From The United States of Confederate America:
[T]he South is no longer simply a region: A certain version of it has become an identity shared among white, rural, conservative Americans from coast to coast.
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We Can Be Framers Too
From We Can Be Framers Too:
[T]he Constitution is too fundamentally antidemocratic a document to serve democratic purposes reliably. If we want to make it genuinely and lastingly democratic, we will first have to consider changing it in the most basic way: by amending Article V, which governs amendments and so serves as the gatekeeper for living generations to say what they—we—believe American fundamental law should be. This would be a way of empowering ourselves to become founders, over and over, and not just inheritors.
From You Want an Electric Car With a 300-Mile Range? When Was the Last Time You Drove 300 Miles?:
For some American households that may mean owning a single plug-in hybrid. For others that may mean a 150-mile E.V. for weekday miles and a hybrid truck for weekend projects and outdoor activities. Still other households might be able to serve their mobility needs with a mix of e-bikes, public transit and an occasional rental car. All of these options are better at delivering short- and medium-term fleet electrification in an era of battery scarcity than simply waiting for batteries to become cheap enough for every American to own a 300-plus- mile E.V.
From Steve Bannon Is a Lit Bomb in the Mouth of Democracy:
There is no plan. The plan is to leave a smoldering crater where our institutions once were. Others will eventually fill it.
It must be so intoxicating to be the one in the crane with the wrecking ball.
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The Most Pathetic Men in America
From The Most Pathetic Men in America:
Trump is an extremely tedious dude to have had in our face for seven years and running. My former New York Times colleague David Brooks wrote it best: “We’ve got this perverse situation in which the vast analytic powers of the entire world are being spent trying to understand a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar. Better objects of our scrutiny—and far more compelling to me—are the slavishly devoted Republicans whom Trump drew to his side.
From Alito’s Plan to Repeal Roe—and Other 20th Century Civil Rights:
A movement will eventually emerge to oppose the criminalization of abortion and the despotisms this draft would create, and perhaps some of its leaders are alive today. Whoever they are, they will understand, just as the right-wing activists who worked decades for this moment do, that the freedoms enjoyed by one generation can be stripped away by another.
My students have to write an essay this week on any controversial topic of their choosing. They have to state their opinion and support it using at least three different reasons, each supported in their own right. Topics include the reëlection of former President Trump, the right of trans women to participate in women’s sports, the status of digital art, involuntary mental-health therapy for teenagers, Disney’s financial donations to anti-gay politicians in Florida, and more.
One student elected to address “cancel culture,” though he has little understanding of the issue’s nuances. That’s where his research will come in, and I look forward to seeing his opinion develop.
When discussing examples of cancel culture with him this morning, he began by bringing up Bill Cosby. I explained to him that there’s a difference between “cancel culture” and being held accountable for one’s criminal acts. Instead, I suggested he consider the case of another world-famous comedian, Louis C.K.
In 2017, Louis C.K. published an open apology letter in The New York Times. He admitted to exposing himself to women who felt unable to reject his advances due to his influence in the entertainment industry. Though he claimed he never exposed himself to a woman without first asking her permission, he realized — now that their story was public — that the women did not feel safe enough to reject him.
He ended his letter by saying he would now “step back and take a long time to listen.”
After publishing the apology, Hollywood canceled its relationship with Louis C.K. His recently-completed movie did not get released. He lost deals with Netflix, HBO, and TBS. His animated characters received new voices (even in reruns). He later claimed the incident cost him $35 million.
About nine months later, Louis C.K. returned to the stage in New York City and began his comeback, which later blossomed into national and international tours.
Three years and one pandemic later, over 12,000 members of the Recording Academy voted to give Louis C.K. the award for “Best Comedy Album” at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Whose culture, I wonder, is being canceled?
I have very little doubt that Louis C.K.’s award-winning album is funny. Before deciding I didn’t want to give him any more of my money, I found Louis C.K.’s comedy to be nothing short of genius.
Its genius, however, required irony, and C.K.’s actions removed irony from the table. While creepiness had always been a conscious part of his comedy, without irony, all that was left was a creep. I didn’t want to give any more of my money to a creep.
Of course, my lack of support hasn’t stopped him. He’s a comedian. He tells jokes. And he tells them well enough for people to pay him for the privilege to hear them.
(I question the character of those who still choose to give him their money, but I questioned my own character for watching the NFL, and look how much that changed the world.)
He tells them so well, in fact, that I once crafted an etymological argument explaining why he should be invited back onto the world’s stage: because maybe only he had the genius to help us…(alas)
Louis C.K. tells jokes. People pay to hear them. All the power to him.
But I’m choosing not to listen. That’s not called canceling. That’s called “Moving on.”