Althouse: At the Alienation Café...

April 7, 2013

At the Alienation Café...

... maybe you can get some perspective.

68 comments:

Unknown said...: Perspective seems to be the theme here today.
I like it.; 4/7/13, 12:07 PM
Chip S. said...: Alienation is often confused with ennui.

That may be b/c one often follows the other.; 4/7/13, 12:15 PM
Rob said...: Alienation is a banned term. The acceptable substitute is undocumentation.; 4/7/13, 12:23 PM
edutcher said...: I thought alienation was what the Demos and the RINOs wanted the country to become.; 4/7/13, 12:42 PM
Anonymous said...: I am not alienated, just hungover.; 4/7/13, 12:48 PM
edutcher said...: Talk about alienated, the headline says it all,
6 Americans (one a female diplomat) slaughtered in A-stan, Choom goes golfing.; 4/7/13, 12:53 PM
pm317 said...: I was once a permanent resident alien of this great country.; 4/7/13, 1:17 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Will Middlebrooks is, among other things, alienating the Blue Jays at their own ball park in Canada, with 3 home runs and a double today.

He's on fire.; 4/7/13, 2:00 PM
Nonapod said...: Apparently NBC's Hannibal remake is done by Bryan Fuller, a guy who is somewhat infamous for coming up with quirky, whimsical shows that are liked by critics but end up being cancel quickly. His previous shows include Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies. I enjoyed all those shows and so far the new Hannibal seems to have potential. Here's the Pilot episode.; 4/7/13, 2:43 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: Surprised there's been no discussion of the two female Marines that attempted to go through the infantry officer course. They both failed part way through the course. For the second time.

Cuz women are so able to perform the duties of ground fighters.; 4/7/13, 2:46 PM
ricpic said...: There's no prairie in the elevator
You came to ride up and down in the big town
Where you were sure there'd be sump'n
But mainly there's elevators and now
You don't even have the prairie
You grass is greener fool.; 4/7/13, 2:53 PM
lemondog said...: re: alienation, this takes guts
Bare-breasted Tunisian feminist fears for her life
as well as a lack on common sense.

But she is one heck of an optimist:

Amina told Canal Plus that though she fears for her life in her homeland, she will keep her Femen principles "until I'm 80."; 4/7/13, 3:01 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Heh. The thread is complete.; 4/7/13, 3:56 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: So John Kerry goes into a bar and the bartender, who is a horse, says, "Neigh neigh neigh neigh." Kerry is fluent. "Yes," he answered, "a Long Island iced tea."; 4/7/13, 4:17 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: No wait, wait, wait.

John Kerry goes into a bar called the Dark Horse and the regular bartender goes, "What's up, John, had a long flight?"; 4/7/13, 4:19 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: I've often wondered, when scrolling through some epic comment's section pissing match between Ritmo and someone else, why the hell would anyone bother? It's the freakin' Internet! The most debased and worthless currency of human discourse. No minds will be changed, no hearts won. Yeah it's a fun way to pass some idle moments (I'm waiting for a play to begin right now) but why would anyone post dozens of comments while mud-wrestling with someone who, in a practical sense, is virtually non- existent?; 4/7/13, 4:20 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Speaking of John Kerry.. He's such a poisonous toad.; 4/7/13, 4:25 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: When somebody has wronged you... should you apologize to them?; 4/7/13, 4:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Whoosh, what a ride!; 4/7/13, 4:26 PM
edutcher said...: Noted, Madame.

lemondog said...

re: alienation, this takes guts
Bare-breasted Tunisian feminist fears for her life
as well as a lack on common sense.

Serious question, is it really a lack of common sense or the realization that, unless somebody stands up and puts it on the line, this stuff never changes?

And does a woman like that shame all the macho guys in her society who let stuff like this happen because they're as afraid of the crazies as most of the women?; 4/7/13, 4:36 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: So didjya hear Kerry went into a bar for Sunday Beer Bash and while standing in line he goes, "Why the long wait?" but he had been talking all night and sounded a bit hoarse.; 4/7/13, 4:54 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: The bartender goes, "Come'on Kerry, cheer up. Don't be such a downer. You look like someone just died."; 4/7/13, 4:57 PM
Phil 314 said...: Escher

or

Penrose steps; 4/7/13, 5:05 PM
Meade said...: Bartender, a Turk, sez, "Jump." Kerry goes, "Ohhh okay. How high?" Bartend goes, "Not you. Israel."; 4/7/13, 5:05 PM
Phil 314 said...: Professor;
Can you leave some footprint or something when you delete someone's comment?; 4/7/13, 5:08 PM
lemondog said...: re: Serious question, while I recognize and applaud her bold stance, she is 19 years old and now fears for her life seeking to escape. Did she really think there would be little to no consequence for breaking cultural/religious tradition in a strong paternalistic society?

Did she have a plan? Any comrades to turn to for protection?

