An illustrated version of Mill’s “On Liberty”

May 18, 2018 • 12:45 pm

I hesitate to call this to your attention, because I think everybody who follows this website should read John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, which constitutes the best argument in print for free speech—including “hate speech”. However, if you don’t have the time or inclination, the Heterodox Academy has put out an illustrated version consisting solely of Chapter 2: the heart of Mill’s argument.

Although you can buy it on Kindle or get an expensive hardcover version, you can also get a free downloadable 48-page pdf by clicking on the screenshot below:

As the HA page notes, “Editors Richard Reeves (a biographer of Mill) and Jon Haidt (a social psychologist) have written a brief introduction to link Mill and his time to the issues of our time, and
artist Dave Cicirelli has created 16 gorgeous original illustrations that amplify the power of Mill’s metaphors and arguments.

There’s also a free downloadable pdf in the book’s original format (two pages at a time). Read either the original version or this one, but read one of them!

 

 

Victimhood culture and its alternatives

May 18, 2018 • 11:30 am

About five weeks ago I highlighted a new book by Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning, which you can buy (or see a preview) at the link below. It’s by two sociologists, and although there may be a bit much academic sociology for the general reader, there are lots of references to back up their statements.

I thought the book worth reading because I firmly believe that much of intersectional and authoritarian Leftism is a form of solipsism rather than a call for social justice—a way of calling attention to yourself (there’s nobody so demanding of empathy as a self-styled victim) to set you apart from others. That’s not to say that there are no victims, for of course bigotry persists in this world, but it’s hard to explain how those who are fully entitled and “privileged” nevertheless try to place themselves as high as possible on the victim hierarchy, and do things like demanding new forms of segregation, like campus “cultural centers,” or kicking gay men off the hierarchy because they’re not sufficiently oppressed.

What’s new in the interview that’s not in the book is the authors’ analysis of the #MeToo movement and a more detailed discussion of “cultural appropriation”, whose policers see as a form of moral pollution. They also have a few choice (and not necessarily positive) words about Lindsay Shepherd, who seems increasingly to be touting her own status as victim as well as courting white supremacists while denying it.

This view is not popular, for it “erases” the self-styled victims, but I think Campbell and Manning have some valid points. As I summarized their argument in my last post:

. . . the main topic is the pervasiveness of victimhood culture on college campuses, which means mostly the Left.

Campbell and Manning explain why campuses seem to have become the focus of this culture (I won’t explain that here), and contrast it with two other forms of culture that have existed over history. One is “Honor Culture” (the culture of the Old South, some Muslim societies, and many street gangs), in which individuals are expected to be offended by insults and take matters into their own hands, meting out what they consider “justice” to restore their honor. Another is “Dignity Culture”, in which individuals are supposed to ignore insults, but, if harassment becomes too pervasive or damaging, to appeal to third parties like the government rather than acting as vigilantes.

Campbell and Manning claim that “Victimhood Culture” is a hybrid of these two forms: individuals, seeing themselves as victims (the pivotal aspect of such a culture), easily take offense at slights and insults, real or perceived, and yet rather than rectifying these slights themselves, appeal to third parties for adjudication. In this case, it’s mostly university authorities (and, of course, social media) who are the “third parties.” That explains in part the huge recent growth of administrators relative to faculty members in American universities. Many of these administrators are there to adjudicate disputes or enforce speech or behavior codes.

If you don’t have time to read their book, the two authors are interviewed by Quillette editor Claire Lehmann at the following link:

I can do little more than call attention to this article, and give you two quotes:

We argue that victimhood culture, at least in its more extreme forms, is new. We see it in its purest form on contemporary college and university campuses. Manifestations of victimhood culture include complaining about and punishing microaggressions, demanding and creating safe spaces, requesting and requiring trigger warnings, and banning or disinviting speakers who might offend designated victim groups.

. . . Like honor cultures, victimhood cultures emphasize one set of vices and virtues over others. They are concerned with eradicating oppression and privilege, and this single-minded moral obsession can lead to the similar kinds of perversities that come from neglecting other virtues in honor cultures. But even in an honor culture your moral status usually has to do with your own behavior rather than someone else’s. In a victimhood culture it’s instead your identity as a victim that gives you status. It’s not your own virtue at all, but someone else’s treatment of you, that makes you virtuous.

