Scads of B-tonians are up in arms over the decision by the Herald Times to run a lengthy, 2-jump profile of some white separatist jimokes from Southern Indiana. Here are a couple of examples of soc. med. comments re: that:
- We need to understand it, and address it. But we do NOT need to promote it! The H-T should know better.
- [The article] does raise concern whether covering it encourages it — and especially as groups and individuals seek coverage for their messages and acts of hate, how press should cover it.
Me? I read the piece and — honestly — I’m the better for it.
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If the H-T and the article’s author didn’t call these white-ists the hateful, ignorant idiots they are every other paragraph, then, sure, the paper was “promoting” them. But I found nothing in the piece that would indicate advocacy, support, or promotion for their immoral cause.
Listen, we’d better get to know these bastards. They are here and there are a hell of a lot more of them than we ever wanted to believe prior to the ascendance of L’il Duce. In fact, I want more info on them. Shine that harsh light of scrutiny upon them. Tell me who they are, where they are, what actions they take, why they believe what they do, who their friends and supporters are, and more. I want to hear their words.
Social media has warped our collective take on discourse. We champion those we agree with and demonize those we don’t. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t demonize the Paoli white-ists. They are as demonic as any mythic Satans they and their fellow christianists can conjure. But we’ve become smugly snug in our echo chambers, wanting only to be bathed in “agreeable” viewpoints while considering the “disagreeable” ones a type of intellectual poison.
Go ahead, sip the “poison.” Otherwise, how’ll you know what full cup not to chug?
Dig my old street-corner pal Sun-Tzu: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
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Fat Head
You knew this was going to be a headline one day, didn’t you:
Eat Carbs, Lose 68 LBS!
It’s from a grocery store tabloid I happened to glance at yesterday while in line at the Kroger Theme Park. It was inevitable that the substance that heretofore had been the cause of all obesity and evil in the world now should become the answer to those ills.
I’m not an anti-carb guy. It is, after all, one of the three primary substances we need to ingest (along with fats and proteins) in order to remain…, well, alive. But I do know excess intake of same leads to enormity. Think of houseplants — they need watering but too much kills ’em. Same with the saccharides — sugars, starch, and cellulose — that comprise the carb family.
A Starch Molecule
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But, if you wish to avoid moderating the amount of chocolate cake you jam into your trap as well as eschewing actually moving your body occasionally, tried and true methods of reducing one’s circumference, you’ll gobble up headlines such as the one above.
And that’s really gorging on junk.
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California Dreamin’
On such a winter’s day, natch.
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