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I don’t know what to say about the Charleston shootings except that they are tragic, awful, sad beyond belief, and the reality of such horrifying events casts a pall of unreality over the petty doings of one’s own life.
One of the memes making the rounds right now is that Caucasian Dylann Roof is being described as “mentally ill,” but if he were a person of color, he’d be described as a “terrorist.”
Is that true?
Caucasian Timothy McVeigh was certainly described as a “terrorist.” So was Caucasian Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (who was literally “Caucasian,” hailing from the Caucuses.)
Far from being mutually exclusive, I suspect “terrorist” and “mentally ill” are practically overlapping slices of the big Venn diagram, but I suppose for me the distinction is organizational – as in: If you’re part of a conspiracy, even a very small conspiracy like the Tsarnaev brothers’ conspiracy – then you’re a terrorist.
Roof doesn’t appear to have had any co-conspirators. His own sister is the person who identified him to the police. So, racist hate crime: Clearly. But not terrorism.
###
On the topic of petty doings of one’s own life… I had Summer over for dinner last night. This turned into an impromptu dinner party when I invited Ed and Pat to join us:
“Why do you always tilt your head to the side in photos?” Ed asked.
“I don’t know,” I said – but actually I do: It’s some kind of subconscious refutation of those years I spent posing for highly stylized modeling shots back in the Stone Ages.
I cooked Greek – a pretty scrumptious spanakopita; a cucumber, yogurt, and lemon salad; and lamb meatballs that came out a bit drier than I liked. For dessert I improvised a kind of Greek variation on Baked Alaska with phyllo and ice cream.
Highly entertaining evening.
Summer has decided to take the USMLE in October. I think this is a mistake: There’s no way her English is up to it. But despite her giggly exterior, she is a determined young woman. She really wants to stay in the US, and her husband is having a hard time finding a job. (Hardly surprising since one has to assume that an MBA from SUNY New Paltz is meaningless – but I keep thinking he’s not marketing himself properly. Really, I have to think there are hundreds of US companies that want to do business with China, and that he’s perfectly positioned to broker those kinds of negotiations. True, he has to convince one of them to buy him and do the paperwork for an H1 Visa, which generally takes six months. Still…)
We’ve upped our tutoring sessions to twice a week, and she has other English tutors – though I’m the only one with an extensive background in anatomy and physiology. It’s pretty astonishing how much of that shit I remember.
The issue is that while the best way to learn English – or indeed any other language – is contextually, scientific language is precise and derived, for the most part, from Latin and Greek.
“What’s an erythroblast?” I asked.
“It is a red blood cell that explodes,” Summer said.
“No!!!!!” I shrieked.
It’s pretty easy to make mistakes like that, when your English is contextual.
Much of last night was spent arguing over whether Greece would really default on that latest credit payment (Yes, snorted Annalisa, the resident Airbnb occupant who’s visiting from Trieste) and whether that meant that Greece would then secede from the European Union (No, snorted Annalisa.)
I couldn’t tell whether LiRong and Summer liked each other. They’re both from China. But what else do they have in common?
After Summer left, LiRong shook her head. “Her mother lives in Japan,” she said.
“Is that bad?” Ed asked.
“She must be lonely. Japanese do not like Chinese.”
Cultural relativism isn’t as big over in Asia as it is over here, apparently.
“What? Because of the War?” Ed asked. “But that was so long ago!”
LiRong shrugged. “And Chinese do not like Japanese.”
“But why?”
“They are always – how can you say –“ LiRong mimed marching like a robot. “Very unpleasant.”
“Yah, there’s a pretty strong conformist ethic in Japan,” I said. “On the other hand, there’s also this really weird, otherworldly sensibility. I mean, where else on the planet will you find vending machines selling girls’ used panties.”
“No!” said Ed.
“Yes!” I said.
“I never heard – “ He turned to Annalisa. “Did you ever hear –“
She nodded, laughing.
“But I mean, it’s the same in Europe,” Ed said. “Fallout from the War. And everyone in Europe doesn’t hate the Germans, do they?”
“Oh, yes. We do,” Annalisa said. “Angela Merkel. We all hate her. We all hate Germany.”