Or just spur of the moment action/reaction?; 4/7/13, 5:09 PM
Meade said...: Kerry goes, "in that case, I'll have another screwdriver... like the one you made for Bush back in '03."; 4/7/13, 5:15 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Kerry's chin is smooth and big enough to field a regulation little league team and have enough room left over for the parents.; 4/7/13, 5:23 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/7/13, 5:23 PM
AllenS said...: A lot of alienators have been showing up here lately.; 4/7/13, 5:47 PM
AllenS said...: A lot of alienators have been showing up here lately.; 4/7/13, 5:48 PM
AllenS said...: A lot of alienators have been showing up here lately.; 4/7/13, 5:48 PM
AllenS said...: A lot of alienators have been showing up here lately.; 4/7/13, 5:48 PM
AllenS said...: A lot of alienators have been showing up here lately.; 4/7/13, 5:48 PM
AllenS said...: A lot of alienators have been showing up here lately.; 4/7/13, 5:48 PM
edutcher said...: You keep saying that.

lemon, whether she had a plan or not, I don't think for an instant she believed there would be no pushback.; 4/7/13, 5:49 PM
AllenS said...: Sorry for the multiple posts, but sometimes blogger doesn't accept.; 4/7/13, 5:52 PM
AllenS said...: Oops, I meant to say sorry for the multiple posts, but sometimes blogger doesn't accept my comments and they disappear for no reason that I can think of.; 4/7/13, 5:56 PM
AllenS said...: Oops, I meant to say sorry for the multiple posts, but sometimes blogger doesn't accept my comments and they disappear for no reason that I can think of.; 4/7/13, 5:56 PM
AllenS said...: Oops, I meant to say sorry for the multiple posts, but sometimes blogger doesn't accept my comments and they disappear for no reason that I can think of.; 4/7/13, 5:57 PM
Anonymous said...: There is an echo in here.; 4/7/13, 5:59 PM
Anonymous said...: There is an echo in here.; 4/7/13, 6:00 PM
Anonymous said...: There is an echo in here.; 4/7/13, 6:00 PM
Meade said...: No worry - the differences are reconcilable.; 4/7/13, 6:01 PM
Anonymous said...: Testing, testing, One - Two: sibilance, sibilance...; 4/7/13, 6:01 PM
Meade said...: zh; 4/7/13, 6:04 PM
Anonymous said...: High on the hill was a lonely goatherd,
Lay ee odl, lay ee odl, la ee ooo....; 4/7/13, 6:06 PM
Anonymous said...: "S-s-s-s A-a-a-a F-f-f-f E-e-e-e T-t-t-t Y-y-y-y
Safety -t-t Dance-dance-dance-dance

We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine"

Sibilance, alienation and echo right there, mister.; 4/7/13, 6:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Men drinking beer with the foam afloat heard,
Lay ee odl, lay ee odl, lay ee, ooo.; 4/7/13, 6:08 PM
Meade said...: Don'tcha mean mishter? (Not to put too fine and alienating a point on it.); 4/7/13, 6:09 PM
Meade said...: And who doesn't love that early unmishtakableshign of shpring?; 4/7/13, 6:12 PM
Anonymous said...: "Sibilance: Vengeance of the Consonants"

(Or Conshownunts, which is also mistaken for 'cashew nuts'; 4/7/13, 6:22 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Kerry got chin music.; 4/7/13, 6:32 PM
edutcher said...: You know you're getting older and starting to lose it when you keep repeating yourself.; 4/7/13, 7:12 PM
Saint Croix said...: Watching Lincoln. "I beg of you to try to take the liberal and not the selfish point of view." Ugh! I would feel better if liberals had not written that line.

In the movie, Lincoln had the idea that any and all violations of the Constitution were ratified by his re-election. Eeeep. And then his secretary of state says, "You'll begin your second term with semi-divine stature." Yikes!

I had no idea Thaddeus Stevens was a frickin' Commie. "Congress shall mandate the seizure of every foot of rebel land and every dollar of their property."

It is kind of a nightmare imagining Obama watching this movie. "I was re-elected. I do have a semi-divine status. And they love me! They love me so much!"

I don't want to say it's a Marxist movie. Although it is interesting how the unrelenting focus is on equality, as opposed to freedom. The vibe is a bit like socialists are trying to adopt Lincoln as one of their own. Seize power! Equality!

And of course Lincoln did abolish habeas corpus, and might have violated the Constitution in other ways. I kinda got the feeling the movie approves!

Not sure if the passage of the 13th Amendment was as corrupt as the movie makes it out to be. It reminded me of how Obamacare was passed. Bribes! More bribes!

And look at this grin.

"Part of what Lincoln teaches us is that to pursue the highest ideals and a deeply moral cause requires you also engage and get your hands dirty."

Oh gosh.

And here is Senator Reid comment on the movie: "It’s good the American people have seen or will see what the great Abraham Lincoln did to get things done."

Okay, that creeps me out.

One nice thing about the movie is Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, which has a real humility to it. I like his Lincoln a lot more than the movie that surrounds it.; 4/7/13, 8:47 PM
Saint Croix said...: Although the scene with the final vote on the 13th Amendment has real power.; 4/7/13, 10:04 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Living machines. Ick. I'd hang colorful banners and plants.; 4/7/13, 10:05 PM
Saint Croix said...: Here is Tony Kushner (screenwriter of Lincoln), railing against the Tea Party and "psychotic individualism."

