The Return of the Pig: The revival of blatant sexism in American culture has many progressive thinkers flummoxed
“Considering that for at least a generation polite opinion has been unanimous in the view that women should not be objectified, this chauvinist revival is astonishing. What caused it?”

“In the 1970s and 1980s men’s magazines were notably defensive in the face of the feminist critique. In the newest men’s magazines feminism simply doesn’t exist.”

“Participants in these bits of public theater are somehow simultaneously engaged in both play and not-play. Readers of Maxim may put invisible quotation marks around their leering at women, but they are still leering at women. In fact, the quotation marks constitute an easy escape hatch in the event that anyone ever challenges these men.”

“The most interesting thing about the surge of retro-sexism is how unprepared feminists and other enlightened thinkers are to deal with it. The ironic tone of the material defeats them.”

“It is the least privileged parts of society that are often the most sexist, reactionary, and even materialistic. We have a dynamic urban culture that treats women like whores and that regards owning a Mercedes as the highest possible human aspiration, and the leading articulators of progressive opinion have almost nothing to say about it.”

“All of this raises a set of hard-to-answer questions. How do you react when people further down the social pecking order—whether they are disenfranchised whites or underclass urban minorities—are creating a culture you find degrading? How do you criticize that culture without seeming square, elitist, or even racist?”

Someone mentioned Flinders Street Station today, and I got all homesick for my beautiful city. I do love London but I don’t think leaving it would be a wrench the way leaving Amsterdam was, and I can’t imagine feeling the same simple affection for it I feel for Melbourne. Sometimes I just wish I could pop back and meet people under the clocks, have a quick latte and a g&t at Mario’s, duck down the street for some decent noodles, and be back in London the next morning. Since I’m fantasising, I’d top the night off with a pot at the Punters. Mmmm.
Anyway, I did some googling, and lo and behold, MV have a new Marvellous Melbourne site.

It looks like operation Iraqi Freedom is almost over.
Bah! “Iraqi Freedom” is a shit name.
Well what would you have called it then?
Easy: Operation Who’s Your Baghdaddy.
and
(w0rd): There is no place like 127.0.0.1
bash.org

Saving Private Lynch: “Private Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war, and the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict.
But her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived.” (BBC)

“An art display which invited the public to put live goldfish through a food blender did not constitute cruelty to animals, a Danish court has ruled.
The goldfish were placed on display swimming in the blenders, and visitors were told they could press the “on” button if they wanted.
At least one visitor did, killing two goldfish.” (BBC)

“An art display which invited the public to put live goldfish through a food blender did not constitute cruelty to animals, a Danish court has ruled.
The goldfish were placed on display swimming in the blenders, and visitors were told they could press the “on” button if they wanted.
At least one visitor did, killing two goldfish.” (BBC)

The UK finally joins the brave new world: “Shoppers who pay for their goods by card rather than cash can forget about signing on the dotted line in future. Instead, we will be asked to tap out a Pin number to authenticate the card.” (BBC) Imagine that! Sad to see the BBC slipping into tautology, btw.