EBL: language

An odd but interesting movie. It had some obviously writing plot flaws, I do not want to give them away and spoil the movie for you, but you will know them when you see them (they are predictably Hollywood dumb). What I found interesting is the concepts of language and how it impacts thought. To that extent, it was intriguing and intelligent film. And for the most part I did like the film very much.

Amy Adams does a great job in it. Arrival is based on Stories of Your Life, which I have not read but heard was well written.

Visually it is beautiful, and the theater experience enhances that, but you could wait to see this on TV.

Rule 5 and FMJRA

A Slice of Sci Fi: Arrival Review

Saturday, June 11, 2016

More reasons why you should reconsider not using the slur cuckservative...

AoSHQ from its sidebar June 11, 2016 headlines lays out why using the term cuckservative may make you look like a racist antisemite:

Please Stop Claiming That "Cuckservative" Is Not a Term Used by Racists and Anti-Semites. Thank You.

Yup, just an ordinary, friendly word used by all sorts of reputable people

Here's another Witty use of "cuckservative" by someone who's totally not a racist

Here's one of the most famous uses -- white man, white wife. But look -- the kids are all black!!!! Because he was cucked by a black feller, you see?!

Here's a weird one that comes up in the cuckservative search -- I'm totally sure that's a real JFK quote, too!!!

No racial edge here. None at all.

This also comes up in the search, meaning the word "cuckservative" appears on the same page. The innocence of the term is palpable.

This guy defines it for you.

Now I know some people think it is clever, trendy, and fighting back against political correctness. I will concede Milo Yiannopoulos is the leading conservative authority on interracial intercourse (as he admits in his article). Maybe you are an authority on this too. But cuckold (and all the old imagery and symbolism that entails) is just part of the source of the term cuckservative.

There are definitely people in conservative politics who deserve to be mocked for their cravenness. In regards to the GOP establishment Return of Kings makes a very strong argument why this is so (I still don't agree on the use of the term, but his observations about the GOPe are spot on). There are excellent points in taking back the narrative here (and reaction from various websites helped ironically to popularize the use of cuckservative).

From the more establishment conservative side is NRO's David French describing Ann Coulter's twitter tactics (While his observations about Coulter's twitter tactics are correct, and French's political aspirations only lasted a couple of days, he sparked a lot of cuckservative catcalls, some which were racist).

Many terms could mean completely different things, depending on the intent of the speaker and context (cuckservative is that kind of term). Getting the vapors and running away every time some fool cries racism or antisemitism when it is not intended is not a good idea either (aka raaaaacism). I agree, we need to resist that. I get this is a reaction to identity politics. While I despise the term as counter productive and dumb, Erick Erickson over reacted with this. We need to call out the frauds on the left. There is plenty of hypocrisy to point out. I would suggest being smart about taking it on.

Not everyone using the term cuckservative is a racist or antisemite (just some of them are). But beyond your principles of standing up against political correctness, there is a more pragmatic reason to not use that term: Politics involves a lot of marketing. There is a reason big advertisers try to steer clear of topics that might lose them market share.

If you are supposedly trying to get your candidate elected in the general election, and want to win enough voters who might very well vote for his competitor, what makes you think throwing that particular term around from now to November will help?

You will never win over certain conservatives, so why bother? The primaries are over--your supporters are with you. The nomination is won. You will get a lot of Republicans who will vote for your candidate because they can't stand the alternative of #CrookedHillary. But the prize that will determine the winner of this election are those voters in the middle who could go either way (or stay home) and peeling off some support from minorities and other typical Democrats (who are not all that enthused with Ms. Cankles). Arguing about or mocking sell out conservatives and establishment Republicans with a term that is (partially) adopted by a small minority of racist antisemites is a counter productive distraction at this point.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

HRC Super Volunteers threaten attacks on anyone using "sexist" terms to describe Hillary Clinton. Update: Popehat claims it is satire…

Hillary Clinton's HRC Super Volunteers threaten to attack anyone who uses "sexist" terms to describe Hillary Clinton such as: “polarizing,” “calculating,” “disingenuous,” “insincere,” “ambitious,” “inevitable,” “entitled,” “over confident,” “secretive,” will do anything to win,” “represents the past,” and “out of touch.”

Instapundit : More from the Daily Caller

Someone page Dr. Jeff Goldstein, STAT!

Hillary Broke Same Laws As Snowden

Instapundit: Talk of Campus "Rape Culture" is more about unscientific hate speech, there is no rape lobby, and the female way of learning destroying boyhood

BobBelvedere/Camp of the Saints: Fellow Bitter Twitterers...
RRG: DWS: Hillary followed the rules because...shut up!

