Fredric March is brilliant but the play and film do a disservice to William Jennings Bryan, who was a more consequential person of greater learning and human sympathy than the caricature depicted. In the real Scopes trial Bryan, who had opposed criminal penalties and had called for laws that called for the teaching of Evolution as a theory instead of as a fact, offered to pay the defendant's $100 fine. Bryan died in bed 5 days after the trial ended. The modern Liberal Democratic Party, the party of FDR LBJ and Joe Biden, owes at least as much to William Jennings Bryan as it does to Clarance Darrow and the sophisticated intellectual elites sympathetic to international socialism.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
Joe Biden is Fired Up
Joe Biden is fired up.
Fredric March is brilliant but the play and film do a disservice to William Jennings Bryan, who was a more consequential person of greater learning and human sympathy than the caricature depicted. In the real Scopes trial Bryan, who had opposed criminal penalties and had called for laws that called for the teaching of Evolution as a theory instead of as a fact, offered to pay the defendant's $100 fine. Bryan died in bed 5 days after the trial ended. The modern Liberal Democratic Party, the party of FDR LBJ and Joe Biden, owes at least as much to William Jennings Bryan as it does to Clarance Darrow and the sophisticated intellectual elites sympathetic to international socialism.
Fredric March is brilliant but the play and film do a disservice to William Jennings Bryan, who was a more consequential person of greater learning and human sympathy than the caricature depicted. In the real Scopes trial Bryan, who had opposed criminal penalties and had called for laws that called for the teaching of Evolution as a theory instead of as a fact, offered to pay the defendant's $100 fine. Bryan died in bed 5 days after the trial ended. The modern Liberal Democratic Party, the party of FDR LBJ and Joe Biden, owes at least as much to William Jennings Bryan as it does to Clarance Darrow and the sophisticated intellectual elites sympathetic to international socialism.
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Comment on Facebook: Wretchard T. Cat,
"Will the Olympics be postponed?"
Wretchard, "Will the Olympics be postponed? Back in the day wars were postponed for the Olympics. During the second Greco-Persian war in 480 BC Xerxes invasion could not be met because of the Olympic truce. Therefore Leonidas and his 300 were sent ahead as a sacrificial delaying force to allow the Spartans to come after the truce."
Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire described how the Greeks returned to the pass and sanctified it with athletic events and ceremonies and left an inscription on a stone, composed by the poet Simonides.
O xein angellein Lakadaimoniois hoti tede
keimneta tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws, we lie.
They did not sully the sacred fire, obedient to their laws.
----------
Mary Renault's "The Praise Singer" is a historical fiction whose central character is Simonides that focuses on the flowering of Greek culture in Athens under the Peisistrades and the fall of the Tyranny.
Words I think were seen as almost magic. A form of power from the gods that enabled time to be controlled by men. When Alexander destroyed Thebes he ordered the house of Simonides rival the poet Pindar spared.
The Olympics were an opportunity for people, both the athletes and the communities that they represented and which commemorated their athletes with odes and statues, to approach the Heroic ideal of the Immortal. The perfection of the Beautiful and the Good made men more than beasts.
Both words and athletics were seen as ennobling. Those with Arete were not only οἱ ἄριστος aristocrats better than the common man but associating with them and remembering them made the οἱ πολλοί commoners better too.
Without the ideal to emulate people as individuals and as communities become a feral mob. As the Bard of England put it, "Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason."
The degeneration of athletics into corrupt spectacles has paralleled the decline of civil and political culture. Where once the challenges of an often hostile world, both by man and nature, were met by active engagement with each heeding Theodore Roosevelt's call to be "The Man in the Arena" now people slink like dogs into caves to self quarantine until their betters tell them that it is safe to emerge.
Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire described how the Greeks returned to the pass and sanctified it with athletic events and ceremonies and left an inscription on a stone, composed by the poet Simonides.
O xein angellein Lakadaimoniois hoti tede
keimneta tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws, we lie.
They did not sully the sacred fire, obedient to their laws.
----------
Mary Renault's "The Praise Singer" is a historical fiction whose central character is Simonides that focuses on the flowering of Greek culture in Athens under the Peisistrades and the fall of the Tyranny.
Words I think were seen as almost magic. A form of power from the gods that enabled time to be controlled by men. When Alexander destroyed Thebes he ordered the house of Simonides rival the poet Pindar spared.
