Not Really Human

Depsite all the tantrums the Far-Right threw about Clinton mentioning that it was deplorable to be a racist and a bigot, the special snowflakes on the Right have no problem declaring that anyone who isn't just like them -- following their religious creed, believing their political theology -- is "not really human."

Here's Rod Dreher, insisting in another wall of text ranting screed that anyone who isn't Christian-like-him isn't "fully human."

For [LGBT people]. one’s full humanity requires being able to express sexual and psychosexual desires, because these things are part of their identity. For traditional Christians, being fully human (in the sense of fulfilling our nature) requires ordering those desires to the ideal God reveals to us in Scripture and in nature. Understand me clearly: I’m not saying that LGBT people are “less than human,” any more than I would say that someone who cheats on his wife is less than human. Rather, I’m saying that all of us realize our full humanity when we live by certain truths embedded within Creation. In this sense, sin can be seen as a failure to be fully human, i.e., to fulfill God’s will for ourselves.

Links!

So how about that Comey hearing?

I'm no fan of the knobstick who got Trump elected -- he says he feels sad about what he did, but yeah, buddy, that cuts no ice with me. You're sad, and my country is being destroyed. You did a bad thing and you should feel bad.

But I think it's clear enough: Comey says yes, Trump obstructed justice. Yes, the Russians interfered with the election. Yes, Trump is involved.

Will this cause the GOP to do the right thing? Don't make me laugh.

Here, have some links:


Linguistic posts are my kink.


Existential Comics meets Mad Max.

Working Hard

I'm getting so much done during these weeks when I am off-campus -- I finished my novel; I proofed another novel (not mine, but really good and a lot of fun -- look for Unraveling Timelines, this fall); I have written about two-thirds of what I think is going to be a novella.

I've also planted a garden, made inroads on the dreadful wilderness that has been my yard for the past five or six years, sorted and alphabetized all my books, moved those we plan to donate or sell into storage, and reduced (some of) the chaos in the house.

All this, of course, while the USA fragments and collapses around our ears. (I'm not watching any news, though I now have subscriptions to both the NYTimes and the Washington Post.)

Nicole and Maggie asked, a few weeks ago, how people felt about their jobs -- whether they felt they needed to work in order to have purpose and structure in their lives, or whether (if, for instance, Universal Basic Income ever becomes a reality) they would be just as happy and productive without having to work for a living.

I seem to be much more productive when I don't have daily classes to teach, and papers to grade. I don't know if this is because it's only for these seven weeks; or if the effect would last.

I wouldn't mind finding out, though. (We can dream!)

The Hell?

I'm seriously befuddled by the Religious Right these days -- well, I suppose that means most Conservatives in the USA, since the GOP has been eaten alive by the Evangelicals it coaxed into the party in the hope of winning a few elections.

Friday Links!

All the books are in order. I am (almost) caught up on my laundry. The chimney is fixed (finally). Now all I have to do is vacuum and I'll have nothing to do but write. Is this my beautiful house? Is this my beautiful life?

Have some links!

This essay by Rebecca Solnit on Trump is brilliant. Longish, but well worth the read.

Books Done!

I have sorted and shelved all* the books!

Say WAH HOO for me!




*and by "all" I mean all except the books in Dr. Skull's office. Those are his problem.

What I'm Reading Now

I'm working on finishing off my novel (it's finished, I'm just doing the final read through) before submitting it, as well as editing another novel (someone else's, I'm just doing the proofreading), and also writing what is turning out to be a novella (why, why, why do I write novellas, why?), so I'm busier than usual with writing these days.

But! I'm still reading heaps.

Justine Larbalestier, My Sister Rosa

This, like all of Larbalestier's novels, is compulsively readable. (Larbalestier wrote Liar, which is one of my favorite werewolf books.) It's YA, from the POV of an older brother, about his younger sister, who he is pretty sure is a sociopath. His parents are high-earning, high-status workaholics who have left him to raise the sister (six years younger than he is), and given him essentially no help in dealing with her psychological issues.

What's This?

Hey, look! An artist we all know and love has started a Patreon!

For $2.00/ month, you too can support a fledgling artist!

Monday Links

The Worst Student in your class had something to say

Math joke (I think?)

Why this amuses me so much I cannot begin to explain

Interesting cartoon about the division of labor in the heteronormative household

What I'm Reading

I'm still sorting books -- up to the T's now, plus we have sorted and shelved the poetry, the graphic novels and (some of) the reference books.

Meanwhile, here's what I've been reading:

Jo Walton, Farthing, Ha'Penny, Half a Crown

These are three separate books, a trilogy. I found them during the great sorting, and uttered a cry of glee, since I had forgotten all about them. I think these may well be the first Jo Walton books I read, though I'm not sure about that.

They're alternative history novels, set in London (mostly), a London in which England made peace with Hitler in 1941. America never entered the war; Hitler conquers most of the Continent, and in the first novel, Farthing, Germany is still fighting Russia.

Life at the delagar house

My kid and Dr. Skull went to the Farmer's Market together this morning. They returned with many things, including five enormous sacks of pickling cucumbers. "TF," I said, when I saw these. "What do you plan to do with that many cucumbers?"

"Make pickles," Dr. Skull said, as if twenty gallons of pickles were just what we needed.

My kid's tweet about it:

my dad: we're gonna buy five bags of pickles
me: why
my dad: mom is 85% of our impulse control
me: sounds legit

— me, an intellectual (@jasperlizard) May 20, 2017

Sorting Books

Still sorting and alphabetizing books. I made it through the J's today.

You would not believe how tiring this is. I mean, most books can't weight more than half a pound, right? And I'm only working at this a few hours a day. But at the end of the day I'm aching like I've been bailing hay or digging ditches.

Also, books are very dusty.

Also, we have so much poetry. You'd think one of us was married to a poet or something.

Monday Linkage

I'm spending these days between semesters taking all the books in the house off the shelves and out of the boxes in the back closet (where they have been stores forever), dusting the shelves and the books, and putting everything in alphabetical order, and order by subject.

So far I'm up to the C's.

I'm also writing a lot, though. Meanwhile, have some links!


Lots of people seemed to be confused by what cultural appropriation is and what we should care. Scalzi writes a post. (But a broad hint, for those who are confused: no, "cultural appropriation" does not meant that white straight people aren't "allowed" to write about people from other cultures.)

My Kid's Tweet

D'aw, y'all:

since its mother's day i'd like to take a moment to appreciate my my mom @delagar. having her as my mom is the luckiest thing in my life

— me, an intellectual (@jasperlizard) May 14, 2017

Liberal = Not-Christian

This attitude, which I'm not even sure Rod Dreher realizes he ascribes to, is one that my child was exposed to commonly as she grew up in our Red State.

It's not that Rod Dreher is saying, wow, look at how American attitudes toward these specific social questions have changed. No, he is literally saying that if someone is a Liberal they cannot be a Christian.