-
Debating
Loved it when I was young – but certainly caused some tensions, and now perhaps seen as aggressive and overpowering. “In our age of polarisation we have lost the skills of thoughtful empathic argument – and the will to invest in them”. Debate encourages empathy, not polarisation, as you need to be able to see…
-
On Queerness
A mean word when I was a kid, now reclaimed. “I think of Tim Dean‘s work on being queer, and queer not as being about who you’re having sex with – that can be a dimension of it – but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and it…
-
Microaggression and victim culture
Honour cultures developed in pastoral societies, where your worldlygoods could simply be lifted one night and you would be left with nothing. Itwas important to show your readiness to defend and retaliate withforce. Scottish immigrants to America may have brought some of this withthem, particularly to the Southern States! But as civil society developed and…
-
Marriage mindsets
The 5 Rs – Resolute, Rational (esp men), Romantic (esp women but high divorce rate), Restless, Reluctant. Pretty evenly distributed otherwise! Get yourself psychologically healthy before looking to a relationship to fill a hole. Be self aware. Have your own goals and standards, rather than seeking approval from others. Be kind, able to give of…
-
Panic over youth disorder is nothing new
Hooligans first described in 1898, when hundreds ended up in court on charges of drunkenness after an English August bank holiday weekend. “Manners of children are deteriorating,” said the magistrate for Brighton. The original hooligan “dress code” was donkey fringe, bell bottom trousers, neck scarves – every generation needs its style. In the 20s and…
-
Culture of fear
Frank Furedi has written a couple of books about this (also about “paranoid parenting”). Historically, fear of God was seen as crucial for a moral life, so a positive thing. Fear then becomes understood as pathological eg social phobia. Unpleasant experiences in childhood become institutional problems to be fixed not life challenges to develop skills…
-
Sell out or Response to Tokenism
Malcolm Gladwell revisionist history about Sammy Davis Jr. Reviled for hugging Nixon, booed when tried to perform at Jesse Jackson’s civil rights rally, even though he supported Kennedy in the past, donated large sums to Martin Luther King, and grew up performing as a child to support his father and uncle, never going to school.…
-
Universalism and Nationalism
Montesquieu- I am a father, before I am a Parisian. I am a Parisian before I am a Frenchman. I am a Frenchman before I am a European. But in a virtuous world I would run to the aid of a stranger as readily as I would to the aid of a friend. We aspire…
-
Mixed race
We were half-castes in the U.K. until 2001 (2001!), when the census officially deemed us “mixed.” In US, census allowed choice of only one race until 2000! Change only really began in the wake of Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 Supreme Court case that officially legalized interracial marriage. The Loving decision overturned a trial judge’s opinion, written in 1958, that “Almighty…
-
The Gin Craze
18th century, as London was exploding with population and wealth (some good harvests). Alcohol was already consumed regularly by all ages (incl children), social classes and by both men and women. William of Orange comes to power and passes a law that essentially allows unregulated production, as a way of undermining market for French wine…