![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jul. 10th, 2020 09:39 pm1. I've mixed feelings about A Letter on Justice and Open Debate in Harpers.
Which is also commented on in the NY Times - due to the pursuant debate : An open letter published by Harper’s, signed by luminaries including Margaret Atwood and Wynton Marsalis, argued for openness to “opposing views.” The debate began immediately.
Before I go any further? I don't know if you are familiar with Harper's? But it is a progressive liberal magazine composed mainly of short stories, essays, op-ed's, and lengthy op-eds. It's...very academic and intellectual. Kind of a sophisticated or Ivy League version of the New Yorker. My brother go it for a while - and gave me a subscription once as a present. I'm not crazy about it - but it does have some excellent articles and is an interesting discourse on ideas. Hard to get published in it however, you have to have some serious credentials or know someone.
Anyhow, the list of names on this letter is kind of interesting. Everyone on Twitter and online - went right for JK Rowling, but she's actually the least interesting name on the list. She may be the most well-known, but she's the least interesting.
It's suffice to say a diverse list including people like Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Wynton Marsalis, Gloria Steinman, various historians, academics, musicians, Salaman Rushdie, etc. (Salaman Rushdie received death threats when he wrote his books, and had to go into exile from his homeland, and many on the list have had similar fates.)
( excerpt of NY Times article )
I like what the NY Times article states about this. I've noticed a lot of righteous folks online have forgotten how to be kind. More can be achieved with kindness than righteous indignation which like it or not can often take the guise of bullying, or so I've discovered. (I've been attacked and bullied by people whose politics and views I actually agree with because they either misread what I said, I made a typo and wasn't careful enough with my phrasing, or they couldn't handle any questions or criticism of their righteous views.) Righteousness tends to lead to damnation. Always. Always. We tend to demonize the other, as opposed to their actions and words - and the very act of demonizing is often utilized against us by someone else.
The Universe has a wicked sense of humor - it likes to thrust us on the opposite of every argument we've ever been on. I sometimes think the Universe thrives on dramatic and comedic irony.
2. 100 Most Popular Sci-Fi Books on Good Reads - keep in mind it is Good Reads, which has funky taste to begin with.
I've read roughly 40% of them. Mainly because I leap frog around genres, and there's more books out there than I have time to read, and I've been in a book reading slump since Feb. I have not finished one book since Feb. Or made much progress on the novel I'm writing. But I've written a lot of DW posts, and completed a lot of actual work. Plus taken a lot of photos of a cemetery.
3. Flirting with television shows, so if you've seen any of the below and can offer thoughts or a synopsis or rec, appreciate it.
* Black Sails - about six episodes in, very compelling. But, I'm wondering if I'm loving the wrong characters? I adore the real life fictionalized pirates, Jack, Anne Bonny, and Vane. Also Max. Long John Silver gets on my nerves, I want to smack him. I do however like Flint. Also want to smack Billy Bones. And I like Mrs. Barrow. But Eleanor is also getting on my nerves.
Should I stick with it? Does it get better? Does it end on a cliff-hanger?
Is there a lot of sexual violence?
* The Mandalorian - is this more adult or kid fare? How would you describe it? I loved Star Wars, Empire, Return - was kind of silly, Force Awakens - I liked. My favorite - Rogue One and Empire, actually. They haunt me. Everything else...eh.
* Warrior Nun - what's this one about and is it any good? It looks like fun and I think it is off a book I was flirting with a while ago.
* The Order - on Netflix - anyone seen it?
Can anyone rec a good supernatural soap? (I've seen Vamp Diaries, Legacies, Supernatural, Angel, Buffy...)
* Avatar: the Last Airbender - is this really just for kids? Is it all coming of age? Any romance? Any older characters?
Thanks in advance.
4. John Scalzi writes about a friend who turned out to be a creep - Kind of depressing. The owner of the sci-fi book store Borderlands, which helped launch a lot of Sci-Fi writers, turns out to be a sexual predator who used the store and his position in the Sci-Fi community to prey on the vulnerable and weak within it. What's interesting about the article he links to - Alan Betts - Borderlands Books Owner Accused of Sexual Assault by Own Daughter - is that the daughter states " she did not want to “cancel” her father “who has done a lot of good in her life” and who was “her best friend” growing up. She told Keene that speaking out was not meant to ruin his life or get revenge. " (By the way, you may not want to read those articles - if you've suffered in this manner yourself - most likely will be very triggering. It bothered me, and I haven't experienced it.)
5. Good news...sort of..
* Supreme Court Says Eastern Half of Oklahoma is Native American Land.
( Excerpt )
Proof that you have no idea what these people will do.
* Trump isn't King and not above the Law - although COVID crisis has kind of shown the world the limits of the President of the US powers. He really has no control over what each individual state chooses to do within its own jurisdiction.
