May 02, 2014

The Economics of Political Correctness
— Ace

Instapundit links this interesting piece.

In economics terms, political correctness would be called a "positional good," a good acquired not for its own inherent usefulness, but for what it signals about the owner. (He says "signalize" -- I guess this is a term of art.)

He notes that positional goods only retain their power to signal something about the owner -- that he is high-status -- so long as a relatively few people also possess the good. Once many, many people possess the good, it can no longer serve the function of being positional.

Think about any faddish mode of dress; the fad's ability to signal that the wearer is fashion-forward is destroyed the moment "everyone" begins wearing it. At that point, the fashion-chaser will have to find some new outrageous variation to wear in order to signal his high fashion status.

And of course he wouldn't be caught dead wearing the togs that everyone else is wearing.

Political Correctness works the same way. As 90% of the population has adopted the basic idea of tolerance, the basic ideas of tolerance can no longer serve as a positional good, as "everyone is wearing it now," and new, ever-more ostentatious signals of Moral/Intellectual High Status must be conceived.

Thus, for example: microaggressions. Begin by noting the "micro" that introduces the term; only those of exquisitely fine taste in Racism can detect such subtle notes. Rather like a wine connoisseur's acute palate permitting the detection and appreciation of trace notes of blackberry and even wet manure.

Those who wish to signal their absolute tip-top status in the #NoH8 camp now talk endlessly about microaggressions, because this signals their (self-believed) membership in a cognitive elite. Should "microaggressions" ever become a generally-accepted way to think about racial slights, they will immediately abandon this term, searching out a Hot New Fashion in Anti-Racism.

He says this:


Over the past few years, spiked online magazine has consistently and robustly defended the principle of free speech against the censorship demands of the politically correct, whatever quarter they may come from. It is great, of course, that there is at least one magazine in which the phrase ‘I believe in free speech’ is unlikely to be followed by a ‘but…’, and more likely to be followed by an ‘even for…’. But while I fully support the spiked line, I also think the spiked authors sometimes misinterpret the intentions of the ‘PC brigade’, and would like to offer an alternative interpretation rooted in boring, old-fashioned textbook economics.

Spiked authors believe that PC is driven by a loathing for ordinary people. According to spiked, PC brigadiers view ordinary folks as extremely impressionable, easily excitable, and full of latent resentment. Exposure to the wrong opinions, even isolated words, could immediately awaken the lynch mob. PC, then, is about protecting ‘the vulnerable’ from the nasty tendencies of the majority population.
But if PC was not really about protecting anyone, and really all about expressing one’s own moral superiority, PC credentials would be akin to what economists call a ‘positional good’.

It seems to me that the "spiked online" explanation is the narrative of the PC brigades themselves -- that is, this is how they convince themselves of their superiority and how they justify their judgmental, and frequently thuggish and stupid, behavior. As a Cognitive Elite, after all, they have the duty to protect their lessors from cognitive faux pas, just as a Wine Connoisseur has the duty (he thinks) to inform people that the particular wine they're enjoying is actually jejune, crude, and lacking in angularity.

The snob has the duty to instruct his inferiors.

But I think this author is right-- while the PC Brigade explains its behavior by positing that, as the Cognitive One Percent, they have the duty to make life miserable for everyone else, the actual explanation is simply the signaling of a highly refined palate and a cultivated sense of racism connoisseurship.

I've written about this myself.

What is the point of connoisseurship? Well, as a primary matter, to develop a refined, cultured, and sensitive palate for detecting the most subtle effects of a thing. The wine connoisseur trains himself to pick out "smoky notes" and "hints of blackberry" and wines that profited from "good ash in the soil."

Of course connoisseurship is not restricted to the physical sense of taste; art connoisseurs are fond of saying things like "It's the colors that aren't present that really stand out!"

And connoisseurs of music are given to saying things as "What wonderful silences are in this piece, where you can simply enjoy the room's tone, the vibrations and echoes in the walls themselves."

The connoisseur is trained to sense things that no one else can sense, or, at least, no one but an elite cadre of dedicated Detectors of the Subtle and Sublime.

The secondary value of connoisseurship is, of course, impressing other connoisseurs, intimidating non-connoisseurs, and, by these effects, gaining a Social Advantage which maximizes one's chances for financial and sexual success.

I actually think the secondary value is really the primary one but let's be generous and just say it's a nice unintended consequence.

Now maybe I was goofing on connoisseurship a little bit there, but I have to admit, I'd like to pick up that kind of skill. So long as it does not take a great deal of time and effort, I mean.

But of course it would take that. One can fake these things, as one can fake most things, but there's nothing more embarrassing than a fake connoisseur outed as a poser.

I am suggesting, of course, that people of little talent and little liking of hard work and training have created a new connoisseurship, a connoisseurship rather easily achieved, requiring, as it does, so very little practice and so very little reading; they have created a connoisseurship of Racism, savoring (or so they say) each note so delicate as to be imperceptible to the proletarians whose sense are too unrefined to detect anything but the boldest, most obvious flavors.

And by demonstrating their connoisseurship of racism, they gain a social advantage, that of impressing the other would-be racist connoisseurs, and the various stooges and goons stupid enough to be impressed by this shabby parlor trick.

And, as with any fake connoisseur, as with any bluffer, they gain the most when they make the most ludicrous claims: "I can virtually taste the post-war global depression in this wine; there's a character in the sweat of the grape-stompers that imparts to it a sadness that is almost transcendent."

For connoisseurs, noting that a wine has a chocolate aftertaste is rather elementary and crude. No, to really impress people -- or to really bluff -- you have to really commit to it and claim that your tastes are so refined that they can perceive flavors which exist only on an atomic level:

"Mmm.. those d-orbital electrons are really a kick, aren't they? The complexity of flavors he's managed to achieve while working within the confines of just a few electron states is simply magnificent."

And so it is with the Connoisseurs of Racism.

Posted by: Ace at 10:12 AM | Comments (417)
Post contains 1199 words, total size 8 kb.

1 Hell yeah!  New thread!

Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 10:13 AM (GQ8sn)

2 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a malignant traitor.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at May 02, 2014 10:14 AM (PYAXX)

3 Every time I see Gillespie's name in the sidebar I want to hurl.  Who is responsible for this?

Posted by: SpongeBobSaget at May 02, 2014 10:15 AM (L02KD)

4 The movie must have been meh. Not bad enough or good enough to write a 50,000 word film review.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 10:15 AM (TIIx5)

5 It's not about the London Boys?

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:16 AM (LJ7Ze)

6 Rather like a wine connoisseur's acute palate permitting the detection and appreciation of trace notes of blackberry and even wet manure. had to take a moment to lol to this one

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 10:16 AM (IXrOn)

7 So gowdey gets the bully pulpit on the select committee?

Posted by: comrade #6628472837 at May 02, 2014 10:17 AM (mdImt)

8 What else you got?

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 10:17 AM (Zzeoo)

9 Kinda reads like a Psychology textbook.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:17 AM (LJ7Ze)

10 In economics terms, political correctness would be called a "positional good," a good acquired not for its own inherent usefulness, but for what it signals about the owner. What does a Cadillac Escalade with 24" spinners signal?

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:17 AM (ioYmu)

11

In before the movie review joke!!

 

 

 

 

Goddammit!

Posted by: Lurking Canuck at May 02, 2014 10:17 AM (87y4e)

12 Big post. Make head hurt.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at May 02, 2014 10:17 AM (gOoFi)

13 Half the post is recycled! 


Our enviro-betters would approve.



Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 10:18 AM (GQ8sn)

14 ...a good acquired not for its own inherent usefulness, but for what it signals about the owner. In other words, it's all about fluff than actual substance. Sounds about right.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at May 02, 2014 10:18 AM (vd7A8)

15 Shorter ace: "Intellectual Elitism is neither."

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at May 02, 2014 10:18 AM (PYAXX)

16

What does a Cadillac Escalade with 24" spinners signal?

 

That you better keep your pimp hand primed?

Posted by: Lurking Canuck at May 02, 2014 10:18 AM (87y4e)

17

Rather like a wine connoisseur's acute palate permitting the detection and appreciation of trace notes of blackberry and even wet manure.

 

====

 

That's a better description of Val-U-Rite, actually.

Posted by: @JohnTant at May 02, 2014 10:18 AM (PFy0L)

18 Positional Good? Reverse Cowgirl

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 10:18 AM (Zzeoo)

19 I bet these kinds of people don't eat Velveeta.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 02, 2014 10:19 AM (oMKp3)

20 Dude, I was micro-aggressive before anybody.

Posted by: fluffy at May 02, 2014 10:19 AM (Ua6T/)

21 I hate the no h8 camp.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:19 AM (LJ7Ze)

22 I haven't finished the article yet. I just wanted to see how many comments were already here.

Posted by: jwest at May 02, 2014 10:19 AM (u2a4R)

23

We do not approve.

 

This post should be 99.2% recycled.  And sorted into seventeen different color coded bins.

Posted by: Your enviro-betters at May 02, 2014 10:20 AM (87y4e)

24 What does a Cadillac Escalade with 24" spinners signal? ---- That all the bills are (or at least will soon be) in mama's name.

Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at May 02, 2014 10:20 AM (Yz5ZM)

25 Is this finally the free bacon thread?

Posted by: akula51[/b][/i][/s] at May 02, 2014 10:20 AM (BKV7y)

26 Dude, I was micro-aggressive before anybody. Posted by: fluffy at May 02, 2014 02:19 PM

That's so two years ago.  Nano-aggression is all the rage over at Mother Jones this season.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:20 AM (knoK7)

27 Another "positional good?" $100 grilled-cheese sandwiches. And I'd far rather be an Expert than a "connoisseur." It's much the difference between being really rich (and therefore *not* doing stupid things like paying $100 for a grilled-cheese sandwich), and wanting people to *think* you're rich.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at May 02, 2014 10:21 AM (PYAXX)

28 Micro aggressive is what you call chicks who won't use the toaster oven to heat up your sammich.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:21 AM (LJ7Ze)

29 PC is driven by a loathing for ordinary people. That, is the story of Barack Hussein Obama

Posted by: Nick Danger, Third Eye at May 02, 2014 10:21 AM (+nKK4)

30 In before the movie review joke!! Goddammit! Posted by: Lurking Canuck at May 02, 2014 02:17 PM (87y4e) *snort* Ya snooze, ya lose!

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 10:21 AM (TIIx5)

31

Smog is bad!

 

Oh.

 

Umm...ozone holes!

 

Oh

 

Acid rain!

 

Shit.

 

Colorless plant food!

 

Dingdingding!

Posted by: Your enviro-betters at May 02, 2014 10:21 AM (87y4e)

32 That point about fashion fads-thing is right. Notice how everyone always wants to shout "first!"? Some people do it with clothes ....

Posted by: grammie winger at May 02, 2014 10:21 AM (oMKp3)

33 "The snob has the duty to instruct his inferiors." You don't say, ace...

Posted by: occam's brassiere at May 02, 2014 10:21 AM (vkO9Z)

34 You guys only smell the fart, I smell the subtle aroma of the Tide detergent my underwear was washed in also. It really helps the methane produced by my tuna fish sandwich to really be appreciated.

Posted by: Ashley Judd's Puffy Scamper, aka MrCaniac at May 02, 2014 10:22 AM (HxSXm)

35 Togs. *titter*

Posted by: HR at May 02, 2014 10:22 AM (ZKzrr)

36 I am hereby declaring that the Left is guilty of yocto-aggressions against me, and must be given punishments accordingly. I am diving right past nano-agression and hitting 1/1000^8th (1 septillionth) measure of aggression. This hideousness occurs whenever a leftist breathes in a disconcerted manner near me (near being within a yotta-meter of me = approx 1 billion light years). Fuck them all.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at May 02, 2014 10:22 AM (Qp0nB)

37 The new Cadillac Escalade has a built in EBT Smart Tag.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:22 AM (LJ7Ze)

38 "...the particular wine they're enjoying is actually jejune, crude, and lacking in angularity." They should put that on the box.

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 10:22 AM (A98Xu)

39 Micro aggressive is what you call chicks who won't use the toaster oven to heat up your sammich.

Wow, didn't know sammich was slang for pink pencil.

Posted by: SpongeBobSaget at May 02, 2014 10:22 AM (L02KD)

40 This post should be 99.2% recycled. And sorted into seventeen different color coded bins. Posted by: Your enviro-betters I'd rather see my "betters" sorted into seventeen different dumpsters.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:22 AM (ioYmu)

41 Posted by: Inspector Cussword at May 02, 2014 02:22 PM

You're just showing off now....

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:23 AM (knoK7)

42 I say hints of nuttiness and a whiff of fascism.

Posted by: NYC Parent at May 02, 2014 10:23 AM (HEo6y)

43 It's true, a lot of luxury lines diluted their brand when they began offering lower priced items and also flooding the outlet malls. Suddenly their luxury products were much less prestigious. Kind of like how all the cries of "racism" dilute real cases of racism. Or maybe not, I realize I am stretching the point.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at May 02, 2014 10:23 AM (+0txR)

44 Political Correctness is the ultimate trigger for hotheads and hostilities.  As a matter of fact, I find this entire post to be outrageous!

Posted by: Fritz at May 02, 2014 10:23 AM (UzPAd)

45 42 That to is the story of Ron Paul.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:24 AM (LJ7Ze)

46 Definitely needing some Cheech and Chong movie quotes.

Posted by: Maximillius Fail at May 02, 2014 10:24 AM (PZsoj)

47 "They should put that on the box. Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 02:22 PM"

I can't recall which Moron said it, but don't think of it as box wine...think of it as cardbordeuax.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:25 AM (knoK7)

48 Maybe what we need is a Bud Sterling Lifetime Award for Microaggressive Nudgery? Everyone likes awards - positional goodness and hot SexyMexy pole spinners.

