“But the bulk of Facebook and Twitter users are more centrist. They aren’t particularly interested in the latest partisan wrangle. For these users, “posting online about politics simply carries more risk than it’s worth,” Bail argues. By absenting themselves from online political discussions, moderates allow the extremists to dominate, and this, Bail says, promotes a “profound form of distortion.” Extrapolating from the arguments they encounter, social-media users on either side conclude that those on the other are more extreme than they actually are. This phenomenon has become known as false polarization. “Social media has sent false polarization into hyperdrive,” Bail observes.”
– From the December 27, 2021 New York Times article “POLES APART: Can American politics survive an era of hyperpartisanship?” By Elizabeth Kolbert
Fail, fail, fail, fail, succeed
Monthly Archives: December 2021
Masterpiece Alert
“You Were Never Really Here.”
Directed by Lynn Ramsay
Starring Joaquin Phoenix
No, I’m not fucking around
Dig it
A Black Hole of Need
Sometimes, this is how the ER feels
There is simply more need than I can fill
Everywhere I turn, faces calling out
Nurse! Nurse! Nurse!
I’m just one person trying desperately to serve the needs of so many
Until eventually my reservoir runs dry
Hopefully not until the end of my shift
When I can go home and recharge
So I can come back and do it all over again
Perfect Films (Part 1): Let the Right One In
This 2008 masterpiece by Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson is one of those movies that transcends genre. Although marketed as a horror film, it’s really a love story, but trust me — it’s not like any love story you’ve ever seen.
Films like this are a mystery — it doesn’t seem possible to plan this kind of magic out. No, there is some kind of alchemy going on here, it’s as if the movie gods smiled down on the production, giving it their full blessing. It shouldn’t work, and yet it’s undeniable.
Impossible road block number one? The leads are two twelve-year-olds. Yeah — the film lives or dies by the performances of two children. What the fuck?! How is it possible to get performances like this out of kids, much less capture it on film?
No spoiler alert needed since the film is marketed as a vampire movie, which it kind of is, but not really. What we have here is an impossibly charismatic, lonely, androgenous pre-pubescent boy who is constantly bullied meet and fall in love with a 12-year-old vampire of unknown gender who has lived centuries.
The actors are mesmerizing — the boy’s longing is painfully heartbreaking. It’s impossible not to be moved by the innocence and purity of his love.
The girl is other-worldly; her performance must be seen to be believed. Together they each provide precisely what the other one needs.
The Swedish location only heightens the sense of loneliness — always snowing and cold, the sun never seems to shine, and there is no warmth anywhere.
Just an endless night of existential loneliness, assuaged by the love of a creature doomed to live forever.
First Place Fiction Prizewinner – Oh Boy!
We never go to bed thinking; Tomorrow will be the day I die, do we? And yet, this is how life works. Here one minute, gone the next.
This is a story about the consequences of missed opportunities and the burden of dealing with death on a daily basis.
It’s a story about life.