( Excerpt )
Which is also commented on in the NY Times - due to the pursuant debate : An open letter published by Harper’s, signed by luminaries including Margaret Atwood and Wynton Marsalis, argued for openness to “opposing views.” The debate began immediately.
Before I go any further? I don't know if you are familiar with Harper's? But it is a progressive liberal magazine composed mainly of short stories, essays, op-ed's, and lengthy op-eds. It's...very academic and intellectual. Kind of a sophisticated or Ivy League version of the New Yorker. My brother go it for a while - and gave me a subscription once as a present. I'm not crazy about it - but it does have some excellent articles and is an interesting discourse on ideas. Hard to get published in it however, you have to have some serious credentials or know someone.
Anyhow, the list of names on this letter is kind of interesting. Everyone on Twitter and online - went right for JK Rowling, but she's actually the least interesting name on the list. She may be the most well-known, but she's the least interesting.
It's suffice to say a diverse list including people like Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Wynton Marsalis, Gloria Steinman, various historians, academics, musicians, Salaman Rushdie, etc. (Salaman Rushdie received death threats when he wrote his books, and had to go into exile from his homeland, and many on the list have had similar fates.)
( excerpt of NY Times article )
I like what the NY Times article states about this. I've noticed a lot of righteous folks online have forgotten how to be kind. More can be achieved with kindness than righteous indignation which like it or not can often take the guise of bullying, or so I've discovered. (I've been attacked and bullied by people whose politics and views I actually agree with because they either misread what I said, I made a typo and wasn't careful enough with my phrasing, or they couldn't handle any questions or criticism of their righteous views.) Righteousness tends to lead to damnation. Always. Always. We tend to demonize the other, as opposed to their actions and words - and the very act of demonizing is often utilized against us by someone else.
The Universe has a wicked sense of humor - it likes to thrust us on the opposite of every argument we've ever been on. I sometimes think the Universe thrives on dramatic and comedic irony.
2. 100 Most Popular Sci-Fi Books on Good Reads - keep in mind it is Good Reads, which has funky taste to begin with.
I've read roughly 40% of them. Mainly because I leap frog around genres, and there's more books out there than I have time to read, and I've been in a book reading slump since Feb. I have not finished one book since Feb. Or made much progress on the novel I'm writing. But I've written a lot of DW posts, and completed a lot of actual work. Plus taken a lot of photos of a cemetery.
3. Flirting with television shows, so if you've seen any of the below and can offer thoughts or a synopsis or rec, appreciate it.
* Black Sails - about six episodes in, very compelling. But, I'm wondering if I'm loving the wrong characters? I adore the real life fictionalized pirates, Jack, Anne Bonny, and Vane. Also Max. Long John Silver gets on my nerves, I want to smack him. I do however like Flint. Also want to smack Billy Bones. And I like Mrs. Barrow. But Eleanor is also getting on my nerves.
Should I stick with it? Does it get better? Does it end on a cliff-hanger?
Is there a lot of sexual violence?
* The Mandalorian - is this more adult or kid fare? How would you describe it? I loved Star Wars, Empire, Return - was kind of silly, Force Awakens - I liked. My favorite - Rogue One and Empire, actually. They haunt me. Everything else...eh.
* Warrior Nun - what's this one about and is it any good? It looks like fun and I think it is off a book I was flirting with a while ago.
* The Order - on Netflix - anyone seen it?
Can anyone rec a good supernatural soap? (I've seen Vamp Diaries, Legacies, Supernatural, Angel, Buffy...)
* Avatar: the Last Airbender - is this really just for kids? Is it all coming of age? Any romance? Any older characters?
Thanks in advance.
4. John Scalzi writes about a friend who turned out to be a creep - Kind of depressing. The owner of the sci-fi book store Borderlands, which helped launch a lot of Sci-Fi writers, turns out to be a sexual predator who used the store and his position in the Sci-Fi community to prey on the vulnerable and weak within it. What's interesting about the article he links to - Alan Betts - Borderlands Books Owner Accused of Sexual Assault by Own Daughter - is that the daughter states " she did not want to “cancel” her father “who has done a lot of good in her life” and who was “her best friend” growing up. She told Keene that speaking out was not meant to ruin his life or get revenge. " (By the way, you may not want to read those articles - if you've suffered in this manner yourself - most likely will be very triggering. It bothered me, and I haven't experienced it.)
5. Good news...sort of..
* Supreme Court Says Eastern Half of Oklahoma is Native American Land.
( Excerpt )
Proof that you have no idea what these people will do.
* Trump isn't King and not above the Law - although COVID crisis has kind of shown the world the limits of the President of the US powers. He really has no control over what each individual state chooses to do within its own jurisdiction.
( Excerpt )