Talking about desert science fiction film locations:

Instapundit (you will seldom see a more wretched hive of scum and villainy):

Real Life Tatoonine under siege by ISIS/Daesh

Instapundit: Obama sells out Israel to Iran
TOM: Just Murder Not a Hate Crime
Lem's Place

.@AaronBlakeWP Still think it's not satirical? Dude -- you got played like a toy ukulele. https://t.co/Fmz6yAaOpg
— Popehat (@Popehat) March 26, 2015

FAKE? Just remember the greatest trick the devil ever played was getting people to think he wasn't real. Althouse and Reason seem to believe…
TOM: Social Justice Lynch Mob
Instapundit: Mob Justice and the Obama Administration

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Apple Homophobic? The Gay Mafia will never tolerate this!

And this is from Apple's dictionary!

Isn't definition 2 inconsistent with how many persons of definition 1 actually act?

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Why is Barack Obama above mockery?

Trooper York had a post about the over reaction to this Rodeo Clown...

Banned for Life from the Rodeo for mocking President Obama?

Oh wait this is about saying who wants to see the President run down by a bull? Well that would only go to the announcer not the rodeo clown. And I mean, no one ever wished anything threatening (in a mocking way) to President George W. Bush did they? Nah. I mean wishing President George W. Bush would die a week ago is ancient history!

But because everyone has to be politically correct, the rodeo organizers and some lame Republicans are falling over themselves to toss this rodeo clown and the announcer under the bus bull to show how they can't be perceived as raaaaacist. This is the flip side of speaking in metaphor, which is over reaction to things done if the person is conservative and ignoring them (or minimizing them) if they done by someone on the left. Because it is not like you can mock President Barack Obama because of his shitty policies can you?

Here is a post from The Macho Response about racism. So if we are post racial (which of course we are not) why can't we mock those we disagree with?

Update:
Twitchy/Dana Loesch and Instapundit have this too. And this commentator is right, Barack Obama could never be mistaken for a Rodeo Clown...
TOM: The President was there to shovel up some fresh policy!
Mandatory Clown Sensitivity Training!
11 Liberal Rule of Racism
Michelle Malkin: 10 images of Bush far worse than any rodeo clown...

Let's go down memory lane on mockery of President George W. Bush (I could literally find thousands of examples and they greatly outnumber negative images of President Barack Obama)...

Clown imagery

Because President Obama does not have any close corporate crony friends, does he?

Funny mask imagery

Monkey imagery

Hitler imagery

Vampire imagery

I though the left was into vampires?

Eating kitten imagery

Eating pussy is bad? He is not black!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Speaking in metaphor...

Picard and Darmok and the language of metaphor...

At least Picard was dealing with an opponent who was not arguing in bad faith!

Rush Limbaugh and Jeff Goldstein have raised the left's war on language for a long time (and Orwell of course defined it in 1984). Rush is correct in noting that "Everything about the left is perception, manipulation, and lies. Everything. Everything is 'Wag the Dog.' Everything is a structured deception."

What do terms such as "Tea Party" and "Sarah Palin" mean to you? Depending on your political view point, very different things. I am sure many of you have experienced how those terms to those on the left lead to a immediate negative visceral reaction. I have personally heard people I know to be relatively mild mannered polite Democrats, speak of Sarah Palin in misogynistic vile terms that make what Rush Limbaugh said of Sandra Fluke seem like a glowing endorsement in comparison...

This political branding is intentional. Branding and primacy are well recognized in marketing and advertising and unfortunately we have a media that is intentionally using these principals for their own political ends. It is very difficult to persuade someone of such an opinion once it is adopted. This battle to control language (and thought) is going on now in the media with trying to define and brand Rand Paul.

Chris Matthews recently described Rand Paul as "far right" because describing him accurately as libertarian (which is a term much closer to Rand Paul's political philosophy) makes him potentially dangerous. Anyone who is reasonably familiar with Rand Paul (which unfortunately for Rand Paul is only a small percentage of the population) knows he is mostly for smaller government, less taxes, less foreign involvements and commitments, more freedom, and a greater emphasis on civil liberties. Those are issues that could potentially peel off some Democrat supporters. Matthews is not really trying to predict the GOP nominee, he is trying to damage Rand Paul and neutralize him (just like Sarah Palin was damaged and neutralized).

Meanwhile we have so called Republicans like John McCain doing the exact same thing to our own in calling Ted Cruz and Rand Paul "wacko birds." Because the Establishment wing of the GOP just want a slightly more conservative version of the Democrat spoil system to be maintained. They like social programs and policies provided that they benefit their constituents and donors. Better they neutralize Rand Paul and get a guy they can work with in there as their nominee (like Chris Christie). And if Hillary ends up winning anyway...well they know they can work out some sort of deal with the Clintons.

This is an intentional effort to plow the road for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and the political positions she represents. And while Hillary Clinton is not inevitable, she has a surprising amount of support from the GOP Elite.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Word of the Day: Jökulhlaups

Jökulhlaups (jökull = glacier, hlaup = floodburst)

I love how English can just adopt a good word (tsunami comes to mind).

Monday, March 4, 2019

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Friday, November 11, 2016