse, Wars and Terrorism”:
http://www.psychohistory.com/originsofwar/12_endingChildAbuse.htm
He also talks there about and against ” the world’s longest major war has been conducted by the U.S. in the Middle East, after having been started 20 years ago by President George H. W. Bush.”
ln another chapter the author presents his theory why boys tend to be more violent than girls:
Why Males Are More Violent
http://www.psychohistory.com/originsofwar/02_whymalesaremoreviolent.html
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“Why Males Are More Violent”
– And why do blondes have more fingers? I love it when people first make a meaningless statement and then proceed to “explain” it as if it were some truth universally acknowledged.
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\\ – And why do blondes have more fingers?
He tries to explain the fact that (and gives some interesting facts too):
\\ Virtually all of the warriors across history have been male, from tribal to modern times. Similarly, males have perpetrated most of the interpersonal violent crimes: in the U.S., 90% of murderers and 82% of other violent criminals are male. Males even commit suicide four times as often as females.1 The difference in male violence is usually ascribed to inherited biology
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“Virtually all of the warriors across history have been male, from tribal to modern times. Similarly, males have perpetrated most of the interpersonal violent crimes: in the U.S., 90% of murderers and 82% of other violent criminals are male.”
– Of course, everybody is entitled to their own definition of violence. But since we are talking about psychology, I would ask myself why I’m comforted by such a severely limited definition of violence. Why is externally directed violence so much more violent in my eyes than the internally directed violence?
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Yes, this notion is eventually anti-feminist because it essentialises gendered natures. Here is a dynamic that is never, ever talked about, so far as I know.
http://unsanesafe.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/the-father-and-daughter-war-by-jennifer.html
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Уроки колорадского Гитлера
http://taki-net.livejournal.com/1979989.html
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\\ Why is externally directed violence so much more violent in my eyes than the internally directed violence?
Because I won’t die from other person’s externally directed violence, most likely.
I still think that chapter is interesting. Don’t judge it before reading.
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Obviously, this is not an approach that can lead to a serious analysis of anything. Patriarchal societies direct male violence outwards and female violence inwards. That’s it, there is no mystery here.
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\\ Patriarchal societies direct male violence outwards and female violence inwards. That’s it, there is no mystery here.
He writes about that
\\ Abuse and neglect produce equally damaging results in the brains of both boys and girls, but girls tend more to respond with dissociative internalizing symptoms (withdrawal, depressions, helplessness, dependence), while boys tend more to act out fight/flight responses (externalizing, impulsive, hyperactive).
You would probably disagree with:
\\ Mothers may dominate their little girls and expect them to share their troubles, but domination has been found to be far less damaging to the child’s psyche than abandonment and routine distancing.
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I hate the “girls tend more to respond. ” They don’t tend anything. They are forced through very violent means.
All I see in this article is a defense of the patriarchal model.
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“Mothers may dominate their little girls and expect them to share their troubles, but domination has been found to be far less damaging to the child’s psyche than abandonment and routine distancing.”
– As I said, an extreme defense of the patriarchal model. By the way, the extremely violent act of female genital mutilation is inflicted on little girls almost exclusively by mothers and female relatives. But that doesn’t count as violence because hey, it’s just girls, who cares about their suffering?
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\\ All I see in this article is a defense of the patriarchal model.
I read his articles today and he doesn’t defend patriarchy in it.
In other places he writes about female genital mutilation. I suppose ““Mothers may dominate…” passage refers to Western countries, not to Africa.
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“In other places he writes about female genital mutilation.”
– The extremely high incidence of FGM is proof that all of this blabber about “less violent women” is that, blabber. These “gender differences” are achieved through socialization, and there are mountains of evidence to show this. Which is why any discussion of brain, hormones, and God knows what else in the context is just a waste of time. In your and mine culture, we have seen this social experiment carried out: women were socialized to be highly aggressive and men to be meek, weak and mumbly. It worked with extreme ease. And nobody’s brains or hormones stood in the way.
I just told N about the “less aggressive women” over lunch and we both roared with laughter for 5 minutes. Neither of saw “less aggressive women” growing up. This is all highly cultural. Of course, people who grow up in a culture of weak, degraded and mumbly women think that all women are this way. Just as I was sure until the age of 30 that men are physiologically incapable of speaking at a volume where I will manage to hear them.
