Matt Yglesias has a thing called "What's wrong with the media" at Slow Boring, his new place.
Navel-gazing or omphaloskepsis is the contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation. The word derives from the Ancient Greek words ὀμφᾰλός (omphalós, lit. 'navel') and σκέψῐς (sképsis, lit. 'viewing, examination, speculation'). Actual use of the practice as an aid to contemplation of basic principles of the cosmos and human nature is found in the practice of yoga or Hinduism and sometimes in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In yoga, the navel is the site of the manipura (also called nabhi) chakra, which yogis consider "a powerful chakra of the body".The monks of Mount Athos, Greece, were described as Omphalopsychians by J.G. Minningen, writing in the 1830s, who says they "...pretended or fancied that they experienced celestial joys when gazing on their umbilical region, in converse with the Deity".
However, phrases such as "contemplating one's navel" or "navel-gazing" are frequently used, usually in jocular fashion, to refer to self-absorbed pursuits.
As long as Yglesias brought up wokeness, I just want to say that the jocular use of "navel-gazing" is a micro-aggression. You've got an unexamined premise that there is something backward about Hinduism (or the Greek Orthodox Church).
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People who don't get Althouse's style set to post comments in 3... 2... 1...
Definitely a micro-aggression. Supports belief that all folks are navel-enabled. What about people who suffer from gastroschisis or an omphalecele? See Karolina Kurkova.
Navels are one thing, but gazing south of the navel is quite another. The statues' male gaze is self-admiration of an entirely omphalos free kind.
Tear the statues down!
No more white men statues.....!
It seems that Matthew is beginning to have a slight glimmer of awareness about what has happened to the media, but he still has a long way to go.
Read it. Not sure what his problem is, other than those darn young people took over. What's wrong with a left-wing worldview? He doesn't get that across. Why is it a PROBLEM that left-wing bias gets into absolutely every area of journalism? So what?
I think if he acknowledged why it was a problem rather than how it happened the piece would be a lot stronger.
Welcome syme to the party, have a beer.
Slow boring, indeed!
"An unexamined life is not worth living" Socrates
Are you sure that it is their navels that the guys in the statues are 'gazing' at?
Anything outside of the corrupt leftwing corporate uni-think will not be tolerated.
"What's wrong with the media"
It's dishonest. The media guy didn't mention that.
"Are you sure that it is their navels that the guys in the statues are 'gazing' at?"
Or, men at urinals. "Don't look to the side".
BTW- I once peed next to Tommy Lasorda. No, I didn't look.
Back in June of this year, a data analyst for Civis Analytics, David Shor, tweeted a link to a paper that argues that non-violent protests were often more successful at achieving goals than violent ones. A black Twitter user subtweeted it to Dan Wagner, the CEO and founder of Civis Analytics, with the message, "come get your boy." Shor was promptly fired.
Shor's firing prompted "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate," which was published in Harper's with over 150 signatures, including Yglesias'. A Vox staffer went public with her displeasure: "His signature being on the letter makes me feel less safe at Vox and believe slightly less in its stated goals of building a more diverse and more thoughtful workplace. The presence of Matt’s tweets and his signature to a letter like this do make my job slightly more difficult."
Another staffer wrote: "Today sucked. The Harper's letter is a dehumanizing transphobic whisper network masquerading as reasoned intellectual debate. Everyone who signed it has contributed to the real harm that its legion of transphobic signatories have brought to real trans people, especially teens."
Ezra Klein then joined the fold, writing: "A lot of debates that sell themselves as being about free speech are actually about power. And there's *a lot* of power in being able to claim, and hold, the mantle of free speech defender."
This prompted a reply from Matt, which he later deleted before Vox went into PR mode and started denying any internal turmoil among staff members. Nonetheless, everyone was speculating that Matt's tenure at Vox would be coming to an end.
Those men are just doing an important check all guys know about to make sure their bellies have not gotten out of control.
