Said David Sedaris, in conversation with Bill Maher.
Maher added: "That's a sea change from when we
were kids when... not only could your parent hit you, the neighbor could
hit you.... It was like it takes a
village — that was the mentality like any
adult could — maybe that's going a little too far — but — I don't know — I think that's better than
what we have now.... I mean, I I don't
have children, you don't have children
and some people say to me, you know, like, 'How do you know?' I'm sentient!..."
Sedaris: "I'm always surprised I meet a
teenager and I say... you
have to have an after-school job, and the
parent, always: "This is Atticus's time to be Atticus.'"
First, I love David Sedaris and will, whenever I can, defer to his judgment. Let David be David.
Second, I know, because I read all his books — over and over again — that he cares a lot about fashion and avidly shops in unusual places, and plays with really odd things, and seems to embrace some clown elements. Can you see the shoes in that video? They're black, but otherwise they are clown shoes — very expensive ones too, I would guess. I'm interested in his selections. It's part of the show.
Third, I know that he regards his calves as his best feature, and ordinary pants deprive you of the chance to show off your calves.
Fourth, he's wearing knee socks with knee length shorts, an effort at elegance. The men-in-shorts looks that I've been disapproving of for the last 20 years are, basically, play clothes, worn without regard for whether you look good or even like an adult, as opposed to an enlarged child.
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52 comments:
No shorts tag?
Or is that a skirt?
We saw him speak recently in Wilmington. He started off by saying that he was not a comedian; that turned out to be untrue. One of the funniest “shows” we’ve ever seen. Actually, the show consisted of a number of readings of his works.
Who could disagree?
I had my first job working at an airport FBO when I was 16. I was 16 years old moving and fueling and maintaining multi-million dollar aircraft. It was the airport my father flew out of, and part of my compensation included reduced CFI fees towards a PPL. By the time I graduated high school I had my PPL and 117 hours.
Would I trust a modern 16 year old teenager with that level of responsibility today? Hell no. But you can be damn sure my boys will be working at 16 or there had better be a good reason why they're not.
What? No "men in shorts" tag?
Children (scum class) in London are especially feral. It's the same in Dublin. Once you are out of the city, the behavior is generally much better. But yes, it is because they are afraid of nothing. The police have no ability to and no interest in reigning them in, and no member of the public would dare risk the consequences of touching one of these little shits. The police would most certainly prosecute an adult who dared to so much as defend himself.
It's not just children. It's dogs as well. My next door neighbor has both kids and dogs. They are both untrained. In fairness to the kids, at least they don't crap on my back deck like the dogs.
When I was six, I told my Mom to shut up. My Uncle heard about it and spanked me with a belt. I never tell anyone to shut up.
I loved my Uncle. He went to work for the railroad, during the depression, at 16 when his Father died. He was later a Vice-President of the Yardmasters Union. America needs more tough men like my Uncle.
Thanks for posting that. Excellent. and so true.
Kids today -
Parents don't impose any discipline, so kids enter public spaces entitled. In fact parents get offended if you ask them to stop their kids from being loud and obnoxious in restaurants or public performances.
I'd meant to comment on the shorts. I've done an update. Thanks for the prodding.
I’m so glad I’m not parenting young people anymore. My kids had chores and then jobs the minute they could drive.
When I babysat the grandson it wasn’t all fun because I had to teach him how to behave also. Parenting is hard. You can’t sit in a chair and yell, “If I have to get out of this chair…!” I had to tell him that if he did (whatever) again, I would (take toy away, etc.,). I would do it immediately if he did whatever again. He’s almost 20 now and a great kid, if I do say so myself. :-) Luckily there were no witnesses as you can imagine there were times the screams were ear piercing. And thankfully no government interference. Unfortunately too many parents are willing to let the government raise their kids so they can sit in their chairs.
