I love your writing, you put words to the unease I feel. You give me perspective. I just left my Meta apps, even as a young artist hoping to start an art business sooner than later. It can’t fit ethically in my practice. I’m a high school art teacher and see the negative effects first hand. However, this post is hope inspiring. The key to creativity is believing that it is possible. We have to start there first. So I will be diving into this idea, I will become one of those individuals for my community. Thanks again!
I feel the same way. I want my writing to get noticed but I won't touch TikTok with a ten-foot pole even though many, like Colleen Hoover, have found great success there. I have to stay true to my ideals and trust that my time will come. (Meanwhile I write on SubStack ;-)
Similar. Very small craft business. The Etsy, TikTok, YouTube model all calls for selling the instant hit video and creating an illusion that doesn't exist. Just doesn't feel right to me. More like selling a scam not what really is...
Jill, I understand your point, but I don’t see how Etsy fits on that list. All my purchases from Etsy have been from individual craft workers who have related to me warmly and stood behind their work. Sure, there’s cheap junk there too, but it’s not hard to spot. I have enjoyed all of my Etsy interactions.
Chris -- I appreciate your response and I hope that I would be one of those Etsy creators that you appreciate. But from the inside the world looks a bit different. And every day it gets harder and less genuine. A bit disappointing to me really.
There is a renaissance of thinking in the sciences where the Sheldon Coopers who can’t suck up to Elon Musk too much are realizing that people like Carl Jung, Alfred North Whitehead, and William James are making huge inroads into science. Reductionism is on life support and mechanism is being replaced with systems where relationship is everything! Really, romanticism is about beautiful relationships. That is something Sheldon Cooper will never understand.
… Carl Jung, Alfred North Whitehead, and William James …”
I think Jung had the wisdom and insight to understand he was very much NOT doing “science.” It’s hard to measure these things but, at least in the 20th century, it’s been the people who confused their beliefs about the human heart — especially the readiness to personify “society” — with science who have done the worst.
Yes, I just finished reading “The Undiscovered Self” and throughout that very short read he repeatedly affirmed that belief. He pointed to statistics in particular very often. I hope I live long enough for a new kind of science that focuses on holism and relationships to become accepted as genuine science. Christof Koch has been attacked recently for doing pseudo-science with his integrated information theory so the dogmatists are ready with their pitchforks. Koch is nit straying far off the reservation but his credentials are top notch. Rupert Sheldrake had the same problem with a Cambridge University
PhD. The problem, as I see it is that the relational approach is incredibly deep and a general understanding of how to do it is still in the very early developmental stages. It is kind of like the first few years in a marriage. It takes time and effort to work things out. Right now it looks like mother Gaia may be seriously considering a divorce. We humans really need to get our act together. The next major epidemic may leave very few or no humans in its wake.
I do wonder if there's some value in avoiding terms and phrases such as "a new kind of science" and similar constructions that seem to invoke the rigor and precision of the scientific method but ... just can't, properly. Let's reserve "science" for empirically verifiable claims and find some other term for things we to believe are True but that we cannot prove are facts.*
I don't know. Let scientists tell us how to get to Mars. Let others (philosophers? priests? podcasters?) tell us if we SHOULD, or what to do once we get there.
*I was unfortunate enough to tune and listen to a multi-hour episode of Sam Harris' podcast several years ago where he and Jordan Peterson talked past each other for several hours. Peterson was talking about Truth. Harris was talking about facts, but unfortunately used the word "truth." As capitalizations don't travel well in spoken conversation... anyway, incredibly frustrating! But even people like Peterson contribute to the confusion. It may well be a "fact" that this or that study shows this or that thing about these or those "attitudes" but ... what the hell is the empirically verifiable operational definition of "attitude"?
I'll have to take look at the Undiscovered Self but today I saw Sam Harris interviewing Tom Holland about "Dominion" and decided I need to read everything Holland has written (so far, Dominion is the only work of his I've read.)
When the Catholic Church finally accepts women as full human beings and not just breeders--that will be the day I listen to any pope. When women can be ordained as priests and even rise to the papacy, that will be the day I take heed. You cannot claim to speak on behalf of all humanity if you relegate half of it to second class status and call anyone who isn't straight intrinsically disordered. That is Catholic dogma about gays even with the velvet wrapping supplied by the late Pope Francis. I reject institutional religion because, as created souls, we have the inherent right to a relationship with our Creator without anyone interfering with it or dictating the terms of that relationship. I am right in there with you, Ted, about rejecting this latest wave of soulless technology. But I don't see the Catholic Church as leading the wave of change. I think Pope Leo is simply acknowledging it.
I completely agree. The only reason I am intrigued is that even in this modern era, millions of people listen to the person in this position, whose role has traditionally been relatively hateful and power/control-focused. So to have a Pope extol any message that is focused on our shared humanity is a positive in my mind...even if they are still missing/leaving out most of the real message of Jesus...Love.