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at May 02, 2014 10:25 AM (oDCMR)

49 Even shorter and more alliterative Ace: PC Purveyors are pompous pricks.

Posted by: Jaws at May 02, 2014 10:25 AM (eKZp1)

50 I actually think the secondary value is really the primary one but let's be generous and just say it's a nice unintended consequence. It's best not to ponder too deeply that what's really going on is a bunch of baboons shaking their butts. That way lies madness and Ke$ha videos.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at May 02, 2014 10:25 AM (mf5HN)

51 That's so two years ago. Nano-aggression is all the rage over at Mother Jones this season. I suffer from honey badger-aggression. I don't give a shit.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:25 AM (ioYmu)

52 The snob has the duty to instruct his inferiors.



Conservatives should start beating the crap of assholes that think they can do this.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 10:25 AM (T2V/1)

53 Next we'll be punished by the ESPPC elites, who can tell you're a racist by reading your mind. Oh wait...technically we already have that.

Posted by: DangerGirl at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (Ryac4)

54 Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 02:25 PM (knoK7) Oh that's good. Very good.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (oMKp3)

55 Please, let me inform you of your racist behaviour. I know you are too stupid realize how crass you are. I've studied and studied. I'm an expert. What? No, it isn't racist to think a person of color is so incapable as to not be able to obtain identification.

Posted by: no good deed at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (ILBCY)

56 47 You could get a square foot of wine for about $5 when those things were new.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (LJ7Ze)

57 "I have to admit, I'd like to pick up that kind of skill.." That's fine, to understand/know a thing enough to "micro" understand it, however, like politics, people who think they know things on a "micro" level like to shove it in the faces of those they think don't. "Come on! I was really enjoying this wine until you told me it was shit."

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (A98Xu)

58 Elites gotta leet about something.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (+0txR)

59 "Microaggression" is what I named my penis.

Posted by: Tommy Vietor at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (PFy0L)

60 Gowdy confirmed???


Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 10:26 AM (GQ8sn)

61 >>> You guys only smell the fart, I smell the subtle aroma of the Tide detergent my underwear was washed in also. That brings up an interesting point. I can smell the similarities between my poop and my underarms. No, I am not the Vice President. I guess the takeaway is that navel gazing stinks.

Posted by: fluffy at May 02, 2014 10:27 AM (Ua6T/)

62 I just watched a Bill Whittle vid over at pjm, similar premise. No micro agaggression tho. More of an overview and very good.

Posted by: small town girl at May 02, 2014 10:27 AM (WnGDS)

63 Posted by: grammie winger at May 02, 2014 02:26 PM

;-)

Wish I could remember who I stole that from....

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:27 AM (knoK7)

64 Human beings are status monkey. A large % of all human communication is basically just a fancy way of saying "I'm better than you." Or "I'm better than him." or "We're better than them."

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 10:27 AM (ZPrif)

65 Exposure to the wrong opinions And, the purposeful avoidance of other opinions is how I see most on the left. For example, at first, I did believe in the global warming scare. At least enough to pay attention. I did watch ManBearPig's movie. Then I delve into the facts and counter arguments. The counter weighed heavier in truth. It has now been debunked pretty much across the board. This is something a global warming disciple won't do. Read the opposing views. At all. They simply cannot bring themselves to read it.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 10:28 AM (IXrOn)

66 I punch racism.

I punch microagression.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:29 AM (x3YFz)

67 James Bond and M meet with diamond expert Sir Donald Munger. Sir Donald offers them both a glass of sherry. Bond happily accepts, while M declines citing doctor’s orders. After taking a sip, Bond remarks, “Pity about your liver sir. An unusually fine solera. ’51, I believe.” M quickly replies, “There is no year for sherry, 007.” Bond adds, “I was referring to the original vintage, on which the sherry is based, sir… 1851. Unmistakable.” Sir Donald confirms Bond’s assessment: “Precisely.” -

Posted by: jwest at May 02, 2014 10:29 AM (u2a4R)

68 What? No, it isn't racist to think a person of color is so incapable as to not be able to obtain identification. And *that* is the real purpose of the PC "connoisseur." The connoisseur "knows" what's "really racism" and therefore what isn't. Just as an art connoisseur "knows" what's "really art" and therefore what isn't. Which, again, takes me back to Expert v connoisseur. An Expert knows things and is sure enough in that knowledge that someone being wrong doesn't threaten them. A connoisseur- like a 6-yr-old- MUST correct everyone- for fear that they (the connoisseur) are really the ones who are wrong.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at May 02, 2014 10:29 AM (PYAXX)

69 "We're better than them" AoSHQ slogan

Posted by: occam's brassiere at May 02, 2014 10:29 AM (MLq9+)

70 Do you figure Racism Punch is grape?

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:29 AM (LJ7Ze)

71 I'm a butt connoisseur. BTW -- what is spiked magazine and why isn't it encapitalized?

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 10:29 AM (VhqUZ)

72 Lefties are full of all kinds of virtues. Humility ain't one of them.

Posted by: grammie winger at May 02, 2014 10:29 AM (oMKp3)

73
I just see it as ever finer levers of control and punishment. What good is "consciousness" if people are no longer "conscious" of it...?

That wedge is no longer enough, let's add some spikes.

These spikes are passe, let's heat them up.

These hot spikes are boring, let's coat them in chipotle.

Add in the fact that you've got these attention-seekers with way too much time on their hands. They've even managed to get us all to subsidize their little four-year academic hothouses where these things take root and grow.

Posted by: Mega at May 02, 2014 10:30 AM (hHFOx)

74 When this country's economy goes Tango Uniform one day soon, these clowns are going to be wishing that aggressions against them were still micro.

There's a great Waking the Fuck Up coming...

Posted by: B at May 02, 2014 10:30 AM (VC56G)

75 Also, another fine posting Mr. Spades.

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 10:30 AM (VhqUZ)

76 Posted by: jwest at May 02, 2014 02:29 PM

Channeling his inner Lord Peter.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:30 AM (knoK7)

77 just as a Wine Connoisseur has the duty (he thinks) to inform people that the particular wine they're enjoying is actually jejune, crude, and lacking in angularity. As long as we're not talking Sommeliers here My hubbies best friend is a sommelier, and he's not a "snob." He's just way into it. And, it's nice to get his advice. It's his job.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 10:31 AM (IXrOn)

78 >>> Human beings are status monkeys. Some blogger is fond of the phrase 'simian dominance posturing'. If I could remember who that is, I would give him/her credit.

Posted by: fluffy at May 02, 2014 10:31 AM (Ua6T/)

79 Nearly as good as Boone's Farm.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:31 AM (LJ7Ze)

80 When this country's economy goes Tango Uniform one day soon, these clowns are going to be wishing that aggressions against them were still micro.

There's a great Waking the Fuck Up coming...

Posted by: B at May 02, 2014 02:30 PM (VC56G)

It's heartbreaking.  no sarcasm.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:31 AM (x3YFz)

81 Too many notes.

Posted by: Emperor Joseph II, Music Connoisseur at May 02, 2014 10:32 AM (8ZskC)

82 Can anyone tell the difference between day-old and week-old Val U Rite? 



Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 10:32 AM (GQ8sn)

83 *sniff*

Somebody had capers with their smoked salmon.  Exquisite choice, but per IPCC guidelines, your carbon footprint has exceeded your allotment

Posted by: Fritz at May 02, 2014 10:32 AM (UzPAd)

84 "Nanoaggression", "picoaggression" and "femtoaggression" are all copyrighted (2014) property of Krebs v Carnot, LLC. Their public use requires both a valid licensing agreement and payment of royalties to KvC, LLC. Ahead of the curve, beeyotches... have you heard of it?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at May 02, 2014 10:32 AM (HsTG8)

85 My hubbies best friend is a sommelier, and he's not a "snob." He's just way into it. And, it's nice to get his advice. It's his job. I- Why the poncy name "sommelier?" How about "Wine expert?" B- There's a difference between an actual expert with actual expertise and a "connoisseur" who specializes in minutia about which no one (sane) cares.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at May 02, 2014 10:32 AM (PYAXX)

86 >>>Conservatives should start beating the crap of assholes that think they can do this. i think snobbery gets a bad rap, in the sense that virtually everyone is a snob in the fields of taste or knowledge he knows well. Any gun guy here, I'm sure, will have some pointed, snobbish opinions about certain guns, especially those which have been overpraised and also overpurchased (the "everyone is wearing it now" effect). People tend to only call "Snobbery!" on those whose field of interest concerns something he himself isn't terribly concerned about. People don't call their own snobberies snobbery; they just call it taste, judgment, and expertise. But I would distinguish between "expertises" that actually take some skill and time to gain, and those which take almost none at all. People like competing, and people who are no damn good at anything will invent alleged "fields of knowledge" which require the intelligence of a hamster to master. I think a lot of what plagues this world on the intellectual level is that dummies wish to have things they're good at, but no one else is, and so they concoct silly Dummy Disciplines that even their small brains are capable of mastering; and then they claim their Learning is equal to any other.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 10:32 AM (/FnUH)

87 "PC, then, is about protecting ‘the vulnerable’ from the nasty tendencies of the majority population."

This is it. As a former liberal, I can tell you, they are AFRAID of you. They think that mass right wing violence is always on the verge of breaking out and it's up to them to put the lid back on. This is what the media and entertainment tell them constantly, in subtle and even overt ways. When J-Nap and the Pentagon shine their light on white supremacy, for example, the notion that we are on the verge of a white supremacist revolution is planted in the immature, fearful, inattentive political psyche. The myth of widespread Islamophobia is of course the flip side of that coin.

When people like Ace speak in the language of pop culture, then, it does more good than 10 speeches by Mitt Romney or a landmark opinion written by Clarence Thomas.

Posted by: PJ at May 02, 2014 10:33 AM (ZWaLo)

88 A large % of human communication is basically just a fancy way of saying "I'm better than you." Or "I'm better than him." or "We're better than them." ---- Ahem. You must mean "We're better than they." *derisive sniff*

Posted by: Grammar Status Monkey at May 02, 2014 10:33 AM (Yz5ZM)

89 86 That would make a good thread.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (LJ7Ze)

90 I- Why the poncy name "sommelier?" How about "Wine expert?" Better yet, how about "liquor store clerk"?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (8ZskC)

91 Can anyone tell the difference between day-old and week-old Val U Rite? Day old is usually found in the vomit of the Head Ewok's most recent spew; week old is still in the bottle?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (HsTG8)

92 >>>As long as we're not talking Sommeliers here My hubbies best friend is a sommelier, and he's not a "snob." He's just way into it. And, it's nice to get his advice. It's his job. ... see my comment 86 above -- I'm really not against connoisseurship, or even outright snobbery. I'm against this bluffer bullshit where someone makes up a very limited field of "knowledge" (actually a quasireligious dogma) and then makes that the center of his sense of self-worth.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (/FnUH)

93 I'd like to microaggress some leftists with my fist. I am a connoisseur of a well-aged nasal punch.

Posted by: DangerGirl at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (Ryac4)

94 Can't I just eat my gold-flecked grilled cheese....?

Posted by: Lance Stabler, Progressive Warrior at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (MMC8r)

95 Too many notes. *** golf clap ***

Posted by: F. Murray Abraham at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (Ua6T/)

96 Think about any faddish mode of dress; the fad's ability to signal that the wearer is fashion-forward is destroyed the moment "everyone" begins wearing it. At that point, the fashion-chaser will have to find some new outrageous variation to wear in order to signal his high fashion status.
...............
Yeah.. remember in the 70's when all the older entertainers started wearing big bell bottoms?  You knew it was time to move on and start wearing straight jeans...

Posted by: Chi-town Jerry at May 02, 2014 10:34 AM (Z7PrM)

97 I think these folks are ripe for a plonking.

Posted by: jakeman at May 02, 2014 10:35 AM (vH4YP)

98 I- Why the poncy name "sommelier?" How about "Wine expert?" B- There's a difference between an actual expert with actual expertise and a "connoisseur" who specializes in minutia about which no one (sane) cares. Piss boy. Oh piss boy!

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:35 AM (ioYmu)

99 Think about any faddish mode of dress; the fad's ability to signal that the wearer is fashion-forward is destroyed the moment "everyone" begins wearing it. 1999 Sony Studios, Culver City, CA. Everyone on the lot was wearing a black leather jacket - EVERYONE. It was a fucking uniform.

Posted by: Sir Pug A Lott at May 02, 2014 10:35 AM (8c12T)

100 Better yet, how about "liquor store clerk"? I prefer 'boozemonkey.'

Posted by: --- at May 02, 2014 10:35 AM (MMC8r)

101 Without certification there is no expertise.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 10:35 AM (Zzeoo)

102 Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 02, 2014 02:34 PM (8ZskC) Okay that one really made me giggle .

Posted by: grammie winger at May 02, 2014 10:35 AM (oMKp3)

103 there are just too many people not murdering other human beings for it to remain as PC for long

Posted by: righter at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (fbUla)

104 I'm against this bluffer bullshit where someone makes up a very limited field of "knowledge" (actually a quasireligious dogma) and then makes that the center of his sense of self-worth.
Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 02:34 PM

So, Womyn's Studies is out?

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (knoK7)

105 Conservatives should start beating the crap of assholes that think they can do this.

i think snobbery gets a bad rap, in the sense that virtually everyone is a snob in the fields of taste or knowledge he knows well.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 02:32 PM (/FnUH)

Good point.  Knowing a lot about something should never be license to be a dick.

I've fallen for it once or twice.  Will never again.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (x3YFz)

106 Hey, I used to be able to detect hints of potato peels and used coffee grounds in cheap vodka. I'm not saying that's a GOOD thing, but...

Posted by: joncelli at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (IEM5v)

107 Control. Everything from the left is about control. They want to control how we act, talk and think. Step off the path and you will be shunned, punished, sent to the camps.

Posted by: jeannebodine at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (2LJqa)

108 We had a new Marketing Director create this little message for everyone to add to their Outlook signature that included a green leaf and a statement about how we were a "green company" so please think twice before printing out the email to save mother Gaia (OK, that's a paraphrase). It was all so silly, but apparently all the tech companies were doing it.

