Why Identity Politics Benefits The Right More Than The Left

POSTED ON JUL 19, 2018 12:30PM BY ROBIN VARGHESE

Sheri Berman in The Guardian:

Over a year into Donald Trump’s presidency, commentators are still trying to understand the election and the explosion of intolerance following it. One common view is that Trump’s victory was a consequence of pervasive racism in American society.

Studies make clear, however, that racism has been decreasing over time, among Republicans and Democrats. (Views of immigration have also grown more favorable.) Moreover, since racism is deep-seated and longstanding, reference to it alone makes it difficult to understand the election of Barack Obama and Trump, the differences between Trump and the two previous Republican nominees on race and immigration, and the dramatic breakdown of social norms and civility following the elections. (Social scientists call this the “constant can’t explain a variable” problem.)

This does not mean racism is irrelevant; it matters, but social science suggests it does in more complicated ways than much commentary suggests.

Perhaps because straightforward bigotry has declined precipitously while more subtle, complex resentments remain, understanding how intolerance shapes politics requires examining not just beliefs, but also the relationship between beliefs and the environments people find themselves in. This distinction has important implications for how we interpret and address contemporary social and political problems.

More here.

Cinderella Dressed in Yellow–remember?

Published July 23, 2018 by Nan Mykel

I accidentally came across the following while doing a Wikipedia search:

Explorers reported seeing aborigines jumping with vines in the 16th century. European boys started jumping rope in the early 17th century. The activity was considered indecent for girls because they might show their ankles. There were no associated chants. This changed in the early 18th century. Girls began to jump rope.^[1] They added the chants, owned the rope, controlled the game, and decided who participated.^[2]

Another source suggests that, prior to 1833, the invention of pantaloons, enabled girls to jump rope without displaying ankles.^[3]

These chants are unusual inasmuch as they were transmitted from child to child usually without an underlying reason, as opposed to nursery rhymes which were transmitted from adult to child and often contained a moral

Comedy Reblog

Published July 22, 2018 by Nan Mykel

Tom Toles Editorial Cartoon

Reblogged from

Dr Rex and

Filosofa’sword

Balderdash

Published July 22, 2018 by Nan Mykel

TO RHYME OR NOT TO RHYME..

Aye, that’s the rub

Should the slings and arrows

Of outrageous fellows

Line my tub

With dumb marshmellows?

Take all your contumely fardels

And also shining hills and dells–

And quietus! Quietus I say,

Let come out whatever may.

But that’s the impetus for verse–

Could written words be much worse?

If just plain saying it is too dumb

Try tic-tac-toe and chewing gum.

Uh Oh!….

Published July 21, 2018 by Nan Mykel

“I really do believe Brian Kemp will bring the kind of leadership to the state house that President Donald Trump has brought to the White House,” Pence told the cheering crowd in Macon, Georgia.

Excerpt fom Mother Jones

HELP! SOMEBODY!

Published July 20, 2018 by Nan Mykel

My screen is horizontal, not vertical!!!!!!

An Hour is a Long Time to Talk

Published July 16, 2018 by Nan Mykel

I would be happier about the president finally “showing himself” today were it not for that ominous hour-long off-the-record plotting time he and Putin spent together.P.S. Excerpt from the Shinbone Star by Anne Marie:

It seems payment has come due. Mephistopheles has returned and Faust has no soul left to give him, so he’s giving up his country instead.

Back in 1946 or 1947…

Published July 15, 2018 by Nan Mykel

I received a letter from the Charlotte North Carolina’s Writers Club congratulating me for being the youngest entrant to their short story writing contest. I didn’t win, but I got a letter. My story was possibly a page long, but it involved two rivalling forces–one entirely good and the other entirely bad, and they had equal power. As it turned out, despite their equal power the good force won simply because it was good. How little did I know about life…

Define “Generous” Please …

Published July 11, 2018 by Nan Mykel

So excellent and right on! Thanks for caring.

Filosofa's Word

My jaw literally (well, okay, figuratively) dropped to the floor this morning when I saw this headline:

HHS Secretary: Separating Immigrant Families Is ‘One of the Great Acts of American Generosity’

Say what???

The separation of children from their parents at the southern border can be defined by only two words: a fiasco, and chaos. ‘Generosity’ is definitely the antithesis of what this nation has done to those families seeking a safe haven. A federal judge ordered all children under the age of five to be reunited with their parents by July 10^th — yesterday. However, some 84 of the 101 or 102 children under five remain separated from their families in detention centers, aka concentration camps. How is this ‘generous’?

“We have nothing to hide about how we operate these facilities.” That was Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) speaking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Tuesday…

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Charles P. Pierce: Who Will Be Held Accountable for the Toddlers Lost by the Trump Administration?

Published July 10, 2018 by Nan Mykel

Shame, shame, shame.

Diane Ravitch's blog

Charles P. Pierce, a regular blogger at Esquire, describes the Trump administration’s blatant indifference to a judge’s order to produce the hundreds of toddlers that were taken away from their parents, then “lost” in the system.

He says, someone should go to jail for this. I agree.

Try this sometime. You’re in court and the judge gives you a deadline to do something by Day X. Then, when Day X arrives, tell the judge that you’ve only been able to do four percent of what the judge demanded that you do. See where you’re eating dinner that night.

What are the odds that anyone will pay other than the children and their parents? Zip.

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