In Impromptus today, I start with a couple of dictatorships — China’s and Cuba’s. Then I touch on U.S. politics. Eventually, I have football, a movie, some music, some language — the usual. I end with a few photos of rural South Carolina. To try out this grab bag, go here.
Last week, I had some thoughts on the tribalist mind. A reader writes,
Hi, Jay,
I enjoyed today’s column. Made me think about my own reactions to gaffes/flubs/etc.
I’m no different from most people. I yuk it up when a Democrat steps in it, verbally, and tend to shrug it off when a Republican does the same. But over the past five to ten years, I have also stopped and thought about how many flubs I would get caught making if a horde of reporters recorded my every word. I’d probably look as foolish as these pols.
Luckily, the only ones who care what I say are my family, friends, and work colleagues. So I try to extend some grace to those in the public eye.
What was the cause of the Civil War? This question has been in the news, all these years — about 160 — later. I had a post on the subject, here. A reader writes to say, “My favorite Civil War historian, James McPherson, summarizes it very well.” Yeah? Yeah. Where? Here.
In English, you can make a verb out of anything. It is one of the glories of our language, as I remarked in a recent post. A reader writes,
Jay,
In the cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin enjoys creative language. In a final frame, he tells Hobbes, “Verbing weirds language.” Bill Watterson is a genius.
Another language note? I was griping, as I have so many times, about the replacement of the word “foreign” by “international.” Those words really mean different things, and we need both of those meanings. A friend writes,
Jay,
In the 1970s at the Infantry School, foreigners were “Allied” students. By the 1990s, that designation had changed to “International.” More accurate, yet somehow ominous . . .
In today’s column, I note Christmas messages from two politicians: Donald Trump and Mitt Romney. Very different men, very different messages. Here is Romney’s:
A reader writes, “But where are their guns?” (Well, you know: RINOs.)
In recent weeks, I have had columns and posts on “identity” and “identity politics” — segregation, integration, re-segregation, etc. A reader writes,
Jay,
A thought on re-segregation.
Many years ago (okay, the 1980s), my father used to take me to Savannah for what he described as “the second-largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the world, after Boston’s.” He was a part-time lobbyist for an insurance company and St. Patrick’s Day was very popular with Georgia politicos of all stripes.
Looking back, this strikes me as a good model: Have a party honoring one group or another, but invite everyone. Doesn’t that sound American?
My thanks to one and all.