2012: Looking Ahead
December 31, 2011 7 Comments
- In the Venn diagram of the taxonomy of anti-intellectualism, I appear to belong to the intersection of the epistemic-skeptical and (self-defeatingly) the anti-intelligentsianist categories. HT Aretae
- On vacation driving around in the rented car it became easiest just to leave it mostly tuned to the XM ‘Elvis Radio’ station. This allowed me to further research and confirm my pre-published theory: Elvis is grossly underrated. That said, it also made me unfortunately aware of such recent abominations as some sort of Fatboy Slim (or whoever – does it matter?) remix of “Blue Suede Shoes”, and an ill-advised Natalie-Cole-style-dubbed-’duet’ version of “In the Ghetto” with Lisa Marie Presley. Who, annoyingly, insisted on pronouncing it with a soft-T like gheddoe instead of Elvis’s original, and in my book CORRECT, pronunciation ghe-TOE.
- In what is likely to be my final triumph of 2011, I finally (a) finished re-watching Ronin which I had been sporadically watching in 20-minute portions on DVR for about a month, and (b) for the first time, paid close enough attention that I think I (mostly) understand the plot of Ronin.
- This year’s (R) Presidential race is shaping up to be sort of like 1996, but without the Bob Dole figure. Meaning that they’re acting as if they don’t expect to have any chance of beating the incumbent; thus all halfway-decent possible choices have decided to sit it out, letting the nomination fall to the elder statesman of the party to lose the general election honorably and gracefully. What’s confusing about all of this is that we are continually told that Obama has basically the contrapositive of Clinton’s popularity, and that there is no elder statesman in the first place (there’s only Romney). This all leaves me in nominal sympathy with the NOT(Romney) camp, except that I don’t like any of the surviving non-Romney choices either (and more importantly, I doubt their ability to beat our current Celebrity President in the
cool-kid popularity contestgeneral election). So I’m left with NOT(NOT(Romney)), but I’m not sure what that is. I think it’s either just back to Romney, or a wish for some sort of deus ex machina/point at infinity/singularity, depending which algebraic rules we’re working with here. In any event my longstanding prediction that President Obama will win re-election looks better and better. Y’all ready for 2012, the year that Obama’s mandate and legacy is cemented for posterity? Better be.
Elvis is amazing, though since the 80′s it has become uncool to say it out loud.
And, I think that has something to do with the PC cultural onslaught.
Spike Lee and other African-American activists have accused Elvis of stealing rock n’ roll from the Black man.
Elvis would not have been Elvis without Rhythm and Blues, to be sure. So credit where credit is due.
But no black man has ever sung like Elvis.
The ‘stole from black’ charge against Elvis is cheap junior high school-level PCism. It’s what Teacher wants to hear in your oral report. It doesn’t seem to be based on anything factual however. Which really shouldn’t be surprising. It’s not as if Spike Lee, or the members of Public Enemy, are any kind of historical authorities on the evolution of music in the first place.
My understanding is that Elvis grew up dirt poor among a lot of blacks. So he probably heard and absorbed a lot of music produced by the culture he lived in and amongst accordingly. (So? That’s bad?) He was also an amazing talent and performer (and actor) who could span – and own – many different musical styles from country to gospel to R&B and everything in between. And, he was amazing. How in any of that one is supposed to be able to construct the ‘racist/thief’ charge against him is completely beyond me. (Maybe Elvis was supposed to turn up his nose at singing certain songs because it was ‘black music’?) I guess I just need the ignorant/bright 8th graders to explain it to me a little more.
By the way, I suppose you know that your post has nothing to do with looking ahead.
Mostly not. Yes I see that. Just couldn’t think of what to title it. I find that when I’m forced to title/label something the result is pretty much always dumber than the content itself.
AND…
In The Ghetto was written by Mac Davis, a White guy…
I’ve occasionally argued with your proposition that Obama will be reelected, but I’ve gotta say Romney sure looks like the R’s John Kerry: the only guy unlikable enough to lose to an unpopular incumbent with unpopular policies.
I can’t wait for the NY Times thumbsucker on how, when you actually visit Utah, you discover that Mormons are just as weird and scary as evil Christianists.
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