Will Shetterly's Blog, page 89
December 28, 2015
December 27, 2015
December 25, 2015
December 24, 2015
On virtue signalling, new words, and Newspeak
I was thinking about a recent useful term, "virtue signalling", so I googled it and foundI invented ‘virtue signalling’. Now it’s taking over the world » The Spectator. James Bartholomew defines it as the way in which many people say or write things to indicate that they are virtuous. Sometimes it is quite subtle. By saying that they hate the Daily Mail or Ukip, they are really telling you that
December 23, 2015
Hillary Clinton's Trickle-Down Feminism
A Clinton supporter was recently trying to gloss over the fact that her neoliberal policies would be much harder on working women (and men, of course) than Sanders' democratic socialism by claiming Clinton had made advances for women while she served on the board at Wal-Mart. The supporter linked toAs a Director, Clinton Moved Wal-Mart Board, but Only So Far - The New York Times, which, being
December 22, 2015
I never noticed that the intro to the 1950s Superman TV show promises a very different show
I know I saw the original show in reruns when I was a boy. I could come close to quoting the intro for most of my life. But today, I noticed for the first time what this suggests: "Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth,
How I would spackle midichlorians if I was in charge of Star Wars
The basic rule of sequels is you're stuck with what went before, no matter how much you hate it, but you can explain how things were not as they seemed, which some writers call spackling. If I was in charge of the StarWarsVerse, I would reveal that to consolidate power, the Empire and the Jedi colluded in a hoax: they taught that only people with midichlorians could be strong in the Force to
December 21, 2015
How Star Wars VII invalidates the idea that Storm Troopers can't hit what they aim at
Minor spoiler, obviously: At the beginning of the movie, Finn doesn't shoot during a massacre. My first thought was this was a mistake on the part of the writers—it would be more discreet if he shot over the heads of the targets. But then I realized that would mean Finn was being cunning rather than viscerally unable to slaughter defenseless people. And then I remembered that in actual combat,