Jesus said love thy neighbor as thyself. To love someone else, we love ourselves, too. (Self-love is not narcissism. Narcissism is the opposite of self-love.) Otherwise we have no love to give anyone else, since we cannot give to others anything we do not already possess.
This is a perfect example of why we can't get anything done- our thinking has become fossilized, so that If you're not with me on 100% with my issues, I reject anything you have to say.
Perhaps. But scratch the surface and you find areas of agreement. I may not like institutionalized religion, but when the late Pope Francis rebuked the Trump administration over its abhorrent treatment of immigrants, I found myself cheering. I always look for points of agreement. These are the bases of building bridges. I don't reject everything the Catholic Church has to say, but I do reject almost all of its doctrines about women and about abortion. And I most emphatically reject the notion that an institution or a person has the right to come between me and my Creator. That is my right alone.
And nuns have absolutely no real power or authority within the church. None, so to speak. They are to obey and keep silent. Perhaps I should have said breeders and servants, because that's what the church sees woman as, and nothing more. Odd, since Jesus insisted that Mary keep her seat at the table where he and the male disciples were talking. Odder still, since the risen Christ showed himself first to three women. Yet not a one of them was ever declared an apostle, unlike Johnny-come-lately Saul, or Paul or whoever he was on the road to Damascus. Not one woman at the Conclave to choose a new Pope, either. To the Catholic Church, women are afterthoughts at most.
You seem to grossly misunderstand the faith. Women certainly are not afterthoughts and I would argue that the Catholic church honors women more than any other religion. We typically receive criticism for honoring the mother of God too much. However, there is a difference between men and women. To give women the positions of men is actually to undermine their position as women which is just as critical yet different. Women represent the church and the bride of Christ. Indeed the position of women in the church is taken as a more motherly and temple figure. In Catholic theology we actually see our highest roles as familial ones. That's why the Pope and priests are called Father and nuns are called mother. This is to emphasize the primacy of familial authority over tyranny. Indeed the roles are separate in the church but it is out of respect for the natures of the sexes. We are not like modern feminists who only wish to turn to women into men.
Children thrive more when they have a mother and a father. The same holds true in the church.
We'll agree to disagree. I reject the Catholic Church or any institution, person, or so-called authority telling me what my role in life is. That's my job and no one else's. I don't want to be like a man, but I do want the personal autonomy and agency that men insist on for themselves and then deny to women. It's downright bizarre from my perspective that the Catholic Church elevates the Virgin Mary yet tells all other women that their main role in life is to be mothers. Well, the rest of us gals can either be virgins or mothers, but we can't do both. A real gotcha, isn't it. You cannot convince me that Catholic Church can offer me anything I'd ever want, and I am not trying to tear you from your church. As far as I'm concerned, you can keep it. Please.
We will agree to disagree, but I will just finally add that it says that men should be fathers proper or practice their fatherly role in some other way. I see you're very married to your ideas of liberalism and I wish you the best.
One thing is true. Nothing remains the same. Things work until they don't. Martin Luther King Jr., said, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” We know the difference between right and wrong. We only need to take action to determine which outcome prevails.
One more thing. When the going gets tough, the tough change their labels. My suggestion to Elon is that he change the name of his company to X-crement, and the name of his little messages that used to be called tweets to droppings.
Having scraped many a dropping from my noggin' (I used to live in Berkeley & got gradually over a decade or so priced further east then northward) your suggestion of naming tweets (which I've never gotten a smart phone so do not use) "droppings" sent me to online search:
There's heavy traffic on the Droppings blogways.....
See ya at the diner with bottomless cup of coffee and 'hoodie besties chatting another night away over a plate of shared fries and our sharing out our droppings....Oh how I miss the Greek diners that became so pervasive around the outer boroughs and expressway service roads of my well-spent 'hoodie yoot....Wither thou goest? To the Bayside or Blue Diner, LIE window booth....
Tio Mitchito
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Berkeley brings back some good memories. One of my friends is a friend of Alice Waters, who ran the Chez Panisse restaurant there. I played bass in a band that had the good fortune of a gig at the 10th Street Inn down in Berkeley's industrial area. You wandered interesting streets in your past. You're right. Droppings could be an appropriate name for a blog. Continued good luck with your writing.
Back at 'ya, Tom. Hope to keep finding your pieces in all sorts of papers and finding way to my inbox (for as long as I can stay connected and keep lights turned on....
I think you might have set up a false premise for this blog: "The leaders of that movement pushed back against slavery, exploitation, and the excesses of the Industrial Revolution. Against all odds, they were victorious. Even huge businesses and nation states eventually backed down." In fact, they didn't, they just went underground. There is as much "modern" slavery today as ever. The Industrial Revolution has resulted in the biggest threat to this planet and its inhabitants in the history of mankind - with no help in sight. I also doubt there will be any successful "pushback" to Ai technology. We might learn to use it wisely, but it is here to stay, and protesting it is not enough to stop it. As they Daleks say "Resistance is Futile". IMHO
Tom Wolfe teaches us that the great failing and, at the same time, the saving grace of American students is that they have no time for theory. They don't like it and don't get it. The only thing that they care about is "but does it work?"
