[ Thanks to Ramon Grajo for the find! ]
Another weekend of working on tech projects, another weekend of background noise, including the 1991 sequel Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, also free on YouTube for a limited time (within the United States, or via VPN).
This is the Bill and Ted film that introduced the character of Death, hilariously played by William Sadler:
Sadler has some serious nerd cred, as he also played the menacing character of Luther Sloan, Deputy Director of the Federation’s secret black ops organization, Section 31:
I want you to watch one video today: You Go High, We Go Low, which is one of the videos in Ian Danskin’s series, The Alt-Right Playbook. It’s especially important in light of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing.
There’s going to be a battle over filling the vacancy in the Supreme Court, and the last time that happened, we had the Republicans breaking rules (or at least going outside them, and breaking sensible norms)…
and the Democrats taking the high road, giving us this…
and this:
Danskin argues that one of liberals’ weak points is that in embracing the idea that the ends do not justify the means, they tend to overemphasize the means and forget that the ends are the actual goal.
He points out that one of the key differences that separate liberals and conservatives — and which the alt-right has weaponized — is that conservatives primarily defend beliefs, and liberals primarily defend process. In this fight, liberals are playing by Harvard debating club rules of order, and conservatives are going by the norms of prison riots.
He reminds us of this important fact:
An action has no intrinsic value wholly separate from its outcome.
Remember, when you call out a conservative, MAGAt, or alt-righter and they reply “So much for the tolerant left,” they’re try to make us play by rules that they themselves aren’t following.
What they’re really saying is:
Watch the video:
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Shana Tova!
To my friends and family who are members of The Tribe — Happy New Year!
I had no real plans for the weekend, but after watching this video, I feel like running out to Bearss Groves to buy a watermelon and a kiwi fruit (a.k.a. the fruit formerly known as the Chinese gooseberry):
That’s French electronic music artist Mezerg, whose videos aren’t just vehicles for catchy 4/4 dance numbers, but are interesting performance art pieces.
Here’s another video of his, where he’s jamming on the theremin, using it as a combination volume control and low-pass filter:
You can see more of his videos on his YouTube channel and his Facebook page.
Recommended reading
- Los Angeles Times — Column: Trump’s dire warnings are not about Biden’s America. They’re about his America
- Vox — Trump’s argument about “Joe Biden’s America” is undercut by the fact that he’s in charge
- Yahoo! — Wow, “Joe Biden’s America” Sure Looks A Lot Like Donald Trump’s America
- Chicago Tribune — Column: The RNC’s message: Biden’s America will look like Trump’s America, so … don’t elect Biden?
- Reason — Trump Warns America That Biden’s America Will Look Like Trump’s America
- AP News — As crime surges on his watch, Trump warns of Biden’s America