“A right-winger calling something ‘woke’ is starting to mean about as much as a left-winger calling something ‘racist.’”
BINGO! It's all become a total joke. And of course, the comedic overuse of the terms desensitizes the population from REAL racism and REAL wokeism (e.g. defund the police), which DO need to be confronted and condemned.
Sir John: Your response regarding Trump viewing the Iran conflict with Venezuela reminds me of an old adage that I sometimes take issue with, that is,”One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.”
While there are situations where this adage is definitely true, the fact of the matter is that this old adage blatantly ignores the Human Factor, in that we as humans are complex beings, and thus so are our societies. Tactics & strategies that may work for some people will not necessarily work for a different group of people for various and sundry reasons, as we are seeing (AGAIN—-Foolishly) in Iran because of the religious factor.
About the Odyssey, other than the cultural appropriation of Helen of Troy and the ridiculous use of the 'F' word in ancient Greece, I didn't see anything worthy of woke madness. Hate to say it, but I found the first ten minutes filled with overly long speeches in an attempt to set the scene. It did, in that the entire movie was filled with talking and schemes etc, a Greek soap opera. Intellectuals loved it but I'd rather go back and watch 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' with a more creepy cyclops, living skeletons etc. Call me immature but Ray Harryhausen effects terrified me more
So as I noticed you reposted a take from Ike Saul on it, what's your take on the recently released Fauci emails?
I read a few of them (mostly the ones from in the early months of the pandemic) and my general impression was that (1) Wow, this guy has a massive ego, surprised both his head and Trump's could fit in the same room and (2) He really was scrambling and trying in good faith to figure out what was really going on and come up with ways to fight the pandemic.
Even Point 1 is caveated by the fact that doing comms on COVID actually was his job for much of the pandemic. So of course he would document what news channels and podcasts he went on. I was actually impressed at the ideological breath of his press hits.
I also read a few of the Biden-era emails where he seemed to really have let the fame go to his head, and also seemed to be in CYA mode to some extent.
But I certainly don't think they exposed any villainous criminal plot to cover up The COVID Lab Leak on his part, either.
John: One of the good things that came out of North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico) hosting the World Cup is the number of foreign visitors mixing with locals. Call it a warm fuzzy or a feelgood, but almost all reported loving the interaction. The same goes for regular folks enjoying the Great American Road Trip this summer. Is there hope for America if we can just get out of the political class, off of Tic Toc, and into genuine human interaction?
"So now that The Odyssey movie is out, what do you think of the weird tantrums some Right Wingers had over it?"
I saw clips of prominent right-wing screechers proclaiming that they don't see color, and more recent clips of those same right-wing screechers bemoaning the racial composition of the cast in The Odyssey.
“A right-winger calling something ‘woke’ is starting to mean about as much as a left-winger calling something ‘racist.’”
BINGO! It's all become a total joke. And of course, the comedic overuse of the terms desensitizes the population from REAL racism and REAL wokeism (e.g. defund the police), which DO need to be confronted and condemned.
Sir John: Your response regarding Trump viewing the Iran conflict with Venezuela reminds me of an old adage that I sometimes take issue with, that is,”One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.”
While there are situations where this adage is definitely true, the fact of the matter is that this old adage blatantly ignores the Human Factor, in that we as humans are complex beings, and thus so are our societies. Tactics & strategies that may work for some people will not necessarily work for a different group of people for various and sundry reasons, as we are seeing (AGAIN—-Foolishly) in Iran because of the religious factor.
Agreed.
About the Odyssey, other than the cultural appropriation of Helen of Troy and the ridiculous use of the 'F' word in ancient Greece, I didn't see anything worthy of woke madness. Hate to say it, but I found the first ten minutes filled with overly long speeches in an attempt to set the scene. It did, in that the entire movie was filled with talking and schemes etc, a Greek soap opera. Intellectuals loved it but I'd rather go back and watch 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' with a more creepy cyclops, living skeletons etc. Call me immature but Ray Harryhausen effects terrified me more
Actually you’re combining the Sinbad movie with “Jason & The Argonauts” but yeah… give me the Harryhausen movies any ole’ day of the week.
1963 Jason & The Argonauts is yearly must watch for me!
So as I noticed you reposted a take from Ike Saul on it, what's your take on the recently released Fauci emails?
I read a few of them (mostly the ones from in the early months of the pandemic) and my general impression was that (1) Wow, this guy has a massive ego, surprised both his head and Trump's could fit in the same room and (2) He really was scrambling and trying in good faith to figure out what was really going on and come up with ways to fight the pandemic.
Even Point 1 is caveated by the fact that doing comms on COVID actually was his job for much of the pandemic. So of course he would document what news channels and podcasts he went on. I was actually impressed at the ideological breath of his press hits.
I also read a few of the Biden-era emails where he seemed to really have let the fame go to his head, and also seemed to be in CYA mode to some extent.
But I certainly don't think they exposed any villainous criminal plot to cover up The COVID Lab Leak on his part, either.
John: One of the good things that came out of North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico) hosting the World Cup is the number of foreign visitors mixing with locals. Call it a warm fuzzy or a feelgood, but almost all reported loving the interaction. The same goes for regular folks enjoying the Great American Road Trip this summer. Is there hope for America if we can just get out of the political class, off of Tic Toc, and into genuine human interaction?
"So now that The Odyssey movie is out, what do you think of the weird tantrums some Right Wingers had over it?"
I saw clips of prominent right-wing screechers proclaiming that they don't see color, and more recent clips of those same right-wing screechers bemoaning the racial composition of the cast in The Odyssey.
As we say in Hawaii, Nuff said.
I also didn't hear any complaints about Matt Daemon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland not being Greek.