> incredible, and absolutely worth reading ... so much of social media seems obvious once you read his analysis (richk449)
> dated ... commentary on the evils of tv (zetsurin)
Hmm... I suppose both of these could be accurate.
Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
291–300 of 352 posts
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lenin eventually took the same view - that chess was distracting him from a higher purpose. Perhaps a harmless game would have been a better use of his time.
> Lenin eventually took the same view - that chess was distracting him from a higher purpose The world would have been a better place had he kept playing chess then.
The world where nothing ever happens
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#293A person running for president of this country comes from show business and there are venture capitalists like Mark Andreeson who seriously talk about him as somebody who knows policy all because they can get a seat at the table.
And yet the alternative is worse.
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's wrong with BNW? Have you forgotten the islands?
On "The Island", well, it's the book Huxley wrote as a counterpart against BNW.
For those unfamiliar with both:
Brave New World features islands which are limited domains in which free-thinking is both permitted and encouraged, as Mustapha Mond explains to Bernard and Helmholtz late in the novel. In part these serve as centres of creativity which the World State needs.
Island is a paradise world which largely stands, as you note, as a counterpart to BNW. Though all does not go well.
Here and now boys! Here and now ...
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
Arguably religion used to provide that purpose but most of the Western world has walked away from it without choosing something to replace that sense of purpose. If, as Marx asserted, that religion was the opiate of the masses then the current "attention economy" is the methamphetamine of the masses.
What I have noticed about religion is that today's view of it is distorted. I see it as closer to psychology/sociology/civics. The description I see used today about ancient ideas of social cohesion is narrow minded with a hint of superiority.
Yes, historically religion provided not only a means of understanding one's place in the social system in which one lived but also provided a sense of self in a much longer historical aspect. Successful religions existed on the order of centuries, if not millennia, and set the foundation for one's understanding of self, membership within the group, morality and ethics, legal frameworks, and an explanatory model for the universe in which all these operated.. all of which had outlasted rulers, systems of government, nations, etc.
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#296This goes beyond media entertainment. All of our senses are being exploited and overstimulated for commercial gains. Food, perfumes, music, furniture. People crave for saltiest or sweetest food. They fill their noses with strong artificial fragrances, their heads with loud, distracting, catchy music, all the while butt-slouched on the comfiest couches or beds. If this continues on, there will be a point where humanity will be so desensitized and can no longer feel anything natural with their own senses.
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
I briefly spent some time on Twitter a few months ago, and it was almost entirely widespread hysteria over things that were easily verifiable as trivially false. For example, at the time people were enraged about a supposed trans woman winning a boxing match in the olympics- but she was not in fact a trans woman. My take is that X/Twitter is mostly sharing fake rage bait, to emotionally manipulate people into support…
The actual issue was that this athlete, Imane Khelif, is male. And was competing in a women's boxing match, despite having previously been deemed ineligible by the International Boxing Association for this reason, after a karyotype test revealed XY chromosomes.
The problem is that women's boxing in the Olympics doesn't verify sex other than via identity documents such as passports. Even though the other categorical attribute - weight - is directly verified during competition.
As Khelif (and another male boxer, Lin) had a female passport, this permitted competition in the tournament despite the fact that it enabled a male to pummel female boxers, to an eventual unanimous victory.
Obviously, many people are against this, for the same reason as why mixed-sex boxing tournaments aren't considered acceptable, for reasons of fairness and safety.
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think there was a quote by a Nordic writer (possibly Hans Christian Andersen) in which he talked about how circuses and amusement parks keep people distracted and busy so we don't focus on important policy issues. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220818-the-surprisingl... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
La Boétie? Plays, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts, medals, pictures and other such opiates, these were for ancient peoples the bait toward slavery, the price of their liberty, the instruments of tyranny. By these practices and enticements the ancient dictators so successfully lulled their subjects … that the stupified peoples, fascinated by the pastimes and vain pleasures, … learned subservience as nai…
Excellent! People hardly know about "Etienne De La Boetie" much less read his works. Only "popular" authors are discussed many of whose works lack real depth.