We talked about kids working last week and I shared the experience of my daughter trying and failing to get work. The problem here, as there, is government. The government set the tone where kids can't grow up, kids can't be disciplined, kids can't learn how to be responsible adult members of their communities because the government won't allow it.
In my experience, once a kid learns he can take a spanking, it’s all performance art.
He didn't do his imitation of Billie Holliday singing "Away In A Manger" did he? That is so worn out....
My grandson, age 16, was a ticket taker at the local community pool. When he learned lifeguards earned more money, he became a lifeguard. Now 17 he works part time on after school/ weekends as a lifeguard at their indoor pool. More like him please.
"according to the law"
Not questioning his point, but what does "the law" say exactly?
Childrens' natural predators in uncivilized society are feminists, masculinists, and social progressives.
My newspaper is delivered by an adult in a car. My lawn is mowed by adults. My groceries are bagged at the store by adults. My friends with kids can't get teenage babysitters, for any price. I cannot believe that when I stop to think about it.
I did all those things when I was a kid - the lawn-mowing before I was in double digits. I used to wake up, on my own, at 3:30am, go out (in Iowa winter storms sometimes), deliver newspapers for an hour and a half, go back to bed and get up again at 7:00 to get ready for school...when I was 12 y/o. My first serious job was a hard one, as a busboy, at 14 y/o, on three school nights a week.
I *wanted* those jobs and had to compete with other kids to get them. And those jobs molded and made me.
I've thought from time to time that I should find a neighbor kid and offer him a job mowing my lawn instead of paying through the nose for a lawn service. No-brainer, right?...what kid wouldn't want some extra bucks in his pocket? Then I realized that he - and his parents - would probably think I had just arrived from Mars.
What happened?
Growing up in UK, sixties and seventies, all boys schools, corporal punishment. Returned a decade later and learned it had been done away with shortly before. I wondered what happened to control, and was assured, still discipline, no difference in control.
Huge f-ing eyeroll re: men in shorts. Such a silly thing to care about, IMO. And, asrcibing special short-wearing privileges to some is particularly elistist. Gatekeeping at its worst.
the time is going to come.. And (unfortunately,) it's going to come SOON..
When these things will change. Once the Islamic Fundamentalists are in charge.
What's THAT? you Don't think that the Islamic Fundamentalists are going to take over?
WHO is going to stop them? The wokesters? The militant feminists? The US Army*?
Maybe the Chinese will protect US? I guess, THAT is what we're Hoping for
The US Army* remember the OLD days? Back when americans would enlist in the US Army? Those days are gone
Left Bank of the Charles said...
In my experience, once a kid learns he can take a spanking, it’s all performance art.
Then you find a punishment that does work.
The point is that the modern woo-woo parenting listens to the Left, and doesn't punish bad behavior.
Up to and including Soros prosecutors who do their "best" not to punish anything, including murder.
Actions that you appear totally on board with.
Which is sad, but not surprising
"This is Atticus's time to be Atticus.'" Hilarious line.
As for shorts...it's late March in south Florida. I'll be wearing shorts now until I either (a)go on a trip somewhere awful that has temps below 50, or (b) December rolls around. It's native garb here. You even see them worn to the symphony and in fine restaurants.
And as Sarasota is the home to the circus and circus arts, or what's left of it, I would not even get a second glance wearing clown shoes. They'd think I was practicing.
Florida is...different.
In my experience, once a kid learns he can take a spanking, it’s all performance art.
What an interesting week - I've been agreeing with people I seldom agree with!
This very thing is why we didn't spank. We found the things that motivated each child and used those. But as I've said before here, we were lucky also to have "easy" children - they didn't feel they had to try for themselves the things we forbade, just in case we were lying about them (we did always try to have, and explain, reasons for our rules), they virtually never had to be disciplined more than once for an infraction, and none of them was a habitual tantrum-thrower at any age, including "too young to understand that it won't work" (only one tried, once, in the grocery store, with my husband, and he just made sure it didn't work). In my family growing up, we were even easier, so I chalk up any skills we have as parents to my husband, whose single-mom mom did that job right despite her sons' NOT being easy.
