Author Archives: vslowik

A few sentences

On TW3 start with “I wonder…” Is there a way to mix up the language? Or make more clear that the repetition is purposeful?

You may get to this

But there are secular / atheist reasons to be pro-life too. The idea that no one should do something to a human (even if the human is a poorly organized collection of cells at the moment) without their consent does not require religion. Or that abortion is a form of eugenics to cull undesirables from the population (i.e. eliminate the poor so you don’t have to deal with them anymore).

And…

You got to the eugenics argument! (I’m going to comment as I go through so apologies if you eventually get to things I comment on). I agree with the rural conservative communities regarding more liberal / urban communities with suspicion and derision. But I would argue it’s a two way street, liberal / urban communities also view rural / conservative communities the same way. We fail to see the good faith arguments in each other.

I liked the weather chat example of how things feels vs the facts.

Random thought – autism is more common in males than females. I wonder if that difficulty in understanding the feelings of a conversation more than the facts also contributes to this dynamic.

Maybe it’s because I’m reading this 2-3 pages at a time, but I liked the “*” break in between sections on TW7. Should it be in between more sections to make them more bite sized and separate each idea more?

I think it would be worth defining progressive and conservative more in this section. Is this cultural progressives and conservatives? People who believe in small government vs big government? I think there is a difference.

There are some historical points to consider. In the USA: Southern Democrats in the Jim Crow era that sought to use government coercion to enforce segregation and racial hierarchies. In the USSR: Progressive Soviets felt that the proper role for women was homemakers, making babies, and not as leaders and used government force to keep that in place.

Lots of good stuff to chew on so far!

I like the book ends of opening and closing line, effect

I like the currency has a money and flow of energy. Reminds me of “The God of the Machine” by Isabella Patterson who tried to state that energy of the economy was similar (haven’t read the whole book, but excerpts had similar points)

Maybe we need new terms than progressive vs conservative. That often implies political connections like the size and scope of government. However, I’ve definitely seen some conservatives (especially libertarians) who agree about the constantly evolving state of culture. And I’ve definitely seen progressive who want to keep hierarchy in place. Maybe we need new terms for these types of people who embrace or resist change…

TW18

Really interested in this story of this “vagrant.” Compelling story of his life and time.

There’s a sentence that starts with “But in a song…” My English teacher told me never to start a sentence with “But,” but I don’t know if that’s still true?

TW28

Just finished the short story. Visually very descriptive and I can see everything pretty well with my minds eye. Kirk seems to be a prototypical MAGA type in all its faults (which fair enough), but I wonder if it would land better if he had more layers to him in addition to the typical MAGA faults

TW30

“This situation is an example of parallax.” Something about that sentence took me out, is there another way to word it to make it flow better? Otherwise I liked the example with the nieces and daughters, very relatable

TW36

Good section, easy to digest about a complex topic. You do a good job critiquing people who broadly dismissed BLM as having nothing to say or those who dismissed it for racist reasons (some tried to hide their racist undertones and some were overtly racist).

That said, I think there are good faith disagreements to be acknowledged about BLM. From my outsider view, people who align with BLM have a wide variety of views many moderate and some extreme. Two examples come to mind:

  • Police reform vs defund vs abolishment – The people on the police reform side have my attention and sympathy, but the police abolishment generally do not. Who would arrest perpetrators of child abuse? Usually the answer from people who say “abolish the police” is just “the police” but with a different name.
  • Dismantling of capitalism / socialism / Marxism – Not everyone in BLM does this, but there are those that combine BLM and expanding government control (progressive / socialism / Marxism, whatever you want to call it). It’s a legitimate concern to me because I earnestly believe that it would not inherently fix the oppression of minorities. An easy example is the Chinese Communist Party’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China. Communism did not solve the brutal treatment of that minority population and there are many other examples in communist countries (the Soviet Union and others did this plenty).

Clearly a good thought provoking section because this is my longest comment!

TW40

There are a lot of fair critiques in this section. Some points that resonated with me:

  • People using the label of “socialism” to dismiss valid concerns of a group (especially BLM). While you know I have my own personal concerns with socialism, there are definitely people who try to discredit any good faith criticism of American racial history by calling it “socialist” or “Marxist” instead of trying to work through these difficult racial issues that honestly can overlap with being suspicious of the government
  • The point about whiteness being a “blankness” in America is true, I agree with that

Some points to consider:

  • I think American “whiteness” is unique because it tries to have that absence of identity / memory (sense America is theoretically a nation of immigrants). Europeans (those actually from Europe like my family) view it differently because there is often a culture and ethnic memory for those groups. Eastern Europeans definitely do not view themselves as “blank” and we definitely have a heritage / memory. It informs a lot of my beliefs. The terrible treatment at the hands of the USSR telling my family that what the military police were doing (like jailing my father without trial) is good for the country and good for the working people, that informs many of our views. My suspicion of government isn’t paranoia, its the group memory that the USSR killed more Eastern Europeans than the Nazis. This may be addressed later but I do think that American whiteness is it’s own unique bird. I remember reading about slavery and the Jim Crow South as a young child and earnestly thinking to myself “these white people were crazy” like it was an entirely different racial / ethnic group.

TW46

I want to push back on the line that progressives always want progress (especially when it comes to race). I think that is sometimes true, but not always. While many on the left now want progress, abundance, and thriving lives for all, that wasn’t always the case. Expansive government power (with the government’s monopoly of violence enforcing it) was something that Southern Democrats loved in order to enforce Jim Crow and enforce racial hierarchies. That Southern Democratic coalition wanted to use the force of the state to keep minorities “in line.” In modern times, I agree that the racists fled Democrats and prefer conservatives, but I think that just shows that racists don’t actually care about the size of government, they just care about whatever group will give them the political power to enforce racial hierarchies. The fact the Trump is improving Republican votes with Black and Hispanic voters further muddies this whole picture.

TW50

Agree about the point of “possessions not being allowed to have possessions” and how that impacts things still.

There is a line “But the black experience in America has always been more crypto.” That usage of the word “crypto” I haven’t seen before, so I don’t know if it’s used incorrectly or if I’m just not aware.

I’ll add a point to the whole land acknowledgement. I think it’s more sinister. I think it’s a way for Americans do absolve themselves of guilt without having to “do” anything to make amends. Notice that no one who does a land acknowledgement every gives the land back.

TW52

“But two commentators suggest that there are basic biological explanations for this anger as well. Michael Bradley and Frances Cress-Welsing contend that white people are unconsciously motivated to annihilate others because they fear that their genes will be overwhelmed by the dominant traits of people of color, that white supremacy is actually a defensive posture.”

I’m skeptical about this. I’ve read about studies that the brain of a baby more easily recognizes faces of it’s own corresponding race as a possible explanation for racial tribalism, but that was for all races (European, African, East Asian, etc). I’ve never seen a study that comes close to suggesting a biological basis of racial animosity especially unique to Europeans. In the real world I’ve seen racial tribalism coming from all corners of the world, so I think tribalism is hardwired into our brains (and is an urge we must resist!). But specific to white people? I would need more proof.