Posted by: Lizzy at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (8zTpe)

109 " Do you figure Racism Punch is grape?" Purple Drank.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (gOoFi)

110 Allz I care about wine is red, not too sweet not too dry. I don't do "notes".

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 10:36 AM (VhqUZ)

111

People like competing, and people who are no damn good at anything will invent alleged "fields of knowledge" which require the intelligence of a hamster to master

 

*curses under breath*

 

*seethes*

 

*plots intricate plan for revenge*

Posted by: The Hamster at May 02, 2014 10:37 AM (87y4e)

112 Wine makes a decent chaser.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:37 AM (LJ7Ze)

113 Any gun guy here, I'm sure, will have some pointed, snobbish opinions about certain guns Only for those that are pure, unadulterated crap. Raven .25 anyone?

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:37 AM (ioYmu)

114 Every time I see Gillespie's name in the sidebar I want to hurl. Who is responsible for this? Posted by: SpongeBobSaget at May 02, 2014 02:15 PM (L02KD) Why?

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 10:37 AM (IXrOn)

115 The problem with bell bottoms is that some little dog would bite onto them and not let them go.

Posted by: Sir Pug A Lott at May 02, 2014 10:37 AM (8c12T)

116 You have to have a lifetime of putting hamsters up your ass to gain the expertise to know which ones feel best up your ass.

Posted by: Richard Gere at May 02, 2014 10:37 AM (8ZskC)

117 Good point. Knowing a lot about something should never be license to be a dick. I know I'm a dick. The expertise is simply coincidence.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 10:37 AM (Zzeoo)

118 Excuse me, sommelier, but what paper bag would go best with this fine Muscatel?

Posted by: --- at May 02, 2014 10:38 AM (MMC8r)

119 You wanna talk pant suits, you come to me.

Posted by: Hi!!ary Clinton at May 02, 2014 10:38 AM (5UteM)

120 I have met so many graduate students who fit in this category and to a person Ive wanted to strangle them. but I didnt, of course.

Posted by: rev dr der commisar miller at May 02, 2014 10:38 AM (MtvPp)

121 There's a great Waking the Fuck Up coming... *off Nick Danger sock.* I hope you're right. I'll believe it, when I see it.

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at May 02, 2014 10:38 AM (+nKK4)

122 *covering eyes*  This thread soooo crude and unvarnished.

Posted by: Soona at May 02, 2014 10:38 AM (cepHW)

123 "Somm" on Netflix is a documentary following a few guys as they attempt to become Master Connoisseurs. It's not bad, it's not great, if you have an hour to kill and like listening to people talk about wine and test anxiety, it's worth checking out.

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 10:38 AM (ZshNr)

124 I like the wine experts/sommelier whose bottom line is always, "drink what you enjoy, regardless of cost or pairing." I've met plenty of those. And to stay on topic, I'd like to meet more of those in the "I'LL tell YOU when you're racist or not!" forum.

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 10:38 AM (A98Xu)

125 But of course when your connoisseurship harms people, then you are just a commie crapweasel, you know, like Obama

Posted by: Steve in Greensboro at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (bbivj)

126 Smog is bad! Posted by: Your enviro-betters at May 02, 2014 02:21 PM (87y4e) OMFG what's wrong with you! Smog totes killed all those dwarveseses and tried to eat Bilbo! Of course Smog is bad!

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (mf5HN)

127 Any gun guy here, I'm sure, will have some pointed, snobbish opinions about certain guns



Only for those that are pure, unadulterated crap.
Raven .25 anyone?

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 02:37 PM (ioYmu)

The good gun guys know that it's never the gun. 

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (x3YFz)

128 Truce! Truce!

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (zDsvJ)

129 There is this thing called reality. Someday it may return.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (LJ7Ze)

130 Posted by: The Hamster You getting enough air, little guy?

Posted by: Richard Gere at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (Ua6T/)

131 " You have to have a lifetime of putting hamsters up your ass to gain the expertise to know which ones feel best up your ass." Man, if I had a nickel........

Posted by: John Travolta at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (gOoFi)

132 Aside from being an elitist douche and destroying Reason Magazine?

Posted by: SpongeBobSaget at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (L02KD)

133 The good gun guys know that it's never the gun.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 02:39 PM (x3YFz)



Hi!



Posted by: Lorcin at May 02, 2014 10:39 AM (GQ8sn)

134 *covering eyes* This thread soooo crude and unvarnished. Same as the way I like my wine.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (ioYmu)

135 Master Sommelier

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (ZshNr)

136 The missus and I save the unused seconds on our microwave's timer whenever we punch out early while nuking something. Those saved seconds add up... for Gaia! Swab my snobby nob, peasants!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (HsTG8)

137 101 Without certification there is no expertise. Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 02:35 PM (Zzeoo) Ah, and therein lies the basis for all sorts of scams.

Posted by: jwest at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (u2a4R)

138 The number of women 16 and older not in the labor force climbed to a record high of 55,116,000 in April, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

This means that there were 55,116,000 women 16 and older who were in the civilian nonsinstitutional population who not only did not have a job, they did not actively seek one in the last four weeks. That is up 428,000 from the 54,688,000 women who were not in the labor force in March.

Posted by: #WarOnWomyn at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (e8kgV)

139 You getting enough air, little guy? Posted by: Richard Gere at May 02, 2014 02:39 PM

Too much wind, IYKWIM....

Posted by: The Hamster at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (knoK7)

140 This definitely explain the nonsense language that academics now use. Every time I see some paper it is absolutely incoherent. Obviously so that only insiders "get" it because of their expertise in academic-speak.

Posted by: Lizzy at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (8zTpe)

141 What do you call a connoisseur connoisseur?

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (LJ7Ze)

142 And my grammar is perfect.  I will not consider otherwise.

Posted by: Soona at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (cepHW)

143 I know I'm a dick.

The expertise is simply coincidence.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 02:37 PM (Zzeoo)

Welcome to the club.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (x3YFz)

144 Todays Racism, anti Ghey, or Anti Women.... is like modern Art... it does not have any meaning at all, no rhyme, no reason.... its all in the eye of the beholder.... And if you do not behold... you must be one of the unwashed masses.

Posted by: Romeo13 at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (84gbM)

145 You getting enough air, little guy?

Posted by: Richard Gere

 

*sighs*

 

I used to be a contender.

Posted by: The Gerbil at May 02, 2014 10:40 AM (87y4e)

146 Time to dig out my MembersOnly jacket.

Posted by: toby928© at May 02, 2014 10:41 AM (QupBk)

147 " *covering eyes* This thread soooo crude and unvarnished. Same as the way I like my wine. " Any my women.

Posted by: Billy Bob Thornton at May 02, 2014 10:41 AM (gOoFi)

148

Time to dig out my MembersOnly jacket.

 

Oh fuc....

Posted by: Tony Soprano at May 02, 2014 10:42 AM (87y4e)

149 86  Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 02:32 PM (/FnUH)


I thought you were referring to political snobs of the liberal variety.  Not people who were wine snobs, coffee snobs etc.  I have no problem with those kind of people unless they become useless bores at get-togethers.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 10:42 AM (T2V/1)

150 >>>- Why the poncy name "sommelier?" How about "Wine expert?" Well a sommelier is not a wine expert, he's a wine steward or wine captain recommending wines in a restaurant. I think this gets into my idea of "everyone calls anything they don't know well 'snobbery.'" even the word itself creates a division. Some don't like the word and will call it snobbish, and some will embrace the word (because it is snobbish). I don't know if it's really snobbish, though. It's not snobbish to have an obscure word for an obscure job or thing. "Flange" is an obscure word but no one would say "It's snobbish to call it a flange; what's wrong with saying Wheel-Guide"? I looked up sommelier because I had no idea of its etymology: The modern word is French, deriving from Middle French where it referred to a court official charged with transportation of supplies.[3] This use of the term dates to a period when pack animals would be used to transport supplies. The Middle French probably finds its origin in Old Provençal where a saumalier was a pack animal driver.[3] Sauma referred to a pack animal or the load of a pack animal. In Late Latin, sagma referred to a packsaddle.[3]

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 10:42 AM (/FnUH)

151 34 You guys only smell the fart, I smell the subtle aroma of the Tide detergent my underwear was washed in also. It really helps the methane produced by my tuna fish sandwich to really be appreciated. Posted by: Ashley Judd's Puffy Scamper, aka MrCaniac at May 02, 2014 02:22 PM (HxSXm) Thread winner... shut 'er down!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (HsTG8)

152 One issue that complicates things it that humans viscerally perceive status. High status food and drink (and cars and shoes and ... anything really) really does taste and smell and feel better to us -- but only if you really do believe it is high status. So the wine to the wine snob really does taste better. The microbrews really do taste better to the beer snob. But they don't objectively taste better. It's due to the person believing that they are partaking in a high status good or activity. This is why people always brag about "the best" restaurant or little diner they found on vacation. They are doing something they believe is high status and the result is the food really does taste better. You can give tap water to people -- and if they honestly believe it's high status, it will taste better than normal water. If they are an eco-tard, they'll need to believe it's the most eco-conscious artisan water every. Someone else might need to believe it's imported from the Swiss alps. It's subjective to the person -- but it really will taste better to them. That's why it can't be dismissed as bullshit. Even when it is bullshit.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (ZPrif)

153 Moooooommmmmm! Billy just microaggressed me!

Posted by: DangerGirl at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (Ryac4)

154 Only a national sized load of vigorous  macro-Aggresion can cure this rot.

Posted by: Corey Feldman: send cash, please at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (vmAFq)

155 I'm starting to think that we're never going to get our Hipster Slapfight Thread back.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (Zzeoo)

156
The modern word is French, deriving from Middle French....

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 02:42 PM (/FnUH)

you do know we stopped reading right there, right?

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (x3YFz)

157 Aside from being an elitist douche and destroying Reason Magazine?

Posted by: SpongeBobSaget

God forbid he ever acquires power and leaves everyone alone.

Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i][/b] at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (pASf2)

158 "I used to be a contender. Posted by: The Gerbil " Chin up, little buddy. Say, if you're not doing anything later.....

Posted by: Captain Oveur at May 02, 2014 10:43 AM (gOoFi)

159 >>>I thought you were referring to political snobs of the liberal variety. Not people who were wine snobs, coffee snobs etc. I have no problem with those kind of people unless they become useless bores at get-togethers. right I was. I thought though that you were broadening it as against "snobbery" in general. I'm compromised on the point because I know at least one true expert in one these type of Taste Fields and I know for a fact that he's not making this shit up -- he really does have a very refined taste.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 10:44 AM (/FnUH)

160 I think a good example are the clods (some) at ESPN who have decided to use the term "physicality" over and over again. Until about two years ago, I'd never heard the term. It's like that skit on IN LIVING COLOR, where the guy is a Jesse Jackson type using large words in completely inappropriate ways. Trying to sound like an expert.

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 10:44 AM (A98Xu)

161 I really hate these people. *heads off to say 5 Our Fathers and 10 Hail Marys*

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 10:44 AM (zDsvJ)

162 But they don't objectively taste better. It's due to the person believing that they are partaking in a high status good or activity.
Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 02:43 PM

Tell us about it.....

Posted by: Riedel, Inc. at May 02, 2014 10:45 AM (knoK7)

163 It's about time we got into the Etymology, again.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 10:45 AM (Zzeoo)

164 >>> "Flange" is an obscure word but no one would say "It's snobbish to call it a flange; what's wrong with saying Wheel-Guide"? New York City?!?!?

Posted by: salsa connoisseur at May 02, 2014 10:45 AM (Ua6T/)

165 There is a pestilence upon this land, nothing is sacred. Even the saumaliers are under considerable economic stress in this period in history.

Posted by: Dennis the Saumalier at May 02, 2014 10:45 AM (8ZskC)

166 We had a new Marketing Director create this little message for everyone to add to their Outlook signature that included a green leaf and a statement about how we were a "green company" so please think twice before printing out the email to save mother Gaia (OK, that's a paraphrase). It was all so silly, but apparently all the tech companies were doing it. Posted by: Lizzy at May 02, 2014 02:36 PM (8zTpe) True story: I received an email from someone with exactly that at the end of the signature line. Little green leaf and think twice about printing it out. I was talking to the person who sent me that a couple of hours later and asked him if his IT people realized that the little green leaf eco thingy was placed immediately below the wall o'text SEC boilerplate about mandatory records retention. I could hear the facepalm over the phone.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at May 02, 2014 10:45 AM (mf5HN)

167 I'm not a gourmet. I like good tasting food in large quantities.

Posted by: toby928© Gourmand at May 02, 2014 10:46 AM (QupBk)

168 "Crude and unvarnished" "...how I like my wine", "...and my women", har fucking har "And my blogs"...all yours, ace. Keep it.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at May 02, 2014 10:46 AM (QZkRD)

169 Any gun guy here, I'm sure, will have some pointed, snobbish opinions about certain guns, especially those which have been overpraised and also overpurchased (the "everyone is wearing it now" effect).



But most of that is based on quantifiable evidence, not subjective opinion.


Build material?

Crafting process?

Design flaws?

Mean time before failure?

Accuracy?


These are all questions that can be measured in numbers or in other objective manners.  It's not really the same as "This wine tastes like chicken!   Can't you tell?"


Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 10:46 AM (GQ8sn)

170 you do know we stopped reading right there, right? Not me. I found out a sommelier is just a teamster.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:46 AM (ioYmu)

171 166 Could I get a thousand or so copies of that?

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:47 AM (LJ7Ze)

172 My hubbies best friend is a sommelier, and he's not a "snob." He's just way into it. And, it's nice to get his advice. It's his job. I- Why the poncy name "sommelier?" How about "Wine expert?" B- There's a difference between an actual expert with actual expertise and a "connoisseur" who specializes in minutia about which no one (sane) cares. Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at May 02, 2014 02:32 PM (PYAXX) It's a french term. Yeah, there's a big difference. His job is choosing what wines and spirits multiple establishments (e.g restaurants) should buy. Hectic, but fun.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 10:47 AM (IXrOn)

173 Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at May 02, 2014 02:45 PM

You're welcome!

