Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

lithub.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 187 posts

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#101

Post by ryandrake »

riehwvfbk wrote: post #73
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand why he chose to say it this way, and I'll probably be stealing "liberal racism" ( what a phrase: that's going in my pocketbook alongside "white guilt" and "racialise"), but this is the wrong way to say it to a Bay Area audience. You'd want to say something like "erasing representation to avoid confronting racism".

Yup, those downvotes speak loud and clear. One doesn't speak plainly around these folks but rather has to whisper.

Or, maybe people truly don’t know what you are talking about when you’re excessively vague and coy, to the point where it adds nothing to the conversation.

When someone’s post amounts to: “you know what I’m talking about, I just can’t say it,” well, you might as well just not say it. You’re dogwhistling, but there are no dogs.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#102

Post by basil-rash »

tyingq wrote: post #85
basil-rash wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re reading “created” into it to justify that interpretation. If you assume he meant created then sure go with birthed, but that doesn’t prove anything beyond your initial assumption. A “berthed”-friendly interpretation would be “all books start off tied to a particular point in time, it is their destiny to become free of their temporal bounds, to drift through eternity”

You're assigning some notion that berthed means berthed in a home port. Ships are berthed in many different places and times. So the "time which berthed them" just doesn't work.

It does. They were tied to a point in time. They are destined not to be. It’s really very simple. I’m sorry you can’t understand it.

Mixing metaphors and claiming a now-unmoored vessel is more likely to be contrasted with one in a state of being “born” than “berthed” is what “doesn’t work”.

Especially considering “unmoored” is a nearly exact antonym of “berthed”, whereas a ship is never described as being “born”. Christened, perhaps. But certainly not born.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#104

Post by rpmisms »

boplicity wrote: post #79
gred wrote: post #78

> Donald Barthelme in particular praised you for writing about things readers had never heard before between Black and white characters. It's bizarre to me that in certain circles some Colors are capitalized, while other colors are not.

It may be bizarre for you, but it is often a reasoned and thoughtful use of the word, meaningful in the context of a complex and consistent consideration of the general meaning and usage of words. I encourage you to consider and understand the perspectives of those who do capitalize the word. This serves as an introduction to some people's thinking: https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php Note, th…

Capitalizing one and not the others is racist. There is no monolithic white, black, or brown experience, and to pretend otherwise is racist. It's a stupid microaggression

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#105

Post by rpmisms »

lanternfish wrote: post #94
hotdogscout wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leftist activists circles have grievances with white people and this is a small token of revenge. Depersonifying white people. Asians don't get internally consistent treatment because of intersectionality. Are we really pretending it's a coincidence all the time? This naivety is rightfully never applied to right wing bigotry. I'm not white myself but I'm genuinely confused as to why this kind of blatant ethnic antago…

The actual critique - which is articulated in many places - is that "white" isn't an ethnic group with an actual cultural or racial lineage. Instead, "white" was created and exists as the dual to "colored" - a shifting category encompassing many ethnicities that describes their position in a set of power structures, historically colonialism. Consider that "whiteness" has changed considerably over the usage of the ter…

Black isn't an ethnic group either. There are black people from Africa, Pacific islands, Australia, South America, and India. It's a descriptor, not an immutable category that defines you, and it's uniquely used here in America.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#106

Post by egeozcan »

Chris2048 wrote: post #87
boplicity wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be bizarre for you, but it is often a reasoned and thoughtful use of the word, meaningful in the context of a complex and consistent consideration of the general meaning and usage of words. I encourage you to consider and understand the perspectives of those who do capitalize the word. This serves as an introduction to some people's thinking: https://www.cjr.org/analysis/capital-b-black-styleguide.php Note, th…

from your link, first paragraph: "For many people, Black reflects a shared sense of identity and community. White carries a different set of meanings; capitalizing the word in this context risks following the lead of white supremacists." I don't find that thoughtful. The argument further erodes when they also capitalize "Asian", which is described as "groups that include myriad ethnic identities united by shared race…

I, a Turkish migrant living in Europe, think of a specific culture when I read "Black", and skin color when I read "black" (in the context of talking about people of course), and White doesn't tell me anything. Many people from West Turkey also consider themselves as "white" but this is only in comparison to the average skin color of people from East Turkey.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#107

Post by oasisbob »

basil-rash wrote: post #77
tyingq wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It almost works, but "berthed" doesn't imply "created", since it means something more like "parked". So that doesn't read right with: "The destiny of all books is to become unmoored from the time which birthed them. - Ah-Sen" It could have used both maybe? "...and then berthed in the present"

You’re reading “created” into it to justify that interpretation. If you assume he meant created then sure go with birthed, but that doesn’t prove anything beyond your initial assumption. A “berthed”-friendly interpretation would be “all books start off tied to a particular point in time, it is their destiny to become free of their temporal bounds, to drift through eternity”

It's very hard to not see creation in the quote when time is the actor at the moment of a book's "b*rthing".

If the arrow of time isn't berthing a book at its creation, when else would it?

The ambiguity is delightful.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#108

Post by kd5bjo »

Jtsummers wrote: post #27
kd5bjo wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also might be worth noting that both pull quotes are things that Ah-Sen said in the questions, instead of things that Powell said in response. Some interviewers aim to help to tell their subjects’ stories, but others are looking for a reason to hear themselves speak. This feels like the latter case.

> It also might be worth noting that both pull quotes are things that Ah-Sen said in the questions, instead of things that Powell said in response. One is from Powell, the other from Ah-Sen. >> The attractive characteristic of a young narrator is the absurdity of it and the license of it. - Powell >> The destiny of all books is to become unmoored from the time which birthed them. - Ah-Sen

Mea culpa; I should know better than to comment when half asleep. Thanks for the correction.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#109

Post by wmil »

01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote: post #14
kleiba wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The little info box about the interviewer at the end of the article tells you all you need to know.

You got something against Canadians?

No one has more issues with Toronto writers who claim to be part of the "Canadian literary underground" than other Canadians.

Re: I now lack the juice to fuel the bluster to conceal that I am a simpleton

#110

Post by bryanrasmussen »

basil-rash wrote: post #48
mrkstu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you’re going for some meta-joke, no.

Why not? If we’re starting with this nautical analogy (unmoored), immediately flipping to a biological one is odd. I strongly suspect this was a transcription error and/or intentional pun - the two are pronounced identically.

If it were birthed it might be smarter to say orphaned or alienated or something that follows the parentage metaphor instead of unmoored.

If it were berthed it would make more sense to be something like "The destiny of all books is to become unmoored from the time where they were originally berthed".

But it is more common in English to use birthed as created than this kind of extended nautical metaphor.

And it is more common for people to mix their metaphors, especially when they are trying to sound clever.

Therefore I think they mixed their metaphors a bit.

Post reply on HN