The same could be said for Americans as a whole. That is *why* they are successful.
Well, if you look into the history (in England and here) of abolitionism/ending of the slave trade, etc., it was spurred by the the-new evangelical Christianity, which was *very* different from most of today's evangelicalism. It was also something that led to a widespread understanding of animal cruelty, anti-cruelty legislation, and the founding of the RSPCA. Anna Sewell wrote the novel Black Beauty - for an adult audience - and in doing so, inveighed against a piece of harness called the "bearing rein" + other ugly practices. (Interestingly, although her mobility was impaired, she learned to drive carriage horses - unusual for a woman of her time. She knew what she was talking about.)
The British evangelical movement was a parallel development with Romanticism, but its ethics and aims were quite different. I kind of hate to say it, but to me, anyway, Romanticism is being given far more credit than it's due. Fast-forward to the British suffragettes: no Romanticism there, or in the women's suffrage movement here. (Per the US, the leaders were, sadly, very racist. Susan B. Anthony wasn't the person she's made out to be in public school history texts.)
As for abolitionists here, the Grimke sisters, who were in the forefront of the abolitionist movement as it gained momentum prior to the Civil War, were stone-cold realists. The same is true of Black abolitionists, like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and all the rest that could be named. (Also, Truth's 1st language was Dutch, and she spoke the Queen's English, not the fake dialect used in her "autobiography" and the press.)
Romanticism became ethno-nationalism before long, and that was not always a good thing. The 1848 revolts set the stage for Nazism, among other things.
My main point, though, is that things - all the sociopolitical factors per these social change movements - were much more complex than what's described above. Demanding protections for workers, an end to child labor, etc., is - again - coming from very different places and different motives than Lord Byron, Wordswoth, painter J.M.W. Turner, et. al. were. Of course, the Romantic movement was inescapable at the time, but even the Bronte sisters wrote about alcoholism, domestic violence and other extremely gritty issues. Keeping a "mad" wife locked in an attic is d.v. to the Nth power! (Jane Eyre.)
I also wouldn't class Charles Dickens as a Romantic, even though there are elements of Romanticism in some of his novels and stories. But Oliver Twist is the antithesis of Romanticism. It's his attempt at true social realism, and, like some of his other novels, is very hard-hitting. The same is true of Dostoevsky, which might seem like a stretch, but Romanticism affected Russian "high" culture, too.
Good thinking thing AI has a quick definition of Dalek and they've gotten their own Wiki page so they must have migrated from imaginary dropping to reality and optimization testing along with marketing segmentation.....
A Dalek is a fictional, robot-like, aggressive, and mobile creature known for its rasping voice and fanatical obsession with exterminating all non-Dalek life forms. They are prominently featured in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Key Characteristics of Daleks:
Appearance:
They are characterized by their distinctive "pepperpot" shape, a mechanical eyestalk, a gun-mount with a gunstick or "death ray," and a telescopic manipulator arm.
Movement:
Traditionally, they glide over flat surfaces, but some later iterations have gained the ability to levitate.
Voice:
They have a monotone, mechanically distorted, and often repeating voice.
Personality:
They are known for their lack of emotions other than hate and their unwavering determination to exterminate.
Origin:
Daleks are descendants of the Kaleds, a race that underwent a mutation during a neutron war.
Quote:
"Their most famous line is "Exterminate!", which they often repeat when they are in a state of anger.
Dalek - Wikipedia
Externally, Daleks resemble human-sized pepper pots with a single mechanical eyestalk mounted on a rotating dome, a gun-mount cont..."
Wikipedia
"Dalek
They ( the Daleks ) tend to be excitable and will repeat the same word or phrase over and over again in heightened emotional state..."
Wikipedia
"Dalek, n. & adj. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary
In the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who: a member of a race of aggressive alien mutants in mobile armoured casings..."
Oxford English Dictionary
Show all
AI responses may include mistakes."
Something tells me Dr Who's PhD dissertation was a doozie!
Hello and greetings from Belgium. I'm trying to convince my students, who are aspiring musicians, that a good way to create a sustainable and healthy cultural environment is to stop giving in to the big tech companies, to pull the plug, to stop buying into this false narrative of success, and to focus on local development, organising shows, bringing people together, releasing and exchanging physical copies of your music, connecting with each other and creating your own community. In the nineties we had a very healthy DIY-infused countercultural movement that survived on its own terms without big corporations. Now this is happening again in the food industry in Europe as we see more and more local farmers reinventing themselves in an ecologically healthy way, a healthy short food supply chain, a community based economy that reconnects artists and people and does not alienate them as the current tech driven dynamic often does.
I really believe there will be(already is, a little bit) a reactionary movement in the youngest generations, if for no other reason then simply bc next generations like to do the opposite of the previous. So im always curious to hear if and when that might be happening.
