Chamblee54

Yesterday, I reposted a 2013 piece about tiresome conversations. To be fair, most of these are monologs, by people/bots who have no interest in my point of view. On my way to an appointment, I realized that the last 13 years have given us plenty of new conversations to be bored by. As soon as I got to the waiting room, I began to dictate a list.
Israel, religion, bad faith rhetoric, trans issues, personal insults, heterodox, and whataboutism appeared on the screen. Many of them can be lumped under bad faith rhetoric, or the use of logical fallacies to promote an agenda. If you look at these discourses, most of them fall under this umbrella. To be fair, this might be the exact definition of bad faith, but for today’s discussion it will do.
On my way to and from the appointment, I was listening to Blocked and Reported. Host Katie Herzog was talking to guest Jonathan Kay. Mr. Kay is a player at Quillette a “heterodox” journal/podcast. Merriam-Webster defines heterodox thusly, between the inevitable parade of popups: “Heterodox: contrary to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or an established religion.” Heterodox would seem to be the opposite of Orthodox.
Quillete might still call itself heterodox, but when it comes to Israel, heterodoxy gives way to tribal orthodoxy. Two articles are on the Quillette home page now: The Genocide Libel · Francesca Albanese’s Campaign Against Israel. The latter article was promoted on X by @jonkay.
The Herzog-Kay discussion had little to say about the tragedy in Gaza. Mostly, they discussed conspiracies, trans issues, and vaccines. The latter issue is driven by big money rhetoric, with “Big Pharma” promoting their products. At one point, Katie Herzog enthusiastically said “I love big pharma”, and called for more and better vaccines.
The discussion of trans issues caused me to pause the show, and dictate a comment. @jonkay was talking about how extreme trans activism is causing problems for many cis queers. Has he ever considered that extreme pro-zionist rhetoric is causing problems for many Jews? Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in September 1939. “Witnesses and spectators during trial of automobile accident case in Superior Court. Granville County Courthouse, Oxford, North Carolina” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was originally published January 6, 2013. … There was a post a while back, 10 Conversations On Racism I’m Sick Of Having With White People. The original started at The Chronicle, but LiveJournal is LiveJoural, so a mirror image will have to do.
I got to thinking about “10 Conversations”, and a reply began to take shape. I started a list of conversations I am tired of having, and before you could say toxic masculinity, there were a dozen items. Many of these incidents have involved people of color, or POC. Many others have not. Often, the ethnicity of the other person has little importance to the discussion. Therefore, the title of this feature will not be racially specific. This monolog will probably not go viral, or even bacterial. Washing your hands might be a good idea when you are finished reading.
Meetings where one person does all the talking The word conversation implies that more than one person says something. Often, this does not happen. One person will talk for a while. Before person two finishes a sentence, person one will interrupt them.
This does not work. When the other person is talking, listen. Don’t be thinking of your clever comeback, but pay attention to what the other person is saying. What the other person says is just as important as what you say.
Listening is not valued in our culture. It is seen as a loss of control, a sign of weakness. It is really a sign of strength. If you are weak, you don’t want to allow the other person to say anything. Have you ever heard anyone boast about the clever things that they say to someone? Of course you have, just like you never hear anyone talk highly about himself because he is a good listener.
My question is not an excuse to make a speech. Some people have an agenda. Whatever you say is an obstacle to the message they want to broadcast. When you ask a question, some people think you are handing them the talking stick, to do whatever they want. When your eyes glaze over, they plow on, in total disregard to your discomfort, and lack of comprehension. It is almost as if they are talking to hear the sound of their own voice.
I’m not talking to you. If you are screaming something, anyone with earshot can hear you. Do not get offended if there is a reaction to your words, especially if it is subtly directed at the person you are not talking to. This applies to the internet as well, where all of humanity is *privy* to your innermost thoughts. Keep the farmyard meaning of *privy* in mind when sharing your innermost product.
