1. Happy to be on John Derbyshire’s RSS feed list and to be mentioned along with these other great bloggers.
2. Interview with a TV critic on modern day dramas.
3. Eric Barker asks if Starbucks baristas have greater emotional intelligence (people skills) than doctors. He points out that surgeons display some psychopathic traits. This makes sense. One would have to be cool, calm, collected, and largely unmoved by human pain and suffering in order to perform such tasks. Becoming invested in people, joking around with them, and such also humanizes the relationship and makes it difficult to perform with a clear mind. Being a doctor or a surgeon – like police officers or soldiers – is a positive application of a anti-social impulse. It’s kind of like how Dexter funnels his pathological desire to kill people into killing just bad guys and making the world a better place. Surgeons probably get off on performing the difficult task of surgery. Helping people live is an added bonus.
4. Are student debt holders next in line for a bailout? If the GOP were smart (it’s not), it would jump on some sort of reform measure. Of course, like amnesty, if the GOP stuck to conservative principles of not just bailing out irresponsible people (me et al) by maybe just allowing for the bankruptability of student debt, liberals would swoop in and just forgive all of the debt and win the political battle.
5. The killing of Jordan Davis is drawing comparisons to Trayvon Martin. The similarities are clear: seemingly unarmed young black men killed by non-black men who were legally carrying handguns. The Davis case *sounds* (we were burned on the Martin case, and we won’t be burned again) much worse than the Martin case. Ta-Nehisi Coates gets that, he writes at the end of his piece on the killing:
As an aside, I don’t think Trayvon Martin comparisons are necessarily helpful here. The single aggravating factor in Martin’s death was the lack of police action.
No, the single aggravating factor was the media manipulation of the story. The comparisons between Davis and Martin are not apt because Davis did not physically attack his shooter.
At GMP, Noah Brand misses the mark worse than Ta-Nehisi:
What’s worse, over the coming days and weeks, we’ll see plenty more affluent middle-aged white guys coming forward in the media to defend that narrative. We did last time, we will this time, and we will next time. Unless anyone seriously believes there won’t be a next time?
As of yet, no middle aged white men have come forward to defend the shooting of Jordan Davis. Why? Because people (including middle aged white men) are fair-minded. If Davis was shot by a man who complained about loud music, it seems clear to most that the complainant went too far. That’s different than George Zimmerman seeing a stranger in his neighborhood after a series of burglaries. So if middle aged white men are fair in the instance of Jordan Davis, maybe they were being fair in the case of Trayvon Martin. As you’ll recall, almost everyone believed that Zimmerman was guilty, full stop, in the first couple of weeks of reporting on the case. The pendulum swung as it became clear that the narrative didn’t match the evidence of the case.
Like this:
Like Loading...
“we’ll see plenty more affluent middle-aged white guys coming forward in the media to defend that narrative”
Meanwhile that black guy is coming forward in the media to defend the black narrative. Spot the ironigery.
There’s a lot to the emotional intelligence argument. If you’ve ever watched “The Wire” (which was written by an ex-detective and a crime reporter), they argue that most cops get off on outsmarting criminal syndicates more than helping society.
“Happy to be on John Derbyshire’s RSS feed list”
Congrats. You’re a recognized member of an important dissident community and leaving your mark. At times like these I wish I’d started my own blog as well – alas that is not to be.
“He points out that surgeons display some psychopathic traits. This makes sense. One would have to be cool, calm, collected, and largely unmoved by human pain and suffering in order to perform such tasks.”
No doubt. I bet very empathetic doctors would make bad surgeons, for the reason that their close feelings for their suffering patients would cause them to avoid higher risk life-saving procedures and stifle their ability to move on from any unfortunate operating room deaths. I also think you’d have to be a little psychopathic to enjoy — well, not so much enjoy as be able to tolerate (I hope) — the sight of blood and guts on a daily basis.
“Happy to be on John Derbyshire’s RSS feed list”
Just had a funny image in my head of Derb, bedecked in slippers and robe and reclined in an old leather chair, reading aloud an archived post about purple saguaro girl, wife and children gathered round him as a fire crackled and snow gently fell outside the window. Ahh, Americana.