One problem with this is that you end up with a system of morality that doesn’t offer much incentive for good behavior. Honor cultures incentivize bravery while neglecting other virtues. But if you want esteem in a victimhood culture, what can you do? It’s not like you can become a victim. Or actually, you can — you can portray yourself as weak and in need of help, you can portray others’ behavior toward you as harmful and oppressive, and you can even lie about being the victim of violence and other offenses. Victimhood culture incentivizes bad behavior.

The extreme form of victimhood culture we see among activists on college campuses leads to another problem in that one’s status as a victim comes not just from individual experiences of victimhood but also from one’s identity as part of a victim group. The idea is that all members of certain groups are victims, but that no one else is. Activists even argue that whites cannot be the victims of racism, or men the victims of sexism. Likewise, whether people can be victims of new offenses like cultural appropriation or microaggression, depends on their identity. A white person wearing a hairstyle associated with African Americans would be cultural appropriation, for instance, but an African American wearing a hairstyle associated with whites would not be. Likewise, those who have pioneered the concept of microaggression have made it clear that not all slights count. A white male elementary school teacher may experience stereotypes and put-downs, for example, but to call those microaggressions would be a “misapplication of the concept.”

The incentivizing of victimhood as a moral virtue also explains why so many campuses are caving into it, becoming virtual slaves to the demands of their students, and why the student complaints become increasingly ridiculous. I see this happening on my own campus, and there are parts of it I can’t abide (see here, for instance).

Everyone wants to be special in some way, and, by viewing identity politics through the lens of sociology and psychology, Campbell and Manning offer one entrée into the tortuous world of campus politics.

h/t: cesar

Paris: Day 10

May 18, 2018 • 10:00 am

So I’ve had ten of the eleven meals I planned, having been knocked out one day by what the French call a “crise de foie.” But I’m back in fighting trim, and consumed a final repast at Chez Denise, a perennial favorite, and, since I ate here the day I arrived, this gives the trip a pleasing symmetry.

I stayed in the hotel much of the morning as I had to reserve a free Economy Plus seat by phone 24 hours in advance of the flight (I’m now in a tier of United Airlines that gives me this one meager benefit), and I got a good seat, on the aisle and with extra leg room. Then off to Les Halles for lunch.

On the way we passed the buildings of the famous Samaritaine department store complex, the four of them built between 1910 and 1928. The store went out of business in 2005, but of course as an architectural gem they can’t destroy the buildings. They will be repurposed for other uses. Here are two of the buildings under renovation.

In the park that replaced the original Les Halles—a huge and now-defunct wholesale food market called “The Belly of Paris”—a group of school kids did some impromptu dancing to the music from someone’s phone:

I visited Les Halles on a family trip when we lived in Germany (my dad was in the Army), and it was something to see. But the market was demolished in 1971 and the wholesale food operation moved to the suburb of Rungis.

In a nearby church, St.-Eustache (built 1532-1632), you can find, among the altars showing Jesus and scenes from the Bible, this lovely diorama: “The Departure of Fruits and Vegetables from the Heart of Paris on the 28th of February, 1969,“by Raymond Mason. It’s a sad testimony to the renovation of Les Halles, which never regained any true Parisian spirit. Even today it’s a soulless series of bland emporia and mediocre restaurants, with a park that draws many homeless people.

But the altar is a refreshing change from the usual Catholic shrines:

Right across the park is Chez Denise, my favorite “Parisian” Paris bistro, and one that is exactly the same as when I first ate there in 1989. Most of the menu is identical, the waiters are older and crack jokes, and the clientele is well fed and happy, knowing they’ll get a terrific and copious meal there—inches away from other diners—at a good price.

The tables are close together, and sometimes you have to share a table with strangers. But they don’t remain strangers for long. I’ve never been there when I haven’t had a conversation with the next table, whether French or tourists. And I’ve never had a bad meal there. Ever. One concession to modernity: the restaurant is no longer open 24 hours a day, but of course I don’t stay up and dine at midnight.

My companion’s entrée: oxtail terrine:

My usual starter, a lighter salade frisée which I order as a light entrée because I know that I’ll also get the onglet de boeuf (hanger steak), rare, with a huge pile of wonderful frites, and that I’ll also have a rich dessert:

My companion got stewed beef cheeks in a rich gravy, served with small macaroni. I’d never had beef cheeks before but she had, and, as a foodie, pronounced these the best she’d ever had. The portion was huge: too big for even a trencherman (trencherperson?) to finish, and the dish also defeated the French woman at the next table.

My onglet, which I’ve cut so you can see it’s cooked the right way (“saignant“, or “bloody” a tad more cooked than “bleu“). Sweet shallots cut the richness of the meat.