Posted by: Dodd-Frank at May 02, 2014 10:47 AM (knoK7)

174 Raven .25 anyone?
***

Not unless you're starting a race or have a toddler than needs punishing...

Posted by: B at May 02, 2014 10:47 AM (VC56G)

175 not making this shit up -- he really does have a very refined taste. Ahem. That's a "refined palate" you microaggressing fiend!

Posted by: Ace's SnootyFriend at May 02, 2014 10:47 AM (Ryac4)

176 I'm not a beer snob, but I try all sorts of beers and there are objective measures of quality, ingredients, alcohol percentage, brewing method, etc. You'd never mistake a Budweiser for an Imperial Ale from some micro brewery.

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 10:47 AM (ZshNr)

177 There's a restaurant near me that has both a wine list and a beer list that has the ridiculous "hints of aged lilacs in the tears of year old unicorns" type descriptions for both. My family play a game of "Is it Wine Or Is It Beer?", taking turns reading off a description and guessing what it is.

Posted by: nnptcgrad at May 02, 2014 10:48 AM (bCkQa)

178 But most of that is based on quantifiable evidence, not subjective opinion.

Posted by: EC

You want to know how I know you've never read a single gun forum post?

Posted by: weft cut-loop [/i][/b] at May 02, 2014 10:48 AM (pASf2)

179 "I received an email from someone with exactly that at the end of the signature line. Little green leaf and think twice about printing it out." Lots of companies doing today. Giving back to the community and all you see.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at May 02, 2014 10:48 AM (gOoFi)

180 We had a new Marketing Director create this little message for everyone to add to their Outlook signature that included a green leaf and a statement about how we were a "green company" so please think twice before printing out the email to save mother Gaia (OK, that's a paraphrase).
It was all so silly, but apparently all the tech companies were doing it.
Posted by: Lizzy at May 02, 2014 02:36 PM (8zTpe)


True story: I received an email from someone with exactly that at the end of the signature line. Little green leaf and think twice about printing it out. I was talking to the person who sent me that a couple of hours later and asked him if his IT people realized that the little green leaf eco thingy was placed immediately below the wall o'text SEC boilerplate about mandatory records retention. I could hear the facepalm over the phone.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at May 02, 2014 02:45 PM (mf5HN)

Well, I'm going to burn 3 tires for every green leaf I see.  You are welcome to cut and paste this and forward it to the green leaf people.

need some diesel.  brb.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:48 AM (x3YFz)

181 The flip side is also true, if you honestly believe something is low status it will taste worse, smell worse, feel worse -- your enjoyment will markedly decrease. And a loud group insisting that something you enjoy is low status can effect your perception.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 10:48 AM (ZPrif)

182 Well a sommelier is not a wine expert, he's a wine steward or wine captain recommending wines in a restaurant. Err... so he's a "captain" or "steward" but not an "expert?" Got it. :/ That said, a) it was a joke and b) the etymology piece was fun.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at May 02, 2014 10:48 AM (PYAXX)

183 Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at May 02, 2014 02:45 PM (mf5HN)

I always think "how fcuking self-important do you have to be to think anyone wants to print out your scary-amazing thoughts".

Posted by: Mega at May 02, 2014 10:49 AM (hHFOx)

184 Raven .25 anyone? An ENT gun.

Posted by: toby928© Gourmand at May 02, 2014 10:49 AM (QupBk)

185 Get yerself a Tesla Model S. Slap a vinyl top on it, chrome 24s with spinners, blast some rap while you drive around doing the gangsta lean. Do your part to reposition a positional good.

Posted by: JEM at May 02, 2014 10:49 AM (o+SC1)

186 You want to know how I know you've never read a single gun forum post?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at May 02, 2014 02:48 PM (pASf2)



Yeah, yeah, I know all about the fanboisms.


But there's real data that you can use to compare different brands.

Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 10:49 AM (GQ8sn)

187 'And I got news for you. I show up with Ring Dings and Pepsi, I become the biggest hit at the party. People be coming up to me, "just between you and me I'm really excited about the Ring Dings and the Pepsi.'

Posted by: Geroge Costanza at May 02, 2014 10:49 AM (Zzeoo)

188 Once many, many people possess the good, it can no longer serve the function of being positional.

Alternatively people might reject it as completely unmitigated bullshit and mock those who think highly of themselves for partaking in it.

Posted by: Methos at May 02, 2014 10:49 AM (hO9ad)

189 From what I saw in the "Somm" flick, those guys have encyclopedic, if not Rain Man-ish, knowledge of the subject.

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 10:49 AM (ZshNr)

190

Posted by: salsa connoisseur

 

That's teh racist!

Posted by: Phiesta Microaggression Victim at May 02, 2014 10:50 AM (87y4e)

191 There's a difference between the sommelier trying to use his expertise for the benefit of someone (trying to find the wine they'll enjoy most) and the snob just trying to look superior. And the former get lost among the latter far too often. My proposed solution: Return to the days where it was permissible to feed someone their own teeth for being an asshole. Odds of adoption: Admittedly nil.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 02, 2014 10:50 AM (rt3TY)

192 Any gun guy here, I'm sure, will have some pointed, snobbish opinions about certain guns Only for those that are pure, unadulterated crap. Raven .25 anyone? Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 02:37 PM (ioYmu) The good gun guys know that it's never the gun. Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 02:39 PM (x3YFz) Hey, that Raven .25 is perfect for bear defense. You shoot your buddy in the kneecap.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 10:50 AM (TIIx5)

193 >>>I think a good example are the clods (some) at ESPN who have decided to use the term "physicality" over and over again. Until about two years ago, I'd never heard the term. hah, there is always that sort of thing going on with language, with Hot New Words signaling High Status, until they become distasteful cliches. I was watching, a year ago, the cast of Arrested Development talking about the then-upcoming fourth season, and Jason Bateman, I think, was describing the show, and he said something about working to get the scripts to the right level of "granularity." At that point he realized the New York audience didn't really grok this term "granularity," and he smiled at the audience as he realized he'd used a Hot New Term from LA. He said, "Oh, you guys haven't heard 'granularity' yet? You *will.*" Meaning, the Trendy Word in LA would get trendy across the country. By the way, he was aware, as he was explaining this, that he was using a Trendy Bullshit Word, and his smile was really one of embarrassment. Six months later I heard two people saying "granularity."

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 10:50 AM (/FnUH)

194 152 So the wine to the wine snob really does taste better. The microbrews really do taste better to the beer snob. But they don't objectively taste better. It's due to the person believing that they are partaking in a high status good or activity. Welcome to the Placebo Effect - which is to say belief. We are all believers, we just consciously decide what we will and will not believe in - cuz red inflamed baboon butts. Yes, we are all grotto apes eating figs cuz we're special.

Posted by: Chaos the Other Dark Meat at May 02, 2014 10:50 AM (oDCMR)

195 But most of that is based on quantifiable evidence, not subjective opinion.

Posted by: EC

You want to know how I know you've never read a single gun forum post?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at May 02, 2014 02:48 PM (pASf2)

Easy, Horde.

No blue on blue.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:50 AM (x3YFz)

196 Oh I always make sure to print at least five copies of emails with that "think green before you print" bullshit on them. It's my personal passive-microaggression.

Posted by: DangerGirl at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (Ryac4)

197 I had sardines for lunch and my flatulence is definitely micro-aggressive.

Posted by: Dang at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (MNq6o)

198 So  Macro-aggression  is  still  ok?  I'm  asking  for  a  friend  who's  planning  to  curb  stomp  some  hipsters  this  weekend.

Posted by: Larsen E. Whipsnade at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (rXcBX)

199 I'm liking this concept of microaggressions. It makes rounding up the dissidents so much simpler.

Posted by: Zombie Uncle Joe Stalin at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (Dwehj)

200 I think this is a good explanation for LIVs.  They don't  aspire to be dumb, they  work very hard to be exceptionally stupid.

Posted by: Soona at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (cepHW)

201 The flip side is also true, if you honestly believe something is low status it will taste worse, smell worse, feel worse -- your enjoyment will markedly decrease. So, McDonald's is Fine Dining?

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (ioYmu)

202 The trees are actually grown now to make paper. The trees wouldn't have been planted without the expected need for paper. Copy away.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (LJ7Ze)

203 Anybody think that devil statute in OK won't be blown up?

Posted by: Sir Pug A Lott at May 02, 2014 10:51 AM (8c12T)

204 Alternatively people might reject it as completely unmitigated bullshit and mock those who think highly of themselves for partaking in it.
Posted by: Methos at May 02, 2014 02:49 PM


Dear hipsters....the PBR?  Yeah...it sucked back in the day...it sucks now.  But go on enjoying its delicate aroma of irony and hints of failure.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:52 AM (knoK7)

205 >>> Err... so he's a "captain" or "steward" but not an "expert?" Got it. :/ no of course he is an expert, but you can be a wine expert without being a sommelier. A sommelier is a specific paid job at a restaurant or club. So it does need its own word, whether that's "wine steward" or "sommelier." "Expert" won't cut it.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 10:52 AM (/FnUH)

206 The best gun is the one within reach.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 10:52 AM (QupBk)

207 The beauty of the micro-aggression is that it does two jobs: (1) Because it is imperceptible to all but the priests of sensitivity and rectitude, if you can identify (invent?) one, you thereby distinguish yourself as a member of that priesthood; (2) For the same reason, the micro-aggression identifies the transgressor as a contemptible knuckle-dragger. Because the unwashed will never rise to the level of the ultra-sensitve priesthood---they're too busy living their lives---they form a permanent underclass which distinguishes the priesthood.

Posted by: nick at May 02, 2014 10:52 AM (EMQZg)

208 "devil statute " Statue or statute?

Posted by: Cosmo Kramer at May 02, 2014 10:52 AM (gOoFi)

209 EVERYONE has something about which they are a "snob." There's nothing wrong with that, assuming snobbery just manifests itself as passionate enthusiasm. I don't care if it's a "Bubba" with his favorite duck call or a gal with fancy shoes or people who Refuse To Own A Television or someone Who Makes Everything From Scratch or people (like me) who spend their disposable income on great food. I haven't read all the comments, just skimmed them, but seems like the gist of some of the comments are about hatin' on "snobs." But in my experience, we're all snobs about something. Even if our snobbery is about not being a snob.

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 10:53 AM (zDsvJ)

210 Six months later I heard two people saying "granularity."

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 02:50 PM (/FnUH)

I share your derision for butchering of language.

The thing that pushed me over the edge was "going forward"

I have to suppress violence when I read or see it (and now all the Horde is going to use it just to poke me, but that's just funnin', so it's ok)

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:53 AM (x3YFz)

211 Dennis Miller Show ‏@DennisDMZ 2h If everyone would immediately stop looking for work the unemployment rate would be 0%. DO THE RIGHT THING!

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (DmNpO)

212 Can you be passive micro-aggressive?

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (gOoFi)

213 Spoken like a true crossbow connoisseur.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (LJ7Ze)

214 But in my experience, we're all snobs about something. Even if our snobbery is about not being a snob.
Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 02:53 PM

Damn it, Y-not, you had to go and break the code, didn't you?

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (knoK7)

215 But go on enjoying its delicate aroma of irony and hints of failure. Eventually they'll realize they aren't coming from the beer. That or they'll wind up contributing to someone's femur collection during the Burnination.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (rt3TY)

216 Penn & Teller actually did the tap water thing once in Bullshit!. They had a water sommelier go around offering various high-end, imported, ultra-pure, eco-artisan waters for a water tasting at a fancy restaurant. Reality it was Penn in the back with a water hose filling every glass with the exact same water. But the water really did taste better to the people.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (ZPrif)

217  Anybody think that devil statute in OK won't be blown up?

Posted by: Sir Pug A Lott at May 02, 2014 02:51 PM (8c12T)

 

 

------------------------------------------------

 

 

Permanent ink, ridiculous clown face.  From an overheard conversation.  Just sayin'.

Posted by: Soona at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (cepHW)

218 Shit, ACE, MSNBC is an on-air course in it. They ought to package it. All one needs is to digest a couple weeks of their drivel, and you are ready for the oral exam. Then again, all you gotta do today is stay awake and pay attention K through 12 in the government schools, then do the same for four years in about any university in the lower 48, and you're there. Finely-tuned.

Posted by: the littl shyning man at May 02, 2014 10:54 AM (tmFlQ)

219 I share your derision for butchering of language. The thing that pushed me over the edge was "going forward" I have to suppress violence when I read or see it (and now all the Horde is going to use it just to poke me, but that's just funnin', so it's ok) Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 02:53 PM (x3YFz) When I hear the words "take us to the next level", I reach for my Browning.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 10:55 AM (TIIx5)

220 "Green" shopping bags and bumper stickers are also signals for "I'm A Good Person" or "I'm Better Than You."

Posted by: Soothie § at May 02, 2014 10:55 AM (dcmpT)

221 *heads off to say 5 Our Fathers and 10 Hail Marys* Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 02:44 PM (zDsvJ) I'll be doing Novenas until we have intergalactic travel, so yeah, I got tons of Purgatory coming. Damnit........

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at May 02, 2014 10:55 AM (+nKK4)

222 And let's not forget the microaggression that is gentrification.

Posted by: Zombie Uncle Joe Stalin at May 02, 2014 10:55 AM (Dwehj)

223 I actually like the refining of language through invented or newly applied terms *if* them make the meaning clearer. IT uses granularity alot and it transmits the meaning that our in group understands. Also Normalize.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 10:55 AM (QupBk)

224 "That or they'll wind up contributing to someone's femur collection during the Burnination. Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 02, 2014 02:54 PM"

*shifty eyes*

Not that anyone here would be collecting hipster femurs...Not at all.....