Most children don't need to be hit to be raised well and to behave. I never had occasion to hit either of my boys, and they both were and are respectful and polite young men. Children learn how to behave by observing the behavior of their parents and family members. If you act like a shithead, your children will do likewise. Conversely... .
I blame too much time on the internet and too many video games. In digiland people are rude and do damage without consequences and kids don't differentiate. But look at this 10 second introduction to Metaverse.
https://about.meta.com/what-is-the-metaverse/ [scroll down]
Parents don't intervene and get control of the digital space because they don't see the danger, just the fun. Kids aren't the only ones bitten into bits by bytes.
As a lifelong fan of Charlie Chaplin, I highly approve of David Sedaris' shoes.
When we saw him in person, the first thing he did was show off his outfit which was...unusual, and included shorts (almost always appropriate here in the South).
Old people have always thought young people are out of control.
Couple of Rupert Cadells (Jimmy Stewart's pontificating professor in 'Rope'). Both pontificated for years and now see what their advocacy brings to those without the moral grounding the "smart" people had. But there are not police to come at the shots into the NYC night to bring accountability to those who acted on what they were taught absent morality.
Rupert finds the body and faces the reality of what he taught
https://youtu.be/oIThlmqg0FU
The character building effects of spankings and hard work are wildly exaggerated....I bet Jacob and Issac had a strained relationship after that incident.
I started after-school work at 14 (1974)... pushed a broom in municipal airport hangers, a job to which I bicycled every day, regardless of weather. When I could legally drive myself to the local radio station on the edge of town, that became my after-school (and weekends) job.
In the same vein: Denver high school shooting: 17-year-old gunman found dead in woods, coroner's office says
Repeat offender, given diverse precedents with incentives through liberal license, psychiatric dysphoria, and social progress.
I don't think they're "clown shoes". I think they're normal shoes that look big because he's not wearing pants.
There has been a lot of consternation about allowing 14-15 year olds to work. Some states passed legislation that they don't need working papers, while all other laws still apply as concerning hours, type of work and schedules.
The vitriol coming from people about child labor was incredible. We are not sending them into the mines, but to a fast food job, bus boy, dishwasher, day camp cousler, jr. lifeguard.
There is a segment of the population who feels kids working is wrong. But it teaches so much - responsibility, finances, life skills, etc.
I worked and it helped not only my development, but my pocketbook.
Children are born as barbarians and need to be civilized by their parents.
"I don't think they're "clown shoes". I think they're normal shoes that look big because he's not wearing pants."
He's pretty short, so his feet might just look big in comparison to the rest of him. But to me they look like clown shoes because of the big, high, rounded toes.
Oh look. All rules have exceptions, Althouse rules are no exception.
"Old people have always thought young people are out of control."
True. And the behavior is getting worse every generation. It is not arguable.
Jake said...
Huge f-ing eyeroll re: men in shorts. Such a silly thing to care about, IMO. And, asrcibing special short-wearing privileges to some is particularly elistist. Gatekeeping at its worst.
*************
Agreed. Women can respond to weather conditions by wearing sleeveless blouses, tank tops, halters, short shorts and skirts up to their asses, but men who deal with heat and humidity by wearing shorts are tasteless dweebs.
Somehow "My body, my choice" ought to come into play here, but we all know that's reserved for femmes. Because "reasons".
A man in Chelsea, a suburb of London, not the Webb Hubble daughter, saw two boys throwing rocks at his windows and breaking several. He took a piece of wood and went out to chase them away. He was arrested and charged. The boys were not questioned.
"Children don't have any natural predators left."
Rip Van Winkle speaks after awakening from his nap.
Or maybe I misunderstand "natural." Are bullies natural? Are pedophiles? Are progressive teachers? How about doctors who maim children?
