Friday, March 04, 2016

Weekend Reading: The I Give Up, Let's Talk Politics Edition

Hey! I'm feeling better! And I'm not on prednisone! Times are good.

I was going to make this links post all about politics, but then Hope Jahren wrote a really good NYT OpEd about sexual harassment in science, and you should go read that, too.

Here is my favorite quote:

"A great chorus of formal condemnation shall be lifted up, and my male colleagues will sputter will gall, appalled by the actions of bad apples so rare they have been encountered by every single woman I know."

I actually do appreciate the outrage of my male colleagues. I understand why they are surprised. But the point about the bad apples not being so rare if most women have run across at least one is a good one.

And here is a good commentary about race and journalism by Christopher Benson.

OK, back to politics. This seems to be the week that people really started to freak out about Trump, particularly on the Republican side.

I am not sure I have it in me to provide a lot of commentary, so let's just go to the links:

Someone dug up the NY Times' first article about Hitler, and Vox has made it readable. We tend to assume rabid demagogues don't really mean what they say. But sometimes, they do.

Jacob Weisberg on Trump's uniquely American brand of demagoguery.

Perhaps the most useful article for understanding how we can have so many people voting for Trump is Amanda Taub's long and data-packed article about authoritarians (note: that is not the same as authoritarianism).

As wrong as I think Trump's voters are, I still think it is worth thinking about them with empathy. Here is one attempt to do that.

I admit it is hard to maintain empathy when reading some of these quotes from "secret Trump supporters", though.

Here are some quotes that made me feel better: the Republican voters who are saying they won't vote for Trump.

As depressing as Trump's success is, he is still unlikely to win in the general. Here's the math.

OK, so let's talk about the other likely nominee! Here is a good, long look at Hillary Clinton and Black voters from Michael Eric Dyson.

To leave on an up note: this story about women authors in Nigeria is really cool. And this is just a really good essay from someone who is comfortable with who she is.

And now, it is dinner time. Happy weekend, everyone!

2 comments:

  1. The 2016 Elections: Anybody But Trump, A VERY Liberal Liberal's Lament.

    (I live in VA, where I voted in the Republican primary for Not Trump.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People are freaking out about the higher turnout in Republican primaries, but (1) that doesn't correlate with general election success and (2) I suspect a lot of Democrats are doing what you did. I think we can stop him in the general, but I'd rather not find out.

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