*shifty eyes*

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:55 AM (knoK7)

225 Going forward, I think knowledge about this connoisseur stuff will really take us to the next level.

It is what it is.

Posted by: That Guy at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (hHFOx)

226 "EVERYONE has something about which they are a "snob." True dat. Everyone has their enthusiasms that they spend and energy on and after a certain point they come to think of themselves as quite the SME on the subject. For me it happens to be cheap vodka and internet pron.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (gOoFi)

227 EVERYONE has something about which they are a "snob." There's nothing wrong with that, assuming snobbery just manifests itself as passionate enthusiasm.


Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 02:53 PM (zDsvJ)

"Snob" has a derisive, dismissive connotation.

Being good at something doesn't mean you have to be those things.  In fact; being good at something carries with it an increasing responsibility to teach others to be good at it as well.

Perfection isn't free.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (x3YFz)

228 I'm the bad kind of snob about a few things. Concrete flatwork, the tidal flats of Cape Cod Bay, and hot dogs to name a few.

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (ZshNr)

229 Maybe we all could a Nonmicroagression Pact?

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (LJ7Ze)

230 A real wine snob (or beer snob) will come to your house for a party and drink your wine and bitch to you about it because it is not Pouilly-Fuissé 19xx and gripe about it all night.  (or some obscure beer only sold in specialty stores).


Thjose are the kinds of snobs I can not stand.  And I have had some come to my house and do that very thing.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (T2V/1)

231 Hey, where's the real post for us Gold Members?

Posted by: Dr Spank at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (5UteM)

232 Ace's cute little Arrested Development story reveals him as a New Yorker who hates LA. Ho hum.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at May 02, 2014 10:56 AM (cotAB)

233 I had to look it up: gran·u·lar [gran-yuh-ler] Show IPA adjective 1. of the nature of granules; grainy. 2. composed of or bearing granules or grains. 3. showing a granulated structure. Granularity is a noun.

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (A98Xu)

234 Going forward, I think knowledge about this connoisseur stuff will really take us to the next level. It is what it is. Posted by: That Guy at May 02, 2014 02:56 PM (hHFOx) Ching Ching Pow, motherfcuker.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (TIIx5)

235
Perfection isn't free.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 02:56 PM (x3YFz)

ok... I'll restate:  it's only free to those of low character.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (x3YFz)

236 Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 02:56 PM

Exactly...being an enthusiast is one thing...being a total douchebag is another.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (knoK7)

237 You're not a snob if you're right.

Posted by: Thin Crust, FTW at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (Zzeoo)

238 I always forget to type verbs.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (LJ7Ze)

239 Wine Boss.

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (VhqUZ)

240 69 "We're better than them" AoSHQ slogan Posted by: occam's brassiere at May 02, 2014 02:29 PM (MLq9+) I thought it was "We're better than them...we have vodka and bacon!" It sounds better in the original latin.

Posted by: LizLem at May 02, 2014 10:57 AM (yRwC8)

241 Penn & Teller actually did the tap water thing once in Bullshit!. They had a water sommelier go around offering various high-end, imported, ultra-pure, eco-artisan waters for a water tasting at a fancy restaurant. Reality it was Penn in the back with a water hose filling every glass with the exact same water. But the water really did taste better to the people. *** Our locally bottled Spring water, Zephyrhills, is my favorite and I absolutely hate Fiji water. It is too soft. The texture actually feels kind of slimy. Aquafina and Dasani are also crap.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at May 02, 2014 10:58 AM (DmNpO)

242 Everyone hates LA.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 10:58 AM (Zzeoo)

243

Dibbs on Kate Upton's butt as my positional good.

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at May 02, 2014 10:58 AM (SO2Q8)

244 For me the line between "snob" and enthusiast is this---does the person take pride in *not* knowing something. A foodie who hasn't been to McDonald's or Starbucks since high school is just a dude really into food. A foodie who cannot wait for an oopportunity to tell you that he has no idea what's at Starbucks because he hasn't been in decades is a fucking snob.

Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at May 02, 2014 10:58 AM (Yz5ZM)

245 Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 02:57 PM (TIIx5)

Hey wasn't that one of those pilots on that flight, God rest his soul?

Posted by: Mega at May 02, 2014 10:58 AM (hHFOx)

246 True story, when Mts928 were young and poor, we were invited to dinner at her cousins house. We purchased a medium priced bottle of wine to take with us. Our host sent it back with us. That's snobbery.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 10:58 AM (QupBk)

247 "at the end of the day" was big 8 years ago.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 10:58 AM (/FnUH)

248 Pollock, bitchez. Cod sux.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 10:59 AM (TIIx5)

249 I hear Purgatory is a cash bar, 98ZJUSMC.

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 10:59 AM (zDsvJ)

250 There's a difference between knowing a lot about something then teaching others your knowledge and being an asshole.

Posted by: DangerGirl at May 02, 2014 10:59 AM (Ryac4)

251 O/T  .....  but....

Drudge has a story up about the first case of MERS in the United States.  MERS is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome..... nasty respiratory bug that originated in Saudi.

Pretty mundane article till you get to the last sentence.

"The virus has been found in camels, but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans."


Seriously???   I got a pretty good idea.

Posted by: fixerupper at May 02, 2014 10:59 AM (nELVU)

252 that should be 'when me and Mrs928 were young and poor'. effin poor brain to keyboard coordination.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 10:59 AM (QupBk)

253 That's snobbery. Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 02:58 PM

That's throatpunch-worthy douchebaggery, right there.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 10:59 AM (knoK7)

254 MERS enters the US.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 11:00 AM (LJ7Ze)

255 >>>For me the line between "snob" and enthusiast is this---does the person take pride in *not* knowing something I think the real distinction here is between an expert who gives you his opinion and expertise when you *ask him for it* and the one who inflicts it on you unbidden. The former is being helpful; the latter is playing a Social Positioning game.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 11:00 AM (/FnUH)

256 We purchased a medium priced bottle of wine to take with us. Our host sent it back with us. That's snobbery. Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob -- No, that's rudeness.

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 11:00 AM (zDsvJ)

257 246 True story, when Mts928 were young and poor, we were invited to dinner at her cousins house. We purchased a medium priced bottle of wine to take with us. Our host sent it back with us.

That's snobbery.
***

Please tell me you egged their house later...

Posted by: B at May 02, 2014 11:00 AM (VC56G)

258 81 Too many notes.

Posted by: Emperor Joseph II, Music Connoisseur at May 02, 2014 02:32 PM (8ZskC)


One of my favorite lines!

Posted by: Drill_Thrawl at May 02, 2014 11:00 AM (rdiUQ)

259

>>>Everyone hates LA.

 

Except jellyfish. To them its like heaven.

Posted by: Bigby's Helping Hands at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (3ZtZW)

260 123 "Somm" on Netflix is a documentary following a few guys as they attempt to become Master Connoisseurs. It's not bad, it's not great, if you have an hour to kill and like listening to people talk about wine and test anxiety, it's worth checking out. Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 02:38 PM (ZshNr) Another excellent vino film dealing with wine snobs is Bottle Shock. Not sure if still on Netflix. Has a nice "Amerrica, eff yeah!" ending, spoiler alert. And a somewhat conservative message of the importance of getting your hippie head out of your butt and applying yourself to something. Plus Chris Pine and alan Rickman, mmmmm.

Posted by: LizLem at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (yRwC8)

261 You're not a snob if you're right.

Posted by: Thin Crust, FTW at May 02, 2014 02:57 PM (Zzeoo)


Fuck off, weak sauce

Posted by: Deep Dish, kicking your ass, and with leftovers at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (hO9ad)

262 whooping cough and measles on the rise in MI....Thanks Jenny!

Posted by: Bruce Lee's Fist at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (M+evy)

263 Also, we used to have a "work" snob living here as a neighbor. He was over visiting with me and another neighbor who worked with me.  We were talking about work and he reared back in the chair, threw his shoulder back and stuck his jaw out and said "well I'm an Engineer".  After he left I looked at my buddy and said "what a dick".  He was an "engineer" at a textile mill.  We were nukes and were not impressed.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (T2V/1)

264 So the wine to the wine snob really does taste better. The microbrews really do taste better to the beer snob. And, good scotch is good scotch. I lined up a few I had here at home (varying ages, same brand - some gifts), and I could easily pick out "mine" with a blind test.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (IXrOn)

265 Speaking of wine, which I enjoy but about which I am not super well-informed, I will say that the few times I've been able to put myself in the hands of the sommelier and get wine pairings have generally been well worth it. It's expensive as hell, but for a special treat, I enjoy it.

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (zDsvJ)

266

Ace wrote, "He says "signalize" -- I guess this is a term of art."

 

My girlfriend is relatively new to the art world; more specifically, to the people who populate art world. There are times when some of the artists I know start  spouting the latest in unintelligible, postmodernistic jargon. 'Signalize', for example, is one of those words. Barthes coined it, I believe. No matter. Anyway, when I introduce my girlfriend to someone who starts talking in what she calls 'artspeak', she gives me this sideways look and rolls her eyes a little. We laugh about it later.

 

Truth is, people who talk like that produce the crappiest art in the known galaxy. They throw up this cloud of impenetrable jargon to obfuscate their own inability to execute anything approaching the true and beautiful.  At its essence, artspeak is a rationalization of the worst kind. Those who can't do, teach--or blow smoke up your ass.

Posted by: troyriser at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (gNlvW)

267 The only appropriate feeling towards LA is indifference, bordering on boredom. Anything else is unhealthy.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (QZkRD)

268 But in my experience, we're all snobs about something. Even if our snobbery is about not being a snob. And then we have the bossy snob... a bridge too far, folks! ;-)

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (HsTG8)

269 With ESPN, they are constantly changing words when a word correlates with black players. There is a cottage industry of shouting "racism!" at ESPN for using words like "athletic" or "explosive" for black players. So every couple years they have to invent a new word for "guy who can run faster and jump higher than the other guy". They use it for a couple years until the Racism Patrol notice, hey, you keep using New Word X to describe black players more often than white players. At that point everybody gets all sheepish and the invent a new word and they are talking about who has "hops" or something, until Sharpton demands ESPN stop comparing guys in the slam dunk contest to kangaroos and bunny rabbits.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (ZPrif)

270 7 "at the end of the day" was big 8 years ago. Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 02:58 PM (/FnUH) True, I had a lawyer friend that used that at the beginning of approximately every other sentence. And it was about 8 years ago.

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (A98Xu)

271 " Our host sent it back with us. " That's pretty effin' bad.

Posted by: Ricardo Kill at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (gOoFi)

272 "The virus has been found in camels, but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans." Seriously??? I got a pretty good idea. Just like hookers. No kissing.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (ioYmu)

273 Everyone hates LA.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 02:58 PM (Zzeoo)

Yup.

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 11:01 AM (x3YFz)

274 Yes, Bottle Shock is still on Netflix. Great movie.

Posted by: DangerGirl at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (Ryac4)

275 After the first few glasses it's all the same.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (LJ7Ze)

276

"The virus has been found in camels, but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans."

 

Victory!

Posted by: The Goat at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (87y4e)

277

Yeah, it pisses me off to no end that hipsters are now drinking small-batch bourbon while sneering at all the racist hillbillies in Kentucky that make the stuff. 

 

I just like good bourbon.  Now I have to pay twice as much for it because it's "hip." 

Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (NYnoe)

278 #152 So the wine to the wine snob really does taste better. The microbrews really do taste better to the beer snob.

But they don't objectively taste better. It's due to the person believing that they are partaking in a high status good or activity.
===
All things having to do with smell and taste are subjective, of course, and many tastes are acquired.  IE, there are people who legitimately prefer Budweiser American-style lager to Budweiser Budvaar Czech Pilsner.   But this isn't all just snobbery.

I can guarantee you that if I give you a cup of fresh-roasted, freshly brewed Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee vs a cup of 6-month old pre-ground Maxwell House blinded, not only will you easily be able to tell which is which, but you'll prefer the good stuff, even if you aren't a coffee fan.   Ditto for "good" vs cheap wines, beers, liquors, and any number of other foodstuffs.  I'm not saying snobbery doesn't exist, when obviously it does, but I think there really are detectable differences here.

Posted by: looking closely at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (PwGfd)

279 "At the end of the day, you will be paying a lot more for that service than you anticipated."

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (A98Xu)

280 There was an article in the federalist a few months back by some self-purported expert defending self-purported experts, and why you should Listen To Them. But here's the thing about a real expert: A real expert's opinion is *sought out,* and usually paid for. If you're an "expert" and exactly no one is actually asking you for your "expert opinion" -- you may not actually be an expert after all. Certainly, in that case, it is necessarily true that people don't generally consider you an expert. An expert usually doesn't have to jump up and down screaming "I'm an expert." If word of his expertise has gotten out, people will actually ask him questions about his expert field, and will listen, without being pressured into doing so.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (/FnUH)

281 There's a difference between knowing a lot about something then teaching others your knowledge and being an asshole. Nonsense. They go together like Peanut Butter and Chocolate. You should spend a day in the boat with me.

Posted by: garrett at May 02, 2014 11:02 AM (Zzeoo)

282 "well I'm an Engineer". After he left I looked at my buddy and said "what a dick". He was an "engineer" at a textile mill. We were nukes and were not impressed. Posted by: Vic at May 02, 2014 03:01 PM (T2V/1) ha I have one of those in the family. Inlaw. Thinks he's the smartest man in the world. It's embarrassing, really.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:03 AM (IXrOn)

283 "The virus has been found in camels, but officials don't know how it is spreading to humans."

Victory!

Posted by: The Goat at May 02, 2014 03:02 PM (87y4e)




LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 11:03 AM (GQ8sn)

284 And then we have the bossy snob... a bridge too far, folks! #banbossysnobs

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 11:03 AM (ioYmu)

285 277 I just like good bourbon. Now I have to pay twice as much for it because it's "hip."
===
True, but in 5 years something else will be "hip" and you can have your good bourbon cheaper again.

