Barack Obama gave a stirring speech in Berlin today, what did he accomplish?
There is much tongue clucking amongst the mainstream media gurus in the aftermath of Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin. Was it hubris? Arrogance? Too much from a United States senator, who is a presidential candidate, but not yet (or perhaps never) President of the United States? I say no. …
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176 - Cindy D
B,
I know what you mean! That Paris guy was great! I also love the chubby guy on the right in Australia (I think).
C
177 - Cindy D
Oh and I am sure you noticed the mirror of New York and Japan with the bridge. How cool!
178 - Cindy D
B,
I my nephew looked at it and said, "What's the big deal with a bunch of people who can't dance?" My sister said, "It's okay, but...(shrug)." I was hoping it was the mood, circumstance, atmosphere that elicited these responses.
My husband loved it as much as me. But, he looked worried and ask why I was crying*. LOL.
(*Disclaimer: I cry every time they play 76 trombones in the Music Man.)
179 - Baritone
"76 Trombones," huh. Well, that particular number doesn't do it for me, but I am often deeply moved by music and/or as in the case of the 'Matt' video - sites and sounds.
I sing a bit and so do both of my sons. My oldest is in an opera company in Germany, so music has always been a big part of my life.
My wife was one of those who didn't quite get it. She thought it was cute, but really just silly.
But, there are other things which get to her but leave me like a lump, so I guess it's just different strokes, yada, yada, yada.
A asked my brother if he got the email in which I provided him with the link. I asked what he thought of it, and he couldn't even remember what it was. I had to remind him, but he just shrugged.
Do you know, has Matt gotten any media exposure beyond his site and YouTube? Has he been interviewed by Wolf Blitzer or done Letterman or some such?
B
180 - Cindy D
B,
The music man originally came to the town to rip off the people by selling them a dream that would never materialize. He would sell expensive band equipment, take the money, and run. In the end the music man forms connections with the people and develops a conscience.
So, it's not the song, itself; it's that the song is the emotional marker for the point where the whole town forms the marching band (that was originally never to be).
Here is Matt's Journal page. He is doing it up with the media.
C
181 - Baritone
I know the "Music Man" story well. I figured your feelings about "76 Trombones" had more to do with the larger implications of the story than just the song itself. I often make those kinds of projections as well.
I am a gnarly old fart, but I am still an easy target for emotional moments whether in music, books, movies, or whatever.
The moment in the film "Cast Away" when Helen Hunt is standing soaking wet outside her garage and then starts running down the drive yelling after Tom Hanks and they embrace - all the emotion that is built up for both of them behind that scene always gets to me.
I remember tearing up at a couple of moments when reading Willa Cather's "My Antonia." There are many others. Perhaps I'm a sap, but I find the whole macho "a real man never cries" thing a load of crap.
B
182 - Jordan Richardson
Perhaps I'm a sap, but I find the whole macho "a real man never cries" thing a load of crap.
As a younger man who farts, I couldn't agree more. I've had many a good cry from a piece of music or a film (last thing that got me was a Fellini). It's good to be in touch with emotions like that.
183 - Baritone
I believe it was in JP Donleavy's "A Singular Man" wherein the main character announces that he was raised "a free farter." I can't say that such applied to me as a child, but I have long been an active flatulist. What would the world be like if our gaseous excretions were colored say a vivid blue? I'm sure some kind of additive could be introduced to the food chain that could make that happen.
B
184 - Jordan Richardson
Glorious. Bloody glorious.
185 - Dr Dreadful
At our annual employee luncheon a few years ago, we had a nominally motivational speaker who was actually more of a stand-up comic. In part of her routine she wondered, quite reasonably, why everyone insisted on pretending to be disgusted by farts and wouldn't just admit that they're fricking hilarious.
It's certainly a maxim I live by.
186 - Dan Miller
The methane content should be taxed! The harm being done to the environment is incalculable.
Dan
187 - Baritone
I am 62 years old. Farts still make me laugh. Frankly, I wouldn't mind dying, say in my late nineties, laughing about a loud ripper bounding off the nursing home walls.
B
188 - Cindy D
What would the world be like if our gaseous excretions were colored say a vivid blue? I'm sure some kind of additive could be introduced to the food chain that could make that happen.
That would make it very difficult for one to blame the dog.
As in my favorite joke. When embarking on a trip, I ask the driver if s/he has gas. When s/he inevitably says yes. You simply point out that if s/he blames the dog no one will suspect.
189 - Dan
Cindy D. #139: "But your other source, (at #109) JBHE, says Duke ranked as the top school for black integration including graduation rates."
Duke does have a strong black graduation rate at only 7 percentage points behind the white rate. But the top ranking is attributed to several other factors. Duke also has a smaller gap in black/white test scores at 184, than Michigan which has a dismal black graduation rate. Harvard, with only a 95 point gap in test scores, has only a 2 percentage point gap in graduation rates.
Clearly, there are some statistical outliers like Rice U. which has a 271 point gap in test scores but manages to graduate blacks at just 7 percentage points less, the same as Duke, although rates of graduation for both races are lower overall.
The statistical trend though, correlates positively, and universally throughout the collegiate system.
Cindy: "I recommend you view the data Dan instead of using rhetoric to attempt to discredit it without even looking at it."
Certainly the data can not be discredited without review, but Tim Wise is not at the top of my reading list. Moreover, the hypothesis for the rate gap that Mr. Wise suggests--racial hostility, and financial difficulty--would seem to rely less on hard data, and more on subjective data, like testimonials and anecdotes.
Mr. Wise doesn't hint at what his data is, but the "rhetoric" I responded with would apply to subjective data.
It seems that the experiments to end racial preferance in the California and Texas University systems, although painful for egalitarians, has still resulted in more black students in those systems, and that is a good thing for blacks.
Is racial hatred towards white men so pervasive in liberal attitudes that they would deny the beneficial strides of *true* black ascendency?