Saturday, April 28, 2018

A Noah Smith After-Hours Diversion



Basically Hanson asks "If you want to redistribute money, why not redistribute sex too?" Here is the quotey-quote:

So, most people's reaction to this is probably going to be "FUCK YOU ROBIN HANSON WOMEN DON'T OWE YOU SEX!!!" And that's a good and legitimate reaction.

It's worth remembering that Hanson is an extremely creepy guy, who once asked what's so bad about "gentle, silent rape":
It occurred to me recently that we can more clearly compare cuckoldry to gentle silent rape. Imagine a woman was drugged into unconsciousness and then gently raped, so that she suffered no noticeable physical harm nor any memory of the event, and the rapist tried to keep the event secret. Now drugging someone against their will is a crime, but the added rape would add greatly to the crime in the eyes of today’s law, and the added punishment for this addition would be far more than for cuckoldry.
Yes, Hanson does seem to think of women as objects, so I guess it makes sense that he'd want to redistribute them. That's bad.

But just because a question is motivated by EVIL doesn't mean it's STUPID. And Hanson's question, though seemingly motivated by evil, is an interesting one. Why *don't* we care about equality of sex?

But there's a big problem with that simple answer. Most of the things we associate with the word "sex" aren't actually things that could be bought from a prostitute. Or in any market.

"Sex" is actually a bundle of many different goods. Too many to enumerate, but they include: 1. Sexual arousal, stimulation, and orgasm. This is actually not scarce at all! With free internet porn you can masturbate to your bliss point. Done.

Other goods included in "sex": 2. The happiness of knowing someone is attracted to you 3. The happiness of giving someone else pleasure 4. The bond of love and intimacy that many people get from having sex 5. The social respect some people get from relationships etc. etc. etc.

These things can't be bought. No matter how much money you pay someone, they can't be more attracted to you, they can't enjoy sex with you more, they can't love you, etc. And THESE things are scarce.

If you read the forums of the "incels" who started this whole discussion, it's clear that they don't just want intercourse, stimulation, orgasm, etc.
Some want love, others want a feeling of being attractive, others want social respect.

And yes, some of them want creepy bad things like power, domination, and a feeling of superiority, that nobody should have. Yes yes. BUT, the important point here is, most NORMAL human beings want all those positive intangible, non-market goods that come with "sex".

And these nonmarket sex goods are scarce. They are unevenly distributed in our society. As the communist dude says in Enemy at the Gates, "There will always be rich and poor...rich in love...poor in love..." Then he kills himself. Dammit incels! Anyway.

Should it make us sad to see people without love, without the feeling of attractiveness, without social respect, without the satisfaction of giving others pleasure? HELL YES IT SHOULD MAKE US SAD!!!

Now the question is: What do we, as a society, do about it?? Even if we wanted to, we can't actually redistribute these things by government fiat (thank fucking God). No policeman or judge can force one person to love another, to be attracted to another, to respect another.

So we have to do other things. Indirect things. We can give people gyms so they can work out and get more attractive. We can give people Coffee Meets Bagel so they can meet people more easily. We can give people internet forums so they can learn how to have relationships.

We can give people psychotherapy so they can deal with emotional issues. We can give people bars and clubs and Reddit and comic book stores etc. so they can join subcultures and meet people and form social bonds. And we can give people MONEY to buy all this stuff!!

So the answer to Hanson's evil-but-not-stupid question is: THIS IS ONE REASON WE WANT INCOME REDISTRIBUTION IN THE FIRST PLACE! So people can afford to buy things that will help them create better human connections!

But we, society, government, The System, etc., can only do so much. This bridge can only take you halfway there, as Shel Silverstein wrote.

The last few steps you'll have to take alone. YOU have to go figure out how to love people and be loved, pleasure and be pleasured, respect and be respected. It's really hard, and it's not something you can buy with money, and it takes most people most of their lives.

The government cannot do this for you. Your friends and family, if you're lucky enough to have them, can help, but there's a certain amount they can't do for you either. Redistribution is great, but people *have* to do some part of life for themselves.

And thus, no matter how much we want equality, the communist dude from Enemy at the Gates is right - there will always be some inequality. Perfect redistribution can't possibly happen. So we do the best we can.

Our society can do lots of things to help people be emotionally healthy. We can prevent rape and child abuse. We can reduce violence. We can try to help families stay together. We can give people money so they can have stable lives free from want and fear.

