Month: June 2010

A reader writes:

A reader mentioned graffiti he spotted in Germany during the 1998 World Cup that said "Two world wars and one world cup…".  Here's a great ad that deserves a view.

Another writes:

I'm not a big soccer fan, but I have heard the "2 wars, 1 cup" bit that the Brits throw around. My reaction has always been, "So was the British team made up of Americans and Russians?"

Frum responds to John Hawkins:

Hawkins does not argue that these statements are false – that e.g. Glenn Beck is not a crank. His point is that regardless of truth, these criticisms should not occur. Or anyway, that no conservative should engage in them. Our job is to fall into line and not notice that Beck is in fact a crank or that Palin is not well-informed or that the Tea Party has saddled the Republicans with awful and probably doomed candidates like Sharron Angle and Rand Paul.

Hawkins’ attitude here reminds me of an ancient definition of a political party: “It doesn’t matter what damn lie we tell, so long as we all tell the same damn lie.”

Gail Dines wrote a book about "how porn has hijacked our sexuality." From an interview with the author:

A woman’s body has limits. All of ours do. What you see in Gonzo porn is a woman’s anus that is red and sore and a swollen vagina. All of these things happen because of the way a woman’s body is treated. Even the pornography industry says that Gonzo is very demanding and potentially dangerous for women. If the industry is saying it, then there’s certainly a problem. What I’ve found with my interviews with men is the more they watch, the more they want porn sex, because they become habituated to that kind of industrial-strength sex.

Once you become habituated to that, anything else looks boring or uninteresting. What I find is that some men lose interest in their partners altogether and use more pornography. Other men nag and cajole their girlfriends to perform porn sex, or they use prostitutes because that’s who they think they can play this porn sex out on.

Dreher gets all world-weary in response:

I intend to be very strict with my children about their use of the Internet, with particular respect to protecting them from porn. But I've got to tell you, I fear for them all, especially my daughter, trying to find a suitable marriage partner in a world in which so many of their peers will have grown up with widely-available pornography.

Dayo Olopade, "someone who usually snaps 'which country?' when 'Africa' is mentioned," notices widespread African support for Ghana:

Suddenly, pan-African solidarity appears to trump major differences in culture, history and geography. But why? In similar circumstances, would the United States (out of the running) cheer the Mexican team (out), or the South Koreans (out) root for Japan (still kicking)? The answer is probably not–and suggests that the myth of "Africa" is more seductive than even Africans want to admit.

In the context of history, the cheering makes some sense. Under leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere and even Joseph Mobutu, nationalism thrived in the 1960s and 70s. But the African states that have since failed their citizens time and again today inspire a less than robust sense of civic pride. Ethnic, linguistic or religious identification may generally be stronger than the political borders that partition the West African coast, for example–or do not partition the vast, conflict-ridden eastern Congo. And for many of the African nations that did not qualify–Senegal, Kenya, Angola and Egypt, to name a few–the South African World Cup was always going to be a proxy war.

(Photo: Ghana's striker Kevin-Prince Boateng celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the 2010 World Cup round of 16 football match USA vs. Ghana on June 26, 2010 at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg. By Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty.)

A reader writes:

Today's Quote of the Day from Matt Taibbi made something gel for me – something I think you've been illustrating for a long time. Forgive me my slowness, but damn: journalism is dying because of (a) the challenge from the blogosphere and (b), the inexplicable, getting-worse-every-day cowardice of the MSM in the face of established power. But maybe (b) is explicable – by (a). Reporters are clinging to their privileged relationships with sources because that's all they've got. It's what sets them apart from those dastardly upstarts on the Internet. By clinging and deferring instead of actually reporting, they of course become useless to their audience. Worse than useless, really. This strengthens their opponents, the bloggers. And so they cling more.

Bernstein responds:

When all is said and done, my feeling is that if the case that Palin has a history of telling whoppers can't be made without reference to this story, then I'd give her a pass on this story; if it can be made without this story, then I'd give all other pols a break by letting it go, because I want to allow them to smooth over the rougher edges of their intimate lives.  As it is, I think the case against her on these grounds comfortably reaches overkill without any reference to her children, so if I was a reporter I'd leave it at that.

That's the Palin side of it.  I may have some thoughts later on the press side of things.

A reader writes:

Regarding your comment that the tournament is about nationalism not football: absolutely. Cup games (and some qualifying matches) are the only times I wave the flag, curse out other countries, and go along with all the other jingoist nationalism. It feels great, but I reckon it's a good thing that it's only on a four-year cycle.

Maybe this is why American conservatives hate it – it's patriotism they can't politicize.

Richard Florida makes the connection:

Most experts expect housing prices to decline further as federal supports are withdrawn. Recall it took the better part of two and half decades for housing prices to rebound after the Great Depression. My own hunch is that there is still quite a ways to go, especially in over-built regions like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Miami. But even in these places, more central locations are likely to hold up better. Price declines in the walkable areas of South Beach for example, while considerable, have been significantly less than in downtown Miami or less central and walkable areas. In particular, walkability and neighborhood quality seem to be emerging as the best hedge against massive housing price declines. All of that said, I'd still advocate renting, or at least a wait-and-see approach to buying, while the market remains in such flux.

The story is getting slightly more legs here and here. I like this reader comment:

Why every mother in America didn't burst into spontaneous, incredulous laughter when she first trotted out her BS tale is beyond me.

And this:

I have given birth 3 times, all home deliveries with no anesthesia and only a midwife for the 3rd since I figured my good luck might run out.  When you are within hours of giving birth, you do not — you CANNOT — sit with legs crossed in an airport reading a book, or board a flight and buckle up, or sit in an airplane seat for 10 hours followed by a drive in the middle of the night. 

The wild ride has been total BS from the beginning and with each of Sarah's retelling, it just becomes more ridiculous that anyone would believe it. 

Did Oprah actually read Palin's account in Going Rogue? Seriously? I mean: it's surreal.