hopelessly hopeful

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Mon, 20 May 2013 18:53:09 -0700

"…the current period is probably the temporal equivalent of flyover country. You might say, “What do..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:07:21 -0700

“…the current period is probably the temporal equivalent of flyover country. You might say, “What do you mean, it’s a time of unprecedented technological and cultural change!” Maybe so, you time-hick, but a small town in South Dakota that’s finally getting hooked up to teh internet or getting their first Olive Garden isn’t interesting to someone who already has ultra-fast broadband or lots of family-owned local Italian restaurants. You have to remember that these are people from the future. There’s nothing interesting to see here that they don’t already have. They have technology and civil rights and cuisine that you and I can’t even begin to imagine. You don’t visit small towns unless you have family still living there, and when it comes to time travel, family doesn’t really work that way.”

- Yishan Wong, Why aren’t people from the future time travelling to our period in history? (via soupsoup)

"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:03:00 -0700

“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.”

- John Lennon

There ought to be a name for this philosophy. It’s not exactly pantheism, is it? And Lennonism would be way too confusing.

"There are some oddities in the perspective with which we see the world. The fact that we live at the..."

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:19:00 -0700

“”There are some oddities in the perspective with which we see the world. The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be, but we have done various things over intellectual history to slowly correct some of our misapprehensions.“”

- Douglas Adams, English writer and dramatist (1952-2001), in a Speech at Digital Biota 2, Cambridge, UK, (1998)

"If your culture demands that, in the face of a general national outrage over the killing of other..."

Thu, 02 May 2013 10:31:59 -0700

“If your culture demands that, in the face of a general national outrage over the killing of other children, your politics work to loosen the gun laws you have, as they apparently did in Kentucky, then your culture is making your politics stupid and wrong and you should change them, too. I do not have to understand these people any more, and it is way too early in the day to be drinking this much.”

- Charles Pierce

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/kentucky-rifles-for-children-050213

"[David] Brooks makes the point that the detached writer’s role should be ‘more like..."

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:03:45 -0700

“[David] Brooks makes the point that the detached writer’s role should be ‘more like teaching than activism.’ I would say that it should be more like learning than teaching.”

- Ta-Nehisi Coates “How to Be a Political-Opinion Journalist” http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/how-to-be-an-opinion-journalist/275455/

"There are cases in which people of great influence say stupid things and thus must be taken on. But..."

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:01:57 -0700

“There are cases in which people of great influence say stupid things and thus must be taken on. But you should keep your feuds with Michelle Malkin to a minimum.”

- Ta-Nehisi Coates “How to Be a Political-Opinion Journalist” http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/how-to-be-an-opinion-journalist/275455/

"We need to make progress on some important issues. Take the sequester. Republicans fell in love with..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:37:47 -0700

“We need to make progress on some important issues. Take the sequester. Republicans fell in love with this thing, and now they can’t stop talking about how much they hate it. It’s like we’re trapped in a Taylor Swift album.”

- Barack Obama

"I know Republicans are still sorting out what happened in 2012, but one thing they all agree on is..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:36:05 -0700

“I know Republicans are still sorting out what happened in 2012, but one thing they all agree on is they need to do a better job reaching out to minorities. And look, call me self-centered, but I can think of one minority they could start with. Hello?”

- Barack Obama

"The History Channel is not here. I guess they were embarrassed about the whole Obama-is-a-devil..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:26:30 -0700

“The History Channel is not here. I guess they were embarrassed about the whole Obama-is-a-devil thing. Of course, that never kept Fox News from showing up. They actually thought the comparison was not fair — to Satan.”

- Barack Obama

"For example, this whole controversy about Jay-Z going to Cuba — it’s unbelievable. I’ve got..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:22:36 -0700

“For example, this whole controversy about Jay-Z going to Cuba — it’s unbelievable. I’ve got 99 problems and now Jay-Z is one.”

- Barack Obama

"I admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:20:34 -0700

““I admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate.””

