Sen. Hawley: Porn/Video Games Ruining Masculinity, CNN: Last Generation of Humans? Both Sides Hate Lindsey
We did say "ado about everything."
Yet again we see another instance of the alpha male MAGA whining that white, conservative, hetero, Christian men don’t stand a chance in modern America and their oppression should be one of your biggest concerns. I suppose one has to luxuriate in MAGA culture to fully understand their complaint, and I’m willing to do a lot for the newsletter but that ain’t one of them. Apparently, the issue centers around the fact that because the left insists that women, LGBTQ, and POC be treated with equal dignity and opportunity, white men are now downtrodden and they believe that we are upset about their masculinity, that “masculinity” is the problem. Josh Hawley cries that the entire sordid condition leaves these men with nothing but porn and video games as an outlet.
To the extent that Hawley is sending us a message with his specific complaint, it is both odd and unnecessarily creepy. There were other ways to make the exact same entitled lament. Perhaps he preferred this one.
Let’s be clear, male masculinity is no more a problem than women’s femininity. The problem lies in the Right-Wing’s definition of “masculinity,” which often centers solely around the fact that they run the world, women and gays better fcking know their place and, you - you weeny can go to hell if you disagree. Wanna fight?
We refer to such attitudes as “toxic masculinity” and it’s used to keep others down, not lift men up.
Perhaps a hypothetical will help. The guy who thinks he’s the king of Texas barbeque, lifts weights, shoots quail, works on cars, and still plays very competitive softball is not the problem.
The problem is the guy who thinks it’s okay to tell a co-worker she’s hot, tell women they can’t drive, forces themselves on women, picks men over women for promotions, refers to gays as “homos” and freaks, and assumes that all liberal men are metrosexual pansy-ass boys that they can pound into the ground, yeah, those guys are the problem. That is when “masculinity” (as they define it) becomes an issue.
And we have only touched on the problems, but see e.g. Donald Trump for “toxic masculinity.” As for porn and video games, well - yeah. Issues. But Hawley can deal with those personally, just like everyone else.
**
Anderson Cooper spent a large part of his “60 Minutes” segment on Sunday night interviewing Israeli historian and bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari. Cooper admitted that what he heard freaked him the ffff out.
Harari said that homo sapiens are not long for this world. Rawstory gives us a little raw meat:
Cooper quoted Harari's claim that humans alive today will be "one of the last generations of homosapiens" and that "within a century or two, Earth will be dominated by entities that are more different from us than we are different from chimpanzees.
We aren’t exactly sure why that’s all radical or even that scary. Look down at your phone. Now compare yourself to people just 125 years ago when pictures that moved were known as movies, now look down at your phone again. You know your exact position on this planet, you can look up just about any fact ever known, you will see an accurate forecast for the continent to which you’re flying tomorrow, text your friend in South Africa - instantly - and, if it’s your thing, you can watch people… mating? Who saw that coming 125 years ago?
You even have braces, highlights, heart caths, and antibiotics/vaccines. You’re pretty close to a different species already, at least functionally.
"You know, we'll soon have the power to reengineer our bodies and brains, whether it is with genetic engineering or by directly connecting brains to computers, or by creating completely non-organic entities,
"If true, that creates a whole other species," Cooper observed.
"This is something that is way beyond just another species," Harari said.
No shit?
I have been studying these issues for decades, the quantum mechanics stuff in my bio isn’t just to look cool (though it does). This is evolution and it is the inevitable march of nature. Most importantly, it doesn’t need to be a bad thing, at all. Just because we might reach artificial intelligence such that a computer one day flips on and is both conscious and 10 to the 500th power smarter than the one before (because it can just keep running overnight at the speed of light, getting smarter each time.) But even if machine/computers eventually do outlast biological humans - which seems inevitable now - even that is not necessarily a bad thing. It doesn’t mean they’re going to take over the planet and kill every last human. Maybe it will love us for creating it.
Yes, humanity has done great harm to itself but also created a lot of beauty. A lot would depend upon who puts what in the AI programs. If one lets Zuckerberg near it, the planet will be gone within a week. But there are good people, too.