Of relevance to this thread is his classic work "The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_Voluntary_Servitu... and https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/kurz-the-discourse-of-vol...
One very interesting note here is that this was one of the inspirations for Mahatma Gandhi in coming up with his idea of "Satyagraha" movement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha) in his struggle against British Colonialism in India - https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/gene-sharp-gandhi-on...
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
I briefly spent some time on Twitter a few months ago, and it was almost entirely widespread hysteria over things that were easily verifiable as trivially false. For example, at the time people were enraged about a supposed trans woman winning a boxing match in the olympics- but she was not in fact a trans woman. My take is that X/Twitter is mostly sharing fake rage bait, to emotionally manipulate people into support…
The actual issue was that this athlete, Imane Khelif, is male. And was competing in a women's boxing match, despite having previously been deemed ineligible by the International Boxing Association for this reason, after a karyotype test revealed XY chromosomes. The problem is that women's boxing in the Olympics doesn't verify sex other than via identity documents such as passports. Even though the other categorical a…
> The actual issue was that this athlete, Imane Khelif, is male.
No, she’s not, even in terms of assigned gender at birth, and she represents an Islamic country in which she would be imprisoned if she was and was living as a woman.
> despite having previously been deemed ineligible by the International Boxing Association for this reason, after a karyotype test revealed XY chromosomes.
The IBA had already been stripped of its role as a governing body with regard Olympic boxing due to the rather extraordinary and flagrant corruption in that organization (and for that to reach a level intolerable to the IOC is saying quite a bit), but even if the IBA’s claim of karyotype testing wasn’t fraudulent or carried out under unreliable conditions, a detected XY karyotype doesn't mean you are male, even in nonsocial medical terms, or phenotype without intervention terms. Swyer syndrome can result in a female phenotype with exclusively XY karyotype, and chimerism (possibly combined with Swyer) can result in a female phenotype where XY karyotype would be detected (potentially exclusively, without sampling different tissue in a way that a simple test would not).
Re: Amusing Ourselves to Death (2009)
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
The actual issue was that this athlete, Imane Khelif, is male. And was competing in a women's boxing match, despite having previously been deemed ineligible by the International Boxing Association for this reason, after a karyotype test revealed XY chromosomes. The problem is that women's boxing in the Olympics doesn't verify sex other than via identity documents such as passports. Even though the other categorical a…
> The actual issue was that this athlete, Imane Khelif, is male. No, she’s not, even in terms of assigned gender at birth, and she represents an Islamic country in which she would be imprisoned if she was and was living as a woman. > despite having previously been deemed ineligible by the International Boxing Association for this reason, after a karyotype test revealed XY chromosomes. The IBA had already been strippe…
All the evidence revealed so far indicates that Khelif is male. Regardless of the IBA's other issues, there are two blood tests from independent labs showing XY karyotype, and a member of Khelif's coaching team described problems with chromosomes and hormones such that Khelif has been on medication to adjust testosterone levels to bring this closer to the female range.
This implies that Khelif went through male puberty and has the male physical advantage in sport that is caused by male sexual development. Most likely, Khelif was assigned female at birth due to having a difference of sex development (DSD) conferring an external genital appearance that at first glance may seem female.
I don't know where this oft-repeated idea that Khelif has Swyer syndrome came from, but it's nonsensical. Swyer comes with bone defects due to hormone deficiency, and suffering from osteopenia and osteoporesis is not compatible with an elite athletic career, particularly not boxing. Anyone with Swyer would be getting fractures from all the punching and being punched. Nothing about Khelif's situation aligns with this.
However, there was previously in the Olympics a very similar situation with Caster Semenya, a male runner whose penis didn't develop properly due to having the DSD 5-ARD, and was therefore erroneously assumed to be female, and given identity documents to match. Semenya was eventually disqualified from track events due to having internal testes that produce male levels of testosterone and have done since puberty. Probably Khelif has the same or similar condition.