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At one of the Youtube videos from the PD Comic Con appearance, I posted this comment in response to someone who said they preferred not seeing the Ethan/Dorian scene continue because SEX EWW and it's-better-implied, yada yada, and then said the Ethan/Brona scene was EWW, and yeah - am I supposed to just listen to that?


( Ah, your perspective on sex scenes is rather different from mine... )


It's rather off-the-cuff and may contain some inaccuracies about exact things that happened on the show, but it's how I see it, basically. Because bitch, you do not throw down on my boy. Ever.

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Over HERE, at PBS.org, you can view a fascinating Frontline documentary called The Persuaders, about the advertising industry and the immense changes it has wrought in our culture. It talks about how advertisers are no longer content to just sell you stuff; they are now aiming at recreating the world, enveloping all of us in a "second skin" that lines the reality we live in. But a problem is thereby created: the more ads suffuse our lives, the less attention we are wont to pay to them.

This is first-rate stuff, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the nearly insane vagaries of 21st century media-driven culture.


As for me, it reinforces a central development of my last ten years: I am SO FUCKING GLAD I no longer have TV.

Is anyone else bothered by the rather virulent puritanical streak that's become de rigeur among people claiming to speak up "against intolerance"? It's a phenomenon that I find truly perplexing - that in arguing for a supposedly more "tolerant" society, they so often exhibit intolerance themselves. The very same people who plead that we should all make allowances for culture or upbringing or psychological asshattery will often turn around and slam someone mercilessly for some perceived failing, no matter how slight that failing may be. There seems to be no quarter granted these days, little effort to try and understand others' motivations or behavior (unless that effort will make the critic look cool).

The thing that really amazes me is that an artist or whoever can spend a lifetime creating great work, advocating genuinely for good causes, fighting against nefarious influences and social injustice, and yet these crusaders for societal perfection will damn that person for things that have nothing to do with their worthiness in the larger scheme of things. Folks these days (and it seems a growing trend among younger people) will angrily toss out any valuable contribution to society that a person might have made, no matter how large or influential, on the strength of an obnoxious habit, a comment perceived as offensive, or a less than pleasant encounter. A sense of perspective, once commonly accepted as a virtue, is now derided as some sort of capitulation to Teh Evil Patriarchy, or whatever shibboleth has reared its head this week.

This is one of the great dangers of the cult of celebrity, in my opinion. When we're constantly bombarded with clips and quotes and unwelcome paparazzi moments from the lives of those who have achieved some fame in their field, some people not only start to think they have a right to know everything about them, they also start taking for granted the right to judge someone they've never met. And these days that tendency is crashing head-on into the increasingly common belief that just because we have an opinion on how things ought to be, that gives us the right to look down on, harrass and demand particular acts or behavior from people we imagine have wronged us in some way, even if there is no connection whatsoever between us and them, or the supposed wrong has nothing to do with us.

What in the world has given people this bizarre sense of entitlement, the belief that not only do they have the right to demand that everybody act exactly as they judge is right, but that they have no obligation to be kind, merciful or tolerant themselves? It's pretty damn hard to take all this social crusading seriously when the crusaders are so quick to condemn others in their own turn. It comes off childish and whiny and pathetic, and certainly does nothing to convince me of the right of their claims.

Over at elasg's journal, there's a very interesting discussion going on:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/elasg/34794.html

Much discussion of science and religion, and their mutual places in the classroom. Check it out!

That wasn't my last post about the election. Or things in general in the current political climate.

Here are a couple of interesting things sent my way by sheridanmiller, a good friend who recently joined up here at LJ. (Say hi!)


Evidence Mounts That The Vote May Have Been Hacked Well, color me surprised.


Bin Laden Sought Bush Victory I take that back. Color me shocked!


Druggists Refuse To Give Out Pills Say, if I'm a vegan waitress, can I refuse to serve a hamburger?


And last but not least -


This guy decided to make it man-to-man I gotta fess up - I hope he gets his chance.