August 31, 2015

After 6 posts, I see that the blog has a theme this morning — almost and inadvertently.

The theme is fingers and hands. 3 posts are absolutely clearly on theme:

1. "Slate's education columnist Rebecca Schuman flaunts a series of photographs of herself giving her infant the finger."

2. "Barney's ad gets my attention, reveals secrets" focuses on 2 background figures who are picking at something with their hands as well as hands in the foreground: "I included the hand in my close-up of the Manet painting because it matches the central hand in the Barney's ad."

3. "Donald Trump is emasculating Jeb Bush" talks about Trump's "hand gestures — fingers up, palms out, wave-y wave-y... 'jazz hands'..."

The other 3 posts are harder to portray as on theme, but let me try:

1. "... Wes Craven — of the 'Nightmare on Elm Street"' and 'Scream' movies — who has died, at the age of 76." That one just needs an image:



2. "President Obama announced on Sunday that Mount McKinley was being renamed Denali, using his executive power to restore an Alaska Native name with deep cultural significance to the tallest mountain in North America." That one has a poll and the winning option by far is "Obama does too much by executive order." Again, the solution is an image. I pick the handsiest one:



3. The most difficult to whip into theme is: "ISIS money — coins minted in gold, silver, and copper." But one need only explore the psychology of the preference for precious-metal coins over paper money. It's the desire to hold the value in your hands. Here, this can get your started, from The New Republic: "Feces and the Gold Standard: A Psychological Explanation of Goldbuggery."

14 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

"How's the love life, still holding your own?"

A high school taunt.

kcom said...

L'état, c'est moi.

L'arrogance, c'est moi.

He really doesn't get the concept of checks and balances and democratic consensus.

"I am the state, I am the law" seems to be his operative principle. President Fait Accompli. A normal president would run things up the flagpole, involve Congress, etc. But since he's the smartest man in any room (and the most arrogant), why bother with that.

Phil 314 said...

The mind is a funny thing, seeing connections where there are none.

Original Mike said...

Here's a more telling Obama hand image.

Michael K said...

Noam supposes that Tea Party goldbugs are suffering from false consciousness,

Yup, the old "false consciousness" commie theme. Copies of TNR are probably better for wiping some places than gold coins.

I'm not sure the Gold Standard is coming back soon. Probably after the world wide collapse.

Scott said...

Drudge linked to the article about Denali. And his swipe at President Obama in the link (a slack-jawed Obama pic over the title, "THE HIGH ONE") is classic. I hope you get a screen cap of it!

narciso said...

it's certainly sign we are at 13 o'clock,

Quaestor said...

"We’ve now got quite a little gallery," wrote Rebecca Schuman regarding flipping off her infant daughter.

Too bad we don't have a quite a large pillory for assholes like Schuman in which to do public penance.

Public shame, that's want's lacking in this society. What civilization used to consider shameful is now just "lifestyle choices," and the only thing now deemed shameful is to point out what ought to be shameful.

Peter said...

"Goldbuggery"?

The primary purpose of money is to serve as a medium of exchange, thus greatly reducing transaction costs.

BUT a secondary purpose is to serve as a store of value. Historically paper fiat currency (that is, money not backed by anything other than one's faith that others will trade things of value for it) has performed poorly as a store of value.

Thus, it's rational seeking a store of value to look for alternatives to the paper fiat currency that is used as money practically everywhere now. Gold may be a poor choice for that role, and there are indeed problems with returning a nation's currency to a gold standard. One of which is that, by preserving or even increasing the value of money, it tends to favor savers over debtors. Which, for a country with a national debt exceeding $18 trillion is somewhat less than practical.

BUT there are also problems inherent in paper currency as well. TNR might do better to understand savers frustration with government policies that turn savers into suckers, as well as the economic "wisdom" in discouraging domestic savings and investment, before descending into infantile, mocking pseudo-Freudianism.

ken in tx said...

As I commented else where, Obama did not and cannot change the name of geographic locations. Only the US board of Geographic Names can do that. Obama is trying to take credit for something he did not do.

Sam L. said...

The New Republic: Where I will go when I want to read raving Leftist lunacy, if that day ever comes.

Tom said...

Obama is holding up the wrong finger.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Poll my finger.

Rusty said...

Somerimes, Althouse, I'm convinced you just need more sleep.