NEWS YOU CAN USE: The Five Keys to Surviving Attacks from a Social Media Mob.
Archive for 2018
October 19, 2018
DNA DOESN’T DEFINE WHO WE REALLY ARE:
Senator Elizabeth Warren’s big reveal that she’s got a little Native American DNA in her deserves all the mockery it’s getting. But I just want to use it as an excuse to explain why I hate the way we talk about DNA and identity.
Consider Kyle Merker. You’ve probably seen the Ancestry.com commercial featuring his story. It begins with him declaring: “Growing up, we were German.”
“We danced in a German dance group,” he continues. “We wore lederhosen.” We then see him doing a little German dance in his lederhosen.
Merker signed up for Ancestry.com and noticed very few Germans in his family tree. So he had his DNA tested through Ancestry.com’s test service and discovered: “We’re not German at all. Fifty-two percent of my DNA comes from Scotland and Ireland.” In the ad, a little pie chart shows that the rest comes from Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, and “other.”
And then the kicker: “I traded in my lederhosen for a kilt,” Merker says. And we see him in his authentic Scottish garb with a big smile.
This is terrible. And Merker is hardly alone. Other ads and services make similar appeals. And they are all based on the idea that your “real” culture and identity exists in your DNA. That is grotesque and profoundly illiberal.
But consistent with an era in which media and political elites have pushed the notion that identity is entirely fungible. As Victor Davis Hanson asked a few years ago, “What Does the Modern Malleability of Gender and Race Mean for the Future of Affirmative Action?”
AMY SCHUMER: ‘BEING A WOMAN SUCKS.’
As Glenn has written, “you could write a strong argument for patriarchy using only the things feminists say about the fragility of women.”
WHO SAID IT, BARACK OBAMA OR BRETT KAVANAUGH?
“I didn’t take school that seriously.”
Say it ain’t so!
“I got into fights.”
That sounds a lot like toxic masculinity.
“I drank and consumed substances that weren’t always legal.”
SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.
“Some of my behavior was self-destructive — I might drink a six-pack in an hour before going back to class.”
Click over so that…you make the call!
(Bumped.)
HERE’S A COUPLE THAT WILL STAY TOGETHER AT LEAST UNTIL THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAS RUN: NELLIE OHR INVOKES MARITAL PRIVILEGE TO AVOID TESTIFYING ABOUT HER HUSBAND, A DOJ OFFICIAL.
HMM: U.S. Charges Russian for Conspiracy to Interfere in 2016 and 2018 Elections. “The charges announced on Friday centered on a conspiracy that included the creation of thousands of social media and email accounts that appeared to be run by U.S. persons as part of what the conspirators referred to as ‘information warfare against the United States. . . . A criminal complaint against Khusyaynova does not include any allegation that the conspiracy had an effect on the outcome of a U.S. election. The complaint also does not allege that any American knowingly participated in the Project Lakhta operation.”
SHE’S BACK! WELL, MAYBE. AIDE HINTS HILLARY IS SPOILING FOR REMATCH: And here are just three of the many reasons why this is a really bad idea for everybody concerned, including especially Hillary. Well, Bill might like it since they still have interns at the White House.
WE LIVE IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF MUSCLE: This Dodge Demon Has Twin Turbos, 1400 HP, And a Carbon Fiber Body.
AT AMAZON, fall savings in Patio, Lawn, and Garden.
Plus, deals in Toys and Games.
THE CALVINBALL WORLD of Elite White Liberals. “The experience of white liberals with corrupt and partisan authority influences how they deal with their disappointments and defeats. They are used to authority stepping in to change the rules in their favor.”
FLOP SWEAT IS A BAD LOOK: Heitkamp Ad Apologizing for Outing Sexual Assault Victims May Have Violated FEC Rules.
JOHN PODHORETZ ON FIRST MAN: One Giant Flop for Moviekind.
The genuinely troubled and obviously tormented man on the Apollo 11 flight was Buzz Aldrin, who has long been admirably frank and outspoken about the depression that consumed him following the moon landing and who is portrayed rather nastily in the movie by Corey Stoll. You might say that First Man is a movie about Neil Armstrong that wishes it were a movie about Buzz Aldrin. And that does both men an injustice.
I can’t tell you how much I hated First Man.
Read the whole thing.
Update: Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on battling depression, alcoholism, and why Mars is the next frontier.
AT AMAZON, Lightning Deal, Antarctic Krill Oil (Double Strength) with Omega-3s EPA, DHA and Astaxanthin (60 Softgels – 1000mg).
WHY ARE DEMOCRATS SO VIOLENT: New York man charged with threatening senators over Kavanaugh vote. “A New York man was arrested and charged Friday by federal prosecutors with threatening to assault and murder two US senators in retaliation for their support of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.”
LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Scientists Have Grown Functional, Three-Dimensional Human Neural Networks From Stem Cells.
DEM REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Jared Kushner May Have Orchestrated Khashoggi Assassination.
As Brandon Morse adds at Red State, “Even CNN has its limits as to how far it will go down the rabbit hole when it comes to attacking Republicans, and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) found that limit on Friday morning.”
HYSTERIA IS EVERYWHERE: I’m trying to read the new Michelle Goldberg column in the NYT, “A Cure for Political Despair/Join the women trying to save America from Trump,” but it’s so hysterical and melodramatic.
Plus: “I’m just imagining one of these women coming to my door. I mean, I don’t answer the door, because I’m picturing all sorts of characters I don’t want to interact with, and now I have one more on my list. It’s a woman who’s been experiencing nonstop panic who believes the way to deal with her raging insanity is to get out and about knocking on doors. I am never answering the door again. Now, it’s not just the kid selling bad peanut brittle and the environmental activist with the clipboard, it’s the freaked out lady who thinks talking to me is some kind of cure for the churning stomach knots.”
UPDATE: From the comments: “Reality doesn’t satisfy their emotional needs, so they make up stories and decide to believe them. But their narcissism requires that the stories be about them, and their boredom requires that the stories be dramatic. This is what you end up with. People in a permanent state of imaginary drama.”
NOW DO GENDER STUDIES MAJORS: Are Engineers Educated? Or are they merely trained?
QUESTIONS ASKED: “What would we know if we knew everything about this army of Honduran ‘migrants’ marching toward our southern border? Whose idea was this? Who spent money to organize this pre-election publicity stunt?”
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Wire A Light Switch.