The Olympics were an opportunity for people, both the athletes and the communities that they represented and which commemorated their athletes with odes and statues, to approach the Heroic ideal of the Immortal. The perfection of the Beautiful and the Good made men more than beasts.
Both words and athletics were seen as ennobling. Those with Arete were not only οἱ ἄριστος aristocrats better than the common man but associating with them and remembering them made the οἱ πολλοί commoners better too.
Without the ideal to emulate people as individuals and as communities become a feral mob. As the Bard of England put it, "Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason."
The degeneration of athletics into corrupt spectacles has paralleled the decline of civil and political culture. Where once the challenges of an often hostile world, both by man and nature, were met by active engagement with each heeding Theodore Roosevelt's call to be "The Man in the Arena" now people slink like dogs into caves to self quarantine until their betters tell them that it is safe to emerge.
Monday, March 09, 2020
Panic In Aisle Nine
Instead of depending on temporarily rare toilet paper why not use the now worthless Chinese currency? Warning, bleach before using as unlike Old Glory those colors may run.
We are seeing stories of WalMart shelves cleaned out to look like Venezuela and people fighting over Costco toilet paper like it was Black Friday in the toy department of JC Penny. What we have in the panic buying of toilet paper and other consumables is nothing less than a form of a bank run. This is a good thing in that we know about bank runs. At least we know at least as much about bank runs as we do about bathroom runs. With the gentle reader's permission I will now move on from that graphic analogy. The point is that there is a model for what causes a bank run and how the bureaucrats can respond to one. They are trained on this.
Money to an Economist is just another good, like food, clothing, shelter, gasoline or forgive me toilet paper. What is special about it is that it enables the trade in other products. That is not exclusive to money though. After all being well fed, protected from the elements, well rested, able to transport goods or the people who perform services, and being clean and healthy are all also important in completing transactions. Money just makes things easier.
Panics and bank runs periodically plagued capitalist societies, including in America. Major depressions, which were called Panics until 1929 when the term Depression was introduced as being less alarming, happened during the 19th century. The Federal Reserve (1913) was designed to reduce the risk of panics and bank runs. However they still can happen.
The subsequent Great Depression may have shown that the government's response to a panic was not perfected but they have since worked diligently on the problem. Economists study this and model how to use tools just as the military studies hypothetical crises and games out the application of the tools available.
Seriously what the government needs to do is approach the market disruptions revealed by panic buying and hoarding of some goods by using the Bank Run model. They can do this.
It's either that or distribute copies of Izvestia and Pravda, or Renminbi.
We are seeing stories of WalMart shelves cleaned out to look like Venezuela and people fighting over Costco toilet paper like it was Black Friday in the toy department of JC Penny. What we have in the panic buying of toilet paper and other consumables is nothing less than a form of a bank run. This is a good thing in that we know about bank runs. At least we know at least as much about bank runs as we do about bathroom runs. With the gentle reader's permission I will now move on from that graphic analogy. The point is that there is a model for what causes a bank run and how the bureaucrats can respond to one. They are trained on this.
Money to an Economist is just another good, like food, clothing, shelter, gasoline or forgive me toilet paper. What is special about it is that it enables the trade in other products. That is not exclusive to money though. After all being well fed, protected from the elements, well rested, able to transport goods or the people who perform services, and being clean and healthy are all also important in completing transactions. Money just makes things easier.
Panics and bank runs periodically plagued capitalist societies, including in America. Major depressions, which were called Panics until 1929 when the term Depression was introduced as being less alarming, happened during the 19th century. The Federal Reserve (1913) was designed to reduce the risk of panics and bank runs. However they still can happen.
The subsequent Great Depression may have shown that the government's response to a panic was not perfected but they have since worked diligently on the problem. Economists study this and model how to use tools just as the military studies hypothetical crises and games out the application of the tools available.
Seriously what the government needs to do is approach the market disruptions revealed by panic buying and hoarding of some goods by using the Bank Run model. They can do this.
It's either that or distribute copies of Izvestia and Pravda, or Renminbi.
Friday, March 06, 2020
On Woody Allen
Instapundit: "HOLLYWOOD ENDING: Breaking: Woody Allen memoir canceled after publisher’s staff walk out in protest."
My assumption, without other evidence that can be tested and proven in court, is that Woody Allen did not commit pederasty or sexually abuse Mia Farrow's children. That does not make him Father of the Year.
