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Voice from the Pack appears to have missed the point:

Vox… proved beyond a doubt that Americans abroad are indeed the new English abroad. When a Frenchman in front of him had the temerity to not know where he was going, Vox spoke Italian to him.

Priceless.

I find it more than a little amusing that my little story about encountering a pack of idiots at the Metro station somehow managed to get turned around into a portrayal of me as some sort of clueless American tourist. First, I should probably point out that I do speak a very little French; my vocabulary is only a few social niceties, to be sure, but I understand a fair amount of it. One of my college roommates was French, another previous one was French-speaking Belgian, and I dated a Parisian for a while, so I picked up a smattering of the language from them. Second, I’ve lived here for a long time. Not even the English often take me for an American at this point; it’s particularly funny when Americans compliment me on my English. I always enjoy the opportunity to explain how I spent three years studying interpretive dance in Des Moines or whatever.

Third, and most important, Italian is, like French, a Romance language. Many of the Italian speakers I know speak fluent French, just as many of the French speakers I know speak at least some Italian. In general, the language divide among the multilingual is usually English/German and Italian/French, although more than a few of our friends speak all four to some degree; some even throw in Dutch for a fifth. So, while I could have chosen to use either English or German to address the befuddled old Frenchman, I assumed that he would understand more of what I was saying if I went with Italian. Which, in fact, turned out to be the case.

When your first reaction to this post is: “When did Sega open a restaurant chain and why would they do that?”

As for the post, I think it’s debatable that idiocracy is coming. Based on my recent experiences in Paris and with the girl Vespakazi, I’d say it’s well upon us.

I once had a Suzuki 750; it was my first bike and it was not the wisest purchase I’ve ever made. A 750 is a lot of bike for a first-timer and while I did eventually figure out how to ride it, I never got all that comfortable riding it in traffic. I sold it to a friend after a gym acquaintance managed to get himself erased by an old woman pulling out of the shopping mall in a 25-MPH zone. I figured that anything that left me vulnerable enough to get killed by elderly women was not my cup of tea.

I had, however, been contemplating getting a Vespa or something to ride to the club, what with gas prices climbing through the roof and all. It’s not that it’s far away, it’s actually what some might consider jogging distance, although the terrain renders that somewhat impractical. Anyhow, I was in the left lane on a one way street and was just beginning to turn left when an idiot girl – she looked around 16 – shot past me going about 45 MPH on the freaking left. If she’d been going even a little slower, she would have likely t-boned the car and launched herself into the brick building on the corner. Now, I’m certainly delighted to not have a massive repair bill and a dead teenage girl on my hands, I do find myself wondering what parent allows their idiot teenager to drive those things. I’ve seen the results of several scooter accidents over the last few years and even had to phone one in once when I came across a kid with a broken leg lying in the road, and in none of those cases was the kid over the age of 20.

EN approves of today’s column on “The Surge”:

In early April I talked with a major whose work involved negotiating and complying with agreements. In other words he did logistics work for the Sheiks after his higher agreed on the bribe. Tactically we’re working with the existing structure of tribal leaders (sheiks) and ethnic minorities. The strategic goal is gradually returning power to the Iraqis as it was in the time of Saddam and a millennium before that… There is no grand strategic goal beyond our leaving.

We work with three Sheiks in a similar geographic area. All Sheiks work together but are enemies at different times. Turf wars have always been common. Any Sheik who works against the US can expect the US Army and Marines, plus the other two well bribed Sheiks (who are usually traditional enemies with each other) to attack the uncooperative. This is the same long term tactic the Brits used in the area and wouldn’t be surprised if the Brits helped us with it. It’s working but it’s only a short term solution.

