The end of history and the last woman

[cincinnatus_c]

High today, here: 3. Dewpoint then: -1. High dewpoint: 1.
High today in TO: 4. Dewpoint then: 1. High dewpoint: 1.
Low today on the balcony: -3.8. High: 2.8. Currently: 0.8.

Forgot, yesterday, to note an interesting tension between two recent polls, down the pipe from angus-reid.com, concerning immigrants in the U.S., one of which found that Americans support a guest worker program by a score of 56% to 40%, and the other of which found that Americans regard immigrants generally as a burden on society, as opposed to a strengthening influence, by a score of 52% to 41%. But that's just as well, because today the interesting tension has turned into outright wackiness, with two more polls, one of which made me think I'd misread that second one yesterday, until I realized it was a different poll: it has 51% of Americans saying that immigrants "mostly make a contribution" and 42% saying that immigrants are "mostly a drain". And: another has 79% saying that illegal immigrants should be allowed to register as guest workers, 78% saying that illegal immigrants should be allowed to become citizens if they learn English, have a job, and pay taxes--and 47% saying that all illegal immigrants should be deported. Which means, if my admittedly dubious mathematical skills serve me correctly, that at least 26% of respondents gave contradictory answers.

I can't decide whether to pull the trigger on Hasek. At most, he'll get two starts. But maybe those'll be just the two starts I need! But maybe he'll stink! I am, anyway, now holding 79 of 80 possible points in my "more competitive" league, being in second place (out of ten) in penalty minutes. I'm about twenty minutes back. Is it worth spending some of my precious forward games budget on Sean Avery and/or Todd Fedoruk? How will I waste all the extra time I'll have on my hands when the regular season is finally, for the love of God, over?

Speaking of the love of God, this is one of them damnedest things--almost as good as the bloody bowerbirds--that make ya wonder: apparently, some moths or other are able to detect when bat sonar has gone into attack mode, and to emit bat-sonar-jamming clicking sounds so they don't get eaten.

Also from today's Star (by way of aldaily.com), an uncharacteristically long, thoughtful, and conservative piece about the social consequences of increased participation of women in the workforce, with a number of Interesting Facts along the way, such as that, if current trends continue, the majority of physicians in the UK will be women by 2012. This is the kind of thing that comes along, every once in a while, to remind me that I am, after all, a liberal--as is, after all, the author of the piece, like, after all, Fukuyama: this is the way the world is going, and it is destroying some of the things that might make life valuable, and yet, I can't oppose it, and in fact I'll defend it, vote for it....

O yeah. I finished marking exams today. Is this the timely end of my career as a teaching assistant at York University? (he asked himself, for the third year running).

Comments

[cija.livejournal.com]

Because you said that piece was thoughtful, and you have a big brain, I read through to the very end, waiting for mention of the fact that men are as capable as anybody of devoting their lives to service and altruism, if some group must, but... no. Self-sacrifice and no pay is for women or nobody, I guess. That blind conviction that while women may change, men never will, and certainly not to be more like women used to be -- scary.

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

I'm not sure whether it's a fortunate or an unfortunate coincidence that I happened across that on the day I made your friends list. ;)

I didn't quite say it was thoughtful--I said it was uncharacteristically thoughtful. (At least, I meant that. I see the construction may be ambiguous. I don't think I've yet mentioned that knowing you're reading makes me self-conscious about my writing. Well, no, actually, I'm always self-conscious about my writing. It makes me anxious about my writing.)

But insofar as it's thoughtful, it's thoughtful insofar as it marshals what looks like an argument for a certain kind of practical consequence, and concludes that consequences of that kind don't follow, and are in fact undesirable. That's something you hardly ever see in journalism, or politics.

"Blind conviction" is, I think, a tad ungentle--"resigned assumption", maybe. Men are as capable, sure (and there's surely just as much to be said--not so politically provocatively (at least, to a presumptively liberal audience), no doubt--about men having drifted away from (to put it provocatively) valour, though that would be another chapter, if not another story), but the point is, we're all, generally, now in a world where non-individualist, non-acquisitive, etc., belief systems just aren't particularly motivating, and it's hard to see that changing--and, given that we're all so immersed in those individualist, acquisitive, etc., belief systems, it's hard to really want it to change.

But speaking of brains *koff*, what is really worrisome is the prospect of this kind of social argument hitching up with all the Science about male and female brains that everyone (outside of, you know, Harvard) is buying into these days. If Science proves that women's brains--and everyone else's brains--produce more Happy Chemicals when women are looking after kids for free than when they're, I dunno, telling people what to do for a lot of money, then we're in trouble, because then Science will have proven that you really should have been made to take home ec and I really should have been made to take ... well, not shop, anymore, eh ... business, or whatever, because of our BRAINS.

(Science, I suspect, is, in the long term, the much greater threat to perpetual liberalization (for better or worse) than religion.)

[cija.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've yet mentioned that knowing you're reading makes me self-conscious about my writing. Well, no, actually, I'm always self-conscious about my writing. It makes me anxious about my writing.)

Oh, why, because I'm cranky and over-sensitive about everything? Your writing is charming and fascinating! It was my favorite thing about a.g., when I still had a favorite thing about it. (I didn't add you to the list for a while because 1. I forgot, and 2. successful academics were making me feel inadequate for a while. But I got over it.) (I don't know why you read my journal, anyway, when every other entry nowadays is 1. why I love Buffy, 2. this dream I had, 3. this dream I had about Buffy. But it is nice of you.)

If Science proves that women's brains--and everyone else's brains--produce more Happy Chemicals when women are looking after kids for free than when they're, I dunno, telling people what to do for a lot of money, then we're in trouble,

I compromise by telling people what to do for free.

But I avoid taking that whole mess seriously because I figure that if Science proves from our brains that women are made happy by [childrearing, poverty, etc etc.], simple observation of our actions shows that women prioritize many other things far above mere happiness. Science can't force me to be happy - I'd like to see it try. My brain can't tell me what to do.

[http://users.livejournal.com/cincinnatus_c_/]

Oh, why, because I'm cranky and over-sensitive about everything?

Well, there's that. ;) There's also that your writing is intimidatingly perfect. Mostly, it's that I'm fairly certain you're intimately familiar with rules and their exceptions of which I've never heard (but up with which I'd never put!).

Your writing is charming and fascinating! It was my favorite thing about a.g.

*blink*

Gwan!

(I have been, actually, as you can probably tell, trying something out, stylistically, here, the last few months, namely: using as many commas in as short a space as possible. I'm beyond being able to tell whether I'd like it as a reader, but I do, for some reason, enjoy at a lot as a writer. I think it pretty well replicates the way I think, or at least talk (which is a bit convoluted in that, if at all possible, the way I talk pretty much replicates the way I write). Kinking out the ironing that writing academically has inflicted on me is one of those reasons I might give myself for why the hell I'm doing this just about every day.)

2. successful academics were making me feel inadequate for a while.

Hmm, well, we'll see about that "successful" ... you may have, rather, successfully escaped. (Actually, you know, by my own lights, I'm pretty close to successful as hell--but I'm suffering from a lot of light pollution. Which is part of that academia-as-extended-adolescence thing, which is a big part of what one might want to escape.)

I don't know why you read my journal, anyway, when every other entry nowadays is 1. why I love Buffy

I *HEART* BUFFY!

Or, at least, I am strangely enamoured by Buffy. These days, I catch the odd episode at L.'s parents' place, and when it starts, I think, erm, this is kind of painful ... this is kind of bad ... do I really like this? ... but at the same time, I'm already smiling. (I am fascinated by the way the show is constantly beating on Buffy, which seems to be one of your recurring themes.)

I had an, um, idea that there was more going on back there--but anyway, I've just friended everyone who, I guess I'd say, seemed important in some way or other, and would have some good idea who I was, from a.g. (There's one or two others who I haven't gotten around to because they just barely knew me, if that.)

simple observation of our actions shows that women prioritize many other things far above mere happiness

Yeah, but that, obviously, is because you're not listening to your BRAINS.

My brain can't tell me what to do.

Of course, it's too late for you, but we can still save future generations.

So, this has been, like, my first conversation in more or less real time (for some definition of "real time") on eljay. I think I'd better not make it a habit, if I hope to maintain whatever level of success I'm at. ;)