Syme was the loyal party member that inadvertently was purged.
@ Farmer.
Leftists sure do like to sign declarations and things. Then they get in trouble from the further left. The intolerate woke-baby hive-mind thought-crime authoritarians will not stand for dissent in the ranks. Perhaps leftists should learn. Do not sign anything - chances are high the group-think woke mafia will end your career.
Did the woke-mafia discover Matt is a Russian agent, yet? Or did they find out the.... hush hush... Matt's a sekrit Trump supporter... ?
Guards... seize him!
Matty has never been a journalist. He has always been serial fictionist with an over blown ego and a poor writing style. Any whinging from him should be ignored, the way a participation trophy brat should be ignored.
Do not sign anything - chances are high the group-think woke mafia will end your career.
As Ben Franklin (by way of Stan Freberg) said, "A Man Can’t Be Too Careful What He Signs These Days"...
The ice pick will come for all of them eventually. Remember Jake Tapper’s tweet that people should think about their future employment opportunities before expressing any outré opinions? Those weren’t his exact words, but it was the only meaning any reasonable person could take from his words.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/harvard-petition-ban-trump-officials
Good citizens need not fear.
"I just want to say that the jocular use of "navel-gazing" is a micro-aggression."
But how would navel-gazers notice?
Your microaggression is hurting my microfeelings.
He originally wrote that he had "a good opportunity to go write at SubStack." SubStack is an open platform where anyone can write anything at any time. The only thing that made it an "opportunity" was getting purged from Vox.
I also think his use of "navel-gazing" is projecting. Isn't reclaiming one's status as independent a bit like retreating to one's self, which is what navel-gazers do? Wouldn't one expect of an independent Matt Yglesia to contemplate the cosmos and human nature in his new endeavor?
What little of Matt's work I have read has always left me with the sense that he would be the legendary kind of gold prospector who could get locked into a cabin with a roomful of nuggets and lose his shovel.
Slowly boring out his navel lint with a rusty pocketknife.
Matt was purged from Vox,Pox,Spox or whatever? I thought he wuz the founder and chief retard at that site.
Why read about the high drama of Lenin and Stalin when we have our own Vox Potomac intrigue?
Don't like navel gazing, yet founded Vox...he must have changed a lot. Lol.
"A lot of demand"
Translates to
"Leftists want to make sure I am still on the reservation"
Are there any adults at these "news" outlets? Running off your major draw because a few little squirts get offended is not the way to run a business. I doubt seriously the whole staff can afford to walk off the job. Fire the ringleaders and the others will fall in line or at least shut up about it.
J Farmer,
Your story leaves me with the impression of a bunch self-absorbed, super-smart humans cackling at each other like a barnyard full of quarrelsome chickens. And since the chicken-cackling really is about rank and dominance and power -- or so some super-smart human ethologists claim -- Ezra Klein's comment is right on the money.
"You've got an unexamined premise that there is something backward about Hinduism (or the Greek Orthodox Church)."
Well, no, the unexamined premise is that the contemplation of one's navel is unlikely to provide any useful or rewarding insight, and is therefore a fitting metaphor for any unproductive analysis. I am guessing this is an academic thing. You have seen how the cool kids can take any reference, however glancing, to a non-European culture and use it as the basis for a denunciation of the speaker. Since academia is a festering crab-bucket, this skill is prized, and even though you're no longer in the game, you still wanted to try it out, just to see how the parts go together.
Right? Professor see, professor do.
It was always my assumption that the navel was contemplated as an evidence of one's nativity. The fact that one's body has come into existence, and the strong implication that it can and will cease to exist, places existence between two bookends. On a shelf, as it were. All this stuff about chakras is news to me. But I suppose that if those old white guys are contemplating their dicks, they are still taking an external perspective on the physical fact of human existence. The next step is to grasp the thing ...