Yes, some of them are organising events and looking for alternative ways to engage with music, but still most of them end up in the business working for Live Nation (formerly Clearchannel) or something like that, for the younger generations it's sometimes a bit like being a fish in a bowl, not knowing that there are other ways than the big tech companies to interact with music or to facilitate a career in it, I think it's important to talk about it and pass on experiences of pre-internet music life.
Thats great and all and from the little ive heard about the new pope(this being the best) he seems like a decent person whose heart is perhaps in the right place(i say perhaps bc weve been fooled before). But its the pope. Not exactly what id call a player on the world stage. Respected? Sure. Listened to? Not so much(at least that im aware of). To put it simply, he may have heart, but he aint got hands.
But that could change. A smart person in such a high office could potentially leverage that into real influence and power. If the past 10 years has taught me anything, its that. And that crazier shit can and does happen(does it ever).
So we'll see. But hes going to have to be willing and able to put up a real fight. Making declamatory proclamations aint gonna cut it
"But its the pope. Not exactly what id call a player on the world stage. Respected? Sure. Listened to? Not so much(at least that im aware of). To put it simply, he may have heart, but he aint got hands."
That sure sent me to the oracle on "Having Hand....."
Thats a hilarious take lol, but not the type of hands i was referencing.
In jail, someone who has heart is ofc someone who isnt afraid to fight for themselves. But if we were to say "hes got hands" that means he knows how to fight. Hes got the type of hands you wanna avoid getting hit by.
So the new pope seems to have the spirit, but idk if he possesses the skills necessary to take on such a formidable opponent.
But honestly idk anything about the guy. Maybe he does have "hands" in this sense. My comment was more about the office of pope not being the powerhouse it was long ago.
Thanks for the semantics 101. I did not know "He's got hands" means he knows how to fight...." That usage makes me get more of the gist between whichever writer on Seinfeld wrestled what comedic muse to get that truly hilarious episode and running gag....
I was born, raised and educated as a Catholic but, in the cultural clash of the 60s, dropped away. Now, in my 70s, I find myself attracted to catholicism again, not as religion but as culture. Or perhaps, as cultural opposition to tech misdirection and the MAGA nastiness it embodies. I'm sorry that we lost the example of Francis but I'm pleased that the transition moves us to think more critically about our current state and its alternatives.
I hope you are right. If so, it will soon be a very interesting time to be alive. One of the silver linings of social media has been how it has enabled people to share knowledge and strategies for traditional lifestyles and community building.
Has it? It seems to me weve lost those very things. People dont seem to know how to live, traditionally especially, or otherwise. And community building? Community is dying in my area, replaced with some bs online community that fails its members in just about every way possible.
That knowledge youre talking about used to be passed on by people living that knowledge. Now quaint ideas are passed around online with plenty of likes and reposts, but nobody actually DOING anything in their corners of the real world.
If anything, social media has robbed us of the ability to live communally, and simply live, in any real way. My town is like a ghost town, or like the walking dead, except the zombies have phones 8 inches from their faces as they stumble along, and fewer and fewer of us are actually paying attention to whats happening around them. Cordial greetings have been replaced with "sorry..", and conversation only exists in the space between phone alerts, or until they cant resist any longer and must look.
The ideas of things(such as social media allows us to connect and share more) are not the same as the reality of them. Thats not a silver lining, its a lie used to propagate something that has destroyed our daily lives, and replaced it with this crap.
There needs to be a new way. A new path. I am not optimistic. There was a pope who helped bring down the Soviet Union. Can a new pope bring down techno feudalism? 🤞🙏
I am not suggesting a return to orthodox religion. But society seems broken. Embedded in religion are values. We seem to have lost our values. And with the power of network effects and the addictive drug like behavior of social media we don’t seem to be heading in a good direction.
Francis used his papacy in unexpected ways to advance social change and cleanse the Church of its past sins. One hopes Leo XIV will now preside over similar activity.
What they did was hijack good social teaching to push their catholic agenda. If theyre leaning into it now its bc they have no leg left to stand on.
Anybody who tells me im going to hell bc i dont eat their little wafers, or that this one man has the only direct link to the ear of god, or etc etc, is not what id call sane and humanistic.
I love your writing, you put words to the unease I feel. You give me perspective. I just left my Meta apps, even as a young artist hoping to start an art business sooner than later. It can’t fit ethically in my practice. I’m a high school art teacher and see the negative effects first hand. However, this post is hope inspiring. The key to creativity is believing that it is possible. We have to start there first. So I will be diving into this idea, I will become one of those individuals for my community. Thanks again!
I feel the same way. I want my writing to get noticed but I won't touch TikTok with a ten-foot pole even though many, like Colleen Hoover, have found great success there. I have to stay true to my ideals and trust that my time will come. (Meanwhile I write on SubStack ;-)
Similar. Very small craft business. The Etsy, TikTok, YouTube model all calls for selling the instant hit video and creating an illusion that doesn't exist. Just doesn't feel right to me. More like selling a scam not what really is...
Jill, I understand your point, but I don’t see how Etsy fits on that list. All my purchases from Etsy have been from individual craft workers who have related to me warmly and stood behind their work. Sure, there’s cheap junk there too, but it’s not hard to spot. I have enjoyed all of my Etsy interactions.
