I, Dentity

Or why I don’t care about where ‘identity politics’ came from.

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(via Getty Images)

Dear Reader (even those of you who know it’s never too late to try out a new hobby),

I’m on the road. Well, technically, I just got off the road. I’m now at the Greenbrier, a fancy resort hotel in West (by God) Virginia. I’ve been here a few times, and I’ve always liked it. But there’s always been something about it—and so many old glorious hotels—that reminds me of once vivacious aristocratic grande dame who now depends on flattering lighting to conceal the frayed threads of her old ball gown, and the lines around her eyes.

Sorry for the overwriting, but I’m in a wistful mood, sitting on the balcony, smoking a cigar and having a drink. It was a stressful day. I recorded three podcasts and drove four hours to get here. And now I need to at least get this “news”letter started because I have a talk in the morning and a (solo) Remnant to record (so two talks, I guess). And then I have to drive back home.  

So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to skip the punditry. I’ve done a lot of it this week, and I feel like the news gods seem to be in a vengeful mood, making punditry lose its shelf-life really quickly.  

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  1. Pauldetlefs

    Jonah, I know you’re not good at math but there are something like 8.3 x 10^38 possible answer sets (BCAB…., DACB…, etc - 58 questions with 4 possible answers for each) for the SAT Math exam. Someone better than I at probability can compute how long it would take 1 million monkeys to have a 50% chance of getting a perfect score but suffice it to say it would be a VERY long time.

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    JT

    "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" -- good choice TFJ, can't really go too wrong with Traffic.

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  3. Jeff.Abney

    It would be interesting to understand what you meant by a "modicum of situational awareness."

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  4. Schwartz.bs

    Epstean's law is another way of stating the central equation of biology: How much energy does an organism have to expend to procure resources?

    Living things do what they can to lower the amount of energy they have to spend (i.e., they save energy if they can). Think about how surprised most people are to learn that wild animals use the same trails, roads, etc. as we do; it costs them less.

    You often refer to biologic influences (e.g., "our lizard brain") and I think an episode of the Remnant would benefit from having an evolutionary biologist as a guest. After all, when viewed in evolutionary terms, the benefits of prestige are huge. Also, in terms of survival and passing on your genes, if you can convince everyone that your "group" deserves special consideration, you get more resources for a smaller expenditure of energy.

    It would be a fascinating session and would likely inform other discussions.

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  5. JFE

    Every time Jonah tries to warn his readers that he’s writing what he feels like writing, I settle in for another good one. Never disappoints!

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      Ben Connelly

      Ha, me too!

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  6. Richard Kennedy

    Kudos to TFJ’s Music Editor this week. Low Spark of High Heeled Boys brings back memories.

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  7. Stevenreedcurtis

    I'm a landlord in Petaluma California. Recently, I went to a council meeting where the council was conspiring, through new regulations, to put more disabilities on landlords. One of the council members noted that one new regulation was likely to hurt teachers, because of their nine month schedule. The city lawyer started his explanation thus "First of all, teachers are not a protected class".

    If you've followed California employment law ( please help), you will know that interpretations of a ten year old law have changed, to the extreme detriment of employers.

    From where it sit, it appears as if progressivism eventually becomes " who does what to whom".

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  8. Pohl

    This was pretty good, especially the section on pricing. The reference to “people who champion economic cooperation” suggests another article. I’d be interested to hear Jonah directly engage some of the ideas of these modern movements.

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    Tjsbmurphy

    Another Jonah article that’s insightful and interesting. The generational divides is what irritates me. I’ve lost count of who is supposed to be in what generation…GenX, Gen T, etc… its exhausting. I also totally agree that lumping people into groups diminishes individual responsibility…which I think is the point of the entire exercise.

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    Theirnscott

    A good auteur knows how important the music is to the storyline. My compliments.

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      BWG

      "But it wasn't the bullets that laid him to rest, it's the low spark of high heeled boys,
      High heeled boys...."

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