Comments Elsewhere

culture and heritage

culture and heritage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ2ucr74YNk

So, just a reminder as electoral season resumes: if you want to say that I am obliged to support Bernie Sanders’ campaign on the grounds that, however much it may offend my purist sensibilities, I need to speak to real-world practical gains, then you need to show me how, practically, me being invested in this campaign is going to advance anynof those real world goalsnunder realistic political conditions, before you can claim the high ground of practical politics. I’m not even going to worry you with explaining how we cam be confident that a Bernie Sanders presidency would be significantly better than the status quo. That’s a tedious argument and one that is actually a lot harder to sort out than it might seem. So let’s set that aside, for the sake of argument. Take it for granted. But now at a minimum, it is still actually on you first to demonstrate how my “supporting” Bernie Sanders is even going to contribute to Bernie Sanders being elected president in the first place. I don’t think anyone doubts that that outcome is still a long shot at best. And whether it is a long shot or a sure thing, once again, I live in Alabama, and no matter who I vote for I can predict with 99.989% confidence right now that this state will break 60-40 in favor of whoever the Republican Party happens to nominate, and all of the electoral votes will go to that Republican. If Bernie Sanders has a shot at winning, I cannot possibly improve that shot by swinging my vote. Even if I convinced 100% of my neighbors for a fifteen mile radius to vote for Bernie Sanders, I still couldn’t improve that shot. If Bernie Sanders has no shot, I certainly can’t do anything to chip away at that impossibility from where I am. Telling me to support the Sanders campaign is not, as far as I can see, practical politics in any way. It is only a fetishistic imitation of “practicality,” which cones fron the ritual form of electoral participation. In real-world terms it doesn’t matter how great you think a Sanders presidency would be; it is not an outcome I can practically contribute to by my actions. What you are asking for is a futile, purely symbolic gesture from me in support of an idle hope. And I have no problem with futile, purely symbolic gesture for the sake of unrealistic idle hopes. But if I am going to hold out for an unrealistic, utopian dream, I would like to at least hold out for an unrealistic, utopian dream that I actually believe in, not the hypithetical lesser-evil of another Progressive Democrat presidency. Until you have some concrete way of improving on those odds, my view is going to remain that social protest, direct action, honest debate and day to day little pushes on the margin towards radical cultural change are not just more idealistic or “pure,” but reaply seriously immensely more immediate, immensely more *practical* outlets for whatever activist energy I have than cheerleading for yet another long-shot presidential campaign. Practicality doesn’t come for free with a ballot. Ignoring that doesn’t make you a hardnosed realist, it just makes you another dreamy devotee of American civic religion.

Asking for a friend: recommendations for a newcomer visiting Atlanta, especially in the fields of eating and reading? (Soul Veg, Acapella Books and Charis have already been covered)

In which the New York Daily News runs a lifestyle story about a perfectly ordinary human practice that has been unremarkably common for 99% of human history, and everybody freaks the hell out, because it involves women breastfeeding.

In which the New York Daily News runs a lifestyle story about a perfectly ordinary human practice that has been unremarkably common for 99% of human history, and everybody freaks the hell out, because it involves women breastfeeding.

hey Las Vegas

So I see that Paul Sanford, normally something of a tool, has posted this GoFundMe account to “Fund the Alabama State Government,” with the goal set at the $300,000,000 state budget deficit. The point being to make some kind of point about not raising taxes. http://ift.tt/1Tlbsiy I completely approve of this. Of course I approve of not raising taxes; but more to the point I approve of this because it gives me the option *not* to fund the Alabama State Government, which is exactly what I intend to do, to the extent possible. My one fear, judging from this story, is that the damn thing might hit its goal on contributions from “friendly Canadians just trying to help.” FTR, friendly Canadians, I love y’all, but if you want to help people in Alabama, the absolute last thing you should do with your money is give one cent of it to fund the Alabama State Government. Send it to East Alabama Domestic Violence Intervention Center, send it to Planned Parenthood Southeast, send it to the Auburn University scholarship fund, send it to a random Alabamian picked out of the phonebook, please send it literally *anywhere at all* other than the state government’s budget. The state government is full of tools like Paul Sanford and Mike Hubbard, and you’d be better off rolling up your money and smoking it. Thanks, a friendly Alabamian just trying to help