Chris -- I appreciate your response and I hope that I would be one of those Etsy creators that you appreciate. But from the inside the world looks a bit different. And every day it gets harder and less genuine. A bit disappointing to me really.
There is a renaissance of thinking in the sciences where the Sheldon Coopers who can’t suck up to Elon Musk too much are realizing that people like Carl Jung, Alfred North Whitehead, and William James are making huge inroads into science. Reductionism is on life support and mechanism is being replaced with systems where relationship is everything! Really, romanticism is about beautiful relationships. That is something Sheldon Cooper will never understand.
… Carl Jung, Alfred North Whitehead, and William James …”
I think Jung had the wisdom and insight to understand he was very much NOT doing “science.” It’s hard to measure these things but, at least in the 20th century, it’s been the people who confused their beliefs about the human heart — especially the readiness to personify “society” — with science who have done the worst.
Yes, I just finished reading “The Undiscovered Self” and throughout that very short read he repeatedly affirmed that belief. He pointed to statistics in particular very often. I hope I live long enough for a new kind of science that focuses on holism and relationships to become accepted as genuine science. Christof Koch has been attacked recently for doing pseudo-science with his integrated information theory so the dogmatists are ready with their pitchforks. Koch is nit straying far off the reservation but his credentials are top notch. Rupert Sheldrake had the same problem with a Cambridge University
PhD. The problem, as I see it is that the relational approach is incredibly deep and a general understanding of how to do it is still in the very early developmental stages. It is kind of like the first few years in a marriage. It takes time and effort to work things out. Right now it looks like mother Gaia may be seriously considering a divorce. We humans really need to get our act together. The next major epidemic may leave very few or no humans in its wake.
I do wonder if there's some value in avoiding terms and phrases such as "a new kind of science" and similar constructions that seem to invoke the rigor and precision of the scientific method but ... just can't, properly. Let's reserve "science" for empirically verifiable claims and find some other term for things we to believe are True but that we cannot prove are facts.*
I don't know. Let scientists tell us how to get to Mars. Let others (philosophers? priests? podcasters?) tell us if we SHOULD, or what to do once we get there.
*I was unfortunate enough to tune and listen to a multi-hour episode of Sam Harris' podcast several years ago where he and Jordan Peterson talked past each other for several hours. Peterson was talking about Truth. Harris was talking about facts, but unfortunately used the word "truth." As capitalizations don't travel well in spoken conversation... anyway, incredibly frustrating! But even people like Peterson contribute to the confusion. It may well be a "fact" that this or that study shows this or that thing about these or those "attitudes" but ... what the hell is the empirically verifiable operational definition of "attitude"?
I'll have to take look at the Undiscovered Self but today I saw Sam Harris interviewing Tom Holland about "Dominion" and decided I need to read everything Holland has written (so far, Dominion is the only work of his I've read.)
When the Catholic Church finally accepts women as full human beings and not just breeders--that will be the day I listen to any pope. When women can be ordained as priests and even rise to the papacy, that will be the day I take heed. You cannot claim to speak on behalf of all humanity if you relegate half of it to second class status and call anyone who isn't straight intrinsically disordered. That is Catholic dogma about gays even with the velvet wrapping supplied by the late Pope Francis. I reject institutional religion because, as created souls, we have the inherent right to a relationship with our Creator without anyone interfering with it or dictating the terms of that relationship. I am right in there with you, Ted, about rejecting this latest wave of soulless technology. But I don't see the Catholic Church as leading the wave of change. I think Pope Leo is simply acknowledging it.
I completely agree. The only reason I am intrigued is that even in this modern era, millions of people listen to the person in this position, whose role has traditionally been relatively hateful and power/control-focused. So to have a Pope extol any message that is focused on our shared humanity is a positive in my mind...even if they are still missing/leaving out most of the real message of Jesus...Love.
Jesus said love thy neighbor as thyself. To love someone else, we love ourselves, too. (Self-love is not narcissism. Narcissism is the opposite of self-love.) Otherwise we have no love to give anyone else, since we cannot give to others anything we do not already possess.
This is a perfect example of why we can't get anything done- our thinking has become fossilized, so that If you're not with me on 100% with my issues, I reject anything you have to say.
Perhaps. But scratch the surface and you find areas of agreement. I may not like institutionalized religion, but when the late Pope Francis rebuked the Trump administration over its abhorrent treatment of immigrants, I found myself cheering. I always look for points of agreement. These are the bases of building bridges. I don't reject everything the Catholic Church has to say, but I do reject almost all of its doctrines about women and about abortion. And I most emphatically reject the notion that an institution or a person has the right to come between me and my Creator. That is my right alone.
How could you say the church only acknowledges women as breeders when we have nuns who take a vow of celibacy?