BTW, when Col. Douglas MacGregor worked on the original invasion plans we were supposed to begin the Carrot-Stick immediately. Rumsfeld and the other neocons decided they had their moment and that Iraq was prostrate before our invading army. It became an occupation with families having their doors kicked in at will and the local power structure ignored, and worse, most of the Sheiks were arrested. We created the power vacuum that AQ stepped into. It’s not surprising that AQ would be losing with our current tactics. No Sheik wants a neighborhood full of foreigners/freeloaders that he has to feed and then deal with ever heavy hand of the US army when the AQ insurgents did something outrageous.

This underlines one point that I failed to highlight in today’s column. Defeating al-Qaida in Iraq is not tantamount to victory in Iraq, as it is only one of the elements active there and it is not even one of the four most important elements to be taken into account. In Iraqi terms, Al-Qaida has been little more than a weapon to be wielded against the USA or rival domestic powers, depending upon the current state of the dynamic balance of power.

You’ll note that since the banning of the men’s clubs, there aren’t a lot of men-and-women’s clubs left. If this dynamic holds true in the synagogue and the church, then we should expect the non-Orthodox forms of Judaism and the mainstream denominations to follow the example of the men’s clubs and significantly decline over the next twenty years.

“Men need to be encouraged to come back into the synagogue,” said Stuart M. Matlins, editor in chief of Jewish Lights Publishing. The Vermont-based publisher has a long list of women’s studies books, but this fall is publishing a guide for Jewish men, and next spring is publishing a modern men’s Torah commentary. “The welcoming of women into leadership positions is something I have worked very hard on, but we don’t want to lose the men.”

The phenomenon is most pronounced in the Reform movement, which is the largest branch of Judaism in the United States, but is also being observed, to a lesser extent, in conservative Judaism. In Orthodox Judaism, where traditional gender roles are maintained, a more familiar struggle is underway, as orthodox feminists agitate for greater roles in worship and possible ordination as rabbis. There is no consensus about why women are now disproportionately represented in non-Orthodox settings, although scholars and Jewish leaders note that the pattern, although a departure from traditional Judaism, mirrors the pattern seen in mainline Protestantism.

It’s not just religious organizations where this pattern is apparent. If television, the SF/F publishing industry and the defunct social clubs of yore are any guide, then Mr. Matlins’s hopes are unlikely to be realized. The men aren’t coming back. This has some interesting implications worth considering for the games industry, which for 15 years has been preaching a mantra of seeking more appeal to women. However, a few ill-conceived and much-covered exceptions aside, the games industry has taken what is in practice a separate-but-equal approach, wherein games are designed directly for their distinct markets rather than attempting to shoehorn everything into the one-size-fits-all approach pursued by the television industry. There are women who play GTA IV and there are men who play Diner Dash and Pet Shop Hop, but the various designs are seldom modified in order to take the statistical outliers into effect.

MMO’s offer an interesting situation in this regard, since they appeal to both men and women at the moment. However, since the social history of forcibly merging the divergent sexual dynamics into a single equalitarian dynamic is so reliably negative, it will probably be very important to maintain the distinct areas of appeal to men and women if one is to keep both groups interested in playing.

Some people have gotten very excited about the fact that Newsweek is reporting that the Magic Negro has a 15-point lead over John McInsane, but they would do well to keep in mind the near-complete unreliability of believing people’s actions are accurately predicted by what they say they’ll do:

According to research conducted by the US Department of Energy and General Motors, nearly nine out of 10 women (88 per cent) say they’d rather chat up someone who owns the latest fuel-efficient car versus the latest sports car. It gets worse. Eighty per cent of American car buyers would find someone with the latest fuel-efficient car more interesting to talk to at a party than someone with the latest sports car. And, more than 4 out of 10 (45 per cent) 18- to 43-year-olds say it’s a fashion faux pas nowadays to have a car that’s not green or environmentally friendly.

Speaking as a man who has owned several sports cars and is good friends with the CEO of the local Porsche/Audi/VW operation, either I have lived the most statistically anomalous life in the history of statistics or women are lying through their whitened little teeth about their preferences. I’m not saying there isn’t a single woman on the planet who would rather date a man with a Prius than a Porsche or an Aston, only that the number is probably right around one percent. Maybe two percent in Oregon.