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“\\ Mothers may dominate their little girls and expect them to share their troubles, but domination has been found to be far less damaging to the child’s psyche than abandonment and routine distancing.”
Give me distancing from the parent folk any day. The fact that I had earlier had this distancing was the only reason I was able to pull myself out of a nose dive.
You just have to be really careful of pseudo-feminism, which makes out that materal overparenting may be a good thing. Even relatively. Feminist is off the rails because of this stupid mode of superiority thinking, that tries to reassure the collapsed ego of the battered and bruised that they are still good people who have something to say. It’s not so. You need to look at everything from an engineering perspective and see the structure for what it is, without emotional evaluation or judgements about individual identities and their capacity for good or evil. First just simply see things as they are, in a structual sense. Otherwise you are running around trying to affirm yourself and affirm your experiences when this precludes seeing things as they are.
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“Give me distancing from the parent folk any day. The fact that I had earlier had this distancing was the only reason I was able to pull myself out of a nose dive.”
– Hear, hear!!!
“You just have to be really careful of pseudo-feminism, which makes out that materal overparenting may be a good thing. Even relatively.”
– I can’t tell you how much I agree.
“Feminist is off the rails because of this stupid mode of superiority thinking, that tries to reassure the collapsed ego of the battered and bruised that they are still good people who have something to say.”
– Yes.
“Otherwise you are running around trying to affirm yourself and affirm your experiences when this precludes seeing things as they are.”
– A thousand times yes.
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Affirming and normalizing your broken state is actually the easiest thing to do. It is extremely hard to get beyond oneself enough to see things from the outside. So feminists say, “Why do anything hard? Doing something hard is ‘patriarchy’.”
In a sense they are right in that they do need to be able to reclaim the repressed masculine dimensions of themselves in order to succeed. But mushy modern minds can’t seem to fathom how much this is necessary.
I notice these days if you mention that anything is hard, immediately people show they disapprove of the method. It’s considered old-fashioned and “patriarchy”. But reclaiming your more robust side is reclaiming yourself FROM patriarchy. Sometimes this requires an actual war against patriarchy inside your head. If you are too feminine to fight a war, then all you end up with is an ideological system that affirms dysfunction as all that can be achieved or even as a kind of good.
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Again, I want to copy out every sentence of the comment and accompany it with a “YES.” Because yes, exactly. There is this entire mentality that produces nothing but states of mute and sulky resentment at the idea that there are difficulties in life and these difficulties have to be confronted and assimilated into one’s life experience. The whole idea has become scandalous. And when people go into the apocalyptic mode in the midst of any discussion about anything whatsoever is another side of the same phenomenon.
I got an email from somebody this week who used to participate in this blog years ago. He was under the impression that I was upset with him because of his disagreeing about something – again, this was years ago – and was nursing a grievance. So he was relieved to hear that I was not upset. This is a really great, intelligent fellow. Yet he seriously thought that I would be angry with him for years over a blog discussion we had years ago. I have so much going on that I would be hard-pressed to say what I disagreed about and with whom last week, let alone last year. This is just a blog disagreement, it is not a big deal. It didn’t constitute a turning point in my life or would me profoundly. I can disagree and not be scarred for life by this extreme exertion.
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Yeah, I can disagree as well, but normally I forget the name or face of the one I disagreed with. Sometimes I just like war, so I like to extend a battle to get in some sparring practice. I don’t think one has to be perpetually quiet to show one is strong. I mean show who? Why? Who are they to me?
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He also wrote about “The Gulf War as a Mental Disorder”
http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/eln02_gulf.html
and “The Childhood Origins of Terrorism.”
http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/eln03_terrorism.html
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Here we go:
http://sofrep.com/38601/resurrecting-the-selous-scouts-to-destroy-isis/
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GOP Staffer Apologizes For Lecturing Obama Daughters To ‘Show A Little Class’
Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you’re both in those awful teen years, but you’re a part of the First Family, try showing a little class. At least respect the part you play. Then again your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter, so I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department. Nevertheless, stretch yourself. Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar. And certainly don’t make faces during televised public events.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/29/elizabeth-lauten-obama-daughters-class_n_6241202.html
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“Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”
– I wonder if people realize how much they betray about themselves with such statements. One reads this and immediately thinks, “History with alcoholism”, which I’m guessing was not the author’s intent.
