Month: July 2013

The Other Kind of Crazies: Frauds

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So, just hours after telling everyone to muzzle their crazies because of how some ostensibly pro-life activists have taken to calling a 14-year old girl a “whore” (and so on) because they didn’t like her sign, here’s an interesting story about a woman who showed up at a pro-Zimmerman rally with a sign that read “We’re racist and proud!” An example of a crazy who needs muzzling? Not exactly.

2013-07-23 Racist And Proud

Turns out that she’s actually from a radical left-wing organization. She was interviewed at the rally and asked about her sign, and she said “there are people here who are racist and apparently think that’s OK. I’m not one of them. I’m being sarcastic.” Sarcastic? Or just trying to help “clarify” the racial undertones of the Zimmerman controversy? In either case, it looks like it worked. Check out the caption to the photo above: her sign was taken seriously.

I guess this means there’s a third reason to muzzle your crazies: so that you can more rapidly expose the plants.

Also: I’m depressed about humanity right now. If you have to frame the opposition because they aren’t doing their part to fulfill your stereotype of them, maybe it’s time to reconsider your stereotype? Just a thought.

Two Responses to NYT Piece on Mormon Doubt

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2013-07-23 Hans Mattson
Hans Mattsson with his wife. Hans is featured in the NYT piece on Mormons and doubt.

There’s been a lot of reaction to an NYT piece from this past weekend called Some Mormons Search the Web and Find Doubt. The gist of the article is that a relatively high-ranking Mormon (Hans Mattsson) found out about Joseph Smith’s polygamy on the Internet and it shook his faith. The general idea is that the Church has a whitewashed view of history, but you can’t hide stuff in the Information Age, and so now people are learning all sorts of uncomfortable truths and it shakes their faith. First, because they didn’t know, but secondly and more importantly because they feel betrayed.

There’s absolutely some truth to the description, but there’s much more to it than simply “Mormons fear history”.

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Please Muzzle Your Crazies

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2013-07-23 Tuesday Cain

So a young woman protesting Texas proposed abortion restrictions held up a sign that I find to be rather silly, slightly offensive, and mostly just sad. It read “Jesus isn’t a dick, so keep him out of my vagina.” There have been a lot of low points for both sides during the ongoing political battles in Texas, and this was certainly one of them.

The sign drew lots of attention, as you might imagine, and the young lady’s father took to the Internets to defend his little girl. Now, however, she is speaking out for herself, and her post is an object lesson in why being a jerk is never helpful to your cause.

1. It solidifies the resolve of your opponents. Do you think, that after being called a whore by hundreds or maybe thousands of people who disagree with her political views, this young woman is more or less likely to consider those views in a positive light later in life? How about her friends? Her parents? Her family?

2. It makes you look like a jerk. In the article, this young lady describes a confrontation she had while holding the sign in front of the capitol building:

The first day that we were out protesting at the Capitol, my friend and I took turns holding up the sign I wrote, and an older man came up to us yelling right in our faces. “You two should shave your heads! You should become lesbians! No man will ever want you! You’re ugly!”

Let me ask you this: do you want to be seen as metaphorically standing shoulder-to-shoulder with an adult man who yells and screams at young girls and calls them ugly? Do you think that this has a positive or a negative effect either politically or in terms of PR?

So here’s the thing: if you know someone crazy, try to put a muzzle on them when the foam starts to fly. It can be hard to stand up to your friends, but at least try to put a damper on it to some extent. And if you have a little too much crazy inside? Maybe try a little self-muzzling? Perhaps never reply without a self-imposed 5-minute cooldown between writing the response and hitting “Submit”? I don’t know; be creative folks. Because this kind of nonsense just embarrasses us all.

Changes Coming to Difficult Run

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Post have been a little light recently. There are a variety of reasons for this, but one of them is that I’m dissatisfied with the current layout and functionality of the site. I’m working on some major changes, and I hope to have them up within a month. Maybe even sooner.

In the meantime, expect more posts and maybe also some previews of the changes I have planned.

Monday Morning Mormon Madness: Malicious Compliance

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2013-07-22 Wheels Within Wheels

This morning’s piece for Times And Seasons was a tough one to write. I wrestled with it for about 3 of 4 hours before getting it into shape that I thought was good enough for public consumption, but just barely. I think there are too many different themes poking out in odd directions, giving the piece a sort of misshapen, rough texture. I’ll revisit it one day.