And nuns have absolutely no real power or authority within the church. None, so to speak. They are to obey and keep silent. Perhaps I should have said breeders and servants, because that's what the church sees woman as, and nothing more. Odd, since Jesus insisted that Mary keep her seat at the table where he and the male disciples were talking. Odder still, since the risen Christ showed himself first to three women. Yet not a one of them was ever declared an apostle, unlike Johnny-come-lately Saul, or Paul or whoever he was on the road to Damascus. Not one woman at the Conclave to choose a new Pope, either. To the Catholic Church, women are afterthoughts at most.
You seem to grossly misunderstand the faith. Women certainly are not afterthoughts and I would argue that the Catholic church honors women more than any other religion. We typically receive criticism for honoring the mother of God too much. However, there is a difference between men and women. To give women the positions of men is actually to undermine their position as women which is just as critical yet different. Women represent the church and the bride of Christ. Indeed the position of women in the church is taken as a more motherly and temple figure. In Catholic theology we actually see our highest roles as familial ones. That's why the Pope and priests are called Father and nuns are called mother. This is to emphasize the primacy of familial authority over tyranny. Indeed the roles are separate in the church but it is out of respect for the natures of the sexes. We are not like modern feminists who only wish to turn to women into men.
Children thrive more when they have a mother and a father. The same holds true in the church.
We'll agree to disagree. I reject the Catholic Church or any institution, person, or so-called authority telling me what my role in life is. That's my job and no one else's. I don't want to be like a man, but I do want the personal autonomy and agency that men insist on for themselves and then deny to women. It's downright bizarre from my perspective that the Catholic Church elevates the Virgin Mary yet tells all other women that their main role in life is to be mothers. Well, the rest of us gals can either be virgins or mothers, but we can't do both. A real gotcha, isn't it. You cannot convince me that Catholic Church can offer me anything I'd ever want, and I am not trying to tear you from your church. As far as I'm concerned, you can keep it. Please.
We will agree to disagree, but I will just finally add that it says that men should be fathers proper or practice their fatherly role in some other way. I see you're very married to your ideas of liberalism and I wish you the best.
One thing is true. Nothing remains the same. Things work until they don't. Martin Luther King Jr., said, “Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” We know the difference between right and wrong. We only need to take action to determine which outcome prevails.
One more thing. When the going gets tough, the tough change their labels. My suggestion to Elon is that he change the name of his company to X-crement, and the name of his little messages that used to be called tweets to droppings.
"Martin Luther King Jr., said, 'Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.'"
With all due respect to Dr. King, the arc of the moral universe bends towards power.
Having scraped many a dropping from my noggin' (I used to live in Berkeley & got gradually over a decade or so priced further east then northward) your suggestion of naming tweets (which I've never gotten a smart phone so do not use) "droppings" sent me to online search:
Here's what my search "phrase" turned up:
https://www.google.com/search?q=bloggers+naming+their+blogs+%22Droppings%22&rlz=1C1RNRC_enUS511US572&oq=bloggers+naming+their+blogs+%22Droppings%22+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRirAtIBCTE0OTEwajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
There's heavy traffic on the Droppings blogways.....
See ya at the diner with bottomless cup of coffee and 'hoodie besties chatting another night away over a plate of shared fries and our sharing out our droppings....Oh how I miss the Greek diners that became so pervasive around the outer boroughs and expressway service roads of my well-spent 'hoodie yoot....Wither thou goest? To the Bayside or Blue Diner, LIE window booth....
Tio Mitchito
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Berkeley brings back some good memories. One of my friends is a friend of Alice Waters, who ran the Chez Panisse restaurant there. I played bass in a band that had the good fortune of a gig at the 10th Street Inn down in Berkeley's industrial area. You wandered interesting streets in your past. You're right. Droppings could be an appropriate name for a blog. Continued good luck with your writing.
Back at 'ya, Tom. Hope to keep finding your pieces in all sorts of papers and finding way to my inbox (for as long as I can stay connected and keep lights turned on....
Warmly,
Tio Mitchito
I think you might have set up a false premise for this blog: "The leaders of that movement pushed back against slavery, exploitation, and the excesses of the Industrial Revolution. Against all odds, they were victorious. Even huge businesses and nation states eventually backed down." In fact, they didn't, they just went underground. There is as much "modern" slavery today as ever. The Industrial Revolution has resulted in the biggest threat to this planet and its inhabitants in the history of mankind - with no help in sight. I also doubt there will be any successful "pushback" to Ai technology. We might learn to use it wisely, but it is here to stay, and protesting it is not enough to stop it. As they Daleks say "Resistance is Futile". IMHO
Tom Wolfe teaches us that the great failing and, at the same time, the saving grace of American students is that they have no time for theory. They don't like it and don't get it. The only thing that they care about is "but does it work?"
The same could be said for Americans as a whole. That is *why* they are successful.
Well, if you look into the history (in England and here) of abolitionism/ending of the slave trade, etc., it was spurred by the the-new evangelical Christianity, which was *very* different from most of today's evangelicalism. It was also something that led to a widespread understanding of animal cruelty, anti-cruelty legislation, and the founding of the RSPCA. Anna Sewell wrote the novel Black Beauty - for an adult audience - and in doing so, inveighed against a piece of harness called the "bearing rein" + other ugly practices. (Interestingly, although her mobility was impaired, she learned to drive carriage horses - unusual for a woman of her time. She knew what she was talking about.)