What evidence can we hope to find, that life has, or could have, any point beyond the gratification of some desire, however convoluted the path to that gratification, and however many other desires lie ungratified along that path? What button can you push, that is not on your own keyboard? Is there a mouse? An internet connection?
Are you sure the folks depicted in those statues are looking at their navels?
I'm with Matt here: no one that matters cares. He is right and wise to avoid the blame and cancel games.
SubStack sure is getting a lot of new content recently. Andrew Sullivan, Rod Dreher, Glenn Greenwald, and now Matt Yglesias. I doubt there's that much all four of them would agree on. I like Dreher best (that ought to go without saying), but all of them have had interesting, non-boilerplate things to say, and all have been editors as well as writers. I am guessing (no, I'm outright saying, having been there in a very small way myself) that editors hate being edited.
Matt Yglesias is a big advocate of canceling student loans. Why not cancel loans for people who buy overpriced houses they can't afford? Or what about luxury car purchases? It's good for the economy!
What bullsh*t. We're talking about a ton of money to some seriously undeserving individuals. Not a $ 1,200.00 stimulus check. Oh no, a massive $ 100,000.00 write off per person! That's a free house or a crappy little condo. Oh and guess what -- plenty of people are talking about making minimum payments or deferring or whatever. These people are just waiting for Pedophile Joe and the government to step in and pay. Textbook moral hazard...
Why not cancel loans for people who buy overpriced houses they can't afford?
You don't think that is next?
The point of cancelling student loans is that it is a step towards government taking over higher education. After all, if it is really the government paying the bills, then take out the middle man. Let government just run the universities.
Now apply this to the next step. IF the government is paying the mortgage, who owns the home?
Ezra Klein then joined the fold, writing: "A lot of debates that sell themselves as being about free speech are actually about power. And there's *a lot* of power in being able to claim, and hold, the mantle of free speech defender."
It's revealing these people who are so good at recognizing power cannot or choose not to recognize it from their allies. For example:
The Harper's letter is a dehumanizing transphobic whisper network masquerading as reasoned intellectual debate. Everyone who signed it has contributed to the real harm that its legion of transphobic signatories have brought to real trans people, especially teens."
The claims "dehumanizing" and "real harm" are power claims. But interesting there is no objection to any leftist claiming them no matter how absurd the link between assertions and "dehumanizing".
Yglesias is choosing to remove himself because the only successful defense is pointing out the claims are absurd (rather than that it's a free speech issue). But he can't do that because the left universally agrees this weapon is too valuable against the right to care about whether it is true. If he defends himself he is considered a traitor for blunting a valuable weapon. So instead he falls on his sword.
The dynamic shows why the left-most party in the conflict always wins thus making Dems and the left ever more extreme.
Interesting link between Hinduism and Orthodoxy... since I made my way from a generic evangelical background through a brief curiosity in Hinduism and Buddhism, and many years later am now Orthodox.
Outward similarities have been noticed between the two, as "navel-gazing", but in the Hindu/Buddhist practice, the goal is to become nothing and merge with an impersonal, unfeeling "God" and be obliterated; while in the Orthodox Christian practice the goal is to merge with a personal, infinitely loving God and become like Him. The subject of contemplation is therefore different, as is the result -- although again, some only notice the outward similarity of apparent "peace" -- but one peace is the perfection of love while the other is the perfection of apathy.
"Slow Boring?"
Matt might not be a great journalist, but he's a terrific marketer.
"in the Hindu/Buddhist practice, the goal is to become nothing and merge with an impersonal, unfeeling "God" and be obliterated; while in the Orthodox Christian practice the goal is to merge with a personal, infinitely loving God and become like Him."
And these two goals are different how?
tim in vermont said...
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/harvard-petition-ban-trump-officials
Good citizens need not fear.
Giving your enemies nothing to gain by surrender is bad strategy.
Hope Yglesias’ venture goes well, because he needs to hire an editor, stat!
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