MetaFilter

About Harper's Letter

I wrote up a post on this because I thought it was actually interesting. The cluster of writers, academics, artists, nonprofit folks etc. struck me as unusual. Their statement seemed noteworthy - not dispositive - for this time.

So I added a dozen+ links to criticisms and a couple of supports to show reactions and contexts. Added a couple of intro links to the guy who organized it. I started to assemble "previously"s for some of the signatories - Chomsky,… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 8:44 AM on July 8, 2020

it's about not making Metafilter yet another place on the web where we have to see shitty people being bigots

Dunk on terrible people signing their names to terrible things?

From the actual letter, folks I respect, and one of whom I know personally:

Gloria Steinem, Noam Chomsky, Margaret Atwood, Zephyr Teachout, Randi Weingarten, Wynton Marsalis, Garry Wills, Salman Rushdie, Allison… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 11:11 AM on July 8, 2020

thivaia, my blog is primarily about the future of education, so I'm not sure this is a good fit. But maybe. Thank you for asking.
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 11:12 AM on July 8, 2020

Reading the signatures, I don't see any Nazis that I can make out. Some of the names I didn't recognize; quickly Googling them didn't yield any Nazism, but I might have missed them.

If you don't mean literal Nazis, Etrigan, but people who hold other beliefs you find repellant - your mention of Singal and Rowling suggests transphobia? - and that others who don't hold those beliefs are nonetheless lumped with them, and on top of this their shared documents shouldn't even… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 11:45 AM on July 8, 2020

Etrigan, I honestly don't follow your point about literal Nazis. If you're being hyperbolic or think some of the signatories are fascistic, that makes sense, although I don't know the latter.

I wasn't trying to foist anything. Sigh. You all see what I meant earlier?
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 1:01 PM on July 8, 2020

the surfacing of (very recent!) attempts, and successes, by some of the signatories to have speech they disagree with stifled: reporters and commentators fired, sued, access revoked and work destroyed.
Agreed, that's awful and hypocritical of some of them.
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 1:02 PM on July 8, 2020

I mean, they lumped themselves together?

Only on one level. It's otherwise a pretty heterogeneous mix. Check the list of signatories. Very wide range of ideologies (David Brooks and Noam Chomsky?), projects, professions.

But I should stop here. If we're not going to have this discussion on a main page post, I shouldn't end up driving it to this one.
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 1:05 PM on July 8, 2020

What's for dinner?

I made my son his comfort food: baked chicken with rice and corn.

Then baked everyone else breaded (gluten-free) zucchini.
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 7:00 PM on June 9, 2020

Coronavirus check-in thread 2.0

I'm a consultant and writer in the US. I get about 60% of my income through face to face speaking gigs, consulting, workshops, and facilitation. Already two gigs have fallen through.

Now I'm pivoting hard to online. I'm already massively online, from doing a weekly live video show to extensive social media etc.; I'm doubling down by expanding video offerings. And I'm terrified that it won't be enough. (Single income for family here, and in a US not exactly known for… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 3:16 PM on March 9, 2020

🧛🦇 MetaSpookyFilms 👻🎃

What to add:
...The Black Cat (1934): a bonkers movie. Karloff versus Lugosi, for starters. Both are mentally shattered WWI vets dueling over modern architecture and a Crowley-ish cult. Plus drugs, flaying alive, necrophilia, and more. Nothing to do with the Poe story. Plus Bela speaks Hungarian.
...Se7en: extensively imitated, but the terrible darkness of this film still holds up.
...It Follows: an… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 11:41 AM on October 6, 2019

Also, The Exorcist. For the past year I've been teaching in the building next to those stairs.
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 11:42 AM on October 6, 2019

Climate Strike Day on Metafilter

I increased work on climate change in my field (higher ed).
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 10:05 PM on September 20, 2019

History in Real Time (plus a century)

Thank you very much for the enormously kind post, Etrigan. That's a superbly generous thing to do. And thanks to everyone on this thread for the kind words.

I think it was All Quiet on the Western Front that introduced me to WWI, back when I was 14 or so. I couldn't quite shake it afterwards, that sense of horror and a world torn wide open.

Years later I taught a war literature class, and the text that really moved my… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 10:08 AM on November 14, 2018

RIP glider

.
posted to MetaTalk by doctornemo at 2:42 PM on March 19, 2013