Will Shetterly's Blog, page 159

for identitarians who are upset that Johnny Depp is playing Tonto

Johnny Depp Adopted Into Comanche Nation - ICTMN.com

My guess is the only Indians upset about Depp playing Tonto are identitarian academics. My money is on most Indians thinking, "Johnny Depp wants to make Tonto as cool as Captain Sparrow? Awesome!"

Oh, and as for his broken English? This will come as a shock to many, I'm sure, but the Comanches of the time grew up with their own language—having Tonto speaking school marm English would be as silly as having Sherlock Holmes speaking Cockney.

Now,...

Dave Van Ronk on blacklisting

"Years later, I was talking with him [Oscar Brand] and expressed my disgust that that he, or maybe someone else, had put on a show with Burl Ives, who had outraged us all by naming a string of names in front of HUAC. Oscar just quietly said, “Dave, we on the left do not blacklist.” Put me right in my place."

via Apropos to OSC, a Quick Story | The Dream Café

wonder of the day #1

At the Y, a tall, strong woman ran.
Breugel and R. Crumb would have fought to paint her.
She slowly bounced from step to step
And smiled
As if the lighter gravity of our planet
Delighted her.

What? More about Django Unchained?

My favorite writer on race and class in the USA, Adolph Reed Jr., has written about Django Unchained and a few other movies in Django Unchained, or, The Help: How “Cultural Politics” Is Worse Than No Politics at All, and Why. I wish I had time for a proper response, because I think Reed is right to quibble with Django Unchained, but he misses its strengths. Evan Spiller offers a solid response in Neoliberalism Unchained?

If you don't have time for Reed's now, the funniest thing...

Capitalism sucks: TurboTax "Free" costs more than "Freedom"

Just wasted a few hours because TurboTax makes it easy to trick users like me. I'm still not sure how I ended up starting with the "free" version rather than the "freedom" version, but that's irrelevant. I didn't know I'd made the wrong choice until it was time to enter business expenses, which the "free" version charges you for and the "freedom" version doesn't. So be sure you have the "Freedom" version before you start, because good people would make it easy to switch versions, but the logi...

what Israel has forgotten

Vayikra 24:22: "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for the home-born; for I am the Lord your God."

Christians know that as Leviticus 24:22: "Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God."

Inspired by Israel launches segregated bus service.

a pen engraver in Iran

Katayoun, an Iranian friend, sent us this lovely pen:


The engraving was done by an artist on the street:


She included a translation:

O eagle of love
Rise up from your misty, distant peaks
Wing your way to the grieving plains of my life
Take me to where the wine no longer carries me

It's from a poem, Come, Fill the Cup, by Fereydoon Moshiri.

Katayoun said of the artist, "he was very cool, knew a whole lot of poems by heart, had a huge notebook for people to choose from but could recite most...

a few thoughts about niceness, in general and in politics

1. In politics.

There's a feminist claim that "“Being nice” is code for keeping your mouth shut." It's not—"playing nice" is not code for not playing. If you don't understand "Be nice", Malcolm X's advice may help: "Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone." If you think he was some sort of milquetoast, he didn't think niceness solved all problems. He finished that advice with "but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery."

So really, if no one h...

cultists love the either-or fallacy

When someone says there are only two choices, the fools are sincere and the liars have hidden the third.  The quickest way to identify a fanatic may be to notice whether they think those who are not for them are against them, or those who are not against them are for them. Both versions appear in the gospels, but they represent opposing worldviews. In the first, the world is filled with enemies, in the second, allies.

I bump into binarians most often when I talk about Tibet: supporters of...

Tibet, the Dalai Lama, feudalism, slavery, and the Great Game

If you're interested in Tibet and the Dalai Lama—or wonder if you ought to be—here's what seems essential knowledge, mostly edited from blog posts written around 2008, the year of the Tibetan Olympics.

• Why do I care?

I have a ludicrous obsession with truth. I don't mind when my friends joke about it: I know that being nice is more important than knowing the truth, and I’m much fonder of ignorant people who care for others than I am of knowledgeable people who care only about their clev...