Author: Crowhill Report

“Firemen,” “man of the week,” and pronouns, plus some thoughts on Florida

Pigweed and Crowhill go old school and insist that words ending in “man” are perfectly acceptable, as is “he” as the interdeterminate pronoun. “Man of the week,” pronouns, etc.

They also reflect on some of the peculiarities of the Sunshine State: Florida, casual dress, bikinis and Florida man

“To know who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize”

I see that quote from time to time. It’s falsely attributed to Voltaire, as I understand, but … I don’t care who came up with it. It’s an interesting perspective on who has power in a culture. E.g., if you can’t criticize the Nazis, or the church, or left-handed people, then — by definition — that group is controlling speech. That’s not good.

The quote came to mind when I read this.

‘Fundamentally Unfair’: Female Athletes ‘Terrified’ to Rebuff Transgenders, so Hall of Fame Swimmer Speaks Out

What’s to be done about this?

The First Amendment proscribes the government from limiting speech, but the government isn’t the culprit here. Rather, a tiny minority of activists are controlling the speech of the rest of the country. Assuming that we value free speech in general, and not simply government assaults on free speech, we need to address this.

How did we get to such a place, and how do we stop it?

While there are lots of competing factors, I think the most obvious villain here is simple cowardice. It’s very much like the parental cowardice that allows a 2-year old to run the home. It’s an unwillingness to say no when threatened with a temper tantrum.

It’s come to the point that people say things they know are not true simply to avoid a temper tantrum from the activists. That is a very disturbing thing.

We stop it by refusing to allow bullies to control the conversation — in any place at any time.

But we don’t only have to stop it, we have to heal it, and I think the answer there is a proper education, where people are required to understand and even defend a point of view they don’t like.

I’ve never been on a debating team, but I’ve heard that it’s common for people to be assigned a position to defend — irrespective of whether they agree with that position.

That should be part of our educational process.

I’ve never bothered recycling plastic

I’ve always thought it was a huge waste of time, and the only purpose was “raising consciousness.”

This article summarizes many of the things I’ve read over the years: Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work

One thing the article misses is that much of that “recycled” plastic we and others ship to Asia ends up in the ocean. It would be far better in a landfill.

Recycling makes sense for computer parts, used oil, and a few other things. But recycling glass and plastic is just a waste of time and effort.