Re: My grandson the lifeguard. Last summer my grandson saw a toddler floundering in the pool. He went in and pulled her out. Father berated him. Supervisor said he responded correctly. Some parents are idiots.
Grown men are free to wear shorts of any description. That doesn't mean they won't look like dorks. Why do you care what Althouse thinks? Because you know in your heart she is right. I live in the desert. When I'm running I wear shorts. Otherwise, loose cotton or linen trousers are both more comfortable and distinctly "cooler". I love seeing the geriatric cyclists (without a bicycle in sight) running around in lycra. Everybody needs a laugh from time to time.
"I know that he regards his calves as his best feature ..."
If that is true, he pays way too much attention to himself.
surprising News!
One predator of children is: Sick Psycho Trans folk, that are Immoral MONSTERS
Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale: 28-year-old transgender woman who opened fire at Covenant school
I'm NOT saying, that ALL trans folk, are mass murdering Immoral MONSTERS... Just Some (LOTS?)
Dr. Mihalopoulos at @UofUHealth explained that testosterone increases the rate of suicidal ideation and self harm in young girls. She didn’t want lawmakers to stop her, but today Utah banned these destructive practices on minors.
I grew up in a town where if you got in trouble at another kid’s house, their parents might spank you. And then, you’d get spanked again when you got home not because of what you did but because you got spanked at another house.
Kids should probably know that all poor behavior life contains a risk of violence. How else will we learn consequential thinking skills? If parents don’t reach this, adulthood certainly will and it’s always so much worse to learn these lessons as an adult.
What is actually going on here isn't that the children are lacking in predators, but that their environments are cuing behaviors that are going to get them killed in later life.
You can be that kid who ignores elders, and all that. First time you run into someone who doesn't buy into your self-affirmations, well... You are going to suffer. Lots.
I used to see this a lot with kids that joined the military from the middle class, and who'd had zero grounding in how the real world works. They'd no idea that offending someone could result in a beat-down of epic proportions. When reality ensues, they're usually bugs on the windshield.
Witnessed one such young entitled idiot make himself a bit of a problem. I don't know where the hell he grew up, but wherever it was, it didn't equip him well for survival. Had a tasking for grounds maintenance on our unit area, sent the guys out to do it. He got put in charge of the lawnmowers. Turns out, he'd never, ever started one or done any mowing. Had not a clue. He also didn't tell anyone that, and when it was noticed that he was trying to set the maintenance shed on fire, people were incredulous. It drew a crowd of non-commissioned officers, as all such misadventures are wont to do, and that crowd started asking him questions like "Haven't you ever mowed a lawn, or run a lawnmower before...?" with a certain amount of incredulity. His response was something like "No, I never did that before... That's Mexican's work...", delivered with a certain amount of disdain.
I should mention to you that his immediate supervisor, a Staff Sergeant with about 15 years in the Army at that point, was himself a Mexican-American. Several of his fellow soldiers, standing around watching him embarrass himself, were also of varied ethnicities from south of the Rio Grande...
Dude had zero idea that what he'd just said was at all offensive. I don't think it even registered with him that these five or six guys within range of his voice were Mexicans, or might take offense...
I just did a face-palm, and let nature take its course. I think he might have learned something that day, even if it was only to pay better attention to his audience.
"Gentle Parents" aren't doing their kids any favors. What they're really setting them up for is an ugly denouement, when they encounter reality for the first (and, likely, last) time.
LOL. Althouse on men in shorts turns out to be just another class marker. Not about shorts per se, just the wrong people wearing them.
LOL. Althouse on men in shorts turns out to be just another class marker. Not about shorts per se, just the wrong people wearing them.
Maybe.
Sexual Harassment and You
Probably.
Bermuda shorts, knee socks, and dress shoes is an elegant look? Wow. That look reminds me of an old man in Florida waiting for death. Would driving a Cadillac where all you can see are your knuckles be an elegant look? How about a little shuffle board?
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