In the meantime, however, I think there’s still some interesting points about the difference between being exactly obedient and being maliciously compliant.

Review Roundup for July 20, 2013

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As I’ve mentioned recently, I review a lot of books.

2013-07-20 Road to SerfdomThat wasn’t my intention initially. I started my Goodreads account primarily for my own sake. I know that I’ve read hundreds–maybe even thousands–of books that I’ve since forgotten. Most of these are pretty silly, escapist sci fi novels that I read as a young adult. Although I say they are silly and escapist, they are still incredibly nostalgic for me, and not remembering what I’ve read feels like losing a part of myself.

I quickly realized that trying to go back and record all the books I’d read in the past was a monumental undertaking, so I’m not even trying, but I did start keeping track of (most of) the books I’ve read since I joined. And, because writing is what I do, I found that I was writing fairly long reviews. And then I found that other Goodreads members were liking and sometimes even commenting on my reviews.

So I figured if I’m going to do this, I may as well do it all the way.

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If I Break (Another) Bone, I Want CORTEX

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2013-07-18 Cortext Cast

Jake Evill has a pretty good point: the standard plaster cast is not exactly 21st century technology. As he puts it:

After many centuries of splints and  cumbersome plaster casts that have been the itchy and smelly bane of millions of children, adults and the aged alike, the world over, we at last bring fracture support into the 21st century. The Cortex exoskeletal cast provides a highly technical and trauma zone localized support system that is fully ventilated, super light, shower friendly, hygienic, recyclable and stylish.

The concept is simple and fantastic: get a 3d scan of your arm (leg, whatever) and then print out a custom-fitted exoskeletal “cast” that gives support and protection without being smelly and gross and uncomfortable. Mashable has a video with more info, but I can’t figure out how to embed it so you’ll have to go there to watch it.

All I have to say is that this idea is so cool it almost makes me want to break my arm. Also: “Evill” is about the coolest last name possible.

Where Did the Missing Middle Class Go? Up.

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2013-07-18 Missing Middle Class

There’s been a lot of talk about the growing income inequality in the United States, and I’ve become convinced by the research that (all else being equal) more income inequality is usually a bad thing. Along with this narrative, however, there’s an assumption that as the rich get richer and richer the rest of us get poorer and poorer. But that assumes a zero-sum game, and the economy is not a zero-sum game. It also spends too much time focusing on dollars instead of on people. As the chart above shows–lifted from this piece at the conservative American Enterprise Institute–if we just pick a fixed dollar amount (like $75,000) and then ask how many households are above or below it, the result is that more and more families are moving upwards, not downwards. (And keep in mind, inflation has nothing to do with this because the chart is using inflation-adjusted dollars.) 

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Note: I Review Lots of Books

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Just thought I’d mention that I added some social links to the site: Facebook (which has a Page that basically mirrors the blog), Twitter (which I don’t use that much) and Goodreads.

Goodreads I actually use quite a lot. I just finished updating the books I’ve read over the last few months with long reviews on each one. I think I’ll add like a “top 5 fiction” and “top 5 non-fiction” Page to my blog here at Difficult Run, but in the meantime you can check out my reviews by clicking the link in the sidebar to the right. From now on, I think I’ll also post a short note whenever a new review goes up, but I had several to do at once so I just pumped them out over the last couple of days as fast as I could. You can also just become a friend on Goodreads (or whatever they call it) if you already use it.

(The Goodreads link goes to my read books, sorted by date. So does this link, if you’re curious to check them out.)

Calvin and Hobbes Documentary Coming Soon!

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Got the news from Film School Rejects. Here’s the trailer:

Oh, yeah. I need to see this. I’ve always been caught between respect for Mr. Watterson as an artist and a very private person, and this wish as a fan that we could have more. The more private he is, the more I want some kind of explanation, discussion, or something. But you know, the fact that you can’t buy any licensed goods might just be part of what makes the comics so special to so many people. And, in the end, Mr. Watterson created one of the most important cultural touchstones of the 20th century. Do we have a right to expect more? Probably not, so let’s be content with a documentary like this one.