I forgot to photograph the dessert, the house’s famous baba au rhum, as we were by then engaged in lively conversation with two older Frenchmen at the next table who had ordered lamb chops and boeuf salé, so we had to ask them how it was. Those guys could eat!

Here is a photo of the outside menu (not complete) and two of the desserts we had the day I arrived (baba au rhum to the left, along with the bottle of rum to douse it with), described in my first Paris post:

Another walk after lunch, as my friend wanted to try a seafood that is almost impossible to get but was described by gourmet Andres de Groot as one of the world’s best foods. On the way, we came across one of Paris’s famous covered streets lined with ancient markets that now harbor modern stores.

And a postprandial snack (not mine) at L’Ecume Saint Honoré : 6 Belon oysters and a violet (close-up below)m which is actually a tunicate of the species Microcosmus sabatieri, and is also called “fig of the sea.” One rarely sees these and my friend called all around Paris until she found a place that had them, but then they got them in only yesterday, which is why one of them had to be eaten after a planned lunch. The oysters were not a problem, as they presented no bulk:

The violet. I didn’t taste it, but my friend said it was hard to describe, but tasted strongly of iodine. The covering was leathery.

And so, stuffed with good food, I returned to my hotel to pack, nap, and plan my egress from Paris tomorrow. Like the fruits and vegetables of Les Halles, I leave the city with sadness.

Reader’s wildlife photos

May 18, 2018 • 8:45 am

By the time you read this, I’ll be up in the air on the way home. But before I leave, here are two new photos by Stephen Barnard from Idaho. His notes are indented:

Nice shot of Boris (an American kestrel, Falco sparverius) this morning. Still no sign of chicks.

Also, an unusual shot of a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) relaxing her wings and warming up in the early morning sun. She had at least two chicks, but they were too obscured to photograph.

Friday: Hili dialogue

May 18, 2018 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Good morning! TGIF and all that.

Apollo 10 was launched today in 1969, in 1980 Mt St. Helens erupted and killed 57 people in the most damaging eruption in US history.

 

Apollo 10’s Lunar Module, Snoopy, approaches the Command/Service Module Charlie Brown for redocking

 

OK, the next aural illusion is upon us. I don’t quite get the intended result, I hear ‘Brain-needle’ plus a noise. As with the previous example, what you hear is largely to do with the frequency / pitch balance in your playback device of choice, plus your ability to hear high or low frequencies. This one adds aural priming as well.

Illuminati confirmed

Dances with sharks

It wasn’t just cats that artists of previous eras struggled with.

Some fascinating footage from Hawaii

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Cheesy joke of the day.

Duet for felid and hominid

https://twitter.com/StefanodocSM/status/997035337351393280

Attack of the looming sitter. I hope everyone is okay.

And a claim that may or may not be true. England has its fair share of rude place names too.

Finally, the real reason we are all here: a cat that never forgets the true priorities of life.

Hili: A few more repetitions and I’m ready.
A: And then?
Hili: Then I have to eat something.
In Polish:
Hili: Jeszcze kilka ćwiczeń i będę gotowa.
Ja: A potem?
Hili: Potem trzeba coś zjeść.

Hat-tip: Susan, Matthew, Heather

Paris: Day 9

May 17, 2018 • 9:15 am

I leave tomorrow morning, and it will be sad. But now I need to go home, do some jobs, and eat healthier food. I also miss my ducks and haven’t heard about them in several days.

Yesterday began with a long walk from the Bastille down the Rue Rivoli and then across the Seine with vague plans to look at the Rue Monge Market in the Fifth. Along the way you get a lovely rear view of Notre Dame, formally known as “Notre-Dame de Paris”:

Along this route you pass one of my favorite buildings in Paris, the Hôtel de Sens, which looks positively medieval. That’s because it is medieval, built between 1475 and 1519 on the spot of earlier buildings, all of which housed the archbishops of Sens. Today it’s an art library, and you can go inside the courtyard, but I love the outside view.

Roaming around the center of Paris, sometimes you get a glimpse of the old masonry underneath the stucco.

. . .or an old Metro sign.

The inside of the L’église Saint-Paul Saint-Louis, a cathedral built between 1627 and 1641.

Perhaps the most famous—but far from the best—restaurant in France, La Tour d’Argent (“the Tower of Silver”). I have to say, though, that I’ve never eaten here; my take comes from several people I know who have dined here. It used to have three stars from Michelin; now it has one. It’s premier dish is pressed duck, and it has a venerable and stratospherically priced wine list.

