You think it’s parody

But the fact that Twitter banned Titania McGrath, however temporarily, only demonstrates that reality will catch up and surpass the parody, and most likely sooner rather than later.

What we call “illness” is a social construct, defined negatively against its antithesis “wellness”. Society, in other words, has created the category of “illness” as a means to impose power on those who do not subscribe to cultural norms of what it means to be “well”. “Health” and “wellness” are mere taxonomies of privilege, inculcated by the hegemonic and oppressive discourses of “medical science”. Referring to someone as “well” or “ill”, “healthy” or “unhealthy”, is simply the medicalisation of human diversity.

When you consider that they’ve already disposed of “male” and “female”, as well as “girl” and “boy”, and redefined psychiatric disorders as sexual orientations, don’t think they won’t eventually claim that it is criminally shapist to encourage an obese woman to lose weight or healthist to prescribe insulin to a diabetic.

Perhaps those who are anti-mask can use this tactic when criticized by Mask Nazis for not wearing a mask. Simply point out that it is hurtful and privileged and healthist to object to your sexual preference for coronaviruses.

Who is Tom Bombadil?

The Forge of Tolkien Episode 4: Who is Tom Bombadil?

Enigma or allegory? Unimportant or essential? Tom Bombadil is Master—but what does that mean for the hobbits and their adventure? Professor Rachel Fulton Brown traces Tom Bombadil to his source in story and song.

I have to admit, Tom Bombadil was always my second-least-favorite part of The Lord of the Rings, following only the interminable slog through what I gradually came to thing of as Bordor. In fact, come to think of it, my unexpectedly popular spin on the violent cultures of the Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins is probably an unintended response to how I felt Tolkien left unaddressed what could, and should, have been a tremendously interesting aspect of the novels.

But back to Tom Bombadil. Both he and Beorn are glimpses of a larger world, which in Bombadil’s case are more interesting for the glimpse than for the character himself. Which, of course, is why the character inspires debate even to this day.

Scalzi explains the sad state of science fiction

Inadvertently, of course, but he does explain it:

Ugh, we’re talking about the “canon” of science fiction literature, again, for reasons (most imminently the recent Hugo award ceremony and its fallout), and whether, basically, newer writers and readers should and must slog through a bunch of books in the genre that are now half a century old at least, from a bunch of mostly male, mostly white, mostly straight writers who are, shall we say, not necessarily speaking to the moment.

I’ve essayed this before, because I’m me, but here’s my newest set of thoughts on the matter, also because I’m me. Ready? Here we go:

As a practical matter, the science fiction “canon” is already dead.

There are at least two generations of adults now, and two generations of genre writers, who didn’t grow up on it and fundamentally don’t care about it. Long gone are the days where a kid’s first introduction to the genre was a Heinlein or Asimov novel, smuggled out of the adult fiction section of the library or bookstore like samizdat. The Kids These Days got their start reading genre through the YA section and grew up on Rowling and Collins and Westerfeld and Black and Pierce and Snicket, and got their science fiction through film and TV and video games and animation and comics as much as if not more than from books.

I repeat: They don’t care about “the canon.” Why should they? What they grew up with was sufficient for what they needed — to be entertained when they became readers and fans, and to be inspired if they became creators and writers. The writers they read spoke to them directly, because the art was new and it was theirs, not their parents’ or grandparents’. And while one might sniffily declare that what those YA authors were doing had been done before, by [insert spreadsheet of who who did what first in genre, which in itself is probably incomplete and therefore incorrect], no one cares. For readers and developing writers, it doesn’t matter who got there first, it matters who is there now, when those readers (and writers) are developing their own tastes and preferences, and claiming their own heroes and inspirations, both in fiction and in terms of the people writing it.

Also, here’s a news flash: even those of us who are old enough that the “canon” might have some actual relevance to our development as writers didn’t necessarily have that much reverence for it back then.

If the canon is dead, then so too is the genre. SJWs always live in Year Zero, which is why they are totally incapable of creating anything that is either a) original or b) capable of lasting. The degradation of a culture is directly tied to the intentional abandonment of the canon and its declining influence on the culture. This is as true of the larger culture as it is of a sub-literary ghetto like science fiction.

This, of course, is why SJWs were so panicked about the Puppies successful assault on the Hugos and why they were so quick to converge the Dragon Awards. They know their work can’t even begin to compare to the works of the past, so they need to bury every sign of its influence. One thing I noted early on about SF-SJWs like Scalzi et al is that for all their derivative and imitative writing, they actually were not very well read in the science fiction genre and they didn’t even like most of it.

Which, of course, is why they can’t write it very well. This is why Castalia matters. This is why Castalia Library, in particular, is vital, because it cannot be erased by poseurs and pretenders.

As if they were ever on our side

At least they’re not trying to fool anyone anymore:

Several former Republican leaders are slated to speak on the first night of this year’s Democratic National Convention, including former New York Rep. Susan Molinari, who once spoke at the Republican National Convention, and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a frequent Trump critic who ran for president in 2016. Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman are also on the list of GOP speakers expected to give remarks virtually on Monday night.

