Sunday, December 28, 2003

Drink, Drank, Drunk

In The Sunday Herald, online, there is an article entitled “‘The stereotypes of the male and female drunkard are the same as they’ve ever been. In a man alcohol is the harbinger of violence; in a woman, casual sex’," written by Vicky Allan.  The title, pretty much gives you an idea of what will be discussed within the piece.  The piece ends this way,

"To drink is freedom, abandon, losing our dignity, our ever restraining self-consciousness. It’s also to succumb to a social pressure that defines and limits our interaction with other people. As Dorothy Parker once said, “All excess is ill, but drunkenness is of the worst sort. It spoils health, dismounts the mind and unmans men. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impudent, dangerous and bad.”

And therein lies its appeal. It’s all the things ladies aren’t supposed to be."

I enjoy a drink or three myself but find those who can’t handle their liquor, male or female, for the most part, boorish.

Via J. Orlin Grabbe.

Posted by John Venlet on 12/28 at 10:20 AM
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Similarities at 70

David W. Livingston, a professor of philosophy at Emory University, looks at political events in the USSR and the US at the age of 70.  The piece is entitled “The Litmus Test for American Conservatism." The concluding paragraph from the short piece.

"The Democratic and Republican parties are Lincolnian parties.  Neither honestly questions the limits of federal authority to do this or that.  In 1861, the central government broke free from what Jefferson called “the chains of the Constitution,” and we have, consequently, inherited a fractured historical memory.  There are now two Americanisms: pre-Lincolnian and post-Lincolnian.  The latter is Jacobinism by other means.  Only the former can lay claim to being the primordial American conservatism."

Via George F. Smith at Strike the Root blog.

Posted by John Venlet on 12/28 at 07:53 AM
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Understand Anarchy

Roderick Long receives a response from Robert Bidinotto in regards to an earlier posting by Long on anarchy entitled “Anarchism as Constitutionalism: A Reply to Bidinotto."

Both pieces by Long, and Bidinotto’s ideas on this subject, deserve your time.

Posted by John Venlet on 12/28 at 06:18 AM
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It Is to Laugh

Ha, ha, ha.  Laughter comes in all styles, from the obnoxious emanations of Fran Drescher to the bordering on uncontrollable, tears running down your face laughter of Jonathon Winters as he improvs.  I’m not even going to get into the laughter that afflicts one observing the absurdities of political life surrounding us.  Tyler Cowen notes a new book on laughter, written by neuroscientist Robert Provine, entitled "Laughter, A Scientific Investigation." Cowen provides a link to a summary of Provine’s laughter investigations and admits to hating being tickled.

Posted by John Venlet on 12/28 at 06:01 AM
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What the Fuck?

That F word is used in a myriad of ways today, few of them having to do with sexual intercourse.  It’s a common epithet, exclamation and exculpatory adjective; no fucking way.  It’s a colorful word no doubt.  John T. McWorter, writing for the Washington Post, looks at the F word and the FCC’s recent ruling that proclaims the F word is not “patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium." Yeah, tell that to my mother.

The entire piece is here.

Via Arts & Letters Daily.

Posted by John Venlet on 12/28 at 05:45 AM
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