Will Shetterly's Blog, page 26
March 7, 2020
Things shared on March 7ths: a double standard for Israel, more
Criticizing Israel is not unAmerican. Criticizing Mississippi isn't even unAmerican. What Is American is being free to criticize anyone and anything, including America. - The oddest thing I hear from Zionists is that Israel should not be subject to special tests. I completely agree. Then they say, for example, that criticizing Israeli apartheid is wrong, even though we criticized South African
March 6, 2020
Things shared on March 6ths: "the talk", more
Where did the notion that white kids don’t get “the talk” about cops come from? My childhood was odd, but I can’t believe I’m the only white kid who got the talk. Every kid should get the talk—there are plenty of cases of white kids getting killed for doing innocent things. - If you're a mediocre artist who craves commercial success, find a group that wants to be celebrated and validate their
March 4, 2020
Things shared on March 5ths: dishonest quoting, more
Dishonest quoting: Bad readers #1: Quoting a fictional narrator and claiming it’s the author’s opinion. Bad readers #2: Quoting something quoted in a book and claiming it’s by the author. Evil readers: Putting their own interpretation of what the author said in quotes. - Civility is the art of being honest without being an asshole. - The most important division online is between the sane
Things shared on March 6ths: dishonest quoting, more
Dishonest quoting: Bad readers #1: Quoting a fictional narrator and claiming it’s the author’s opinion. Bad readers #2: Quoting something quoted in a book and claiming it’s by the author. Evil readers: Putting their own interpretation of what the author said in quotes. - Civility is the art of being honest without being an asshole. - The most important division online is between the sane
Things shared on March 4ths
A conservative said the US should create its own health care model instead of imitating other countries. The problem is that’s what we did. Instead of imitating people who use round wheels, we’re bumping along on triangular ones. - Today's useless fact: a canary's name implies it's a dog. The word refers to the islands, which, in Latin, mean "island of dogs". - I wish Facebook had a setting
March 2, 2020
Things shared on March 3rds
The rich don't think their wealth makes them different. They think our lack of wealth makes us different. We are their "other". - Two kinds of politicians: most go where the country has already gone; a few, where the country should go. Sanders is the latter.
Things shared on March 2nds: working-class white privilege vs bourgeois white privilege, more
People who claim to care about intersectionality should distinguish between working class white privilege and bourgeois white privilege. When they don’t, they erase the difference between Bezos and homeless white people. - Q. for fans of reparations: Do you support a form of reparations that would lift black people out of poverty? If yes, since black people are 1/4 of the people in poverty,
March 1, 2020
Things shared on March 1sts
Profit is the money that would go to the workers if the owners didn’t take it. - What I don't understand about anti-Sanders Marxists: The polls make it clear that the working class wants a $15 minimum wage, Medicare For All, and free higher education. Why not help them get it? - So long as Trump's policies help all rich people and hurt all poor people, I'm not interested in arguing about
February 27, 2020
Things shared on Feb 28ths
We live in a time when having black friends, lovers, and employees will not defend you from accusations of racism. Bull Connor and Elijah Muhammad must be spinning in their graves. - Poor kids who manage to go to expensive private schools are not representatives of the working class. They're the newest members of the upper class. - If you want to speculate about the values of people in a
