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

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

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[flagged]

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

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's a mistake to internationalize it, the terms are usually used in the American context.

Black usually means the descendant of slaves. When Obama was starting his political career there was some debate in the Black community about if he really counted as Black, since he didn't really have much contact with the Black community until his 20s and his history is quite different.

White typically means descendants of various waves of settlers with limited ties to any specific European country. Generally they can trace their lineage to a mix of early and later arrivals. With a strong bias towards northern Europe.

Hispanic generally meant Mexican, Cuban, or Puerto Rican. Which were fairly geographically distinct communities in the 90s so one word for all three didn't cause much confusion.

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

#113
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.

Black and White is such a revolutionary PC game, I can agree to that!

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

#115

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…

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

This kind of anti-white racism is everywhere in western media. It's in advertising. It's in the news reporting. It's in the hiring practices.

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

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flann O'Brian's novel about a novel "At swim two birds" has been one of my favorite yearly re-reads, I must take it down off the shelf again this weekend!

For me it's the third policeman, which is wonderfully dreamlike.

Teeth, it's all about the teeth, you'd be surprised

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

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's the third policeman, which is wonderfully dreamlike.

Teeth, it's all about the teeth, you'd be surprised

mar ná beidh ár leithéidí arís ann

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_B%C3%A9al_Bocht

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

#118
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 is certainly hateful. A conscious choice that most publishing houses made in the summer of 2020, with a wide verity of delusional explanations.

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

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 mor…

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

The question isn't whether birthed is more common than extended nautical metaphors in general, the question is given that a nautical metaphor is already in place, what is the likelihood that metaphor is being extended, versus trampled and replaced with another?

> 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".

Only if the author is assuming the ship has been berthed many times. It might just as easily have been berthed once and adrift ever since. Being berthed in no way implies repetition.

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