- That’s what Obama said about CNN at last night’s White House Correspondents Association dinner.

Let me explain why that is such a great line. CNN sees itself as “in the middle” between left and right, MSNBC and Fox. Just recently, in fact, CNN president Jeff Zucker praised the middle as the place to be. But CNN also sees itself as a great newsgathering organization that is all about truthtelling rather than ideology. “Keeping them honest,” as Anderson Cooper, face of the brand, likes to say.

Put them together and what do you have? Keep ‘em honest, but stay in the middle. Which doesn’t work. For what happens when one side is BS-ing us more than the other? What happens when independent and honest reporting shows that these people on this side are mostly right in what they’re saying, and those people on that side are distorting the case?

CNN wants to believe, tries to believe and I think does believe that this problem does not exist. Therefore we have to remind them about it, because it does exist. And that’s what Obama did: “cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate” is saying to CNN: Accuracy and truthtelling will be sacrificed to your ideology— the middle, no matter what it takes.

(via jayrosen)

"These days, I look in the mirror and I have to admit, I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:18:54 -0700

“These days, I look in the mirror and I have to admit, I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be.”

- Barack Obama

"And yet, even after all this time, I still make rookie mistakes. Like, I’m out in California, we’re..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:18:34 -0700

“And yet, even after all this time, I still make rookie mistakes. Like, I’m out in California, we’re at a fundraiser, we’re having a nice time. I happen to mention that Kamala Harris is the best-looking attorney general in the country. As you might imagine, I got trouble when I got back home. Who knew Eric Holder was so sensitive?”

- Barack Obama

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood, and don’t assign them tasks and..."

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:47:45 -0700

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood,
and don’t assign them tasks and work,
but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. ”

- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Vincent: Jules, did you ever hear the philosophy that once a man admits that he’s wrong that he is immediately forgiven for all wrongdoings? Have you ever heard that?

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:45:28 -0700

Vincent: Jules, did you ever hear the philosophy that once a man admits that he’s wrong that he is immediately forgiven for all wrongdoings? Have you ever heard that?
Jules: Get the fuck out my face with that shit! The motherfucker that said that shit never had to pick up itty-bitty pieces of skull on account of your dumb ass.

(from "Pulp Fiction")

"Dude, sucking at something is the first step to being sort of good at something."

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:15:15 -0700

“Dude, sucking at something is the first step to being sort of good at something.”

- Jake the Dog from “Adventure Time”

"When bad things happen, I know you want to believe they are a joke. But sometimes life is scary and..."

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:12:52 -0700

“When bad things happen, I know you want to believe they are a joke. But sometimes life is scary and dark. That is why we must find the light.”

- BMO from “Adventure Time”

"Chavez was indeed a divisive and controversial figure, and it would have been reckless to conceal..."

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:31:56 -0700

“Chavez was indeed a divisive and controversial figure, and it would have been reckless to conceal that fact out of some misplaced deference to the grief of his family and supporters. He was a political and historical figure and the need to accurately portray his legacy and prevent misleading hagiography easily outweighed precepts of death etiquette that prevail when a private person dies. Exactly the same is true of Thatcher. There’s something distinctively creepy - in a Roman sort of way - about this mandated ritual that our political leaders must be heralded and consecrated as saints upon death. This is accomplished by this baseless moral precept that it is gauche or worse to balance the gushing praise for them upon death with valid criticisms. There is absolutely nothing wrong with loathing Margaret Thatcher or any other person with political influence and power based upon perceived bad acts, and that doesn’t change simply because they die. If anything, it becomes more compelling to commemorate those bad acts upon death as the only antidote against a society erecting a false and jingoistically self-serving history.”

- Margaret Thatcher and misapplied death etiquette | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk (via dendroica)

"It’s because they’re stupid, that’s why! That’s why everyone does..."

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:23:26 -0700

“It’s because they’re stupid, that’s why! That’s why everyone does everything!”

- Homer Simpson