Will Shetterly's Blog, page 100
August 7, 2015
The line from noblesse oblige to social justice to privilege theory
The Oxford English Dictionary offers this as the first appearance of noblesse oblige: 1837F. A. KembleLet.1 Aug. inRec. Later Life(1882) I. 86 To be sure, if ‘noblesse oblige’, royalty must do so still more. That use has this definition: "Noble ancestry constrains one (to honourable behaviour); privilege entails responsibility. Also in extended use." For "social justice", there's
On Bride & Prejudice and what's essential to adapting Pride And Prejudice
Bride & Prejudiceis a fun, shallow updating of Pride and Prejudice, a musical comedy about a family in Indiawhose daughtersare looking for husbands, and one candidate is a rich American. The writers (Gurinder Chadha, who also directs, and her husband Paul Mayeda Berges) make a common adapter's mistake: In the movie, Darcy first notices Lalita/Elizabeth because she's beautiful. The choice
Socialist Bible verses: Proverbs 29:7
Proverbs 29:7 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
August 6, 2015
Surprising fact: Blacks in the South are more satisfied with their lives than blacks elsewhere
I've been rereadingBlacks See Growing Values Gap Between Poor and Middle Class(pdf), a Pew Report from 2007 that I think gets too little attention for its implications, I spotted something that's irrelevant to my current concerns, but still interesting: In general, blacks who live in southern states are more satisfied with their lives than are blacks who live in other regions. Seven-in-ten
August 5, 2015
An Open Letter to an Anti-racist
Dear Steve S, When you shared the Reverend Thandeka's "Why Anti-Racism Will Fail" on Google+, I was amusedby your comment that it was ...part of the ongoing dialogue with +Will Shetterly about racism, anti-racism, his anti-anti-racism, and my anti-anti-anti-racism. Obligatory "We must go deeper" meme goes here. That's both funny and truebecause in the casual sense of the word, we're both
July 28, 2015
Black leftist critics of antiracism and BlackLivesMatter
Antiracism, Our Flawed New Religionby John McWhorter NetRoots Nation Confrontation Wasn't About #BlackLivesMatter At Allby Bruce A. Dixon Adolph Reed on Respecting Black Leadership Related: What Black Lives Matter gets wrong about Bernie Sanders Tia Oso, Protester Who Interrupted Martin O'Malley, Is Convicted Embezzler Previously:Criticizing identitarianism from the left: a beginner's
July 23, 2015
If I Were King mini-review, no spoilers
I think Ronald Colman's not as famous as Errol Flynn because his name's boring. Names are important in popular history—I suspect the Gunfight at the OK Corral would not be as famous if it had been Bob Schmidt, his brothers Tom and Jack, and a doctor named Peabody fighting the Smith Gang near O'Neal's Stable. But maybe it's just that fame is fickle, so Colman's not as well remembered as his
July 22, 2015
A quote everyone should know before going online
“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson in His Journals
July 21, 2015
Facebook needs to fire a lot of Asians to become racially proportionate?
I keep running into people who're obsessed with racial proportionality at the bottom of the economic pile who ignore it at the top, where, as groups, Jewish, Asian, and Hindu Americans are more economically privileged than ethnically Christian white Americans. This is especially noticeable at internet tech companies. Remembering that Asian Americans are 5.6% of the US's population: Status update
July 17, 2015
How I would script doctor Ant-Man
Previously:Ant-Man mini-review, no spoilers Warning: Here be spoilers. Note: As a script doctor, my fixes are purely about the script. So while I would've cast a black or Hispanic guy as Ant-Man, that's not part of the job here. Minor fixes: 1. Cut the Russian and the black comic-relief sidekicks. 2. Give the Hispanic sidekick some serious, competent moments so he deserves to be