Bill Kristol, Ben Shapiro, and Mitt Romney might as well speak at the DNC too. It’s not as if they hate America and Americans any less than AOC and Omar.

And if you ever wondered why the Republican Party was never able to accomplish anything meaningful for the American people, just note that these were all “former Republican leaders”.

Mailvox: Breaking the Gamma

A reader writes of how using the SSH helped him to avoid trouble at the workplace:

I was recently able to use the SSH to manage an employee.

We had a new worker with us and from the first moment, I knew he’d be difficult. He turned up late, answered back, tried to tell experienced employees how to do the job, etc.  He wouldn’t cooperate with the guy he was assigned to work with, so I called him over and said, “There’s a hierarchy here, so if Marty tells you to do it a certain way, that’s how you need to do it.” He immediately got defensive, saying, “Where is this coming from? Why are you talking to me like this? You don’t need to talk to me that way.”

Thanks to your insights into the SSH, I realised that was he was doing was an attempt to make himself a victim, so I said, “Stop. This is not a conversation. The ONLY words you need to say are ‘I understand’. So… do you understand?”

Anyway, we didn’t have any further problems with him. My point is that before I read your SSH insights, I wouldn’t have recognised his behaviour for what it was and I certainly would not have known how to deal with it. So, thanks!

I’d still keep an eye on the guy. He may have enough sense to learn his place, or he may simply be waiting to take his shot at the hated workplace Alpha. Which is why, if the Gamma acts up again, the boss should not hesitate to get rid of him.

Obviously it works

Or they wouldn’t make such a big deal about trying to prevent people from taking it:

State Sen. Scott Jensen, a medical doctor, reports that pharmacists won’t fill hydroxychloroquine prescriptions for patients battling coronavirus.

Gov. Tim Walz has rescinded his March Executive Order 20-23, which effectively barred pharmacists from filling hydroxychloroquine prescriptions written to treat COVID-19. Despite this, Jensen says that pharmacists he’s contacted still won’t fill hydroxychloroquine prescriptions for patients suffering from the virus.

“I got on the phone and called pharmacists and said ‘if I write this hydroxychloroquine [prescription] will you fill it?’ And I was told no,” Jensen explained in a video he posted to Twitter on Friday.

“I said, ‘you’ve been filling my scripts for decades and decades and now you say no, why?’” the senator continued, further describing his conversation with pharmacists.

“It was clear that they [the pharmacists] were fearful, but what they said was ‘well it might set a precedent, the board might not like it, maybe we’ll run out,’” he said.

Alpha News was not able to independently verify Jensen’s claim that pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions written for hydroxychloroquine. However, he does not seem to be alone — doctors in other areas have also been denied the ability to use the drug.

A hospital in Michigan was told that it could not use hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus patients in its care, according to local media.

Although hydroxychloroquine has not been officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19, Jensen and many others stand behind its “off label” use to treat the virus.

When doctors prescribe a drug to treat a condition that it was not specifically approved by the FDA to remedy, that prescription is considered off label. Up to one in five prescriptions are written for off-label purposes, according to the American Medical Association’s Journal of Ethics.

I don’t know why it’s so hard for the average individual to grasp that there are people in positions of power who want them dead. What do you think the likes of George Soros and Bill Gates intend when they talk about overpopulation being a problem?

Ding dong, New York is dead

I’d like to believe that New York City is dead forever, but I don’t know if I dare to hope:

BUT NYC ALWAYS COMES BACK

Yes it does. I lived three blocks from Ground Zero on 9/11. Downtown, where I lived, was destroyed, but it came roaring back within two years. Such sadness and hardship and then quickly that area became the most attractive area in New York.

And in 2008/2009, there was much suffering during the Great Recession, again much hardship, but things came roaring back.

But… this time is different. You’re never supposed to say that but this time it’s true. If you believe this time is no different, that NYC is resilient, I hope you’re right.

I don’t benefit from saying any of this. I love NYC. I was born there. I’ve lived there forever. I STILL live there. I love everything about NYC. I want 2019 back.

But this time is different.

One reason: Bandwidth.

In 2008, average bandwidth speeds were 3 megabits per second. That’s not enough for a Zoom meeting with reliable video quality. Now, it’s over 20 megabits per second. That’s more than enough for high-quality video.

There’s a before and after. BEFORE: No remote work. AFTER: Everyone can work remotely.

The difference: bandwidth got faster. And that’s basically it. People have left New York City and have moved completely into virtual worlds. The Time-Life Building doesn’t need to fill up again. Wall Street can now stretch across every street instead of just being one building in Manhattan.

We are officially AB: After Bandwidth. And for the entire history of NYC (the world) until now, we were BB: Before Bandwidth.

Remote learning, remote meetings, remote offices, remote performance, remote everything.

That’s what is different.

Best pandemic ever. It’s killing the centers of moral and physical filth. Look at all the lamentations for Gotham and the Hellmouth! When I go out, I don’t wear a mask out of fear or submission. I wear one out of pure unadulterated glee.

Recession proof

Or maybe not. Remember how I pointed out that there was going to be a crash this year? Now consider what Goldman Sachs was saying at the end of December:

Just months after almost everyone on Wall Street worried that a recession was just around the corner, Goldman Sachs said a downturn is unlikely over the next several years.