So, perhaps there’s hope for Australia. But probably not.

Kelly informs us that unlike so many of her co-non-religionists, she has not, in fact, been silenced by Chapter Four:

I’m thinking that it’s about time to return to the grind here. Sorry, I was suffering from massive drama overload both in my real life and online. Anyway, Vox Day has been on my mind so expect the next installment within a few days. I assume his cronies have already declared victory due to my extended absence, but rest assured that whether anybody likes it or not, I will complete this project if only because I have committed to it and abandoning it would be a concession of defeat in the eyes of his fanboys.

While I’m glad to hear that Kelly hasn’t given up, I do find it more than a little peculiar that so many atheists appear to have such trouble understanding that giving up or failing to show up in the first place has always been considered to be a concession, especially when the person suddenly falling silent is the sort who never shuts up otherwise. It’s not actually a question of what those predisposed to think well of my arguments will conclude from such a failure to defend one’s arguments, but rather what a normal and unbiased observer is likely to conclude. But is this inability to grasp the obvious simply playing disingenuous or more of the usual social autism? I couldn’t say.

I’m not exactly sure why, but people occasionally take exception to my observation of the fact that we are all occasionally irrational and that the overwhelming majority of people are irrational idiots most of the time. That this is observation is necessary to understand the course of human events should not be debatable; the fact that it is occasionally debated only serves to highlight the truth of the observation.

I was in Paris recently, which was fitting since I was just finishing up a book written by a resident Parisian, namely, The Devil’s Delusion by David Berlinski. My plans dictated a brief sojourn on the Metro, so I stopped at the sole ticket vending machine in the area with the intention of buying a single fare, only to discover that the machine did not take notes but instead required Euro coins, which I possessed in insufficient quantity. I turned around, spotted a fruit vendor, and purchased a banana, which provided me with not only the prospect of future nourishment, but also sufficient change for the intended purchase.

However, my little diversion to the fruit stand now meant that I was in line behind four people – two of whom made a couple that later proved to possess perhaps a third of a functional brain between them – and mistakenly assumed that this would delay my Metro-boarding intentions by a matter of two or three minutes. The first gentleman found it difficult to operate the machine; he first had severe problems figuring out the mechanism used to choose between different selections, then appeared mystified by the two buttons, one green and one red, which were required to either approve or cancel the highlighted selection. His purchase of a ticket took approximately six minutes.

The couple also had some trouble working the machine as well as deciding where they were seeking to travel. It only required them about eight minutes to sort everything out – at this point I was timing people since I had nothing better to do – and upon finally making their selection, they made the shocking discovery that the machine did not take Euro notes. Being a gentleman of decency, restraint, and a high regard for the social niceties, I elected not to pursue my momentary desire to utilize my extensive martial arts training in order to break both their necks and thereby prevent the evolutionary horrors the two of them might one day unleash upon an unsuspecting planet should they ever happen to stumble upon a method of propagating their brainless species. Instead, I directed their attention to the fruit stand and suggested that a purchase of one or more items might be a reasonable means of acquiring the requisite coins.

This prospect filled their slack-jawed faces with dismay, for by this time the line extended back some 15 or 20 people and it was obvious that following my example might well require thirty minutes or more at this point. However, the rumbles of discontent from what was threatening to rapidly devolve into a lynch mob quickly proved persuasive, and the two dull young things meandered off towards the fruit stand, never to be seen again. It would not surprise me to learn that they were outwitted and devoured by a crack squad of strawberries.