There is one little issue that our futurist overlooked. Science has yet to explain consciousness. Neuro scientists can tell you exactly what part of your brain moves your right hand, what you see, and how you talk. But they have no clue, none, nada, zip, why you love, where your inner voice comes from, who you’re talking to when you’re alone and say, “Where are my keys?” or even what you think a strawberry tastes like. They know the location of your taste buds, they just don’t know what signal your brain is reading. Do strawberries taste the same to you as they do to me? Dunno and neither do they.
It is called consciousness, and since they can’t explain it, we’re one up on the computers… for now.
In fact, the goal would be to uplift human consciousness into a computer interface within a robotic body. No more clothes, no more worrying about the weather, even in space. Settle Mars? No problem, don’t need air, don’t care about the temperature. Cities in Antarctica because the cold temps are required to most efficiently build some chips, hell yes - it’s a little dark in winter but you have that infrared thing (and ultraviolet, and radio, and x-ray…), no problem. And yet you could still be you, or - well, they will be them.
Consciousness (a person, a soul, whatever one wants to call it) will still inhabit that “computer” because we imbued it with a unique identity. It will be happy, sad, in love, and appreciate the view of the rings of Saturn from one of the many moons. One might even paint it.
Don’t freak out, Anderson. If it doesn’t work, it’s not our problem. We have more pressing issues.
**
Lindsey Graham Has a Problem: Both Sides Hating On Him Today, Encouraged Senate Seargent of Arms to Use His Gun on Rioters
Back at the mothership, Political Flare, I used to always write out the steps to overcoming a massive problem, like a failed insurrection that had even the top Republicans blaming Trump.
First, let some time pass, wait for other things to come up to talk about. Second, start whitewashing the whole matter, it was basically a tour that got a little rowdy. It was a protest with a few bad actors, all that. Next, create a martyr, and they had one ready-made with Ashli Babbitt, who now represents every MAGA. Fourth, characterize the people arrested as political prisoners, is there no justice for them? And voila. Not only is the insurrection no longer a problem, but it’s also now working for you, somewhat, at least on your side.
But now Lindsey Graham is screwing everything up. According to reports out today, and everywhere on the net, Graham was scared enough during the attack on the Senate, he wanted the Seargent of Arms to use that gun they’d provided to the force. According to the Independent:
At 2.19pm on 6 January, when rioters were reportedly already inside, Senate and House leaders had been evacuated and taken to an undisclosed location, said the report.
But many lawmakers stayed back in their chambers before they were taken to safety. It was during this time that the Republican Senator [Graham] allegedly asked US Capitol Hill police personnel to use their guns against the mob.
“He yelled at the Senate sergeant-at-arms. ‘What are you doing? Take back the Senate! You’ve got guns. Use them.’ The South Carolina senator was adamant. ‘We give you guns for a reason,’ he repeated. ‘Use them.’”
I am not going to go after Lindsey about asking the police there to use the guns. Civilians often overreact in a situation and beg police to “do something,” and then the police use their (better) professional judgment.
What is obvious is that Graham is a hypocritical little piece of whiny-ass spit, having defended Trump and voted against a thorough investigation. In the heat of the moment, Lindsey feared for his life. One would think that would stay with a person. Lindsey has had all too easy a time dismissing it.
Now Lindsey is under attack from all sides on Twitter. The MAGAs are furious that Lindsey wanted “peaceful protestors shot,” while liberals are pretty angry about Lindsey being Trump’s most reliable apologist for January 6th. That sounds like the Lindsey Graham we’ve come to expect in the last five to six years.
Now, can we talk about the most obvious felony committed with respect to the Georgia election? Lindsey’s phone call asking about losing some votes? Tossing some votes? I don’t care what Lindsey said in the heat of the moment on January 6th. I do care about what he’s said since. Even more still, I care about the felony he so obviously committed when calling the Georgia Secretary of State and trying to get the state overturned.
****
jmiciak@yahoo.com and on Twitter @JasonMiciak, and here, Much Ado About Everything: By Jason Miciak