Posted by: looking closely at May 02, 2014 11:03 AM (PwGfd)

286 Speaking of wine, which I enjoy but about which I am not super well-informed, I will say that the few times I've been able to put myself in the hands of the sommelier and get wine pairings have generally been well worth it. It's expensive as hell, but for a special treat, I enjoy it. --- And that's probably due to the placebo effect. It really does taste better, though. But not really. Only because you believe it.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 11:03 AM (ZPrif)

287 160--- I think a good example are the clods (some) at ESPN who have decided to use the term "physicality" over and over again. Until about two years ago, I'd never heard the term. Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 02:44 PM (A98Xu) --------------------------- I am old enough to remember the happy times in the deep, dark past when sportscasters did not use the word "differential" when what they mean is DIFFERENCE. Someone starting using "differential" in the insane belief that it sounded smart and it's been all downhill ever since. Another sportscaster word that drives me nuts --- although not AS nuts, since it's not actually a MISuse --- is "utilize." Why the hell can't they say USE?

Posted by: Margarita who wishes she drank more at May 02, 2014 11:04 AM (dfYL9)

288 But in my experience, we're all snobs about something. Even if our snobbery is about not being a snob.

And then we have the bossy snob... a bridge too far, folks!

;-)

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ at May 02, 2014 03:01 PM (HsTG

nonsensical statements are nonsensical, even if the nonsensical statement is about being nonsensical.


Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 11:04 AM (x3YFz)

289 Please tell me you egged their house later... Heh. Naw, I really like the guy. He's very personable except for that wine thing, and showing you his pen used by President Kennedy to sign something or other. Personally, I would have kept the wine with a thank you and poured it down the drain later if I didn't like it.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 11:04 AM (QupBk)

290 At that point everybody gets all sheepish and the invent a new word and they are talking about who has "hops" or something, until Sharpton demands ESPN stop comparing guys in the slam dunk contest to kangaroos and bunny rabbits.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 03:01 PM (ZPrif)

 

No shit. The McDonald's All American slam dunk contest this year was won by a white kid.  The commentators were twisting themselves into pretzels trying to avoid saying anything racist. 

Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 11:04 AM (Q4elb)

291 I don't care about being the smartest person in the room, I just don't want to be the dumbest. That's a full time job.

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 11:05 AM (A98Xu)

292 Maybe "signalize" is an neologism created to convey they idea of a deliberate signaling, whereas "signal" would not necessarily include the idea of deliberate advertisement. For example, a smoker's hack signals you're a smoker, but certainly most people don't intend to *signalize* they're smokers by coughing.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 11:05 AM (/FnUH)

293 Frankly, if you haven't sampled the barbecue dog at Hot Dog Annie's in Paxton, MA, then you simply haven't lived. Harumph.

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 11:05 AM (ZshNr)

294 I always forget to type verbs.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 02:57 PM (LJ7Ze)

 

 

------------------------------------------

 

 

Verbs are so gauch.

Posted by: Soona at May 02, 2014 11:05 AM (cepHW)

295 160 You've been watching CNN for two years? Dude!

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 11:05 AM (LJ7Ze)

296 Posted by: The Goat at May 02, 2014 03:02 PM (87y4e)


LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 03:03 PM (GQ8sn)

whrew!

Posted by: The Chicken at May 02, 2014 11:05 AM (x3YFz)

297 True story, when Mts928 were young and poor, we were invited to dinner at her cousins house. We purchased a medium priced bottle of wine to take with us. Our host sent it back with us. That's snobbery. Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 02:58 PM (QupBk) That's not snobbery that's being incredibly rude. Unless it was sent back with you with oh thank you so much that's so kind of you but we have a few bottles so why don't you just keep that one. Or, you know, hey we have money to buy more wine and you don't so you drink it. I can be more than a wee snobbish about trashy YA works which is completely hilarious when you ponder it. Also crap SciFi movies. Oh, you haven't seen Ghost Shark? Oh. Huh. Also Ancient Aliens. Connoisseur tip: the taller the hair, the more batshit the episode.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD/Orion Death Star 2016 at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (mf5HN)

298 I'm such a huge wine snob tha I'll pretty much drink any wine served to me.

Posted by: DangerGirl at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (Ryac4)

299 I just like good bourbon. Now I have to pay twice as much for it because it's "hip." Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 03:02 PM

Srsly.  All of the good greens I used to eat as a kid that cost next to nothing?  They all cost a freakin' fortune now that the foodies have 'discovered' them. 

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (knoK7)

300 Victory! Posted by: The Goat at May 02, 2014 03:02 PM (87y4e) *high fives goat*

Posted by: The Chicken at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (yRwC8)

301 He's very personable except for that wine thing, and showing you his pen used by President Kennedy to sign something or other. I'd like to borrow that pen.

Posted by: Greg Fitzsimmons at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (Zzeoo)

302

>>>I think the real distinction here is between an expert who gives you his opinion and expertise when you *ask him for it* and the one who inflicts it on you unbidden.

 

My sole expertise lies in STD investigations. Were I to inflict it on you I think it'd come across as completely bizarre.

 

Which is why I sometimes do that, but I've no illusions I'm informing anybody of anything.

Posted by: Bigby's Helping Hands at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (3ZtZW)

303 The Daycare centers should be flooded with MERS soon.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (LJ7Ze)

304 again, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need". think of when libs talk about the need for a national conversation: was it yesterday that some numbskull on msnbc said we need a conversation on race? What it means is that the vast majority of us need to listen and agree when the intellectual 1 percenters exercise their ability to tell us what to think.

Posted by: mallfly at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (bJm7W)

305 (And in all seriousness, Absolut tastes like fish scales and Stoli tastes like potato peels.)

Posted by: joncelli at May 02, 2014 11:06 AM (IEM5v)

306 OT, but am I the only (still) firefox user who is not in agreement with their new 'intuitive' format today?

Posted by: Methos at May 02, 2014 11:07 AM (hO9ad)

307 Personally, I would have kept the wine with a thank you and poured it down the drain later if I didn't like it. *** A well-mannered person would have "saved it for later".

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at May 02, 2014 11:07 AM (DmNpO)

308 The Daycare centers should be flooded with MERS soon.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 03:06 PM (LJ7Ze)




Just call it what it is.



Camel SARS.



Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 11:07 AM (GQ8sn)

309 Off the topic a bit, but psychiatrists think they are "doctors" of all fields. Expert doctors. Writing prescriptions for people with no knowledge of their medical history, etc. Dangerous. Drives me nuts. Well, they went to medical school... I'm told. But, yea, would you have them diagnose your cancer, or treat you for an upper respiratory disease? You are as good as the field you study, and continue to study.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:07 AM (IXrOn)

310 The only appropriate feeling towards LA is indifference, bordering on boredom. Anything else is unhealthy. Posted by: occam's brassiere at May 02, 2014 03:01 PM (QZkRD) Is "Please, please Santa Claus, please bring me a Tsar Bomba for Christmas" unhealthy?

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 11:07 AM (TIIx5)

311 Free drinks always taste better for some reason.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 11:07 AM (LJ7Ze)

312 Quam nos sunt, et nos in eadem aqua vitae Slavica arvina

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 02, 2014 11:08 AM (rt3TY)

313 Not sure where this is... almost 300 posts in.

My  guess is, this is at the most only a small part of it.  Setting up new language to describe transgressions in others is mostly about power, not about feelings of superiority. 

In other words, you might be describing the symptom, rather than the disease. 

Posted by: BurtTC at May 02, 2014 11:08 AM (BeSEI)

314 wasn't tequilla a cheap form of alcohol until it got hot and now there are all these super-premium brands? Same with vodka, right? Isn't the whole idea of vodka that it has, basically, no taste, and it's easy (and therefore cheap) to produce taste-free vodka?

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 11:08 AM (/FnUH)

315 So, in short, sommelier is french for "mule-skinner". Interesting.

Posted by: Inspector Cussword at May 02, 2014 11:08 AM (Qp0nB)

316 Frankly, I don't think I've ever met a wine snob that can top a Scotch snob in their ability to make me want to tell them to shove it.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at May 02, 2014 11:08 AM (DmNpO)

317 249 I hear Purgatory is a cash bar, 98ZJUSMC. Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 02:59 PM (zDsvJ) Oooooo...!!! *searches under bed for spare change* I'll probably run out of cash long before my sentence is done. I'm working on a plea bargain for all the fapping. Something about social responsibility and all that.

Posted by: 98ZJUSMC Waiting for the Sun at May 02, 2014 11:08 AM (+nKK4)

318 Heh - They have a Joint in Camden Yards, called Pollock Johnnie's Real Polish Sausages.

Had a fit of pique and half dying of laughter, before the wife handed me a Blue Moon to bring me back to my senses... and asking me not to go ask them to prove both points...

Funny thing is, there were only non-whites (hint, hint) working in there...

Posted by: Ibin Pharteen at May 02, 2014 11:09 AM (zL/eJ)

319 "What is the point of connoisseurship? Well, as a primary matter, to develop a refined, cultured, and sensitive palate for detecting the most subtle effects of a thing. The wine connoisseur trains himself to pick out "smoky notes" and "hints of blackberry" and wines that profited from "good ash in the soil.""

Don't know about fancy wine, all I know is that on election day, I stand outside the Democratic headquarters and some lady  drives a bunch of us down to the voting place.  She hands us a piece of paper and a card and we go in and vote.  Then she hands us two packs of smokes and a bottle of Rosie and we're good to go.

Posted by: A Street Guy at May 02, 2014 11:09 AM (JBggj)

320 Just call it what it is.

Camel SARS.

Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 03:07 PM (GQ8sn)


----


M-M-M-Mike ! !


Guess what daaaaay it is????

Posted by: fixerupper at May 02, 2014 11:09 AM (nELVU)

321 Free drinks always taste better for some reason.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 03:07 PM (LJ7Ze)

just like the sandwich made for you by someone else is always better than the one you make yourself.

dammit, now I'm hungry.

Posted by: The Chicken at May 02, 2014 11:09 AM (x3YFz)

322 >>wasn't tequilla a cheap form of alcohol until it got hot... ...and people like George Clooney and Justin Timberlake bought Tequila companies.

Posted by: Lizzy at May 02, 2014 11:09 AM (8zTpe)

323 295 160 You've been watching CNN for two years? Dude!

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 03:05 PM (LJ7Ze)


I had to sit through two hours of CNN in the Dr's waiting room this morning.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 11:09 AM (T2V/1)

324 (I probably should have gone with "aquula" isntead of "aqua vitae Slavica", actually...)

Posted by: Brother Cavil at May 02, 2014 11:10 AM (rt3TY)

325 I'll have to check out Bottle Shock. "The Angels Share" is a fictional movie set in Ireland, availableon Netflix, lots of Scotch connoisseur-ship, not bad.

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 11:10 AM (ZshNr)

326 True story, when Mts928 were young and poor, we were invited to dinner at her cousins house. We purchased a medium priced bottle of wine to take with us. Our host sent it back with us. That's snobbery. So rude. Or, did they feel (if you were young and poor) that you shouldn't have? Otherwise, rude. If I get a non-drinkable, I use it for cooking.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:10 AM (IXrOn)

327 309 -

Is this a problem? 

I think the opposite  is more problematic:  docs with no real training in psychiatry prescribing psychiatric meds  about which they  have little or no understanding. 

Posted by: BurtTC at May 02, 2014 11:10 AM (BeSEI)

328 This was fun. Thanks.

Back to my Canadian spam and June, 2013 Ripple.

Posted by: Stateless Infidel at May 02, 2014 11:10 AM (AC0lD)

329

#278 I have a friend who is a sales rep for Makers Mark.  One thing he loves to do is set up blind bourbon taste tests with Makers vs. some new hipster super-premium bourbons.  Nine times out of 10 people prefer Makers.  But go into any bar now and all the young folks are ordering Knob Creek and Bookers and Woodford Reserve, for $5 more a glass. 

 

I always got a little bit of a kick out of ordering Makers at bars, back in the days when women who drank any colored liquor were rare.  It got me many a conversation and a few dates with some good looking bartenders.  ;-)  But I was never a snob about it, and I'm still not.  I'm just a Kentucky girl who likes bourbon.   I think it's kinda stupid to pay $50 for a fifth of bourbon, even if it is really good.

Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (NYnoe)

330 Truth is, people who talk like that produce the crappiest art in the known galaxy. They throw up this cloud of impenetrable jargon to obfuscate their own inability to execute anything approaching the true and beautiful. At its essence, artspeak is a rationalization of the worst kind. Those who can't do, teach--orblow smoke up your ass. For a real strong dose of twatwafflery, read one of their "artist's statements". They invariably are ineffectual pretension to grandeur writ large.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ [/i] [/s] [/u] at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (HsTG8)

331 We should have a thread where the morons reveal what particular thing, or things, they actually consider themselves experts in.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (QupBk)

332 "The Angels Share" is a fictional movie set in Ireland, availableon Netflix, lots of Scotch connoisseur-ship, not bad. Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 03:10 PM (ZshNr) I liked it.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (IXrOn)

333 dammit, now I'm hungry.

Posted by: The Chicken at May 02, 2014 03:09 PM (x3YFz)

 

Grilled chicken sandwich DOES sound pretty good right now

Posted by: Bruce Lee's Fist at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (M+evy)

334 269 With ESPN, they are constantly changing words when a word correlates with black players. There is a cottage industry of shouting "racism!" at ESPN for using words like "athletic" or "explosive" for black players.
==
There is a cottage industry of yelling "racism", period. Its big business.

In terms of simple nomenclature, some of this is just pure PC/flavor of the moment.  Once upon a time "negro" was the polite word.  "Colored" was once the preferred term. "Black" was once OK. . .honestly I don't even know if its "racist" to use that term anymore.  "African American", etc. 

I've had a conversation with a schoolteacher friend recently about the terms used for individuals of low intelligence.   The term "retarded" of course, is no longer acceptable. . .even though once upon a time not that long ago, the term "retarded" (which literally means "slow") WAS the nice politically correct term.   Handicapped, no longer a politically correct term, etc.

