dagblog - Comments for ""It Wasn’t ‘Verbal Blackface.’ AOC Was Code-Switching""

just for you, from the new

artappraiser — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 02:39:14 +0000

In reply to So let me get this straight -

just for you, from the new NYTimes interactive piece on Dem voters:

Say political correctness is a problem in the U.S.:

48% of Democrats on social media

70% of other Democrats

So let me get this straight -

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 22:16:00 +0000

In reply to I first had the reaction you

So let me get this straight - since I'm educated, I should lay off my "in your gumbo" patois, instead focusing on something erudite, such as Linguistics. Yeah, that's gonna work... already cut out politics, religion, LGBTQ matters, Europe, the military, music, vegetarian and unusual ethnic food, pot (no, I don't smoke, but tolerance is a flash point)...

My favorite line from the

artappraiser — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 19:19:46 +0000

In reply to Here it strikes me that

My favorite line from the movie Grapes of Wrath just popped into my head because it nails the syndrome.

Tom Joad asks

What is these 'Reds' anyway? Every time ya turn around, somebody callin' somebody else a Red. What is these 'Reds' anyway?

(His question is ignored, he doesn't get an answer.)

Here it strikes me that

artappraiser — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 19:07:58 +0000

In reply to Hitler & Germany's fine for 1

Here it strikes me that hijacking a discussion away from complexity and towards a simplistic political or manichean good vs. evil is the whole principal of Godwin's Law. Stops the discussion, no use to go on.

Those who are passionate partisans about one thing, i.e., "one track mind" are driven to do it. And what they don't realize is that trying to drag people into passionate partisanship and framing everything, everything possible, within their one track message is offensive to those who are interested in complex discussion and nuance. Because: it's insulting to the intelligence, that they would fall for framing everything as a simple political "us vs. them". So the especially weird part of it all: it's so counterproductive to their goal! They are not convincing anyone of the righteousness of their cause but rather making themselves suspect by attempting to always spin things as simplistic proof of their passion.

In this particular instance of the whole maddening tendency, I note the absurdity of how we have trouble figuring out a label for the group of people who is to be despised. In this case: supposed racists. We bounce around from "conservative" to "Republican" and can't settle on one precisely because: the labeling can always be decimated by whatabboutism. I.E.To the use of the conservative label: well what about Max Boot or Andrew Sullivan or George Will? Are they racists? To the use of the Republican label: well what about Jeff Flake or McCain or Rick Wilson or Frank Luntz? Are they racists? To the use of the "Trump voter" label, what about Obama/Trump voters, etc....

For a website about current events there is always the clash between those who want to be advocates of political activism for a cause and those who what to intellectually analyze. It's like mixing oil with water. The former wants to spin things and get dittoes for their spin, to rile emotions and divide into simple "us vs. them" ideological tribes. The latter wants to decode spin. Hence Godwin's Law. It is always why I was once very disturbed by Josh Marshall's stated intent of wanting to include "political activism" as one of his activities for his TPMCafe site which was originally created to offer a place to have quality discussions about current events as an alternative to the lowest common denominator offerings out there on blogs.

I first had the reaction you

artappraiser — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 18:41:48 +0000

In reply to This is all such BS. When in

I first had the reaction you did--such bullshit--it's what's aggravating about the social sciences when they take some human behavior that everyone knows about and try to label it and make it "scientific."

But it at least made me think about it some. I immediately thought of how when I was a little kid I would see my father (with the college education) talk funny when he was with his white trash relatives at the rare big family gathering. He'd lapse into this lingo where he said "deese" and "dose" instead of "these" and "those" and "I went down dere" instead of "I went over there" and "aina hey!" instead of "isn't that the truth!" I also noticed that he seemed unusually happy and relaxed doing it, laughing a lot, not uptight as usual, as if no one was judging him and he didn't have to put on the daily mask that made him so uptight.

Then I thought of my spouse who actually developed the habit of imitating the patois of those he either admired or wanted to connect with. He was an anglophile so if he was talking with a Brit you could see him change his manner of speaking. And he especially seemed to like Brit Empire accented Indian English, there he would really talk different and imitate quite a lot. Then he came from a football coaching family so he knew how to talk "bro" language, so if he interacted with like a doorman or parking attendant who clearly was of that subculture, he would lapse into that lingo.

And as spouse's do, I would just pretend I wasn't seeing him do this, even though some times I felt it either embarassing or ineffective or inauthentic pandering. Then one day out of the blue, he said to me "I've got to stop pretending I talk like other people, as they sometimes find it offensive." And I go: you don't say, huh, yeah maybe you should think about it

So after I thought of both these instances and now putting it in the context of your comment, I think: this cultural exchange thing is a very careful intricate dance where it sometimes happens that people go too far and get offended and other times people stress themselves trying to change themselves to fit in and probably all other manner of complications. So complicated that they invented something called Linguistics to figure out what's going on with that...and guess what, after inventing that "science", they found out that as cultures interact that languages have changed over time from that interaction...

Hitler & Germany's fine for 1

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 17:53:45 +0000

In reply to I thought that the reference

Hitler & Germany's fine for 1 thread, methinks - he's been dead some 75 years.

Posh - that Johnny-come

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 17:51:00 +0000

In reply to As we all know there was a

Posh - that Johnny-come-lately upstart, always putting his Willy in it, if you know what I mean. No coincidence he came from the region where they spawned that door-to-door scam - Stratford-upon-Avon calling? indeed, rather not answer. The language hasn't been the same since the days of Beowulf - oh those odes to the Mighty Hrothgar - or at least Chaucer - there was a lad who knew how to pile on ribald humor in eloquent prose.

As we all know there was a

ocean-kat — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 16:28:20 +0000

In reply to This is all such BS. When in

As we all know there was a time when white people, both rich and poor, would amble along the city streets and the glades of the English countryside discoursing on subjects both great and small in iambic pentameter. If discussing the weather one might say, Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, or Often is his gold complexion dimm'd. Shakespeare's plays were just a reflection of the common tongue of the times. How the quality of white speech has declined over the years. I would support the conservatives desire to make English the official language if the focus was on traditional English and white people were required to speak in iambic pentameter.

I thought that the reference

rmrd0000 — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:54:11 +0000

In reply to Can we not replicate same

I thought that the reference was applicable here.

Edit to add:

I didn’t see a problem. When Omar made her statement about Israel, there was discussion in in multiple threads. But you’re the admin, so OK

Can we not replicate same

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:32:09 +0000

In reply to Conservatives are comfortable

Can we not replicate same discussion under multiple threads?