There is little doubt that as a man in his 30s and 40s Woody Allen chased 17 or even 16 year old women. That is condemned in our society. It can even be legally sanctionable. It is also common. For the vast majority of human existence it was considered normal. When was the last time that it was prosecuted, except for a teacher or person in a similar position of trust abusing their authority? Note that I said women, albeit young women, and not girls to differentiate between ephebophilia and pedophilia. They are different conditions and conflating the two with a linguistic sleight of hand does a disservice and comports with Stalinist tactics.
It has been said that Mia Farrow's ex-husband Frank Sinatra had warned Woody that Mia was unstable. Sinatra, who consumed women voraciously, did not tolerate what he considered creeps and was not rumored to pursue underage women. The ambiguity of the culture on that issue is shown by the opening scene of Sinatra's own peak performance in "Pal Joey" where he is thrown onto a train by cops who tell him that the girl he was with was underage, and the mayor's daughter. That was later parodied in "Animal House."
There is no doubt that in the 1970s-80s Woody Allen was deliberately unconventional in his conduct. That is especially true in his relations with Mia Farrow and her children. His behavior was theatrical ostentatious and deliberately provocative and challenging to Middle Class standards. It was approved of in elite and artistic social circles. It was even considered a Political act. It was also self indulgent unwise and likely to harm the children involved, who needed the stability of a more traditional family.
Disclosure, but not full disclosure as I wish to preserve my privacy and going near this subject risks doxxing and destruction by inflamed mobs. I have met Woody Allen and his wife. For my nickel's worth of opinion they have a real marriage. Is it possible that as a skilled performer he could fool people? Yes it is. Still over time we meet many people and that includes some monsters. To a degree one learns to rely on their own experience and impression. Unless better evidence comes to light I will rely on my judgment and consider him if not innocent then at least not guilty.
Regarding the conduct of the staff at the publisher. They should be fired. Publishing production display or sale is not an endorsement. We have been assured of that regarding both books and the offering of other creative works. The product may be condemned as without merit on its own or it may be important whether the person behind it is a saint or a monster. The publisher may institute a policy of not doing business with people they find offensive. They are a private business. What they should not do is submit to pressure from censorious staff.
My assumption, without other evidence that can be tested and proven in court, is that Woody Allen did not commit pederasty or sexually abuse Mia Farrow's children. That does not make him Father of the Year.
There is little doubt that as a man in his 30s and 40s Woody Allen chased 17 or even 16 year old women. That is condemned in our society. It can even be legally sanctionable. It is also common. For the vast majority of human existence it was considered normal. When was the last time that it was prosecuted, except for a teacher or person in a similar position of trust abusing their authority? Note that I said women, albeit young women, and not girls to differentiate between ephebophilia and pedophilia. They are different conditions and conflating the two with a linguistic sleight of hand does a disservice and comports with Stalinist tactics.
It has been said that Mia Farrow's ex-husband Frank Sinatra had warned Woody that Mia was unstable. Sinatra, who consumed women voraciously, did not tolerate what he considered creeps and was not rumored to pursue underage women. The ambiguity of the culture on that issue is shown by the opening scene of Sinatra's own peak performance in "Pal Joey" where he is thrown onto a train by cops who tell him that the girl he was with was underage, and the mayor's daughter. That was later parodied in "Animal House."
There is no doubt that in the 1970s-80s Woody Allen was deliberately unconventional in his conduct. That is especially true in his relations with Mia Farrow and her children. His behavior was theatrical ostentatious and deliberately provocative and challenging to Middle Class standards. It was approved of in elite and artistic social circles. It was even considered a Political act. It was also self indulgent unwise and likely to harm the children involved, who needed the stability of a more traditional family.
Disclosure, but not full disclosure as I wish to preserve my privacy and going near this subject risks doxxing and destruction by inflamed mobs. I have met Woody Allen and his wife. For my nickel's worth of opinion they have a real marriage. Is it possible that as a skilled performer he could fool people? Yes it is. Still over time we meet many people and that includes some monsters. To a degree one learns to rely on their own experience and impression. Unless better evidence comes to light I will rely on my judgment and consider him if not innocent then at least not guilty.
Regarding the conduct of the staff at the publisher. They should be fired. Publishing production display or sale is not an endorsement. We have been assured of that regarding both books and the offering of other creative works. The product may be condemned as without merit on its own or it may be important whether the person behind it is a saint or a monster. The publisher may institute a policy of not doing business with people they find offensive. They are a private business. What they should not do is submit to pressure from censorious staff.
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