I suspect that Dunn is one of those people for whom the movie Falling Down was made, who imagine reclaiming public spaces from obnoxious minorities like it’s a Take Back the Night for racists. And that’s exactly the unspoken problem with loosening gun laws and this culture of putting vigilantism on a pedestal, it empowers people like Dunn who have grudges and haven’t quite thought through the consequences of their actions. If you are a racist, shooting a minority is solving a problem, indulging in a fantasy, and they are shocked to discover that other people consider shooting another person murder.
The bottom line is that black youth are not given the benefit of the doubt the way white youth are.”
I’m not a fan of the “shoe on other foot” argument. But in this case, I think it might be useful to keep in mind what public reaction and/or outrage may have looked like had these two individuals switched places.
It’s a cinch the dead black teen ran his mouth in a racist, violent, threatening manner prior to being shot. Good for the shooter. Hoping he gets a a jury nullification (lol). This kind of behavior should be encouraged so that black teens learn to be polite.
“5. The killing of Jordan Davis is drawing comparisons to Trayvon Martin.”
I’ll go ahead and defend that killing. Anyone who blasts loud music in public needs to be put down. That so many commenters can’t see anything wrong with annoying everyone within a couple of hundred yards is baffling.
Here’s a scenario. White old guy, feels cocky from being drunk and carrying a gun, and tells the kids to turn down the music. Since we’re talking about young black guys of course they don’t, but rather escalate. Things get out of hand and the old white dude.
I keep saying the world would be a much better place for both blacks and whites if blacks were more scared that whites would just kill them if they got out of line.
Heartiste,
“No doubt. I bet very empathetic doctors would make bad surgeons, for the reason that their close feelings for their suffering patients would cause them to avoid higher risk life-saving procedures and stifle their ability to move on from any unfortunate operating room deaths.”
One of the largest causes of harm in modern medicine is overtreatment, especially so for complicated, risky procedures. Surgeons loathe to do operations would almost certainly be a significant improvement in patient health and longevity.
Otoh being loathe do perform operations would make a doctor impopular both among patients, colleagues and employers.
In reality both patients and surgeons want too much surgery. Surgeons because it’s fun, status building and pays the bills, patients because they think medicine is magic.
Blacks playing rap in earshot of white people in their homes is the modern equivalent of burning a cross in front of a black home.
PA
you sir are an idiot
You’re scared, aren’t you fake anti-racist troll who pretends to acommodate NOI mumbo jumbo and SWPL sophistry in his head at the same time. The carefully-spun “civil rights” mythogy is dying in baby boomers’ hospices and at the same time it’s becoming clear to anyone with eyes and a brain that everything the Left has been falsely accusing whites of is in fact really perpetuated against them.
@PA
Don’t let the troll draw you offside with the hard count. You’re better than that.
Responding to PA and ADS:
“Anyone who blasts loud music in public needs to be put down.” and “Blacks playing rap in earshot of white people in their homes is the modern equivalent of burning a cross in front of a black home.”
Sorry, but this isn’t a black issue. I’ve had far too many noisy white neighbors.
And while perhaps ADS goes a little bit too far, I can’t articulate the hatred I feel towards people who blast loud music in their apartments or dorms. Maybe not put down, but some type of harm is completely justified (like breaking a leg or something).
@C.R. and heartiste:
One would have to be cool, calm, collected, and largely unmoved by human pain and suffering in order to perform such tasks. Becoming invested in people, joking around with them, and such also humanizes the relationship and makes it difficult to perform with a clear mind.
…
I bet very empathetic doctors would make bad surgeons
I want to clarify, speaking as a someone who’s been through the medical school-and-residency grind, that we should not confuse cause and effect here. Almost all of us really did start as very empathetic individuals… and got it burned out of us, hard. (See 101 Things You Wish You Knew Before Starting Medical School, #61.)
This nigh-inevitable personality change is one of the single most under-appreciated factors to weigh when considering a medical career. I am being one hundred percent honest when I say that if I were to make a list of the things I hate about my job, the fact that it has made me a less empathetic, less caring person would rank near the top.