In fact, the firm’s economists stopped just short of saying that the U.S. economy is recession-proof.

An analysis Goldman conducted of the current potential risks to growth show that they are mostly muted. The report found that the pillars of the “Great Moderation” that began in the 1980s — low levels of volatility marked by sustainable growth and muted inflation, interrupted only by the financial crisis more than a decade ago — are still standing.

Investors could be excused for getting a little nervous over such calls, as optimism also was heavy in late 2007, just as the economy was about to enter the worst of the financial crisis.

So much for those “mostly muted” risks to growth.

Definitely default

A second timely ruling just dropped on Friday, and this one is most definitely not in Patreon’s favor. An August 14 decision by a US District Court judge has settled what had hitherto been the undefined “due date” of the new California law intended to prevent corporations from delaying and evading arbitrations, and it means that Patreon is in material default of every single one of the Bears’ 91 arbitrations. 
Dekker v. Vivint Solar, Inc., No. C 19-07918 WHA (N.D. Cal. Aug. 14, 2020)

The legislature expressly sought to avoid a “perverse incentive scheme” whereby ambiguity in the law allowed companies to delay adjudication, perhaps even affording them “an incentive to refuse to arbitrate claims . . . in the hope that the frustrated [employees and consumers] would simply abandon them.” Id. at 8 (quoting Brown v. Dillard’s, 430 F.3d 1004, 1012 (9th Cir. 2005)) (emphasis added).

Yet, this “perverse incentive scheme” remains a distinct possibility under defendants’ theory of the due date. At the hearing, defense counsel admitted that, in their view, if JAMS hypothetically granted a due date extension after defendants missed a first given due date, § 1281.97’s 30-day grace period would only begin after defendants missed the second due date (Dkt. No. 81 at 14). Under this view, the arbitrator could postpone time and again, delaying the 30-day grace period for as long as the arbitrator wished. This would subvert the whole point of the new law.

Finally, a similar action involving food delivery app Postmates illustrates how other arbitration providers have responded to the new California law. There, over ten thousand former and current Postmates drivers filed individual arbitration demands against Postmates with the American Arbitration Association on February 15, 2020, pursuant to the mandatory arbitration provisions in their contracts. The AAA notified Postmates of the filings and gave a payment due date of March 16. The AAA wrote that, subject to the newly enacted § 1281.97, “payment must be received by April 15, 2020 or the AAA may close the parties’ cases,” and that it would “not grant any extensions to this payment deadline.” Postmates, now owing over $4.6 million in initial filing fees, sought a TRO to enjoin the drivers from enforcing § 1281.97. The court denied Postmates’ request, finding, among other things, that payment of filing fees would not irreparably harm Postmates, and that the balances of equities favored the drivers, who “have an interest in having their claims heard in a timely matter.” Postmates Inc. v. 10,356 Individuals, No. CV 20-2783 PSG (JEMx), 2020 WL 1908302 at *4, 9 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 15, 2020) (Judge Philip Gutierrez).

There, with Postmates owing over $4.6 million in filing fees for over ten thousand arbitrations, the court refused to temporarily suspend the due date and buy Postmates more time. Here, on the other hand, defendants owed little more than $15,000 across the eight disputes. The district court also echoed California’s legislature when it weighed the competing interests and found that the drivers’ prevailed. “[The drivers] have an interest in being permitted to pursue their wage and hour claims in arbitration, which is supposed to be a speedy and inexpensive alternative to litigation.” Id. at *8 (internal quotations omitted). This decision, along with the clear legislative intent to prevent delays in commencing arbitration, points towards a strict enforcement of the 30-day grace period that begins upon defendants’ receipt of invoice.

When AAA said payment was due by April 15 without extensions, else the arbitrators could close their case, the court enforced that deadline. This order agrees with AAA’s view of § 1281.97. Here, the JAMS invoices stated that payment was due upon receipt. It is true that JAMS, perhaps in order to keep the business, was willing to let payment slide for a few weeks, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was due and payable upon receipt. Defendants then had 30 days to pay or be in material breach, even if JAMS was willing to wait. Waiting is delay, and delay is exactly what the legislature sought to stop.

When the corporate cancer is terminal

You’ll see companies doing crazy things like DC Comics is doing in the wake of a 30 percent staff reduction:

Lee shockingly revealed just how bad their lineup had been performing. He also detailed they would be reducing the lineup significantly. Lee stated, “That said, we will be reducing the size of the slate. But it’s about looking at everything and looking at the bottom 20 percent, 25 percent of the line that wasn’t breaking even or was losing money.”

When asked about promoting Marie Javins and Michele Wells to interim editors-in-chiefs, Lee committed the company to “diversity and inclusivity.”

He told THR, “We thought it would be a great pairing to bring them together to help draft and organize the content we’re doing along these lines. Across digital, across global, we want to make sure we have diversity and inclusivity, and making it in a way that we have authenticity to the storytelling that we’re doing.”

They’re going to keep diversiting and inclusiviting right up until they finally go out of business. The SJW Imperative demands total commitment!