Conversations should be with people. If you are a business, and you want to tell me something, send me a written message. Please refrain from using robocall machines. I feel very foolish talking to a machine, especially one that doesn’t understand southern english.
You don’t have to shout. The amount of truth in a statement is not increased by the volume of expression. If you are standing next to me, the odds are I can hear you in a normal tone of voice. If you are across the room, come stand next to me, rather than shout across the room. If your normal tone of voice is shouting, then you have a problem.
The same principle goes to controlling your temper. When you choose not to control your temper, you show disrespect to yourself, and the person you are talking to. There is no situation that cannot be made worse by angry speech.
Privilege Racial polemic is getting more subtle these days. We are not quite post racial, although there are rumors of a PostRacial apartment community. The phrase that pays these days is Privilege. This is always something owned by the group you do not belong to.
This is getting longer than the attention span of many readers. It might be continued later. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Collier Jr. took the social media picture in December 1941. “Washington Hot Shoppe restaurants. Washington, D.C. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was posted January 20, 2009. … Sometimes I make a funny. Other times, I steal humor product. The following content is from Jokes Funny. While most other people are blathering about the inauguration, here is a bit of “humor”.
1. THINGY (thing-ee) n.
Female – Any part under a car’s hood.
Male – The strap fastener on a woman’s bra.
2. VULNERABLE (vul-ne-ra-bel) adj.
Female – Fully opening up one’s self emotionally to another.
Male – Playing football without a cup.
3. COMMUNICATION (ko-myoo-ni-kay-shon) n.
Female – The open sharing of thoughts and feelings with one’s partner.
Male – Leaving a note before taking off on a fishing trip with the boys.
4. COMMITMENT (ko-mit-ment) n.
Female – A desire to get married and raise a family.
Male – Trying not to hit on other women while out with this one.
5. ENTERTAINMENT (en-ter-tayn-ment) n.
Female – A good movie, concert, play or book.
Male – Anything that can be done while drinking beer.
6. FLATULENCE (flach-u-lens) n.
Female – An Embarrassing byproduct of indigestion.
Male – A source of entertainment, self-expression, male bonding.
7. MAKING LOVE (may-king luv) n.
Female – The greatest expression of intimacy a couple can achieve.
Male – Call it whatever you want just as long as we do it.
8. REMOTE CONTROL (ri-moht kon-trohl) n.
Female – A device for changing from one TV channel to another.
Male – A device for scanning through all 375 channels every 5 minutes.
This content was published January 11, 2009. … One of the bloggers in the frequent folder here is Adam Heath Avitable. At the top of his homepage, he is riding in a convertible eating an ice cream cone. The other passenger is Adolph Hitler. The slogan below: “tact is for pussies”. Hilly recently sent five questions to @avitable. Readers were invited to give their answers in his comments. Chamblee54 is a “green” blog that recycles. These five questions will make the nucleus of a dandy post here.
1.) What is the one thing that a blogger can do to really annoy you? · The one thing would be music players with auto start. Jasmyne Cannick has an auto start player. It would have been rude to turn it off, so I had to hear a performance by Shirley Q. Liquor. · 2.) Even though I HATE this phrase, do you consider yourself an “A List Blogger” or do you see it a different way? · I am lucky to get into double digits most days. Technorati has me in the top 800,000. In honor of our new president, I am going to claim to be an ”O List Blogger”.
3.) If you did not work for yourself, what kind of job would you like to have? · Something that does not cause brain damage, and where the checks don’t bounce. · 4.) If I dared you to talk dirty to me, could you do it? Why or why not? · It depends on who “I” is. If it was Avitable, I seriously doubt it. Mostly, I feel silly talking dirty.
5.) How many folders do you have in Google Reader and what are their labels? · There is a file on my machine which does not allow me to use google products. This is the reason I went from Blogger to wordpress. As for the whole rss thing … I just do it manually. I have a frequent folder with shortcuts to the blogs. Drag the thingie into the firefox, and I don’t miss anything important. … Google Reader was euthanized in 2013. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in August 1940. “Natchez, Mississippi” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah