tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post7629668706398022061..comments2024-03-27T19:03:23.094-04:00Comments on The Armchair Squid: On the Coffee Table: Nancy IsenbergThe Armchair Squidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-21326266987052988652022-01-11T10:20:40.458-05:002022-01-11T10:20:40.458-05:00Yup, the British heritage shoulders a lot of the b...Yup, the British heritage shoulders a lot of the blame in Isenberg's book. However, generally speaking, post-War Europe, UK included, has faired better than the US in terms of social safety nets, particularly in terms of healthcare and higher ed. The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-83499075536899924802022-01-11T10:17:29.298-05:002022-01-11T10:17:29.298-05:00It's a sobering read, to be sure.
You know I&...It's a sobering read, to be sure.<br /><br />You know I'm always down for exploring Twain.<br /><br />Thank you and I wish for you a bountiful 2022 as well.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-84806874361894046232022-01-11T10:15:55.799-05:002022-01-11T10:15:55.799-05:00Well, I think the true stumbling is white suburbia...Well, I think the true stumbling is white suburbia believing it has the slightest clue about how anyone else lives, assuming they care at all.<br /><br />And yes, I readily admit I'm a product of that white suburbia.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-3704095554045945532022-01-08T13:51:42.943-05:002022-01-08T13:51:42.943-05:00Sad but true. Rich-poor divides everywhere seem to...Sad but true. Rich-poor divides everywhere seem to be worsening, and the promoted choice is to blame the poor. It's good that books like this are around to make some balance. (I'm British so I don't critique other nations, it's mostly our colonialist fault.) Lisa Southardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09711376747848601409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-53051033073632499282022-01-07T18:41:11.104-05:002022-01-07T18:41:11.104-05:00Thanks for the review. I have seen this book and h...Thanks for the review. I have seen this book and have pondered reading it. As for my opinion of humanity (which isn't great, has gone downhill after yesterday's remembrances and my current reading of "Heretical Fiction: Religion in the Literature of Mark Twain." I hope 2022 is a good one for you and yours.Jeff https://www.blogger.com/profile/06423765367745022144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-87567129104269695552022-01-07T16:28:51.264-05:002022-01-07T16:28:51.264-05:00Wel, I (used to) have extended family in Missouri....Wel, I (used to) have extended family in Missouri. They have a real house on real property, that’s put to practical use. My home state of Maine is a cross-section of these cultures, too, which converges in many of the same interests. Really, to find it you have to think of the country as more than the sum of its urban populations, which I think is the major stumbling block of national thought. And we tend to be endlessly reductive when we do, assuming all urban dwellers are one party affiliation and all rural the other. And further assume things based on those conclusions. We lost the narrative when we started thinking that way.Tony Laplumehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-58667814582821705032022-01-07T07:22:50.501-05:002022-01-07T07:22:50.501-05:00I know enough to know the south is genuinely diffe...I know enough to know the south is genuinely different. However, the north - and the northeast in particular - is often too quick to pat itself on the back as the more socially progressive part of the country. Relatively speaking, it probably is but that doesn't mean the attitude of seeing the poor as lesser humans doesn't occasionally (frequently?) rear its ugly head and get in the way of real progress.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-59408801555375866012022-01-07T07:11:24.532-05:002022-01-07T07:11:24.532-05:00How many of them actually own their property, thou...How many of them actually own their property, though? Or what is that property actually worth? Sure, some own their trailer homes but that's the sort of property that depreciates quickly.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-70665548795024363222022-01-06T12:25:53.345-05:002022-01-06T12:25:53.345-05:00I don't know about schools in the north, but w...I don't know about schools in the north, but what I know about schools in the south is that there is an attitude, especially toward science, that you don't need to know that stuff. I don't know how many times I was told growing up, "You don't need all that education. All you need to know is what's in the Bible." Though teachers can't say that to a student, the attitude exists. Science, history, any kind of higher math, they're bad. They will lead you astray.<br />I don't really think that particular attitude exists in the north.Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-8919792108333206152022-01-04T20:01:03.327-05:002022-01-04T20:01:03.327-05:00Often we don’t understand generational “curses” an...Often we don’t understand generational “curses” and how easily they self-perpetuate. Bad decisions become acts of survival. In some regions, though, very often deemed the epitome of “white trash,” they’re living lives that are deliberately counter to greater cultural expectations. I didn’t think <i>Nomadland</i> deserved Best Picture at the Oscars, but it’s a rare opportunity to explore some it from a somewhat positive perspective. (Even pointing that out, even though I knew the whole point of it winning was to try and bridge things from the other side of the Hollywood divide). <br /><br />The absolute craziest thing I’ve witnessed is that the people who typify this segment of Americans basically have exactly what the richest Americans have: large isolated property. The only real thing that separates them is the diverging sense of self-sufficiency.Tony Laplumehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07854455859399339169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-48556510389834129012022-01-04T19:21:46.215-05:002022-01-04T19:21:46.215-05:00First Nations history in Canada is fascinating tho...First Nations history in Canada is fascinating though, as you say, often sad. The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-49489597497293308072022-01-04T19:20:44.628-05:002022-01-04T19:20:44.628-05:00It's all pretty wild. As a teacher, I deal wi...It's all pretty wild. As a teacher, I deal with poverty every day. Institutionally, we work hard at making up the gap for people. But for the broader society? I'm not sure the north does a whole lot better than the south.The Armchair Squidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13509001761075530940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-30378741465544147962022-01-04T14:57:25.421-05:002022-01-04T14:57:25.421-05:00Wow! I never heard of this book but it sounds real...Wow! I never heard of this book but it sounds really interesting especially when you mentioned how most who went to war, from the South, were not even slave owners but duped...nothing much has changed. We have our own genocide with the indigenous people who were forced into areas and are very poor. The young were taken out and forced to learn the Catholic way and now many mass grave sites have been found on these properties. It is truly so sad.Birgithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09439720285857050428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8586403344533829376.post-91149392766930255692022-01-04T12:33:15.237-05:002022-01-04T12:33:15.237-05:00This may not makes sense, but all dystopian future...This may not makes sense, but all dystopian futures are based on this.<br />It's crazy-making. <br />Being someone who grew up in the South, I don't know how to deal with all of this, because they -choose- to be uneducated, and I have never been able to deal with that. Andrew Leonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13964775673414653644noreply@blogger.com