I thought I forgot to publish this on January 9. So it now covers January 10 as well. There’s actually not much that’s changed.
Donald Trump
I’m seeing a conclusion without a properly developed argument:
I don’t know why so many of my colleagues are reluctant to say in print or on the air what many of us saw in the room during today’s Iran speech. @realDonaldTrump appeared sedated.
He slurred his speech and had trouble pronouncing words.
He sniffed constantly.
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) January 9, 2020
I assume there’s more to this than something like a cold or the flu? And please, if there is, help me to know how I should know that there is.
Political polarization
There’s a new blog post (as of January 9) entitled, “These disunited states.” I had written this prior to finding the article by Annalisa Merelli in Quartz, which helps to illustrate the mythology that preserves the status quo.[1] I’ve updated the post accordingly and also with a more accurate formulation of the means of “persuasion” in an exchange system.
Annalisa Merelli, “New study finds most Americans don’t really care about inequality,” Quartz, January 9, 2020, https://qz.com/1780450/new-study-finds-most-americans-dont-really-care-about-inequality/
Royals
Fuck the monarchy.
No one should marry into such an abhorrent institution. How was Meghan’s marriage to Harry ever celebrated?
There is no reason for a monarchy to still exist anywhere. We tell civilians not to join the military. Don’t marry a royal either.
— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) January 9, 2020
Had all this Meghan and Harry “We’re stepping back from royal family really but not really” nonsense happened before they got married, perhaps it would’ve sounded a bit more sincere. https://t.co/REXLEbr92r
— Mona Eltahawy (@monaeltahawy) January 9, 2020
I have to say that I really don’t buy Mona Eltahawy’s antipathy. The photographs I’ve seen of the couple seem to me to show a woman who has genuinely fallen in love with a man—everyone should have someone who loves them the way she appears to love him.
But Eltahawy seeks to regulate whom that woman may fall in love with, whom she may marry. Which is an awfully odd position to adopt for someone who campaigns so vigorously against the patriarchy.
Yes, from an anarchist perspective, and as residents of East Sussex seem to have noted,[2] monarchy is, perhaps, at or near the epitome of illegitimate authority. But it’s hard not to acknowledge a point here:
The novelist Hilary Mantel once compared the royal family to pandas. There is one big difference, though: Zoos are nice to pandas.[3]
(Assuming one regards captivity as “nice.”)
Helen Lewis highlights a parallel between the treatment of Harry’s mother (Diana) and his wife (Meghan Markle) and, at some point, you have to say, wait, the sort of coverage that, as many of us remember, pursues a woman to her death at high speed in a French tunnel and then photographs her while she’s dying[4] is by no means a legitimate form of journalism.
There are other forms of authority besides monarchy that can be every bit as cruel. We need to attend to those as well.
Helen Lewis, “Harry and Meghan Won’t Play the Game,” Atlantic, January 9, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/prince-harry-meghan-markle-sussex/604657/
Rebecca Mead, “Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Royal Flush,” New Yorker, January 10, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-royal-flush
- [1]Annalisa Merelli, “New study finds most Americans don’t really care about inequality,” Quartz, January 9, 2020, https://qz.com/1780450/new-study-finds-most-americans-dont-really-care-about-inequality/↩
- [2]Rebecca Mead, “Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Royal Flush,” New Yorker, January 10, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-royal-flush↩
- [3]Helen Lewis, “Harry and Meghan Won’t Play the Game,” Atlantic, January 9, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/prince-harry-meghan-markle-sussex/604657/↩
- [4]Helen Lewis, “Harry and Meghan Won’t Play the Game,” Atlantic, January 9, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/01/prince-harry-meghan-markle-sussex/604657/↩