But in the end, we can't force our way all the way to a world of perfect equality, sexual or otherwise. (end)
~~~~~~~~
@latenitenoah is described as...
A group of 5 to 9 people writing under the pseudonym of "Noah Smith"
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Friday, April 27, 2018

Alisa Harris Twitter Thread on Homeschooling













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Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Reflections from 2005, Timely Again

One of my blog posts from January 2005 carries new meaning with the presidency of Donald Trump. Most of the hyperlinks have since gone missing but the text and essential points remain.
The title links my old blog, still on the web but long since out of my control, lost to a phishing scam a few years later. I have been unable to get it back.
Two references bring these old notes to memory:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whither Americanism

My buddy B.A. brings to my attention a symposium being sponsored by The Evangelical Outpost on an essay in Commentary Magazine by David Gelernter entitled Americanism - and Its Enemies.  [I could not find a link to the essay but this link remains, an extensive collection of letters from readers responding to what Mr. Gelernter wrote.]

I read the article. No, that's not quite right. I scanned the article, because the word Americanism is for me one of those buzzwords without meaning that I avoid using, and normally would avoid reading about. The word is a kind of Rorschach of North American English, evoking for both speaker and listener a host of undefined notions that each of them considers normative, although neither of them gets around to defining plainly.

Apparently Joe Carter of the Outpost would like to illustrate the power of The Long Tail, a meme and corresponding article in Wired Magazine that I blogged about a few days ago. [Again, original links are missing, but my notes remain.] I shall be happy to participate, not because the subject grabs me, but because I feel as though I am taking part in a technological spectacle.

As I read over the essay, I revisited a few scenes from my past that the title helped me remember. I'm sure none of what I have to add to this discussion will be germane to any thread, but I will write it out all the same, mainly for my own amusement.

Scene one...

Even before he came up with the Contract With America my Congressman was Newt Gingrich. I had occasion to write him a couple of times and he graciously replied. The man is very, very smart. He is the only public person I have heard make reference to Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock. That impressed me. Anyway, he mentioned he was working on an idea for either a book or something that had to do with "American Civilization." I know that is not exactly the same as Americanism but it's close enough. I didn't get around to responding to Mr. Gingrich, but if I had I would have argued that his phrase "American Civilization" made use of not one, but two buzzwords, and perhaps he could find some clearer way to express his ideas. I had in mind that there were a good many people in Central and South America who might object to his proprietary use of those words when he was really talking about the USA and something less than a Civilization. Moreover, there are populations in the USA who might take umbrage at being denied a dissenting opinion in his grand vision. I was thinking here about descendants of slavery, North American Indians and a few other minorities that have since emerged from various closets.

I knew where he was going, of course. He was articulating the Conservative agenda that would later make him Speaker of the House, and the phrase "American Civilization" had such a wonderful ring that he had to find out where it could take him. I never heard much about the topic, but we sure heard a lot about Mr. Gingrich as time went on.

Scene Two...

One of my college teachers opened a class on State and Local Government by first laying the foundation of politics in the early days of our history. Before he got into the particulars, he made certain that we grasped the idea that the Massachusetts Bay Colony was the cornerstone of everything that has developed in our political and social development. He used the phrase intermittently throughout the quarter so we could never lose track of it. Massachusetts Bay Colony. It has an irresistible ring. You know when you hear it that you are hearing something important. Do a Google search with those three words and you will want to stand up and salute the monitor.

And here is where my memory and this essay converge. There is an undeniable historic connection between church and state. But my take on the connection is not the same as that of Mr. Gelernter. He frames the connection in negative terms, defining Americanism in terms of (as the title suggests) its adversaries. My take on the impact of Puritanism has more to do with how we interpret prosperity.

The Puritan view of prosperity was straightforward. God loves us and wants to see us happy. When we do His will, then He will bless us. Really bless us, materially. And if we fail to do His will, He will punish us. Really punish us. Materially. Therefore, those who are well off must be living right. And those who are poor must be failing in some way to please God, else He would be blessing them, not allowing them to be poor.

Tempered by the fires of Calvinism, the connection between hard work, prosperity and virtue took root and grew in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It set the tone for the future of the republic, and at some level most people want to believe it today. Oh, we have big hearts for the poor. Nothing is quite so satisfying as sharing our blessings with those who have not been blessed. But in the end, most people tend to measure virtue in dollars and cents.

Our predilection to equate wealth with virtue continues to be the defining quality of our society alienating a great many people. We are a new nation. People who live in places where history is measured in millennia instead of centuries have a very different view of wealth. I prefer not to argue the point. I know that mine is a minority opinion. And I still think the word "Americanism" is a buzzword. But it pleases me to be able to participate in this symposium.

Addendum:
Since Deborah White has linked to this post I thought it prudent to check out some authority rather than trusting my own mortal memory of a distant class in political science. In fairness to the Puritans, the reader can consult a more charitable description of their view of prosperity than I have depicted. The Puritan Mind site is heavily documented from original sources and I have no desire to pick nits with someone who is clearly an expert on the subject. [Again, the original link has disappeared, but a search for "Puritan mind" returns a host of others.]

Having said that, I stand with my original thoughts. I seriously doubt that the man on the street has any appreciation for the nuances of Puritan thought, or any notion that his everyday life is connected with that heritage. Just as one doesn't have to be either Jew or Christian to buy into what is popularly called "Judeo-Christian" traditions, neither does one need to understand Puritanism to subscribe to one of it's more dubious, if misunderstood legacies.

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Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Twitter Thread About Starbucks & Others

A lot of good content surges on Twitter. 

It's not user-friendly, even for those who have Twitter accounts. 

It's hard for anyone to break up thoughts into small readable segments. 

It's also hard for the reader to follow the flow. 

For those without Twitter, this is what a Twitter tread looks like...








~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No drama here, but this example underscores the point.
Go to the link for more details.


Here's another case in point.
It's now May 1. This post is becoming a collection... 

Another...this link via my Facebook page...


Another one.
This time in Colorado.

Link here to the Twitter message.
Cutting to the chase, AP has the narrative.
Colorado State University is inviting two Native American teenagers pulled from a campus tour by police back to the school, saying it will pick up the tab for them to travel there for a VIP tour with their family.
The school also released body camera footage Friday showing two police officers searching the teens’ pockets and recordings of two phone calls made to police by a woman who described the teens’ behavior as “really odd” but also said she may be “paranoid.”
The school said it would refund the money that 19-year-old Thomas Kanewakeron Gray and his 17-year-old brother, Lloyd Skanahwati Gray, spent to travel to the school for last Monday’s tour.
“Two young men, through no fault of their own, wound up frightened and humiliated because another campus visitor was concerned about their clothes and overall demeanor, which appears to have simply been shyness. The very idea that someone — anyone — might ‘look’ like they don’t belong on a CSU Admissions tour is anathema,” university president Tony Frank wrote in an email to students and staff Friday.
The university is taking several steps to prevent a similar situation from happening again, including the use of lanyards or badges to identify tour guests.
Thomas Kanewakeron Gray said police stopped him and his brother while the tour group was inside a gymnasium. He described the officers’ questioning as aggressive.


White Woman Calls Cops on Black Real Estate Investor Inspecting House Next Door

It’s news to no one that the Rebeccas and Karens of the world will not cease until they call cops on every single black person in this country for the most minuscule of perceived infractions.

In the past month alone we’ve had incidents of police being called on black people for napping while black, cooking while black, dining while black and moving while black. And now we have real-estate-ing while black.

In a video posted to YouTube earlier this month, Michael Hayes, a real estate investor in Memphis, Tenn., went to a house that was in desperate need of a fixing up to inspect it. It was at that point, he said, that a woman came out of a neighboring house demanding to know what he was doing. Ever affable, Hayes said that he readily showed the woman his investment contract, which showed that he had permission to work on the house, as well as the written permission he received from the homeowner.

Still, Karen the unidentified woman wouldn’t be swayed and called the police anyway.



This collection is getting longer than I had planned. Here is an excerpt from a relevant NY Times op-ed that deserves mentioning.

The selective enforcement of minor ordinances, as many critics note, performs the same work today that segregation laws did in the past. But it would be inaccurate to call this a new form of Jim Crow. What it is, rather, is a form of Jim Crow that whites in the North have been developing since the early 1900s.
As white segregationists in the South were placing “whites only” signs in the windows of restaurants, in the North, more enlightened (or, rather, more savvy) white proprietors and public officials realized that rules restricting public spaces to local residents and the strict but selective enforcement of laws against things like disorderly conduct and loitering could be used to impose racial segregation.
Take public beaches. In the South, white officials literally drew color lines in the sands and the waters off shore. In the “racially liberal” Northeast, towns devised elaborate, and ostensibly colorblind, procedures for determining who could access public shores, and what they could bring and do once inside, and then proceeded to enforce them for black and brown people only.
In the 1930s, Long Branch, N.J., passed an ordinance requiring all residents to apply for a pass that would allow access to only one of the town’s four public beaches. Town officials claimed the rule was meant to prevent overcrowding. Without exception, though, black applicants were assigned to the same beach and were denied entry to the others.
There is more at the link, of course, but this summarizes the point:
Most white Americans prefer to consign such naked acts of discrimination to a shameful past that we have supposedly overcome. But in light of these recent incidents, it would be more accurate to call the forms of Jim Crow that prevailed in the Northeast in the early- to mid-20th century the cutting edge in technologies of exclusion, a sign of things that were to come.

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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Cry of a Sex Worker

This Twitter thread is brought to my attention by a young man (and remarkable journalist) whom I have followed on Twitter for several years.
I curated the message for smoother reading.
Organized religions are typically not sympathetic with sex workers so this is a good read-&-reflect item for a Sunday morning.
Think about it.
~~~