"Government is an expression of the better angels of our nature."

Ack!; 4/7/13, 10:19 PM
1775OGG said...: Per that great comedian , Jay the Leno, is Piers Morgan a Documented Democrat? Piers does go out of his way to alienate Yanks of every stripe.; 4/7/13, 11:35 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: Ultimately it's the despots that are venerated while alive and remembered after they die.; 4/7/13, 11:36 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Aliens inspect your so-called café for technology they may take or adapt. Your arts are of interest to them only insofar as they reveal your unique technology. They have their own sense of art. Trophies and the pulses and interruptions of their musical internal dialogue.

It was not intended for you to encounter each other this early, but you are advancing at an alarming rate and you are arrogantly outpacing yourself. See YouTube [Q who?] for more information on this important topic, if you like.; 4/8/13, 12:21 AM
Saint Croix said...: Ultimately it's the despots that are venerated while alive and remembered after they die.

I don't think Lincoln was a despot at all. But it's interesting that the left is so fascinated with his war powers during a civil war.

Why would you screen this movie for government officials? And there are so many contemptable ideas in the film. "I shit on the people and what they want and what they're ready for! I don't give a goddamn about the people and what they want! The people elected me, to represent them. To lead them! And I lead! You ought to try it!"

So that's Kushner and Spielberg, telling our government officials how to behave. Kushner shits on the people, and Obama has a semi-divine status. Awesome.; 4/8/13, 5:06 AM
Saint Croix said...: Here's a review, Dishonest Abe, that now believes that Lincoln lied and committed an impeachable offense. I thought it was fairly clear that the peace envoy was not in Washington, but outside the city. Thus Lincoln told the truth. But apparently at least some viewers are coming away with the idea that leaders ought to lie and violate the Constitution (and shit on the people!) in order to get things done.; 4/8/13, 5:24 AM
Saint Croix said...: More Kushner...

Now that we’re facing challenges like climate change that absolutely demands a global, collective response; 4/8/13, 5:34 AM
Saint Croix said...: Here's an interesting round table discussion of the movie in The Atlantic. Ta-Nehisi Coates starts off by saying that "the conservative movement in America has always enjoyed a proximity to white supremacy." We might call that article Ta-Nehisi unmasked!

The A.O. Scott article is interesting only in that he seems more interested in liberalism than in movie criticism.

Kate Masur argues for more propaganda.

I think Tony Horwitz's article is the most interesting of the bunch. He tells us some history I did not know. Lincoln was more of a racist earlier in his life. Frederick Douglass said Lincoln was "a genuine representative of American prejudice and Negro hatred." Ouch! And Douglass went on to say that Lincoln had been instructed by events and later called him "the black man's President." I agree that's a very interesting character arc!

Here is A.O. Scott, pissing me off by saying that Birth of a Nation "invented much of the vocabulary of modern narrative cinema, including the cross-cutting that Spielberg loves so much." How is it that the New York Times film critic has not seen The Great Train Robbery? Tell me there is not cross-cutting in that movie! Oh my God, historical revisionism drives me up the wall.; 4/8/13, 6:47 AM
Rusty said...: Broomhandle said...
I've often wondered, when scrolling through some epic comment's section pissing match between Ritmo and someone else, why the hell would anyone bother? It's the freakin' Internet! The most debased and worthless currency of human discourse. No minds will be changed, no hearts won. Yeah it's a fun way to pass some idle moments (I'm waiting for a play to begin right now) but why would anyone post dozens of comments while mud-wrestling with someone who, in a practical sense, is virtually non- existent?

Entertainment?
I find the permutations progressives use to assert opinion as fact endlessly entertaining.; 4/8/13, 7:07 AM
Saint Croix said...: The interesting thing about Lincoln is how Kushner (not Spielberg, who is quite sincere on race) wants to use race to smuggle in socialism. As he wants to use global warming to smuggle in socialism. This of course reminds me of Obama, how people vote for him to say something about race. But of course what's really going on is a fight about socialism.

Not surprisingly, I think the Republican establishment should embrace the pro-life cause. I say that as a pro-lifer. But let me make the political argument, vis-a-vis socialism.

The pro-life position is very similar to the abolitionist position. It's a moral argument. One that has little to do with economics or money.

Socialists have to explain why it's okay to define unborn babies as property. They have to explain why we have piles of dead bodies. And they have to explain why our Pravda media does not show photographs of abortion.

The pro-life argument puts socialists on the defensive, as it should. And ultimately the bad economics argument of socialism is dwarfed by the bad morality aspects of socialism. Socialism has fascist tendencies. We can win back the liberals by pointing this out.; 4/8/13, 7:09 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: (1) Last night I watched that episode of Star Trek where the 17 year old raised himself from age 3 and can wish people out to the intergalactic cornfield.

(2) Last night I watched that episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents where E. G. Marshall gets letters from a guy who claims he knows the future.

(3) Last night I watched that episode of Mad Men where Paul is a Hari Krishna and Layne Price makes a decision he will regret . . . until he doesn't.; 4/8/13, 8:35 AM