I recognize that we all like to apply labels to categorize things, as shorthand in communication and in conversation, and to identify common views and beliefs. I do it myself; we all do: labels are our everyday metaphors. They are fast and easy shortcuts. But I weary at times of
Continue readingTag: Culture
Scripturient: Manners? Civility? What happened to them?
In his book, Walden, in fact in the very first chapter, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I would offer that today — at least based on the noisome detritus posted on social media — this is more like “lives of loud, rude selfishness and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Art Can Help us Understand the Climate Crisis
The world of art may one way to help people understand issues around the climate crisis. The impacts of climate change are diverse and interconnected, which makes it difficult to conceptualize. Single use plastic use is connected to the tar sands, inequality is connected to palm oil production. It’s all
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: On Rescuing Our Language and Communication Skills From the Dustbin of History – And Our Standards of Basic Courtesy and Civility Along With Them
Texting, instant messaging, online chat, the mainstream media, and the general direction of our modern society and “culture”, are destroying the people’s capacity to communicate, to think, to feel, and hence also, to act rationally….This must be addressed. Here is one response, to one part of that picture. If you
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Latin America, Te Amo – and – The Expat Exodus Continues
Being at home – et, bien etre I reflect now, again, as I have for 30 years, since my first trip to Mexico and Latin America, that I feel far more at home in Latin America than in (the dark side of) North America (north of the Texas-Mexico border), including
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Failure of the Intelligentsia
Intellectuals: what a sad joke. I am very much opposed to the commonplace anti-intellectualism of our society. It is dangerous, it is foolish, and it is self-blinding. However, I am not impressed by that loosely defined social strata, current or milieux known commonly as intellectuals. They presume too much and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Canada, eh?
I did not know – Quebec is nearly triple the size of Texas or France…which makes it roughly the size of Mexico. Wow. And that is just one Canadian province. Vast country, eh. Good thing nearly all 37 million of us live within 100 km of the southern border, gathered
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Messages Society Sends to Females – The ecstasy of eating SALAD.
Messaging in society differs depending on which sex class you happen to inhabit. I for one, have never experience this much fucking elation eating crunchy green water.
Continue readingScripturient: Shopping carts, masks, and morality
The shopping cart theory — or rather the S.C. hypothesis, since it really isn’t a theory in the proper scientific sense — is a test of our humanity, or so the notion goes: The shopping cart is ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing. But it’s
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Culture Shock – and The Culture of Puritanical Excess
I backpacked around Mexico and Central America in 1989. I think I’ve been in culture shock ever since. Since returning to la-la land, that is. I went to Latin America to see what is going on in the world, and because everyone told me the culture is very friendly and
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Renaissance & Rebirth, or Decline & Decay?
And the demonic take-over continues…. Or so it would seem. Evil rules the political realm, the economic, and increasingly, the cultural as well. An awakening of humanity continues to unfold. But the war on compassion is only getting hotter and more intense. Cynicism drips from everything, like blood off rotting
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Woke Utopia – Jonathon Pie
Or maybe dystopia…
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: When Stating Biological Fact is Heresy –
Douglas Murray writing in Unherd describes the penalty and betrayal foisted on J.K. Rowling for having the audacity to speak about verifiable facts. “This is because on that issue of minimal importance but maximal rage – the Trans debate – Rowling has taken the same view that the majority of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: John Grey – The Woke Have No Vision of the Future
Is this the future we are heading toward? A new ‘utopian’ state of anarchy? I certainly hope not. This excerpt describing what the author describes as the ‘woke uprising’ after the killing of George Floyd: “The key scenes in the woke uprising that followed the killing of George
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Quote of the Day – Noam Chomsky on Post Modernism
“Unless someone can answer the simple questions that immediately arise in the mind of any reasonable person when claims about “theory” and “philosophy” are raised, I’ll keep to work that seems to me sensible and enlightening, and to people who are interested in understanding and changing the world. Johnb made
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Thoughts on Inequality and Justice
Inequality – Unequal access to opportunities. Equality? – Evenly Distributed tools and assistance. Equity – Custom tools that identify and address inequality. Justice – Fixing the system to offer equal access to both tools and opportunities
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Criticizing ‘Critical Race Theory’
This excerpt is from James Lindsey writing on his blog New Discourses. Lindsey is very critical of one of the methods used to analyze our culture. Apparently correctly identifying systemic racism, and how it flows through society is a bad thing. Rather, we just need to do better and try
Continue readingScripturient: Dandelions and civilization
Whenever I see a lawn with dandelions, I think, “This is the home of civilized people. This is the home of people who care about the environment and their community. This is where bees are welcome.” When I see a monoculture lawn, bereft of weeds or dandelions, I think, “Here
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Living the 24/7 Pity Party – The Entitled & Aggrieved Male
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The amount of crazy bullshite going on doesn’t seem to have a bottom.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Male Entitlement – Always making it Worse – ‘Involuntary Celibate’ in Canada
“One woman died and two others were injured in a violent attack at a Toronto massage parlour in February. A 17-year-old male, who is too young to be identified under Canadian law, was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder. Police added the terrorism charge on Tuesday, three months after
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