Sarah Fenix@sarahthemoose

OK MY NON-SEX WORK FRIENDS LISTEN UP

I'm gonna tell you the story of how Backpage helped keep me safe during one of the scariest most dangerous times of my entire life

Trigger warning ahead for homelessness, abuse, drug use, coerced sex work, rape, cops being assholes, uh probably a whole bunch of other stuff.

I became homeless in March of 2016 when I abandoned my home, marriage, job, my entire life, because I was manic and I was under the spell of an extremely skilled and charismatic abusive piece of shit I refer to as "Barn Cat."

Barn Cat was a heroin user. He used $100-$300 a day.

(Side note, his abusiveness was there all along, he would have been abusive if heroin was not his drug of choice. Destigmatize drug use. Don't say "addict")

Before I became homeless, Barn Cat had been lying to me, telling me he was on suboxone or methadone. This lie came out in full force after about a week of us living in my car, when he was dope sick, throwing up blood.

He was sick. He was in withdrawals. He was suffering a lot. And I loved him. With my whole heart and every fiber of my being, I loved him.

Barn Cat needed heroin. Heroin costs money. Barn Cat had no money. I had to get money, somehow. From somewhere.

Friends from across the country had been sending me paypal donations to help me put gas in my car but what could I say now? Shit, I made a huge mistake, this person I love so much lied to me? And he needs heroin??? I didn't know what to do.

So. We were stuck at a gas station along a highway. Barn Cat, throwing up blood. Me, panicking.

I walked around the gas station, from semi truck to semi truck, asking IN BROAD ASS DAYLIGHT if any truckers would like to have sex with me

Yes really. Yes, really.

When none of the truckers took me up on my super appealing totally not suspicious offering, I started approaching men on motorcycles.

BECAUSE I WATCHED SONS OF ANARCHY OK

I thought it would work. It did not work. I had wasted 2 hours while Barn Cat was throwing up blood, probably dying, and I had no money.

Someone on here told me about backpage. I took my laptop to a coffee shop, took a quick picture of my boobs, and posted an ad for free. I got my first job about an hour later. I made $100, bought $20 worth of food, and gave the rest to Barn Cat.

After that, we got into a routine. Barn Cat would yell at me to post ads 3 times a day. I would do outcalls until I could convince a man to get me a cheap hotel room, then I would do incalls.

Over the course of 3 months, I estimate I made around $10,000 that I gave all to Barn Cat.

AND I'M STILL GRATEFUL AS FUCK FOR BACKPAGE

Because without them, I would have still been knocking on semi truck doors

Barn Cat took almost every penny I made, but I could also ask men to bring me a fruit platter from the grocery store, or a shake from a fast food joint, or a bag of bagels. AND THEY DID IT. SO I DIDN'T FUCKING STARVE

From time to time, I would get an overnight, which meant maybe I could throw in a load of laundry at some dude's house. THAT WAS AMAZING, THANK YOU LAUNDRY GUY

With Backpage, I could post my phone number, and I would actually talk to these dudes a little bit. I could weed out the worst ones. If Barn Cat was really dope sick, I sometimes had to go anyway.
But if I had a polite, respectful dude on the line, I could choose him over another

Being homeless was scary. Being under the control of an abusive man who needed an illegal substance to stay semi-functional was scary. Backpage was the only lifeline I had to people who would give me money, so I could stay alive

And yes, I tried to get out. On 3 occasions, I walked up to police officers and said "Help me, I'm a prostitute, that man makes me post ads and takes my money, please take me or him to jail" and they laughed at me and turned me away

I'm white, that's all that saved me, I think. I'm still mad at those cops. HELLO OFFICER I AM DOING CRIMES RIGHT NOW PLEASE SAVE ME lol nope

Backpage gave me a basic screening tool, and access to money, and food, and shelter. Backpage kept me alive.