The real issue here is that no matter WHAT term you use to describe these deficiencies, the term is going to sooner or later acquire a negative connotation.  There is no "nice" way to describe someone who isn't smart, or can't walk, etc.

Posted by: looking closely at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (PwGfd)

335 Frankly, I don't think I've ever met a wine snob that can top a Scotch snob in their ability to make me want to tell them to shove it. Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at May 02, 2014 03:08 PM

Ain't that the truth? 

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (knoK7)

336 And that's probably due to the placebo effect. It really does taste better, though. But not really. Only because you believe it. Posted by: Flatbush Joe at May 02, 2014 03:03 PM (ZPrif) -- No, I really disagree. It's not that the price per glass (or half glass) was higher and therefore in our minds better. It's that if you're having an 8-course (or 15-course) meal with a variety of very different types of courses, it really is a challenge for someone like me to pick which wines would complement particular dishes. But the good sommeliers can do that without any difficulty. We just rarely drink more than a glass of wine at dinner, so to pop for a wine pairing and have several different glasses throughout the meal is something we only do on occasion. It can be pricey and I'd usually rather spend that extra dough on more food. But if you all are ever in Chicago and have a chance to do the chef's table tasting at Tru, do it. And get the pairing. We're still talking about it a decade later.

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (zDsvJ)

337 Your steak ain't no hipper than my pork chop
Your Cadillac ain't no hipper than my bus stop
Your champagne ain't no hipper than my soda pop

Posted by: Bigby's Helping Hands at May 02, 2014 11:11 AM (3ZtZW)

338

[i[] Can anyone tell the difference between day-old and week-old Val U Rite?

 

The week old is the empty bottle

 

Posted by: McCool at May 02, 2014 11:12 AM (nCSwS)

339 So many extended-vocabulary words ... is this thread the written version of a Rorschach test? Well-played, Ace.

Posted by: Arbalest at May 02, 2014 11:12 AM (FlRtG)

340 damn tags

Posted by: McCool at May 02, 2014 11:12 AM (nCSwS)

341 We should have a thread where the morons reveal what particular thing, or things, they actually consider themselves experts in.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 03:11 PM (QupBk)



The list would stop at "fapping".



Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 11:12 AM (GQ8sn)

342 He's very personable except for that wine thing, and showing you his pen used by President Kennedy to sign something or other. You should find out where he keeps his Kennedy pen, and quietly replace it with a Bic.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 11:12 AM (TIIx5)

343 WHAT DIFFERENTIAL DOES IT MAKE??!!!???

Posted by: Hillary! at May 02, 2014 11:12 AM (dfYL9)

344 Personally, I would have kept the wine with a thank you and poured it down the drain later if I didn't like it. Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 03:04 PM (QupBk) That was the acme of rudeness. Even a 'poor' wine belongs in teh kitchen for deglazing pans, building the foundation for a nice sauce.

Posted by: Cicero Kaboom! Kid at May 02, 2014 11:13 AM (Fp7JI)

345 just like the sandwich made for you by someone else is always better than the one you make yourself. Just what I was going to say. Why is that?

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 11:13 AM (VhqUZ)

346 331 We should have a thread where the morons reveal what particular thing, or things, they actually consider themselves experts in. --- That would be awesome some weekend or evening. I think we could put together a terrific post-Apocalyptic society with the folks here.

Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 11:13 AM (zDsvJ)

347 329  But go into any bar now and all the youngfolks are ordering Knob Creek and Bookers and Woodford Reserve, for $5 more a glass.


Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 03:11 PM (NYnoe)



I prefer Woodford over Makers Mark.  I actually do not like the taste of Makers.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 11:13 AM (T2V/1)

348 The placebo effect, or whatever we're calling it, is the business plan for half the nightclubs in the country, selling $300 dollar bottles of $20 champagne to lightweights.

Posted by: Lincolntf at May 02, 2014 11:13 AM (ZshNr)

349 We should have a thread where the morons reveal what particular thing, or things, they actually consider themselves experts in. Zero. Jack of some trades, master of none.

Posted by: rickb223 at May 02, 2014 11:13 AM (ioYmu)

350 If I get a non-drinkable, I use it for cooking. Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 03:10 PM (IXrOn) Non-drinkable. heh.

Posted by: Cicero Kaboom! Kid, aka Sangria Boy at May 02, 2014 11:14 AM (Fp7JI)

351

As a connessieur myself, let me give you a pro tip.

Aging is overrated. Some things are just better when they're fresh and tender...with hints of Captain Crunch and notes of Cartoon Network.

 

Posted by: Harrey Reid at May 02, 2014 11:14 AM (SO2Q8)

352 #329:  Nine times out of 10 people prefer Makers. But go into any bar now and all the youngfolks are ordering Knob Creek and Bookers and Woodford Reserve, for $5 more a glass.
===

And probably 7 times out of 10, no matter what they order, they're getting the same bourbon, which the bar owner has (for pure convenience sake) poured into bottles with different labels on them.

I like Makers Mark, but its a bit on the sweet side, and I can see why some might prefer other brands.

Posted by: looking closely at May 02, 2014 11:14 AM (PwGfd)

353 Truth is, people who talk like that produce the crappiest art in the known galaxy.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ at May 02, 2014 03:11 PM (HsTG

A man paints a picture.

The most intricate piece of art in history.

Through a series of events, not worth covering, that picture is removed from the frame and thrown in the trash.

A homeless man finds it and uses it to wipe his ass.

The frame, empty, remains on display where everyone comments of the genius of the artist.

So what is art?

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 11:14 AM (x3YFz)

354 331 -

I'll go first:

Everything.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 02, 2014 11:14 AM (BeSEI)

355 the problem here is that real connoisseurs know what the fuck they're talking about.I will give you an example. I am an honest to god connoisseur of classical music. When I hear something that strikes my fancy, there is probably a reason why. Quite often the question is something along the lines of "why in the hell did he do a fourth there instead of a fifth?". For non musicians here, this is a question of how the composer structured the chord in question. I don't claim that shit is transcendent. I claim that there was probably a reason why, however. And the only way to figure out why the guy did it like that, is to get a copy of the fucking score and go over it with a fine tooth comb. usually the answer can be found in the language of the notes themselves on the paper.musicians will understand this:, and they will spot a fake in a fucking heartbeat when they use words like transcendent and shit like that. A fake says shit like micro aggression.

Posted by: Herr Morgenholz at May 02, 2014 11:14 AM (lawAp)

356

A  significant percentage of   bars that carry high priced liquors only really carry the high priced liquor  bottles.   

Posted by: polynikes at May 02, 2014 11:14 AM (m2CN7)

357 Hey will one of you sammich makers shove one through the USB to me please?

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (+0txR)

358 The list would stop at "fapping". Short stroke or long?

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (QupBk)

359 I think we could put together a terrific post-Apocalyptic society with the folks here. Give me two coconuts and some rope and I'll build a Xerox machine.

Posted by: The Professor at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (8ZskC)

360

 

Posted by: Bigby's Helping Hands at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (3ZtZW)

361 Short stroke or long?

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 03:15 PM (QupBk)



Pfffft....


Reverse stroke.



Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (GQ8sn)

362 Interesting thoughts, ace, but it seems to complex to me. From where I sit, the constant, baseless, shouts or racism from every corner are nothing more than the current version of, "When did you stop beating your wife?"

Posted by: Damiano at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (j0wOO)

363
CLEAN UP ON AISLE 354!!!


Jwest is socking BurtTC.

Posted by: fixerupper at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (nELVU)

364 Jack is less than $1 a shot. Are people really paying $5?

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 11:15 AM (LJ7Ze)

365 338 [i[] Can anyone tell the difference between day-old and week-old Val U Rite?

The week old is the empty bottle
---   Unless the bathroom was just too far.

Posted by: Harrey Reid at May 02, 2014 11:16 AM (SO2Q8)

366 Posted by: Harrey Reid at May 02, 2014 03:14 PM (SO2Q HA! I always enjoy seeing "Perv Hairy Reid" here.

Posted by: Seems legit at May 02, 2014 11:16 AM (A98Xu)

367 For a real strong dose of twatwafflery, read one of their "artist's statements". They invariably are ineffectual pretension to grandeur writ large.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars™ at May 02, 2014 03:11 PM

I'll admit it...I'm an art snob.  I think art is the skillful representation of what's beautiful.  Not the paint splatter from some lefty's hoohah accompanied by a 3x5 card with some trendy left-wing bullshit scrawled on it.  Here endeth the rant.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (knoK7)

368 Ace seems to be a connoisseur of bullshit, and I say that will all due respect.

Posted by: Dr Spank at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (5UteM)

369 Actually, he's not exactly black, ol' chap. I would consider him more of a brindle.

Posted by: Race Kindofasewer at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (VndSC)

370 And probably 7 times out of 10, no matter what they order, they're getting the same bourbon, which the bar owner has (for pure convenience sake) poured into bottles with different labels on them.

Fill a flask at home and take it with you!

Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (GQ8sn)

371 359 I think we could put together a terrific post-Apocalyptic society with the folks here.

***

Dibs on the dune buggy and hockey mask!

Posted by: B at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (VC56G)

372 We should have a thread where the morons reveal what particular thing, or things, they actually consider themselves experts in. Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 03:11 PM (QupBk) After the 50th Moron claims expertise in 1950s vintage Albanian creamed-corn midget wrestling porn (filmed on proper silver-nitrate celluloid, no crappy magnetic video tape), things will get old quickly.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (TIIx5)

373 Ain't that the truth? *** If I want to order a blend, and if I want it served on the rocks, don't effing tell me that I'm "doing it wrong" because I will ckufing stab you with a cocktail sword.

Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (DmNpO)

374 364 Jack is less than $1 a shot. Are people really paying $5?

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 03:15 PM (LJ7Ze)


Huh???  The last time I got a shot of Jack here it was $7 a shot.  Even Jim Beam which was the well brand was $4 a shot.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 11:17 AM (T2V/1)

375 So they've got the $20/lb tenderloin beef at the store. And i'm like, no way i'm trying that. Cause either it's no better than $9/lb and i wasted money, or it's amazing and than i'm stuck buying it forever.

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at May 02, 2014 11:18 AM (SO2Q8)

376 Short stroke or long? Compound.

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 11:18 AM (VhqUZ)

377 Everything is house shots at some point.

Posted by: Boss Moss at May 02, 2014 11:18 AM (LJ7Ze)

378 Short stroke or long?


Compound.

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 03:18 PM (VhqUZ)



Lube or dry?



Posted by: EC at May 02, 2014 11:18 AM (GQ8sn)

379 Frankly, that Albanian stuff was crap.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at May 02, 2014 11:18 AM (8ZskC)

380 363 -

Heh.

At first I was like.... WHAAAAAAT????

Posted by: BurtTC at May 02, 2014 11:18 AM (BeSEI)

381
I am a connoisseur of a fine sammich, but I'm not uppity about it.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at May 02, 2014 11:19 AM (hJauc)

382

Oh Vic, stop being such a damn snob.  :-P

 

I know some people who say Makers is "chick bourbon."  It is sweeter to some people than other bourbons.  Never occurred to me.  I actually like Buffalo Trace the best, and it's a bit cheaper than Makers, but I can't always get it in the communist state stores in Pennsylvania.  I have a girlfriend who only drinks Wild Turkey, and that stuff tastes like gasoline to me.   

 

There's a new restaurant in downtown Philly called Bank and Bourbon that has a bourbon "sommelier."  I think this means bourbon has officially jumped the shark.  Maybe I'll be able to afford some Elijah Craig again in a couple more years.

Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 11:19 AM (Q4elb)

383 new one

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 11:19 AM (T2V/1)

384 358 The list would stop at "fapping".

Short stroke or long?   --- over-grip, or under-grip?

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at May 02, 2014 11:19 AM (SO2Q8)

385 Paging willow to the new thread.

Posted by: fluffy at May 02, 2014 11:19 AM (Ua6T/)

386 Watching the last of "Diehard 2".  I'm convinced that the second John McClain lights the fuel trail that follows the plane until it explodes is when the  Diehard series jumped the shark.  That's my  considerably expert and refined opinion.

Posted by: Soona at May 02, 2014 11:19 AM (cepHW)

387 Frankly, that Albanian stuff was crap. The shaved monkeys were off putting, though their melon work was incomparable.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 11:20 AM (QupBk)

388 Posted by: Niedermeyer's Dead Horse at May 02, 2014 03:17 PM

I have my favorites.  But I don't presume to tell anyone else that theirs is crap.  Except for PBR...that shit sucks.  It's Science.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 02, 2014 11:20 AM (knoK7)

389 At first I was like.... WHAAAAAAT????

Posted by: BurtTC at May 02, 2014 03:18 PM (BeSEI)


---


heh,..... I was hoping somebody would "get" it....


one of those jokes that sound better in your own head than on the blog..... 

Posted by: fixerupper at May 02, 2014 11:20 AM (nELVU)

390 314 wasn't tequilla a cheap form of alcohol until it got hot and now there are all these super-premium brands? Same with vodka, right? Isn't the whole idea of vodka that it has, basically, no taste, and it's easy (and therefore cheap) to produce taste-free vodka? Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 03:08 PM (/FnUH) Little early to be thinking about hard liquor, Ace. Are you planning on tying one on while you watch your chick flick tonight?

Posted by: Sir Pug A Lott at May 02, 2014 11:20 AM (8c12T)

391 Your steak ain't no hipper than my pork chop Your Cadillac ain't no hipper than my bus stop Your champagne ain't no hipper than my soda pop To be honest, everything's hipper than a bus stop. Psoriasis is hipper than a bus stop.

Posted by: eleven at May 02, 2014 11:20 AM (VhqUZ)

392 375 So they've got the $20/lb tenderloin beef at the store. And i'm like, no way i'm trying that. Cause either it's no better than $9/lb and i wasted money, or it's amazing and than i'm stuck buying it forever.
==

You're looking at this backwards.