I could only wonder how the final obstacle had entertained himself during the 15 previous minutes, as he had no sooner stepped in front of the machine than he began peering around the hall, as if in search of a map of station lines. He turned to me and babbled something in French, which I correctly interpreted as a question involving lines and stations. Unfortunately, my French was inadequate for the task of explaining that in the likely event he was intending to travel to a destination somewhere in Paris, there was no need to select that particular destination at the moment since the same ticket would suffice for all. Or, alternatively, he could purchase a slightly more expensive ticket that would cover every possible eventuality. I attempted to explain this in Italian; I don’t know if he understood my point or if he was merely alarmed by the ominous rumbles of the expanding and increasingly impatient mob behind me, but regardless, he finally came to realize that this was not an optimal moment to familiarize himself with the layout of the Paris underground system. He selected a single fare, then was promptly defeated by the failure of the machine to respond in any way.

Calmly reflecting, as I often do, that most people are idiots, I concluded that I should neither be surprised nor dismayed by the gentleman’s inability to either observe his hapless predecessors’ actions or interact with an interface that requires a functioning mind on the other end. I therefore took the liberty of stepping forward and pressing a certain green button on his behalf. Appropriately appreciative, he nodded his gratitude and to my surprise, alertly inserted the proper amount of coins in the slot and received his ticket. It was with some difficulty that I resisted the urge to applaud.

And so it was that only 23 minutes after first approaching the ticket machine and noticing that it took only coins and cards, I selected my fare, confirmed the selection, inserted a 2-Euro coin and received both my ticket and the appropriate amount of change. That took approximately 20 seconds.

This is why condescension towards and contempt for one’s intellectual inferiors are not only important, but downright necessary for survival in modern times. Some of you have occasionally asked how I can be so tranquil about the persistent illogic expressed with such mind-numbing regularity by the atheists, feminists, science fetishists and other critics who are occasionally so kind as to grace us with their attentions, but the truth is that I find the experience to be almost meditational. Call it the Art of Enlightened Condescension or the Zen of Contempt, whatever you like, but the only other serious option is to withdraw into a hermit’s cave and never communicate with the larger part of humanity again.

John Derbyshire lists the reasons:

Big reason 1: Science has no moral content….

Big reason 2: Scientists are irreligious….

Small reason 1: Science is incomplete….

Small reason 2: Scientists are left-wing….

Seems like four pretty good reasons to me, if looking at it from a conservative perspective. Science simply doesn’t have a whole lot to offer them; little that technology and capitalism haven’t actually provided, anyhow. Now, how about a third Big Reason that should concern everyone: Science is one of the greatest dangers to continued human existence. Or a fourth: Science has been reliably inaccurate outside its application to the purely physical hard sciences.

Now, I’m not a conservative and so I have little problem with science. I am, however, firmly against most scientists, especially scientists who absolutely insist on spouting off inaccurately concerning things about which they know nearly nothing. I’m also very opposed to the vast panoply of pseudoscientific frauds, some of whom are credentialed scientists, who continue to attempt passing off their philosophical charades and poorly conceived fantasy tales in the name of science.

This teen pregnancy pact suggests that one of the basic assumptions of sex ed, that ensuring teenage girls understand that pregnancy is a possible consequence of sex, will either cause them to abstain from having sex or use contraception, is not as reliable in the real world as it is in theory:

There’s a stunning twist to the sudden rise in teen pregnancies at Gloucester High School. Seventeen students there are expecting and many of them became that way on purpose. Time Magazine first reported that nearly half of the girls confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together.

It is, of course, interesting to note the female expectation that the fathers will not be involved in the rearing of their children. Could this be the first sign of an evolving American Amazonia? Note to self: invest in grass hut companies….

UPDATE – Rachel Lucas is characteristically unperturbed by this news. While I’d take exception to a few of her assertions, I find it difficult to disagree with her conclusion on the matter:

God, I hate teenagers.

And yet, it is interesting that girls who reach sexual maturity have such a strong drive to do what girls who reach sexual maturity are designed to do despite their decade or so of brainwashing to the contrary. Only in a bizarre “reality-based” secular society could this propagation of the species be deemed such a terrible thing. I mean, let’s face it, none of these girls were going to endow the human race with nuclear fusion or a cure for cancer anyhow.