As for the rest, serious, serious psychological problems.
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Turkey has been going to hell for a long, long time:
Turkish governor threatens to turn synagogue into museum
Governor of Edirne province decides to punish local Jewish community for Israel’s alleged actions against Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4595404,00.html
In other news, Palestinians talk about being expelled and now Jews decided it was time to remember something too:
Rivlin demands Iran and Syria compensate expelled Jews
President speaks at first ceremony commemorating expulsion and exile of Jews from Arab countries and Iran, calling on Arab nations to compensate them for lost property.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4597971,00.html
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I remember a reader Kile (?) who talked about USA promoting democracy and using precise weapons in Middle Eastern countries:
41 men targeted but 1,147 people killed: US drone strikes – the facts on the ground.
New analysis of data conducted by human rights group Reprieve shared with the Guardian, raises questions about accuracy of intelligence guiding ‘precise’ strikes
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147
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You said that people need to get more educated to be hired to numerous jobs which need skilled workers, but this article seems to show there are no jobs waiting (at least, not in STEM):
http://news.firedoglake.com/2014/11/25/no-tech-worker-shortage-no-stem-crisis/
Another article which caught my attention:
An Inconvenient Political Truth: That St. Louis Prosecutor Is a Democrat
http://www.thenation.com/blog/191593/inconvenient-political-truth-st-louis-prosecutor-democrat?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow#
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“You said that people need to get more educated to be hired to numerous jobs which need skilled workers, but this article seems to show there are no jobs waiting (at least, not in STEM)”
– Nothing that does or doesn’t happen with the nation-state will cure the need of many to masturbate to their apocalyptic fantasies. 🙂
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Loved this Russian post about the author’s reading of Carroll’s “Alice in wonderland”
http://russell-d-jones.livejournal.com/1308292.html
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Einstein’s letter to Marie Curie shows just how long trolls have been slut-shaming women
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/einsteins-letter-to-marie-curie-shows-just-how-long-trolls-have-been-shaming-women/
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“Einstein’s letter to Marie Curie shows just how long trolls have been slut-shaming women”
– This is so badly formulated that it sounds as if the author were saying that anybody today has experiences that are even remotely close to those of Curie. That bothers me.
But the link is interesting otherwise.
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Found this review of a movie I haven’t watched via Feministe:
‘Zero Motivation’: A Female Slacker Comedy Set in the Israeli Army
http://www.btchflcks.com/2014/12/zero-motivation-a-female-slacker-comedy-set-in-the-israeli-army.html#.VIX4ctKsVvl
Wanted to comment on two things in her review as an Israeli:
// What’s interesting about Zero Motivation, from a foreigner’s perspective, is that military service is taken for granted as part of the same right of passage – something that follows secondary school, the way freshman year of college follows secondary school in the USA.
Yes.
\\ the fact that it’s taking place in the army sends an extra message – that this is what you get when you fill the ranks with people who don’t want to be there and treat them like crap
The above description doesn’t look typical for me, even though no doubt a few people like that can be found in every army.
Many Israeli teens are highly motivated to serve and are proud of it. Very different from the way people tried to escape the FSU draft.
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“Many Israeli teens are highly motivated to serve and are proud of it. Very different from the way people tried to escape the FSU draft.”
– Shall we discuss which approach is more psychologically healthier? 🙂 🙂
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\\ – Shall we discuss which approach is more psychologically healthier?
Shall we discuss how fast Israel would stop to exist if nobody served?
I had a feeling of disgust when a Russian-speaking man on a date told me “I pretended to be insane to escape IDF, why should I give 2 years to the country? What will I get from it?”
If somebody wonders what he got, w/o Israel he would’ve been in Russia or Ukraine instead. Israel is 100% much better.
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“I had a feeling of disgust when a Russian-speaking man on a date told me “I pretended to be insane to escape IDF, why should I give 2 years to the country? What will I get from it?””
– He is so ready for the collapse of the nation-state. 🙂 🙂
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\\ If somebody wonders what he got, w/o Israel he would’ve been in Russia or Ukraine instead. Israel is 100% much better.
Even if you disagree with the last sentence, his relatives and him thought so since they immigrated and enjoyed significant help from the country as all Jewish olim (immigrants) get.
