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Category: Humor
Flat Earth Making a Comeback
A gigantic prank, or a sign of worse to come?
I suppose that in an increasingly fact-averse, science-denying world, I should not have been surprised to hear that the ranks of flat-earth believers are swelling rapidly (not to worry, they are still a teensy-beentsy minority). I admit I was, for an instant, a bit surprised, until I had this epiphany: oh yeah, the internet.
The internet has made possible the instantaneous widespread propagation of any—I emphasize ANY—crackpot idea that happens to resonate in certain susceptible minds.
What makes for a susceptible mind? There are a number of hypotheses (and mixtures thereof), but my favorite is sheer lack of imagination, as evinced by basketball great Shaquille O’Neal, who opined: “I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to me,” he declared. “I do not go up and down at a 360-degree angle, and all that stuff about gravity.”
The O’Neal quote made me wonder if this Flat Earth resurgence might be part of an enormous prank. The Shack has demonstrated a pretty good sense of humor in the past.
What’s in a Name? from Romeo and Juliet to the NIH
The Power of Names, Like It or Not
In the August 24 Washington Post, we hear that ESPN yanked an unfortunate Asian-American from broadcasting a University of Virginia football game, the sportscaster’s trespass being that he bore the name: Robert Lee. Elsewhere in the same issue, Dana Milbank skewered ESPN (and ludicrously overdone Political Correctness in general), with a satire that suggested we should ban from the public eye Bruce Lee, Tommy Lee, Harper Lee, Spike Lee, Bobby Lee, Lee Majors, Lee Jeans, etc.
We are all familiar with the epigram, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” spoken by Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Really? What if the flower were named Kerblunkanoo? Ratstikittel? Skrutabucket? Wine critic: “This chardonnay has a complex aroma, a fusion of pears and peaches with a delicate hint of skrutabucket.” OK—it could become catchy. But that doesn’t change the fact that names shade perceptions. People named Hitler can attest to that. Racial, ethnic, gender, and religious slurs attest to the demeaning power of names. Actors and actresses acquire stage names to spin their personae, perhaps the most famous being the name Marilyn Monroe to replace the decidedly unglamorous Norma Jeanne Mortenson.
Continue reading “What’s in a Name? from Romeo and Juliet to the NIH”
Guess Who’s Attacking J.K. Rowlings
J.K. Rowlings is now under Twitter siege by, guess who, Trump fans who were fans of hers, now angry ex-fans stirred to invective on account of Rowlings’s criticism of Their Royal Highness, Donald Trump.
Yes! Some of them are now burning her books! (Where have we heard of this kind of thing before?)
(Note the Post has a paywall, and they will block you if you’re not a subscriber and have gone over your monthly limit.)