Backpage wasn't at fault for Barn Cat being abusive. Backpage wasn't at fault for the few men I ran into who really got off on hurting me in ways I don't want to describe right now.

Backpage didn't turn me into a sex worker, any more than Youtube can turn people in musicians or comedians. It was just the medium. A really good, really helpful medium that was free and accessible.

I'm sad backpage is gone. But more than sad, I'm scared for all the other sex workers who are where I was 2 years ago, who are going to go knock on semi truck doors or walk along the highway, with no way to screen clients.

Twitter is shadow banning sex workers and sex work topics. They shadow banned Stormy for fucks sake. So if you like this thread, screen shot it and post it on other channels you use. I give you permission. Please, please, please.

Now, if you will all be so kind as to excuse me, I have triggered myself into a panic attack. I am going to cuddle some animals and drink some wine.

Protect sex workers. Believe sex workers.

One more thing, if you would like to pay me for sharing this story, my paypal is http://paypal.me/smkovac I will use the money to buy more wine, full disclosure.

Or you can donate to a sex work org on this list -

I especially recommend $newwhoreizons on

HAHA I'm sorry, I'm back again

http://www.squishable.com/mm5/merchant.mvc… …

I'm sad I want a stuffed animal I think my DMs are open IDK I did follow up on my prediction that I was going to drink a lot of wine OK thanks love you

NOW my dms are open someone buy me a stuffed animal

HUGE HUGE THANKS to everyone who read, fav'd, RT'd, and slipped a couple bucks in my paypal. It's been a wild couple hours on ye olde twitter

I WAS LUCKY

I escaped Barn Cat, I have a lot of good friends, I somehow charmed my way into a boring cube job with kick ass health insurance.

But I, personally, am safe. Don't read this thread and twist yourselves up worrying about me. Worry about everyone else on BP who just lost their main source of income.

BackPage is a sex trafficking website with a long Wikipedia article that ends thus:
"On April 6, 2018, Backpage was seized by the United States Department of Justice, and it was reported that Michael Lacey's home had been raided by authorities. The seizure came in the wake of the passing of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), which amends Section 230 to explicitly exclude federal or state sex trafficking laws from its immunity. Although the bill had been passed in March, it had yet been signed into law on the day of the seizure. Critics of the bill, which was primarily designed to target Backpage, had argued that the bill was unnecessary because of established case law making websites liable for knowingly facilitating sex trafficking."

This thread was also linked at Salon...The lies about sex trafficking that brought down Backpage  Powerful myths about sex work are behind the war against Backpage
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Saturday, April 14, 2018

The Grief of Fred Guttenberg


I curated this heartbreaking Twitter thread for a Facebook post.  


Fred Guttenberg
@fred_guttenberg

Two months today.
It doesn’t get easier. It gets harder.
Jaime Guttenberg I miss you with all of my heart. I will love you forever.

If I have any Facebook friends who are against universal background checks before being allowed to purchase a gun, PM me so that we can discuss why your position is wrong.

If anyone feels that someone under the age of 21 should be able to buy a gun, PM me so that we can discuss why your position is wrong.
If there is anyone who feels that someone who is mentally unstable should have a gun, PM me so that we can discuss why your position is wrong.
If there is anyone who feels it’s necessary for ANYONE to have high capacity magazines allowing more than five or ten bullets, PM me so that we can discuss why your position is wrong.

I lost my baby, my daughter, Jesse’s only sibling.
It is NOT okay that we sent her off to school and she never came home. It is NOT okay that this person had any legal access to guns. This pain will NEVER go away. Jaime was robbed of EVERY constitutional right that she had. Nobody is trying to take anyone else’s rights away, just trying to make the citizens of the United States of America safe.

Vote the right people in and the wrong people out so that I never have to read a story like this again as this can happen to anyone. We are proof of that. We will be visiting our daughter today at the cemetery. We should be watching her from the audience at her dance competition.

Please in honor of Jaime support COMMON SENSE GUN SAFETY. Don’t let the bullies win by making people believe that we want to take away the rights of the second amendment.

Make them understand that the second amendment wasn’t created so that citizens can kill other innocent citizens. Remind them that Jaime and all other victims of gun violence had rights, including a right to life, and those rights have been terminated. Thank you for your support.

https://twitter.com/fred_guttenberg/status/985160677605216257
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