The restaurant is really famous for its view from the top-floor dining room:

Here’s what it looks like from the dining room at sunset, with a splendid view of the Seine and Notre Dame (photo from Wine Searcher):

The walk continued past an artist painting the area from atop an outside staircase.

I still have seen living cats in Paris only in the cat cafe (more at a later time), but the French love their cats, and you see this everywhere: in a bookstore (“I am a CAT”). . .

. . . or on a local poster:

A few scenes from the Rue Monge market, a small local market that runs several days a week in the Place Monge. Blackberries:

Heirloom tomatoes:

Turnips:

Pears:

My obligatory artichoke photo:

And the equally obligatory photo of mackerel with their beautiful stripes:

Some of the many sausages of France:

Walking back to the Place St Michel for a preprandial drink, I wanted to check out the Maison de La Lozère, which was our local restaurant when I lived in Paris in 1989-1990. It was close to our digs on the Rue Jacob, dished out copious portions of the food of the Lozère (a wild region of southern France), and was inexpensive. I was SO happy to see it was still going, though I noted that the four-course menu had now become three with the elimination of the good cheese tray. (This is happening everywhere in France, I think: cheese is no longer obligatory with a good dinner and I suppose is considered unhealthy.)

I was also glad to see that the ratings are still pretty good.

But for lunch we returned to a place we’d been before, and still rate the best in terms of quality per Euro of any of the paces we’ve dined. Its name is below, and the 31-Euro prix fixe lunch menu is unparalleled in Paris now that L’Ami Jean has gone down the tubes.

This place, run by a married couple, really cares about its food: the quality is top notch and the portions are large. It features the rich cuisine of Lyon, along with staples like sausage with pistachios and pigs feet.

The sign shows a Lyonnaise woman embracing a duck, which made me miss my own ducks:

The prix-fixe menu. Which courses would you choose (you get three)?

My appetizer, which I wanted to be light because I knew I was having cassoulet: “Salade frisée aux lardons chauds.” It turned out to be a huge salad topped with a poached egg, enough sauteed ham to make a dinner, and a ton of delicious croutons made from local bread:

The other appetizer: terrine de l’Auberge, still one of the best terrines I’ve had in France. It is made in house, and is just SO tasty!

Pour moi le cassoulet, served out of a steaming copper skillet. There are five huge pieces of meat in there, including a sausage, confit de canard, pork, what I think is a beef rib, and something else I couldn’t identify. Call me a “touristy eater” if you will—and someone did—but there are few dishes that can match a well prepared cassoulet. I did well, but of course couldn’t finish it.

Oy! How can I eat all this?

My friend ordered sábodet a la vigneronne, which were three huge pigs’ feet served with a vinegar sauce and a large dish of gratin dauphenois: layers of potatoes cooked with butter, cream and milk.

How did we have room for dessert, you ask? Practice! (And eating slowly.) Here are the two that were split: a fantastic Tarte Tatin with crème fraîche (SO good!) and chocolate mousse.

All of this was washed down with a pot (46 cl) of the house Beaujolais, the wine of Lyon. It was a fantastic meal.

I cannot recommend this place highly enough when you’re in Paris. And, if that matters to you, the clientele is almost exclusively French, probably because this place is on a desolate back street near Republique.

Which reminds me, it’s almost lunchtime, and we’re revisiting my old favorite bistro, Chez Denise.

 

Thursday: Hili dialogue

May 17, 2018 • 6:30 am

by Grania

 

It’s Enya’s birthday today so here’s one of her earliest breakthrough hits.

Before she went solo she sang with traditional Irish band Clannad.

It’s also the anniversary of the 1974 Troubles where 33 civilians were killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonated four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. In happier news, in 2004 the first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. were performed in Massachusetts.

On Twitter today:

The Flying Spaghetti Monster has really let himself go.

https://twitter.com/41Strange/status/996898876677242880

Gratuitous misuse of the cat.

Save this. You will need it one day. You’re welcome.

Apparently there is such a thing as a ninja diet

Sigh. Good grief, people. The audio clip says Laurel and Yanni at the same time. Get a set of decent headphones.

Onto the doings of a certain Polish felid.

Hili: What is a seagull doing on a sports field?
A: If it isn’t playing ball it’s probably looking for worms.

In Polish:

Hili: Co robi mewa na boisku?
Ja: Jeśli nie gra w piłkę, to pewnie szuka robaków.