The British evangelical movement was a parallel development with Romanticism, but its ethics and aims were quite different. I kind of hate to say it, but to me, anyway, Romanticism is being given far more credit than it's due. Fast-forward to the British suffragettes: no Romanticism there, or in the women's suffrage movement here. (Per the US, the leaders were, sadly, very racist. Susan B. Anthony wasn't the person she's made out to be in public school history texts.)
As for abolitionists here, the Grimke sisters, who were in the forefront of the abolitionist movement as it gained momentum prior to the Civil War, were stone-cold realists. The same is true of Black abolitionists, like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and all the rest that could be named. (Also, Truth's 1st language was Dutch, and she spoke the Queen's English, not the fake dialect used in her "autobiography" and the press.)
Romanticism became ethno-nationalism before long, and that was not always a good thing. The 1848 revolts set the stage for Nazism, among other things.
My main point, though, is that things - all the sociopolitical factors per these social change movements - were much more complex than what's described above. Demanding protections for workers, an end to child labor, etc., is - again - coming from very different places and different motives than Lord Byron, Wordswoth, painter J.M.W. Turner, et. al. were. Of course, the Romantic movement was inescapable at the time, but even the Bronte sisters wrote about alcoholism, domestic violence and other extremely gritty issues. Keeping a "mad" wife locked in an attic is d.v. to the Nth power! (Jane Eyre.)
I also wouldn't class Charles Dickens as a Romantic, even though there are elements of Romanticism in some of his novels and stories. But Oliver Twist is the antithesis of Romanticism. It's his attempt at true social realism, and, like some of his other novels, is very hard-hitting. The same is true of Dostoevsky, which might seem like a stretch, but Romanticism affected Russian "high" culture, too.
Good thinking thing AI has a quick definition of Dalek and they've gotten their own Wiki page so they must have migrated from imaginary dropping to reality and optimization testing along with marketing segmentation.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalek
"AI Overview
Learn more
A Dalek is a fictional, robot-like, aggressive, and mobile creature known for its rasping voice and fanatical obsession with exterminating all non-Dalek life forms. They are prominently featured in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.
Key Characteristics of Daleks:
Appearance:
They are characterized by their distinctive "pepperpot" shape, a mechanical eyestalk, a gun-mount with a gunstick or "death ray," and a telescopic manipulator arm.
Movement:
Traditionally, they glide over flat surfaces, but some later iterations have gained the ability to levitate.
Voice:
They have a monotone, mechanically distorted, and often repeating voice.
Personality:
They are known for their lack of emotions other than hate and their unwavering determination to exterminate.
Origin:
Daleks are descendants of the Kaleds, a race that underwent a mutation during a neutron war.
Quote:
"Their most famous line is "Exterminate!", which they often repeat when they are in a state of anger.
Dalek - Wikipedia
Externally, Daleks resemble human-sized pepper pots with a single mechanical eyestalk mounted on a rotating dome, a gun-mount cont..."
Wikipedia
"Dalek
They ( the Daleks ) tend to be excitable and will repeat the same word or phrase over and over again in heightened emotional state..."
Wikipedia
"Dalek, n. & adj. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary
In the BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who: a member of a race of aggressive alien mutants in mobile armoured casings..."
Oxford English Dictionary
Show all
AI responses may include mistakes."
Something tells me Dr Who's PhD dissertation was a doozie!
Tio Dick-Doc Mitchito
Is this a reddit bot? Have they migrated? Dalekbot? Be bop boop
Good bot
Hello and greetings from Belgium. I'm trying to convince my students, who are aspiring musicians, that a good way to create a sustainable and healthy cultural environment is to stop giving in to the big tech companies, to pull the plug, to stop buying into this false narrative of success, and to focus on local development, organising shows, bringing people together, releasing and exchanging physical copies of your music, connecting with each other and creating your own community. In the nineties we had a very healthy DIY-infused countercultural movement that survived on its own terms without big corporations. Now this is happening again in the food industry in Europe as we see more and more local farmers reinventing themselves in an ecologically healthy way, a healthy short food supply chain, a community based economy that reconnects artists and people and does not alienate them as the current tech driven dynamic often does.
Are your students listening?
I really believe there will be(already is, a little bit) a reactionary movement in the youngest generations, if for no other reason then simply bc next generations like to do the opposite of the previous. So im always curious to hear if and when that might be happening.
Yes, some of them are organising events and looking for alternative ways to engage with music, but still most of them end up in the business working for Live Nation (formerly Clearchannel) or something like that, for the younger generations it's sometimes a bit like being a fish in a bowl, not knowing that there are other ways than the big tech companies to interact with music or to facilitate a career in it, I think it's important to talk about it and pass on experiences of pre-internet music life.
