Saturday, July 16, 2016

TELEVISION



We don't have TV any more. Just the internet, and we get shows with Netflix that way. Very spoiled as we don't have to watch those inane commercials.

The shows we like are the ones that don't take too much thought--yes, we liked "Breaking Bad" but it was heavy. Really enjoyed the "White Collar" series, the characters were likeable and the endings were routinely good. Life isn't like that, so the entertainment should be.

Watching one now that is going to challenge us a bit--"Foyle's War." It is a British series (we like those quite a bit, in general) where Christopher Foyle is a police detective during World War II. There are a lot of "jolly goods" and "nasty bit of" sayings, very stiff upper lip stuff, which is amusing, but the real message is pretty profound. The moral dilemmas and the routine sacrifices made by people during the war should make modern Americans think a bit about the things we tend to bitch about.

Our kids call our griping "first world problems." Your car doesn't have air conditioned seats...first world problem. You can think of your own.

These people did things like returning to Germany to make contact with the resistance knowing that the likelihood of being killed was nearly certain. The 22-year old pilots were the "old men," because anyone who was a bit older had already been lost.

Recommend it. Wondering if the British may have a better view of how the world works than Americans right now, and that the themes of the show may illustrate how political correctness should not outweigh historical facts.  For instance, the show gives voice to the great amount of anti-Semitism in England at the time. The amount of German sympathy. The number of Communists who would later be saboteurs endangering Americans.

Not a heavy, vulgar show at all, but thoughtful and thought provoking.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

DIVERSITY

Next time someone at a college or university insists that there needs to be more diversity (wherever), ask how many Republicans are in their sociology department.

A New England administrator explains it this way: “Typically, we hire people because we’re planning on working with them and it’s a lot more attractive to have people you agree with.”

In 1989, liberal academics outnumbered conservatives 2:1, nationally. That number is now 6:1 and in New England the ratio is a startling 28:1.

No wonder you can't get a good discussion going. When you disagree with these people, they riot, burn things and hurt you.