You HAVE TO pay the $20/lb for it, just to prove to yourself its no better so you won't go the rest of your life wondering about it.   (IE you're springing an extra $11 one time for PEACE OF MIND!).

And if it really is better, well. . .then you know you can buy it once in a while and enjoy.

Posted by: looking closely at May 02, 2014 11:21 AM (PwGfd)

393 No, I really disagree. It's not that the price per glass (or half glass) was higher and therefore in our minds better. It's that if you're having an 8-course (or 15-course) meal with a variety of very different types of courses, it really is a challenge for someone like me to pick which wines would complement particular dishes. But the good sommeliers can do that without any difficulty. We just rarely drink more than a glass of wine at dinner, so to pop for a wine pairing and have several different glasses throughout the meal is something we only do on occasion. It can be pricey and I'd usually rather spend that extra dough on more food. But if you all are ever in Chicago and have a chance to do the chef's table tasting at Tru, do it. And get the pairing. We're still talking about it a decade later. Posted by: Y-not at May 02, 2014 03:11 PM (zDsvJ) yep

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:21 AM (IXrOn)

394

I'm going to repost my joke which was the last comment on the dead thread since it seems to fit here.

 

David Axelrod walks into a bar and orders a $5.00 grilled cheese sandwich.

After he finishes the sandwich he exclaims to the bartender , " I just have to say that I just had a $100 cheese sandwich at the restaurant across the street a week ago and this one is great and taste exactly like the $100 sandwich"

The bartender says, " It should , we get all the left over cheese sandwiches from the restaurant. "

Posted by: polynikes at May 02, 2014 11:21 AM (m2CN7)

395 So what is art?

Posted by: tangonine at May 02, 2014 03:14 PM (x3YFz)

 

Big question.  It should be pointed out that 90%+ of all art produced by all artistsw throughout human history is flawed, foolish, or mediocre at best. Time determines the merit of a given work of art: the good works are valued, saved, protected. The bad stuff eventually ends up in the dump (or its equivalent) and disappears from history. And--in my view--the art that lasts is that which strives for truth, beauty, and universiality.

Posted by: troyriser at May 02, 2014 11:22 AM (gNlvW)

396 If I get a non-drinkable, I use it for cooking. Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 03:10 PM (IXrOn) Non-drinkable. heh. Posted by: Cicero Kaboom! Kid, aka Sangria Boy at May 02, 2014 03:14 PM (Fp7JI) not properly stored; so fermenty tasting/sour or cork leaking, etc or just a sucky wine =p

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:23 AM (IXrOn)

397

Probably the only thing I am somewhat of a connoisseur in is basketball.  That also comes from being a Kentucky girl.  We're not too good at much else. 

 

Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 11:23 AM (NYnoe)

398 382 Oh Vic, stop being such a damn snob. :-P

I know some people who say Makers is "chick bourbon." It is sweeter to some people than other bourbons. Never occurred to me. I actually like Buffalo Trace the best, and it's a bit cheaper thanMakers,but I can't always get it in thecommunist state stores in Pennsylvania. I have a girlfriend who only drinks Wild Turkey, and that stuff tastes like gasoline to me.

There's a new restaurant in downtown Philly called Bank and Bourbon that has a bourbon "sommelier." I think this means bourbon has officially jumped the shark. Maybe I'll be able to afford some Elijah Craig again in a couple more years.

Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 03:19 PM (Q4elb)


LOL, you should see what I drink.  It's cheap rotgut called RnR.  I would drink nothing but Woodford but it is expensive as hell here. And I can not stand Wild Turkey.  And I would love to try some Buffalo Trace but I can't get it here either.

Posted by: Vic[/i] at May 02, 2014 11:23 AM (T2V/1)

399 I used the example of foodies above, but really I mean people who take pride in not knowing about pop culture---who just have to get on a thread (half the time on a gossip site) about a celebrity or singer or actor and say "WHO?". You're on the interwebz. Look it up. Or ignore it. But that doesn't give you the sweet sweet buzz of letting other people know that you have a mind unsullied by the knowledge of that particular piece of drivel.

Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at May 02, 2014 11:24 AM (Yz5ZM)

400 As a connessieur myself, let me give youa pro tip. Aging is overrated. Some things are just better when they're fresh and tender...with hints of Captain Crunch and notes of Cartoon Network. Posted by: Harrey Reid at May 02, 2014 03:14 PM (SO2Q BeaujolaisBoy nouveau

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:25 AM (IXrOn)

401 That  bar  joke must be bad because  its destined not to be read. 

Posted by: polynikes at May 02, 2014 11:26 AM (m2CN7)

402 Excellent post, Ace.

Posted by: Stephanie at May 02, 2014 11:26 AM (sF0CB)

403 One thing he loves to do is set up blind bourbon taste tests with Makers vs. some new hipster super-premium bourbons. Nine times out of 10 people prefer Makers. But go into any bar now and all the youngfolks are ordering Knob Creek and Bookers and Woodford Reserve, for $5 more a glass. Posted by: rockmom at May 02, 2014 03:11 PM (NYnoe) Kinda dumb of them. Makers has consistently been one of the top rated.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:27 AM (IXrOn)

404 great CDC CONFIRMS FIRST CASE OF MERS VIRUS IN AMERICA NEW YORK (AP) -- Health officials on Friday confirmed the first case of an American infected with a mysterious Middle East virus. The man fell ill after arriving in the U.S. about a week ago from Saudi Arabia where he is a health care worker.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 11:28 AM (IXrOn)

405

ace, that guy you wrote about who wrote in the Federalist about the value of experts replaced me in a job once.  Small world.  Never actually met him.  Seemed like a bit of a jerk based on former colleagues' intel from after I left.

 

And a few have touched on a key principle here.  Courtesy, respect, and perspective can make expertise and afficionado-dom an asset and a pleasure for everyone.  Lack of same just results in snobbery and douchebaggery.

 

Posted by: outlier at May 02, 2014 11:33 AM (afQnV)

406 >>> Big question. It should be pointed out that 90%+ of all art produced by all artistsw throughout human history is flawed, foolish, or mediocre at best. i think sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon quipped: "90% of everything is shit." He maybe said that in reply to a claim that 90% of sci-fi is shit.

Posted by: ace at May 02, 2014 11:44 AM (/FnUH)

407 I knew a guy, a friend of mine, who insisted that if a wine wasn't French and at least $200 per bottle, then it wasn't worth drinking. I pointed and laughed at him and called him "Wine Snob" to his face.

Posted by: nnptcgrad at May 02, 2014 11:45 AM (Opyrm)

408 275 After the first few glasses it's all the same.


Very true. In college we'd split a six of some good beer and buy a couple of cases of swill.

Posted by: Drill_Thrawl at May 02, 2014 11:47 AM (rdiUQ)

409 >>>194 152 So the wine to the wine snob really does taste better. The microbrews really do taste better to the beer snob.

But they don't objectively taste better. It's due to the person believing that they are partaking in a high status good or activity.<<<<
.

Nope, if you like the Bud better than the microbrews your tastes are inferior.

Full disclosure I like both velvetta and camembert.

Posted by: Javems at May 02, 2014 11:56 AM (nTgAI)

410 "He notes that positional goods only retain their power to signal something about the owner -- that he is high-status -- so long as a relatively few people also possess the good. Once many, many people possess the good, it can no longer serve the function of being positional. " -- Ace.

Like guns. So long as a select chosen group has the monopoly on the big guns and the most guns, the functional position is obvious. The rest of the people better fall in line, submit to execution as the case EXISTS in Syria no thanks to US Interventionism, worse than ever.

OK, "the economics of what matters and when to care" PC foreign policy of US funded terrorism abroad, fed from "home" stateside. Blowback? Wazzat? The only reason to find funding the genocide of Syrian Christians problematic is that those we fund to do so also blow up cars and such in Bagdad. [!]

Kuwait ‘epicenter’ of terror funding: Washington



By Gordon Duff and Press TV

Friday, May 2, 2014, Veterans Today

http://tinyurl.com/px37rme


Kuwait had been a major terror funder for a very long time, operating “under the radar,” as described by a senior Obama Treasury Department official.

However, in 2011, that changed. Using social networks, Kuwaiti charities, ostensibly collecting funds intended for Syrian refugees, stepped well over the line into pure barbarism.

Charities, many not yet on terror lists, began soliciting funds to purchase weapons, finance attacks on Christian villages and, in extreme cases, place bounties on the heads of members of targeted groups.

According to a Brookings Institute study from 2013, wealthy Kuwaitis used charities to recruit terrorists to follow their specific agendas, with as many as 1000 Kuwait-funded groups operating through Syria and Iraq, each under different orders, often fighting each other.

Over 100,000 Kuwaitis around the world took part in this effort with some listing the weapons they purchased on their Facebook pages. Many of these individuals are permanent residents of the US, Canada, Great Britain and other nations where, under any “normal” circumstance, such an act would land them in “Gitmo” or worse, but nothing was done.

One problem, of course, is that weapons designated for the eradication of Christian settlements in Syria would end up financing car bombs in Baghdad.

The United States only began to notice when Kuwaiti interference led to infighting that derailed American efforts to overthrow the Assad government. Only then did the massive influx of terror funding from Kuwait suddenly become an issue.  (read on @ link)

http://tinyurl.com/px37rme


Posted by: panzernashorn at May 02, 2014 11:58 AM (gmrH5)

411 Bourbon? Hands down, Rowan's Creek. Not easy to find outside of Kentucky. Just recently had some Blanchard's. Much better with a bit of water, like most bourbons.

Posted by: Jen at May 02, 2014 12:07 PM (I+pAz)

412 404. MERS Virus in US: The man fell ill after arriving in the U.S. about a week ago from Saudi Arabia where he is a health care worker.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at May 02, 2014 03:28 PM (IXrOn)

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirusAs of 2 May 2014, MERS-CoV cases have been reported in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, the Philippines, and the United States. The official WHO MERS count is 238, with 92 deaths[2] (see 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak for a full list of countries and casualities). As of 27 Apr 2014 there are 339 confirmed cases in Saudi Arabia, with 102 deaths. On 2 May 2014 the first case in the USA of MERS-Cov was reported in Indiana by the CDC.

The infection of healthcare workers (HCW) leads to concerns of human to human transmission.

According to the 27 Mar 2014 MERS-CoV summary update, recent studies support that camels serve as the primary source of the MERS-CoV infecting humans, while bats may be the ultimate reservoir of the virus. Evidence includes the frequency with which the virus has been found in camels to which human cases have been exposed, seriological data which shows widespread transmission in camels, and the similarity of the camel CoV to the human CoV.

Virus hosts: humans, bats and swine. [Camels not listed.]

BTW, Saudi officials fired their leading M.D., the Egyptian virologist Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki whom they had hired to research the virus and disease, because he shared his findings with the medical community at large in the effort to fight the disease (ProMED-mail 24 Sept 2012). And the House of Saud didn't want that to happen, planning to monopolize ownership of whatever cure, and feasibly benefit financially not only from distributing the illness around the world (bioweapon) but also in having the only medical treatment for it.
 

Posted by: panzernashorn at May 02, 2014 01:12 PM (gmrH5)

413 There's no arguing matters of taste. Some like a wee sheep's stomach, others consider it offal.

Posted by: toby928© Generic Gun Snob at May 02, 2014 01:14 PM (QupBk)

414 Yup... Zahavian signaling, the handicap principle, carrying a burden to demonstrate one's ability to survive despite it. Interesting in peacocks, ridiculous in liberal humans. Once you realise it, you see it everywhere.

Posted by: Botec at May 02, 2014 01:28 PM (5/AQM)

415
Ace, good essay - thanks.

Reflecting on what you wrote, isn't it true of any elitist intellectual movement that people become obsessed with purity, with being ever more refined in order to continue to exclude the unwashed?

For example, you can see this in religious movements - in the way, say, that Islamists are continually splintering, each sub-sect claiming to be the purest, truest followers of their prophet?

Or in the French and Russian revolutions, when the death penalty was handed out for ever slighter deviations from the line of "true revolution".

Or even in something as silly as rock music, where fans become obsessed with making distinctions among varieties of rock that to the outsider (like myself) are utterly indistinguishable.

So, it seems to me that we can expect ever more rigid definitions of political correctness, ever more rigorous tests to ensure that one is free of thoughtcrime. I fully expect that in the near future, failure have donated to pro-gay marriage groups will be damning; and shortly after that, failure to have donated *enough* will see one cast into the darkness. And so it will go.

Posted by: Brown Line at May 02, 2014 01:40 PM (VrNoa)

416 Thus we have the MSNBC "Racial Dog Whistle."

Posted by: Great Reagan's Ghost at May 02, 2014 02:02 PM (7O/R+)

417 Here's the winning formula for everlasting membership in the political/cultural priesthood: (1) There is some phenomenon that is WRONG, very wrong; the wrong-est; and it needs explainin' and fixin'. It's the unequal distribution of goods. We should fix it, and we can fix it, because reality is just what we make it, right? The reason we haven't is that the ENEMY is working against us. (2) The obvious explanation---the natural inequalities among men---is ruled out from the outset. Because, you know, democracy! (3) Now, someone with the right credentials, claims to have the diagnosis of the problem. He can SEE what others cannot. What are the right credentials? He has the right politics; he's a member of the in-crowd; he's bin to college, and he's so sensitive he can SEE what you cannot. (The right credentials are essential. It's what makes him an RECOGNIZED authority.) What he sees is that all you rubes with the OTHER politics are festering with hateful macro-, and especially micro-, aggressions. YOU, not the poor faultless unequal among us, are the ENEMY and cause of all that very bad inequality. Even if you think you're good, you are are to blind and evil to see that you are really EVIL. (4) Since there are no other explanations, this is it. For now, anyway, until the priests think up some other invisible sins of which the rest of us are GUILTY.

Posted by: nick at May 02, 2014 02:28 PM (EMQZg)

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