Eddie Pensier writes:
- The “worth” of a man, explained.
- How to make snake oil palatable to the masses? Chucking in the word “quantum” helps.
- A registered sex offender tells his story.
- Los Angeles Opera’s 2014-15 season will include three operas featuring Beaumarchais’ Figaro: Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles. All are worth seeing if you never have, but only one has instrumentation calling for a synthesizer and 50 kazoos.
- Ken White of Popehat reminds us of the two things to do when talking to the police:
–Shut up
–oh you dumb son of a bitch will you for the love of God shut up
- The debacle surrounding the University of South Australia’s Male Studies course that will never be, from the irreplaceable JudgyBitch.
- Prick With A Fork goes on a righteous tear about alcohol service laws and prohibitionist culture.
- A romantic remake of 1984 starring Kristen Stewart? Please, just shoot me now.
Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799), author of the Figaro trilogy of plays
Blowhard, Esq.
Callowman
Sherbrooke
Eddie Pensier
Enzo Nakamura
Epaminondas
Fabrizio del Wrongo
Fenster
Brundle Guy
Glynn Marshes
Paleo Retiree
Atypical Neurotic
Question Lady
Sax von Stroheim
Sir Barken Hyena
The Mistaken
Uncouth Reflections 
We don’t need even a good remake of “1984” right now. Unless you are unfortunate enough to live in North Korea or Cuba, “1984” is not the proper cautionary tale for our time (although it certainly was 30 or 40 years ago). Now, “Brave New World”, on the other hand…
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Thanks for the heads up about the L.A. Opera. I think at minimum I’ll be attending “The Marriage of Figaro” and “The Barber of Seville.”
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Kazoos, my friend. Fifty kazoos.
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Thank you for the linkage good sir!
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My pleasure.
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The academy is many things including, unavoidably and often unfortunately, a venue for the playing out of cultural conflicts.
I agree there was a Long March of sorts through the institutions, with the result that feminism is dominant over its still-largely-unnamed opposite number in universities. And that if you are a Male Culture Warrior you will likely opt to send some of the troops into higher education to seize back some of the lost high ground. That’s from the Culture Warrior perspective, as each side looks to gain advantage in the broader culture, reasonably seeing the academy as a tool for doing so. Makes sense from that perspective. But what of the effect on higher education? What about *its* “worth”?
There are two reasons at least to oppose courses that spread a particular feminist ideology. One is that you oppose the ideology; the other that you don’t like the bad effects on the institution of propaganda disguised as serious academics. If you hold more to the latter view, as I do, you are likely to be suspicious, as I am, of importing ideological male studies disguised as serious academics for the same reason you are suspicious of the feminist version.
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Sure, unbiased would be best – but since we seem to be able to do that in this society, the next best thing is balancing propaganda with counter-propaganda. At least students will come away from the encounter knowing that two sides to the question exist, which is more than they do now. In this as in so many other areas, the best is the enemy of the good. Liberals used to understand this.
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You’ll recall I agreed fire with fire is an appropriate response if the goal is winning a culture war. But I wonder what academic value there is to using the classroom for fighting culture wars rather than actually learning things.
Conservatives used to understand this. Most still do, in fact.
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