Making Things Up

Making Things Up

Author Lionel Shriver takes on the topic of Cultural Appropriation.

I'll just say that Authenticity, and Tastefulness are difficult to define, and there are always useful exceptions, as well as egregious behavior that inspires criticism. As a rule, I think one should attempt to be Civil and Respectful, but Art (and Life) is sometimes neither, and there are good reasons for that.

It would be better to learn to discuss (and disagree) usefully. But that's hard, too, isn't it?

"I hate to disappoint you folks, but unless we stretch the topic to breaking point this address will not be about “community and belonging.” In fact, you have to hand it to this festival’s organisers: inviting a renowned iconoclast to speak about “community and belonging” is like expecting a great white shark to balance a beach ball on its nose."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/13/lionel-shrivers-full-speech-i-hope-the-concept-of-cultural-appropriation-is-a-passing-fad

Comments

  1. Timothy StreetSeptember 16, 2016 at 10:15 AM

    The overriding concept is halting free speech by the ability of one's feelings having veto power. It is an evil that strikes to the root and source of freedom. The obvious absence of reason makes it hard to take the subject seriously; that insidiousness adds to the danger.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christopher ButlerSeptember 16, 2016 at 11:32 AM

    The more I see of the world, the more I believe phrases like "cultural appropriation", "safe space", "triggered", (ad infinitum), are the solvent which will melt civilization into a puddle of goo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Drew McCarthySeptember 16, 2016 at 12:14 PM

    I think that we should all be able to absorb some rudeness and inconsideration, but I would say that, since I'm not a very sensitive person.
    More to the point, I think that there are bigger problems to address first, those that involve risks to people's physical health and livelihood.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Drew McCarthySeptember 16, 2016 at 8:22 PM

    Yep. It's telling that this incident provoked a response stronger than the response to the UC Davis pepper spraying.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Geo. TirebiterSeptember 18, 2016 at 9:20 AM

    fuck people who are butt hurt over "cultural appropriation" it matters not. Either you're free or you're not. I prefer free.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Entremet

Entremet Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh "“Like most people in the US, I grew up knowing the words to this carol and even (shudder) singing them occasionally (singing is not a strong point of mine), but never really thought about what they meant, how the carol originated, or what birds were involved”, says Dr Rasmussen in email. So she decided to figure it out. Dr Rasmussen, who’s tied for third for the most bird discoveries in the world, is probably also the world’s foremost avian sleuth, due to her meticulous detective work a few years ago that uncovered the many ornithological thefts and records frauds in museums that were committed by eminent British ornithologist, Richard Meinertzhagen. But who would ever have thought that an old Christmas carol might also hold an avian mystery? “After all, it’s just a Christmas carol!” Dr Rasmussen points out." https://medium.com/@GrrlScientist/meet-the-real-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas-fame-grrlscientist-5a8bc09350c9
Read more

Flushbunkingly Gloriumptious

Flushbunkingly Gloriumptious Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh "Renowned children's author and occasional spy, Roald Dahl spent the last years of his life in a home located in the small English village of Great Missenden, and now his beloved village is home to an attractive museum devoted to his life and works.  [...] Today the museum holds all of Dahl's original manuscripts, as well as his "Idea Books" where he would jot down his nascent creations. In addition to celebrating his writing career, there are also displays covering his service in the RAF. However, the crown jewel of the museum is the recreation of Dahl's purpose built "Writing Hut," complete with the arm chair he had customized to write in." http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-roald-dahl-museum
Read more

Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh

Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh So Labradors tend to overeat. Now it has been traced to genetic differences. "Dr Eleanor Raffan, a veterinary surgeon and geneticist who studies how genes influence metabolism at the Institute of Metabolic Science at the University of Cambridge recently published a study that examines the genetics that underlie food motivation and obesity in Labrador retrievers. [...] When Dr Raffan and her team carefully examined this POMC gene variant, they found that a small 14-basepair section a little more than halfway down the gene’s length was missing. This deletion creates a frameshift mutation that results in the production of an abnormal protein where the last half is scrambled into a blob of nonsense [...]. Normally, the POMC is translated into the POMC pro-peptide, which is cleaved at precise sites to give rise to number of smaller peptides, including the appetite suppressing neuropeptides, ß-MSH & ß-endorphin, but the abnormal POMC pro-peptide do...
Read more