Re: Davis case –
No need to ask how this is covered when the shoe is on the other foot. We already know.
You see, as I noted earlier this year on HS, in 2002 a black male shot a white effin’ MAJOR LEAGUE PITCHER for asking him to turn down his “music,” It was treated as a local story and quickly stuffed down the memory hole. P.S.: Perp got away as far as we know.
http://www.halfsigma.com/2012/03/travyon-martin-muscular-without-a-shirt.html
By the way, Ta Nehisi My Kwiesi – all that No Justice No Peace trash talking is starting to look a little counterproductive in retrospect, no?
Dude, all I’m sayin’ is that PA really dusted that anti-rayciss troll guy. Booyah!
Noah Brand is a dishonest bitch.
Jerks like him are almost the lowest form of scum on the planet. “Justice” to them depends on whether you belong to a designated victim group or not. And then they LIE and pretend to objectively analyze cases like these, whilst assuming any white man who doesn’t come to the “correct” conclusion can only have formed his opinion due to racism.
The racists in this thread are more honest. At least they make known their bias (or annoyance at loud ghetto blasters) up front.
It sounds like Dunn’s actions in the night of the murder were pretty idiotic. I do believe him when he says he didn’t intend to kill anyone, but firing a gun 8 times, in the direction of people you want to scare, is stupid.
Noah Brand’s article is mostly speculation. There are some really dumb comments over there also.
“Blacks playing rap in earshot of white people in their homes is the modern equivalent of burning a cross in front of a black home.”
I would say it depends on the circumstances. The burning cross, something I’m guessing didn’t happen often, was supposed to be a threat. I can see blacks, playing loud rap music, as a veiled threat to whites. It certainly has seemed that way to me at times. In Dunn’s case, the rap music was being played at a gas station he had stopped at. It’s annoying, but I don’t think I would have said anything. I think the black men started yelling threats at him and he either got angry, scared, or both. He doesn’t sound level headed enough to be carrying around a gun, but he probably lives in a bad neighborhood.
Because black men dominate prisons, I feel like men like George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn are going to be brutalized in prison. If prisons were segregated, I would feel better about having them do the time.
Practically speaking, directly challenging loud blacks at a gas station is just not worth it. Practically speaking, its better to be a good East German and ignore the humiliation. However, there is a bigger point here: it ain’t your country if you do not own the public space.
Again. It’s not your country if you do not own the public space.
Outrage at Zimmerman came from the fact that an adult homeowner challenged an unfamiliar black teenager in his own community.
Michael Dunn’s sense of community ownership (as expressed by his challenge to the loud blacks, not the subsequent shooting which may or may not have been self-dense fueled by insulted masculinity) extended to the sphere of public accommodations, a gas station this case.
Both cases, Zimmerman and Dunn, communicate that a white adult male citizen may not challenge a suspicious minor near his house or obnoxious blacks at a public venue.
It’s not your country if you do not own the public space.
I dont see the Dunn case getting much attention. The election’s over. No need to fire up the Dem voting base.
PA,
That’s a pretty valid argument, one I haven’t seen made by the MSM. I’ve always felt the United States was my country, and I care about public institutions and spaces, so that does resonate with me.
Five years ago my mother had emergency, life saving surgery. The surgeon was a Jewish man, whose beside manner was insensitive, to say the least. He is supposedly one of the best surgeons in the area, though, and he did save her life.
The comments about surgeons being psychopathic invoke false dichotomy. The best of surgeons function both analytically detached , and have sensitive emotional antennae.
Ex.: ” your grandmother has a perforated colon, but will not tolerate surgery because of her multitude of other problems. Let’s address palliative care.”
“your son sustained a massive head injury with brain death. Let’s address organ donation.”
and baristas have better emotional and social skills?
youngreact said: “Sorry, but this isn’t a black issue. I’ve had far too many noisy white neighbors.”
The difference is that noisy white neighbors usually turn it down if you ask them nicely. Negros will usually escalate the confrontation.