Good deal, keep up the good work
Thats great and all and from the little ive heard about the new pope(this being the best) he seems like a decent person whose heart is perhaps in the right place(i say perhaps bc weve been fooled before). But its the pope. Not exactly what id call a player on the world stage. Respected? Sure. Listened to? Not so much(at least that im aware of). To put it simply, he may have heart, but he aint got hands.
But that could change. A smart person in such a high office could potentially leverage that into real influence and power. If the past 10 years has taught me anything, its that. And that crazier shit can and does happen(does it ever).
So we'll see. But hes going to have to be willing and able to put up a real fight. Making declamatory proclamations aint gonna cut it
"But its the pope. Not exactly what id call a player on the world stage. Respected? Sure. Listened to? Not so much(at least that im aware of). To put it simply, he may have heart, but he aint got hands."
That sure sent me to the oracle on "Having Hand....."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBXwfmUpHOA
Seinfeld: George Has No Hand (Clip) | TBS
TBS
2.08M subscribers
1,082,461 views Jul 2, 2014 #Seinfeld #JerrySeinfeld #TBS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYl1UBDGKiU
"George Costanza will need his hand" :-)
okidokivideos
May be an extremity, but not to be taken for granted!
Tio Mitchito
"One is the loneliest number...."
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Thats a hilarious take lol, but not the type of hands i was referencing.
In jail, someone who has heart is ofc someone who isnt afraid to fight for themselves. But if we were to say "hes got hands" that means he knows how to fight. Hes got the type of hands you wanna avoid getting hit by.
So the new pope seems to have the spirit, but idk if he possesses the skills necessary to take on such a formidable opponent.
But honestly idk anything about the guy. Maybe he does have "hands" in this sense. My comment was more about the office of pope not being the powerhouse it was long ago.
Thanks for the semantics 101. I did not know "He's got hands" means he knows how to fight...." That usage makes me get more of the gist between whichever writer on Seinfeld wrestled what comedic muse to get that truly hilarious episode and running gag....
Keep on doing! (Phewww....that sounds safer!)
Tio Mitchito
I hope that you are correct Ted. Thanks for your uplifting spirit.
I was born, raised and educated as a Catholic but, in the cultural clash of the 60s, dropped away. Now, in my 70s, I find myself attracted to catholicism again, not as religion but as culture. Or perhaps, as cultural opposition to tech misdirection and the MAGA nastiness it embodies. I'm sorry that we lost the example of Francis but I'm pleased that the transition moves us to think more critically about our current state and its alternatives.
I hope you are right. If so, it will soon be a very interesting time to be alive. One of the silver linings of social media has been how it has enabled people to share knowledge and strategies for traditional lifestyles and community building.
Has it? It seems to me weve lost those very things. People dont seem to know how to live, traditionally especially, or otherwise. And community building? Community is dying in my area, replaced with some bs online community that fails its members in just about every way possible.
That knowledge youre talking about used to be passed on by people living that knowledge. Now quaint ideas are passed around online with plenty of likes and reposts, but nobody actually DOING anything in their corners of the real world.
If anything, social media has robbed us of the ability to live communally, and simply live, in any real way. My town is like a ghost town, or like the walking dead, except the zombies have phones 8 inches from their faces as they stumble along, and fewer and fewer of us are actually paying attention to whats happening around them. Cordial greetings have been replaced with "sorry..", and conversation only exists in the space between phone alerts, or until they cant resist any longer and must look.
The ideas of things(such as social media allows us to connect and share more) are not the same as the reality of them. Thats not a silver lining, its a lie used to propagate something that has destroyed our daily lives, and replaced it with this crap.
Harsh, but this rings entirely true to my experience. It needs saying.
There needs to be a new way. A new path. I am not optimistic. There was a pope who helped bring down the Soviet Union. Can a new pope bring down techno feudalism? 🤞🙏
I am not suggesting a return to orthodox religion. But society seems broken. Embedded in religion are values. We seem to have lost our values. And with the power of network effects and the addictive drug like behavior of social media we don’t seem to be heading in a good direction.
I‘m an optimist, and I believe there will be a great awakening. But it will not come without great effort and I believe at great cost and sacrifice.
Francis used his papacy in unexpected ways to advance social change and cleanse the Church of its past sins. One hopes Leo XIV will now preside over similar activity.
My dissertation at LSE is on this backlash. Would I be able to email you directly to ask a question? Thank you.
Oh man this is terrific… Caputo’s little bit of news here is super fun… I don’t suppose Leo ran across Henry Corbin’s stuff, but he surely could have…
I agree, this is a really encouraging development.
Even putting AI aside, Catholic Social Teaching in general is actually really good stuff. It's just so humanistic and sane.
What they did was hijack good social teaching to push their catholic agenda. If theyre leaning into it now its bc they have no leg left to stand on.
Anybody who tells me im going to hell bc i dont eat their little wafers, or that this one man has the only direct link to the ear of god, or etc etc, is not what id call sane and humanistic.
Yes! The social gospel. The term hasn't been used in decades, but it's due for a revival.