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“Even if you disagree with the last sentence, his relatives and him thought so since they immigrated and enjoyed significant help from the country as all Jewish olim (immigrants) get.”
– They seem to believe that it’s up to them to set the terms of the exchange. Which is a position I happen to fully support. The good news, though: you are not planning to date me. 🙂 🙂
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\\ Which is a position I happen to fully support. The good news, though: you are not planning to date me.
I believe you wouldn’t pretend to be insane.
If a country tells you “come and get X, but give Y.” If one doesn’t want to give Y, one shouldn’t come.
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\\ – He is so ready for the collapse of the nation-state.
No. I think his family just moved to the state which would help them more. If Israel didn’t help with all kinds of social programs, which will be non-existant in the world of fluidity …
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“I think his family just moved to the state which would help them more.”
– But do you see how they are not willing to give back precisely the one thing that the nation-state expects in return? It’s the very phenomenon I keep discussing – in action, right in front of our eyes. It’s fascinating to observe.
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\\ It’s the very phenomenon I keep discussing – in action, right in front of our eyes.
I disagree. His behavior was the result of growing up in FSU and getting a certain ‘mentality.’ The phenomenon of FSU is very different from the phenomenon of fluidity, even if sometimes they may have led to a similar behavior.
As a proof, I can say that (not Haredi) Jews born in Israel wouldn’t behave in such a way, except a few degenerates who would understand better than to say so on the first date. It was FSU mentality in action. Do you see any connection between the Soviet people and the new world of fluidity? I thought they were the opposite in many respects.
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“As a proof, I can say that (not Haredi) Jews born in Israel wouldn’t behave in such a way, except a few degenerates who would understand better than to say so on the first date.”
– Man, that must have been one lousy date. 🙂
“Do you see any connection between the Soviet people and the new world of fluidity?”
– That’s an interesting question. The state majorly turned its back on the FSU people. But they have responded in kind. So it’s a very rapid, very dramatic, very mutual abandonment. The entire traumatic decade of the 1990s was the state running away from the people. But the people have been running away from the state as well with marathon speeds since then.
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Returning to the original link, I mentioned ‘Zero Motivation’ since I was curious how you would perceive Israeli movies. We do have a few famous movies in different genres, like “Turn Left at the End of the World” which I loved. 🙂
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I’m not a great movie person. If there is a TV series or a TV show, on the other hand, do recommend.
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What about the post-WW2 era before the 1990s? Haven’t people tried to avoid draft then too?
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And what, the Soviet state was all that fantastic about delivering services before 1991?
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In the 1980s, for instance, everybody was into politics, everybody was politically active. But in 1990, the state walked away completely and since then, the interest in politics or the desire to pay taxes have been nil.
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Loved that article:
Dressed to Suppress
http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/will-decreasing-police-use-military-gear-prevent-another-ferguson
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CIA Paid Torture Teachers More Than $80 Million
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/cia-torture-report/cia-paid-torture-teachers-more-80-million-n264756
I don’t understand why it costs so much. Seriously.
Didn’t know this about ISIS (in Russian):
http://scholar-vit.livejournal.com/389822.html#comments
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An Illinois man who faces charges in Israel of plotting to blow up Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem calls the allegations “nonsense,” his lawyer said Wednesday.
[…]
Israel indicted Livvix on Monday on charges of illegal weapon possession and overstaying his visa by more than a year.
[…]
Livvix, who said he was a former Navy SEAL, was asked by an unnamed Palestinian to assassinate Obama with a sniper rifle during the president’s March 2013 visit to the region, Israeli police said. Livvix declined, but the FBI ended up involved in the case investigating his actions, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Later that year, Livvix entered Israel, the Justice Ministry said, and told Israeli friends he had strong anti-Arab sentiments. The ministry said Livvix later cooperated with his roommate, a serving soldier in the Israeli military, to obtain 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds) of explosive material to blow up the unidentified Jerusalem holy sites. The ministry said police discovered the plot in October.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4602148,00.html
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I suppose “unidentified Jerusalem holy sites” is Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. Imagine what would have happened, had this “Christian Zionist” (he was called so in a newspaper) exploded it. Or, may be, he intended to explode other sites since they are less protected.
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