Last night, too, was the first time this year that I noticed fireflies, which always make me very, very happy.
One of the memes making the rounds right now is that Caucasian Dylann Roof is being described as “mentally ill,” but if he were a person of color, he’d be described as a “terrorist.”
Is that true?
Caucasian Timothy McVeigh was certainly described as a “terrorist.” So was Caucasian Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (who was literally “Caucasian,” hailing from the Caucuses.)
Far from being mutually exclusive, I suspect “terrorist” and “mentally ill” are practically overlapping slices of the big Venn diagram, but I suppose for me the distinction is organizational – as in: If you’re part of a conspiracy, even a very small conspiracy like the Tsarnaev brothers’ conspiracy – then you’re a terrorist.
Roof doesn’t appear to have had any co-conspirators. His own sister is the person who identified him to the police. So, racist hate crime: Clearly. But not terrorism.
###
On the topic of petty doings of one’s own life… I had Summer over for dinner last night. This turned into an impromptu dinner party when I invited Ed and Pat to join us:
“Why do you always tilt your head to the side in photos?” Ed asked.
“I don’t know,” I said – but actually I do: It’s some kind of subconscious refutation of those years I spent posing for highly stylized modeling shots back in the Stone Ages.
I cooked Greek – a pretty scrumptious spanakopita; a cucumber, yogurt, and lemon salad; and lamb meatballs that came out a bit drier than I liked. For dessert I improvised a kind of Greek variation on Baked Alaska with phyllo and ice cream.
Highly entertaining evening.
Summer has decided to take the USMLE in October. I think this is a mistake: There’s no way her English is up to it. But despite her giggly exterior, she is a determined young woman. She really wants to stay in the US, and her husband is having a hard time finding a job. (Hardly surprising since one has to assume that an MBA from SUNY New Paltz is meaningless – but I keep thinking he’s not marketing himself properly. Really, I have to think there are hundreds of US companies that want to do business with China, and that he’s perfectly positioned to broker those kinds of negotiations. True, he has to convince one of them to buy him and do the paperwork for an H1 Visa, which generally takes six months. Still…)
We’ve upped our tutoring sessions to twice a week, and she has other English tutors – though I’m the only one with an extensive background in anatomy and physiology. It’s pretty astonishing how much of that shit I remember.
The issue is that while the best way to learn English – or indeed any other language – is contextually, scientific language is precise and derived, for the most part, from Latin and Greek.
“What’s an erythroblast?” I asked.
“It is a red blood cell that explodes,” Summer said.
“No!!!!!” I shrieked.
It’s pretty easy to make mistakes like that, when your English is contextual.
Much of last night was spent arguing over whether Greece would really default on that latest credit payment (Yes, snorted Annalisa, the resident Airbnb occupant who’s visiting from Trieste) and whether that meant that Greece would then secede from the European Union (No, snorted Annalisa.)
I couldn’t tell whether LiRong and Summer liked each other. They’re both from China. But what else do they have in common?
After Summer left, LiRong shook her head. “Her mother lives in Japan,” she said.
“Is that bad?” Ed asked.
“She must be lonely. Japanese do not like Chinese.”
Cultural relativism isn’t as big over in Asia as it is over here, apparently.
“What? Because of the War?” Ed asked. “But that was so long ago!”
LiRong shrugged. “And Chinese do not like Japanese.”
“But why?”
“They are always – how can you say –“ LiRong mimed marching like a robot. “Very unpleasant.”
“Yah, there’s a pretty strong conformist ethic in Japan,” I said. “On the other hand, there’s also this really weird, otherworldly sensibility. I mean, where else on the planet will you find vending machines selling girls’ used panties.”
“No!” said Ed.
“Yes!” I said.
“I never heard – “ He turned to Annalisa. “Did you ever hear –“
She nodded, laughing.
“But I mean, it’s the same in Europe,” Ed said. “Fallout from the War. And everyone in Europe doesn’t hate the Germans, do they?”
“Oh, yes. We do,” Annalisa said. “Angela Merkel. We all hate her. We all hate Germany.”
Last night, too, was the first time this year that I noticed fireflies, which always make me very, very happy.
