Meta and Meta

Why I Am (Still) For Hillary

I hereby incorporate Glenn Loury's remarks.

You Don't Run Your Uncle Junior

If you happen to be in the Los Angeles, CA area tonight, I'll be playing with my new trio Uncle Junior at Genghis Cohen in Beverly Hills. We start at 8p, about a 45-minute acoustic set. Cover is $7 at the door.

See you there if I see you there...

It Couldn't Be Going Better

Whether or not there is a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, it may sometimes prove a useful heuristic to interpret some events as if there were. We might call this the "conspiratorial stance." (Apologies to Daniel Dennett.)

On the Threshold of Human Dignity

Since I haven't had time to work much on my groundbreaking series on ethical relativism, how about a song lyric? Here's one from a newer song I just finished up entitled "Mendocino," about the little-known Mendocino Indian Wars. Enjoy...

Species Relativism and Specific Vagueness

To the blowfly, horse dung makes a delightful, nourishing meal; to you, horse dung tastes like...well, like what it is -- plus, it might make you sick. In this way, value is species relative.

Atroxious Morality

Consider this description of an imaginary species I'll call Homo atrox:

Homo atrox is in most respects similar to Homo sapiens, but with a far more pronounced disposition toward cruelty. In fact, studies show that atroxians who engage in wanton acts of exquisite cruelty lead substantially longer, happier, more productive lives than those who try to abstain from cruelty. [1]

Glenn Loury for President

Glenn Loury talks uncommon good sense about the Obama- and Clinton-camps' divide, the Wright brouhaha, and other topics. And John Whorter ain't bad either. (Not sure about John's conclusions about "Kay Callahan," though, the truth of which at the very least would turn on her class membership.)

(Via Mark Kleiman.)

Powerlines

They rise from the shoulder
Like stakes through the heart of the plain.

The tar and sap slathered on for shelter against the heat
Heat up the surrounding air like a desert;
That sweltering air rushes into my lungs, charged with the smell of
Swamp and toolshed,
Axe and chainsaw,
Cherry oak and crude.

. . .

First step up the metal rung, and the earth simmers below.

Reforming Relativism

Conventional ethical relativism appeals to some set of social norms, traditions or practices, or personal convictions as truth-makers or grounds for moral justification. On this model, for any moral precept p, the statement 'p is true' means something like 'I (and/or those of my social group) accept p' -- where such acceptance in the assertor's moral theory (perhaps linked with some anthropological and psychological theses) constitutes the relevant "truth" or justification of p.

Heart

"[T]he folks that trust you, that just won't hear no bad about you nor even think it, those are the ones that are hard to fool. You can't put your heart in the job."
--From Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me.