Do You Hear Yourselves?

Nick Palmisciano: "Lena Dunham Says Extinction of White Men Will Lead to Better Men."

Extinction, is it? Up until now I thought the plan was just to invite so many other kinds into America that "white men" would be a comfortably contained minority.

We can be sophisticated about this, and suggest that it's not the actual men but the concept of "white" men that she (and her father) are arguing ought to be extinguished. I might even have some sympathy on the point, if it were to be conducted as an intellectual exercise in re-examining concepts. I'm not sure that "white" has done us much good, although it was useful as a way of resolving the last American crisis brought on by mass immigration (from Germany, from Ireland, from Italy, and so forth). It was a stopgap solution, but its usefulness may have expired.

That, though, requires us to have a conversation about what we ought to be instead. What's the new ideal to which we would, as a culture, ask immigrants to assimilate? It doesn't have to be "white," but we do have to have some standard or we will cease to be a culture at all.

I like this one:



That seems sufficiently inclusive.

8 comments:

Tom said...

"That's my dad!"

That explains a lot.

raven said...

Such ignorance is marvelous, in it's purity. Would that we could refine steel to such standards. To be surrounded by the cornucopia of freedom and plenty that generations of white men have made possible, and not see it- that is a trick. It must be the fish/water story , hopefully she never gets her wish because it is going to be unpleasant gasping and flopping on the bank.

Has she ever thought, even once, when flipping on the lights, about the long train of experimentation, invention, and industry that brought that miracle to her kitchen? I guess it is the twin to harpies criticizing a happy white man, who has just landed a spacecraft on a comet, for wearing a funny shirt.

I think it may be a bad idea to constantly anger men who can land a rocket on a comet. Just does not seem like a good plan to piss them off, especially coming from a group who can barely manage shoelaces.

Grim said...

Oh, she'll still want underlings to keep the lights on for her. She just wants ones who won't swagger. You know, like men.

raven said...

What she will want, and what she will get, are two different things.

Pajama boy is going to have a very hard time doing the jobs men do.

Grim said...

That may be.

Still, I think it is the answer to your question about whether she has ever paused to reflect on the legacy of heroes who made possible the world she lives in. The answer is that, if she has noticed them at all, she has not thought of them as great heroes to whom she owes an unfathomable debt. She has noticed them as servants, and been offended at their swagger.

That they might have good cause to swagger is not something she has paused to consider.

douglas said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
douglas said...

Grim, this is an excellent question, and one I've considered, but I don't think I was asking quite the right question. I think it was yesterday or the day before I was saying to my wife that I didn't think hardly any of our youth could tell you what "American culture" is. Hell, I don't think most adults could. I think Dennis Prager's reference to the American Trinity is a good start- it's on our money: In God we trust, e pluribus unum, and Liberty. In the old days, Superman fought for truth, justice, and the American way. How else (besides the excellent video) can we encapsulate American culture?

Ymar Sakar said...

The people cutting down trees in South Carolina after Hurricane Matthew came through, were interesting.

Although the amount of ibuprofen they were popping to contain the muscle pain was a little bit alarming. I prefer to use peppermint oil, Therapeutic grade, for that one.

There were some women and teenagers who apparently volunteered for the work as well.

As for white culture or civilization, my current theory is that the Japanese, Germans, Chinese, Jews, and Americans have all had deep spiritual connections to God, sometime in the past. In order for the knowledge of God to flow into humans, humans must grow to be capable of understanding divine level concepts, which obviously the Jews back in 33 AD couldn't do so no matter what other advancements God had given them. Only a few began to want to believe that Jesus Christ was the Holy One of Israel. Instead of genetics producing IQ, and IQ producing civilization, I think humans have misplaced the origin/nature of the First Cause.

It's not hard for me to believe Newton or Tesla, Socrates or Miyamoto Musashi, had delved deep enough to reach a connection with God using their own methods. Religion, like most human constructs, is a very flawed and often stupid structure. As with democracy and republics, it is the best people have produced, however, maintaining it will be the work of ages, and improving upon it pretty much impossible.